Water bears at the beginning, wet bone forest eating old people

"He's so good~ Ouch!"

Ding Zuo held Chuan Zang in his arms and fed him his snacks bit by bit.

Just as I said "be good", Chuan Zang kicked me in the face for no reason.

"Little Fatty, you're trying to choke me to death by feeding me such a big piece of potato chips!"

When these words came out of Chuan Zang's mouth, they turned into a whimpering protest. Because he was too young, his vocal cords were not fully developed.

Minato forced a smile beside him, but he still couldn't be happy.

There were three of us when we came, and six of us when we left.

The three-person team, plus White Fang, Chuan Zang, and Xin Zang's body in the sealed scroll that White Fang carried with him.

It was Fugaku's decision to have White Fang be responsible for transporting Shinzo's body back to Konoha. Sanda and Konoha have temporarily ceased fighting, and the River Country front does not require much combat power.

Moreover, White Fang's reputation is slightly higher than that of the commander Uchiha Fugaku. Even though many of the Konoha ninjas on the River Country front are Uchiha, there are more ordinary ninjas.

White Fang followed silently at the end of the team, his mind full of the scene of Shinzo asking him to find the Sand Ninja master.

He had some suspicions that Shinzo knew that the Sand Ninja's masters would actually cross the Konoha front to find him.

But he didn't know why Xinzang did this. Would a person deliberately kill himself?

This feeling of conflict always lingered in White Fang's mind and could not be shaken off.

In three days, the entire team hurried back to Konoha. The first thing Choza did after arriving in Konoha was to go back to his own barbecue restaurant to prepare dinner.

Aburame Shiwei went to hand in the task, while White Fang came to the Hokage's office with Minato holding Kawazo.

"Sandaime-sama."

"White Fang, you're back."

Hiruzen looked a bit older than when he first took over as Hokage.

That old smoker had really become an old smoker now, the surface was a bit patinated, but Hiruzen was still smoking.

"Sandaime-sama, this is... Mr. Shinzo's body."

White Fang handed the Sealing Scroll to Hiruzen.

Hiruzen hesitated for a moment, but still reached out and took the scroll.

Sighs echoed in the Hokage's office, and within two seconds, Minato could no longer bear the suppressed regret and burst into tears again.

"Shin... Shinzo-sensei, he wanted to save us..."

"Good boy, tell me slowly what happened at that time."

Hiruzen touched Minato's head and looked at Kawazo in Minato's arms. What was going on with this child who was sleeping soundly?

The battle report sent back by Fugaku only contained general information about Shinzo's death in battle, and there was no mention of this child.

"I... Ding Zuo, Zhi Wei, and I... are delivering supplies to the front lines..."

From the three people escorting supplies being targeted by the Sand Ninja, to Shinzo and White Fang coming to the rescue, to Shinzo pulling them to show off Kawakizo, to Shinzo protecting Minato and taking Dan's fatal blow despite being exhausted, and dying in Minato's arms.

Although Minato was sobbing, he recounted the entire incident in a very coherent manner.

Hiruzen listened to Minato's story in silence, smoking his pipe silently.

Did he cripple himself to show off to his students? And risk his life to save Minato?

If it were any other ninja, even a Konoha ninja, Hiruzen would have doubted the authenticity of such information, but only Shinzo, this guy, seemed to be such a person from beginning to end - everything, for his students.

Even at the last moment of his life, he would sacrifice his body to save Minato. This is Shinzo.

Hiruzen gently opened a corner of the cloth bag in Minato's arms and looked at Kawazo who was sleeping soundly in the bag in silence.

Then, he spoke slowly.

"Minato, leave this child to me. Shinzo is my old friend. Can you rest assured leaving the child to me?"

Like a kind grandfather comforting a crying child, Minato raised his head and looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen's face, which also had a hint of sadness, and nodded.

If the Kage of the village, the Sandaime, is not trustworthy, then who can he trust?

Minato handed Kawazo to Hiruzen.

Hiruzen put away his pipe, carefully took Kawazo's cloth bag, gently held the edge of the bag, and held Kawazo in his arms. Looking at the sleeping Kawazo, Hiruzen sighed again.

"Minato, Shinzo is one of my most admired teachers. He is the undoubted inheritor of the Will of Fire. Heir, you must also pass on this will like him."

"S...Sandaime-sama, I will!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded with satisfaction and patted Minato's shoulder.

"Your teacher wouldn't want you to be so sad for him. He would want you to work hard to improve yourself, right?"

"Um..."

Hiruzen smiled slightly and said, "Your teammates are still waiting for you, don't make them wait anxiously, go back and have a good rest for a while, go ahead."

"Yes! Lord Sandaime!"

With Sarutobi Hiruzen's comfort, Minato regained a little fighting spirit and left the Hokage's office.

Looking at Minato's leaving figure, Hiruzen was also very relieved. Was Shinzo's departure worth it? Hiruzen didn't know, but he felt that Shinzo would definitely think it was worth it. This was Shinzo!

"White Fang, this child..."

White Fang knew what Hiruzen was asking.

He nodded to Hiruzen and said, "There's no problem with his identity. His body is clean and has no restrictions. And his talent is indeed as Mr. Shinzo said. It's very good."

"Tell me about the specific situation, Shinzo, ah..."

Hiruzen unfolded the scroll and broke the seal, and he used the Hokage's desk to place Shinzo's body.

The huge hole in the chest was shocking. Even though the blood had been slightly cleaned and there was only this one wound, the whole body was filled with a heroic atmosphere.

"Yes, Sandaime-sama."

White Fang recounted the entire process, but unlike Minato's narration, White Fang had more contact with Shinzo, including some of the words Shinzo had talked about with him, and he did not miss a single one.

Only at the end did he not express the idea that Shinzo might have deliberately committed suicide.

He believed that the Sandaime would have his own judgment.

Sarutobi Hiruzen placed Gu Zang next to the desk and he fell asleep while listening to the conversation between the two.

He was very satisfied with White Fang, especially since he knew very well that White Fang had doubts about his own death.

But White Fang's heart is not only filled with the village and the Hokage, but also with the friendship of his relatives, companions, etc. This is one of the reasons why Gu Zang chose White Fang instead of Fugaku as a tool.

Fugaku is too utilitarian and too eager to make progress. That guy is a typical Uchiha in terms of ideology.

Smart people like to deal with smart people, but if the other person is too smart, they won’t like it that much.

"Ah...you should go back and have some rest. It's been hard enough fighting in the Kingdom of Rivers these days. Your wife is about to give birth, right?"

When White Fang heard this, he was stunned under the mask. That's right, he almost forgot that his child was about to be born.

"Go."

"Thank you, Sandaime-sama!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen gave him a verbal holiday!

Looking at White Fang leaving, Hiruzen turned his head to look at Shinzo and Kawakitsu at the table, his old face bitter.

"New Tibet, New Tibet..."