146 -=Betrayal?=-

Guy was sweating, from the information he got from the Hokage, this Rimuru guy was a true monster

He could be regarded as a devil even, with the power to steal people's chakra away... he couldn't let him do this to everyone here, even if that meant fighting him

but Guy knew this guy was strong, he doesn't know how strong, but even if he was God himself, he wouldn't hesitate to open the 8th gate to protect the people behind him

"I must thank you guys" Rimuru spoke, every word of his making Guy tenser and tenser

while he was sure he could at least hold Rimuru away, and maybe kill him with the 8th gate... the people around him... would they survive the side effects that such a battle would cause?

"For what?" Guy asked as his face hardened, cold sweat flowed down his head as his gaze kept fixated on Rimuru

"What? you completed the mission you bunch of fools, you accepted to bring that caravan here to my village, so I am here to pay you guys" Rimuru said, he knew the effect his presence had here, and he was enjoying it very much

Guy almost tripped as he heard that, not out of awkwardness like many would think, but of pure fear

'His... village?' these words repeated in his mind

this was the first caravan that Konoha sent to Uzushio, it was full of civilian spies (Spies that are not ninjas, they only get info that is public knowledge, which is basically everything from rumors, to the village layout), so they reinforced the security of it

but... the village leader of Uzushio is rumored to be an Uzumaki, so either Rimuru is one, which has disastrous implications

or he is the true leader of the village, which is also bad news for Konoha... hence his reaction

But Guy is not a jonin for show, so he quickly recomposed himself

"Ah, yes, yes. I remember that...

but it's jot common for a village leader to receive people from missions like this..." Guy said he was still looking at every single movement of Rimuru, in case of an attack

"I see... well, I was bored so I came to check, I didn't expect... this... but well

here" Rimuru threw something at Guy

He caught it and saw it was a scroll

"That's the payment... and you guys can stay at Uzushio if you need..." Rimuru said, taking a look around everyone but Luna, Guy, and Neji being hurt to varying degrees

"I see, thank you for your hospitality..." Guy said in a polite tone, he didn't want to fight Rimuru now, so he played along with whatever Rimuru was talking about

Surprisingly enough, Rimuru turned to go away, Guy definitely didn't see that coming, he thought the man was here to take advantage of their situation

"Wait..." Neji called out to Rimuru

Guy DEFINITELY didn't see THAT coming, he was shocked and worried

Neji couldn't be thinking of fighting Rimuru, could he?

"What?" Rimuru turned back, he also didn't know why Neji called out to him, even he could not predict how stupid someone can be

"I want to join you" Neji said, shocking everyone present

"...what?" Luna couldn't believe what she heard

"Ahh? WHAT?!" Naruto was also shocked

"..." Guy, on the other hand, was petrified, First it was Lee, now Neji is also trying to betray Konoha? where did it go wrong? did he fail his job as their teacher?

Rimuru was also surprised at first, but he quickly connected the dots about Neji's previous way of acting with Kaede and all, and this, so he smiled

Neji saw that and immediately assumes Rimuru was accepting him, but

"Not a chance" Was what he heard instead

"...HUH?!" Neji was shocked, Didn't Rimuru ask him to join him all that time ago when he was controlling Kaede? then why didn't he agree?

"W-Why?" He asked still somewhat in a daze

"You're not worthed" Rimuru said as he flickered away

truth to be told, he just had a personal problem with Neji because of how he treated Kaede before

"I'm... not worth...ed?

... How... DARE HE?" Neji screamed, but before he could burst into a rage, he was slammed to the ground and lost consciousness

Guy, who was holding his head had a really bad expression right now

he was torn between disappointment, sadness, rage, and powerlessness

what Neji just did... was considered betrayal... the village wouldn't take this lightly...

Luna and Naruto on the other hand... they knew that their 'other' mission was also completed, yet they didn't feel any sense of achievement... they felt horrible

not only did this mission go astray and almost got them killed, but now one of their teammates is unconscious, their sensei is unconscious, and their 'friend' betrayed the village... what else could go wrong in one day?

Good thing it was the narrator and not them who raised that flag...

in the end, Naruto looked at his arms... his left arm was shredded... it would heal, but it would probably leave a scar, was what Luna told him...

his right arm was better, it froze but didn't get any frostbites, which is good

Then there was Sasuke, who lost a lot of blood but is mostly okay, although no one here knows he burned his eye power considerably, if he was not Indra's reincarnation he would have gone half-blind by that...

Kakashi woke up not long after the whole Neji ordeal, he was fine... he was put to sleep apparently by a genjutsu

that was a wake-up call, he forgot that he isn't a Sharingan user anymore, his natural resistance to genjutsu is now completely gone...

he heard his team talk about what happened, and could feel the horrible headache that he would get back in Konoha...

Guy was resting... the man didn't have a proper day of sleep since Lee left Konoha, and now all of that caught up to him, especially because even his iron will was hit too much today, he never felt more tired than now...

in the end, after resting for a bit, team 7 and team 9 started to head back to Konoha, Kakashi sent a dog with a brief resume and an ask for reinforcements back, which they met midway through the way back...

Also, I didn't forget Tenten, as much as I joke she is often forgotten, she was frozen, so she didn't wake up until they left, and when she did, she was not great physically and with a strong cold, asides that nothing lasting