Chapter 279: A Sneaky Figure at the Doorstep

The Ninja Hawk’s pitch-black talons gripped the rock, stirring up a fishy wind as it folded its wings.

It tilted its head, its sharp eyes staring at the young man before it, letting out a low ‘coo’ from its throat.

Aokawa reached out to untie the letter tube from the Ninja Hawk’s leg and extracted a tightly rolled slip of paper from inside.

He unfurled the slip, his eyes quickly scanning the contents, the corners of his mouth curling into a playful arc.

“What’s it say? Are they giving us a bonus?”

Hyuga Ryosuke stopped complaining about being tired and leaned in with his large face, his Byakugan eyes straining so hard they almost looked cross-eyed. “Or… are the girls in the Village unable to sleep because they miss me so much, and they’ve signed a petition begging me to come back?”

Aokawa casually handed him the note, his voice flat: “The garrison unit will come to take over from us in the next two days. Pack up; we’re heading back to the Village.”

“Back to the Village?!”

Hyuga Ryosuke froze for a second before letting out an earth-shattering cheer, the commotion startling the Ninja Hawk into fluttering its wings and flying half a meter high.

“Heaven has eyes! I finally don’t have to eat sand in this godforsaken place anymore!”

He was so excited his chubby face trembled. He dispelled the bow in his hand and pressed his palms together, bowing toward Konoha: “I want to eat barbecue! I want to soak in hot springs! I want to sleep on a soft bed! Aokawa, once we’re home, I’ll treat you to a good meal—and this time, I definitely won’t skip out on the bill!”

Looking at Ryosuke, who acted as if he had just been released from prison, Aokawa was not infected by this joy.

He sat back down cross-legged. The gale messed up the stray hairs on his forehead, but it couldn’t blow away the deep coldness in his eyes.

“Do you think going back to the Village is for enjoyment?” Aokawa asked calmly.

Hyuga Ryosuke, who was gesticulating wildly about the size of the barbecue portions, stopped and scratched his head: “Otherwise? We’re heroes! Even Lord Minato said we were… what was it… exceptionally meritorious! When we get back, shouldn’t they hang big red flowers on us and parade us through the streets… wait, parade us to show off our achievements?”

“Heroes?” Aokawa sneered. “In this world, only the dead are heroes forever. Living heroes are just thorns in the sides of others.”

The smile on Hyuga Ryosuke’s face gradually faded. Although he usually seemed heartless, he had grown up in the environment of the Hyuga Branch Family, after all. He had an instinctive sensitivity to internal Family strife.

“Are you talking about… those old fogies in the Main House?” He lowered his voice, as if afraid the wind would carry his words away.

“Hiashi just became the Clan Chief, and his Foundation is unstable, so he can still tolerate us for now. But guess what those old guys in the Elder Council—especially Hyuga Ieyasu—will think. Given the strength I’ve shown on the Battlefield, will he be happy for the growth of the Hyuga Clan, or will he feel… that the power in his hands is being threatened?”

Ryosuke shuddered.

He remembered when he was a child, just because he took one extra look at a Main House young master practicing boxing in the Training Ground, he was whipped by the so-called ‘Family Law’ so badly he couldn’t get out of bed for half a month.

“So,” Aokawa raised his eyelids, “these next few days are our last peaceful ones.”

“Returning to Konoha—that is the real Battlefield.”

“There, the people who want you dead won’t be like Kumogakure, charging at you with open blades and spears.”

Hyuga Ryosuke swallowed hard. The wild joy of going home just now vanished instantly, replaced by a hair-raising sensation, as if he were being watched by a venomous snake.

He silently reached out his hand and reconsolidated his Spirit Bow.

“Damn it,” Hyuga Ryosuke cursed in a low voice, his eyes turning fierce: “Then I’ll practice! If any of those old geezers won’t let me live in peace, I’ll… I’ll shoot his old face off!”

“Don’t just talk. Right now, you can’t even beat the Guards around that old man. Draw your bow until your Chakra is exhausted.”

“Damn, can’t you say something nice to encourage me?”

Despite his complaints, this time, Hyuga Ryosuke’s movements in drawing the bow showed no more slack.

On the cliff where the cold wind howled.

Two figures, one fat and one thin, stood like two statues… Two days later.

At dusk, the setting sun was like blood.

At the end of the road below the cliff opening, several figures with long shadows slowly approached.

The leader wore a Konoha Jonin vest, with a hint of fatigue on his face, but his eyes were exceptionally alert.

It was the Konoha squad coming to rotate duties.

“They’re finally here.”

Hyuga Ryosuke slumped on the ground, the bow in his hand soaked with sweat.

He had really fought for his life these past two days; his fingers had been cut by the bowstring, then healed by Medical Ninjutsu, over and over, until the calluses were thick enough to be used as whetstones.

Aokawa stood up and patted the dust off his clothes.

He watched the familiar Konoha headband shining in the sunset in the distance, his mouth curling into a meaningful arc.

“Let’s go, fatty.”

Aokawa stepped downward, his cloak snapping in the wind behind him.

“Let’s go see what kind of surprises they’ve prepared for us in this bustling Konoha Village.”

…The journey back wasn’t as long as imagined.

At noon seven days later, Konoha’s iconic gate finally appeared at the end of their vision.

There were no crowds lining the streets, no colorful ribbons flying in the sky.

Hyuga Ryosuke had originally straightened his back, trying to strike a ‘hero’s return’ pose, even specifically polishing his headband until it gleamed.

But now, his fat body was like a deflated ball, instantly collapsing.

“Tsk, you were right,” he muttered softly, his eyes scanning the surroundings resentfully. “Forget big red flowers, there isn’t even a little sister to welcome us. What are we? Lonely ghosts returning to the Village to visit relatives?”

“Fine… enough, let’s go home first,” Aokawa said.

The alley by his doorstep was very quiet.

Unknown wildflowers climbed the walls on both sides, and the afternoon sunlight spilled down lazily, stretching the shadows on the ground.

Aokawa reached the corner and suddenly paused.

Right in front of his door, there was a sneaky figure.

The person was hiding behind a tree, their ample curves pressed against the trunk, peeking out and looking around, appearing guilty to the extreme.

The most ridiculous part was that even at such a tense’scouting’ moment, this person was tightly clutching a bag of something, their mouth bulging and chewing at a very rapid frequency.

“Crunch, crunch.”

The crisp sound was particularly piercing in the quiet alley.

Aokawa raised an eyebrow.

This unique ‘criminal’ style couldn’t be found in a second person in all of Konoha.

He didn’t make a sound. Chakra flowed slightly beneath his feet, and he vanished his footsteps like a ghost, instantly moving behind the figure.