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Ryoichi returned home from Hokage's office and forced himself to sleep. It wasn't easy, he had to suppress his emotions to let the tiredness take over.
The next day when he woke up, he immediately went to Hokage's office. Unfortunately, it was too early and Hokage wasn't there.
With nothing left to do, Ryoichi returned home and freshened up for the day before making a simple breakfast.
Ryoichi ate his food in silence while thinking about the situation. He didn't like the feeling of helplessness one bit. It reminded him of his time in Void.
Ryoichi's mind even wondered about praying to the one who reincarnated him here to protect his mother, but the moment such thoughts crossed his mind he erased them.
It's not that he felt too prideful to beg someone who probably watched him suffer for who knows how long… No, if that was the case he would be even willing to lick those being shoes to help his mother.
He rejected the thought because he knew the person who sent him here wouldn't care about the well-being of a mortal woman nor would he care about Ryoichi's pleas. That being is not someone who can be influenced by mere emotions.
'Of course, whether I'm being watched is also a question…' Ryoichi thought as he walked towards the training ground.
Removing his useless thoughts and surpassing his worries, Ryoichi started going through his training regimen one by one methodically.
He started with handstand pushups and finished with some intense leg exercises that wouldn't affect his height growth. Naturally, he increased the number of all his exercises by one. Ever since he started his training he always does that.
For example, if he did ten pushups yesterday then he has to do eleven today, twelve tomorrow, and thirteen after tomorrow.
Some may consider Ryoichi's training not challenging enough, but remember he starts increasing his numbers after setting his limits first.
Like, when he first started handstand pushups about 1 year ago he could barely do 129, and he kept after increasing his numbers by 1, his hand pushup limit has reached 567. A clear growth of 438.
He's not even using any Chakra or Natural energy to help in his training. His five-year-old body can do all that physically.
After his physical training, Ryoichi absorbed natural energy to heal his aching muscles and strengthen them. And once the few drops of energy completely vanished and his aching muscles healed Ryoichi visited Hokage's office again. Fortunately this time he was in the office, so the guard didn't stop Ryoichi.
"Hokage-sama." Ryoichi bowed his head and greeted Tobirama who was busy doing… paperwork.
"There hasn't been any reply yet," Tobirama spoke.
"What! They should have made contact with the escort by now… why aren't there any reports?"
Ryoichi questioned worriedly. Tobirama didn't reply instead he only stared at Ryoichi, and only when Ryoichi calmed down and apologised, did Tobirama start speaking.
"They should… but there aren't any reports that means something went wrong. And fortunately for you that also gives me enough reason to dispatch more Shinobis."
"Hmm," Ryoichi nodded at Tobirama's words.
"You should leave now, I'll inform you if any news comes from the dispatched teams. You don't need to keep visiting."
"…I'll take my leave then."
Ryoichi bowed and left the Hokage's office.
He once again reached the training ground and started the second training part of the day.
He did Chakra control exercises and practised all his Jutsus and Katas before meditating or cultivating again.
Time passed as Rypichi completely immersed himself in the training while completely shutting off the outside world, but as the days passed, Ryoichi's worries became big enough for him to be unable to enter into deep meditation.
Just as he was going to barge inside the Hokage's office again, An Anbu came to summon him.
"You called Hokage-sama"
Rypichi impatiently spoke the moment he entered the office which irked the Anbu messenger beside him, just as the Anbu was going to reprimand him Tobirama gestured the kneeling Anbu to leave.
"News about the Escort and Wolf's team came today."
"They did? Great! How are they? Is my mother Okay?" Ryoichi frantically fired multiple questions.
Tobirama stared at the impatient Ryoichi before sighing after seeing that Ryoichi had no intention of controlling his emotions this time.
"The news came from the post near the border of our territory, although it wasn't very detailed, Hanami and some of her escort alongside the Wolf and other dispatched Anbu team reached the post with serious injuries. The Captain of the post has requested medic-nin from the village as the medic-nin staying at the post can only prevent the injured people from dying and cannot heal them."
Tobirama summarised the information scroll he was holding and then passed it to Ryoichi who carefully read the scroll.
