CH 560

After easily avoiding all the obstacles, Kuroto quietly returned to the Village.

With the soft morning light falling on his back, Kuroto stood on the remains of the outer wall of the village and looked at the scenery of Konoha that has experienced and survived one of the toughest nights since the establishment.

At this time, of the Konoha Village, only the outer walls, and a few blocks close to the outer walls that were protected well are left intact, everything else is completely destroyed.

The closer to the centre of the village, the more serious the misery, and the more serious the signs of destruction. Not to mention the very centre of the village, where the Hokage Building generally stands has become nothing more than a deep pit with only dust and rocks.

Given the state of the village, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that more than 95 per cent of the Konoha has been destroyed in the overnight attack, including Kuroto’s home which is also part of that 95 per cent.

However, be that as it may, Konoha was not at all desolate at this moment.

On the contrary, the destroyed village was filled with tens of thousands of people, lined up in neat rows following the standard procedure, and partaking in or assisting in the follow-up procedure with everything, be that, recording and getting the dead ones buried, getting their injuries healed, summarizing the events from their own perspective, or receiving the food.

Unlike the Pain’s Assault on Konoha that took place in the Cannon, where the Six Paths of Pain launched a sudden attack on the village while Konoha’s defences were down, and the Villagers did not have enough time to retreat to the Refugee Shelter before the Super Shinra Tensei was used which resulted in the immediate death of several thousand Konoha Villagers, as well as the injury of more than a few ten thousand.

The Konoha this time around had been prepared for the raid of the Akatsuki Organization. When Satori invaded the village, the Village entered a state of emergency, and the Shinobi in Konoha were ordered to help with the evacuation of the citizens to the refugee shelters.

So, by the time Tendo used his Super Shinra Tensei in an attempt to completely destroy Konoha, most of the Villagers were safely moved to the evacuation shelter and most of the Konoha Shinobi had gathered far away from the centre of the attack. Therefore, the number of casualties is not as serious as imagined initially, especially because the injured ones were given timely medical treatment by Tsunade-hime’s slugs.

Of course, the number of casualties is not as serious as imagined does imply that the number still exists, so although, everyone is orderly following the procedure, a solemn and heavy atmosphere still lingers in the village.

Not delving into the matter too deeply, Kuroto quietly sneaked into the Village, and after replacing the Shadow Clone left in the Village, he made his way towards the temporary medical camp in order to find Yui.

Kuroto didn’t have to search too arduously and easily located Yui, only to find that, despite the severe Chakra exhaustion due to the several battles and more specifically because of the unconscious use of Shinra Tensei on one of the Pains, she was still gritting her teeth and using everything she could to heal the injured Shinobi and the Villagers.

Kuroto could see that her legs had already started to soften, and she might collapse at this rate, but she doesn’t seem to have any intention of stopping the treatment.

Seeing her in such a condition, Kuroto sighed slightly and slowly transferred his Chakra into her, making it possible for her to continue the treatment of the injured people without self-harming.

In the midst of healing a piercing wound of a Konoha Shinobi, Yui was surprised to find warmth in her body, but upon noticing Kuroto looking at her with a smile, she understood that it must have been done by Kuroto.

Yui couldn’t figure out how Kuroto was able to give her his Chakra, but because Chakra Transfer Technique is not that big of a deal or rare among the Shinobi, she didn’t worry too much about it and refocused her attention on the patient lying in front of her, and continued to provide treatment to the injured villagers.

It was only after several dozens of patients later that the number of seriously injured decreased, and the other people on the staff asked her to take a break to rest did she stop.

As soon as Yui took a break, Kuroto held her and brought her to a relatively isolated tent, and started to inject more Chakra into her.

After transferring sufficient Chakra into her to ease the effects of chakra exhaustion, Kuroto heaved a sigh of relief, and said, “It’s okay to want to save more people, but to be able to do so, you must also take care of yourself. If you were to collapse at a critical point in the middle of treating someone’s injury, it could prove to be fatal and might even result in the death of the patient…”

“I am sorry…” Yui nodded and apologized silently because she knew that Kuroto is right…

Seeing her admitting, Kuroto didn’t say anything else about that matter, and just hugged her tightly, and muttered, “I am glad that you are safe… During the entire incident, I was really worried that something might happen to you… Thank goodness you are safe…”

Yui also hugged Kuroto tightly, for she too had the same worry the entire night… Although she trusts Kuroto’s strength and abilities and believed that nothing will happen to him, she still couldn’t help but get worried.

