Watching helplessly as a promising young man gradually turns into a solitary and stubborn adult.
In the Four-tails' eyes, Roshi doesn't owe anything to Hidden Rock, rather, Hidden Rock owes Roshi.
Roshi did not plead with Onoki to become a Jinchuriki.
Moreover, Roshi has executed numerous missions for Hidden Rock, and during the war, he has risked his life for Hidden Rock countless times.
To the Four-tails, Roshi is inherently no different from him; both are pitiful individuals confined by Hidden Rock Village.
It's just that the Four-tails isn't from Hidden Rock Village, while Roshi was born there.
"Let that old codger Onoki regret it then." Roshi placed the washed dishes down, a smile appearing on his face.
Today, he would show Onoki that Roshi is a man of his word.
Then Roshi stepped out of the house, quietly reading in the yard.
He planned to leave when night deepened.
Though he intended to leave, Roshi had no intention of making a fuss; those Hidden Rock ninjas and villagers were annoying but their sins weren't worthy of death.
His departure would already be a significant hassle for Hidden Rock Village, there was no need to create more trouble.
As time passed, the Hidden Rock Anbu monitoring Roshi felt something was off because Roshi had been reading for too long this time; normally, Roshi wouldn't read in the yard for so long.
However, this minor change couldn't be considered abnormal, so the Hidden Rock Anbu didn't contact Onoki and merely noted it down.
"Almost time." Roshi looked around at the thoroughly darkened surroundings, closing the book and returning to the house, placing the book back on the shelf.
This was his home after all; even if he were to leave, it couldn't be chaotic. Perhaps there would be a chance to return someday.
After tidying up the house, Roshi directly approached the location where the Hidden Rock Anbu were concealed.
He was worried that among the surveillance Anbu, there would be a Perception Ninja, and directly using Earth Release to leave might lead to immediate detection.
"They found out?" The Anbu was startled for a moment as Roshi walked over openly.
He knew why he was replaced here, but he didn't expect Roshi's counter-surveillance ability to be so strong, discovering them so quickly.
"Roshi, what are you planning to do? Attacking Anbu is a serious crime." The Anbu appeared and warned.
He wasn't flustered; the previous Anbu discovered didn't engage in combat with Roshi, so he believed Roshi wouldn't strike against Anbu.
Roshi smiled, he was about to leave Hidden Rock Village yet they still wanted to scare him with this.
Whizz!
Without a word, Roshi unleashed the enormous Chakra within, instantly flashing behind the two Hidden Rock Anbu and swinging a heavy hand chop.
Bang! Bang!
The two Hidden Rock Anbu fell to the ground on cue.
After knocking out the Anbu, Roshi concealed them and quickly vanished underground, rushing speedily toward the outskirts of Hidden Rock Village.
Roshi wasn't skilled in knockout techniques; his success in knocking them out depended entirely on his power.
However, because Roshi didn't want to kill them, he deliberately controlled his strength, which led to uncertainty about how long the two would stay unconscious.
To be cautious, it was better to make an early escape.
To aid Roshi in escaping Hidden Rock Village, the Four-tails fully refined Chakra to assist Roshi, elevating Roshi's strength to its peak.
The Four-tails also felt quite excited, after being confined in Hidden Rock Village as an energy source for so many years, he finally got out.
When Roshi broke out of Hidden Rock Village, he returned to the surface, glancing back at the hometown he had lived in for decades.
When the idea of leaving the village first arose, his heart was full of conflict.
When he understood everything, a part of his heart still felt a hint of reluctance toward Hidden Rock Village.
But when he knocked out the Anbu, a surge of joy filled Roshi's heart.
Now, outside of Hidden Rock Village, Roshi felt incredibly elated, without a shred of regret in his heart.
"Onoki, I hope you don't get constipated from anger, haha."
Roshi laughed heartily as he exploded with Chakra, continuing his high-speed advance.
Hidden Rock Village held no people he cared about, and there were none who cared about him. After a careful reflection, it truly wasn't worth lingering.
Elsewhere, the night shift members of the Hidden Rock Barrier Squad noticed someone breaking out from underground, immediately reporting the incident.
