Return to the Village

This included sealing techniques for sealing items, but that was only normal. Why would someone hand down their family's ninjutsu to you when you weren't related? Just because you were a little close, calling them "big sister" a few times meant they would bare their heart and soul to you? Where was such a good deal? Well, except for Duy and his son. Those two were not ordinary people.

Of course, even this simple sealing technique was beyond Seiyu and the others. They had only graduated recently, and ordinary people could not encounter such things at the Academy. So for now, only Yamada and Shiro in Team Yamada knew it, which meant Shiro was responsible for these matters.

Thus, Shiro began the miserable task of sealing everything away. It did not consume much Chakra, but Shiro had deliberately left himself with only a little Chakra during training. He could not forcibly refine Chakra over such a trivial matter.

Fortunately, Kushina had taught him an improved version. It consumed so little that, with his current Chakra reserves, he could cast it two or three times without effort. Didn't that sound great?

But this sealing technique had one flaw—it was far too long! It had more than eighty hand seals! It was simply insane!

The original Water Dragon Bullet only required forty-four hand seals. What about this one?

Eighty-three! Nearly twice as many as the Water Dragon Bullet!

What did eighty-three mean? Uchiha Itachi's hand seal speed was already extremely fast, almost six per second, but even he would need over thirteen seconds to use it—and it was only for sealing items.

According to Kushina, it had been developed by one of her family elders. When Shiro heard that, he became curious. As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, what mindset had driven that person to develop such a sealing technique just to save such a tiny amount of Chakra?

Could it have been Uzumaki Zhouxuan?! But that could not be right. The Land of Whirlpools had already been destroyed. Just as Shiro was about to ask further, he saw Kushina's hair slowly rise. Shiro felt that he already knew the answer. He knew he would have to learn this damned sealing technique whether he wanted to or not.

Still, Shiro generally only used this sealing technique to practice hand seals. He had never imagined there would come a day when he would actually need it.

Fortunately, Seiyu and the others still had some conscience. By the time Shiro finished sealing everything, they had already prepared the meal.

"By the way, Shiro, why do you train so hard?"

While they ate, Seiyu could not help asking that question. Shiro's talent was only a little better than theirs, not outstanding enough to stand apart—otherwise, they would not have been assigned to the same class. Shiro was stronger than them now only because he put in far more effort than they did.

After these years of training, Seiyu and Chosuke had a rough understanding of their own talent. On top of that, having been tempered by war, they had long lost the yearning they once had for powerful shinobi. Though they still trained, they no longer possessed their former enthusiasm. One reason they continued was that they could not bear to give it up. After all, they had fought together for more than a year.

The second reason was that they still planned to remain shinobi in the future, only taking on low-level missions. It was safer and more stable that way.

After all, they could not simply stop being shinobi. That would be unsafe. When war grew tense, even Ninja Academy students would be conscripted, let alone people like them who already had the basics. Rather than let their skills rust away, they might as well take low-level missions to keep from becoming rusty.

Therefore, they did not truly understand Shiro's eagerness to improve his strength. Besides, the Second Shinobi World War had only just ended. Unlike Shiro, they did not know that the Third Shinobi World War would break out in the near future, so they lacked his sense of urgency. Moreover, Shiro could hardly tell them that another war would erupt in a few years. Who would believe him?

That was why Seiyu and the others were quite curious.

"What for?" Images of his parents, Duy, Might Guy, Kushina, Minato, and the others flashed through Shiro's mind.

"As for me, I just want to protect my family and friends. I don't want to leave myself with regrets. And... go home." Shiro said the last sentence silently to himself.

"So I have to become stronger." Shiro's final words were firm.

"Mm, do your best. If it's you, Shiro, you can definitely do it. You work so hard." Although she still did not quite understand Shiro's thoughts—after all, the war had ended, and Konoha was the strongest ninja village—she would not discourage him.

"Yeah, Shiro. We don't have your talent, and we can't keep going for as long as you can. We won't be able to accompany you far down this path, but we'll always support you," Chosuke added.

"That's right. I'm only a Chunin, but I have Jonin friends. So if you run into trouble, tell me. You did call me teacher, after all."

"..."

Shiro was happy to hear that, but...

"I mean, I just gave a reason. Why are you all making it sound sadder than I did? It's not like I'm leaving you forever."

"Hahaha, that just proves everyone is close!" Yamada said with a hearty laugh. As a teacher, nothing made him happier than seeing his students get along without conflicts.

"That's because you're emotionally distant. She's a girl, you know."

"What? Seiyu, you're a girl? I always thought Chosuke liked men!" Shiro said with an exaggerated expression.

"You're dead, you brat! Damn Shiro!" Seiyu stood up and moved to hit him.

