Yotsuki Ai was not surprised by the attackers' identities. He counted through the spoils of war, then picked up the longsword and handed it straight to Chiba Shun.
"Here. Take this blade. I don't need it," he said. "We killed that man together, so part of the spoils are yours too. The money will be used as compensation for the others."
Chiba Shun's eyes lit up at once. "Thank you very much!"
He really had not expected Yotsuki Ai to be that generous.
After all, Ai had been the main force in killing that jonin. In theory, Chiba Shun had only played support. He would have been lucky to get a small cut of the spoils at all.
And they had taken heavy losses tonight. The enemy had left behind only a single corpse, which meant whatever they recovered had to be divided among the dead, the wounded, and the survivors. Chiba Shun had thought he would be fortunate to walk away with a hundred thousand ryo.
The most valuable thing on the body, aside from the corpse itself, was clearly this sword. By rights it should have belonged to Yotsuki Ai.
Yet Ai had handed it over without hesitation.
After putting the blade away, Chiba Shun dismissed the earth shelter and let the two children he had protected come back out.
The pair gasped the moment they saw the night sky again. But this time, neither of them cried.
Each gripped a kunai in trembling hands and stood back to back, eyes wide as they scanned the darkness.
Seeing that, Yotsuki Ai said to Chiba Shun, "You taught them well."
Chiba Shun smiled and crouched to comfort them for a while. Only then did he realize that one of the children he had saved was a girl.
When the ambush began, he had grabbed the nearest child and dodged on instinct. He had not even had time to look at who it was.
Once the two children had calmed down a little, Chiba Shun looked up and saw a Kumo chunin with one arm missing kneeling beside a corpse, using a storage scroll to seal it away.
A thought struck him at once. He walked over quickly and asked, "Senior, is there anything I can help with?"
The man had worn a blank expression until then. It was hard to tell whether he was grieving the dead, brooding over the arm he had lost, or simply exhausted beyond words.
But when he heard Chiba Shun speak, he still managed a faint smile.
"My name is Asano Yuujin," he said. "Just call me Yuujin."
He did not dare accept being called senior by Chiba Shun.
Not after what he had seen tonight.
Chiba Shun's performance in that battle had far surpassed his own, and in the ninja world, strength was everything. Especially now that he had lost an arm.
Chiba Shun, however, acted as though none of that mattered. He laughed lightly and said, "Senior Yuujin, with one arm gone, have you thought about what you'll do from here on out?"
At those words, Asano Yuujin's expression darkened even more. He did not answer at first. He only shook his head.
Lose one arm, and your strength plummets. There was no way he could stay in a top-tier squad after this. It was hard to say whether he could even keep his place as a chunin.
Seeing that, Chiba Shun said, "Then why not come to our Ninja Academy? You could teach the children how to use sealing scrolls. You could teach them how to make them too."
A faint light flickered through Asano Yuujin's eyes.
Then he nodded.
"Thank you," he said.
And once he noticed Chiba Shun's interest in what he was doing, he immediately began teaching him how to use a sealing scroll.
A lot of combat ninjas learned at least one support skill on the side. Asano Yuujin's happened to be sealing scrolls.
For that, he had to thank the jonin who once trained him, a man obsessed with making and using storage seals.
Chiba Shun had never been so lucky. His old squad leader had known almost nothing worth teaching, so there had been nothing for him to learn.
He listened while helping Yuujin at the same time. Before long, the little girl Chiba Shun had saved came over too and quietly joined in.
Chiba Shun shot her a surprised glance, then praised her a few extra times.
Working together, the three of them quickly sealed away all the corpses.
After a short rest, everyone treated their injuries as best they could and then hurried back toward the Hidden Cloud Village.
On the road, Yotsuki Ai took the initiative to speak with Chiba Shun.
"That sword style you used earlier was strange," he said. "Using four swords at once..."
"I have a companion who's been studying something similar recently. He's still in the theory stage, though. He hasn't truly started practicing it yet."
Of course Chiba Shun knew who he meant.
Killer B.
And the sword style he himself used had originally been pieced together from the Eight-Sword Style that B would display in the future.
So Chiba Shun said, "Then that's wonderful. It means someone else had the same thought I did."
"Once we get back to the village, we can let them exchange ideas. Learn from each other."
"I also have a companion. His swordsmanship is even better than mine. But he went to the Land of Iron, and I don't know whether he's returned yet."
Yotsuki Ai fell silent at that.
Killer B's status as a jinchuriki was too special. It was not something Chiba Shun could simply request, nor something Ai could casually agree to.
When Chiba Shun saw him go quiet, he said nothing more either.
The group hurried all the way back to Kumogakure.
The moment they returned, Chiba Shun was summoned to appear before the Third Raikage and the village's highest-ranking officials.
But instead of reporting everything right away, the first thing Chiba Shun did was take out a scroll.
When the Third Raikage and the others saw the thirty-seven ninjutsu recorded inside, they were all stunned.
Especially the two A-rank techniques.
Once the Third Raikage had confirmed with his own eyes that they were genuine, the way the room looked at Chiba Shun changed completely.
Thirty-seven ninjutsu. Even if only two of them were A-rank, they were still thirty-seven non-Lightning techniques that Kumogakure had never possessed before.
