Escape From Konoha

After leaving Shiraishi's office, Kazuki returned to the Thorns Team lounge with the Jonin roster.

As a spearhead force specially established by the military of the Kingdom of Ghosts, every time the military has a major task or faces a dangerous enemy, the Thorns Team is the first to rush to the forefront of the battlefield. It became a sharp knife in the hands of the military that stabbed the enemy's heart.

Based on this, the treatment of the Thorn Team in the military is naturally excellent. The military also gives the members of the Thorn Team great benefits in the lounge and office space.

Yiji returned here and found that only two people were left stationed here in the spacious and luxurious lounge. The other few people were missing, making the lounge look extremely empty.

"Are you two the only ones here? Where are the others?"

Ichiki held the Jonin roster under her arm and did not open it immediately. Instead, she asked the only two people in the lounge.

These two are rare female ninjas in the Thorns team, one big and one small.

The older woman was in her thirties, but she looked as if she was in her twenties, her appearance was very young.

She stood here quietly, holding a tea cup in her hand, with long vertical black hair, giving people an aesthetic feeling of admiring a classical woman.

summer star. That's the name of this female ninja.

He was originally a Jounin of the Star Ninja Village. After he was incorporated into the Demon Country's military in the Star Ninja Village, he successfully stood out from all the Jounin with his strong strength and was successfully selected into the Thorn Team. He is good at the Peacock Magic Technique, which is an extremely rare aerial combat. type ninja. In terms of maneuverability and flexibility, the peacock technique he mastered is even better than the flying ninja produced by the Kingdom of Demons.

The other person is slightly petite. Like Xia Xing, he has long black straight hair and white pupils. He is sitting on the sofa with a quiet atmosphere surrounding him, giving him a quiet and gentle temperament.

Sunflower.

She looks to be only about twenty years old, about the same age as Ichihime. She is one of the leaders of the younger generation of the Hyuga clan in the Kingdom of Demons. In terms of strength alone, she can also be ranked among the Jonin in the Kingdom of Demons. Forefront.

It's just that because he was selected into the Thorns Group early, his reputation is not obvious, but he also likes a quiet personality, and he doesn't seem to value things like reputation very much. Overall, he is a ninja who doesn't pay much attention to fame and fortune, but pays too much attention to self-improvement.

When I entered the Thorns Group, I was also thinking about how to improve my ninja strength faster.

Ichihime always feels that the Hyuga clan in the Kingdom of Demons does not seem to pay much attention to the cultivation of appearance and temperament. Under the leadership of her 'little mother' Hyuga Ayane, the Hyuga clan is very interested in the cultivation of force, and gradually becomes more and more similar to the Uchiha. The characteristics of the clans began to overlap.

This may be related to the personality of the leader of the clan.

Seeing Ichiji come in, Hinata stood up from the sofa and quickly responded to Ichiji's question: "They said they wanted to go out to relax and treat themselves in the barbecue restaurant. Captain, yes Is there something important that needs to be called back?"

Yiji thought for a moment, shook her head and said, "Forget it, since they are having a party and it's a little inappropriate now, there's no need to disturb them. Besides, it's not anything particularly important."

As she said that, she picked up the roster between her arms and raised it slightly to Hinata Aoi and Natsuhi Hoshi.

"Captain, this is..."

Not only Hinata, but Natsuboshi is also curious about the document in Kazuhime's hand.

"This is the Jonin roster that the old man gave me. He just told me in the office that the recent completion of the mission of the Thorn Team was not very satisfactory to him, and some combat power needs to be added."

Yi Ji said without blushing and without a beating heart.

She couldn't attack and say that the strength of the team members was so poor that she, the captain, could not fully exert her strength.

Therefore, Ichiji did not hesitate to put the proposer of this plan on Shiraishi's head.

Anyway, my old man is already a resentful existence outside of people and gods. If there are more lice on his body, he probably won't take it seriously.

Natsuhi and Hinata looked at each other, then lowered their heads in shame, feeling uneasy.

Although I don't know where I went wrong, since the top leaders of the military have said such words, it seems that it is not without purpose.

"However, you two don't need to take it too seriously. The old guy is already forty years old and is probably about to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. It is inevitable that he will be a little hesitant in doing things recently. He is dissatisfied here and there, just like a menopausal woman. After all, No matter how brilliant his achievements were in the past, he is now just a middle-aged greasy man with a big belly and an indolence to work. So you just have to do your part."

Ichiji comforted Nia Xing and Hinata Aoi, with an expression of indignation on her face, like an upright leader who upholds justice and grievances for his subordinates, with no room for sand in his eyes.

