The Journey Home

"Heh, you're not bad either. I hope we can have another match like this sometime in the future."

"Hmm, hopefully."

Although Shiro and the others have finished their competition, the Chunin Ninja Exams are not completely over yet. The Sunagakure and the others still need to discuss and select the ninjas who will advance from this exam.

The Chunin Ninja Exams don't simply make you Chunin just by winning the final round. There's a special assessment team that considers all the candidates' performance to determine whether they advance.

After all, a ninja's strength is not only determined by combat power, but also by other factors.

However, they didn't actually spend much time on it; they had already collected everything they needed to. Therefore, Shiro and the others didn't have to wait long before the results of the assessment team came out. This time, almost all of those who advanced to the top 14 were successfully promoted Chunin.

There are so many people here for one reason: the war has only just ended, and the fighting strength of each village is very strained and needs to be relieved.

Secondly, it is also hoped that this will reassure the villagers and give them more confidence in the village's capabilities.

Although the final result was somewhat lenient, they all actually possessed the qualifications to become Chunin. However, in previous joint Chunin Ninja Exams, only those with Jonin strength were eligible for promotion.

Therefore, this is a special period requiring special measures.

After the exam, Shiro and the others did not return to the village immediately, because Mitokado Homura still needed to discuss cooperation with Sunagakure, but that was not Shiro's concern.

Right now, he and Minato are shopping for gifts. It's a trap that Shiro dug for himself, because he had brought souvenirs a few times before, and now Kushina is forcing him to bring back some local specialties every time he goes out.

However, what made Shiro slightly happier was that Minato also couldn't dodge, and he was even required to avoid repeating any attacks.

Although Shiro once said he would no longer bring gifts but instead treat people to meals, Kushina was not included in that plan.

Because Kushina was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, she was restricted by the Third Hokage and others from leaving the village. Therefore, Shiro and the others could only satisfy Kushina's curiosity in this way, even if it was a bit troublesome.

However, if Minato masters the Flying Thunder God Technique, Kushina's condition should improve significantly, and Shiro can rest assured.

Sometimes Shiro felt that Kushina was really a little pitiful, carrying so much burden at such a young age, and even her world was confined to a small village.

She was all alone in the village, so at first, Shiro did approach Kushina with a purpose. However, as they got to know each other better, Shiro began to feel pity for the little girl.

Although she appears carefree on the outside, she is actually very lonely inside, and she might have been even more silent if it weren't for Minato's appearance.

Fortunately, Minato was like a dazzling light that shone into Kushina's heart, dispelling the darkness within her. Of course, after Shiro appeared, they became two beams of light.

A love story, a family bond.

However, there is a slight disagreement: Shiro treats Kushina as a younger sister, while Kushina treats Shiro as a younger brother. However, Shiro has never told Kushina that people with large amounts of Chakra are generally strong.

To reiterate, from beginning to end, Shiro only ever saw Kushina as a younger sister; he's not a pervert. Shiro is after beautiful older women, not little girls.

Therefore, this is the reason why Shiro is still single, and it's definitely not because he can't find someone!

Shiro and Minato finished shopping in no time; after all, they were two grown men, so shopping was relatively quick.

It's worth mentioning that when Shiro and Minato went shopping, the shopkeeper recognized them and enthusiastically introduced the products to Shiro, but in the end, he didn't even offer them a discount.

This is understandable, though. After all, Shiro and his group are from outside the village, and they were enemies not long ago. The fact that they didn't start cursing in the street shows that they have already restrained themselves quite well.

Forget about discounts or anything like that, so after buying their things, Shiro and the others stayed in their room to cultivate, so as not to go out and get in the way of the villagers.

Finally, two days later, Mitokado Homura had settled their matter, and Shiro and the others set off to return to their village.

This time, unlike before when he left a Shadow Clone Technique and created a clone to cultivate, Shiro focused entirely on his journey and prepared for battle at any moment.

Although Shiro didn't think the Kazekage would let anything happen to him and his Shiro in the Land of Wind, accidents are never a certainty.

But Shiro was clearly not destined to be the protagonist, and they made it out of the Land of Wind without any problems.

At the border of the Land of Wind, the Jonin leading the other squads were waiting there. In front of them stood a white-haired ninja, looking at several Suna Ninja with indifferent eyes.

This is none other than Konoha's White Fang — Hatake Sakumo!

"Elder Mito." After Shiro and the others arrived, White Fang bowed to Mitokado Homura.

"Yes, no need to be so polite, let's go, Sakumo."

"Yes, Elder Mito."

Just as Shiro and the others were slowly leaving the border of the Land of Wind, above the clouds above their heads, Kazekage and the others were standing on a mass of Iron Sand.

"Are you sure? Is it really him?"

"Yes, Lord Kazekage, it is indeed the White Fang of Konoha. He had no intention of hiding his tracks."

"..." Kazekage paused for a moment, then said, "Let's go back and abandon this mission."

Kazekage originally planned to carry out the assassination after Shiro and the others left the Land of Wind, as the combat power he brought with him was more than capable of doing so.

Unfortunately, he didn't expect that the one coming to meet him would be Konoha's White Fang. If it were any other ninja, he would have a better chance of success, but if it were Konoha's White Fang, it would be hard to say. If things went wrong, he himself would be in deep trouble.

Now the Kazekage knows exactly what those Jonin who led the teams were doing during the exams, and the Anbu Jonin sent to investigate them still haven't sent any news.

Kazekage estimated that they were likely in grave danger, which explained why White Fang had appeared at the border without his knowledge.

Meanwhile, after returning, Kazekage also planned to reorganize the Anbu. The enemy was already at their doorstep and they hadn't even noticed. If they didn't reorganize, what would be the point of continuing?

Meanwhile, neither Shiro nor the others realized that Kazekage had actually come once, since Kazekage and his group flew quite high. Therefore, Shiro and the others were still traveling cautiously.

However, apart from a few clueless bounty hunters, Shiro and his companions didn't encounter any high-level enemies along the way.

But this is actually normal. Those who do well in the outside world are generally shrewd and won't recklessly come to their deaths.

The enemies they encountered along the way were mostly dealt with by that rookie team. Unlike in the novel, they didn't feel wronged at all; on the contrary, they were all very excited.

The missions they had done before were all low-level, and they had encountered relatively few battles. In the end, they were all fighting against ordinary people, so they were actually a little impatient.

And so, Shiro and his companions made their way back to the village without incident.

Thank you to Submarine's Lookout, Tenghoulin, and Yan Wangqin for the monthly tickets, thank you to Shuwangzhuang for the reward, and thank you all for your recommendations and subscriptions. Thank you for your support.