Chapter 70 - 63

Three days had passed since then. Out of all of them, only Hikaru was promoted to Chunin on the side of Konoha. While Gaara had been promoted to Chunin by his father while his siblings stayed as Genins. The Raikage didn't promote Airi because he didn't see her being that useful earlier in the battlefield. It was more like she was being protected, which seemed kind of pathetic in front of the Raikage.

The Raikage left the village along with his shinobis but the Kazekage seems to have some other business with the Hokage.

The other genins were quite bitter after they lost the chance to become a chunin but they still threw a party for Hikaru's promotion.

After that party, Hikaru and Azumi had a talk with each other.

(Flashback, Two Days Ago)

Under the light of the moon, Hikaru and Azumi sat on top of the rooftop of their house.

Hikaru wore normal black pants and a black T-shirt. His long wavy black hair spread out as the wind hit his face. While Azumi wore her orange night-gown.

"Darling, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used the kyuubi's power. I almost lost control of it." Azumi apologized to Hikaru with her head down.

Hikaru just smiled and patted her head before saying, "It doesn't matter anymore. The reason your father sealed the kyuubi inside you was for you to use its power. You don't have to apologize. Maybe one day, you'll be able to control the kyuubi's power to its fullest."

"Un!" Azumi nodded her head cutely, happy that Hikaru isn't angry at her.

Hikaru then looked above the night sky, then said, "Do you want to know how the tailed beasts were captured so easily by the Shodaime despite their immeasurable strength?"

"Hmm? Wasn't that because the Shodaime was too strong for them?" Azumi asked, a little bit confused.

"Indeed, the Shodaime was a very strong shinobi but that's just partly the reason he was able to capture them. The tailed beasts, unlike humans, don't know how to use their chakra efficiently. We humans can mold our chakra and turn them into what we call 'jutsu'. Intelligence living beings like humans is the only race in this world that can use chakra this way. But tailed beasts aren't exactly living beings. They are created purely from chakra. That's why they cannot use jutsus. But they have the bijuudama, which is a very powerful technique that can obliterate a country if they have enough time to prepare. But it takes too long to cast, that's why humans can take advantage of that time and seal them."

"The tailed beast inside you is the strongest out of all the others. But it was still captured and sealed by the Shodaime and the Yondaime. Imagine a tailed beast that can use techniques like us humans, if a thing like that really exists, then it would be unstoppable. What I am saying is, humans are the only beings that can truly use the tailed beasts' true power and potential. But that is if the tailed beasts agree to partner with them." Hikaru explained. This is just his own theory, a tailed beast theory! Ahem.

"Wah! If that's true, then one day, I can use the kyuubi's power freely?!" Azumi asked, amazed at that fact.

"Yes, but you have to earn its trust." Hikaru looked at her and smiled. But he knew, even when that time comes, he won't be there to see it.

"Yosh, I have a new goal! To earn the kyuubi's trust! This will be a huge step towards being the Hokage! Believe it!" Azumi shouted up in the air as she stood up and pumped her fist up.

"Hah hah hah hah, of course." Hikaru laughed at her childish antics.

(Flashback End)

A few days after that, the slaves that Hikaru's clones had saved finally arrived in Konoha along with the last remaining clone of Hikaru. After they left the ship to go on the land, they had to walk all the way to Konoha. There were hundreds of them, so it was hard. Most of them were children and there were few a.d.u.l.ts. If it was only the clone, he could've arrived in Konoha in less than a day. But these people aren't like Hikaru, they are just normal human beings. They don't even know how to use chakra, so it was hard for the clone after a while

The clone had to rob a few bandit camps to gather money for their own survival needs, resulting in them taking more people because there was also people being used as slaves or s.e.x slaves in those bandit camps. They now have around 500+ people. Hikaru's clone had to suffer continued stress because it was hard leading that many people. Along the way, they had to rob more bandit camps, and they would sometimes encounter jounin level shinobis. But they were easily taken care of by Hikaru's clone. They now have 600+ people, which put a huge burden upon the clone. He had to take care of their basic needs, food, clothes, shelter and many, many more. By the time they reached Konoha, all the money that was stolen from the paradise island and the bandit camps were already gone. Not a single ryo was left.

Hikaru met with the clone in front of the village gates after sensing hundreds of small chakra sources coming towards the village.

