Chapter 56: 056: You Gotta Pull Yourself Together!
"You... why did you bring an Uchiha home?"
Back at home, Natsuki looked at the extra little girl with long, straight black hair in his bedroom. (The same age as Itachi, 13 years old.)
Natsuki couldn't help but laugh wryly. Wasn't this Uchiha Izumi, who had taken away Sasuke from the academy? The beauty mark under her right eye was too easy to recognize.
King Arthur, didn't you just activate the attribute of picking up stray "cats and dogs" everywhere?
Don't you know that the Uchiha and the village are at odds right now?
"Um, Master. She just became an orphan and was attacked by a murderer.
"It would have been fine if I hadn't seen it, but I happened to be walking past and saw it. I had to save her.
"Master, please take her in, she's so pitiful."
Artoria's eyes were full of pity.
"No, even if we take her in. If ANBU finds out eventually, she'll be assassinated.
"We have to find a way to get her out."
Natsuki looked at Izumi, who had been cleaned up by King Arthur and changed out of her dirty Uchiha uniform.
She was now wearing his older sister Kurenai's pajamas.
Her slightly thin body was curled up in the oversized clothes, hugging her knees in the corner of the bed, looking extremely pitiful.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Natsuki gently poked her with his finger.
"Mom!"
Izumi slowly turned her head, looked at Natsuki, and softly called out.
Her beautiful big eyes didn't reflect Natsuki's image at all, having already lost their luster, as if she had closed herself off from the entire world.
"What's going on? Was the shock too much for her?"
Natsuki turned his head and asked King Arthur.
"I don't know either. When I met her, she was still very energetic, using all kinds of hidden weapons to fight that man.
"Maybe she hit her head when he pulled her to the ground with his chains, or maybe she shut herself down because she couldn't avenge her family.
"Damn it, that masked man's abilities were too strange. I couldn't catch him and he ran away."
Artoria said fiercely.
Obito's Kamui, aside from anything else, was truly the best escape tool.
"This won't do. You're an Uchiha, you have to pull yourself together!"
Natsuki put his arms under Izumi's armpits to make her stand up.
Unfortunately, she was limp, like a marionette that had lost its control.
More importantly, Natsuki was several years younger than her and hadn't reached puberty yet.
The height difference was significant. Even when her upper body was upright, her legs were still kneeling.
"What should we do? Let's find a way to get her back to her senses first."
Just then, a knock came from the door, "Knock, knock, knock!"
"Natsuki, who are you talking to? Open the door quickly, Konoha is not safe tonight, I'll look after you tonight."
Kurenai's voice came from outside the door.
"Sis, I'm fine. I'm asleep, I was just talking in my sleep."
Natsuki quickly shouted, while stuffing Izumi under the covers.
"Hmph! Are you trying to fool a child? How can you answer me while you're asleep? If you don't open the door right now, I'll break it down."
"Uh, coming, coming."
Natsuki quickly jumped out of bed and had King Arthur enter stealth mode, planning to have her take care of Izumi later.
He trotted over and just as he opened the door, his sister Kurenai scooped him up in her arms.
"Hmph! What were you doing? Were you too scared to sleep? Don't worry, after picking you up from the Academy, I've been guarding the door the whole time. There are no bad guys here."
Kurenai glanced at the room, didn't find anything unusual, and then lifted Natsuki up high.
"Did you wet the bed?"
"What are you talking about? I'm a big man now. Put me down. Hey! where are you looking?"
"Hummm! Really? Don't be afraid, I'll stay with you tonight."
"Stay with me to wet the bed and blame it on me later?"
"You little rascal! Of course, I just want to put you to sleep."
"Ah~~ Kurenai! Are you even listening to me? I've really grown up, I'll be ten in two years."
"Hmm?" Kureni's eyebrows were rising a bit too fast.
"Uh, let's go to your room."
...
Hokage's office;
Dawn had just broken, and the sky was beginning to lighten.
The Third Hokage, with bandages and his left arm in a sling asked, "You couldn't catch him either?"
Danzo, leaning on his crutch, gritted his teeth: "No, that Hero King is too fast, no one can catch up to him. And even if we did, a small group of ninjas wouldn't be his match."
"What about the rest? It seems like a group of Uchiha escaped earlier."
Koharu, with a bandage on her forehead, waved her hand: "Don't ask me, I''m having a really bad headache right now!"
Homura, sitting in a wheelchair, responded: "Yes, and we've sent people to chase them. But it seems that detestable golden pineapple took care of them beforehand."
"Damn it, continue to send troops to track their movements..."
"Danzo, didn't you say you still have a spy on their side?"
"Yes, that radical Uchiha Yudoku is my man. I promised him that as long as Fugaku and the others are completely dealt with, he would become a Konoha ninja, just like that Sasuke. However...hehe... the Uchiha are still too naive."
"This link cannot be broken, we must continue to maintain contact. Uchiha Fugaku and that Hero King are the key."
Hiruzen, while speaking, took out his pipe, wanting to take a puff of tobacco, then realized his left arm was just broken, making his movements suddenly uncoordinated.
He couldn't help but sigh:
"Are we really old?"
The elders were all slumped over, half-lying in their seats.
Even Danzo, who was always ambitious and constantly stirring up trouble, felt exhausted after being killed once and having most of his Sharingan snatched.
"Why are you all like this? What kind of example would we be setting If the younger generation sees us like this?
"You gotta pull yourselves together!"
The Third Hokage, the God of Shinobi, couldn't help but encourage his companions.
"Come on, we didn't get any benefits this time, you took all that was there.
"Don't bother me, I need to rest."
Homura lay back in his wheelchair, his back slumping again.
He felt so tired...
Perhaps, it's really was time to carefully cultivate the next generation of talents...
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