Chapter 29 Prequel Mission 2: Children from the Hidden Sand Village

Shingon returned to Konoha safely. Thinking about what he heard from Zabuza before leaving, he exchanged identities with the disguised Bai Zetsu and went directly to the clan leader's house. However, the busy clan leader uncle was not at home.

"Father has gone to preside over a family meeting." Sasuke said, looking a little unhappy.

"What's wrong with Sasuke?" Shingen couldn't help but ask.

Sasuke looked up at Shingon: "Brother Shingon, did father and brother have a fight?"

Zhenyan was surprised: "Why do you ask?"

Sasuke couldn't explain it, it was just his keen intuition as a child. Recently, Uchiha Fugaku and Itachi rarely came home, and even at home they seldom communicated. The atmosphere at home became very depressing.

"They are just too busy with work." Zhenyan comforted, "Last time I saw Itachi on the night shift."

As the head of the clan, Uchiha Fugaku must be busier. For example, at today's family gathering, he must be present as the clan leader.

Thinking of this, Shinyan looked out the window at the night. Every time the Uchiha gathered, it was in the name of family sacrifice, so the Konoha high-level officials had no right to interfere, but this time the meeting lasted a little too long. When he came back, it was already dark, and now it was almost midnight.

Shinon withdrew his gaze and looked at Sasuke in the room. Sasuke still had a frown on his face, and it was unknown what was bothering him.

"What are you still thinking about?" Zhenyan asked.

"Brother Shingo, do you know what my brother and father are thinking?" Sasuke asked suddenly. He has always regarded his brother as a role model, hoping that he can be recognized by his father like his brother. However, the recent changes in the relationship between his brother and father made him a little overwhelmed, as if he suddenly lost his direction.

Shingon couldn't help but be stunned. He didn't expect Sasuke to be thinking about such a profound question. He was stumped for a moment.

After thinking for a while, Zhenyan finally shook his head and said frankly: "I don't know."

Even the most loving couples in this world may not necessarily understand each other's thoughts, otherwise there would be no misunderstandings, quarrels, and breakups.

Seeing Sasuke's brows almost wrinkled, Shingon thought for a moment and said, "But it's not impossible to understand a person's thoughts."

"How?" Sasuke asked.

“Become as powerful as that person, stand at the same level as that person, and see the scenery that person sees. Then, perhaps, you will understand what that person is thinking.”

Sasuke suddenly became thoughtful, like a little adult.

Shingon turned to Uchiha Mikoto and said, "Aunt Mikoto, I'm going back first."

"Didn't you say there was something important?" Uchiha Mikoto asked doubtfully.

"It's not very important, so I won't bother the clan leader uncle." Shingen said, because he suddenly remembered that Uchiha Fugaku once told him not to interfere in the affairs of the Uchiha and the Commerce Department. Since the clan leader uncle said so, he would not ask about it.

After all, just as he said to Sasuke, Uchiha Fugaku is in the position of the clan leader and has his own considerations, while he is in his position and has things he should do.

After returning, Shingon asked Baizetsu to tell Heizetsu that he wanted to go to Sand Village to find Ichibi as soon as possible.

However, according to the intelligence gathered by the Akatsuki organization, there have been some accidents in the Sand Village recently. The One-Tail Jinchuriki suddenly went berserk and injured people, so the vigilance in the Sand Village may be very strict in the near future, and it is best to wait a few days before taking action.

Shinon thought about the accident that happened in the Hidden Mist Village, and for safety's sake she had to wait for two days.

I can't go to the Sand Village for the time being, but I have finally gotten the eye cream that Shingen wanted.

Orochimaru is a man obsessed with immortality. Anti-aging research is already an outdated project for him, and he can easily take out anti-wrinkle eye cream. However, his purpose of joining the Akatsuki organization is not simple.

At first, Orochimaru was interested in Pain's Rinnegan, but Pain's ability was so mysterious that he didn't know where to start, so he adopted a roundabout tactic and joined the Akatsuki organization.

After joining the Akatsuki organization, Orochimaru discovered that the Akatsuki organization was full of talents - human materials that could be studied.

