Tanigawa Kentaro can no longer be a ninja. After calming down, his face remained ashen, and he planned to submit a retirement application once he returned to the village.
Aburame Naoto tried to persuade him twice, but to no avail.
Speaking of which, Tanigawa Kentaro is barely considered a talent, having some aptitude in barrier techniques. During external reconnaissance, he could set up barriers that concealed traces and scents, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to join Aburame Naoto's squad.
Originally, even if he left the reconnaissance squad, he could have applied to join the Barrier Team. But now, Tanigawa Kentaro doesn't even want to be a ninja, so naturally, he can't join the Barrier Team.
"The Uchiha Race is really hard to get along with, those words were indeed a bit too much."
Jiraiya shook his head while chatting with Nara Shikaku, aware that Tanigawa Kentaro had some talent in barrier jutsu, but was dissuaded from being a ninja by just a few words from Uchiha Yoichi.
"After all, being spoken to like that, and Uchiha Yoichi is also a young genius, it's understandable not to endure it."
"When in Konoha, this kid seemed to have acted against a companion in the Hokage Building because of this matter. Though he's talented, his temper isn't."
At this point, Jiraiya thought of his disciple, Minato, who would have handled this matter better.
Nara Shikaku sighed. Although it's a pity for Tanigawa Kentaro, he indeed should not have said such things, especially towards Uchiha Yoichi, who accomplished the task.
Completing an S-Class task solo within a month, and among S-Class tasks, the difficulty wasn't small. It gave them a considerable advantage in the subsequent negotiations with the Hidden Sand Village; calling him a contributing hero to Konoha wouldn't be an exaggeration.
To say Uchiha Yoichi caused the death of teammates... Even if it's out of anger for a comrade's death, it's not acceptable. Allowing this will enable anyone to use this excuse to attack others in the future.
Nara Shikaku believed Tanigawa Kentaro was more at fault. However, being the weaker party, people tend to sympathize with the weak, overlooking right and wrong.
"Lord Jiraiya, let's discuss how to negotiate with the Hidden Sand Village next. Although we can't completely oust them from the Land of Rivers, we can still seize a share of the tasks..."
Nara Shikaku changed the topic to negotiations since that was the real mission, with Tanigawa Kentaro being just a minor incident.
Afterwards, the two began discussing the negotiations with the Hidden Sand Village. Konoha had also sent back a message, suggesting they could apply pressure on the Hidden Sand Village using information about the Third Generation Kazekage.
Konoha's higher-ups had also discussed and analyzed this information, believing the disappearance of the Third Generation Kazekage would not only weaken the Hidden Sand Village's strength but greatly diminish their morale.
Furthermore, if the assassination was done by their own people, it could possibly lead to internal chaos.
In such a situation, the Hidden Sand Village being able to stabilize themselves would already be good enough. They wouldn't dare provoke Konoha.
Then, the third round of negotiations began, with Jiraiya and Nara Shikaku being very confident this time.
However, this had little to do with Uchiha Yoichi. He wasn't part of the negotiation team; after completing the mission, he merely needed to wait for Jiraiya and Nara Shikaku to finish and return to Konoha together.
Now, besides scratching a prize card once a day, Uchiha Yoichi just did a bit of training.
He didn't train himself to exhaustion. Being in the Land of Rivers, he had to maintain his combat power. Even though the likelihood was low, there was still a one in ten thousand chance the Hidden Sand Village might be pushed to turn hostile.
In the past days, he scratched five cards, four of which yielded useless items. Only the fifth time brought Uchiha Yoichi a huge surprise.
[Demon Passport (Limited to three uses)]: By using this item on others, it would induce a psychological hypnosis, allowing the user to be forgiven for any misdeeds.
[PS: The person will realize before dying.]
Uchiha Yoichi remembered this item clearly, as it was from Doraemon. No matter what was done, showing this passport would earn forgiveness.
He decided to preserve this item well. Upon returning to the village, his first task would be to steal the Sealing Book.
Unfortunately, it could only be used three times; if it were unlimited, Uchiha Yoichi could directly rule the world.
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"Everyone, the task is complete. We can set off to return to the village the day after tomorrow."
Jiraiya announced with a smile to those involved in the village-out task, and although he didn't specify the content, his expression indicated a satisfactory completion.
Standing beside, Nara Shikaku spoke up, "Although the task is done, we still can't relax. A replacement squad will arrive the day after tomorrow. Before that, everyone must remain vigilant and follow the pre-arranged patrol tasks for shifts."
Everyone nodded in acknowledgment. Nara Shikaku and Jiraiya gave a couple more reminders before dismissing them.
A squad had already been sent ahead to escort the financial minister of the Land of Fire out of the Land of Rivers.
The newly appointed Daimyo of the Land of Rivers did not persist in having his local Ninja Village, unlike his father. However, concerned about his safety, he expressed to Konoha a desire to hire an Elite Ninja Squad to protect the Daimyo Mansion.
He simultaneously issued the same request to the Hidden Rain Village, but ignored the Hidden Sand Village's involvement.
After all, rumors within the Daimyo's Mansion talked about how the previous Daimyo died at the hands of the Hidden Sand Village. Despite their vehement denial, these claims came from the Dibyo's Mansion itself, even corroborated by his aunt.
With such tales circulating, the Daimyo grew distrustful of the Hidden Sand Village.
Two days later, with the border outpost established and the ninja squad assigned to the Daimyo's Mansion of the Land of Rivers in place, Uchiha Yoichi returned to Konoha Village with the team.
This time, the Jonin assessment task wasn't hard, mainly because Uchiha Yoichi already knew the possible demise of the Third Generation Kazekage. Had he been sent alone to gather intelligence on the Third Generation Raikage, even Uchiha would have had to declare the task failed.
Back in the village, Uchiha Yoichi went along with Jiraiya and others to the Hokage Building to report this mission.
He didn't hear about the negotiation task; only Jiraiya and Nara Shikaku went in to report. After waiting for several hours, the Third Generation Hokage called for Uchiha Yoichi and seven others to enter.
Besides Uchiha Yoichi, the remaining six were all squad leaders responsible for reconnaissance tasks.
The Third Generation Hokage, smiling, told the seven of them, "I've heard detailed accounts from Jiraiya; you all did very well this time, especially Mr. Yoichi, who unexpectedly found the most crucial information, greatly aiding the successful negotiation."
"Uchiha Yoichi, your Jonin assessment task is successful. From today onwards, you're a Konoha Jonin."