Chapter 37
It had been about a year since Utakata started following Tsunade and studying under her. It was an uneventful year, but Utakata enjoyed it. Maybe for the first time in his life, he lived so relaxed that seem to fly by. He couldn't remember the last time he was able not to worry about anything. It was quite weird initially, but Utakata managed to get into the rhythm.
And unlike her personality, Tsunade was quite a good teacher who made Utakata work quite hard. Still, he was well-versed in medical ninjutsu and theory by this point. He was nowhere near close to Shizune's level, and he couldn't even comprehend how good of a medical nin Tsunade was. But he was at the level where he could study on his own.
"It is going to hurt," Utakata said as he checked his patient's shoulder. "Bite down on this cloth, and don't look at it. It will be quick."
Utakata was helping a builder who had dislocated his shoulder. The middle-aged man was clearly nervous, but it was better than treating children. This village didn't have a doctor, and the nearest town was a half-day walk for normal people. So, since they came here, Utakata volunteered to treat these people, as he enjoyed helping others, and it was a great practice.
"Urgh," The man groaned as his shoulder was pushed back in place.
Quickly Utakata used his chakra to help the healing and lessen the pain before the man passed out. Utakata always had good chakra control, and Harusame taught him well, but his control came to a whole another level after Tsunade started to teach him. Simple injuries like these were no trouble for Utakata anymore. With his chakra, the injury was almost completely healed already.
"Don't use this arm for two days, and it will be as good as a new one," Utakata instructed the man. "Next!"
After him, another patient came. This time, it was a sick child. After checking the symptoms and observing the child's pulse and breathing, Utakata concluded that it was the flu. Still, he quickly found some herbs in his backpack and mixed up some medicine that would help with the cold and cough.
And so, Utakata worked the whole day until the few dozen injured or sick people in this village were all healed.
"Good work," Tsunade complimented Utakata. "You didn't make a single mistake."
Utakata could tell that Tsunade didn't know how she should act around Utakata. On the one hand, he was a talented young man who absorbed her teaching like a sponge; on the other hand, Utakata was a wanted S-rank criminal with sixty million Ryo on his head. Utakata didn't mind even if Tsunade was sometimes cold, as he knew she still cared about him.
Utakata didn't make the same mistake as he did with Harusame. He regrets that he didn't trust Harusame to this day. Almost every day, he would think of what if he wasn't so blind and distrustful. Even if he knew it was too late, Utakata thanked him for everything he taught and gave him over the years, even if Harusame couldn't hear him anymore.
"We should go," Utakata said as he sensed someone entered the field of his senses.
"How many?" Shizune asked as she and Tsunade knew of his sensing abilities and understood his words.
"A squad," Utakata replied. "They are still far away, but I sensed the same group a week ago. They seemed to be following us."
Tsunade was more annoyed than worried. Like him, she didn't want to get into a fight, so they quickly wrapped things up and left the small village for the next town. Before leaving, Utakata blew bubbles above the village. With these bubbles, he could sense what was going on around this village more clearly, even from a large distance away.
…
Even though the clear night sky was quite a sight to behold, Utakata was more focused on his senses. He was worried about the shinobi that he sensed. They were too far away to know how clearly powerful they were. But if they are following him, they might be Hunter-nin sent by the Mist or a squad from the Cloud. Utakata didn't think that the Leaf would send a squad after Tsunade if she didn't request it unless they were from the Root.
No matter who they were, Utakata knew that they were there for him. And the last thing he wished for was someone else getting hurt because of him. So, he didn't sleep and checked on the village they left earlier today. If the shinobi after him did something to the innocent village, Utakata didn't know what he would do.
He didn't want to return to the life of murder, but he wanted even less for innocent people to get hurt because of his decision. He had already taken too many innocent lives. He was in a dilemma, and hopefully, the shinobi who would come upon the small village would leave them alone. Otherwise, he was bound to do something he would regret.