He was just drooling over it, not knowing who to make a move on first, when Hei Jue came to him and said he wanted some eye cream that could beautify the skin and remove wrinkles.

Orochimaru immediately put forward a condition, he wanted to study this black thing called Black Zetsu. However, Black Zetsu carried the will of Kaguya Otsutsuki, so he would not let Orochimaru study it, so he firmly rejected Orochimaru.

For Orochimaru, this was a golden opportunity. After Black Zetsu refused, he was very negotiable and proposed to study White Zetsu.

Most of the White Zetsu were cloned from Hashirama's cells, and the most Orochimaru could produce from their research was Hashirama's cells, so Black Zetsu agreed, but what he gave Orochimaru were White Zetsu spores.

Spore Jutsu is also a type of Byakuzetsu's ability. After Byakuzetsu's spores absorb chakra, they can grow into a vegetative body with the same structure as Byakuzetsu.

Orochimaru was somewhat dissatisfied that he could not directly study the original body, but he soon discovered that the vegetative people created by the White Zetsu spores could actually be used as sacrifices for the Reincarnation of the Earth.

After discovering this, Orochimaru quickly made the eye cream and even made a few more cans, and exchanged them with Black Zetsu for a batch of White Zetsu spores.

After Hei Jue got the eye cream, he asked Bai Jue to pass it to Zhen Yan.

But after Zhenyan got the eye cream, he couldn't find Itachi.

During this period, Itachi seemed to have a lot of work to do. Shingon went to the clan leader's house for two consecutive days but didn't see him. Later, he heard from Sasuke that Itachi had been often with Shisui recently.

Shingon came to find Shisui again, and finally let him trap the man.

Itachi and Shisui were together, discussing something, but when they saw him coming, they stopped talking.

"Mango, how come you have time to come here today?" Shisui asked, with his usual gentle expression on his face.

Shingon looked at the two of them suspiciously, but didn't see anything unusual, so he suppressed his doubts and answered Shisui's question: "I'm here to deliver something to Itachi."

"Sending something?" Shisui was very curious. He saw that Shingen was empty-handed and seemed to have brought nothing.

Zhenyan put his hand in his pocket and took out a small porcelain jar: "This thing."

Shisui looked at the small porcelain jar in Shingon's palm and became more and more curious: "What is this?"

Shingon handed the item to Itachi first, and then said after Itachi took it, "Beauty and wrinkle-removing eye cream."

Hearing Zhenyan's words, Shisui couldn't help but be stunned, and then laughed out loud.

Itachi looked at Shinko helplessly, but Shinko said seriously, "Itachi, have you been on night shift again recently? If you don't take care of yourself, the wrinkles under your eyes will soon grow to the corners of your mouth."

Itachi: “…………”

"Does this eye cream work?" Shisui asked with a smile.

"Of course." Zhenyan said, "I asked a beauty expert to make this."

Shisui nodded, looked at Itachi's usually cold and expressionless face, and said: "Itachi, you really need maintenance."

Shinyan took out another bottle and handed it to Shisui: "Brother Shisui, I see you have dark circles under your eyes. This eye cream can also remove dark circles. You can try it too."

Shisui: "…" Itachi took over for Shisui and returned Shisui's joking words just now: "Need maintenance?"

Shisui reacted quickly. He took his share of eye cream very naturally and said with a smile, "Then let's take care of it together."

Seeing the two of them take it, Shingon looked at their tired faces and said, "Itachi, Shisui, remember to use it. I still want to be your peers."

According to Black Zetsu, his appearance will not change much after becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, and no one knows what Itachi and Shisui are busy with. Although they are still minors, they seem to be busier than the adults in the village.

Being seriously instructed by Shingen, Itachi and Shisui looked at each other and nodded in response at the same time.

...

After the situation in the Sand Village calmed down, Shingon prepared to leave, and this time when going to the Sand Village, Black Zetsu decided to let Scorpion go with him, mainly to avoid another accident like the one in the Mist Village.