After hearing this, Natsuhi Hoshi and Hinata Aoi felt a little comforted and grateful.

Compared with the unattainable Minister of Military Affairs, the captain Yiji had frequent contact with them and gave them a greater sense of identification.

However, the two of them did not think that the Minister of Military Affairs was a so-called middle-aged greasy man, and they could not imagine that he was pot-bellied and indolent. After all, two years ago, the other party personally took people to Miaomu Mountain, one of the Three Holy Lands. I can't say that such a leader is unique, but at least he can use force to make his own people feel at ease.

These malicious comments coming out of Yiji's mouth are probably the 'warm' daily life between father and daughter.

"Then, the purpose of bringing this document back is..."

Hinata Aoi looked at the document in Ichiji's hand and had a guess in her mind.

"As you guessed, the old man asked me to select a few outstanding jounin from the roster to make up for the team's lack of combat effectiveness. Although I really want to refuse."

Ichiki casually sat on the sofa opposite Hinata Aoi, put down the jounin list in her hand, and calmly threw some lice at Shiraishi.

Xia Xiaxing quickly prepared a glass of iced juice for her.

Yiji picked up the Bingzhen juice and drank it all in one gulp. In this hot season, the most comfortable thing is to blow the air conditioner in the office, drink Bingzhen juice, and then spend time leisurely, waiting to return from work. Home rest.

However, Kazuki's laid-back look put a lot of pressure on Hinata, who had a more serious personality. She took the Jonin roster and began to study it carefully one by one, hoping to find some who could join the Thorn Team and compete with them. Colleagues to work with.

It's just that since the Demon Kingdom's military has grown, the number of Jonin has already surged to 300.

This number may not seem to be much, but the number of jounin produced by other major ninja villages alone will never exceed this number. In this regard, only Kumogakure, whose military strength is also extremely strong, is qualified to compare with the Kingdom of Demons in this regard.

Followed by Kirigakure and Konoha, Iwagakure and Sunagakure are last. The number of Jonin may be just over two hundred. These two villages have been under the focus of military attention.

Even so, it would take a long time for Hinata Aoi to browse through the information of more than 300 jounin. Not to mention, it is impossible to browse such an important roster and find a suitable one to join the team. Forbearance, at least I have to flip through this roster a dozen times before I give up.

Finally, it depends on whether you are willing to work in the Thorns Group. If the other party is not willing, you cannot force the other party to join, otherwise it will easily lead to disagreements among colleagues.

"Captain, what do you think?"

Compared to Hinata, who was already in a pick-up state, Natsuhi knew that Kazuhime's thoughts were the most important. Judging from the way she threw the list away, she probably didn't like the jounin on the list.

It's a bit rude to say this, but Xia Xing believes that the Thorns Group has hindered Yi Ji's development.

With the opponent's strength, he could have killed all the enemies by himself during the operation, fighting without any worries.

The Thorns Group is more like a heritage in Yiji's name, but it is also a shackles on the opponent.

After thinking about this, Xia Xing directly asked Yi Ji what he thought.

"These jounin are capable in conventional battles."

Yi Ji put down the empty cup in her hand and placed it on the coffee table in front of her, commenting like this without being salty.

Ninjas who have reached the jounin level are a group of beings who have developed their own unique abilities. Here, even the weakest special jounin will have a huge gap compared with the regular chuunin. It can be said that none of the ninjas who can achieve this level are mediocre.

Yi Ji's evaluation is just telling the truth.

But Xia Xing heard another meaning. Although these jounin abilities were good, the Thorn Team needed ninjas stronger than them to join.

In the past, as a Jonin of the Star Ninja Village, she participated in the management of the village. Therefore, she also has some experience in selecting and appointing people. She and Hinata Aoi are young and powerful Jonin, but have less management ability. Different, she is not only extremely outstanding in terms of strength, but also has rich management experience.

In the Thorns Group, she is one of the few members who can discuss the group's development plan with Yiji.

Therefore, Xia Xing couldn't help but frowned in embarrassment at Yi Ji's suggestion.

In reality, there is no shortage of top-level ninjas in the Demon Country's military. Ninjas at the level of the Five Kages, if you search carefully, it is not too difficult to pick out a dozen or so.

However, these top ninjas either hold important positions and cannot be easily transferred from their posts without instructions from their superiors, or they are the team leaders themselves and will not be subordinate to others. Even if Yiji personally invites them, they will not serve in the Thorn Team to help Yiji.

"Captain, how about Uchiha Sasuke? He is a newcomer to the military, and he has the ability to defeat the Sharingan Itachi and invade Konoha."

