535. One Surprise After Another / 536. All for Nothing

After hearing this news, Izayoi Sakamaki was deeply upset. He had no idea what the Hokages had been doing. They had searched for so long, yet had not found even the slightest clue. It was truly disappointing. Still, this was within his expectations. If they had found even a little information, they would not have gone so long without reporting back. It seemed he would have to handle this himself. He could not rely on them.

He had not wanted to blame them, but if he did not, they would surely think this was a trivial matter. They did not understand just how important it was to him.

At the same time, they should have understood that if they could not find the antidote, their companion would lose his life. Yet they seemed not to realize the importance of this mission, thinking that simply putting in time was enough.

Just spending time without achieving anything was definitely unacceptable. They always assumed that results were proportional to the time invested.

But the two were not necessarily proportional at all. If he did not teach them a lesson, they might still fail to understand the urgency of the mission. In any case, he needed to reprimand them now.

Only then could they understand the seriousness of the mission and clearly realize that accomplishing things was not just about physical strength—it also required brains. If they did not think—

—they might not be able to accomplish anything at all. There were things he needed to teach them, and he had to teach them. After all, they were still young.

If they grew up and still could not handle problems when they encountered them, what would they do then?

Izayoi Sakamaki immediately shouted at the Hokages, "You’ve been out here for so long. What have you even been doing? After all this time, you haven’t found a single clue. Have your brains been caught in a door?"

"You can’t even handle something this simple. I’d say you never took your companion’s life seriously. If you truly cared about your companion’s life, you wouldn’t have acted like this."

"You need to search with both strength and brains. If brute force alone were enough, then anyone could do it. Why would I have you accept this challenge?"

"So I hope you’ll straighten out your attitudes. Don’t think that putting in effort means you’ll get what you want. I also don’t understand why you’ve searched for so long without finding anything."

"If we relied on you, we definitely couldn’t count on you. Your companion is already on the verge of death. If you still can’t find the antidote, he’ll be dead."

"I placed all my hopes on you, but you’ve truly disappointed me. Since you haven’t achieved anything, I’ll lead you myself."

"I don’t feel at ease leaving this matter to you. What you’re facing now is not merely a challenge—it is your companion’s life. I cannot leave your companion’s life in your hands."

"You’re simply too unreliable. If you had found even the slightest clue, I would never have doubted you like this."

Although the Hokages did not argue back, because they also felt they had indeed handled this matter poorly, they said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Stop scolding us already. We admit that we didn’t handle this well."

"So please give us another chance. But stop arguing with us here, because it won’t do any good. If listening to you nag could help us find the antidote formula—"

"—then I would gladly listen to you seriously. But it won’t. So let’s figure out how to find the antidote formula instead."

"That formula is our most important task right now. If you want to scold us, do it later. Help us save our companion first!"

Izayoi Sakamaki nodded and said to the Hokages, "Fine. I’ll lecture you later. You really have disappointed me, but for now, let’s find the antidote formula."

"This is our most important task now. What you said was right—if scolding you here could find the antidote, that would be great."

Izayoi Sakamaki then led the Hokages to search for the antidote formula. But suddenly, a lion charged out, leaving Izayoi Sakamaki quite startled.

However, Izayoi Sakamaki knew that he had to defeat the lion. If he did not, it would surely pose a threat to the Hokages.

Surprises Kept Coming

After all, his current mission was to protect the Hokages. If he did not get rid of the lion, their lives would be in grave danger. No matter what, he had to eliminate it. It was his responsibility. The Hokages had not seen much of the world, so they panicked terribly when they saw the lion.

They huddled together, and one of the Hokages said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Izayoi Sakamaki, what do we do? Why has such a ferocious lion appeared? If we fight it—"

"—we definitely won’t be able to beat it. Not only is it enormous, but with our current strength, we simply can’t defeat it!"

Izayoi Sakamaki merely laughed and said, "Don’t worry. Since I’m here with you, I’ll definitely help you get rid of this trouble. My job now isn’t just to scold you."

