Chapter 12: The Bamboo Cutter's Family

  Everyone, I'm sorry. Yesterday, I had something to attend to and took a train trip that lasted around 4-5 hours, so today, Saturday, I will make up for chapter 14. I'm extremely sorry, it was an unexpected matter, unavoidable circumstances, that's all!

  Thank you all for your votes and book reviews, thanks, I'm grateful!

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  I and Bai left the deep valley the next day and headed for the residence of the Zhutou clan.

  In a few days, Bai and I arrived at the hills where we first came to Zhutou Village over a year ago.

  I and Bai found a small cave near the hills as a temporary resting place, because the Bamboo Taking clan is a very xenophobic tribe, although many outsiders come to work here, but few people will live here, even inns are extremely rare, instead there are more taverns.

  I left Bai to practice in the cave, after all, Bai is not strong enough now. If he followed me to the residence of the Bamboo Take clan, there would be no way to maintain long-term transformation or stealth techniques. A child sneaking around in such a place is already suspicious enough, let alone two, so I infiltrated the Bamboo Take clan's residence alone to find some necessary things.

  It's already late April, and the day when the Takeda clan will attack Kirigakure Village is approaching. I don't have much time left.

  I only studied acupuncture and meridian charts on my own, but I have no experience in treating illnesses. Junmyeon's illness is related to genetics, and without the medical history and records of the Taketori clan, there's no way for him to escape his fate at 14 years old.

  Kagami's medical skills may be really amazing, but I couldn't bet everything on her. Moreover, I didn't have the confidence to let her treat Kimimaro now that she had sealed herself in past sorrow and refused to use medicine again. I wasn't someone special to Kagami, nor was I the "Tatsumaki Tatsuomi" who resembled both her lover and younger brother at the same time. I also didn't come to save Kimimaro just to watch him die at 14 years old. I didn't want to wait until Kimimaro died after being tormented by illness for many years, so with this information, I might not have to be fixated on Kagami who had the highest medical skills in rumors alone. My options would increase a lot.

  I approached the storage room where the medical records of the Takeda family were kept with a high level of vigilance and caution, only to find that they were simply stored in the warehouse. I was shocked by this discovery. Apart from the regular patrols at dawn and dusk, there was no sign of human presence, not even a mouse. The guards perfectly embodied the concept of "decorative" as they didn't even bother to glance through the window into the warehouse.

  However, the smell of old books in this warehouse makes me feel at ease. I like this smell and decide to stay here as long as possible before finishing these books. I explain my recent behavior to Bai and ask him to wait for me in the cave while I go find him. To my surprise, Bai agrees readily and says he will focus on his training without needing me to persuade him much. These days, Bai seems to be taking the initiative to train more actively, which is a great sign!

  Then I started living in this warehouse full of dust and books, the kind of life where I'd wake up to read, read until I fell asleep, and then start all over again. I found it very peaceful, and somehow, I was able to sleep soundly in that environment. I think it had something to do with "what happened before". Back then, I loved reading too... no, that's not right, what I loved wasn't just reading, but the person who read with me...

  I was slightly distracted and found that the medical book in my hand had been turned over, but there was no impression in my mind, so I could only sigh and start reading this book again.

  It's been almost two months now, and the people of the Bamboo Village have become increasingly excited and violent. The whole village is getting more and more agitated, and what can stir up a battle maniac, if not a fight against a strong opponent? With time factored in, the day when the Bamboo Village will bring about its own destruction shouldn't be far off.

  These days, I haven't been looking for Kimimaro's plan, although Kimimaro is being locked in the underground prison as a secret weapon by his clan, but his identity is actually similar to Gaara's, both are secret weapons.

  Iruka was given a life of surveillance due to his special status as the son of Wind Shadow and the strong threat posed by Tail Beast, until Wind Shadow felt that Iruka's uncontrollable power exceeded expectations...

