Chapter 69: The Three Young Ones of Nagato

"There are many poisoned people among us now. Let's return to Konoha as soon as possible."

"I have the antidote now and can prepare a large quantity soon."

Tsunade said as she took out the antidote that Katsuyu Sage had fetched and showed it.

"How long can your antidote pills last?"

Jiraiya frowned as he looked at some Konoha Ninjas behind with terribly pale faces, fearing they'd collapse and never get up again.

"If there's no battle, the antidote is enough to keep the poisoned Ninjas alive until they return to the village."

Tsunade knew her own medicine well. If there was another battle, the Konoha Ninjas would probably be in great danger.

"Then let's set off right away."

"Sakumo, I trouble you and your men to take more care. We're still injured."

Orochimaru-kun politely told Sakumo and the others.

"Okay."

Sakumo nodded in agreement.

Dai, Shinryu Yūhi and other surviving Jonin all nodded in response.

"Let's go."

Kawaki-kun looked at Tsunade and said. Then several people followed the large troop.

Sakumo and others led the way in front.

Along the way, there were broken houses, civilian corpses and pitiful orphans everywhere.

Even though Konoha was the victorious side, they felt no pride at this moment. All these were their wrongdoings.

They took a rest that night, and the Konoha troop set off again.

The injuries of the poisoned Ninjas didn't worsen. Just as Tsunade said, the antidote pills had the desired effect.

The next day, Kawaki and three others ate dry rations and walked slowly behind the large troop.

It started to rain in the sky, and soon it poured.

The four went under a bridge and found a place to shelter from the rain.

"The weather in the Land of Rain really changes quickly."

Kawaki-kun took out a Sealing Scroll from his ninja tool bag and took out Sakumo's special cooking utensils.

He lit a torch and set up a pot right in front of the stunned Tsunade and the other two.

"Jiraiya, contribute the rabbits you caught."

"Do you want to eat them all by yourself?"

Right after finishing setting up the utensils, he asked Jiraiya for food ingredients. He watched Jiraiya catch two fat rabbits and put them away yesterday.

"You're just sharp-eyed. Do you have any sake?"

Jiraiya grudgingly took out two cleaned rabbits from somewhere and said.

"That's more like it. Let's eat our fill before we go."

"The dry rations are really unpalatable, and the rain won't stop for a while."

"Do you always bring these things when you go on missions?"

Tsunade looked at Kawaki-kun curiously. Was this what a proper Ninja would do?

"Not always. I sometimes forget to bring them."

Kawaki-kun scratched his head and looked a bit embarrassed.

"Haha."

Orochimaru couldn't help laughing. Kawaki-kun was so interesting.

"Orochimaru-kun, do you have any non-poisonous snakes to eat?"

Kawaki-kun was cutting the rabbit meat into pieces with a Kunai and putting them into the pot while eyeing Orochimaru.

Snake meat tasted excellent too.

"I never raise non-poisonous snakes."

Orochimaru, who had been smiling just now, now had a dark face.

He'd never seen someone so greedy for free things.

"Tsunade, can your antidote pills neutralize the poison?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes and paid no heed to this glutton.

"Alas, it's okay to eat some rabbit meat."

"I'm not that greedy."

Kawaki was rebuffed. He let out a long sigh, tossed the rabbit into the pot, and took out seasonings from the box.

He fetched four sets of bowls and chopsticks, along with four small bottles of sake. Then he covered the pot and waited patiently.

If Sakumo saw this, he'd probably have a heart attack. Whenever they were together, Kawaki never cooked.

It was always his Aniki who did the cooking.

"Ha ha, as long as there's sake, it's all good," Jiraiya said as he sat cross - legged across from Kawaki. The two of them sat around the pot.

Tsunade wasn't a shy girl. She sat down next to Kawaki.

Orochimaru joined the group later. The four of them sat in a circle around the pot.

After some time, Kawaki lifted the lid of the pot. A rich aroma filled the air, making everyone's mouths water.

"Let's get started!" Kawaki said as he raised the bottle of sake and took a sip.

After his "Hiss... Ha," there were three more similar sounds.

Just as they were eating and chatting, a young boy emerged from the corner of the shadows and walked towards them.

He was about ten years old, with orange hair and a dirty face. He carried an anti - poison mask on his back.

Suddenly, Kawaki thought of the well - known Deva Path. No matter how he flapped his "butterfly wings," it seemed that some things remained unchanged.

Yahiko walked slowly, with a nervous look on his face. From their forehead protectors, he recognized their identities.

They were all invaders from Konoha, the Land of Fire, in the Land of Rain.

Moreover, one of them was the man who had killed Hanzō of the Salamander. He was sure he hadn't mistaken him.

But now he was extremely hungry, and his younger companions were also starving.

Besides, the food these people were eating smelled incredibly delicious.

"Who are you?" Tsunade asked first, still holding the bowl in her hand. They had noticed the boy a long time ago but hadn't paid much attention.

"Can you spare some food for us?" Yahiko timidly stretched out his hand, hoping to get some food to satisfy his hunger.

"Where are your parents?" Jiraiya frowned and sized up the boy.

He always had a premonition that he would meet the Child of the Prophecy mentioned by the Frog Sage, but he wasn't sure if this was the boy.

"They were killed by ninjas in this war." Yahiko said this without a trace of sadness on his face. Clearly, he had gotten used to it.

"You have two other companions. Call them over together." Kawaki took out a large bowl, put half a rabbit in it, soaked some dry rations in it, and placed it beside him.

"Kawaki-kun, even though they're kids, they're from Amegakure Village," Orochimaru reminded. He was a very vigilant person.

"It's okay. I know what I'm doing." Saying this, Kawaki clinked bottles with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru didn't say anything more and continued eating the meat, watching how things would develop.

Yahiko stared at the large bowl of meat beside Kawaki and swallowed hard twice.

He summoned up his courage and shouted to the others behind him.

"They don't seem like bad people."

Kawaki curiously looked in the direction Yahiko was facing.

A boy with red hair covering his eyes and a little girl with light bluish - purple hair were running over together.

They stopped beside Yahiko.

"Who's going to take it?" Kawaki smiled and picked up the large bowl.

Without any exchange, Yahiko took on the role of an older brother and stepped forward to take the food.

"Don't leave. You have to return the bowl."

Kawaki saw that the three kids were about to run away and stopped them.

Tsunade gave him a suspicious look. It was just a bowl, and she couldn't understand what Kawaki was up to, just as she couldn't understand him when he met Matt Dai before.

"Alright."

Yahiko remembered the terrifying scene when Kawaki killed Hanzō. He gritted his teeth and sat on the ground not far from the four of them.

The three kids started gobbling up the food with their hands. They were extremely hungry.

"I think these kids are quite pitiful."

As Kawaki was eating meat, Madara would probably lose sleep if he knew what Kawaki was scheming.

"And then?"

Tsunade took a sip of sake and asked what was next.

"I'm going to take them back and make them my disciples."

"It'll also give Minato a few more playmates."

Kawaki was scheming and used Minato as a shield.

At this moment, Minato and Nawaki were taking shelter from the rain with Sakumo elsewhere. They were pitifully munching on dry rations but chatting happily with each other.

If Minato knew that his teacher was eating meat and using him as a shield, he probably wouldn't be able to smile anymore.

<><><><><><><><>

~ 80+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!

p-atreon.com/Tansnovel

(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)

~ Every 50 Powerstones = 4 Bonus Chapters on the weekend!