The accident in the Hidden Mist Village was something Black Zetsu had not expected, because the matter of diverting the attention of the Fourth Hokage had been discussed by Obito and Nagato, and Obito had a grudge against Black Zetsu because of the incident with Mana, and did not tell Black Zetsu about the plan, which was also the reason why Mana was almost involved.

This time, the Sand Village is Scorpio's hometown. Not only is Scorpio very familiar with the situation in the Sand Village, he also left informants in the Sand Village. It will be much more convenient to have informants cooperating with their actions.

Before leaving, Shingon left behind the White Zetsu who pretended to be him, just like last time, and then changed into the black-and-red cloud robe unique to the Akatsuki organization, put on the same whirlpool mask as Obito, and came to the Akatsuki organization to meet Scorpio. This time, he also planned to meet the talent who made the eye cream.

Shinon has already heard from Hei Zetsu that the eye cream was also made by a member of the Akatsuki organization, and this member was Orochimaru who was suspected of robbing Uchiha not long ago.

Orochimaru is also very interested in the new members of the Akatsuki organization. From what he has observed so far, except for Black and White, the other members of the Akatsuki organization seem to be S-rank rebel ninjas from various villages. Each of them has unique skills and is a good research material. It's just a pity that each of them is a hard bone to chew, and it might break his teeth if he is not careful...

So this time, he wanted to start with the newcomers, but when he saw the so-called newcomers...

"I'm not a ninja." Zhenyan told the truth very honestly.

Orochimaru was stunned for a moment, his sharp snake pupils stared at Shingo, and he said with a smile: "Haha, Shingo-kun is really good at making jokes."

"No joke." said the truth.

"Jia Yan" is the name Zhen Yan gave himself when he was traveling around the world. Because it was a pseudonym, he originally wanted to be called "Jia Yan", but he always kept his word, and even if he put on a pseudonym, he did not want to lie, so he took the name "Jia Yan".

Orochimaru naturally didn't believe what Shingo said. He looked at Shingo and said, "Even if you're not a ninja, you must have some extraordinary talent to join this organization."

Shingon still shook his head. He really didn't have any outstanding talents. As for absorbing the chakra of the tailed beast, that was all the credit of the Ten-Tails. He was at most an errand boy.

"Jia Yan-kun, don't you know any ninjutsu?" Orochimaru questioned.

"You're talking about ninjutsu? I only know one forbidden technique." When talking about the ninjutsu he developed, Shingen couldn't help but express regret.

When he heard the word "forbidden techniques", Orochimaru looked even more excited, because he made his fortune by studying forbidden techniques, and he had read all the seal books of Konoha.

"I wonder if you could let me see it for a moment." Orochimaru asked Shingen.

"Are you sure?" Shinon wasn't sure if Orochimaru was serious.

"Sure." Orochimaru answered with certainty.

"Then get ready." Zhenyan reminded kindly.

Orochimaru waited and watched, staring at Manabu's hands. He thought Manabu would make a seal, but Manabu's hands did not move. Just as he was wondering, a voice suddenly and violently broke into his mind. This voice turned, jumped, and swirled in his mind... It lingered for a long time and would not dissipate...

"I'm really not a ninja... not a ninja... really not a ninja... not a ninja... I'm really not a ninja..."

Orochimaru: “…………”

Orochimaru: “…………”

Shingo left, leaving Orochimaru to doubt his life alone...

When Shingo met Orochimaru, he just wanted to ask if he had any intention of cooperating, but after learning about the current situation of the Akatsuki organization, he changed his mind.

Previously, in order to divert the attention of the Fourth Hokage, Obito gave up control of the Hidden Mist Village, resulting in a significant reduction in the profits of the Akatsuki organization.

The Akatsuki organization is a very inclusive organization. In recent years, the organization has recruited many down-and-out ninjas from various ninja villages. To accommodate down-and-out ninjas and provide them with re-employment opportunities, money is necessary.

It just so happened that Manabu's construction of Konoha Village had achieved initial results, so Hei Zetsu went to Manabu to learn from him and asked if there were any places that could be constructed in the organization.

Based on the talent characteristics of Xiao's organization, Zhenyan gave two targeted suggestions: Yongsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and Scorpio Machinery Processing Factory.