Upon awakening, the unconscious Hidden Rock Anbu hurriedly relayed the information of Roshi attacking the Anbu.
"Master Third, something's wrong!"
Upon hearing the Anbu's voice, Onoki, who had been asleep, sat up suddenly.
"What happened?" Onoki quickly put on a robe and asked.
To wake him after he had gone to bed meant it was something extremely important.
"The Four-tailed Jinchuriki Roshi knocked out the Anbu protecting him and escaped the village alone." The Anbu reported swiftly.
"How dare he!" Onoki's eyes widened, his fists clenched tight.
He hadn't expected Roshi to act so boldly, claiming he would make him regret in the morning and escaping Hidden Rock Village by nightfall.
However, Onoki knew now wasn't the time to dwell on Roshi's personality; he immediately ordered sternly:
"Deploy personnel to secretly search for him, and notify the border teams to assist in searching for Roshi, we absolutely cannot let Roshi leave the Land of Earth!"
It's more troublesome if a Jinchuriki escapes than if a Jinchuriki dies in battle.
If a Jinchuriki dies in battle, the Tailed Beast will resurrect itself after some time, and then it can be recaptured and sealed into a suitable ninja's body, creating a new Jinchuriki.
If the Jinchuriki escapes, then the situation becomes complicated.
If the Jinchuriki manages to stay hidden in a corner indefinitely, Hidden Rock will forever lose a Tailed Beast until the Jinchuriki dies.
If the Jinchuriki is captured by another Ninja Village, it will be even worse.
These are outcomes Onoki cannot tolerate.
"Gather all informed ninjas and instruct them to keep Roshi's escape a secret, making sure no other Ninja Village finds out." Onoki continued to command.
If Roshi has any sense, he won't display his identity as a Jinchuriki — this is akin to seeking death.
The Great Ninja Village unaware of Roshi's escape might consider stealthily eliminating Roshi, removing a Jinchuriki from Hidden Rock Village.
The Ninja Villages that know of Roshi's escape may wish to acquire the Tailed Beast within him.
In short, if Roshi dares to expose his identity as the Four-tailed Jinchuriki, it will surely end poorly.
This presents Onoki with an opportunity for deception.
Though Roshi has run away, he can pretend that Roshi hasn't, giving the impression that Hidden Rock Village still has two Jinchuriki.
Jinchuriki were never meant to be easily deployed superweapons.
As long as Roshi doesn't make appearances outside, Hidden Rock's enemies would have to consider Roshi's combat strength during a war against Hidden Rock.
"Yes!" The Anbu answered while bowing and quickly vanished to carry out Onoki's directive.
"To think it would come to this." Onoki rubbed his forehead in frustration.
He really hadn't anticipated that Roshi would leave; this was the village that birthed and raised him, simply abandoned like that?
Did he not attend the Will of Stone class at Ninja School? Or was the teacher's instruction too poor?
"This issue should have been taken more seriously." Onoki sighed.
He felt a bit regretful, feeling he shouldn't have just replaced the Anbu.
Given today's outcome, at that time he should've either discontinued surveillance or significantly strengthened the surveillance team.
Considering Onoki's temperament, he would have leaned towards the latter.
Today, Roshi's request was to be free from surveillance, tomorrow there might be further demands from others.
Onoki wouldn't want to compromise only to end up with a lawless Jinchuriki in the future.
Since Roshi had made the decision to defect, it's clear he was considering it beforehand.
A Jinchuriki who has thoughts of defection and "accidentally" killed several comrades on the battlefield — Onoki feels monitoring is the right choice.
However, despite Onoki trying to focus his thoughts away, an idea kept flashing through his mind.
Maybe the stubbornness wasn't exclusive to Roshi, perhaps he was just the same.
If either of them had been less stubborn, the outcome could have been different,
Onoki quickly dressed and hurried to the Tsuchikage Building.
Contemplating the miscellany held no meaning anymore; Roshi had defected, regardless of assumptions, this fact wouldn't change.
The most crucial matter now was to minimize this event's impact on Hidden Rock.