"I have already sent the Anbu to gather the medic team. Now you have the information, you can leave."
Ryoichi silently stared at Tobirama for some seconds before opening his mouth.
"Hokage-sama can I also tag along with medic-nins?"
"…you can."
Tobirama answered without raising his head, probably already predicting Ryoichi's request.
"Thank you Hokage-sama."
Ryoichi thanked Tobirama and silently waited for the medic-nins to arrive. Once they arrived Ryoichi immediately left with them.
It took them 7 hours to reach the border post. They travelled as fast as the weaker members of the party could, but that speed was too slow for the anxious Ryoichi but he didn't complain. His worries kept increasing to the point that he didn't even enjoyed changing scenery as he didn't registered that it was his first time outside Konoha.
The moment Ryoichi reached the post he rushed towards the biggest tent where he found many dead bodies.
Ryoichi immediately recognised some guards and maids amongst them. His eyes frantically scanned each and every one of the bodies.
He sighed in relief once he didn't find his mother amongst the dead bodies.
"At least she's not dead…"
Ryoichi muttered and walked towards another tent where he found injured people.
Seeing his mother not here he became even light-hearted.
He walked up to a guard and asked where Lady Hanami was staying as there was no way they would place her in the same tent as others.
After getting the answer from the guards he ran towards Lady Hanami's tent where he found a familiar face. A maid standing guard outside the presumed Lady Hanami's tent.
"Aunt Mikoto." Ryoichi greeted the plump middle-aged woman who looked surprised to see him.
"Aunt Mikoto, where is my mother?"
Ryoichi questioned with a slight smile that immediately froze when saw the pity in the surprised woman's eyes.
A bad feeling churned in Ryoichi's guts as the plump woman's lips parted.
"Sorry, Ryoichi-kun your mother couldn't make it…"
Ryoichi's racing mind immediately went blank at those words, and with a quivering voice, he spoke again.
"Wh-what do you mean couldn't make it?"
The plump maid hugged Ryoichi and whispered words of consolation in his ear.
"Don't worry we managed to catch one of those bastards alive, The interrogation department will definitely get information about the attacker out of him."
"Wh…ere is her body?"
"Those bastards took hers and some other's bodies with them… originally they wanted to take all our bodies. I heard one of those sick bastards speaking about how our bodies will fetch quite a lot."
"So they took her body too…"
Ryoichi muttered as he pulled out from the hug and walked out of the camping area under the pitiful eyes of the maid. He walked aimlessly for hours before stopping beside a big tree.
His shoulders quivered as tears started to fall from his eyes.
"Why…" Ryoichi weakly punched the tree.
"Why, why, why, WHY! WHY! WHY ME!!" His punches started to become heavy along with his emotions, In his berserk state he didn't even registered his hands getting bloodied with every punch.
"What did I ever do! Was my suffering NOT enough?!! GOD!!! Why! Why, whyyyy!!! Ahhhhgh! Do you really want me to loose all my humanity? You want me to heartless demon? Fine… I'll become one!"
"But… first" Ryoichi took a deep breath while simultaneously cutting off his emotions.
Immediately Ryoichi's face became emotionless, as all his emotions drained away. It was an eerie sight to see him suddenly going from a raging demon to an emotionless puppet.
'…Who was it… ? Danzo? No… He's too young, weak and stupid at this stage… then was it Zetsu? It could be, but why take the bodies? I can't exclude other villages, but again why bodies? To prove bounty… ? Or was it a special request? Special request… special request, huh? Wasn't there an organisation in Boruto that does experiments on dead bodies, I heard they even cloned Jiraya.'
Ryoichi calmly analysed the situation, as his once molten gold eyes slowly turned cold metallic gold with his brain completely turning off his emotions. The only emotion remained was the unadulterated hatred he was feeling towards his mother's killer.
Ryoichi clenched his bloodied hand and shook his head.
'Danzo, Zetsu, other villages or some secret organisation, It doesn't matter who it was... Once I'm done with them, they will be all begging me for… DEATH!
"But before that, I have to find my mother's body, or I won't be able to revive her in future."
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[AN: If you want to read more go to my Patr*on/41_Claws. There are 10+ advance unedited chapters on it…]
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