Returning to the Village to Report

Hashirama laughed heartily as he looked at the children before him, each one filthy and bedraggled. Torikaze in particular—his white hair had turned gray with dust.

Hiruzen said with deep self-reproach, "I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. I failed in my duty!"

Hashirama patted Hiruzen's head. "I watched all of your actions. Everything was nearly perfect; it was only that the enemy's strength exceeded our estimates in the end."

"There was nothing you could do about that. Intelligence is never one hundred percent accurate. Make sure you remember this lesson!"

Hearing this, Hiruzen felt warmth in his heart. Lord Hokage's words made him feel somewhat better.

But a failure was still a failure. If Lord Hokage had not intervened, he truly could not imagine how they would have handled it!

If they had been on the Battlefield, their entire group would likely have had no choice but death.

At that moment, Chisato suddenly threw herself into Kagami's arms, her voice tinged with tears.

Kagami stroked Chisato's head and said gently, "It's good that you're all right. Now you know just how dangerous carrying out missions can be, don't you?"

Chisato said nothing, only nodded.

Before that enormous Flame Tornado, she had been completely stunned. She realized that she simply could not intervene in a battle of that level.

She had barely even been able to flee for her life. Fortunately, Lord Hokage had saved her at the critical moment.

When she heard Lord Hokage's voice in that broken house, she suddenly stopped being afraid of anything.

Kagami lowered his head and whispered to Chisato, "If you want to fight alongside Torikaze, then work hard to make yourself stronger."

Chisato still said nothing, but her arms around Kagami tightened slightly.

"Everyone performed very well in this operation," Hashirama praised the group.

"But the most important thing was Torikaze's sneak attack on Rogan. That was the key turning point."

Everyone agreed with that. If Rogan had not been gravely wounded and on the verge of death, there was no telling how long the battle would have lasted.

Hashirama then went through each person's strengths and weaknesses in the battle one by one, allowing them to clearly recognize their own shortcomings.

In the world of shinobi, one must never become arrogant or complacent. It could lead to fatal consequences.

"All right, children. The mission is complete. Return to the village and report in."

Hashirama said with a chuckle, "I won't be accompanying you for the rest of the journey."

Then Hashirama's entire body gradually stiffened before finally turning into wood.

Hiruzen could not help clicking his tongue. "After using such a powerful ninjutsu, it was only a Clone?"

Danzo patted his shoulder. "Lord Hokage is busy with government affairs. How could he personally come for such a low-level mission?"

"That's true. Lord Hokage really is incredibly strong!"

There was no doubt about that. The God of Shinobi was no joke.

"All right, let's hurry back and report in as well. That battle really wore us out."

With that, Hiruzen led his companions toward the mouth of the Valley.

But once they arrived, they remembered that the entire Valley had been blocked off by Torikaze's ninjutsu.

"Torikaze, can you undo this ninjutsu?"

Torikaze nodded and stepped forward to touch the Crystal.

Then he snapped his fingers, and the Crystal Vine Net instantly shattered. At the same time, all the Crystal Vines outside the Valley crumbled away and vanished.

As Hiruzen looked at Torikaze's Kekkei Genkai, he felt an indescribable envy. That endless supply of Crystal could be produced simply by consuming Chakra.

Wasn't that an endless source of money?

Seeing several sizable chunks of Crystal still left on the ground, Hiruzen collected them.

The Crystals were so beautiful. He planned to bring them back for Biwako. Girls probably liked gemstones and Crystals like these, right?

With the Crystal obstruction gone, the group set off for Konoha.

Although the mission was over, Torikaze had not received a system reward, not even a notification.

Torikaze figured it was because they had not officially turned in the mission yet, so he was not in any hurry.

After all, not a single person in the entire Valley had survived. There was no reason for the mission not to be complete.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo, and Kagami Uchiha took the lead at the front, while Koharu, Homura, and Torifu Akimichi stayed at the rear.

They protected Torikaze and Chisato in the very center.

"Torikaze, were you hurt?"

"Nope. I'm pretty strong, you know," Torikaze answered jokingly.

Chisato pouted at that. "I knew I shouldn't have worried about you."

Just moments ago, Chisato had heard from Kagami that Torikaze had wanted to go save her alone, and it moved her deeply.

She had known Torikaze for barely more than a month, yet he had been willing to risk his life to save her.

To ensure that something like today never happened again, and so she would not be left behind by Torikaze, Chisato decided to train even harder from now on.

Torikaze found Chisato's expression somewhat amusing, but he had no idea what she was thinking.

Although he and Chisato had not known each other long, friendship could not be measured by time.

Torikaze's dream was to live out his life in peace and quiet, but whenever family or friends were in danger, his conscience told him that he had to lend a hand if he could.

That was Torikaze's principle in life. If he merely lay low to avoid danger and allowed his friends to fall into crisis, then he would no longer be himself.

"Keep it up too, Chisato. You're a Genius of the Uchiha Clan. You won't be inferior to me."

Torikaze's encouragement made Chisato even more resolute. Torikaze was right. As a Genius of the Uchiha Clan, she would not be inferior to anyone!

Although they were traveling at night, with Kagami Uchiha and his Sharingan leading the way, the group still moved very quickly.

Around the time dawn was just beginning to break, they returned to that small village.

When the villagers learned that the Mountain Bandits had all been wiped out, they did not believe it at first. After all, the group had only been gone for a little over a day.

Only after Hiruzen explained it repeatedly, even invoking Lord Hokage, did the villagers finally believe them.

This news would soon spread to the surrounding villages. Within a month, this small village would be able to resume normal operations.

After fighting and traveling through the entire night, everyone was exhausted.

To prevent any mishaps on the road, the group decided at Hiruzen's suggestion to rest briefly in the village before continuing on.

They returned to the inn where they had stayed before, and the Boss warmly received them.

Not only did he bring them delicious fruit for free, but he also waived their lodging fees.

Still, everyone paid the Boss the original price. The lives of Ordinary People were not easy, and none of Hiruzen's group lacked money.

After resting for about four hours, the group set out once more.

This time, they would head straight for Konoha in one go.