Asuma's Departure

Tō'u gritted her teeth, and actually wanted to run out through the window to chase after Asuma, who had left long ago.

Seito's expression changed drastically, a hint of obscure jealousy flashing in his eyes. He grabbed Tō'u and shouted in a low voice, "Are you crazy? Are you going to follow Asuma to your death as well?"

Tō'u's gaze was complex. "Seito, aren't we all members of the Twelve Guardian Ninja? We should be watching out for and helping each other."

Seito snorted coldly. "We've all earnestly advised him these past few days, and even taken turns guarding him. It's he who is stubborn and insists on leaving; how are we supposed to stop him? Didn't you hear Chiriku say? This is his own business!"

At this moment, the other two members of the Lightning Release Four arrived as well.

Seeing the two of them, Seito's eyes lit up, and he urged hurriedly, "Kitane, Natsuhi, you guys quickly talk some sense into Tō'u. She wants to go help Asuma Sarutobi! Tell me if she's crazy."

Kitane startled. "Asuma left?"

He stepped inside to take a look, and sure enough, Asuma's figure was nowhere to be found in the room.

As for Natsuhi, he grasped the main point and quickly stepped forward to persuade her. "Tō'u, don't act on impulse. We still have the duty of guarding the Daimyō. Asuma wanting to leave—that's understandable, as he has a deep grudge to settle, but what's the deal with you wanting to leave too?"

A struggle appeared in Tō'u's eyes. Under the persuasion of several people, she let out a soft sigh, and never spoke again of chasing after Asuma to help.

Seeing Tō'u back down, the other three members of the Lightning Release Four finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In their view, the probability of Asuma succeeding in his revenge was practically zero.

They admitted that although Asuma's strength was quite good and even faintly surpassed theirs, the four of them did not rely on solo combat. The reason they were called the Lightning Release Four was because the power they unleashed together when united was even greater.

So what if Asuma's strength was greater than theirs?

For powerful Jonin like Asuma, the village of Konoha probably had plenty more.

Not to mention that Asuma's enemy was the Uchiha clan, hailed as the number one noble family in the Ninja World.

Asuma Sarutobi running back there on a whim now was simply courting death.

They had been colleagues with Asuma for several years after all, and watching him go back to his death like this did not sit well with them either. However, they had already done everything they possibly could, and since Asuma refused to listen to them and insisted on going back to die, there was nothing they could do.

Although Tō'u's feelings for Asuma were well hidden, they couldn't be kept from the three of them. They could understand Tō'u wanting to chase after him to help, but as for asking them to do the same—that was impossible!

Given their friendship as colleagues for several years, all they could do at this moment was to silently wish Asuma smooth sailing in their hearts.

Chiriku sighed, uttered a chant of Amitabha Buddha, and returned to his own room.

Meanwhile, Asuma traveled overnight, just managing to burst out of the capital.

Asuma Sarutobi stopped on a large tree, looking back at the large city where he had stayed for a few years. Seeing that no one was chasing after him, a sense of relief washed over his heart, accompanied by a touch of desolation.

Immediately afterward, he put all his emotions away, gritted his teeth, and continued on his journey.

"Father, Konohamaru..."

With a pair of bloodshot eyes, Asuma Sarutobi's facial expression was incomparably ferocious. Damned Uchiha, I will make you pay with blood!

He sprinted all the way in the direction of Konoha.

Two days later.

Konoha.

The Uchiha Compound, the patriarch's house.

Opening his eyes in the morning, Takuya saw sunlight spilling onto the ground through the gaps in the curtains and instinctively felt for the futters beside him, which were empty as expected.

The room's soundproofing wasn't very well, and he could faintly hear the clamoring voices of the two little troublemakers, Naruto and Sasuke, downstairs.

Takuya came to the windowsill and stretched out a huge lazy stretch. "Another beautiful day."

He shuffled down the stairs in his slippers, just in time to see Naruto and Sasuke fighting over the television remote control.

He couldn't help cursing, "Day in and day out, there are only three channels on TV, who knows what they're fighting over!"

Seeing the dignified, tall man descend from the stairs, Naruto and Sasuke, who were fighting over the remote, paused their actions and shouted out in unison.

"Big uncle! You're awake!"

Naruto yelled happily.

Sasuke didn't fall behind either, shouting, "Father."

During this period, Sasuke could clearly sense that his father seemed like a different person, being much more amiable toward him and lacking his previous severe attitude. This also allowed him to let out a sigh of relief, losing his prior fear of Lord Father.

After shouting their greetings, Sasuke resumed fighting for the remote control. "Darn Naruto, you lost last night! Today's remote belongs to me; are you trying to go back on your word?"

As it turned out, the two of them had agreed on a game of rock-paper-scissors before going to bed last night, with the winner gaining the viewing rights to the television for the entire day today.

Clutching the remote and refusing to let go, Naruto muttered, "I don't remember! Ah! Wasn't I the one who won last night! Today is supposed to be my turn!"

Seeing Naruto claim not to remember one second and then immediately change his tune to say he won, Sasuke, knowing that he wanted to renege, shrieked loudly, "Darn Naruto, you big idiot!"

"Sigh, these two ill-fated kids, they're so noisy day in and day out."

Takuya shook his head helplessly, heading straight for the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Seeing Mikoto busy making breakfast in the kitchen, he figured he had better wash up quickly.

Sure enough, just as he finished brushing his teeth and prepared to wash his face, he heard Mikoto's call: "Honey, hurry up, hurry up, getting ready to eat noodles."

"Yeah, coming right up, you guys eat first."

Takuya answered back in a muffled voice, hastily wiped his face, and walked quickly into the living room.

He saw several large bowls of steaming hot noodles set before the dining table, each bowl topped with a soft-boiled egg, looking and smelling delicious.

Sasuke and Naruto sat backwards on their chairs, watching television with relish, while Mikoto was packing their schoolbags for the two of them. Neither of them had started eating yet.

Knowing that they were waiting for him, Takuya hurried over and sat down.

"Let's eat, let's eat."

Takuya greeted them.

Naruto was the first to react, swiftly picking up his bowl of noodles and eating them in large mouthfuls.

Sasuke glanced sideways at Naruto, eating his noodles with elegant movements.

Previously, the habit of this household was to eat plain white rice in the morning as well, but Takuya still wasn't quite used to it, so he had asked Mikoto to cook noodles for breakfast instead.

Furthermore, previously there were no chairs and everyone ate while sitting in the seiza posture on the floor, but Takuya had sought out Yamato and brought out chairs.

He always felt that sitting in seiza was very awkward and he just wasn't used to it.

After finishing his noodles, Takuya sat to the side picking his teeth with a toothpick, lost in thought, when he heard Mikoto say, "Honey, come back early today. I invited Nonō over to our house as a guest."

Takuya nodded with an affirmative hum. During their idle chat before falling asleep last night, Mikoto had already told him about her relationship with Yakushi Nonō.

Learning for the first time that Uchiha Mikoto and Yakushi Nonō had been close friends in their childhood, Takuya had also been quite amazed.

He hadn't expected the two of them to have a connection.

"All right, little ones, it's time for us to head out!"

Takuya clapped his hands and went to the entryway to change his shoes.