Later, Yongsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was actually established, but Scorpio Machinery Processing Factory was rejected by Scorpio.

Because Scorpion said that his factory would be called Eternal Art Processing Factory.

At this time, the future factory technical director Scorpion was rushing to the Sand Village with Manga.

The Sand Village, as its name suggests, is covered with yellow sand everywhere. If there was no Scorpion to lead the way, Shingon felt that he would probably get lost and not even be able to find where the village was.

With the Scorpion leading the way, the truth can be said to have a smooth journey.

Unlike the chaotic Kirishigahara Village, the Sand Village, like the Hidden Leaf Village, has 24-hour guards at the gate.

It was Scorpio who contacted his informant in advance, and when the informant was on duty at night, he sneaked into the Sand Village quietly with the truth.

Scorpio's informant not only quietly opened the door for the two of them, but also provided the One-Tail Jinchuriki's activity range.

According to the informant, a Jinchuriki lost control and injured people not long ago. The villagers stayed away from the Jinchuriki out of fear, so now the Jinchuriki lives alone in a remote house, which just makes it convenient for the Shingon action.

According to the clues provided by the informant, Zhenyan and Scorpion headed straight for their destination under the cover of night.

Traveling through the village full of yellow sand, Shingon suddenly remembered a song for some reason. While looking for the Jinchūriki, he hummed it in his heart.

"Where is the One-Tail? Where is the One-Tail? The One-Tail is in that gloomy ninja village..."

"Where is Yiwei, where is Yiwei..." Zhenyan hummed all the way to the target house. When he saw the little figure in the room, he couldn't help but exclaimed, "It turns out that Yiwei is in the body of the child!"

Shingon was really surprised, because from what he had heard before, about being out of control, going berserk, and hurting people, he thought he would see a muscular strong man, but he didn't expect it to be a child younger than Naruto and Sasuke.

The child's eyebrows are very light, almost invisible, and the two big dark circles under his eyes are very prominent. In addition, there is a very unique tattoo of the word "love" on his forehead. This is obviously different from the appearance of ordinary people, and with a cute chubby face, it is unexpectedly cute...

However, when the little boy saw the unexpected visitor, he had a fierce expression on his cute face, looking very ferocious: "Who are you?"

Although the child looks very fierce, his voice is very childish and even has a hint of milk.

Shingon touched his body. If he had known it was a child, he would have brought a gift. But now he rummaged through his pockets and only took out a small jar, which was the remaining jar of eye cream after giving it to Itachi and Shisui.

Zhenyan looked at the two big dark circles under the child's eyes and handed the eye cream to him: "Nice to meet you, hello, this is a gift from me."

The child took a look at the jar in Zhenyan's hand, and his fierce expression relaxed a little, but his brows were still furrowed: "Why are you here?"

"It's like this. Xiaoyi owes Xiaoshi some chakra. Now I bring Xiaoshi here in the hope that Xiaoyi can repay the debt in installments and return the owed chakra to Xiaoshi." Zhenyan said, spreading his palms for the child to see, "And this is the gift I brought you, an eye cream that can remove dark circles."

The boy's eyebrows were almost wrinkled, and he was obviously confused by Zhenyan. However, he understood the latter sentence. He stared at the small porcelain jar in Zhenyan's hand.

Zhenyan raised his hand again, and then he saw a stream of sand rolling across his palm like an octopus's tentacles, sweeping away the eye cream...

"Wow!" Zhenyan's eyes lit up and he exclaimed, "Your move is amazing!"

The child looked at the vortex mask on Zhenyan's face, his expression was confused: "Really?"

Zhenyan nodded affirmatively: "Of course, how do you make the sand move?"

"This..." The kid seemed unable to explain it clearly. He just opened his hands, and a stream of sand gathered between his hands, holding up the eye cream given by Zhenyan. Then he squinted his eyes and looked at Zhenyan, "Just like this..."

Zhenyan couldn't help but give a thumbs up: "Superb!"

The child did not show a happy expression because of the compliment, but asked in confusion: "But why are people avoiding me..."

