Konoha's Mission Master

Yakumo shook his head in refusal, his expression turning solemn.

"Alright." Jiraiya vanished in an instant.

Yakumo left the training ground and wandered through Konoha Village, eventually arriving at the flower shop of the Yamanaka clan.

A few days ago, he ordered two bouquets of flowers, one with carnations and the other with purple orchids, which were his father's favorite.

Today is the anniversary of his parents' death, not the day they died on the battlefield, but the day their bodies were brought back to Konoha and buried in the cemetery. It was on this night last year that the cowardly and timid Inoue Yakumo died, and he was fortunate enough to be reborn in another body and come into this world.

Yakumo walked for about half an hour, maintaining a normal pace throughout, but his expression became increasingly solemn and dignified—this was how one should behave when attending a memorial service.

Although he is not the original owner now, since he was reborn in another body, the connection between them, stemming from their bloodline, is an unbreakable bond.

This cemetery is located on a small hillside on the western outskirts of Konoha Village. Many people come here, after all, it was during the Second Shinobi World War. Konoha sent back bodies about once a month. There were many bodies sent back with Yakumo's parents at that time. In other words, the boys or girls who walked this road had a similar fate to Yakumo.

In the ninja world, parents are always precious SSRs.

In front of the cemetery stands a memorial to the fallen heroes of Konoha. The obsidian monument, ten meters high, is engraved with the names of the fallen heroes on all four sides. At the highest point of the memorial are the names of Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Kagami Uchiha, and Danzo Shimura.

After all, in terms of seniority, Shimura Danzo was a disciple of the Second Hokage, a true member of the Hokage lineage, but their bodies were buried in the family cemetery, which was only for commoner ninjas.

Before the memorial stone, there were many white flowers for worship. Yakumo's lips curled into a cold smile. Danzo caused the deaths of countless ninjas and repeatedly damaged the interests of the entire Hidden Leaf Village in his lifetime because of his ambition. Yet, he was worshipped by thousands of people after his death. How ironic.

There are three such memorial monuments in the cemetery, encompassing all the ninjas who died for Konoha from the first year of Konoha to the fortieth year of Konoha, totaling approximately 20,000.

This includes not only the two Ninja Wars, but also the Konoha ninjas who sacrificed their lives on missions. It's as if this prosperous and peaceful Konoha Village was built on piles of bones.

Chunin Division, Year 39, June burial. Following the index, Yakumo found his parents' graves. They weren't in the same location, but they were right next to each other…

In Konoha, there is a rule that if a husband and wife die in battle, they can be buried together, and their children will receive double the compensation.

Yakumo placed carnations and purple orchids next to the obsidian tombstone. Several other tombstones nearby also had white bouquets of flowers for offerings, indicating that descendants had recently come to pay their respects. However, some of the flowers had withered and were even scattered on the ground by the wind.

The managers of Konoha Cemetery are shirking their duties.

Not far away, in the 40-year-old zoning area, a new grave stands.

Death is nothing new to ninjas.

"Mother, Father, your child has come to see you. Father, you always taught me to cultivate diligently and take good care of myself. Now I am very strong. Of course, most importantly, I have found many, many friends and relatives... You two don't need to worry about me in the underworld..."

Yakumo began to recount his experiences and observations over the past few days with utmost seriousness, covering every detail as if his parents in the underworld could truly hear him.

Half an hour later, Yakumo took out a rag and began to wipe away the traces of rainwater left on the tombstone, and picked up the scattered branches and white flowers next to her parents' graves.

After staying for a while, Yakumo got up and went down the mountain.

He will come again next year. Since he was resurrected by borrowing Jing Bayun's body, then the original owner's parents are his parents, and there is no difference.

On the way down the mountain, Yakumo planned to complete the following tasks in the next six months: first, to encourage Hatake Sakumo to compete for the Fourth Hokage; second, to raise the Palm Healing Technique to the Grandmaster level to further suppress Mori Masako's bloodline disease; and finally, to frantically improve Sage Mode.

In this life, we should have some goals to strive for, so that we won't feel lost or lose our motivation. Moreover, every lofty ideal is perfected by achieving small goals step by step.

His previous small goal, to have Danzo die within a year, he has already accomplished…

"Dong dong dong."

Yakumo knocked on the wooden door of the manager's room.

"Who?"

A few seconds later, the person who opened the door was a boy about the same age as Yakumo, but his body was somewhat pale and he was holding a shriveled flatbread in his hand.

"Um... I'm sorry to disturb your lunch."

Yakumo scratched his head. If this boy was the manager, then the mess in the cemetery would be explained. This boy, who wasn't even a ninja, simply couldn't take care of such a large cemetery.

"Haha...it's not like I'm bothering you."

The boy answered with a shy smile.

“I am a descendant of the cemetery above, Section 6, Cemetery Nos. 1308 and 1309, dating back to 1939. I would like to ask you to clean these two numbered cemeteries regularly. Of course, I will provide you with a reward of 200,000 taels of silver per year.”

Yakumo took out silver from his storage scroll.

The boy's eyes darted around rapidly.

"That won't do. My grandfather used to be the manager of that cemetery, but he passed away recently, and I just took over... so I'm not very familiar with the work yet. Don't worry, next time you come to pay your respects, I promise I'll keep the cemetery spotless." The thin boy politely declined Yakumo's offer, his smile bright and sunny.

“I see…” Yakumo immediately asked.

"Was your grandfather... a ninja?"

“That’s right,” the boy replied with a hint of pride.

"Then why don't you have any chakra in your body?"

"Because my parents died on the battlefield, my grandfather wanted me to be an ordinary person, so he didn't teach me how to refine chakra, nor did he allow me to go to ninja school."

