Masahiko, who was sitting on a slope in the Shikkotsu Forest, sighed.
"They were right to classify the Hachimon Tonkou as a forbidden technique."
It's been one month since the Battle of the Land of Thunder. Masahiko was in a coma for half of it, and recuperating for the other half, he could still feel the pain in his body.
"Man… It's so good to be an Uzumaki, it's almost like cheating… But still, I've almost lost Tobirama."
During the past month, Masahiko has been reflecting and evaluating himself. Relying on his prophetic knowledge and strength, he realized that he didn't only almost destroy Kumogakure, but also frame Iwagakure in the process.
He was happy that he has saved Tobirama, became old again, and lost a lot of his power.
Looking at his status bar, Masahiko sighed again, and again.
Name : Uzumaki Masahiko
Age : 67 (-)
Chakra : 1108 (+)
Physique : 402 (+)
Technique : 5133 (+)
… and so on.
Rank : S+
Witness Points : 300
"This was a true disaster, I've accidentally downgraded myself. If I didn't get those 300 witness points from saving Tobirama, I'm afraid that I would have ended up being weak again…"
In terms of physique, his attributes have dropped more than half. On the one hand, it was due to the increase of his age. On the other, because of the long use of the Hachimon Tonkou, that has caused his body massive drawbacks.
Masahiko hesitated for a long time, then he decided not to spend his witness points to reduce his age. It could be automatically reduced thanks to the system year by year anyway, so it was better to save witness points to improve the other seven attributes.
"If I didn't mess up before with carving, gambling… and Shogi. My seven primary attributes would have already been all at the eighth level. Then I might have killed Ginkaku and Kinkaku faster, and…"
After the battle of the Valley of the End, Masahiko has been completely relaxed, thinking that nothing can even threaten him; he never focused on improving his stats.
But after this battle, he finally understood how far he is from Madara and Hashirama. If it's only one to three S rank ninjas, he can deal with them, if its four, he can play a little bit. If it's five, then he will start to struggling, and if it's six, it's better to run…
Although between all the major villages, not only Konoha is the one who has five to six S-Class Shinobi, generally, there's no possibility for so many elites to besiege him.
It didn't felt right for Masahiko to die in the very first war. This time he did not only underestimated how dangerous it is to fight against five S-Class Shinobis but he also almost lost Tobirama in the process.
"And I've achieved nothing from those goals I've had before…" Masahiko wishes to learn the Lightning Chakra Mode was gone, he didn't feel like that the Third Raikage will be willing to teach him after Masahiko he has bombarded him not once, but twice. He didn't get back the nine tail chakra too, because he sent the Gold and Silver Brothers directly to the Underworld. And he doesn't know the current situation of the Six Path's weapons, so he can't just go back and look for them.
"Fortunately, Tobirama is safe…"
"Masahiko-Sama, here's your meal…" One of Katsuyu's clones dislodged Masahiko's train of thoughts.
"Oh, at the right time… What, only grass? Come on, Katsuyu-Sama, bring me some meat."
"There are no other animals in Shikkatsu. Where can I find meat for you?"
....
Eating a few bites of the leaves and grass, Masahiko felt like his body is already turns green. He couldn't stand the life here in Shikkatsu Forest.
He immediately went to find one of Katsuyu, who was still attached to Tobirama's body.
Masahiko frowned, "Katsuyu-Sama, how is it going?
"He was badly injured. I had to use Natural Energy to just barely keep him alive a few days ago, he only recently began to recover slowly."
"How long will it take?" Masahiko asked again.
"I'm not really sure it depends on his own recovery ability. It will take three months minimally, or a year maximally."
"So long…" Masahiko whispered, "Do you think he would survive for all of this time without eating?"
No matter how strong a shinobi is, he will still need to eat.
On the contrary, the stronger you get, the more you eat. Masahiko was only having two meals a day because there was nothing but grass here. If there was meat, he would have eaten 8 meals per day…
"It doesn't matter, as long as I'm attached to him, I can infuse into his body the nutrients he needs every day." The slug spoke slowly.
Masahiko looked confused, slugs can infuse nutrients? What the hell, Kishimoto?
"I've noticed that you've looked so uncomfortable for the past half month…" Katsuyu said.
Masahiko took a long deep breath, then sighed, "Life became so difficult."
Masahiko shook his head; he really couldn't withstand staying here any longer.
"Katsuyu-Sama, I came to say goodbye. Thank you for your help, but I've been gone for so long, my Village is at war with the Sunagakure, and I've started to feel uneasy."
"When Tobirama wakes up from his coma, please tell me."
"Go then, good luck…" Katsuyu promised, and Masahiko turned away and left.
Leaving Shikkatsu forest through the cavern, Masahiko looked at the Rashomon, and murmured, "Where did you hide the Rashomon's scroll, Hashirama? Should I sign it too…?" Masahiko felt like he was missing some defensive techniques in his arsenal.
"The battlefield shouldn't be that far, let's go and take a look first."
Masahiko flew to the direction of the Sunagakure and Konoha battleground and arrived just ten minutes later.
"No one?" Masahiko's sensing ability was fully on. He took a look at the battlefield, and he could see a lot of ninjas that have not been entirely buried by the sand.
"Huh… Fortunately, judging by the forehead protectors, the amount of casualties from Konoha's side is less than a third of the casualties from Sunagakure's side. This is a major advantage for Konoha, we can win…"
Having confirmed this, Masahiko slow down the pace and flew to the direction of the Village. He knew that since they won the war, all that remained is the inner conflicts.
"I assume that they are now fighting among themselves for the position of the third Hokage. Hahaha… Let them fight, I can't wait to see their expression when I come back to the Village." Masahiko said with a mischievous expression.
Masahiko's appearance now is not the same as before. In the past, he looked 53 years old due to the maintaining of the Transformation Technique. But such an age doesn't consider that old for an Uzumaki Clansmen, they barely even lose their strength. Now that he's 67 years old, he doesn't need to change his appearance again, but his body has turned to that of an old man, his face is now full of wrinkles, all of his hair has turned white. It's most likely that those who are not close to Masahiko won't recognize him now.
"This kind of appearance saves me the use of transformation… But, I won't be able to enter through the main entrance."
Masahiko then flew to the west side, scouting which entrance he should take. He saw that the west gate is easier to approach.
"Just gonna use the west entrance… The concealing enchantment of Konoha is designed by me… So I can easily bypass it."
"I didn't pay attention before, but the west side of the village is wonderful, there are mountains, water, wood…"
Masahiko looked up, and suddenly his expression changed.
"What the hell?"
Suddenly an unknown object fell on him, and Masahiko hit the ground hard, feeling a little bit dizzy.
Masahiko looked at him, "Nice now, people who want to commit suicide are falling on my head. Living has sure become difficult…"