Shinra didn't remember how many kilometers he had crossed before the walls of Tanigakure finally appeared on the horizon.
Hidden within the valleys of the Land of Rivers, Tanigakure was one of the countless minor hidden villages scattered throughout the shinobi world. Unlike the Five Great Villages, its military strength was modest, but more than twenty-five years earlier it had forged a peace treaty with Konohagakure. The alliance benefited both sides: Konoha gained a buffer between itself and Sunagakure, while Tanigakure secured the protection of a powerful ally and access to the prosperous trade routes leading into the Land of Fire.
Because of that alliance, Shinra encountered little resistance. After presenting his Konoha forehead protector and identifying himself, the gate guards immediately summoned two chūnin, who escorted the exhausted genin toward the village hospital.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Shinra was immediately escorted to the emergency ward reserved for injured shinobi. He noticed Inumaki and Yoshimaru standing outside the operating room.
On seeing Shinra standing in front of him Inumaki's eyes widened as he quickly stood up from the bench he was sitting on.
"…I…I am glad that you are safe Shinra." Inumaki muttered out quietly.
Shinra placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't be so down, we all made it, didn't we? As soon as sensei is healed we will head back to Konoha."
Inumaki clenched his fist and trembled slightly, "As soon as we heard the explosions, Hyori wanted me to carry Yogi to safety whilst she returned to the battlefield to support you. But I—"
"You made the right decision. If either of you had gone back, we'd probably all be dead."
Shinra let out a tired breath before continuing.
"I didn't save Yogi-sensei because it was the mission."
"I did it because I owed him."
"That debt is settled now."
"So don't beat yourself up for doing the right thing."
Inumaki remained silent as he sat back down on the bench, with Yoshimaru licking his cheeks to comfort him.
"Is Hyori inside the operating room?" Shinra plopped down next to Inumaki and side glanced at the Chūnin who were guarding them.
"Yes. A shinobi's body carries many secrets." Inumaki replied blankly.
'I see with the Byakugan there is almost no tricks they could pull without being exposed, the only thing remaining is for Yogi to wake up.'
Only after sitting down did Shinra realize how violently his own hands were trembling. He had come dangerously close to death more times than he cared to count. Looking back on the battle, one of the biggest reasons he had survived was sheer luck.
If Sasori had fought seriously from the very beginning… he would've died.
If the Third Kazekage puppet had been deployed from the start…
He would've died.
'I need to become even stronger. When I return to Konoha… it's time to inscribe the advanced training seals onto my weights.'
A few minutes later a group of medical ninja exited the ward along with Hyori in tow.
They looked at Inumaki and Shinra and nodded, "He will live."
Both Shinra and Inumaki sighed in relief, but the medic's expression quickly turned serious.
"He lost his right eye and was hit with multiple poison senbons, we've done our best to remove the poison, but it seems that the poison that he was hit by was a special type that dissolves into the bloodstream and removing it entirely is currently beyond our level. I recommend you taking him after he stabilizes to Konoha for further treatment."
An hour after the operation, Yogi had regained consciousness. He slowly pushed himself upright, the stab wound in his abdomen had only been recently closed causing him to grunt in pain.
He looked around and noticed all three of his students sitting right next to his bed. Inumaki was petting Yoshimaru, Hyori was just sitting still, whilst Shinra was asleep with his back to the wall from exhaustion.
Hyori stopped him from moving and sat him upright.
"Where are we currently?" He asked hoarsely.
"Tanigakure." Inumaki replied
"What about that rogue-nin?"
Hyori sighed and said, "Shinra remained behind to buy us some time and escaped right after."
Yogi's gaze settled on Shinra, who had fallen asleep sitting upright against the wall, exhaustion finally claiming him.
A quiet chuckle escaped Yogi.
"…What a ridiculous kid."
Despite losing an eye and suffering a stab wound to the abdomen Yogi felt proud of his students.
Hyori quietly recounted everything that had happened from the start of the mission till after he lost consciousness—from discovering Sasori's hideout to Shinra's reckless plan and their eventual escape to the Land of Rivers.
Yogi analyzed the tactics his team had used and thought, 'Although the tactic was sound it wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for Shinra imitating Jiraya-sama so well. Did they meet beforehand?
A pity they still lacked enough completed missions to qualify for the Chūnin Exams.
Then again…
That was a far better outcome than attending them in coffins.'
After conversing with Yogi for a bit longer Inumaki and Hyori left the ward to give Yogi some rest.
Yogi closed his eyes and leaned back into the bed, "How long are you going to pretend to be asleep kid?"
Shinra smiled without opening his eyes.
"What gave it away?"
"I may have lost an eye, but I am not completely blind. Not to mention with your nature I don't think that you would sleep soundly in an unknown territory even if they were to be our ally."
Yogi remained quiet for a while then asked, "Who was that rogue-ninja? And how did you escape?"
"I read his name once in the bingo book a while back, his name is Sasori of the Red Sand."
"As for how I escaped…." Shinra truthfully told most of the events. He left out himself using an A-rank jutsu he shouldn't know and how he had masterfully impersonated Jiraya.
"…What did you just say?!" Yogi whispered, turning toward him in surprise, as Shinra explained to him that Sasori used Iron Sand to force him out of hiding.
Shinra nodded his head.
Shinra silently reached into his pouch and produced a blank sheet of paper together with a pencil.
Instead of answering aloud, he began writing. This was done so that even if they were being spied on, Tanigakure wouldn't learn of this information.
After catching up with Inumaki outside the operating room, Inumaki had already asked him about the enormous Iron Sand needle that repeatedly appeared in the sky.
So Shinra decided not to hide the fact that Sasori possessed the Third Kazekage puppet and even perfectly described his appearance. This was done so that his mission report later wouldn't differ from the testimony of his teammates.
Yogi's breathing hitched, the fuse that had lit the start of the Third Great Ninja War was the mysterious disappearance of the Third Kazekage, also known as the strongest Kazekage and Suna blaming Konoha for it.
If word spread that Sasori was responsible for the Third Kazekage's disappearance, Konoha could demand reparations from Sunagakure—or even use the information as a bargaining chip.
Yogi remained silent for a long while.
The room itself had become deathly quiet.
Even Shinra didn't interrupt him.
After several moments, Yogi slowly exhaled.
"…Do you understand what you've just told me?"
Shinra simply nodded.
Yogi slowly rubbed his forehead.
"…This information cannot leave this room."
"It goes directly to the Hokage."
"This part doesn't go into the mission report."
"No casual discussion."
"Not even to your teammates."
His expression became unusually serious.
"If this reaches Sunagakure before it reaches Konoha…"
"I understand."
Shinra nodded his head and after a few more minutes of discussion, Shinra stood up from the ground to start preparing for their journey back to Konoha.
Although Yogi appeared stable for the moment, Sasori's poison was still flowing in his bloodstream and needed to be removed at the quickest time possible.