The moment Chosuke saw that, he immediately rose to pull a biased intervention, grabbing Shiro while hypocritically telling Seiyu, "Seiyu, Shiro was only joking. Don't hit him. He's used up all his Chakra right now. We shouldn't bully him!"

Meanwhile, Yamada watched the show from the side with a smile.

After a round of horseplay, Shiro and the others packed up and returned to their rooms to sleep. After all, they would be heading back to the village next.

Joking aside, Shiro still felt the care of his friends through it all. He firmly etched their feelings into his heart.

The next day, the four of them rose early and set out. They would be walking back, and the journey would probably take quite a while. One reason for walking was to train while traveling; the other was because they were poor.

Although shinobi earned a lot, they also spent a lot. Leaving aside training expenses, food alone cost a substantial sum. Though the Hokage might not be able to keep Newton's coffin lid down, Thomas Young's coffin lid was still firmly in place. (The proposer of the Law of Conservation of Energy.)

Therefore, shinobi did not actually have much money, so they could not afford such high-end transportation as riding in a vehicle.

The trip back was smooth, though. In reality, trouble did not deliberately come looking for you that often. Other than traveling a little slower than when they had come, nothing had changed—except for Shiro.

On the way back, Shiro was like a rabid dog. Whenever he heard news of bandits, he charged over. Those with many evil deeds were killed, while those with fewer crimes were captured and handed over to nearby villages and towns.

Naturally, Shiro was not so proactive merely because he wanted to do good deeds. That was part of it, but his main goal was to improve his combat experience. Leaving aside the fact that the system had told him that awakening Mind's Eye required extensive combat, this mission alone had shown him how lacking his battle experience was. He had nearly been successfully ambushed. And without Yamada's assistance at the time, forget killing them in return—even escaping unscathed would have been difficult!

So Shiro seized this opportunity to speed up the process of absorbing the combat experience he had borrowed.

Only around ten days had passed, but Shiro felt that he had improved tremendously. Although he had participated in the Second Shinobi World War, he had actually survived by keeping his head down. He did not have much combat experience in truth. He had probably fought more battles in this past week than he had in the previous year.

This was basically how Shiro had spent the past year.

"Enemies!"

"Send the signal, retreat!"

"There seem to be enemies ahead!"

"Don't panic, retreat!"

Even during large-scale battles, they tried their best to stay near the middle, because the front was likely to get you killed while the rear made you easy to ambush.

In short, Shiro and the others' strategy was:

Follow your heart!

Thus, Shiro's gains during this time had been considerable. The current Shiro could face the Shiro from ten days ago and win without question!

Moreover, Shiro felt that his Chakra reserves had increased more rapidly during this period than before. This showed that he was gradually developing toward becoming Chakra-ton!

However, happy times always passed quickly. Shiro had only just begun to enjoy the thrill of growing stronger when they had already returned to the village.

After turning in the mission, they should have gone their separate ways. That was how it should have been, but the moment Shiro and the others came out, they discovered that Yamada's wife was already waiting in front of the Hokage Office Building.

"Dear, are you tired? The food must have been terrible, right? Look at you, you've gotten thinner."

"Dear, I'm fine. Didn't I tell you not to come looking for me? Shiro is still single, and you'll only provoke him like this!" Yamada stressed the word "single," then smiled at Shiro as if flaunting it.

Shiro now hated himself for not having Fire-natured Chakra. Otherwise, he would definitely burn Yamada with a single blast! Of course, that did not mean Shiro had no other methods. He would make Yamada remember forever what happened when he flaunted his affection in front of him!

He did not dare provoke Kushina, but a mere Yamada dared to show off?

At once, Shiro took advantage of being a child. First, he acted cute; then, he reported him! After all, Yamada's wife was not familiar with him and did not know what kind of person he was.

"Big sister, are you Teacher Yamada's wife? You're so beautiful!"

"Hehe, thank you for the compliment. You must be Shiro, right? Yamada mentions you often."

His wife might not know Shiro, but did Yamada not know him? This brat was definitely up to no good. Unfortunately, just as he was about to speak, his wife had already started talking to Shiro. If he interrupted now, would that not make it obvious he had a guilty conscience? He did not believe Shiro would let such an opportunity slip by! Sure enough!

"Huh? The pretty big sister beside Teacher Yamada last time said the same thing!"

It was over! He might as well have interrupted! Yamada groaned inwardly, but he had no choice but to stiffen himself and step forward. "Dear, let me explain?"

His wife glanced at him, then turned back to Shiro and asked, "What was your Teacher Yamada doing with that big sister?"

Behind his wife's back, Yamada frantically signaled with his eyes!

Shiro gave him a reassuring expression!