"It is also to protect you. You’ve run into such a huge problem. If I don’t solve it for you, who else are you expecting to do it? And the reason I scolded you—"

"—was indeed because you did not handle that matter very well. That is why I scolded you. But this is another matter entirely. Your lives are under threat now, so if I don’t step in—"

"—you’ll definitely be eaten by this lion. I have the responsibility to protect you. If you get eaten by the lion, how am I supposed to explain that to Madara Uchiha?"

"When I came out here, I promised Madara Uchiha countless times that I would keep you safe. We weren’t really at ease about letting you enter this forest, so I came here—"

"—partly to check on your progress, and partly to protect you. You hadn’t sent any news for so many days, and we were worried that something had happened to you. That was why we came."

"I hope you can understand our intentions. We are not like what you think—we don’t just know how to scold you. We care about you deeply too. But you don’t need to know that anymore."

"Because you already understand now. I’m about to fight this lion. If I fail to defeat it, you need to leave immediately. While I’m fighting the lion, get out of here as quickly as possible."

"But don’t leave too soon, either. I need you to cheer me on. If you aren’t beside me cheering me on, I might truly lack the confidence to defeat this lion."

"But if you see that things are going badly, retreat at once. I don’t want to drag you down. I’m the one responsible for you, so if anything happens, I should bear it."

"Therefore, if the lion gains the upper hand while I’m fighting it, don’t worry about me. Leave immediately. Keeping you alive is what matters most. You are our backbone."

"Whether your companion can survive still depends on you. I’m only here to guide you. If I survive—"

"—then I’ll continue guiding you. If I die, you must continue on and make sure to find that antidote…"

The Hokages nodded. Seeing Izayoi Sakamaki treat them this way made them feel deeply guilty, because they had been far too unfriendly toward him before. They said to him, "The situation is so critical now. Stop saying things like that."

"We will never abandon you. Although we usually have some minor conflicts with you, when it matters, we still have to stand together. If you die, then we’ll die with you."

"We are a team. If even you, our core, are gone, what use would this team have? So, Boss, go fight the lion without worry. I’ll lend you a hand too."

Izayoi Sakamaki quickly began fighting the lion. After defeating it, they discovered that doing so yielded one of the medicinal ingredients needed for the antidote formula. Izayoi Sakamaki was overjoyed.

Then they encountered another crocodile. The Hokages were shocked. It seemed misfortunes kept piling up—they had run into a lion, and now a crocodile as well. But Izayoi Sakamaki did not lose heart.

They fought the crocodile. It was extremely troublesome to deal with, but Izayoi Sakamaki still relied on his own strength to defeat it. After the crocodile died—

Izayoi Sakamaki found another ingredient for the antidote formula on its body. He was delighted. He had not expected that a loss could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Izayoi Sakamaki was delighted to have obtained so many materials. It truly felt like heaven was watching over him—otherwise, how could he have received so many pleasant surprises?

Now that he had acquired materials from both the lion and the crocodile, he only needed two more to prepare the antidote. Izayoi Sakamaki said to the Hokage, "I think you can trust me completely now. I’m fully capable of preparing that antidote, especially with the luck I’ve had."

"Achieving this should be quite easy. We only just arrived, and I’ve already found two materials. You should know that the antidote only requires four types of ingredients in total."

"But now we already have a fifty percent chance of success. If we use these two ingredients to prepare an antidote, there’s still a fifty percent chance it’ll work. Even if it can’t completely cure the injured Hokage—"

"—it can at least slow his condition down. In a sense, that gives us more time. So don’t worry, and don’t keep yourselves wound so tight."

"I can see that you’re all very nervous. I’m telling you this because I want you to understand that this matter isn’t actually that complicated. I scolded you before because you were being far too irresponsible."

"But this really isn’t that difficult. You need to believe in yourselves. There are only two materials left, and I think we’ll find them soon."

"Once we find those two materials, we can prepare the antidote. Once it’s ready, the job will be done, and we can go back and cure your companion."

"After all, your companion’s illness can’t be delayed for too long. The longer it drags on, the more symptoms may arise later. So we need to find those remaining two medicinal ingredients as quickly as possible."

"Only once we’ve found them can we truly rest easy."

