[The Land of Hot Springs! Part - 1]

'...will she ever shut up' I was like groaning every minute but she won't take a hint and go away. Ino-chan had been going on and on about seemingly random things for a while now and I have lost out on the things to focus on…

"...and I have been training real hard you know? Tobi-kun...TOBI-KUN!!"

'Damn...'

"I'm listening Ino-chan..." I rub my ears as we were still on the journey to the land of Hot Springs… "Why don't you go back and guard your side Ino-chan"

She pouts, "You mean you don't want me here?" I shake my head no as I know I have fallen into a trap…

"Then it's fine plus I know you are a sensor-nin so we'll be fine, anyway… Ummm, can you tell me how to get started on Iryo Ninjutsu?"

'...'

'...hmm, she ain't lying there is real curiosity there...'

"Well for starters you need to read a lot of books...a lot of books...I mean a lot of books..." I almost went down some traumatic memories of me being surrounded by books and the never-ending pile of scrolls and books… The color on Ino-chan's face was a little pale upon seeing my weird reaction…

"Are you okay, Tobi-kun?" I came out of my nightmares and shook my head as I shiver…

"Yeah, trust me if you don't wanna walk this road, it's not worth it...better to turn back now then later..."

"Ummm...But Tobi-kun this is the only road to the Land of the Hot Spring..." Both I and Shikamaru sigh simultaneously…

"No Baka I meant on the path to be a medical shinobi… You would have to put a lot of effort for a long time before any results would start showing...I mean that you will probably be left behind by your teammates and almost everyone else for a year or two before you would suddenly start to catch up..." I look at her determined eyes so I went through my pouches before finding out the correct one…

'At least she will be a little quiet from now on...' I pass on the scroll to her but before I could warn her she unsealed everything inside it…

'Well, it's your funeral...' After the cloud of smoke was clear, I and Shikamaru were standing aside with a perplexed face as only two legs of Ino were sticking out of a pile of books and scrolls…

We looked at each other and shrugged as we each grabbed on a leg of her and pulled her out of the pile… She had stars in her vision so I quickly used some hand signs…

'Healing technique'

A small green ball of healing chakra materializes in my palm which I place on her forehead as I saw her eyes starting to clear…

'...beautiful'

'...fuck'

I turn away before anyone noticed but I was too late as Shikamaru was giving me a perplexed look…

'Yup this is gonna be a long ride...'

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'Finally some action…' I flare my chakra in codes as Kurenai-sensei taught me as soon as I notice some bandits closing in on our position… 'This group had to be stupid as most of the other bandit groups just straight up ran away upon seeing Shinobi approaching but this one seemed to have some confidence...Let's check them out...'

'Hmmm… Genin… Genin… Civilian… Civilian… Chunin...'

'That's it… you wanna fight off against two teams of Konoha with that...' I surveyed each of them one more time before coming up with the same result…

Kurenai-Sensei landed beside me as Asuma was leisurely walking towards us…

"How many Tobi-kun?"

"5"

"Anyone Dangerous?"

"One chunin level chakra level...I can't be sure but I think I'll be able to take him..."

"Okay Team, there are 4 genin level Bandit's approaching...Now I and Asuma-Sensei will be watching from behind and will be there to help if anyone of you was in trouble so don't worry...Tobi-kun will take the chunin level shinobi…"

I unsheath my sword as I tagged my sensors to the chunin level bandit… Just when he was 20m away and I let a trickle of chakra flow to my legs as I flew forward at Jounin like speed…

'Secret Sword Art: Moonlight'

'Wind Release: Chakra Flow'

I applied wind release to sharpen my sword as I did a quick lateral strike from the ride side of the bandit...as I was moving too fast I went past him without any resistance…

'Huh did he dodge? I call bullshit...there is no way he was abl..e…'

As I ducked down and rolled to avoid any further attacks, I turned and looked back to find two wide eyes staring back at me as I was on my knees and about to backflip…

'...wha...'

'Did he just die...' I look at the top half of the body lying awkwardly on the ground as his limbs were lying all around the place...Blood was spilling like, from his now almost empty torso as his body was cleanly cut into two pieces…

I notice half a kunai on his wrist that was cut off during the clash just now and lying a few centimeters away was a disjointed elbow that was cut off from two ends... The other hand was lying somewhere away but most of my focus was still on the expression that was etched on his face…

'What was it that you felt like in those last moments...was it fear, panic, surprise'...His eyebrows are rolled up and his eyes are wide open...His face is set between a grimace and a scream as blood was coming out of his eyes now…

I could hear some crying and shouting in the background, but my vision was still focused on the scene in front of me, 'The final unfinished scream of a dying man...wait I do hear screaming...'

And just like that reality hit me as I look around at the concerned face of everyone else and that I was stepping upon the dead guy's Intestine… I ran to the nearest tree as I hurled for some time while the twisted expression and the words floating above it were the only things on my mind…

[Nakama Hiroki]

[Lv- 0 (Dead)]

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