บท 178: 177-Reaction
Another shinobi, who had been sharpening a kunai, looked up, his eyes narrowing. "Do you think they're from one of the major villages?"
The first shinobi shook his head. "Yes, the one who killed Yasu had a forehead protector belonging to Konoha."
A murmur of concern rippled through the group. "Konoha did this?" one of them asked, trying to confirm what Kaya was insinuating. Kaya, who everyone was looking at, nodded his head.
The apparent leader of the group, a tall man with a scar running down his left cheek, spoke. "Did you notice anything else? Any distinguishing features? Or at the very least, can you describe how they looked?"
"Yes, I can," Kaya said.
All these were mercenaries belonging to the Iron Fang Mercenaries, or at least what was left of it. Contrary to what Yano and Minato thought, there were more than just Jounins who were not at the base when they attacked the mercenaries.
The three jounins unaccounted for were heading three groups of chunins and genins on a mission, and it was only after more than a week that they managed to regroup.
Once they did, they all waited for Kaya to shed more light on what happened to their base. Not because Kaya was a jounin who could be depended upon as a leader—in actual sense, Kaya was just a chunin in the organization. However, his sister had been among those who had died in the attack against their base.
Kaya had done something remarkable moments ago. He used one of his clan's techniques that allowed one to view the last memories of a person before they died. This ability only worked on Seito clan members, and the closer they were to the deceased, the better the technique would work.
This ability was very versatile since it depended on one's chakra to trace the connection they had with their target. So even if Minato and his squad had stored the bodies of the Iron Fang mercenaries, the technique could still work.
The memories that Kaya had seen belonged to his sister, Yasu, who was impaled by Renjiro. Since Yasu was killed pretty early on in the exchange, all Kaya saw were the three chunins who he concluded as the ones behind the attack. With Kaya seeing their appearance, the remnants of the Iron Fang Mercenaries would shift their focus to identifying the three.
Back in Konoha, Renjiro's nose twitched. 'Huh, is someone talking about me?' he thought.
Shaking off the superstitious thought, he focused on what he was doing. Renjiro was still engrossed in his training. Despite numerous attempts, he had yet to achieve the combination of Fire and Wind chakra. He let out a frustrated sigh, realizing that this endeavour would require more time and experimentation than he initially thought.
'I knew it would be hard, but not this hard,' Renjiro surmised.
'I guess if it was easy, Hiruzen would already have countless kekkei genkais, considering that he mastered the five chakra natures.'
But he was not one to give up easily. 'I'll get it eventually,' he thought with determination. 'I just need to keep trying.'
Renjiro stood up, stretching his tired muscles. "I guess with one week, all I should do is focus on my basics." With everything decided, Renjiro got back to work.
The week passed in a blur. Renjiro's Bō staff was repaired, which was fortunate for him, but other than that, the week was uneventful. Renjiro locked himself in his house and continuously trained both his body, taijutsu, and ninjutsu. He pushed himself to his limits, determined to be ready for whatever lay ahead.
On the day of the contest, Renjiro got up early and made his way to the police force base. The contest was going to take place in one of the force's training grounds.
It was going to be a closed contest, which Renjiro appreciated. It wasn't that he minded having crowds cheer for their favourites during the contest, he was just more comfortable without them, as it made the stakes higher for him.
As Renjiro made his way to the base, he could sense a mild sense of sombreness in the village.
'Something is up,' Renjiro thought, raising his brow.
He definitely felt that something was wrong but dismissed it and focused on the contest. He quickly arrived at the training ground reserved for the contest.
The training ground was a spacious area surrounded by tall trees. The ground was covered in a mix of dirt and grass, worn from countless training sessions and battles.
As Renjiro entered the training ground, he saw a multitude of shinobi gathered. His fellow competitors were already there, some were talking, some were stretching, and others were practising their techniques.
The morning sun cast long shadows across the field, the light filtering through the trees surrounding the area. The atmosphere buzzed with anticipation and nervous energy.
Renjiro scanned the crowd, his eyes darting from one face to another, searching for someone familiar. Much to his disappointment, he did not locate a single familiar face. Without hesitating, Renjiro quickly joined them, waiting for the event to commence.
As Renjiro waited, he couldn't help but listen to a conversation between some of the shinobi beside him. Their voices carried in the crisp morning air, drawing his attention.
One of them began, "Hey, did you know that they are going to bury him?"
The other asked, "Who?"
The first one berated his friend, his voice tinged with frustration. "The White Fang, who else would I be talking about, you idiot?"
Hearing this, his friend was surprised and asked, "What? He died?"
"Have you been living under a rock? He died some time ago. I was told that he killed himself," his friend answered.
"I was just focusing on this, but why did he kill himself?" he replied.
"Apparently, they said that he couldn't complete a certain mission."
"What? How is that possible? He was the most powerful person in the village behind the Hokage. How could he not complete a mission?" he asked.
"I don't know, maybe he was going up against another Kage."
Renjiro felt a pang of sorrow and confusion as he listened to the conversation.
'So it finally happened. But how come I didn't hear about this? I was just with Hiro a week ago. Maybe it happened while we were outside the village, but I am sure he is not taking this news well.'
'Although they never got into details about the events that led to his mission in the story, I would really like to know which mission caused this sort of Reaction from such a shinobi who was even more powerful than the sannins.'
Just as he was thinking this, a group of people arrived at the training ground. They were ten at most, their presence immediately commanding attention.
When Renjiro saw them, he immediately recognized a few of them. Anyone who served in Konoha's Police Force would quickly realize that these were the leaders of the police force.
Even if they were too slow to catch on, they would still come to this conclusion once they saw Daichi leading the new arrivals.
They all moved with the grace of a seasoned shinobi, their every step exuding confidence and authority. Their expressions were serious and focused.
As soon as the group arrived, they called out to everyone present at the training ground. One of them, a stern-looking man with greying hair in his temples, stood at the centre of the training ground. He raised a hand, calling for silence. His voice, deep and resonant, carried easily over the assembled shinobi.
"Welcome, everyone. Today's contest will determine the new squad leaders. You've all trained hard for this, and now is the time to show your worth."
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