Complete the Mission

The ninja remained expressionless. In response to Li Yi's thanks, he merely gave a slight nod.

Li Yi didn't dwell on it and followed the ninja into the base camp. Only then did the ninja withdraw the green glow from his hand. After bowing to the people inside, he used the Body Flicker Technique and left.

At the head of the Konoha Base Camp stood a rather imposing ninja. Li Yi could faintly make out the younger features of the Third. He figured this man must be the future Third of Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Five others stood beside him. One had short, tousled hair and two scar-like marks beneath his eyes. He exuded an air of severity, with none of the gloomy look he would have in the future.

At this point, Shimura Danzō wasn't yet Root, hidden beneath Konoha's great tree.

The others were presumably members of Konoha's F4: Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.

The other two were the plump Akimichi Kufū and Kagami Uchiha.

With all six of them looking at him, Li Yi said, "My lords, my name is Li Yi. The Second gave me this scroll and asked me to deliver it to Sarutobi Hiruzen of Konoha."

As he spoke, Li Yi took a scroll from his robes and held it out.

The man in the middle spoke up. "I am Sarutobi Hiruzen."

Li Yi's guess had been right. He respectfully placed the scroll on the table in front of them. Sarutobi Hiruzen picked it up and nodded. "It's something from my teacher."

With that, he formed Hand Seals, and the scroll quickly opened.

Sarutobi Hiruzen began reading. When he finished, he looked at Li Yi and asked, "My teacher says he wants you to join Konoha. Are you willing?"

Li Yi hadn't expected the Second to mention this in the scroll, so he quickly nodded. It was a no-brainer. Konoha was the only safe place now. As for the other small villages, who knew when they might be wiped out?

Sarutobi Hiruzen tossed the scroll to Li Yi. Li Yi scrambled to catch it, then looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen in confusion. Why had he thrown the scroll back to him?

Sarutobi Hiruzen explained, "There are two ninjutsu on the scroll as well. They're gifts from my teacher to thank you! Li Yi, your name is unusual. Don't you have a surname?"

Li Yi smiled but said nothing. Plenty of people here didn't have surnames; after all, not everyone came from a clan.

Sarutobi Hiruzen clearly didn't intend to press the matter. Instead, he said, "My teacher rarely gives people scrolls of ninjutsu. I hope you'll practice these two well. You may yet become an excellent ninja one day."

Li Yi was delighted. A scroll of ninjutsu was great news. He hadn't expected the Second to be so generous.

Sarutobi Hiruzen clapped his hands, and a ninja entered. "Go tell Maruboshi Kosuke to escort Li Yi back to Konoha. He's one of us now."

The ninja acknowledged the order and hurried out.

Li Yi quickly thanked them too, then followed the ninja outside. Whatever Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others discussed had nothing to do with him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others had just been discussing how to rendezvous with their teacher. Now that they had the information, they immediately began making arrangements.

As for Li Yi, none of them gave him much thought. They could all see he was just an ordinary person—an ordinary person who'd gotten lucky and happened to meet the Second. More importantly, he'd also run into Maruboshi Kosuke. Otherwise, Li Yi would never have made it to the Konoha Base Camp.

Outside, Maruboshi Kosuke had evidently received Sarutobi Hiruzen's order. "You're Li Yi, right? Come with me. I'll take you back to Konoha!"

Li Yi smiled. "Thanks, Kosuke."

Maruboshi Kosuke nodded and led Li Yi out of the camp, sprinting toward Konoha.

Kosuke didn't say much along the way. Whenever Li Yi couldn't keep up, Kosuke carried him on his back. During those times, Li Yi took out the scroll and studied it, curious about what ninjutsu the Second had given him.

When he opened the scroll, the text at the beginning was gone. Sarutobi Hiruzen had evidently erased it. There was writing farther down, and Li Yi saw that it was a sword technique—the famous Dance of the Crescent Moon.

Li Yi remembered Gekko Hayate using it in Naruto. He hadn't known it was a sword technique developed by the Second.

Turning the scroll over, Li Yi found the Multi Shadow Clone Technique.

Those were the only two techniques on the scroll. Li Yi sighed. He'd been getting ahead of himself. He'd thought there might be something like the Flying Thunder God Technique, but apparently that had just been wishful thinking.

Still, getting two techniques was already pretty good. In this era, it was very difficult to acquire ninjutsu.

Clans didn't casually share their inherited techniques. And it wasn't like several decades later, when some ninjutsu would be common knowledge. Right now, even the Fireball Technique was probably a clan secret.

On Kosuke's back, Li Yi memorized the scroll. He didn't know why, but he could remember something after reading it just once. The problem was, he didn't have even a trace of chakra, so trying to use the techniques was a pipe dream.

After tucking the scroll into his robes, Li Yi asked, "Kosuke, could you teach me how to refine chakra? The Second gave me ninjutsu, but he didn't teach me how to refine it."

Kosuke paused, then remembered that Li Yi would be a member of Konoha from now on—and that the Second had personally recruited him. On top of that, the Second had given him two techniques himself. Teaching him how to refine chakra should be fine.

"Sure. I'll teach you when we get to Konoha," Kosuke promised.

Li Yi was delighted. That meant he didn't have to find another way to learn how to refine chakra.

After several days on the road, they didn't encounter any ninjas or shinobi from other villages on the return trip. Li Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief. They'd made it safely to Konoha.

Konoha wasn't as prosperous as it would be in the future, but plenty of people were already hawking goods on the streets. The village seemed to be thriving.

Kosuke took Li Yi to his home. "Until the Second returns, you can stay here. Here's some money. It should cover your living expenses for a while. And this is the method for refining chakra. I have to go back to the battlefield, so I can't stay with you."

After leaving him the key, Kosuke hurried off.

Li Yi opened his mouth, then decided against saying anything. Kosuke had already taken care of everything for him. What more could he ask?