Land of Hot Water.
Swish!
"The ore scroll is not here!"
"It's seems the kiri shinobi managed to escape with it!"
The kumo squad checked the whole battlefield and quickly found the unconscious kumo shinobi, though not the ore scroll.
The dead body of Mitsuaki didn't have it on him either, and they knew no way Mitsuaki alone would have attacked the squad which had two tails jinchuriki and grey demon in it.
Clearly he had accomplices and the battlefield which had traces of different jutsu used also pointed towards it.
Definitely an all out battle had happened here just a while ago, though Kiri supposedly emerging victorious, as they were able to snatch the ore and escape.
"Half of you take the injured back, others come with me, we are look for them on every route that leads to Kirigakure!"
"Yes!"
Ordered the Kumo jonin who was the captain, the rest acting on his orders, quickly the whole squad departing in the direction opposite to Naoki.
---------------------
Land Of Fire.
The sky had turned pitch black, stars mattered all over, the crescent moon managing to lighten the long and dense forest somewhat.
Click!
In a rather clear area with tall woods around, fire was burning as few small rabbits tied with a wood stick were being grilled over it.
Around the fire a total of seven bodies lay, all seemed unconscious, some dust on there attire and face, looking rough.
Next to the passed out people, on a wooden log sat a figure donned in a black battle gear and grey pants, on his shoulder rested a sheathed sword, black eyes with a calm look on the fire before him.
His exposed arms and ankles had white bandages coiled around them, even his whole body under the battle gear was covered in bandages.
But despite being wounded, he showed no sign of pain or discomfort, just patiently looking at the rabbits being grilled.
"Thud!"
Finally one of the rabbits seemed to have grilled enough, Naoki calmly removing it from the stick and immediately munching down on it.
In the silence of the night forest, Naoki continued to grill and eat, as the more he consumed the better he got, the exhaustion on his face slowly fading away.
Umm...
While Naoki was calmly gawning on the meat, the people around him starting to wake up.
The first to wake up was Tsunade, her senju physique granting her the quickest recovery, after her the jonin Kagami and Torifu, and them the rest.
"Where is this....Pureland?"
Asked out Tsunade in a daze while looking at the unfamiliar dark surroundings, the last thing she remembers is her being poisoned and that fuzzy figure, after that everything went dark.
There was no way the enemy that had caught them off guard would have let them go, so most likely she was dead already.
Others who woke up also had confused faces like Tsunade, to them there was no way they would have survived after how they got incapacitated.
"Get a grip! You're all alive!"
Said Naoki clearing the confusion of the group, couldn't help but doing so after listening to there guesses.
"Here!"
His voice took everyone's attention, surprised seeing him, though Naoki ignored there reaction and quickly stretched the grilled meat towards them along with some water, being a medical shinobi knowing the first thing they needed now was some energy.
The explanation can be left for later.
Feeling there weak bodies, Kagami and others put there questions aside for the moment and began to dig in, Naoki having left some for them.
Click!
Soon everyone was done eating, around the fire in a circle sat the whole squad, Naoki explaining and others listening patiently, at the end he taking out a scroll and handing it to Kagami.
"So you're saying someone who we are not aware of saved us Naoki-Kun"
"And not only just helping us, he even left the mission target, the ore scroll for us so that we can complete our mission"
"Do you even believe that yourself?"
After Naoki finished his explanation, Sayuri without wasting a second questioned him with a funny look in her eyes, his explanation was too simple and almost sounded like fantasy, everything just happened in there favour like divine help.
"As said earlier I woke up a few hours before you guys in this jungle, what I told you is the most likely to have occurred guess, can you come up with any other explanation of this bizzare occurrence?"
"We are smart enough to at least not guess that the enemy spared us!"
....
Responded Naoki calmly and with no change of expression on his face, everyone going silent at his response.
True, they couldn't think of any other sensible reason aside from the one Naoki came up behind this strange occurrence.
There was no way the enemy had spared them and even offered there year worth of ore, and the thought Naoki had defeated the enemy and saved them didn't come close to there mind.
It was even more absurd to imagine Naoki defeating a squad comprised of five special jonin and one elite jonin than enemy sparing them.
(I know some people want mc to reveal his power but the path he has choosen for future, that I still haven't fully explained forces him to hide as much as he can, of course it will eventually be revealed)
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