"Oink," Tonton climbed between Utakata's legs.
"You should go to sleep," Shizune was not far from the little piglet.
"I will soon," Utakata replied, trying to stop Shizune from worrying about him.
"Liar," But she knew Utakata quite well and could tell when he was lying. "You will sit here for the rest of the night. Restless and worried."
Utakata didn't reply, as he didn't have anything to say. He just sighed and looked away from Shizune into the distance toward the village they had left. Part of him thought he should confront the shinobi and send them back, but he feared they wouldn't back away easily, and words rarely worked in the shinobi world.
"I will be fine; you should return and rest yourself," Utakata finally said, but his words also addressed Tsunade, who was hiding behind their backs.
They always seem to forget that Utakata could sense them easily, or maybe they were simply not used to it. He could sense shinobi days away from them, so neither Tsunade nor Shizune could hide from him. But at the same time, Utakata could never seem to hide his expression from them. So, they always knew when he was worried about something.
…
Sitting in the lotus position, Utakata concentrated on the seal blocking the Six-tails beast' chakra. Ever since Harusame put that seal on him, Utakata couldn't get any chakra from the beast, nor could he enter his mental plane. It was better that way. Every time he used that chakra, he did horrible things. He was better without it, but he couldn't keep it sealed forever.
"Maybe another time," Every time Utakata came close to connecting to the Six-tails chakra, he backed off.
It was better this way. As long as he didn't try to use it, the others wouldn't be able to sense it either. It was the last thing his master did for him, and Utakata didn't want to disregard it as he did with everything else Harusame had done for him. Yet, would the world let Utakata do as he wanted? Somehow, Utakata didn't hold much hope for it.
His thoughts were interrupted as the chakra bubbles he left behind in the small village reacted to another's chakra and popped. As he had thought this world was too brutal for innocent and weak people. His pursuers didn't care about the weak. That is why he left Tsunade and Shizune last night and came back as he sensed the shinobi approaching the small village.
"We don't know," Utakata heard the man he had treated a few days ago yell from his hiding spot at the intruders. "They left without saying a thing."
That was a lie. Utakata made sure to tell them where they were going, as he hoped that shinobi would leave them alone if they got that information. But it seems Utakata had underestimated the stubbornness of certain people. It was always the weakest ones who were the kindest. Utakata wanted to stop the shinobi, which he sensed to be quite powerful at Jonin's level, but he waited until the moment they used force.
"That's not what I want to hear," the shinobi said calmly, but his tone was threatening. "In what direction did the three of them go? I won't be asking it again. And for your knowledge, I can sense the vibrations of your body and know when you are lying."
"I don't know. They left without saying a thing."
Utakata sighed in frustration at the man's stubbornness. Why did he have to lie? And why did the shinobi have to raise his arm? Before the shinobi struck the man and probably broke his body, Utakata walked up to them. Utakata was tired of this life and thought he left it behind, but this world didn't seem to agree.
"Who are you?" The other three shinobi were now on full alert as Utakata approached them, while the first one let go of the stubborn man and joined the other three. "Stop right here."
Utakata didn't recognize them. But he knew they were from the Mist, as he could sense water nature in their chakra. And all four of them possessed it, so it couldn't be a consequence. Since they were in a foreign land, they didn't wear any headbands, but at this point, Utakata could not be mistaken. And since Utakata had changed much over time, and half of his face was covered by hair, they didn't seem to recognize him.
"I should be asking you that," Utakata didn't want to reveal his identity right now. "You know you are in the Land of the Fire, and you are following the Princess of Senju Clan with clear intentions of harming her. Do you really expect to able to do as you wished?"
"Is he the one?" They ignored Utakata's words and spoke between themselves.
"I can't tell; we need to check it first," One of them, whom Utakata sensed had the most powerful chakra, replied. "He doesn't have the sword on him, so it was possible he isn't the one."
