Kurama's Gratitude and the Debriefing

"Kid, do you still have the strength?" the Masked Ninja said to Taiichi. "I'm Chi Xiao from the Anbu. If you do, tell me what happened."

"Big bro, shouldn't you treat my wounds first? I'm about to die from the pain." Taiichi was utterly speechless. Couldn't they see he was injured?

If his chakra had not been depleted and his meridians were not throbbing with pain, he would have treated himself.

Hearing this, the Owl Captain glanced at Taiichi, who was covered in wounds, and waved a hand behind him. An Anbu ninja stepped forward, took out bandages and medicine, and began dressing Taiichi's wounds.

"No, don't you people have anyone who knows Medical Ninjutsu?" Taiichi sucked in a sharp breath at their handling. This was far too unprofessional. "Be gentler. Who bandages wounds like that? Clean the wound first, then do this... and then..."

"We're a pursuit squad. We don't have a Medical Ninja assigned to the team, so make do for now," Chi Xiao explained from the side. At the same time, he was surprised that Taiichi actually knew medical treatment.

Taiichi had no choice but to guide the Anbu ninja as he dressed the wounds while speaking to Chi Xiao. "My name is Taichi Matsushita. This is where I usually train. When I came here today..."

As Taiichi gave his brief account, Chi Xiao gained a rough understanding of what had happened. Yet that only made him more astonished. If things truly happened as Taiichi described, then this Taichi was remarkably capable.

Chi Xiao turned and looked around. Flames still crackled as they burned. The surrounding trees and ground were covered in marks left by Wind Blade cuts, while in the distance lay the foreign ninja, dead with his eyes still wide open. Chi Xiao seemed to be committing every detail around him to memory.

Once Taiichi had recovered a little strength, the Anbu members took him, the little girl, and the two "spoils" back to the village.

Naturally, ninjas from the Trace Team would come to handle the scene. They would reconstruct the entire sequence from the evidence left behind to verify Taiichi's account, while also restoring the area.

Before they even reached the Hokage Building, they saw a group of people approaching under the lead of a middle-aged man. Chi Xiao went forward to meet them and returned the little girl to them.

Only then did Taiichi learn that the girl he had saved was the youngest daughter of the Kurama Clan Head—Kurama Chizuru.

It looked like they had come for the Kurama Family's Kekkei Genkai, Taiichi thought.

Could this have been Cloud Village's doing? Their record was far too bad, after all.

After speaking with the Kurama Clan Head, Chi Xiao pointed toward Taiichi in the distance and led the group over to him.

"Matsushita-kun, I'm Kurama Teruta. Thank you so much for saving my daughter." Without waiting for Taiichi to reply, he bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle.

Beside him, a beautiful woman holding the little girl also bowed through her tears. These must have been Tears of Joy.

"You're too kind. This is simply the duty I should fulfill as a Konoha ninja. You would have done the same in my place," Taiichi said smoothly.

"Even so, you saved my daughter. You still need to report your mission today, so I won't disturb you any longer. I will certainly visit you another day to offer my thanks!"

Under Chi Xiao's guidance, Taiichi and the Kurama Clan Head agreed on a time for the visit before they continued toward the Hokage Building.

Hokage Building.

Chi Xiao had his team members take the two "spoils" to the Interrogation Department while he led Taiichi to the Hokage's Office.

When they pushed open the door, not only was the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, present, but so were the two Hokage advisors—Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu—as well as Root's leader, Shimura Danzō.

The moment Taiichi saw this lineup, he felt that something was wrong. Why was Shimura Danzō here too? The person Taiichi least wanted to see right now was him.

The four people in the room were also rather surprised to see that Chi Xiao of the Anbu had not come alone, but with a little brat covered in wounds.

Danzo knew Taiichi. When he saw that Taiichi had come along as well, an inscrutable smile appeared on his face. It gave Taiichi quite a fright. Who knew what rotten scheme Danzo was cooking up this time?

Chi Xiao reported the details of the mission to Konoha's highest-ranking officials, while Taiichi could only listen from the side.

