Meanwhile, the Suna team was heading back to Suna.
Their mood was very bright; none of them could fully contain their excitement.
Haha, those brats were tough, but alas, they were no match for us, especially in their weakened state. Of course, the Suna team did lose some members after the clash, but in turn they managed to wipe out that Konoha team while also completing their mission, so overall it was a victory for them.
When you also factor in the fact that those brats they killed were likely meant to become future Konoha powerhouses, it was brilliant work. If these brats were allowed to reach their peaks, they would only become more trouble for Suna later.
Especially the young one who used a sword, who looked as if he could be even more troublesome in the future, so by killing him they took out a threat that could plague the battlefield in the upcoming war.
They did their village a huge service by finishing them now.
They got the miracle plant and killed Konoha scum; they might be promoted after this.
Yeah, for Suna, the Third Shinobi War was inevitable.
The Suna team retrieved their defeated members and ran toward Suna.
Meanwhile
Shintoki and his friends waited somewhere to recover first.
Once they had eaten and made sure all their injuries were taken care of, they started to plan their departure.
Ever since he saw Shintoki use those water tricks, the child, barely six years old, had been relentless about how cool it was and about wanting to learn it.
Shintoki had promised the kid who helped them find the plant to return in the future to check on him from time to time.
He also gave him a bit of money. As for Anko, she offered him a bit more dango.
They then left the kid with the old lady who had told them about the village so she could take care of him before they turned back and left.
They were preparing to return when they got another mission via a summoning bird that wanted Shintoki and Guy to escort someone. They had to join that person on his way.
Anko had to return with the rest of the team to Konoha to deliver the plant to Orochimaru. Then, once they studied it, they would see how they could incorporate it to strengthen Konoha's medicine.
So genin Shintoki and chunin Maito dashed in the direction indicated by the letter.
Back in Suna
Three days later
The Suna team finally made it into the village and raced toward the Kazekage Tower. Once there, they gave their report. They talked about the team they encountered and how they swiftly took them down.
"Well done, you three. To think you actually found it." Chiyo was genuinely pleased.
"Give me the plant." For some reason, Chiyo had a bad premonition.
After studying it, her premonition seemed to be confirmed. She realized something, having recognized the plant they brought her.
"You three say you found the plant? Hm? This is not it." Her eyes were dark and her face showed clear irritation.
"What happened in the mission?"
After recounting everything,
Chiyo sighed and dropped the truth: they had been fooled. Someone in the Konoha team must have seen right through their play and prepared a fake plant beforehand.
"I have overestimated you three. You clearly weren't ready for this mission."
At that, the Suna team dropped their heads.
Rasa, seeing they had failed, watched them coldly.
He had become Kazekage not long ago. A few years ago, the Third Kazekage had vanished, and Suna had no other choice than to choose another Kazekage.
"You three are truly worthless. You can't even bring back a plant. Now, because of you, Suna has lost another thing that could help us in the upcoming war."
Shintoki and Guy were moving to meet the person they had to escort.
The person was accompanied by Ebisu and Genma, and they set off again to accomplish the mission.
Moving toward the Land of Birds,
On their way, they ran into some mercenaries and bandits, which they quickly neutralized.
They were then encircled by ronin.
These ronin were more like thugs, he noticed with a sign of relief.
Shintoki had thought that most of the ronin were at chunin level, but it turned out he was wrong. The majority of them weren't even as strong as a genin, and only a few of them were as strong as genin. As for the ronin who are super strong, with strength on par with chunin or jōnin, those have either been trained by someone from the great villages or received formation from the Land of Iron, which has elite-level swordsmen guarding the land.
After all the progress I have made, even ignoring the Ketsuryugan, I'm no longer worried about fighting a chunin.
This strength is more than enough to deal with these ronin.
Shintoki summoned shuriken carrying his arrow array formula and launched them toward the enemy ranks.
When they were near them, they flashed and multiple other weapons were launched toward the enemy lines.
Due to the proximity, they were taken off guard and instantly hit.
"Arg…"
"Slice…"
The kunai that carried explosive tags also exploded on them.
Boommm.
One of the ronin, seeing this, got angry and attacked Shintoki from behind, stabbing through him.
But instead of blood, water started expanding and glowing with chakra, as if it was about to detonate.
Boom!
The ronin's body was launched back like a cannonball and smashed through the wooden castle.
An exploding water clone took a soon-to-be-promoted-to-jōnin off guard (a chunin who would be promoted as a tobusku jōnin in a few months).
Shintoki was moving like a phantom. Every apparition was like a ghost, thanks to constantly using genjutsu to create afterimages that vanished and appeared everywhere to fool the enemies.
Each strike was precise and unparriable to the opponents.
Meanwhile,
Guy was facing other ronin with his nunchaku,
smashing them left and right without any resistance.
They couldn't keep up with Guy's speed.
After dealing with some bandits and ronin whose strength was pitiful, they reached their destination.
Thankfully, no further complications.
Ebisu and Genma remained with the client to guard him in case someone still managed to get past Shintoki and Guy.
Then, after that, they resumed their journey.
After another four days, they left the Land of Birds.
It took them another day and a half to make it back into Konoha.
Mission accomplished.
Shintoki didn't waste time. After securing his payment, he vanished toward Guy for taijutsu training.
Guy was in the middle of making a breakthrough, and Shintoki couldn't miss that.