"Yaa, I am really very sorry!" Tobi scratched his head as he looked at the handsome black-haired, straight-haired guy who had planted his head into the ground, and said, "And... why aren't you watching where you're walking?"
He just wanted to come out to sunbathe and get some fresh air. How did someone fall down as soon as he opened the hole?
Tobi looked up at the hole entrance...
The hole the Madara-sama found should be very hidden.
Why did someone fall down for no reason?
He glanced again at the young man still lying on the ground...
"That... should I take you to the hospital?"
"No... no need!" Haku raised his hand, flipped over, and sat up handsomely again. Even though he landed face first, his expression remained unchanged. He looked up at the person in front of him who had no eyes and was entirely white, paused for a moment, then regained his original composure. Gripping his homemade bubble pipe in his right hand, he said lightly, "A mere minor injury is nothing to a shinobi."
It's just...
The face landing hurt a bit...
"Who are you?"
"I am Tobi, and you?" Tobi also sat directly on the muddy ground. After all, there were no chairs to sit on in this cave. When Madara-sama was here, he also sat directly on the floor. Looking at the black-haired youth who was as handsome as himself, he said, "How did you fall down?"
"Haku." Haku looked at Tobi. Although there were indeed many strangely shaped people in the shinobi world...
This was his first time seeing such a strange person.
He blew a bubble and said calmly, "I was in a hurry traveling, so, I didn't notice the hole..."
He looked around...
There was nothing particularly special about this place, mostly rocks, and also...
A deeper hole entrance further in.
This is...
Haku fell silent for a moment...
A one-bedroom apartment?
"Why are you randomly digging holes in this remote wilderness?"
He had fled to this remote wilderness to escape pursuit from the Land of Water. Why would someone dig a one-bedroom apartment in this deserted place?
Was it to evade enemies like him, or was it because they had no money to buy a house, a one-bedroom apartment?
"This is my lord's old home, I just came to stay for a few days." Tobi scratched his head. Seeing Haku's strange look, he seemed to guess what he wanted to say, smiled sheepishly, and said, "I have a big villa in the Land of Whirlpools!"
Madara-sama's affairs absolutely must not be revealed, otherwise...
He would be in danger if discovered by Black Zetsu.
"Eh~, I heard the housing prices in the Land of Whirlpools are quite high." Haku blew a bubble, still looking at Tobi with a strange expression, and said, "You can afford a villa, that's amazing!"
Could it be that he came here to escape the so-called mortgage in the Land of Whirlpools?
He heard that the Land of Whirlpools has a black-hearted, ruthless finance minister. Anyone who fails to repay their debts is directly sunk into the eastern sea of the Land of Whirlpools, that is...
The place where the Third Mizukage and Fourth Mizukage were turned into popsicles.
This guy...
Probably hiding here to escape debt, right?
"Just average!" Tobi, upon hearing this, gave a silly, embarrassed laugh and said, "It's just that the mortgage isn't fully paid off yet."
Due to Madara-sama's force majeure, the house was rebuilt, and then...
He still hasn't finished paying it off yet!
"But it's almost done, probably just two more years and it should be paid off."
However...
"..."
Haku suddenly looked silently at the silly, happy Tobi in front of him...
Sure enough...
This guy must have escaped here because his mortgage wasn't paid off.
He looked up at the hole entrance several meters deep, his heart suddenly filled with emotion...
It takes real perseverance to dig such a deep pit in this deserted, remote place several meters deep!
He fell silent for a moment...
"Since you've lived in the Land of Whirlpools, what do you think of it?"
He originally had thought about living in the Land of Whirlpools, but now...
How can one live there penniless?
As for a loan...
Forget it, the eastern sea of the Land of Whirlpools already has enough Kirigakure shinobi.
Why should a missing-nin like him join that crowd?
"Hmm~" Tobi furrowed his brow where there were no eyebrows and thought for a moment. Suddenly, as if he thought of something, he clapped his right hand and said, "I think the tofu pudding in the Land of Whirlpools is very delicious!"
Thinking of the Land of Whirlpools, he remembered Land of Whirlpools tofu pudding, roast chicken, stinky tofu, pancakes...
And then...
He remembered that old, toothless Madara-sama who loved roast chicken...
I wonder how the Land of Whirlpools is doing now?
A trace of reminiscence appeared in Tobi's eyes...
"I really want to go back to the Land of Whirlpools again!"
"..."
I've heard about those things from the TV station too, but...
That's not what I want to know!
Idiot!
Haku took another deep breath, put the bubble pipe in his right hand into his mouth, exhaled, blowing a cave full of bubbles, calming his inner irritation, and said calmly, "What I want to know is how your life was in the Land of Whirlpools, was it the same as what they say on TV?"
If he hadn't suddenly met someone who was being pursued for debt by the Land of Whirlpools and escaped, wanting to ask about the real situation there, he wouldn't waste so much time asking here!
"TV?" Tobi tilted his head and said, "Such a familiar thing!"
When he left, he seemed to have heard of this thing. It seemed similar to the Land of Whirlpools' monitoring equipment, allowing one to see images from very far away places on it.
"So, whether it's the same as what they say on TV, I don't know either!"
After all, he left long ago.
"..."
Haku sighed inwardly...
It seems this guy left the Land of Whirlpools a long time ago. Given the Land of Whirlpools' compound interest upon compound interest...
Now...
This guy probably shouldn't return to the Land of Whirlpools.
It's estimated that now...
He probably can't pay it back anymore!!!
"So what did you do in the Land of Whirlpools?"
I'd better ask in a different way.
"Me~" Tobi scratched his head, furrowed his brow where there were no eyebrows, thought for a moment, then wore a confident smile on his face, stood up, walked to the nearby stone cabinet, rummaged through it, turned around, held up a white piece of paper, and looked at Haku proudly...
"I am a teacher!"
...
"The Fourth Hokage?" The Daimyo opened his fan, looking at the blonde young man sitting across from him, and said, "Ooh, truly young and promising! When the Third Hokage submitted the candidate for the Fourth Hokage back then, it was I who stamped the approval!"
With a touch of sentimentality...
"I never thought so much time has passed since then!"
"Yes, Lord Daimyo." Minato nodded with a smile, a similar trace of sentiment on his face, and said, "It feels just like yesterday. The Third Hokage lived up to the name of Hokage and sacrificed himself to protect Konoha."
Looking around at the circle of high-ranking officials from the Daimyo's court...
"And Konoha has lived up to its role as the shinobi village of the Land of Fire!"
Snap!
Upon hearing Minato's words, the Daimyo closed his fan directly. His face still wore a smile as he looked at Minato. After a moment, he nodded slightly...
"Konoha has indeed lived up to the Land of Whirlpools, ah~"
But...
Unbeknownst from the time the First Hokage founded the shinobi village until now, the shinobi power Konoha holds has grown to a point where even his Daimyo's court cannot afford to underestimate it.
So...
After the Land of Whirlpools lit the fire, it could no longer be extinguished...
Looking at the Konoha shinobi present, and the high-ranking officials from his own Daimyo's court...
The Land of Fire must undergo changes!
"Hey, you've been smoking since the beginning and haven't said anything!" Kakashi put away the red-covered book in his hand, poked the Konoha shinobi with a full beard and a cigarette in his mouth beside him, and said quietly, "The teacher is waiting for your report on the situation at the Daimyo's court!"
"We'll talk about that later." Asuma lit his cigarette, looked up, frowned as he scanned the surroundings, and said, "The situation..."
Seems a bit off!
Kazuma and the others...
Where are they?