"We'll be having a talk after we get to our destination, now get back in line." Shikaru said before he ordered the shinobi forces under him to restart their march toward the border.

It was only an hour or so left before they arrived at their destination.

That hour passed by in a blink and soon the leaf forces arrived at a clearing where they quickly started setting up camp.

Putting up his tent, Kazuo thought about his next actions.

'I'll be under much higher scrutiny than before, there is no way that Shikaru completely believes me, there is even the chance of him asking a Yamanaka to look through my memories, at that point the only way out that I'll have is to go completely rogue.' Kazuo thought as he finished setting his tent up.

At that moment, a shinobi came to stand next to Kazuo.

"Kazuo, the commander is looking for you, he's in his tent." The man said before patting Kazuo's back.

"Im glad that you're alive, for a moment we thought we lost you, kid." The man said afterward with a relieved smile on his face.

Kazuo nodded his head and responded with his own smile.

"Before all those cloud bastards give their last breath I am not dying."

Walking off by leaving those words, Kazuo saw the man's expression erupt into a large smile.

Walking through the camp, Kazuo observed everything and quickly came up with an idea about the overall losses.

'Around thirty percent are gone, that means Minato came quickly however he still took a little time, I'd guess around two minutes.' Kazuo thought before arriving in front of the large commander's tent.

The guard as always let him inside without any questions, at this point, it was well known that Kazuo was Shikaru's apprentice of sorts.

"Im here commander," Kazuo said as he headed inside.

Shikaru was inside the tent, sitting on a chair behind that same old wooden desk that he seemed to carry around everywhere he went.

'Sealing scrolls really are useful.' Kazuo thought as he stood in front of the man.

"You said that you were taken by enemy forces is that correct?" Shikaru asked Kazuo directly, it seemed they would not be doing the beating around the bush tactic this time.

"That's right sir," Kazuo answered immediately.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Do you have any proof of the encounter?" Shikaru asked as he put his hands forward on the desk and held his chin.

"I do not, I wasn't really trying to gather evidence, my main priority was survival," Kazuo answered, his tone was even and his facial expressions didn't show anything.

"I see, well it's good that you survived and also that you managed to get treatment from the medical staff on time," Shikaru replied, his gaze still didn't leave Kazuo's face.

Kazuo had been given medical attention almost as soon as he had joined the group, with the help of medical jutsu, the slices, and scratches that he had inflicted on himself were healed almost instantly.

"Im very thankful to our medical team, though they did say that I needed at least two days of rest after the effect of the soldier pills wears off," Kazuo told Shikaru who raised one of his eyebrows.

"Two days? The aftereffects only last a few hours, how many did you use?" Shikaru asked his tone showed a hint of his confusion.

"I used three sir."

His words caused Shikaru's eyes to widen as he looked at Kazuo.

"Three? What the hell are you doing here then? I was sure to tell Takuma to only call you here if you were in good condition." Shikaru said, his voice clearly alarmed as he stood up from his chair.

"It's all right sir, you can call me anytime if it's for the leaf," Kazuo answered as he thought a devoted ninja of the leaf would.

His words caused Shikaru's brows to furrow further before he uttered his next words.

"You are really interesting Kazuo, you're becoming more and more of a mystery by the day. I just hope that my suspicions were unfounded, I'll let you go this time however the next time something similar happens, I'll need better proof than you just showing up sliced up like a salad." Shikaru said before releasing a sigh.

"I'll trust you because of that overdose of soldier pills which is hard to fake. If it wasn't for that then I would be sending you to a yamanaka right at this second." Shikaru said, for the first time clearly showing his pure suspicion of Kazuo.

"Thank you for your trust, I'll make sure not to betray it. I rather not have my mind raped by a yamanaka." Kazuo answered, his face finally scrunching up lightly at the mention of the clan.

With a soft chuckle from Shikaru later, Kazuo was dismissed and told not to show up in front of Shikaru for at least three days and to rest fully as they had some harrowing battles ahead of them.

Back in his tent, Kazuo laid down on the makeshift bed that he had made on the ground and opened his status menu.

The quest for survival had been completed the moment Shikaru had said that he would trust Kazuo this time.

[ Ding! ]

[ Quest has been completed ]

[ User has gained 2 Minor Grade Upgrade Points ]

Looking at his stats, Kazuo started thinking once more about what his next investment should be.

[ Stats ]

[ Name: Kazuo ]

[ Age: 12 ]

[ Race: Human ]

[ Strength: D- ]

[ Endurance: D ]

[ Agility: D ]

[ Intelligence: B- ]

[ Charisma: C ]

[ Chakra: C- ]

[ Upgrade Points: 3 ]

'I could bring my chakra up to Jonin levels instantly or I could raise my other stats.' Kazuo thought, his mind whirring into action as he tried to think of every use for each stat and which would bring the most benefit both in the moment and down the line.

'Charisma is most definitely the most useful long term, it would make gaining trust from shinobi much easier however the problem is that I do not have enough time to raise my physical stats with normal training, and at my current strength ill most definitely die on the battlefield.'

*Slap*

Slapping his own face, Kazuo gritted his teeth.

'Fuck it, I can reverse time damn it, let's go with it.' Kazuo thought before investing every single point into Charisma.

'This way I'll have an easier time managing Shikaru's suspicion as well as have an easier time gathering meat shields around me.' Kazuo thought.

[ Charisma: B ]

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