In Xia Xing's view, such newcomers were powerful but lacked foundation, and they were the easiest group to win over among the top ninjas.

As far as she knew, many high-level cadres in the military were eyeing the other party and wanted to transfer him to serve under their command.

"No, the old man said that he will not be inferior to others. Besides, he is currently involved with Kakashi Hatake of the Intelligence Department, so he will probably not be invited. Even if he is invited, he will follow Kakashi Hatake."

Yi Ji shook his head.

"So, where is Saijounin?"

Xia Xing proposed again, thinking of Yiji's half-brother.

Although there is already a white-eyed ninja in the Thorns team, the team has no special rules and does not allow ninjas with the same bloodline limit to join together.

In Xia Xingxing's impression, the half-brother of his captain is not only humble and low-key, but also very capable. He is definitely qualified to become the number two figure in the group.

"He recently worked in the security force, and it was difficult to transfer him."

Yiji also considered Cai, her younger brother, and asked him to join the Thorns Group to connect the siblings.

But the little mother who always holds leisurely afternoon tea parties in the office and at home will never let her go easily.

Xia Xingxing was even more distressed.

Sure enough, excellent ninjas have been clearly arranged by their superiors and will not sit idle and wait for others to dig them up.

"In this case, there is only one choice. Captain, do you remember the Iwagakure ninja who used explosive escape that we captured from the Kingdom of Forest last time? His ability seems to be good."

After Xia Xingguang reminded her, Yi Ji's eyes suddenly lit up, and then she thought of something, and her brows subconsciously frowned.

"I remember that he was sent to the southern mining area to serve his sentence and be rehabilitated. It's not easy to get people there."

"Since the superiors feel that our Thorns Team is not strong enough, I think we can ask them to be a little more accommodating to us in this regard."

Summer Star said sternly.

Yiji nodded slowly and stood up from the sofa.

"Then I will go to the old man to explain and ask for a handwritten letter. You go and inform the others, and we will set off for the southern mining area tomorrow morning."

"yes."

Xia Xing agreed and watched Yiji leave again.

◎

Under the extremely hot sun, Deidara finally got through the morning's mining work. Deidara was dragging his exhausted body to eat in the large collective canteen with the workers in the mining area.

The meal consists of two meat dishes, one vegetable dish and one soup, with plump white rice and balanced nutrition. Deidara looked at the work meal in front of him and wondered more than once whether the treatment here was too high. When he went on missions with Scorpion, he usually brought cold rice balls and fetched water on the spot to satisfy his hunger and thirst.

Occasionally, when I settle down, I will treat myself to a hot meal.

After all, most countries in the ninja world are very poor, and ordinary people live a precarious life. Food is always the first priority. In addition, when the ninjas go on missions, they are used to sleeping in the open, as long as they can fill their stomachs and not starve to death.

Subconsciously, Deidara suddenly felt that mining here was also a promising career. At least he would have enough food and clothing, which was extremely attractive to wandering ninjas who were hungry. You can tell from the fact that most of the miners here are doing their jobs honestly. Their edges have been smoothed out and they are beginning to consider retiring in the mining areas.

The only bad thing is that the chakra is sealed and I can't study my own art. Otherwise, such a life would be too fulfilling.

Deidara couldn't help but feel itchy at the thought of this.

Unfortunately, there is no clay available here, so it is simply unrealistic to make something out of it.

Moreover, even if you pinch something out, it is completely meaningless.

Art that doesn't explode can't be called art at all, it's just a bunch of boring clay dolls. And this kind of thing is definitely not the inferior art he wants to create.

So, Deidara sighed, melancholy about the future, and glanced at the place next to him.

This location used to be Hidan's place, but now it's empty. The reason why there is no one is because the other party suddenly had a nervous attack last night, and attacked the staff here with a fork for eating, shouting "Long live the evil god".

In the end, he was beaten to death by the ninja from the Demon Country who walked in with a black face and was dragged out. He is still basking in the sun outside.

According to past practice, he would be hung for at least half a month, during which he would only be given some water and food to ensure that he would not die of hunger or thirst.

Deidara's thoughts of causing trouble were immediately eliminated.

It wasn't that he was afraid, but he didn't like Hidan's foolhardy approach. Apart from asking for trouble and making your future even more uncertain and worrying, it has no effect at all.

He felt that if Hidan continued to act like this, he would never get out of the mining area and would have to dig here until he died of old age.

If you want to leave here, you must abide by the rules here. This is the fastest and only way to gain freedom.

Although the treatment here was good and he had no worries about food and clothing, when Deidara thought about his unfinished art, he told himself that he would never fall down so easily.

