Chapter 69: Might Guy and Rock Lee

Chapter 69: Might Guy and Rock Lee

Shortly after, Asuma, Shikamaru, and Choji, three sturdy young men, worked together to help the semi-conscious Rock Lee. They carried him into the Curry of Life restaurant.

Rock Lee, clearly dejected, hesitantly tasted the curry rice. Instantly, his eyes lit up. With a renewed sense of purpose, he devoured the entire plate.

Only then did he take notice of his surroundings.

"Ah! Teacher Asuma! Thank you for saving me!" He bowed deeply, a full ninety degrees, his manner intensely earnest. Asuma, who had been casually sitting with a cigarette, quickly stood to return the bow.

Then, Lee turned his attention to Ino. Confusion flickered in his eyes, quickly replaced by excitement. "You must be Miss Yamanaka, the one who defeated Uchiha Sasuke, right? I heard you were the top of your class! Amazing! Neji's mentioned you – the genius kunoichi, Yamanaka Ino! If I can beat you, that means I can challenge Neji, right? Fantastic, I challenge you!"

Ino sighed and facepalmed. She'd known something like this was inevitable.

As she was trying to figure out how to politely decline, Rock Lee asked Granny Shijimi for two more bowls of curry rice.

Mouth full, he mumbled to himself, "Today's training… must finish today. If I can't… I'll do three thousand jump ropes… Mmm! Delicious! Challenge… Mmm, so good, so good. Next time, definitely challenge you! Granny, another bowl!"

After polishing off three heaping plates of curry rice, reportedly ten times spicier than usual, his face flushed crimson with the heat. Yet, he didn't reach for any water.

Muttering something unintelligible, he bolted from the shop as quickly as he'd arrived, sprinting off into the distance.

To anyone watching, it might have seemed like he was skipping out on the bill.

Ino glanced in the direction he'd run, then looked up at the setting sun and quickly called out, "Hey! Keep running west, and you'll end up in the Land of Wind! Turn around! Come back!"

Her voice was a little too quiet, and he was already too far away. Rock Lee didn't quite catch what she said.

The energetic young man turned back, raised a triumphant right arm, and gave a thumbs-up, completely missing her point. "Thank you for your support! I'll keep giving it my all!"

"Support, my foot!" Ino facepalmed again, watching helplessly as Rock Lee sprinted westward. "What the heck? Our village is east! What are you doing? Planning to go pick a fight with Gaara way ahead of schedule or something?"

Rock Lee was incredibly fast, but his stamina was still depleted. He hadn't gone far before his pace noticeably slowed. Asuma caught up to him and steered him back to the Curry of Life shop.

He needed rest and to regain his strength, but the curry shop was clearly not the ideal place for that.

They couldn't just leave him, but during a mission, the last thing they needed was extra baggage. Team 10 couldn't abandon their mission to babysit Lee – that would break all sorts of ninja rules. What to do? They decided to send for someone to take him back to the village.

Asuma knew Might Guy and Rock Lee, that master-student duo, very well. He scratched his head, jotted down the situation on a scroll, and sent it off with a messenger hawk. Then, he stayed at the curry shop, waiting for a response from the village.

With time to kill, Ino bought two fish from Granny Shijimi and went back to practicing what she called the "Salty Fish Revival Technique," a basic medical ninjutsu exercise.

The two fish quickly succumbed to her "revival" attempts. They remained exactly where they fell – resurrection was definitely off the table.

Ino grumbled a little about how tough medical ninjutsu was but kept at it.

Granny Shijimi's shop mainly served curry rice, and she didn't keep many live fish in the kitchen. She asked Shikamaru to fish in a nearby river, while the deceased fish were given to Choji for dinner.

And so, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio fell into their teamwork rhythm: Shikamaru fished, Ino "killed" the fish, and Choji borrowed Granny Shijimi's kitchen to cook them.

Early the next morning, Rock Lee's teacher, Might Guy, arrived.

"No problem! I'll take this knucklehead back to the village. Don't worry, nothing to worry about," Might Guy declared with what he thought was a dazzling smile, teeth gleaming. He threw his arm up, gave them a thumbs-up, then slung Lee over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Without missing a beat, he took off at lightning speed.

It had to be said, the man was unbelievably fast. It had taken Ino and the others two full days of non-stop travel to get from the village to the Land of Rivers. Considering the time for the messenger hawk to fly back, the code-breaking team to decipher the message, and for the news to reach Might Guy, if you subtracted all that, Guy-sensei had probably covered the entire distance in just two or three hours.

His reassurance put Asuma's mind at ease, and Ino felt even more relieved.

Seriously, who was Might Guy? He was the "King of Taijutsu," the very man Madara Uchiha himself acknowledged as the strongest in hand-to-hand combat!

The four of them said goodbye to Granny Shijimi and set off for the Oxalis Mine.

The mine wasn't far from the Curry of Life shop – you could see it from there – but as they say, "close in sight, far in reality." They didn't reach their mission contact, a local official from the Land of Rivers, until the afternoon of the following day. The official didn't have much information to offer about the "Black Hoe Family."

Team 10 arrived at the small village at the foot of the Oxalis Mine by evening.

Their first impression of the village was of decay. The air hung heavy with the smell of burning, and the villagers looked gaunt, like walking skeletons.

"Stay sharp. We might already be on their radar," Asuma warned.

Not just Ino and Shikamaru, but even Choji drew a kunai, cautiously scanning their surroundings.

Ino closed her eyes and made the "Ram" hand seal.

"Sensory Perception!"

She focused her sensory abilities, searching for chakra signatures in the village, but the results were surprising. The village seemed completely normal – apart from the four of them, there wasn't a single person with a chakra reaction.

Ino searched again and reported, "Asuma-sensei, this is strange… My senses aren't picking up any chakra in the village or near the mine."

Asuma questioned, "Do you think this mission might not involve enemy ninja at all?"

Ino hesitated. Naturally, she hoped the mission would be as straightforward as possible, and she trusted her sensory skills. But the overall feel of the village was still unsettling.

No enemies at all? It seemed too good to be true.

She tried to explain her unease, "No, I think there's still a chance enemy ninja are here. It's possible their sensory skills are stronger than mine, which is why they're blocking my detection."

Asuma smiled. "Staying vigilant is the right approach. I agree with your assessment – this village and the Black Hoe Family don't feel simple. Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru loved the feeling of outsmarting opponents. He immediately suggested a plan, "The enemy's in the dark, and we're in the spotlight. Assuming they already know we're here, they won't want us to get away and bring more Konoha ninja. Let's pull back from the village! If they come after us, we set up an ambush and take them down. If they don't, we circle back and investigate the village secretly."

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