Three days later, Ryoma, Kōko, and Rinsuke stood at the entrance of the mountain cave.
Ryoma looked at the two people in front of him, both sporting heads of glossy, jet-black hair, and nodded with satisfaction.
It hadn't been for nothing.
The hair dye was an extreme success.
As the first users, Kōko and Rinsuke were completely won over by it.
Through Ryoma's unremitting efforts, he had finally, temporarily, eliminated their most conspicuous and easily exposed features.
Kōko and Rinsuke were also very grateful for Ryoma's actions.
They felt genuine care from Ryoma.
Perhaps many of Konoha's higher-ups were brainless, but most Konoha ninjas did everything they could for their friends.
This was also the main reason Konoha could continue to be strong.
Ryoma said to Kōko and Rinsuke: "Sister Kōko, Brother Rinsuke, let's part ways here. I need to hurry back to the village. Thank you so much for looking after me during this time."
Kōko and Rinsuke, holding hands, looked at Ryoma with reluctant expressions.
Although only a few short days had passed, several nights of long conversations, and Ryoma's later painstaking efforts to create hair dye to help them, had made an impact.
Ryoma's genuine care for them made the two, who had drifted for years with quiet hearts, feel once again the satisfaction of being truly worried about by someone.
Added to this was the emotional connection to their younger brother lost in childhood; both factors caused the two to develop familial feelings for the boy before them.
Kōko's eyes were already a bit moist. Helping Ryoma straighten his collar, she said seriously: "Little brother Ryoma, after you return to the village this time, don't go on such dangerous missions alone anymore. Your sister knows your talent is great and your strength isn't weak, but you must always know how to protect yourself, understand?"
Ryoma looked at Kōko and nodded seriously.
Kōko lightly hit Ryoma, as if scolding him: "Next time you get hurt this badly, you might not be lucky enough to run into your sister again!"
Ryoma also looked at Kōko and Rinsuke, saying: "Recently, Iwagakure has been very unstable, as if they're plotting something. The situation among the major hidden villages is also very tense. Sister Kōko, you two should try to stay away from the borders. If war breaks out, it's far too dangerous here!"
Subsequently, Ryoma pulled a black shadow short sword from the shadow beneath him, its hilt engraved with the Nara clan crest, and handed it to Kōko.
This was made by the Shadow Soldiers over the past few days, working overtime using the short sword he himself used.
"Consider this a token I'm giving you. If someday you encounter danger outside, or grow tired of drifting and want to return to Konoha, I can't promise much else, but as long as I'm there, the Nara clan grounds will always have a place for you to stay."
"And this is the token of my guarantee to you."
Rinsuke took the pitch-black short sword and nodded seriously at Ryoma.
Seeing this, Kōko quickly fumbled in her own pocket, apparently having also prepared a farewell gift for Ryoma.
A deep purple crystal necklace was taken out by Kōko from her pocket.
Kōko directly pulled Ryoma over and, without allowing refusal, put the necklace around Ryoma's neck.
After putting it on, Kōko looked left and right, then nodded satisfactorily.
She said: "This is also a 'token' from your sister. Wear it well, it will bring good luck! It's a pair; I'm wearing the other one."
Finished speaking, she showed Ryoma her own neck, where a red crystal necklace hung.
Apart from the different color of the crystals, the rest of the ornaments on the two necklaces were exactly the same.
Ryoma accepted Kōko's gift calmly, then turned around and waved behind him.
He said: "Then, let's part ways here. Fate willing, we'll meet again, Sister Kōko, Brother Rinsuke!"
Having said that, he walked forward without looking back.
Kōko and Rinsuke watched the figure gradually disappear from view, their hearts filled with emotion.
What Ryoma didn't know was that the necklace Kōko gave him was originally prepared by her as a gift for her own younger brother, but before she could give it, they encountered such drastic changes.
At this moment, Kōko watched Ryoma's receding figure, saying not a word, only tears silently streaming down her cheeks.
...
Meanwhile, Ryoma was both identifying the direction he needed to go and sensing the changes in his body.
To be honest, this battle, where Ryoma had exhausted all his hidden tricks, had caused him considerable suffering, even leading directly to complete depletion and collapse on the spot.
But, as much pain as there was, there was just as much reward.
Ryoma found that both the spiritual energy and chakra volume within him, after being completely wrung dry this time, had once again undergone a qualitative leap.
Indeed, breaking through one's limits in battle is the true essence; only after surviving a desperate situation can one better rebuild!
Regarding the conquest of the masks, the four masks he had already conquered (Ninja Mask, Giant Mask, Thorn Blade Mask, and Night Bat Mask) had all reached perfection.
Among them, General Niga of the Ninja Corps and General Samo of the Giant Corps had already been summoned.
As for the two Generals of the Night Bat Corps and Thorn Blade Corps, they were only lacking a suitable opportunity to see the light of day again.
Ryoma could now begin conquest on the fifth mask: the Samurai Mask representing the Samurai Corps, gaining the ability to summon Armored Shadows.
Ryoma was relatively satisfied with his progress after this battle.
One battle yielded results that would have required half a year or more of hard training.
What more could he ask for?
The main thing was that the conquest progress of the masks had been greatly accelerated, which made Ryoma extremely content.
Communication with the masks, under normal circumstances without special events, could only rely on slow accumulation.
The breakthrough after this battle could definitely be considered a huge boost.
And through these recent perilous battles, coupled with the imminent arrival of the Third War, Ryoma deeply realized his strength was still greatly lacking.
Improving his strength was, again, a matter of utmost urgency!
Ryoma suddenly thought of the three strange scrolls he had seized when he first ambushed the Iwa-nin troops.
It seemed that when the first wave of pursuers came, their goal was to seize those things.
They seemed very important.
Thinking about it this way, the subsequent pursuers also made sense.
They also had a compelling reason to pursue.
That reason was: to recover the three mysterious scrolls!
Then the importance of these scrolls went without saying.
Thinking this, Ryoma stopped. After confirming the surroundings were safe and uninhabited, he summoned the snake that had swallowed the scrolls and had the snake spit out all three scrolls.
With the reappearance of the three scrolls, that cold, grim aura followed closely, constantly eroding Ryoma's skin.
Ryoma shuddered.
No wonder they had drawn strange symbols around it when placed in the cart; it was probably to suppress this aura.
Ryoma calmed himself and opened one of them.
What met his eyes was unmistakably a standard sealing scroll. Besides the sealing formulae around it, in the center of the scroll was a large character: "Sword."
Opening the second, the center of the scroll had become a character: "Technique."
The third scroll was the strangest.
In the center was simply drawn a symbol Ryoma completely couldn't understand, exuding an aura of mystery and strangeness.
He had no idea what was sealed inside.
Ryoma steadied his mind and immediately decided:
Today, he would see exactly what things were loaded inside these scrolls—things that Iwagakure had expended vast manpower and resources to transport to the front lines to use against Konoha, and later paid an enormous price to recover!