It turned out that a squad of ninjas had entered the village yesterday by blending in with a merchant caravan. Last night, they had secretly infiltrated the Kurama Family's clan grounds and abducted the sleeping Kurama Chizuru.

Unfortunately for them, they were spotted by patrol ninjas on their way out, and a battle broke out.

Trying to traffic children in Konoha? Unless they could escape unnoticed, wouldn't they become targets for everyone?

The ninja squad also realized the situation was dire. They immediately arranged for one Special Jonin to break through while the others held off the pursuers.

Even so, two Chunin died before the final Jonin managed to break out.

What remained was what happened when they encountered Taiichi.

By then, Taiichi understood the whole story. No wonder he had woken up that morning to find all of Konoha seemingly under lockdown.

So that was it. Uzumaki Kushina had been kidnapped before, and now Kurama Chizuru had been kidnapped. In the future, there would even be an incident where Hyuga Hinata was kidnapped.

Konoha's little girls really had it rough, Taiichi lamented inwardly.

At that moment, Konoha F4 had begun to show increasing surprise upon hearing about Taichi Matsushita fighting the fleeing ninjas. Their gazes repeatedly swept over Taiichi. Was this little brat really that strong?

The most shocked was Danzo. He had known something of Taiichi's circumstances before and had once wanted to recruit him into Root, only to be stopped by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Thinking of that, Danzo trembled with anger. What a fine seedling! Sarutobi had ruined him just like that.

He did not consider that Taiichi had never wanted to join Root in the first place. Otherwise, Taiichi would not have gone to complain to the Hokage when Danzo had tried to recruit him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, on the other hand, wore a broad smile. Look at this child, raised under his leadership. He said to Taiichi, "Taiichi, do you have anything else to add?"

"No, Hokage-sama." Taiichi gave a slight bow.

After both had finished their reports, the Hokage and the advisors conferred quietly among themselves. Naturally, an argument broke out during the discussion.

Finally, the Hokage continued, "Taiichi, you performed very well this time. You faced danger without fear and risked your life to kill the enemy. In the end, you not only protected a child from the village, but also killed a Special Jonin and helped capture a Jonin. The village has decided to record this as an A-rank mission for you. What do you think?"

"Thank you, Hokage-sama, and thank you, three advisors. I will continue fighting to protect the village." Taiichi freely piled on the flattering words.

Chi Xiao beside him was also surprised, but after thinking about it, he could understand.

Although that Jonin had been severely wounded and Taiichi had only captured him by taking advantage of the situation, he was still a Jonin—not someone an ordinary ninja could handle. Besides, Taiichi had indeed independently planned and killed a Special Jonin. That achievement was beyond question.

"Hiruzen, why not let this Taichi Matsushita join my Root? It would be a waste for talent like his to remain outside," Danzo brought up the old matter again.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression instantly darkened. Sending him to you would be appropriate? So the talent he had cultivated was being wasted?

The moment Danzo finished speaking, he realized he was in trouble. He had accidentally voiced his true thoughts as well.

"Didn't we discuss this before? Taiichi will not join Root. Besides, Taiichi has been taught jointly by Tsunade and Jiraiya. Do you think Root has ninjas better than them?" Hiruzen said to Danzo in a deep voice.

Utatane Koharu also chimed in from the side. "Danzo, Root already has many clan ninjas. Besides, isn't Taichi Matsushita doing quite well now?"

Just as the argument between them was about to erupt—

Bang!

The office door shattered. "Taiichi, how are you?" It was Tsunade.

Tsunade had just been passing downstairs when she heard that Taiichi had been seriously injured while stopping the infiltrating ninjas from last night. She immediately panicked and, without caring about anything else, burst straight through the door.

The instant Tsunade entered and saw Taiichi, she hurried forward to check on him, completely ignoring everyone else present. Fortunately, Taiichi's wounds had already been treated. Otherwise, Tsunade's Hemophobia might have been exposed.

"Tsunade, you're being far too reckless!"