The Master Is a Bit... Not Too Bright, I Guess

The complete annihilation of an elite squad had clearly caught Kumogakure off guard, while the death of the Anbu Minister had nearly made them think the Mist army had marched straight through the Land of Iron.

They had even begun to suspect that those ironclad Samurai of the Land of Iron had defected to Kirigakure.

But regardless, under the Raikage's orders, the pursuit forces ultimately chose to retreat. After all, they had already obtained the corpses of four Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, along with more than a dozen other corpses and prisoners.

The intelligence indicated that four Yuki Clan prisoners were among them.

Fearing that something might go wrong if they delayed, the Raikage directly ordered the frontline pursuit troops to return to the village.

At the same time, he kindly sent the intelligence to Konoha's Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, along with a tearful plea for aid.

It righteously detailed the enormous sacrifices they had made to help defend against Kirigakure's army of eight hundred thousand ninja, but the whole letter made only two words abundantly clear.

Pay up!

What? Spoils of war? What spoils of war?!

Could corpses count as spoils of war?!

Either pay up, or this unit would be stationed right behind your ass tomorrow!

Leaving the headache-stricken Hiruzen Sarutobi aside for now.

The scene returned to Jiang Rui:

For several days in a row, the waters here had remained calm and peaceful. Forget any sign of pursuing forces—even the birds were nearly all caught by Jiang Rui and the others.

Jiang Rui sat on a reef, his feet swaying back and forth in the water. Beside him, Ito Rei had regained her usual liveliness and stared curiously at his feet.

"Eh? Your feet have been soaking for two days and two nights. Haven't they rotted yet?"

Jiang Rui rolled his eyes. "Do you soak your feet while wearing boots? I'm training!"

The Water Transformation Technique? Jun Ze, standing nearby with a frosty expression, seemed deep in thought.

Ignoring the husky's daily stupidity, Jiang Rui turned to Jun Ze. The man had been standing beside him for two hours already, looking conflicted and hesitant to speak.

It must have been hard for an ice-faced guy like you to make that expression, huh?

"What the hell do you want?"

He was quite curious, actually.

"Mm..." Jun Ze struggled for a while before finally speaking in a stiff voice.

"When you came here, did you see the bodies of a woman and a middle-aged Mist ninja?"

Ito Rei froze at the question. Something she had deliberately tried to forget over the past few days had been brought up again, and her mood darkened once more.

Jiang Rui shook his head. The black mist had left no corpses behind wherever it passed, and if there had been any Kirigakure corpses, the Great Sage would definitely have alerted him.

"I see." The young man looked dejected as he walked away.

Ito Rei hopped over and took his place, sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees and her chin resting atop them. She explained sadly.

"Ever since he inherited the ninja sword, he had always made us call him Jun Ze. It wasn't until the day before yesterday that I learned his surname was Tengcheng."

Jiang Rui blinked in confusion.

Was Tengcheng some great clan?

"During the mission, after our captain was injured, he took over command. He kept telling us to abandon the captain, and in the end, he ordered the captain to stay behind and die buying time."

Ito Rei turned to him, her amber eyes full of bitterness. "I always thought he was awful, but I never knew his surname was Tengcheng."

"Our captain was called Tengcheng Tiancao..."

Jiang Rui said nothing. He lowered his gaze, his eyes half-lidded.

He had already lost count of how many times this had happened. In barely half a month, he had witnessed too many tragedies.

But so what?

This was war.

Besides, they themselves were makers of tragedy.

Not far away, Jun Ze naturally heard Ito Rei's words. A ninja's senses were far too keen. But he had never intended to explain.

The two were not father and son.

He had merely been born a commoner without a surname. Tengcheng Tiancao had discovered his talent and allowed him to become a ninja.

Taking the Tengcheng surname had been his captain's idea, but he had never agreed—not because he was unwilling, but because he felt he was not worthy of it yet.

And now...

He would inherit that surname and continue onward.

"If his body is still intact, I'll bring him back."

Suddenly, a clear voice rang beside them, leaving both stunned.

Ito Rei recovered first. "Wait, you're not going back with us?!"

Hearing Ito Rei's urgent question, Jiang Rui looked baffled as he asked, "Did I ever say I was going back with you?"

"Eh? But..."

"Don't worry!" Jiang Rui kicked his feet, splashing water onto Ito Rei's face. With a grin, he said, "I told my teacher I'd save you and bring you back. I did it."

Then he turned toward Jun Ze.

"So, when I said I could bring the body back for you, I can do that too."

After all, wasn't a game just about completing one quest after another?

Yeah, it definitely wasn't because of some inexplicable sympathy!

"There's no need."

Jun Ze's voice was cold.

Jiang Rui could not be bothered with him. What gave him a headache now was Ito Rei, who was staring straight at him with her huge amber eyes.

For some reason, Jiang Rui felt a little guilty.

He quickly lowered his head and muttered, "It's just a task my teacher assigned me. I only did it while I was at it."

Sorry, Lord Water Shadow!

Sure enough, redirecting the blame worked wonderfully. Hearing that, Ito Rei snorted through gritted teeth, clearly developing deep dissatisfaction with her teacher. Then she raised her chin. "I'm going too."

Oh?

Jiang Rui was delighted.

With great seriousness, he pushed Ito Rei's raised head back down and earnestly told her, "Rei-chan, you need to properly understand your own strength."

Ito Rei: ???

Seeing Ito Rei's dumbfounded expression, Jiang Rui suddenly understood how the Great Sage felt whenever it roasted him.

Having realized what he meant, Ito Rei angrily stood up and looked ready to pounce on him.

Jiang Rui spread his hands. "Your teacher ordered that you two must return. The intelligence in your heads is important."

Hearing that it was another order from the Water Shadow, Ito Rei instantly wilted. Fine, she would settle accounts with her teacher after she got back.

She sat down listlessly and said nothing more.

Jiang Rui continued gulping down seawater with great effort, occasionally spitting out a few sea fish.

Uh, dinner was settled.

Another night passed before Jiang Rui finally saw a ship arrive, along with more than a dozen Anbu ninja.

After confirming their identities and handing the two over, Ito Rei, her eyes red, spoke to Jiang Rui with a pitiful expression.

"You have to come back!"

Jun Ze stood nearby, looking at Jiang Rui as if lost in thought.

Jiang Rui nodded, thinking, I'm probably not coming back.

Still, if he really could come back, then great—two little underlings!

Yeah, winning people over! There was one more reason to bring back the body.

After waving goodbye to the Anbu captain who had personally come for them, Jiang Rui squatted down and carefully observed the horizon.

He wanted to see whether the sea level had dropped by a few centimeters.

After all, he had painfully drunk water at maximum capacity for three days and three nights.

Although he had not quantified it precisely, he could roughly feel it. At least several large lakes' worth, right?

The sea in the Naruto World did not seem all that big either...

"..."

The Great Sage could only respond with speechlessness.

I won't abandon this story. Writing out of love can only maintain two updates a day, orz.

Three updates a day are only occasional...

QAQ, next week I'll be running naked. My heart hurts.