Return to the Village

After Mangetsu finished recounting what had transpired, Genma and the Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves emerged from the cabin.

Kamizuki briefed Genma on the events that had just occurred, and upon hearing the report, Genma did not show much of a reaction.

Genma walked to a relatively spacious area, pulled a small slip of paper from his ninja tool pouch, took out a pen, and began writing something on the slip.

In a short amount of time, Genma finished writing on the paper and tucked the note into a small bamboo tube.

Genma then stood up from the deck, raised his right hand, and bit his ring finger. Using the blood flowing from his hand, he drew an unknown technique formula on his left palm. Once finished, he pressed his right hand onto the deck and spoke: "Summoning Jutsu."

As Genma pressed his left hand down, a circle of black ripples appeared on the deck, spreading outward in rings like water splashes.

With a "Poof!" sound, a burst of smoke rose from the black ripples.

When the smoke cleared, a circle of black runes remained on the deck. In the center of the runes appeared a summoning beast nearly a meter tall—a majestic, sturdy eagle. This was Genma's personal summoning beast.

After summoning the eagle, Genma took the bamboo tube he had prepared and tied it to the eagle's claw using a strip of cloth of unknown material.

Genma stood up once more, gently stroked the eagle's back a few times, and said to it, "I'll leave the rest to you, Akashomaru."

Upon hearing Genma's words, Akashomaru displayed great intelligence by bobbing its noble head, then spread its wings and took flight toward the Land of Fire.

The large ship from the Land of Waves sailed across the sea for five days and four nights before finally docking at the port of the Land of Tea.

The port of the Land of Tea looked similar in size to that of the Land of Waves, but it was clearly less prosperous, as evidenced by the sparse number of fishermen and merchants passing by.

Escorted by Genma, Mangetsu, Kamizuki, and the few surviving guards, the Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves disembarked from the ship.

A minister sent by the Feudal Lord of the Land of Tea, who had been waiting at the pier for some time, immediately approached with a very enthusiastic expression upon seeing the Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves step off the ship.

After exchanging a few polite pleasantries, the enthusiastic minister had the Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves board a carriage that had been prepared in advance and escorted him to the capital of the Land of Tea.

Genma Team followed behind the carriage toward the capital. However, at some point, three individuals wearing animal masks began trailing them, following the team all the way into the capital.

Under the warm and thorough arrangements of the minister, the Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves was settled into a large, luxurious mansion.

Once the Feudal Lord was settled, Genma met with the three individuals wearing the strange animal masks.

It turned out that these three were members of the Konoha Anbu's specialized "Corpse Disposal Unit," summoned by the message Akashomaru had delivered back to the village.

Every ninja's body held a wealth of intelligence regarding their respective villages—such as ninjutsu, taijutsu, Kekkei Genkai, and classified data. If a fallen ninja's body was not recovered by their own village, it could fall into enemy hands. Enemies could use various means to extract the ninjutsu, secret techniques, Kekkei Genkai, or intelligence the ninja had learned during their lifetime.

Because this would leak significant intelligence or secret arts and prove detrimental to the village, every ninja village maintained its own Corpse Disposal Unit, a team specialized in the recovery and handling of remains.

After Genma handed over the body of Kato Taichi, the unit placed the remains into a disposal bag, packed them up, and departed for Konoha that very night.

Three days after the Corpse Disposal Unit took Taichi's body, the Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves and the Feudal Lord of the Land of Tea finalized their contract, and the Feudal Lord of the Land of Waves returned home.

Half a month later, Genma Team finally concluded their mission and returned to Konoha.

Upon returning to the village, Genma immediately went to the Hokage Building to submit the report for the A-rank mission.

After reviewing the details of the mission, the administrators at the Hokage Building deliberated. Because the mission involved Ringo Ameyuri—one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—and the suspected use of "Impure World Reincarnation," they decided to upgrade the mission from A-rank to S-rank.

After submitting the report and collecting the mission reward, Genma took Kamizuki and Mangetsu to Kato Taichi's gravestone to pay their respects.

Genma and Kamizuki intended to leave after paying their respects, as Genma still needed to deliver the mission bonus and the village's solatium to Taichi's family.

Sakura Mangetsu said she wanted to stay with Taichi a little longer and watch over him. After comforting her, Genma and Kamizuki departed separately.