After two months, when they returned to Konoha, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
To be honest, this kind of escort mission was really not for people!
Not only did they feel anxious every day, but they didn't eat well, sleep well, and most importantly, it was a waste of time.
Although the reward for this mission was a full one million ryo, compared to this time, Mikawa's class was at a loss!
Not to mention the hardships and dangers they had to suffer in the middle of the mission.
This time, Aoba finally knew why the reward was so 'high', but no one had accepted this kind of mission. It was completely not worth the loss.
If he had not obtained a famous sword worth ten million ryo this time, he would have suffered a great loss!
Now, it could only be said that this trip had not been in vain.
After submitting the mission report, Mikawa's class was directly dismissed on the spot. If they did not rest for a few days, no one would be able to stand it.
As for the recruitment of Land of Tea's representative, Mikawa directly chuckled and agreed!
Do you want to trick me again?
Dream on!
Whoever wants to take this kind of bullshit task, I will not serve!
In this regard, the Land of Tea representative was also helpless. He could not force Konoha's ninja to take their task.
In fact, during the time when Mikawa's class left Konoha, even if they raised the reward to two million, no one would ask.
In the end, they had no choice but to withdraw all of them.
On the other hand, after listening to the story of the person in charge of the caravan, Land of Tea's representative completely lost his heart.
The Hokage was indeed not lying to them. At this critical juncture, this kind of mission was indeed too dangerous and too troublesome.
If not for Konoha's ninjas turning the tide, their goods this time, let alone safely delivered to the Land of Iron, it was estimated that they would not even be able to return with a single person and goods!
Fortunately, Konoha promised that they would only receive half of this year's tribute, which could be considered as giving them an explanation. Otherwise, this life would really be hard to live.
Now that everything he could fight for had been won, the rest could only resign to fate and pray that this war would end quickly.
….
After Mikawa's class was dismissed, Aoba first went home. Then the more he thought about it, the angrier he became, so he directly brought training equipment to his exclusive training ground.
After stealthily putting down [Eye Of Perception], his eyes slightly fluctuated, and then he continued to train like usual.
This training was practiced until the sky was dark.
After returning home again, he put down[Eye Of Perception]again.
Sure enough!
He was still under surveillance.
For the time being, Sarutobi had no reason to do so. So, it's probably Roots people!
However, the specific details were still uncertain.
Then, Aoba suddenly laughed. He was a spy!
Since when did undercover agents need to ask for evidence?
Regardless of whether it was Danzo who was secretly plotting against him, he was prepared to strike first. In any case, he would crush this blocking stone sooner or later. Otherwise, wanting to be the Hokage was completely wishful thinking!
He originally went to the training ground to contact White Zetsu's clone and give Danzo a big gift.
Only after discovering that someone was secretly monitoring him did he choose to give up temporarily, not wanting to arouse suspicion.
"Then what should I do?"
As Aoba soaked in the medicinal bath to relieve the fatigue of his body, he was secretly thinking.
That night, under [Eye Of Perception]'s perception, the red dot on the outside tree had not disappeared. There were even two red dots in the middle, but the other red dot was soon far away.
If he was not wrong, they should be taking turns to monitor him.
…..
Aoba did not sleep well that night, but he continued to train the next day. He did not go to find Itachi, nor did he visit Naruto.
Without any accidents, he was still in a state of surveillance.
Aoba continued to train as usual and rested.
Drink water and eat.
However, when he was resting with his back against a big rock, he carefully buried a note into the soil under his butt.
When something suddenly touched his back from the rock twice, he quickly devoured the rice ball in his hand and continued to train as if nothing had happened.
It was not until Aoba returned home at night that a figure suddenly appeared here and began investigating one by one without missing any clues.
Especially the big rock that Aoba had been sitting on for a while with his back against the rock during the day, he was not let go of either.
The person quickly noticed that there was a trace of soil being flipped open on the ground. However, when he dug up this place, he found that there was nothing there.
The person immediately frowned but immediately relaxed.
"Maybe I was too paranoid. Forget it. Let's report this to Lord Danzo."
After he left, a white figure slowly emerged from the big stone, grinning as if he was mocking something.
….
In the next few days, Aoba did not continue to go to the remote training ground. Instead, he received an invitation from Gekkou Hayate and came to his home.
Although Gekkou Hayate was six years older than Aoba, Aoba had accomplished many things.
Therefore, even if it was a little embarrassing, Gekkou Hayate wanted to ask him about his swordsmanship skills.
Aoba did not refuse because he was also worried that the people secretly monitoring him would not be able to resist attacking him, so he could not go to the remote training ground temporarily.
Gekkou lived near the bustling streets of Konoha, so there was no need to worry about people going crazy and attacking him here.
However, although he agreed, his swordsmanship was derived from the Kokyu-ho*.
*TL/N: Literally translating as breathing exercise, Kokyu ho are breathing training methods used in Aikido to develop the hara (lower abdomen). In this case, it refers to the Breathing Technique used by members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
The abilities produced by the dog system could not be taught to others, so he could only give Gekkou Hayate a little advice from the comprehension aspect.
As for how much Hayate could comprehend and how much he could learn, it would depend on him.
On the other hand, Aoba asked Gekkou Hayate to get him some 'props' and then began cultivating and concentrating on the Total Concentration Breathing technique.
That was to maintain a special state of concentration at every moment!
This way, he could explode with astonishing destructive power at any time, and through training, he could strengthen his physical fitness again.
Moreover, maintaining a Total Concentration Breathing state also allowed him to control every part of his body more precisely.
There were many benefits, but it was a little difficult.
However, with the cultivation knowledge in his mind and his deep impression of the protagonist's cultivation in the original book, he was ready to turn a cat into a tiger.
In any case, Mikawa gave everyone half a month off. If he did not use it during this period of time, wouldn't it be a waste?
But as more and more abilities needed to be trained, he began to feel that no matter how he allocated his time every day, it was not enough. It had to be said that this was a happy worry.