Staying Behind

Upon learning that the little beast before him might be the last "Tanuki," Akaseki still spent one portion in an attempt to save it...

After using Big Red Bite on it a second time, the Tanuki indeed woke up again. This time, as soon as it awakened, it hurried toward a mask.

"Tanuki! Tanuki..." After calling out twice, the firmly secured mask suddenly fell, landing on its back.

"Huh?" Jiraiya voiced his confusion.

Then the little beast's steps turned unsteady again, and it slowly lay down...

"No way? Again?" Seeing this, Akaseki was about to feed it more.

But this time...

"Tanuki..." The Tanuki shook its head, seeming to want to say something, before falling directly asleep.

Unlike its previous fainting spells, its expression was relaxed this time. It seemed to have simply fallen asleep rather than passed out.

"Jiraiya-sensei, what is this..." Akaseki could not make sense of it either.

"It looks like it's just tired, but this mask..." Jiraiya was puzzled. He reached out and touched the mask on its back, but it seemed to have grown there, refusing to budge.

The mask was not shaped to fit a human face. It had a long snout, as though it had been made for a crocodile, with red patterns across it and... just like the mask that had blocked the little beast's hiding place earlier, three eye holes!

The mask had originally been quite large, even bigger than a human face mask, yet after falling onto the Tanuki, it had shrunk considerably.

"Perhaps this mask is what it wanted... Looks like this Tanuki Beast is fated to be with you. Take it with you from now on. Once I teach you the Summoning Technique, you'll be able to summon Ninja Beasts whenever you want," Jiraiya said.

Akaseki nodded at this. Although he could not see any combat ability in the little beast, the title of "the Uzumaki Clan's last Ninja Beast" alone made it worth bringing back.

Especially since it wore a Dragon Mask. Everyone knew that dragons were...

Leaving aside all those symbolic meanings, Jiraiya had just explained how important it would be if the Tanuki possessed even part of the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques.

Sealing Techniques had always been an advanced art in the Shinobi World. With the emergence of Jinchuriki, they were now even more urgently needed by every major ninja village.

But just as Akaseki picked it up and was about to leave the Mask Storage Hall with Jiraiya...

Tanuki—

The Tanuki struggled awake as it was leaving the Mask Storage Hall.

"Hm? Do you want to go back?" Seeing it twist desperately backward with a pained expression, Akaseki took several steps back inside.

Sure enough, once they returned to the Mask Storage Hall, the Little Tanuki Beast calmed down again, but...

Just as Akaseki set it back inside the Mask Storage Hall and prepared to leave by himself first, the Little Tanuki Beast seemed to sense something and bit down on Akaseki's pant leg in its sleep.

"Huh? What's this..." Akaseki was thoroughly baffled. Had this little thing gotten addicted to eating?

But being addicted was no use. Akaseki only had ten... no, nine portions left, and he could not stay here with it forever!

By then, the sun had already risen above the horizon.

Seeing Jiraiya and Akaseki by the Mask Storage Hall, Torifu Akimichi came over to check on them.

"Jiraiya, what's going on?" Torifu looked doubtfully at Akaseki, whose pant leg was being bitten by the Little Tanuki Beast.

"It's like this..." Jiraiya explained the current situation.

"A Tanuki?" Torifu was also startled upon hearing this.

Looking at the mask on the Little Tanuki Beast's back, Torifu muttered, "I remember... some of the Uzumaki Clan's Ninja Beast Tanuki could use the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques through masks. Could this one be something similar?"

"But it doesn't look to be in very good condition. It may have been injured during the earlier attack as well. Although Akaseki's treatment has calmed it somewhat, it seems unable to leave the Mask Storage Hall yet," Jiraiya said.

Hearing this, Torifu looked at Akaseki...

"As expected of the Uchiha Clan. You even have expertise when it comes to Ninja Beasts." Torifu clicked his tongue in amazement. After all, he had never seen any ability related to Ninja Beasts in Kagami.

"But now..." Akaseki looked awkwardly at the Little Tanuki Beast.

Torifu said without hesitation, "Then you stay here for now. No matter what, we can't just leave it alone."

"Ah? But the mission in the Land of Waves..." Akaseki said, feeling embarrassed.

"It's fine. Jiraiya's team can split off from us afterward..." Torifu said directly.

But Jiraiya interrupted him. "No, Torifu. I'll go to the Land of Waves with you. The three little ones can stay behind."

Jiraiya naturally understood that "splitting up" really meant Torifu would take the three students to complete the mission himself.

Hearing Jiraiya say this, Torifu looked at Akaseki's group again before nodding. "That works. Then you'll be responsible for guarding this place."

Although Torifu did not think a mere B-rank mission would pose any difficulty for him, considering the nature of this mission, it really would be better to bring Jiraiya along.

On one hand, it was to guard against any unforeseen circumstances. On the other, it was to demonstrate Konoha's seriousness to the Land of Waves—sending out two elite jonin for a B-rank mission was more than sincere enough.

"No, I can stay behind by myself," Akaseki said hurriedly.

In theory, the entire island had now been designated a forbidden area by Konoha, and no one would normally come here.

But Torifu shook his head. "No. The situation at sea is complicated right now. Although this place isn't far from the mainland, it's better to be cautious."

"Even setting danger aside, if you can't leave this place... food will be a problem too," Jiraiya added.

Seeing that Jiraiya-sensei and the Akimichi jonin had already made their decision, Akaseki looked somewhat apologetically at Minato and Ranwu.

After all, everyone had been looking forward to the B-rank mission...

"You're not about to say something sappy, are you? We're not staying because of you... This might be the Uzumaki Clan's last Ninja Beast. You have to keep it alive for me!" Ranwu said directly.

"That's right. Not only might the Tanuki Beast have inherited the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Techniques, but... if a Tanuki Beast has survived, Kushina will be happy too," Minato added.

"Kushina? Ah... that red-haired little girl? Minato, could it be that you..." Seeing how much Minato cared about Kushina being "happy," Choza Akimichi stared at him in shock.

Minato was quite open about it. He merely smiled slightly without any embarrassment, while Choza continued, "Do you want to eat Kushina's cooking?"

Otherwise, Choza could not think of why Minato was trying so hard to "please" Kushina.

Everyone: ...

"Alright, we're taking the boat. We'll come find you after completing the mission... If the Tanuki recovers beforehand, or if we haven't returned after ten days, figure out a way to go back and gather intelligence yourselves," Jiraiya said as though it were only natural.

They had all come here on the same boat, so Akaseki's group was naturally being "left behind."

Although this was a deserted island, it was not far from the mainland. If ninja could still end up stranded here, then they should forget about the Chunin Exams and go back to the Ninja Academy for remedial training.