The guards were tense, there were too many people. They decided not drop their guard, they may be enemies.

"So you've arrived. What happened on your journey, seems like you're a bit haggard? And why are there so many people?" Hikaru asked as he looked at the appearance of his clone.

The clone kneeled down in one knee and reported, "I raided many bandit camps to gain enough budget to support all these people, but I came across many slaves and s.e.x slaves along the way, so I felt the need to help all of them. It seems like those bandits raided small villages to easily gain more wealth and women. Please, if you can, help all of them." The clone said as if he was pleading.

"I am amazed, for you to survive this long. But it seems like your chakra is running low, you're about to disappear soon. But don't worry, I'll help all of them." Hikaru promised.

"I thank you, my creator." The clone then canceled itself and with that, he was gone in a poof of smoke.

Suddenly, all the memories and experiences of the clone went to Hikaru. All the things he did for these people, it was as if he was a different person than Hikaru. All the kind things he did, the stress and the people he had to burden, all of those things were crammed inside Hikaru's head. It was small but it managed to change his personality a little. He became a little bit more kinder.

'Can clones like this one gain a different personality than the creator? Such an amazing discovery, but I think I need to be a bit more careful when using them from now on. If this clone can discover a kind personality, then my other clones can probably take an evil personality in the long run. Huh, didn't think it would get this complicated.' Hikaru said inside his thoughts.

Hikaru then looked at the people his clone brought. The majority of them were children, while a small part of them were a.d.u.l.ts. He can see that some of the children there have some kind of bloodline. There were some dojutsu wielders there too. Some have feral features, which seems to be some kind of bloodline. Kekkei genkai wielders are there too. It seems like Konoha won't be experiencing bloodline limit shortage any time soon.

Hikaru floated up in the air and the people stared at him in amazement. He then cleared his voice and enhanced his voice with mana before saying, "Welcome to Konoha. You people are quite lucky to have survived this long, but now, no more people with bad intentions will be coming for you. You are all under the protection of this village and me. No longer will you all experience hunger nor hardsh.i.p.s, my only condition is stay loyal to me. If someone here dares to betray me, I promise you, you wouldn't get a peaceful death." He said that last part coldly, so they could see he's serious.

As he stared at them, he noticed that they were all dressed well. His clone seems to have bought them all nice clothes. From his memories, he saw that the clone stole a few hundred million ryo from the ship and got a billion ryo when they sold Daiki. But how did he squander all of that in a single month? That cannot be possible. Did they do something else?

As he thought about, he suddenly caught a glimpse of what the people were wearing. They were all branded clothing. He suddenly remembered his clone's memories. He saw that the clone never budgeted their money and got scammed by a lot. He even bought these people expensive food.

Hikaru suddenly found the urge to kill that clone. How can his clone be so stupid? To buy all of these people expensi...ve… Hey, isn't he doing the same to Azumi? Maybe he felt some attachment to these people and decided to care for them like a family would. Hm, hm, that must be it.

"Like hell it is!!" Hikaru shouted out of anger. Yellow lightning crackled from his hands and the clouds started to turn darker. The wind raged, all of the animals within 20 mile radius were all so terrified that they couldn't move.

Hikaru suddenly saw the chaos he's creating and decided to calm down a bit.

"Ahem, sorry for my sudden outburst. That was unbecoming of me." Hikaru said, he finally calmed down.

The people down him were all terrified, some of them couldn't hold it and fainted.

"Carry all of those who fainted then follow me. We will be meeting the Hokage to assign you guys to your shelters. There are some vacant houses here but they're not that big. I hope you guys aren't against living in tents for awhile until we build a suitable house for all of you." Hikaru said.

As he was about to turn around, a child no older than 9 came up. She had short black hair and brown eyes. She wore a dress that you would normally see princesses and nobles of countries wearing.

"Um, Onni-chan, are you mad at us?" She seems to be quite teary, her round and cute pitiful eyes looked at him.

Hikaru then landed on the ground and patted the child on her head before saying, "Of course not, the one I'm angry at is the one who brought you here. Which ironically is my clone."

"Clone?" She asked cutely.

"You can't understand it yet, but some day, maybe you will." Of course she will, she has a kekkei genkai, too. There's a hundred percent chance that she will become a shinobi.

Hikaru then turned around and floated up in the sky.

The people followed him obediently.