"Alright... but you have to take this 200,000." Without further ado, Yakumo stuffed 200,000 into the boy's hand. He could see the boy's predicament, and helping him out at this moment was just a convenient thing to do.

"Thank you, Ninja Master. I will take good care of the two graves, 1308 and 1309, in District 6. My name is Yougu Qianxue."

The boy bowed and shouted behind Yakumo.

"My name is... Ii Yakumo."

This boy possessed an indomitable will, which greatly pleased Yakumo. This indomitable will resonated with Yakumo, and for a moment, he even considered passing on the Chakra Refining Technique and Ninjutsu Inheritance to Yukotsu Chiyuki.

But... what Grandpa Yukotsu Chiyuki said makes some sense. Becoming a ninja and dying on the battlefield like his parents might not be as good as living a peaceful life in Konoha.

Yakumo quickened his pace, moving away from the cemetery.

After a moment's hesitation, he decided to go to Konoha Hospital to visit Aoyama Reiko, whom he hadn't seen in a long time. In fact, the two had kept in touch by letter during the mission, but meeting in person was still a different matter.

Yakumo gently knocked on the door, and after hearing Aoyama Reiko's voice, he pushed open the office door. Inside, Aoyama Reiko was performing surgery.

Reiko Aoyama looked up. She was initially very annoyed by the interruption during her surgery, but when she saw that the person who came was Yakumo, the frost on her face quickly melted away, and she revealed an excessively sweet smile.

"Hey, Yakumo... perfect timing, you're here. Go get ready, we'll work together on the surgery. You'll suture this patient, and we can also test if your Nolte suture technique has deteriorated..."

"Okay." Yakumo nodded, pushed open the wooden door next to him, and went into the sterile disinfection room to start disinfecting and changing clothes.

"Aoyama Kōnin, let a child have surgery..."

The patient waiting for surgery looked up, somewhat hesitant.

"Yakumo's suturing skills are far superior to mine."

Reiko Aoyama instantly changed her expression and responded in a distant tone, without even shifting her gaze.

A few minutes later, the surgery officially began.

The first step is to administer anesthesia.

The second step involved increasing the output power of the Palm Immortal Technique, while simultaneously using the Fine Suffering Extraction Technique to remove blood stasis and toxins from the patient's body. Yakumo's hands moved swiftly, the fine threads dancing like a graceful dancer. The surgery was completed ten minutes later.

The patient left the consultation room very satisfied.

Yakumo created shadow clones to clean up the surgical site.

"Sister Qingshan, how about we have a get-together?"

Yakumo suggested.

"It'll be tonight, there will probably be more patients this afternoon."

Reiko Aoyama smiled, but ultimately declined, saying that as a medical ninja, the patient was the most important thing.

"Then I'll go with you during the surgery."

"it is good."

At 6 PM, Yakumo accompanied Aoyama Reiko to finish the remaining surgeries. The two strolled through the streets of Konoha, chatting about their experiences over the past few days, and eventually arrived at BBQ Q.

"This is my understanding and experience regarding the Palm Immortal Technique."

Yakumo took out a scroll from his storage scroll. Of course, this experience only included the part below the master level. It wasn't that he was stingy... but he knew that Aoyama Reiko couldn't reach the 40-point limit of physique. Blind hope always leads to harm.

Reiko Aoyama took the scroll, ignoring the grilled meat, and immediately opened it, eagerly absorbing the knowledge and understanding within.

"Fuck."

The finest snowflake beef splattered oil on the hot plate, and Yakumo quickly devoured the food in front of him, occasionally sipping a sip of sweet and sour fruit tea.

Time passed little by little...

Two hours later, Aoyama Reiko raised her head with lingering enjoyment and looked at Yakumo with heartfelt admiration.

"In just one year, you have reached a level that I cannot reach. While I am gratified, haha, I can't help but feel a little envious and jealous."

"I owe all my success to Sister Qingshan."

Upon hearing this, Yakumo immediately replied sincerely.

"My help to you... is negligible..."

Reiko Aoyama shook her head seriously, her voice filled with disappointment. Being surpassed so easily by her disciple left her feeling somewhat dejected.

Yakumo noticed this but was helpless and could only place the grilled beef on the hot plate onto Aoyama Reiko's plate.

Reiko Aoyama started eating with a smile, but the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

As the two parted, Yakumo hesitated for a few seconds before finally speaking up to remind them.

"Sister Aoyama, to break through the inherent limitations of the Palm Healing Technique, you need to increase the amount of Yang Release chakra in your body."

"Really?" Aoyama Reiko asked.

"I won't lie to my sister."

A flame burned in Aoyama Reiko's eyes. She knew she wouldn't waste her days in confusion or uncertainty; she had found a way to continue improving her medical skills.

“Sister…” Yakumo called out.

"What's wrong?" Aoyama Reiko asked subconsciously, but the flames in her eyes grew stronger. Improving medical ninjutsu had always been a knot in Aoyama Reiko's heart.

This knot in her heart had been buried for a very long time... Now that she had found a direction to improve her medical ninjutsu, she was willing to give up many things in order to achieve that goal.

Obsession is the kind of obsession that is stubborn. What Yakumo is worried about now is that Aoyama Reiko is gradually heading down a path of self-destruction because of this obsession.

"Promise me that from now on you will consult with me before making any decisions. As for how to help you increase your Yang Release chakra, I will also help you find a way. I remember you still have one more ninjutsu exchange in the Book of Seals, right? I suggest you exchange for the Yin Seal."

Reiko Aoyama paused for a moment, then looked at Yakumo's slightly worried eyes and instantly understood the problem that Yakumo was worried about.

Reiko Aoyama picked up Yakumo and looked directly into his eyes, making a solemn promise.

"I promise you I won't conduct dangerous experiments to increase the amount of Yang Release chakra in my body."