And her worries were indeed reasonable, after all, the ones who attacked the village yesterday left behind thousands of dead and injured… Even most of the best Shinobi of Kuroto’s generation were not uninjured either.

Therefore, now that she has personally seen Kuroto safe and sound, and felt the warmth of being in his arms, her nerves were finally relieved.

The two remained silent and stayed in the same position for a few minutes, and after a while, as if Yui suddenly remembered something, she activated her Byakugan to make sure that no one was peeking at them, she lightly whispered, “Kuroto-kun, yesterday when Shizune-chan, Anko-chan, Izumi-chan, and I were fighting against one of the puppets of the leader of Nagato… something strange happened… and, my eyes… and Chakra…”

Before Yui could finish her words, Kuroto rubbed her hair lightly, and nodded, “I know, don’t worry about it…”

A few days ago, Kuroto has sealed a part of his Tenseigan’s Visual Prowess into Yui’s Byakugan with the help of Transcription Seal in order to protect her.

This is also the main reason why Kuroto was too worried about Yui’s safety until a while ago, after all, Yui wasn’t aware of the Visual Prowess that was sealed within her eyes, thus she could not activate it on her own, and the sealed Visual Prowess itself was programmed to not activate or help Yui unless she is facing a desperate situation where there is no hope of surviving.

So, the fact that the Visual Prowess sealed within her Byakugan activated must mean that she came to face a desperate situation and had no hope of being able to survive it.

In other words, she must have faced a situation where she was just a step away from death yesterday and could have been seriously injured if not dead. This was making Kuroto very worried, and only after ascertaining her complete safety with no signs of serious injury did he feel relieved.

Hearing Kuroto’s words, Yui finally understood that her guesses were not wrong… The strange thing that happened last night in the refugee shelter was not merely a coincidence, but Kuroto’s handiwork, “Kuroto-kun, as I thought, it really had something to do with you…”

Kuroto nodded with a light smile, and asked, “Who were other people present with you at that time? And who all witnessed that strange incident?”

Yui thought about it for a while, then answered, “In addition to me, Shizune-chan, Anko-chan, Izumi-chan, four kids as well as the enemy’s puppet were present among the people alive at that time. And they are the ones who witness the incident…

Although, I don’t think any of them will connect the cause of the incident with me because the lighting in the refugee shelter at the moment that incident occurred was too bright for anyone to be able to discern anything. By the time the lightning returned to normal, that puppet was already defeated…

Since the passage was actually dim, and because the incident was too strange, so everyone assumed that it must have been the work of someone else.

No one doubted me, because, my strength is also not at such a level.”

Kuroto nodded lightly, “Well, that’s good…” and thought to himself, ‘In any case, I will ask Shisui and Itachi to temper with the memory of the witnesses to make sure that the incident is completely disconnected from Yui.’

‘Shinra Tensei’, ‘Bansho Ten’in’ et cetera are invisible Jutsus that are impossible to be detected with normal eyes, in fact, even the likes of Sharingan and Byakugan can’t detect them for they are not direct Chakra manipulation, but manipulation of physical forces.

As such, there is no way to connect Yui with that incident.

But Kuroto still wants to take extra assurance to make sure that no connection remains in order to eliminate all the possibilities that would point at her and ultimately at him through the grapevine.

Although doing so will take away Yui’s credit for having defeated one of the Paths of Pain, and bring light to her, Kuroto Yui’s safety and secrecy on his intelligence are much more important.

At this time, Yui asked curiously, “Anyway, Kuroto-Kun… what kind of Jutsu was that? Is it a newly developed Secret Jutsu? I couldn’t even see it with my Byakugan… if not for my instinctive feeling, and the chakra exhaustion that followed soon after, I wouldn’t have even realized that such a Jutsu was used…”

“Well… it can indeed be considered a secret Jutsu… if you want to classify it to a type…” answered Kuroto after thinking for a while, then said, “There are several requirements to use it, at present no one in the village except for me fulfil those requirements, so don’t mention it to anyone, not even to Tsunade-sama, don’t tell her anything about it, as it is my Trump Card (not really) in the extreme situation…”

Yui nodded, “I understand… I was just worried that it might be some kind of forbidden Technique…”

Kuroto shook his head, “Don’t worry, it is not a forbidden technique, and has no serious consequences except for serious consumption of Chakra, so nothing too much to be worried about.”

