Chapter 35: Home
Tekku was officially 9 years old, with his real birthdate unknown. His legal birthday became the date he was found in Orochimaru's Laboratory before he returned to Konoha. He had to spend more than another 3 months at the northern border. Luckily for him, he wasn't involved in any more fights with other Shinobi from Iwagakure or other villages, at least not directly. His trap seals, on the other hand, took out a good number of enemy Chunin who were trying to infiltrate the Land of Fire.
The situation at the other borders calmed down significantly, with Sunagakure still an ally, a civil war breaking out in Kirigakure, and a substantial distance between Kumogakure and Konohagakure. This resulted in more elite forces available to be stationed at the northern border of the Land of Fire. Strong borders forcibly calmed the situation with Iwagakure down.
This allowed the Genin and some of the Chunin to return to Konohagakure. After passing through the huge gate of the village, they headed to the Chunin gate to announce their arrival. This time Tekku recognized one of the two Chunin and could also determine the identity of the other.
"Hey Kotetsu, long time no see!" greeted Tekku the older Chunin.
"Oh, Tekku, welcome back. It's been a while. You have grown. Are you returning from a mission?" asked the friendly Chunin with a bandage running over his nose.
"Yes, it's been over half a year since I was in the village," replied Tekku, handing over his registration papers while Hana and Kurenai did the same, listening to the two acquaintances chatting.
"Hmm, everything seems fine. Good that you made it back to the village," said the Chunin with a smile after he noted everything down for his paperwork before handing Tekku his papers back.
After saying goodbye to the gate guard, he followed Kurenai with Hana and her three Ninken into the village. "I suggest we first head to the Mission Counter to report back before we go home," suggested Kurenai, who, like the other two members of the team, looked exhausted from the stress of the mission.
"Yes, sounds like a good idea. I can't wait to take a fresh bath, see my mom and my little brother again," nodded Hana, as she agreed that it was the fastest way, while her three dogs barked in agreement. They had also grown in the last few months and would definitely reach the size of Akamaru in the future.
Nodding, Tekku followed the two female members of the team towards the Academy building. At the Mission Counter, they handed in their final report about the mission and also had to review their monthly ones. During the mission, they had to write a monthly report which the Outpost Commander Sarutobi forwarded to the village.
After confirming everything was fine with their reports, they received their pay for 6 B-Rank missions, one for each month, and an additional A-Rank pay for their combat encounter. Tekku additionally received two extra A-Rank pays for his sealing work at the border, one every three months. It was a substantial amount of money. Every standard B-Rank mission paid 100,000 Ryo, while every A-Rank one paid 300,000. So he earned 1,500,000 Ryo in the last 6 months, money that would be very useful for his upcoming plans.
His mission register was also updated. He had currently finished 30 D-Rank missions, 5 C-Rank missions, 6 B-Rank missions, 2 A-Rank missions (his Fuinjutsu mission, although with 2 pays, only counted as one), and 0 S-Rank missions. It was quite an impressive resume for a Genin.
After finishing their work at the Mission Counter, the three remaining members of the team left the building before saying goodbye to each other. Hana hugged him before she left, as she grew substantially closer to him after the gruesome death of Haruto. He became her supportive pillar during this hard and tiring time, giving her all the strength she needed.
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It's been a few days since they returned to the village. Tekku spent these last few days recovering, exploring, and planning. He was exploring for a good location where he could put a secret lab. One of the best options was underground as it was less likely to be found. With the Root base underground, missions inside the village that required going deep under the earth's surface were very rare. But the location still needed to be remote enough that not many people would go there, while he needed an excuse to spend time there.
He was also planning for his future. He had enough time to reach the end of the available material for Fuinjutsu, but he still needed information on substantial techniques that he knew Konoha possessed. Techniques like the Death Reaper Seal or the Flying Raijin, some of the most well-kept secrets of the village because they were so dangerous.
He knew one of the requirements to study the few high-level techniques was to be an official Master of Fuinjutsu, but these were pretty much dangerous techniques like highly advanced knowledge of cursed seals and other more obscure but advanced Fuinjutsu techniques.
But not the forbidden jutsus like the Reaper Death Seal or very powerful jutsus like the Hiraishin. Or other rare forms of Fuinjutsu research deemed too dangerous, like the documents left behind by Orochimaru. No, these ones needed special permission from the Hokage or the ANBU Commander, and only their most trusted Shinobi, like Jiraiya, could take a look at them.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do right now to change that besides working his way up the ranks in the village, but becoming a Fuinjutsu Master was the first step. However, becoming a Master was easier said than done. Different from the expert level, he not only had to reach the necessary level of knowledge, but he also had to create a Master-level seal and contribute it to the village.
Yes, it was challenging to create a new Master-level seal, but not too much for him as he had multiple fields he could contribute in. His machines fulfilled that criteria as they were master-level sealing work. No, the greater challenge was to create a seal that could not fall into the hands of people like Danzo. It needed to be powerful and complex enough to fulfill the requirement but nothing that would give Danzo more power, as he would definitely get his hands on it.
While still deep in thought, he arrived at his destination, a building that he hadn't seen in the last few months. Opening the door to the Yamanaka Flower Store, he was greeted by a fast and soft projectile that collided with him.
It was Ino, who had instantly spotted him and hugged him as she was helping her parents in the store today. "Tekku! I am so glad to see you," she greeted him as she kept hugging him with a big smile and relief on her face. "Good to see that you returned safely," she muttered, as the death of Haruto was a big shock for her. After hearing the news, she had been worrying the whole time about the two remaining members of her father's Genin Team.
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