Chapter 248.2: Return To Camp, Educating People
Half a month later at the Leaf’s base camp on the Kikyo Mountain, just after Uchiha Tonan led Hatake Kabuto to the laboratory, Nara Shikaku came to his door. He said with an anxious look, “Tonan-sama, you are finally back.”
Tonan raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, “What’s wrong? Did something happen in the war?”
Shikaku solemnly nodded and replied, “Our assassination squads that entered the Land of Rain have suffered some losses. When all is said and done, there is a great disparity in our military strengths. Each of our squads often has to face two or three enemy village squads at once.”
When Tonan heard this, his tone became distant. “Are you saying you want me to do something about it?” Shikaku saw that Tonan seemed a bit displeased. But he still lowered his head and said, “Yes, Tonan-sama, if possible…”
Honestly speaking, the main forces in this war were the Ino-Shika-Cho clans and the Hyuga clan. Shikaku was distressed because the casualties among his clan ninjas were quite high. Looking at their receding numbers, he wanted to test if he could make Tonan take action and control the losses.
As for the problems that Tonan mentioned earlier, Shikaku honestly didn’t care too much about them. At best, he was hedging his bets with Tonan in the picture. He did not care what eventually happened to him. Tonan was not very different either. It didn’t matter to him whether more people on Konoha’s side died.
As far as he was concerned, most of the Leaf ninjas had already acknowledged him and their deaths were perfect to enhance his strength. He had already gained significantly from it and he did not mind getting more benefits without raising a finger.
In any case, he had already made a big move before, making the allied forces of the two countries retreat. Moreover, he killed Suna’s Kazekage. His military achievement was already significant enough. As long as the last line of defense at Kikyo Mountain didn’t fall, no one could complain about him.
No matter how big the loss was, that would be because the Ino-Shika-Cho and the Hyuga clans were not strong enough, or because the commander-in-chief, Shikaku, was not competent enough. “I’m very sorry but my current state is not suitable for assassination missions. If you can’t bear the losses, you can retreat to Kikyo Mountain. At that time if they come, I’ll make a move.” Tonan resolutely refused Shikaku’s request.
Shikaku was surprised by this but he continued to persuade Tonan. “Kikyo Mountain just occupies the main path. But the paths to the Land of Fire are not limited to one. If we lost too many strongholds in the front, the enemy villages can attack us through the other routes. We really must stop that from happening.”
Seeing that Shikaku had no intention to stop pestering him, Tonan decided to stop pretending to be polite or understanding of the situation. He gave Shikaku a meaningful look and coldly replied, “The other paths are not so easy to traverse. Even if chunin and genin use them, crossing over mountain after mountain will consume their strength and they won’t even be strong enough to lift a kettle. More importantly, my duty is to defend Kikyo Mountain and repel the enemy.”
There was a hint of threat in his tone. When Shikaku saw such an expression from Tonan, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly lowered his head and bowed deeply toward Tonan. He said, “I understand. Please rest well, Tonan-sama.” He then immediately turned around and left.
After walking out of the laboratory, he moved his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and heavily heaved a sigh. Yamanaka Inoichi, who was waiting outside for him for a long time, hastily asked Shikaku as soon as he saw him, “Did Tonan-sama agree?”
Shikaku reached out to pat Inoichi’s shoulder and shook his head helplessly. He said, “Inform Hizashi-sama to call back the Hyuga clan members to the base camp.”
In the laboratory, Kabuto who was standing behind Tonan, weakly called out, “Tonan-san…” Tonan turned around and with a gentle smile on his face, he said, “You don’t need to worry about these things. Come with me. I have got a textbook just for you.”
After speaking, he led Kabuto to the innermost room in the laboratory. In the next moment, he took out a storage scroll from his ninja bag and made hand seals. As soon as he placed his hand on the scroll, a muffled noise came along with a puff of white smoke.
Kabuto was dumbfounded. He saw the ‘textbook’ was indeed many books and scrolls piled up on the ground, which almost touched the ceiling. It was like a hill. “This is…”
Tonan reached out his hand and rubbed Kabuto’s hair. He said with a smile, “The books and scrolls here are just a portion of the basics. You should be able to read them all in about half a year. You don’t need to comprehend them all. You just need to memorize them first. Then, you can start practicing.”
“After a period of practicing, you will need to revisit these to read them again. Repeat it several times, and you’ll learn many new and useful things. This is called the unity of knowledge and practice.”
Kabuto was overwhelmed. The little boy swallowed a mouthful of saliva and nodded his head in a daze. Tonan made a hand seal and created a shadow clone. The clone walked over to the pile of books and gestured at Kabuto. He said, “Come on, we will first sort these out. Then, I’ll teach you how to read. You can ask me if you don’t understand anything.”
Kabuto lowered his head to look at the container in his arms, and asked, “What about Isan…” Tonan, who was beside him, stretched out his hands to pick up the container, and replied, “He’ll be fully developed in a few months. When that time comes, I’ll send someone to take him back to the Konoha Welfare Institution. There are specialized people there to take care of him. After the war is over, you can meet him again.”
Kabuto nodded and fell to his knees. He bowed deeply toward Tonan and said, “Thank you, Tonan-san.” Tonan nodded with satisfaction and left the room with the container. Right now, his priority number one was to get ready and start trying to make human puppets.
