After repelling Zabuza, the rest of the journey was much quieter. There were no more meddlesome fools looking for trouble. Along the way, Kusuo chatted and laughed with Hinata while also looking at his system panel.
[Current Role-Play Percentage: 95.00%.]
It hadn't increased.
Just as I thought. Is it because Zabuza is still alive?
Letting out a long sigh, Kusuo, who had already anticipated this, didn't dwell on it. He sat cross-legged on the boat, placed his sword across his knees, and began to meditate. The previous battle had caused a slight shift in his spiritual world, and he needed to firmly grasp this opportunity. He felt that the Transparent World was not far off.
"Father!"
"Grandpa!"
When they arrived in the Land of Waves, two people were already waiting for them.
"Tsunami! Inari!" Tazuna waved from the boat. The people on the shore were his daughter, Tsunami, and his grandson, Inari.
"Grandpa!" Inari's face lit up with a smile upon seeing his grandfather return safely. But the next second, when he saw the headbands on Asuma, Kusuo, and the others, his expression immediately darkened.
"Hmph!" He let out a cold snort, making the atmosphere very awkward. After seeing his grandfather was safe, he turned and left on his own, leaving Tazuna and his daughter Tsunami to apologize sheepishly.
Tazuna then formally invited Asuma and his team to be guests at his home.
"Wow! This is so delicious! It's amazing!" Naruto exclaimed, stuffing his face with food. In just a few days, the cut on his arm had already mostly healed. As expected of someone with Uzumaki blood, his self-healing ability was impressive.
Kusuo watched with a faint smile. In the later stages of Total Concentration Breathing, by using the breathing method to channel blood and nutrients to a wound, it was theoretically possible to achieve instantaneous self-healing as well. So, he wasn't particularly envious.
At the dinner table, Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, was quietly telling Inari that these people were the good guys who had escorted his grandfather home, unlike the vicious thugs working for Gato. But Inari acted as if he couldn't hear a thing, refusing to give them a pleasant look.
"Hey, why is there a picture hanging here with a corner missing?" Naruto, full and satisfied, began to wander around the house. He scratched his head in confusion, looking at the torn photograph hanging in the most conspicuous spot on the wall.
The moment Naruto's words fell, the atmosphere in the room turned cold.
"That..." Tazuna didn't know how to begin.
"That was my late husband," Tsunami said, turning around from washing the dishes, her voice tinged with what seemed to be a bitter smile.
"Sigh," Tazuna let out a long breath. "He was a man our town called a hero."
But as soon as the word "hero" was spoken, Inari, who had been sitting quietly at the table with a sour look on his face, suddenly slammed down his bowl and chopsticks and ran out of the house.
"Inari!" Tsunami cried out, watching him run out.
"This..." Asuma had no idea what had just happened; it all felt very strange. But instinctively, he knew it had something to do with the man in the torn photograph.
Kusuo drank his post-dinner tea, not paying any of it any mind.
It was Tazuna who, under Naruto's persistent questioning, finally sighed and explained everything. After learning the whole story, Naruto loudly proclaimed that the villain Gato deserved a horrible death and that he would make sure he was punished one day.
Kusuo picked up his sword and turned to leave the room.
"Kusuo, where are you going?" Hinata, who had been watching him, asked.
"Back to my room to rest." With that, Kusuo left.
"What's with him?! Kusuo is so strong, doesn't he feel even a little bit angry? Doesn't he have any desire to teach that bully Gato a lesson?" Naruto trembled with anger, seeing Kusuo's apparent indifference, and slammed his fist on the table.
"Calm down, Naruto. As ninja, completing our mission is our primary duty. It's understandable that Kusuo isn't concerned with these things," Asuma said, stepping in to calm him down.
The group waited in the house for a long time, until late into the night.
"This is terrible! Inari is missing! I can't find him anywhere!" The door was suddenly thrown open, and Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, rushed in, clutching her chest and crying.
"What?" Tazuna shot to his feet. "It's so dangerous outside, and Gato sent so many ninja to intercept us on the road. Inari will definitely be in danger!"
"Did you see which direction he ran in?"
Tsunami wiped her tears. "No, it was already dark when he ran out. I've asked several families, but no one has seen any trace of him."
"Don't worry, I'll help you find your grandson!" Naruto declared, pounding his chest with a look of utmost seriousness, his sense of justice flaring.
Tazuna's eyes filled with grateful tears. He rushed forward and tightly gripped Naruto's hands. "Thank you so much! Thank you!"
After that, everyone went out to search, splitting up.
...
"Inari!"
"Inari, where are you?"
"Come on out, Inari!"
Asuma led Naruto and Hinata, carrying torches, and began a carpet search of the nearby area. Tsunami and Tazuna cupped their hands around their mouths and shouted his name. But they found nothing.
Night fell. By the river, on a small bridge.
"Are you planning to sit here alone until dawn?" a clear, cold voice came from behind.
Kusuo stood with his sword on his back, looking at Inari, who was hugging his knees and crouching by the side of the bridge. He was hiding on the very bridge where he had first met his adoptive father, Kaiza.
"None of your business!" Inari snapped back without turning his head, his tone as arrogant as a king.
"Heh, in all my life, this is the first time anyone has spoken to me with that kind of tone," Kusuo said, amused. "The last person who spoke to me like that was nearly beaten to death by me."
A brat who knew nothing, yet loved to cause trouble for others.
"You!" Inari was choked by the retort, but thinking that the other person was a ninja, he forced himself to hold back. Then another thought occurred to him. We're about the same age, what gives him the right to be stronger than me? What gives him the right to lecture me?
"My business is none of your business! What right do you have to talk to me? You're just a ninja who works for money, no different from those bandits working for Gato!" Inari turned and yelled at Kusuo, as if he were the cause of all the evil in the world.
"Er." Instead of getting angry, Kusuo laughed. It really takes all sorts to make a world.
"So, what are you trying to say? That you can act all deep and wounded outside because you have your family's love and concern? All because of your so-called grief? In my eyes, you're just a selfish little brat."
"You!" Kusuo's merciless taunt was like tearing open an old wound. Inari glared at him with rage. He desperately wanted to charge forward and fight, but seeing the sword on Kusuo's back, he hesitated.
"Heh." Another merciless sneer from Kusuo, his light laugh filled with sarcasm and contempt. "Was I wrong?"
"You take out your anger and resentment on your own family, making everyone risk being captured by Gato to search for you in the middle of the night. You're clearly selfish and a coward, yet you slander your own father along with the other villagers under pressure. You don't even have the courage to praise him as a hero alongside your grandfather. I'm puzzled, where do you get off feeling superior enough to blame others? What a fine, double-standard-having young man you are!"
The cold words were like knives stabbing into Inari's heart. Kusuo continued in a voice only he could hear, "For a brat like you who only causes trouble, I've known how to deal with you since my last life."
"For naughty kids, a good beating is all it takes!"
With that, SPLASH!
Kusuo kicked him into the water.
-------
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