Yui smiled with a relieved sigh, “In that case I am relieved.”

In fact, Kuroto didn’t need to emphasize the matter of not telling to anyone about it as Yui already understands it very well.

After all, for a Shinobi, intelligence is everything, and obviously, Yui wouldn’t be foolish enough to actively spread such a piece of critical information concerning a very secret Jutsu to anyone.

In fact, after learning that the incident did have something to do with Kuroto, and further confirming that it was the result of a secret Jutsu, Yui didn’t even ask anything more about it. Again, for a Shinobi, intelligence is everything, and only by knowing nothing can intelligence be kept a secret.

After a bit of silence, Kuroto and Yui separated, and Kuroto said, “Yui, regarding the Secret Technique I had placed on you… It was programmed in such a manner that it will activate if encountered a life-threatening situation, and protect you from any and all people and things that you or I deem as a danger towards either of us.

Since you encountered a life-threatening situation yesterday night, so it activated and has been in an activated state since then, as a protection mechanism. Now that the situation has passed, I am going to deactivate, understand?”

The method Kuroto used to seal his Tenseigan Visual Prowess in Yui is the permanent style Transcription Seal, so keeping it activated will continuously consume Chakra and will be very burdensome for her, after all, Yui doesn’t have Tenseigan, and can’t bear the Chakra exhaustion caused by the Tenseigan.

As such, deactivating the seal while there is no need to keep it activated is extremely important.

Yui didn’t ask much and nodded slightly, “Alright.”

Seeing her acknowledgement, Kuroto weaved a few hand signs, then lightly tapped his index finger and middle finger on her forehead.

With that, the Yui’s Byakugan glowed in blue light for a moment, then immediately returned to the previous Byakugan.

With the seal deactivated, Kuroto asked, “How do you feel?”

Feeling the change, Yui took several deep breaths, and said while covering her eyes, “I feel that my head and body are suddenly much lighter than a few moments ago… That Jutsu, it was quite burdensome…”

Kuroto nodded and no longer mentioned anything related to Tenseigan.

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Instead, he focused his attention on the nearby tents.

Because the Konoha Hospital was destroyed in the aftermath of the battle, these make-shift tents are being used as a temporary hospital, and are filled with injured patients. And upon a closer look, one can also see that among the number of injured people, Konoha Shinobi accounted for more than 80 per cent, while the rest were Villagers.

In fact, with just a single glance, Kuroto even spotted several of his acquaintances, such as Kakashi who is banged like a mummy, Guy, who has several of his bones broken, Asuma, with his right hand plastered, and Anko who is lying unconscious with a painful expression.

Among the others, Kuroto’s gaze was, in particular, focused on Anko with a concerned expression.

Seeing Kuroto’s gaze on Anko, Yui took a deep breath, and said with a guilty expression, “Kuroto-Kun, Hinata… Hinata-chan… she, she was kidnapped right in front of me, and I… I… couldn’t even do anything…”

Kuroto put his hand over Yui’s head and nodded slightly, “I know… I heard about it.”

From the memories he got after recovering his Shadow Clone, he has already learned that Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata, these four children have been kidnapped…

And now that Yui mentioned it, Kuroto asked, “Can you confirm the specific identities of the people who kidnapped the four kids?”

Yui bit her lower lip, and nodded, “It was Kakuzu of the Akatsuki Organization, and… and… Orochimaru.”

“So, it really was him?” – muttered Kuroto with a thoughtful expression, then thought, ‘But why kidnap Hinata-chan and…? Is he again interested in the Byakugan? But does he even have enough spare time to be able to focus on things other than Chimera Jutsu?’

Yui continued, “Orochimaru not only took away Hinata-chan, but also took away Uzumaki Naruto… and Kakuzu took away Uchiha Sasuke, and Neji-kun…”

After hearing this further information, Kuroto muttered to himself in realization, “Uh… aren’t they kidnapping each other’s targets?”