"I don't know for whom you are looking, but I only warn you one time to leave and return to where you came from," Utakata replied. "You haven't done anything yet, so I will overlook it this time."
"Sky, earth," Once again, they ignored Utakata and instantly moved on him.
Utakata recognized those words; he hadn't used them, but he had learned them in the academy. They were codenames for tactics. One of them would attack from above while the rest would cover him from the ground. Now that he had confirmed them to be from the Mist, there was no doubt to Utakata that they were Hunter-nin who came for him.
Three came in front, covering the fourth and strongest of their group. Compared to the Seven Swordsmen, they were moving like turtles. Still, their teamwork was quite good. They threw their kunai and shuriken at the same time, aiming for different parts of Utakata's body, leaving him no way to dodge them all. It might have worked for the other shinobi, but not against Utakata.
Protecting his hands with fine control of chakra, Utakata caught five kunai in each hand and threw them straight back at the last one, who tried to jump over his comrades and attack Utakata in surprise from above. Even if he was at Jonin's level, he couldn't defend himself fully from Utakata's attack. Two kunai hit his left leg.
Even after seeing how fast and efficiently Utakata counterattacked them, they didn't stop and continued their attempts to take down Utakata. While one of them was slowed down by his injury, the others surrounded him and used water nature jutsu to trap him. At that moment, Utakata was once again suspicious of who they were, as the Jutsu they used was similar to those used by the mist, but not the same.
Still, not wanting to reveal his identity, Utakata didn't use any jutsu and instead used his chakra control to strengthen his body. It wasn't at the same level as Tsunade could do it, but it was close enough. With a fist, Utakata hit the water under his feet that held him, destroying not only the jutsu but also the ground.
The dirt and stone of the main road of this small village splatter around Utakata. Using it as a distraction, Utakata dashed through them, straight into the injured one, and punched him in the face, knocking him out. Then Utakata took him and jumped away as more kunai flew past him. Even now, Utakata couldn't bring himself to kill any of them.
"Who are you?" Utakata tried one more time to question them.
"Kill him," They weren't interested in answering anything and once again attacked him.
At this point, the villagers had already run away to a safe distance. Utakata wasn't worried about ninjutsu hitting them, so he was able to dodge them freely. The more he watched their water ninjutsu, the more Utakata was certain that they weren't from the Mist. And they definitely didn't look like they came from the Cloud, leaving only one possibility.
"Die!" Utakata dodged a kunai swipe and caught one of the attackers by his arm, quickly dislocating it before knocking him out.
The last two weren't a challenge to him; their chakra wasn't stronger than those of chunin, so they had only limited uses of their ninjutsu before they tired themselves out. Since before they could even attack, Utakata could sense it, he was able to dodge them easily. They only last a few hits from Utakata's fist, strengthened by chakra.
After knocking them out, Utakata uncovered their masked faces to see, to his surprise, that they were only children. A year or two younger than him. And as he suspected he quickly was able to find seals on them. Utakata wasn't knowledgeable about sealing, but it only confirmed his theory that they weren't from the Mist but sent by Danzo's Root. And he was almost tricked.
Utakata tied them up so they couldn't move even an inch. Before they got free, Utakata would be long gone. But Utakata wasn't too happy about it. He told Tsunade only to tell the Hokage of his existence, but Danzo still found out about him. Danzo probably didn't know the details of how Utakata killed two of the Seven Swordsmen and couldn't comprehend his true strength.
Still, Utakata was frustrated. It was one thing for the Cloud to look for him because they wanted to enact revenge. Or that the Mist hunted him down because he was a Jinchuriki and possessed one of the seven legendary swords of the Mist. But Danzo didn't have anything to do with him. He was only adding more fuel to the fire.
With a sigh, Utakata left the small village and ran back to where Tsunade was staying. It looked like he wouldn't be able to stay in the Land of the Fire for long. It was only a matter of time before the Cloud tried to find him and before the Mist found his whereabouts. And he didn't want to get involved with Danzo.
A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.