Natsuki's Change

As usual, Yichen met with Ōnoki immediately.

When Yichen presented the Third Kazekage Puppet to Ōnoki's expression was somewhat strange. It was a mixture of disbelief and a sense of loss for his kind.

The Third Kazekage ascended to the throne around the same time as Ōnoki, both during the First Ninja World War. The two were old rivals, having fought and schemed against each other in their youth, and also formed an alliance to target Konoha together.

Ōnoki was pleased with the death of the Third Kazekage, but Ōnoki still found it hard to accept that the Third Kazekage's body was turned into a puppet after his death.

At this moment, Ōnoki was probably thinking about what would happen if he were to die in battle one day, and whether his fate would be any better than that of the Third Kazekage.

Yichen didn't disturb him, and quietly waited for Ōnoki to grieve alone for quite a while.

After a while, Ōnoki came to his senses and looked at Yichen said, "Tell me what happened."

"Yes." Then Yichen recounted the cause of the incident and the course of the battle in detail.

In the past, Ōnoki would wait for all the advisors to arrive before beginning this kind of explanation. But today, Ōnoki seemed a bit off, though Yichen didn't remind him. He honestly recounted the whole process.

"Sasori of the Red Sands? As a genius of the new generation of Sunagakure, he actually tried to kill the village's Kage." Ōnoki shook his head, somewhat unable to understand.

"Zero, go and call the Two Advisors here, and also inform Ikura to come over," Ōnoki instructed the Shadow Guard and the captain.

Of the village's four advisors, Saka went to the front lines, and the middle-aged female advisor went to the capital, apparently to discuss war expenses with the daimyo. Only the two elderly advisors remained in the village.

Because Ikura was learning S-rank Ninjutsu, she didn't go to the front lines and stayed in the village.

After a while, the three arrived one after another, and Yichen briefly explained the ins and outs of the matter.

The two elderly consultants reacted just like Kitsuchi, both looking on incredulously.

On the contrary, Ikura, as a member of the younger generation, did not have a deep understanding of the Third Kazekage. In addition, he was getting closer and closer to the Kage Level, so he was more likely to accept this reality than the Two Advisors.

Ōnoki knew how much of an impact this would have on everyone, so he waited quietly for a while. Only after everyone had fully accepted the situation did he say, "Alright, let's discuss how to handle this."

After Ōnoki finished speaking, the two advisors looked at Yichen and Ikura simultaneously, wanting to see how the two juniors would handle the situation.

Of the two, Yichen and Ikura, they were more concerned about Ikura's thoughts. After all, Ikura was about to become Kage-level experts, and had the greatest possibility of becoming the Tsuchikage in the future.

Ikura glanced at Yichen, signaling for Yichen to speak first.

Yichen didn't refuse, saying, "It's not suitable for us to leave the Third Kazekage Puppet behind, otherwise it will only attract the hatred of the Sunagakure ninja. We only have two choices left."

"Either give it to Konoha in exchange for something, so Konoha can use it to negotiate with the Sunagakure. Or give it to the Sunagakure to increase Sunagakure fighting strength, so Sunagakure Konoha to the death."

"I prefer to trade with Konoha because Konoha can offer more benefits."

After Yichen finished speaking, he looked at Ikura. Ikura was somewhat surprised and asked in confusion, "A deal with Konoha? If Konoha Sunagakure, won't we face even greater pressure?"

Yichen explained, "Even if Konoha obtains the Third Kazekage Puppet, it only creates the possibility of a truce with the Sunagakure Village. The Sunagakure Village leadership may not agree, because the Sunagakure now needs to establish a hero through war and then elect a new Kazekage."

"Furthermore, even if the Sunagakure Village leadership agrees, the enmity between the two countries has already been sown. War isn't so easy to stop; with a little provocation, they'll start fighting again."

Ikura shook his head and said, "There are indeed benefits to trading with Konoha, but we are now de facto allies with Sunagakure. If we choose to trade with Konoha, it will inevitably make Sunagakure hostile towards us."

"Offending the Sunagakure for some personal gain is not a worthwhile trade."

Ōnoki nodded and said, "Then contact the Sunagakure. Ikura will handle this."

As he spoke, Ōnoki glanced at Yichen, feeling a headache coming on from this subordinate who was always causing trouble but also frequently achieved extraordinary feats. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he sighed.

"Yichen, focus on healing your injuries first. Next time you encounter a similar situation, don't just think about dealing with it yourself. You have the entire ninja village to rely on, while Sasori of the Red Sands is just a missing-nin. You can choose to ask for help!"

Yichen felt a little guilty. In fact, if he had chosen to run away the moment he saw Sasori of the Red Sands, he wouldn't have gotten the Third Kazekage Puppet, but at least he wouldn't have been poisoned.

Using his Porcelain Release and Light-Weight Rock Technique, Yichen fled while calling for help, hoping that any Iwa ninja nearby would come to his rescue. His chances of escaping were very high.

However, Yichen had his own considerations. He had Intelligence Advantage over others when dealing with these characters in the story.

Yichen knew Sasori of the Red Sands's greatest weakness: he liked to keep something to himself.