The Hokage were delighted after hearing Izayoi Sakamaki’s words. They had searched this forest for days without finding anything, yet Izayoi Sakamaki had found two materials as soon as he arrived. Naturally, they were overjoyed.

They knew that once the ingredients were found, their companion’s illness could be cured. Their most important task now was to find the materials and heal their companion. Seeing such tremendous progress—

—they were extremely happy. One of them said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Boss, you really are our lucky star. If you hadn’t come, we might never have found the materials."

"As soon as you arrived, you found two ingredients. I feel like our happy days are coming soon, because the happiest thing for us Hokage is for all of us to be reunited."

"After all, our friend has been poisoned for many days, so he hasn’t been able to stand on the same front as us. We’ve been terribly worried about him. But now, it seems that our Hokage group being together again—"

"—is no longer some impossible dream. But it’s all thanks to you, Boss. If it weren’t for your incredible ability to get things done, how could we possibly be this relaxed?"

Izayoi Sakamaki merely laughed and said to the Hokage, "All right, stop flattering me. If you keep praising me like this, I’ll really get embarrassed. The matter still hasn’t been fully resolved yet."

"So we can’t let our guard down. Whether we can find the remaining two materials depends on fate. If the timing isn’t right, it’ll be difficult to find them. The reason I managed to find the first two so smoothly—"

"—was entirely because I got lucky. I don’t know whether we’ll have that kind of luck again, but judging by our current progress, finding the remaining two materials shouldn’t be a problem."

"So this still depends on all of you. Relying on my luck alone to find those last two materials would be a bit difficult. No one knows whose opportunity those materials will appear in."

"So you must all observe carefully, and never give up when you encounter difficulties. Just like the difficulties I faced earlier—perhaps they’ll turn out to be our lucky stars."

Everyone nodded and continued searching for the remaining two materials. Suddenly, a huge crocodile launched an attack from behind them. Izayoi Sakamaki was puzzled. Why had another crocodile appeared?

Another crocodile had come. Since two materials could not possibly appear in the same kind of animal, this crocodile definitely did not possess the material he needed. Thus, he led everyone away in retreat.

After all, getting tangled up with this crocodile would not be a good thing. Yet just as Izayoi Sakamaki was fleeing, he discovered another new material along the way.

Izayoi Sakamaki led the Hokage and finally escaped the shark’s pursuit. The Hokage were deeply confused. Hadn’t he said that bad things they encountered might bring them good luck?

Then why had Izayoi Sakamaki chosen to flee the moment he saw that huge shark? One of them could not help asking, "Boss, why didn’t we join forces and kill that huge shark? What if we could find antidote ingredients inside it? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?"

"So we can’t be certain whether the shark had what we needed or not. Wasn’t it too rash to just let it go? What if that shark really had something we needed?"

"Then wouldn’t letting it go mean missing an opportunity to obtain the material?"

Izayoi Sakamaki simply laughed. "You’re still too young. If that shark had what I needed, I would certainly have killed it without hesitation. But based on what I know—"

"—that shark definitely didn’t have what we needed. A material won’t appear twice in the same type of creature, so that shark definitely didn’t have it. We should look elsewhere."

"We’ve already found another material along this path. There’s only one ingredient left now. Once we find that last one, we’ll be finished. Once we gather all the materials—"

"—we can brew the antidote we need. Then your companion’s life will be saved. I’ve waited a long time for this day, and I’ve made many preparations for it."

"So I don’t want those preparations to come to nothing. This is the first time I’ve put so much effort into something, so I think we must do it properly. After all, if we fail to do this well—"

"—we may never get another opportunity to save your companion. He’s in an extremely difficult situation right now."

"If we don’t find the antidote to save him at this time, he may truly lose his life."

The Hokage naturally admitted that Izayoi Sakamaki’s words made sense. After all, he had been highly reliable so far. In less than half a day, Izayoi Sakamaki had already found three materials.

Those three materials were all extremely difficult to find. Only one remained. They had searched for so long without finding even one ingredient, yet Izayoi Sakamaki had found so many as soon as he arrived.

