BOOM—

As the youthful shout echoed outside, two terrifying sonic booms erupted from the bar seats where the duo had been sitting. Tables and chairs were reduced to splinters beneath their feet.

Only two money pouches remained on the counter—compensation for the tavern owner's losses.

"Bastard!!"

Two furious roars rang out from the rooftops as Kaito sensed the vanished pair charging at full speed toward the "righteous" Kakuzu.

Clearly, these two veteran enthusiasts of vice and gambling held enough resentment toward Kakuzu to sustain several vengeful spirits.

Watching their retreating figures, Kaito silently mourned for three seconds over the fate of Mr. Kakuzu, champion of justice.

What a shame... Orochimaru wasn't here.

Otherwise, they could've witnessed the Legendary Sannin beating up a centenarian.

Setting aside this minor incident, Kaito used some similarly "confiscated" righteous funds to buy lunch before returning to the inn.

Uchiha Hikari, who had been sitting on the bed refining her chakra, looked up as the foolish boy pushed the door open. She parted her lips, about to yell "Get lost!"—

Until she noticed the plastic bags in his hands.

Immediately, she shut her mouth. The words died on her tongue, replaced by a loud stomach growl.

Hikari swallowed hard but still refused to speak first.With an air that clearly said, "I may be starving, but since you just played a trick on me, if you want my forgiveness, you'd better speak up first."

"Runtu, here's yours."

Kaito bent down to pick up Runtu's somewhat worn-out food bowl, clinking as he poured in the freshly bought shuriken.

Honestly.

Raising this Soul pet was ridiculously expensive. If not for his substantial financial backing, he reckoned Runtu would have been reduced to scavenging through trash bags for food.

After feeding the Soul pet, Kaito plopped onto the table, opening his own portion of ramen, completely disregarding the "Sect Ancestor" standing nearby.

The Ancestor was deep in cultivation, and he didn't dare disturb her, afraid of being thrown out again.

"Ahem—"

Hikari, seeing that this brat hadn't spared her a single thought, deliberately coughed loudly a few times, trying to catch the attention of her so-called "closed-door disciple."

Yet, Kaito, still seated on the table, merely shifted his position slightly and continued slurping his noodles noisily.

What was worse...

The brat even opened another portion of food and began fishing out ingredients with his chopsticks.

Hikari couldn't tolerate it for another second and sharply reprimanded his selfish behavior.

"Stop!!"

"I did take you in as my disciple... Don't you have even a shred of manners, you little brat?!"

Kaito reluctantly put the tempura back into the bowl and corrected her, "Closed-door disciple."

This made the actual centuries-old Ancestor flush with embarrassment, her ears turning red.

"Don't you dare call me by those weird titles again!"

Hikari argued vehemently, pausing for two seconds before adding, "And 'Great-Grandma' is off-limits too!"

Without waiting for the brat to react, she strode forward, snatched her portion of lunch, and retreated to a corner of the room, squatting down to eat in silence.

Perhaps due to long-term confinement or past traumatic experiences, Uchiha Hikari—whether sleeping or eating—almost always did so while crouched in a corner.

Only this position seemed to grant her a sliver of meager security.

Possessing immense power yet devoid of any inner peace.

Perhaps this was her greatest sorrow.

Of course.

Unbeknownst to Kaito, who was sighing inwardly, there was another reason Hikari hid in the corner...

She was afraid of catching foolishness from a certain idiot.

Not knowing what else to say, Kaito decided to shift the slightly awkward atmosphere by bringing up serious matters.

"Then teach me swordsmanship."

"No!"

Kaito: ?

The Sect Ancestor's resolute refusal left him dumbfounded.

"Wait..."

"You fought in the... Didn't you learn anything at all?"

Worried that mentioning the "Warring States" period might trigger Hikari's trauma, he quickly swallowed the rest of his words.

But for some reason, Hikari—still eating her ramen—suddenly darkened, pressing herself further into the corner and curling up tighter.

When she inadvertently caught sight of the seals on her arm, she froze for a long moment, as if lost in memories.

"Only Ninjutsu. Want to learn that?"

"Shuriken would work too..."

Kaito's words snapped Hikari out of her painful reverie, leaving her questioning her life choices.

She lifted her head, staring blankly at the stubborn brat not far away, her shock beyond words.

Slowly raising a hand, she pointed toward the door, her entire body radiating murderous intent.

"Get out."

Uchiha Hikari seriously suspected this foolish brat was just using the pretext of "destroying the world" to mess with her.

Swordsmanship lessons...?

Wasn't this just another attempt to humiliate her?Besides, you've unlocked the Three Tomoe and still haven't learned a damn thing about shuriken??

Who are you trying to fool?!

Recalling these past few days, ever since that cave, it seemed she had been constantly toyed with by this damned guy.

Kaito pretended nothing had happened, still scheming about how to trick the Sect's ancestor into practicing shuriken with him.

After all… shuriken still count as swords, right?

And the Sword Control Technique was truly something else!

With his enhanced Flying Thunder Dog, he could even hold his own against Kage-level fighters.

Add to that the Uchiha elder in their team, who possessed the Kaleidoscope Sharingan and the unique ocular technique 'Eight Thousand Spears,' allowing her to draw Chakra from anyone marked by her.

That wasn't even counting Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi.

As for Runtu…

Since he had eaten the Divine Light Rod last time, whenever asked if he could transform, his head shook faster than his tail, his eyes filled with terror, and all he could say was "I don't know" or "I'll die."

However, thanks to devouring the Divine Light Rod, Runtu seemed to have gained teleportation abilities.

The dog now had to teleport randomly every 10 seconds.

Back and forth, the combination of man and dog gave them mobility that surpassed even the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

Just as Kaito was pondering whether to return to his old man tonight, a series of violent noises suddenly erupted outside the window.

BOOM—

The inn they were staying in shook violently, dust raining from the ceiling as if it were about to collapse any second.

"Summoning Jutsu—!"

Two furious roars echoed from the distance, startling Hikari, who had been curled up in the corner. She instinctively rushed to the window, but Kaito pulled her back just in time.

"Not our business."

Kaito murmured softly before turning his gaze toward the commotion.

There, in the eastern part of the city, stood a massive reddish-brown toad, gripping a giant cleaver in one hand and a smoking pipe in the other. Meanwhile, a giant slug had appeared in the west.

Kakuzu stood on a rooftop about 200 meters away from them, hauling a large sack, drenched in sweat.

Clearly, the two seasoned addicts of gambling and drinking had successfully tracked down their target.

"Konoha shinobi… You looking down on me?"

Kakuzu's temper flared as he glared at the two. "I've fought against Hashirama Senju himself, you know!"

Honestly, it was infuriating. He had been minding his own business, making money in the city, only for these two to attack him the moment they saw him at the next gambling den.

What kind of grudge was this?!

Tsunade and Jiraiya's expressions turned deadly serious upon hearing his words.

Damn it!

They'd run into a powerhouse!

....

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