In the original story, Sasori of the Red Sands died without ever using all his Trump Card, making his death quite frustrating.

Yichen took advantage of the Sasori of the Red Sands's carelessness and underestimation of its opponent to achieve his goal.

If Yichen hadn't been poisoned by Sasori while taking over the Third Kazekage Puppet, perhaps Sasori would have fallen into Yichen's hands again.

However, Yichen couldn't say these words to Ōnoki and the others, so he seemed somewhat unsure of himself.

After Ōnoki finished arranging the matter of the Third Kazekage Puppet, Yichen went to the hospital accompanied by Ikura.

Seeing Yichen, who dared not touch the ground and was flying using the Light-Weight Rock Technique, Ikura asked, "How long will it take for your injury to heal?"

Yichen said, "My external injuries aren't serious; the problem lies with the toxins inside my body. It will take some time to completely eradicate them. The Medical Ninja at the camp already examined me, and it will probably take about a month to completely clear them away."

Upon hearing this, Ikura nodded and said, "Since the treatment will take a month, let's go to the Ninja Academy. The new batch of students will be graduating soon."

"You mentioned last time that you wanted to take on disciples, and since my S-rank Ninjutsu has improved, I have some time now. Let's find an opportunity to go to the Ninja Academy together and see if there are any suitable students."

Yichen nodded and said, "Okay, you deal with the Third Kazekage Puppet matter first. I'm free anytime. We can go together when you have time."

Upon arriving at the hospital, the Medical Ninja simply instructed Yichen to come for treatment once a day, starting tomorrow.

After confirming that Yichen was alright, Ikura went to deal with the Third Kazekage Puppet. This matter required negotiations with the Sunagakure, and the involvement of the Daimyo was also necessary.

Therefore, Ikura still needs to go to the capital to discuss things with the daimyo first.

Yichen returned alone to the small house inside the Natural Energy Seal Barrier. The Ninja Academy hadn't let out yet, so no one was in the house, and Natsuki hadn't returned either.

Yichen noticed that the layout of the cabin had changed significantly. Originally, only Yichen and Dango lived in Yichen's cabin. Although Dango was a cat, she was Ninja Cat, and she only occupied a small area of Yichen's cabin.

So originally, there were only Yichen's belongings in the small house. But now Yichen's belongings have been put aside, and most of the space in the small house is occupied by various little girls' items.

Seeing this, Yichen realized that he hadn't considered that Natsuki was a girl, and it wouldn't be convenient for her to live with him, a man.

However, the hut was located within Natural Energy Seal Barrier. In such places, the village had a plan for every piece of land, Yichen had no authority to change the size of the hut.

Shaking his head, Yichen decided to pick Natsuki up from school first, and then discuss with her how to change the layout of the small house after Natsuki returned.

Although Natsuki was born into a commoner family in the Land of Hot Water, she had a special talent, so like Uzumaki Yumi back then, she was directly assigned to the Advanced Class.

This was probably the first time the little girl had studied and played with so many peers. As a result, after this period of learning and living together, she has become much more cheerful than before.

When Yichen saw her at the entrance of the Ninja Academy, she was walking towards the school gate with several girls from her class, laughing and joking.

Although most of the time others were talking and Natsuki was listening when Natsuki and her friends were chatting, the smile on Natsuki's face was genuine.

She clearly enjoyed life at the Ninja Academy.

As Natsuki listened to her classmates talking, she walked towards the school gate. She didn't notice Yichen because she would meet Tomoko's younger sister, Chikotake Zhu, at the school gate every day after school, and then they would go to Chikotake's house for dinner.

Chikotake's classroom is a bit far from the school gate, so Natsuki always has to wait for her there.

Seeing that Natsuki hadn't noticed him, Yichen walked directly up to her and said, "Natsuki, your brother's back."

Natsuki was clearly taken aback for a moment before reacting, and said with a look of surprise, "Brother Yichen."

This was the first time Yichen had heard Natsuki address him like that, and it sounded a little awkward. However, Natsuki called him "Brother Yichen" very naturally.

Although Yichen was away during this time, Chikotake often mentioned Yichen to Natsuki. And every time Natsuki chatted with Chikotake, she called Yichen "Brother Yichen," and now she's gotten used to it.

Actually, it was Chikotake who taught her to call her that.

Although Yichen wasn't used to it, Natsuki's calling him "Brother Yichen" unintentionally brought the two closer, giving Yichen the feeling that they were family all along.

With a slight smile, Yichen said, "Where's your sister Chikotake? I'll take you guys to eat something delicious."

"Sister Chikotake won't be here for a while." Perhaps realizing that she wasn't actually familiar with this Brother Yichen, Natsuki's voice was noticeably softer this time.

Yichen ruffled Natsuki's hair and said to her, "Are these your classmates? Why don't you introduce them to your brother?"

"Oh." Natsuki finally realized what was happening and whispered to her three classmates, "This is my brother Yichen."

Then she introduced the three classmates to Yichen one by one, "They are all my classmates. This is Miko, this is Nanaka, and this is Hazuki."

Yichen nodded to the three of them.

After a while, Chikotake arrived at the school gate on time. Yichen treated a group of little girls to a big meal, and then took Natsuki back to the cottage.