"No, facing such a powerful enemy, you did very well."
Hiruzen said with a smile. "Besides, your mission was only to investigate Orochimaru's base. Successfully stopping Orochimaru's scheme is already a great achievement. Don't be discouraged."
Shino and Kiba looked at each other.
Kiba looked surprised, while Shino's gaze, hidden behind his sunglasses, was unreadable.
"Exactly as you said."
Kiba lowered his voice.
"I was just stating the facts."
Shino pushed up his sunglasses, looking as if everything was under control.
Takumi couldn't help but smile secretly.
After listening to some more praise from Hiruzen, the four were finally dismissed.
Of course, the mission wasn't a failure; in fact, it was exceeded expectations.
After all, they had indeed stopped Orochimaru's scheme.
There was no doubt about this.
Leaving the Hokage Tower, Takumi immediately fulfilled his promise.
He called the young Shinobi to their usual yakiniku restaurant.
When the restaurant owner saw Choji, and also Hinata hiding behind the others, his eyes immediately lit up.
He hurriedly told the kitchen to get ready and then eagerly approached Takumi.
"It is an honor for my humble restaurant to have Takumi-kun visit."
The owner chuckled. "To thank Takumi-kun for coming, everyone's drinks are on the house."
Anyway, these were just kids; they wouldn't order alcohol.
The cost of soft drinks was very low, nothing compared to the large amount of meat they were likely to sell next.
This was called 'you have to spend a little to make a lot'.
"Then thank you, boss."
Takumi said with a smile. "I'll be a frequent customer from now on."
"Thank you very much."
Having achieved his goal, the owner didn't waste any more of their time and immediately had the meat served.
While Takumi was feasting with everyone,
A lonely figure was sweating it out on the training ground.
"Not enough, still far from enough..."
Sasuke panted heavily, his hands on his knees.
His Susano'o flickered in and out of existence, as if his Pupil Power had reached its limit.
At this moment, his Susano'o was still only at the half-body stage, covered in armor.
For someone his age, being able to achieve this was already a very astonishing thing.
But having witnessed the Susano'o battle between Takumi and Itachi, Sasuke knew this was far from Susano'o's full power.
Susano'o still had great potential for development.
When he first obtained these eyes and Susano'o, Sasuke had been intoxicated by this fierce power.
He thought he was invincible and blindly challenged Takumi.
But the result was that he suffered a crushing defeat without even drawing out Takumi's true strength.
Takumi hadn't even used Susano'o; he had simply defeated Sasuke's Susano'o with pure physical strength.
At that moment, Sasuke deeply felt the immense gap between him and Takumi.
But he was still very unwilling.
He couldn't believe it.
As a contemporary, the gap between him and Takumi could be so vastly different.
He had thought he was a genius, but compared to Takumi, he looked like a mediocrity.
Although he knew he was no match for Takumi, Sasuke simply couldn't accept it.
He challenged Takumi many times again.
But each time he returned in miserable defeat, and in front of everyone.
This made his heart increasingly despair.
But he was a person with a strong enough heart.
Sasuke still carried the deep hatred of his clan; he was not someone easily defeated.
For revenge, he was willing to give everything, even his own life, to obtain the power to achieve revenge.
Now, the power was within him, but he still needed to work hard to train it.
"Someday, Itachi! I will definitely kill you!"
An intense hatred flickered in Sasuke's eyes, but within that hatred, another emotion was hidden.
Even Sasuke himself hadn't noticed this other emotion.
Besides Sasuke, who didn't go to eat the yakiniku Takumi treated, there was another person who was very frustrated.
"Why isn't he here yet..."
Deidara sat bored in a chair, kneading a lump of clay in his hands, shaping it into various forms.
Sasori silently manipulated his scissors, cutting hair for three customers at the same time, ignoring Deidara.
Ever since Deidara arrived two days ago, he had to endure his dozens of daily complaints.
The complaints were nothing but about why Takumi hadn't come to see him yet.
As for why Deidara was in Konoha, Sasori didn't care.
Having already left the Akatsuki and become a barber, he had no interest in what was happening in the Shinobi World.
He just wanted to live quietly like this until he got tired of living, then end his own life.
In a sense, Sasori had already achieved the immortality Orochimaru sought.
After all, Sasori's original body had been made into a puppet, with only a lump of flesh in his chest used to refine Chakra.
In terms of lifespan, he could live for a very, very long time, unless he was killed or decided he no longer wanted to live.
Compared to Orochimaru's method of needing to change bodies every so often, Sasori's method had the advantage of not requiring such complicated follow-up processing.
But at the same time, he also lost the possibility for further growth.
"I miss Takumi-senpai so much..."
Deidara turned over, resting his upper body on the table, staring at the ceiling.
"If you just wanted to keep rambling, get the hell out."
Sasori said flatly, with no emotional fluctuation in his voice.
But judging by his choice of words, he was already very dissatisfied with Deidara.
"Sasori-danna, you go about your business. Don't mind me."
Deidara waved casually, indicating not to worry about him.
Swish-
Thump!
Deidara turned his head, looking at the scissors embedded next to his ear, still humming and vibrating, and couldn't help but swallow.
"Next time, I won't miss."
Sasori said calmly.
"Tch, I thought you had gotten nicer, Sasori-danna. I didn't expect you were still this irritable."
Deidara curled his lip, stood up, and walked to the door.
He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't step out.
He was, after all, an undocumented person in Konoha.
Although he was now disguised and hadn't exposed his identity,
If he was discovered, he would either be captured, tortured, and interrogated, or expelled from Konoha to prevent him from causing a big explosion and destroying the place.
After all, what he had done in Sunagakure was known to everyone.
The people of Konoha didn't want him to pull the same stunt here.
But if he stayed in the shop, he was really afraid Sasori would kill him.
Although he had been a bit careless, he had to admit he hadn't seen the speed of that scissors at all.
It was just too fast.
"I heard Takumi-sama completed another big mission!"
"Do you know what mission Takumi-sama accomplished?"
"Wait? You know? Come on, tell me quickly!"
"Heh heh, you're buying drinks tonight."
"I'll buy, I'll buy! Just tell me already, you bastard!!"