  And you, Kimimaro, were just locked up in an ordinary dungeon. The location of the dungeon was not difficult to find, after all, you were only a six-year-old child. Although the Kaguya clan had not awakened to the blood limit for many years, your threat level was still too low. I found your location more than a month ago, but even if it was an ordinary dungeon, there were still people guarding it. Even if I could silently kill them, taking you away would definitely lead to another confrontation with the Kaguya clan. In this situation, although I possess nearly all of the chakra, I don't have skills that can compare to theirs. My body is a mix of a demon's, a chakra crystal, and a human's, and in just one short month, I couldn't fully understand its structure. Right now, I'm only using my current body as a human, so I couldn't take you away and fight against the Kaguya clan, who are like mad dogs. Of course, it's not like their intelligence is much better than that of dogs either. Is one of the five great ninja villages really unable to resist just a small clan? Doesn't the Kaguya clan have at least one or two relatively normal people who can think things through?

  In short, all I can do now is wait!

  These past few days, the number of outsiders in the village of the Takeri clan has decreased dramatically. The entire village is filled with a sense of oppressive madness. I know that "that day" is approaching soon. I took some books that I hadn't read yet and thought were useful, and memorized all the others, so I didn't need them anymore.

  I informed Kiri about the news of the Takeri clan's attack in advance, and even if Mizuki didn't quite believe it, she would still be more careful, I think Kiri's intelligence system isn't just for show.

  So, the war broke out earlier than the head of the Bamboo Village had anticipated, and there was no time to move the battlefield elsewhere. However, they still fearlessly clashed with Kirigakure in their own village, which I truly admire.

  Due to the shortage of manpower, only two members of the Bamboo Village came to retrieve the "Secret Weapon". In this chaotic situation, death was a normal occurrence, and the disappearance of the "Secret Weapon" would not have been particularly noticed.

  I'm waiting with Bai near the dungeon where Junma Lu is being held for someone who wants to come and take the "secret weapon", because only after killing these two can we gain a little more time, otherwise if I were to take Junma Lu away first, when someone comes, they will definitely discover the problem immediately, so I decided that it's best to wait for this kind of person to appear, kill them, and then take Junma Lu away, which is the most hassle-free method.

  After Bai and I entered the dungeon ahead of those two people, Bai and I also followed behind.

  I ignored the bamboo-taking tribe's people who were pierced through their throats by the white ice thousand books, I walked to the front of the cage, and in an instant the cage was like a paper paste, it was blown away by me with just one poke, just like Bai saw Chakra's attack on the wild birds that day.

  I walked alone into the prison, looking at the figure shrinking at the foot of the wall. I found that he was secretly paying attention to my and Bai's movements, but every time I wanted to make eye contact with him, he hastily shifted his gaze away.

  Are you scared of being hit?

  His build was much thinner than I had imagined, especially his slender limbs and tattered clothes that barely covered his body. A faint killing intent rose in my heart, reminding me of "the past"!

  But seeing his body start to shiver, I quickly calmed down and took out the hot soup I had prepared for him, pouring a cup and handing it over. After all, he must not have eaten well for a long time, so I didn't prepare any dry food or jerky for him, which would be easy to digest poorly. People who have been starving for a long time are more suitable for some porridge or drinks. Considering the dampness of this dungeon, I still used hot soup that can dispel coldness.

  But as I brought the cup closer to him, he shrank back even more. If he wasn't careful, his movements would be too big and he'd knock over the cup. The scalding hot soup spilled onto my hand, and for an instant, fear flashed in his eyes. But all I did was take out a cloth to wipe clean the scald on my hand, and then poured another cup to hand to him.

  This time, his movements were no longer so big, but he still looked at the soup in my hand with a puzzled, curious and fearful gaze.

  Afraid? For what?

  I took a small sip of the soup in my hand and then handed it over to his position.

  As expected, he slowly took the cup from my hand, holding it with both hands as if feeling the warmth inside. I softly told him, "Drink slowly, it's very hot, I have more here."

  Jun Malu carefully sipped the soup, silently looking at me with no impatience on my face, as well as the child behind me who seemed older than himself.