He also wanted to play with other children, but every time they saw him, they would drop their toys and run away from him as if they were running for their lives...

Zhenyan looked at the child's cute chubby face and found it irrational. How could anyone avoid such a cute child?

Zhenyan thought about it for a while, and soon figured it out: "I know."

The child tilted his head and asked, "Know what?"

"Everyone is probably not avoiding you, but the Xiaoyi inside you." The rumor he had heard before was that a little one made a mistake and someone put the blame on the little kid.

"Xiaoyi?" The child was probably thinking, his brows furrowed again.

Zhenyan nodded and said, "Brother, I came here to see Xiaoyi this time. Can you cooperate with me?"

"How can I cooperate?"

Zhenyan stretched out her hand and said with a smile, "Just shake hands!"

The child looked at Zhenyan's hand and seemed a little hesitant, but he looked at the gift Zhenyan gave him in his hand again, and finally stretched out his little hand.

Shingon held the child's hand, followed the chakra of the One-Tail on the child's body, entered the sealed space smoothly, and met the One-Tail Shukaku.

Ichimokusuru is a very round, fat cat with a sandy yellow body that looks like it was molded out of sand.

"Little ghost, it's useless for you to call for help. As long as you fall asleep, I will take away your heart and body and kill all human beings." The big fat cat threatened, "So don't fall asleep accidentally..."*

Zhenyan turned around to look at the child who followed him in, and then looked at the huge vampire in front of him. He couldn't help but say, "You are such a big vampire, but you actually bully a child. This is too unethical. If I tell others about this, I'm afraid I'll be laughed at by the other tailed beasts!"

Shouhe: "...Who are you? How dare you question me?!"

"I'm here to collect a debt. Xiaoyi, you should pay back the chakra you owe Xiaoshi." Shinyan explained the situation first. He hoped that Shouhe would cooperate. "Xiaojiu and Xiao have already paid back part of it."

Shouhe was confused: "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, aren't you Xiaoyi?" Zhenyan leaned over to take a look and saw that there was indeed only a tail behind Shouhe Feishuo's body.

Shouhe: “…………”

If he is Xiaoyi, then wouldn’t Xiaojiu and Xiaozhi be Jiuwei and Wei?

Shouhe wanted to laugh at his mortal enemy Jiu Lama, but he soon realized that Zhenyan had mentioned not only Xiao Jiu and Xiao, but also Xiao Shi? ...

Realizing this, Shukaku opened his senses, and when he sensed the presence of the Ten-Tails, he became completely sick...

"What are you going to do?" Shouhe asked Zhenyan.

"Didn't I just say that I'm here to collect debts for Xiao Shi? I hope you can return the chakra to Xiao Shi in installments." Shinon felt that Shouhe was easy to communicate with, so after thinking for a while, he asked, "Also, if it's convenient, can you tell me how to make the Tailed Beast Ball?"

Debt collection? Like the other tailed beasts, Shukaku doesn't believe in the truth, or rather, doesn't believe in humans, let alone the Ten-Tails. It only thinks that the truth is there to provoke.

"I don't know how to return any chakra. If you want to see the Tailed Beast Ball, I can help you do that." Without saying anything, Shukaku opened its mouth wide, and chakra began to condense in its mouth.

Unlike ordinary chakra, the chakra in Shouhe's mouth has been compressed and its properties have changed. It has a dark and rich color and looks very dangerous...

The sealed space of Shukaku is the same as that of Isobuki, in that there is no gate as a safety line.

Shingon didn't expect that Shoukaku would give him a big gift right after he opened his mouth, so he made a quick decision, turned around and grabbed the child beside him, intending to evacuate first. However, before he could leave, the Ten Tails in his body seemed to be angered, and suddenly ten tails spread out behind him...

The Ten-Tails' tails simultaneously bent upwards and gathered above Shingon's head. At the point where the tip of the tail gathered, dark chakra began to compress and form. The Ten-Tails actually condensed into a tailed beast ball...