Everyone present knew the greatest obstacle holding back the Cloud Village was not even money.
It was foundation.
Their weakest point had always been the lack of ninjutsu outside Lightning Release.
There were too many Kumo ninja like Chiba Shun - people whose natural talents lay in other elements - yet they had no choice but to abandon those talents and force themselves onto the path of Lightning Release or pure taijutsu.
How many geniuses had the village buried with its own hands?
Now Chiba Shun had brought back dozens of techniques in a single stroke. It did not solve the problem entirely, but it greatly eased one of Kumogakure's most desperate weaknesses.
To the men in this room, that was more exciting than seeing the village's elites complete ten S-rank missions in a row.
At that moment, the Third Raikage was already thinking that even if Chiba Shun had failed to carry out the plan against Konoha's White Fang, he might not pursue it further.
Recovering these ninjutsu alone had already been a massive success.
Of course, that only made them more eager to hear exactly what agreement Chiba Shun had reached with the Konoha leadership.
No one suspected him of betraying Kumogakure.
After all, Chiba Shun had never been entrusted with any deep village secrets, nor did he hold the kind of power that would let him trade away Kumo's interests even if he wanted to.
A little later, Chiba Shun recounted the entire trip to Konoha from beginning to end.
When he finished, the Third Raikage said, "Danzo gave you these ninjutsu? And he really agreed to help bring down White Fang?"
Only then did he seem to remember that dealing with White Fang had been the real purpose of Chiba Shun's mission.
The ninjutsu had already been secured.
If White Fang could be taken down as well, that would be even better.
Chiba Shun nodded. "Yes. He agreed to work with us to ruin White Fang's reputation."
The Third Raikage accepted the plan Chiba Shun and Danzo had devised, then began discussing the finer points with the other advisers.
Before long, a full conspiracy aimed at Konoha's White Fang had taken shape inside the Raikage's office.
At last, the Third Raikage looked back at Chiba Shun, thought for a moment, and said, "Chiba Shun, you brought thirty-seven ninjutsu back for the village, including two A-rank techniques."
"That counts as an S-rank mission. You will also receive one opportunity to learn an A-rank ninjutsu."
"As for the earlier S-rank mission involving White Fang, we will confirm the outcome later."
Chiba Shun was overjoyed.
He answered immediately, "Thank you, Raikage-sama!"
An extra S-rank mission record. The chance to learn an A-rank ninjutsu.
He had struck gold.
After getting used to eating and drinking in Konoha without worrying about cost, Chiba Shun had assumed he would have to tighten his belt again after coming home - at least until White Fang's downfall earned him real rewards.
He had not expected the Third Raikage to be this generous.
Up to now, Chiba Shun had only ever completed three B-rank missions.
One for killing a Konoha intelligence ninja.
Another for killing a second one.
And one more for exposing Matsuda Sane.
He had not logged even a single A-rank mission.
Now an S-rank mission had fallen straight from the sky.
That one record alone could raise his standing in the village and completely change his standard of living.
For a good long while, he would not need to worry about supplies anymore.
But just as Chiba Shun's mood soared, Adviser Yukio opened his mouth again and poured cold water straight over it.
He said, somewhat displeased, "Third Raikage, these ninjutsu were not created by him. He obtained them by cooperating with Danzo on behalf of the village."
"The village may overlook the fact that he cultivated them privately without formal permission, but calling this an S-rank mission record is going too far."
Under normal circumstances, only something independently developed - something that could be widely spread and taught within the village - was worthy of an S-rank mission record. Usually that meant creating an A-rank ninjutsu and handing it over to the village.
At first glance, Yukio's words sounded reasonable.
But Chiba Shun's mood instantly soured.
He lowered his eyes so no one would see the look in them.
The Third Raikage frowned, thought for a moment, and finally said, "The S-rank mission record stands. But when these techniques are taught to other ninjas in the future, he will not receive a commission from them."
The benefits tied to developing ninjutsu were enormous. Every time another ninja learned a technique you had created and handed over, the village would reward you.
With a single sentence from Adviser Yukio, that huge long-term profit vanished.
And what infuriated Chiba Shun even more was that Yukio still was not done.
"Also," the adviser continued, "he is not permitted to teach these ninjutsu privately on his own."
Chiba Shun swallowed back a curse.
He had already planned it all out. Later, when he took on disciples of his own, he had intended to teach these techniques to his subordinates. He had even thought about exchanging them with other village ninjas for money.
Now all of it was gone.
This time, the Third Raikage did not object.
He simply nodded.
After that, he and the other high-ranking officials questioned Chiba Shun further about the details of his arrangement with Danzo.
Only when that was over did Chiba Shun cautiously say, "Raikage-sama, I have one thought."
"I think we can secretly notify the other great ninja villages in advance. Tell them that Konoha's leadership is moving against their own hero, White Fang, and let them prepare for war."
"At the same time, we can quietly begin amassing troops ourselves and be ready to march into the Land of Fire at any moment."
As soon as he said it, Chiba Shun carefully flicked his eyes toward the higher-ups around him.
He knew perfectly well that this was a serious political mistake.
What was he?
A mere chunin.
For someone of his rank to dare suggest the opening moves of a war in front of the Raikage and the advisers was dangerously close to trampling on their authority.