They were thoroughly convinced by Izayoi Sakamaki. One of them said, "Boss, of course we trust you completely. We won’t question you, because everything you do is so dependable. If we were even half as reliable as you—"

"—you could probably lie in bed and sleep all day instead of worrying about our affairs."

"We really have caused you too much trouble, and we feel terribly sorry about it. But we haven’t matured yet. Once we grow stronger, we’ll definitely help share your burdens. Now we understand—"

"—that you truly care about us. Our earlier misunderstandings with you have left us deeply ashamed. If we had known you treated us this well, I definitely wouldn’t have said those things to you."

"Because speaking to you that way was indeed our fault. We hope you can forgive the unpleasantness from before."

"We never realized you were so sincere toward us. From now on, Boss, if you tell us to go east, we’ll never go west."

Izayoi Sakamaki laughed. It seemed that only by truly accomplishing something could he make the Hokage believe in his abilities. Before, he had only talked on paper and lectured them without setting an example himself.

Now that he had finally accomplished something tangible, they had begun to acknowledge him. Seeing how much they trusted him now naturally made him happy. Suddenly, a huge snake appeared ahead and blocked their path.

Izayoi Sakamaki was delighted to see the venomous snake, because it might contain the material he needed. He began fighting it, but this venomous snake was far stronger than the shark or the lion.

Izayoi Sakamaki fought for a long time before finally defeating it. But the venomous snake spat out a mouthful of venom, destroying all the materials Izayoi Sakamaki held in his hands. When he saw this, Izayoi Sakamaki was furious.

At the same time, he was filled with regret. The materials he had worked so hard to obtain had actually been destroyed by a venomous snake.

When Naruto saw that the materials they had worked so hard to obtain had been destroyed by the venomous snake, he was furious as well. But there was nothing he could do. The materials were already ruined, and blaming fate here would be completely useless. Rather than that, they might as well search for new materials. Perhaps they could still find some. However, Izayoi Sakamaki was probably in tremendous pain right now, and that was what worried Naruto.

Although Izayoi Sakamaki usually acted very open-minded, anyone would be heartbroken when something like this happened. Naruto therefore planned to go over and comfort him.

If Izayoi Sakamaki remained depressed, he might not be able to lead them through what came next. They would still need Izayoi Sakamaki’s help to find materials later on. Without his help—

Naruto definitely would not be able to find any materials. He had been out here for so many days and had not found a single one. Only after Izayoi Sakamaki appeared had they found three materials, yet now everything had returned to zero.

But Izayoi Sakamaki could not be blamed for this. After all, who could have expected that venomous snake to be so vicious? There was really nothing to dwell on. They had merely returned to their previous state for the time being.

In any case, Naruto had already spent plenty of days in that previous state, so one more day would not make much difference to him. Still, he needed to comfort Izayoi Sakamaki.

After all, this had dealt far too great a blow to Izayoi Sakamaki. This was what he had been most proud of, yet it had been destroyed so easily by a venomous snake.

Naruto said to Izayoi Sakamaki, "Boss, don’t be so sad. The materials are gone, but we can search for them again. Isn’t that what you always say to comfort us? Since things have already turned out this way—

"Don’t torture yourself over it. Your pain won’t bring them back. Our most important task now is to look ahead. Only by looking ahead can we steady our minds and find the best way to search for materials.

"If you stay this depressed, you won’t be able to find any good materials no matter what. So, Boss, I hope you’ll think this through. Don’t lose your original resolve over a temporary setback."

Naruto said this because he wanted to persuade Izayoi Sakamaki to quickly emerge from his grief. A person’s mood had an enormous impact on them.

If Izayoi Sakamaki continued feeling this way, there would be no point in doing anything afterward.

Naruto also understood Izayoi Sakamaki’s feelings very well. If he himself had worked hard to find materials only to lose them like this, he would have fallen into the same grief. Izayoi Sakamaki was also very happy to hear Naruto’s words.

Since Naruto and the others were able to encourage him like this, then when they encountered difficulties in the future, they should remember the words they had said today. He ought to set an example for them too. They were only three materials.

Even if all three materials had been lost, he could find them again. After all, it had taken him less than half a day to find them in the first place. Still, that venomous snake was truly detestable. Although he had avoided it…