Set a small goal first, that is, get the Excellence Award to commend Sanhao Miners at the end of this year!

"No. 95! No. 95!"

The sudden shout interrupted Deidara's thoughts, causing him to subconsciously turn his head and look. A fully armed ninja from the Kingdom of Demon stood at the door, shouting his number.

Prisoners serving their sentences in the mining area have no names and are only called by numbers. Deidara's number is exactly 95.

He stood up from his seat and walked towards the Ghost Country ninja.

The other party called him over, obviously something was wrong.

"Number 95, someone wants to see you, come with me."

The ninja from the Kingdom of Ghosts glanced at Deidara, ignored Deidara, and led the way, gesturing for the other party to follow.

After hearing this, Deidara was full of doubts.

But in the end, he remained silent, endured his doubts, and quickly followed the opponent's footsteps with his hands and feet shackled at the same speed.

…

Rest area behind the mine.

In a simple conference room, Yi Ji crossed her legs and held two pieces of personnel information in her hand, scanning them.

One of them is Deidara and the other is Hidan.

However, on the white paper that Hidan was recorded on, there was a big red font printed on it - DANGER.

Kazuki knew that this cult member named Hidan had an extremely dangerous anti-human personality, and if he let it out rashly, it would cause a lot of trouble.

Coupled with the poor performance of the other party's southern mining area, the managers here have begun to consider whether to extradite such a difficult-to-manage thorn to the mining area of ​​​​Snow Country to dig potatoes. There is a shortage of manpower there.

In contrast, Deidara's performance was lackluster, but his lawful and honest behavior still gained him a lot of points from the managers.

Understanding this, Kazuki felt that Deidara could temporarily build relationships with Shiraishi and fish him out of the mining area, but Hidan was out of the question.

This cultist with a serious anti-human personality will have no choice but to dig potatoes in the Land of Snow and leave it up to fate when he comes out.

Therefore, Kazuki simply threw Hidan's information into the trash can and kept Deidara's information.

Not long after, there was a knock on the door.

Yiji shouted to the person outside the door without raising her head: "Please come in."

The ninja from the Kingdom of Ghosts outside the door opened the door and brought in Deidara, whose hair had become a little dry and withered.

Here you just have to work and have nothing to worry about, but in the end you have no chance of freedom.

Especially for a ninja who pursues art like Deidara, it is simply killing his nature and preventing him from touching his art. Therefore, the expression on Deidara's face looked very depressed and had an aura of decline.

The ninja from the Kingdom of Oni brought Deidara and took the initiative to leave, leaving space for Kazuhime and Deidara.

"I thought it was who it was, but it turned out to be Her Highness the Princess. What do you want from a subordinate prisoner like me? Hmm."

Deidara grinned reluctantly. It could be said that he became like this because of the other party.

"You seem very unconvinced."

Ichiji raised an eyebrow, sat on the seat, continued to cross her legs, crossed her arms and stared at Deidara, with a condescending attitude.

"Of course, you defeated my art with despicable means. If it were an honest duel, it's hard to say who will win. Hmm."

Deidara was so arrogant.

On the one hand, he is dissatisfied with the despicable way the Thorns team captured him, and on the other hand, he is extremely confident in his own art.

If it were an honest competition, he firmly believed that he would never lose.

What he expressed was this strong belief in not yielding to others. Even the hard work in the mining area could not erase his unwillingness.

"Originally, I thought that the work here would smooth out your edges a bit, but it seems to have no effect. However, ninja battles don't matter whether they are despicable or not. That is something only children will care about. .”

Yiji's attitude was still cold and arrogant, and her condescending attitude made Deidara feel a little aggrieved, but he also knew that there was no point in showing off one's words.

And if he wants to prove his strength with actual actions, as a prisoner under his command, this possibility is basically ruled out.

However, what Yi Ji said next surprised him.

Yi Ji looked indifferent and said, "In that case, I will give you a chance to prove yourself again and make you convinced."

"A chance to prove myself?"

Deidara was stunned.

"Yes, that is to use your art to fight me. Defeat me, and you can be free immediately. And from now on, the ninjas of the Ghost Country will never be your enemy, nor will they appear within ten meters of you. Guilty. But if you fail, the rest of your life will be decided by me!"

Yi Ji looked at Deidara who was completely shocked by his momentum, with a look of satisfaction on his face:

"The conditions are here, you are free to choose. However, I think you don't want to spend your whole life mining here and ruin your art, right?"

The provocative and provocative words resounded loudly in the room.

(PS: Still a little dizzy...)