Compared with the two tailed beast balls, although the Ten-Tails was launched later, the Ten-Tails condensed faster and compressed more chakra. In the end, it also launched the Tailed Beast Ball one step ahead of Morikaku...

However, Shukaku's Tailed Beast Balls were not as big as the Ten-Tails', and they were fired a step later, so they had no advantage at all. In the end, the two Tailed Beast Balls exploded almost right next to its body...

When he saw that the situation was not going well, Shingon protected the child in front of him and wrapped the child up with clothes, while behind him was his open ten-tailed tail, which could be used as a shield.

The gusts of wind from the explosion at the rear wrapped around the yellow sand and almost instantly swept across the entire space. The air currents continued to surge, stirring up the yellow sand. It was not until a long time later that the sandstorm subsided.

Zhenyan shook his head and body before opening his clothes to let the child out and asked, "Are you okay?"

The little boy seemed to be frightened. He first looked up at Zhenyan blankly, then looked at the black robe that had just wrapped him. Finally, he tentatively reached out his hand and grabbed the corner of Zhenyan's clothes. This was the first time he had been protected since he could remember. He couldn't tell what he felt in his heart, he only knew that the big brother smelled good, a light herbal scent.

The smell of plants and trees was very unfamiliar to the child who grew up in a barren and sandy world, but his instinct drove him closer, chasing after this fresh smell. His head, which was aching slightly from lack of sleep, seemed to no longer hurt as much...

Zhenyan looked the child up and down, and after making sure that the child was not injured, he turned around and looked behind him. The Shuhe behind him looked like a sand castle that had been blown up, with yellow sand all over its body, and it looked very ugly.

"Alas." Looking at Shouhe who was like a chicken lost in the sand, Zhenyan couldn't help but sigh. Why is it so difficult to collect a debt?

Was the Six Paths Sage a bandit leader? Did he steal the chakra and never return it? Otherwise, why are these tailed beasts so difficult to deal with?

Hearing Zhenyan's voice, Shouhe came back to his senses from the shock. He roared at Zhenyan: "I will kill you!"

Shingon sighed again, then stretched out a hand. He had already seen that Shukaku had no intention of cooperating, so he directly activated the Ten-Tails skill and tied up the big vampire cat that blew up the sand with a chakra chain.

"Don't let me go out, otherwise I will eat you!" Shukaku glared at Shingen. It thought it was going to be absorbed by the Ten-Tails, so it said harsh words unwillingly.

"The child is still here, can you please speak more politely?" Zhenyan said. He felt that Shouhe's personality was too violent. In contrast, Jiu Lama could be described as polite.

Zhenyan said no more, released his chakra, and skillfully formed a fox.

The fox dutifully acted as a chakra carrier, grabbed the only tail that Shuhe had, and began to pull hard...

Shukaku tried to struggle, but was tied up tightly by the chakra chains spit out by the Ten-Tails and was unable to resist.

As Ah Li pulled out more and more chakra, Shouhe's chubby body shrank a circle, and finally it couldn't hold on any longer, and slowly closed its eyes. But before falling into a deep sleep, it didn't forget to swear: "I must... must..."

Before he could finish his words, Shuhe fell into a deep sleep. The reason for this was that the truth made A-Cat draw out some extra chakra, one was to make up for the consumption of the Tailed Beast Jade, and the other was that the big cat actually bullied the weak and did not let the child sleep. With such a bad nature, he must charge more interest.

After the Ten-Tails absorbed the chakra that the fox brought back, Shingon glanced at the sleeping giant fox again, then turned to the child who was following him. The child's big eyes were shining as he stared at him.

Zhenyan couldn't help but reach out and rub the child's soft red hair, saying: "Children also need to sleep well, so that they can grow taller."

Shinyan brought the child out of the sealed space. After coming out of the sealed space, he first looked out the window. The night in the Sand Village was very quiet, with only the faint sound of wind blowing through the sand. The rustling sound was like the whisper of the night, urging people to sleep.

Zhenyan retracted his gaze and looked at the child beside him. He asked, "What's your name?"

The child looked up, his eyes following the truth: "I love Luo."

Shingen smiled and finally said, "Gaara, good night."!