"Ah, I feel so sore today. I think we overdid it last night." Monari muttered as she walked out of her room, all dressed up to leave. She had died her hair different and wore a different dress to look normal. But, she was so pretty that even now she would attract unwanted attention.

"Sore? Are you hurt, Monari?" Shiroken asked all of a sudden. It was a curse for the villagers that he always appeared behind them at the worst timing. And even worse was that he could not be sensed even by her. ​​

"Yes, I think I strained a muscle yesterday. Don't worry, I will get better. Let's go and check our stuff. Konoha is not close to here. We will have to travel for a few days." She suggested and walked away to find Fumiko, her mother-in-law.

"Is Jin not up?" Shiroken asked.

She shook her head, but her cheeks turned red, "No, he's still sleeping. He said he got very tired of exercising yesterday. Don't worry, he will come to see us off soon. Have you packed everything?"

Shiroken joyfully told her what he had packed, "... So I made dumplings with aunt Fumiko yesterday. I made so many that we can eat them for days. I hope this Konoha has tasty food."

She patted his shoulder, "I'm sure there will be. Shinobi villages are probably the richest ones, so there should be people willing to spend money on tasty food. But, did you only pack food? What about clothes?"

"Ah! I forgot... I will quickly put them in the bag, don't worry." He smacked himself on the forehead for forgetting such an important part.

He was physically a 13 year old at this point. His height was 5"5 and there were ample muscles on his body. Baby fat had started to go away slowly and a well-defined handsome face was appearing.

They came to Shiroken's residence. It was pretty big, with small ponds, gardens, a meeting room, lots of other rooms, a big kitchen, and one big room to just eat.

All the tailed beasts had gathered outside his house, to make sure he had everything before leaving.

"Shiro, did you pack the milk? No? Here..." Saiken passed him a big sack made of sheepskin. It was a good container for liquids. But it was too big, at least containing 200 litres.

"Isn't this too much?" He asked.

"Easy, just use the Enclosing Jutsu and seal your items in a scroll," Isobu suggested.

Of course, Shiroken knew this Jutsu. Shukaku had taught him that as he was very good at sealing jutsu.

"Okay," Shiroken took many scrolls and started to seal his luggage in them.

In an hour, he now had a big backpack, but it was fully filled with scrolls. Though he did not put all the money in the scrolls.

"Monari, ready?" he asked her.

She also had a bag on her back, "Let's go. Jin, take care of mother and the village."

"Yeah, yeah... you don't need to lecture me now. Just come back quick," he replied with a longing face.

Shiroken meanwhile said his goodbyes to all the tailed beasts. "Bye, bye, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki, Matatabi, Son Goku, Kokuo and Isobu. I will miss you all."

He one by one hugged their faces. They were his beloved family after all. The tailed beasts also felt sad. They have been watching over him for so many years, ever since he was so small he couldn't even crawl.

"Come back quick, Shiro. I will be waiting for you, or else my farm's products will go to waste." Saiken requested.

He chuckled, "Yes, I will try to find Kurama and Shukaku as soon as possible. Maybe you all can punish them later for being so late."

"Hehe, we can do that. They will get a good beating soon." Chomei chuckled, he had already started to plan.

*Cough*

"We should head out, or we won't reach the nearest village before night." Monari reminded him.

He nodded and looked at the village people that had gathered there. "Everyone, be good, okay. I will come back soon, then we will hold a big festival here."

Everyone cheered for him there and wished him good luck.

"Chomei, let's go." Shiroken turned to the 7 tails.

He and Monari jumped to sit on the helmet-like skull of Chomei, while Chomei held 2 horses in his many hands. The reason they were taking horses was so people wouldn't think they were Shinobi at first sight. They could have been faster than the horses on their feet though, but only Shiroken had unlimited energy.

"BYE-BYE, EVERYONE! LOVE YOU ALL!" He shouted his goodbye from the sky.

All the tailed beasts down there waved their hands.

"*Sniff* Our little Shiro has grown so big, he's finally going out on his own." Saiken sounded as if he was crying.

Son Goku patted his back, "Yes, but going out is important. Did you forget how naive we used to be when we were small? Only when we saw the real face of the world did we understand things. Besides, Shiro reminds me of the Old Man a lot, maybe he will do something great."

"Of course, he's our Shiro. He's bound to do something great. His body has so much potential that it would probably make even the old man envy him. He just needs to learn to harness that potential." Gyuki commented while seeing the disappearing figure of Chomei in the sky.

...

Chomei took Shiroken and Monari towards the edge of the forest. He did not take them directly near a village as he was too big and could be seen from a distance. At least 5 kilometres before the edge of the forest, he dropped them.

"Shiro, here, take this whistle. I got this from my shrine. Someone put it there as an offering to me. I'm too big to blow it. But, when you return, just use the whistle and I will come here to pick you up. Okay?" Chomei said while handing it to him.

Shiroken carefully tied it with a chain he was wearing. "Okay, I will go now, Chomei. Take care of yourself."

He and Monari both gave Chomei a hug, got onto their horses and trotted away. Chomei kept on watching them until they disappeared from his vision and then finally returned to the village.

...

Shiroken was already missing them. "I feel heavy in my heart for some reason."

Monari smiled and said, "Don't worry, we will find Kurama and Shukaku and return soon. Even if someone caught them somehow, where can they hide such giant beings?"

Shiroken agreed and tightened his fist, "Yes, but if someone did hurt them, I will beat them and teach them a lesson."

"Aww... you look cute when angry. You love them so much." She fawned over his cuteness.

"Of course, I love them. They are my family, my parents, and my friends. For them, I'd do anything. For you too, as the whole village is my family." Shiroken resolutely said.

They kept on talking about family, funny incidents and how he was nearly named Poopy.

They had a long way to go.

Their journey was very smooth and they reached a small village called Okuraha. It was a medium-sized village, with mostly normal people living. It had a population of 3000 people. But, because it was on the way to Konoha, many travellers would pass by and also rest here.

They too went to a rest house, it was recommended by Fumiko as she had stayed here before. They just talked to the owner and got rooms. They even exchanged some money from the owner in return for gold.

"Should we start asking about Kurama and Shukaku?" Shiroken asked as they sat in their room.

Monari denied, "No, not the way you want to. We cannot just ask them 'have you seen a giant fox named Kurama'. Instead, just try to ask them what's going on around the country. If it's anything big, they will know. Saint Kurama is very tall, anything related to him cannot be a small matter."

Shiroken understood. He then got up and went downstairs with Monari to eat dinner. It was a small kitchen with a few tables. They purposefully took seats near where the owner was cooking. The place was also empty.

"Uncle, what's the news these days. We just came out of our village and not many travellers go there, so we don't get any news." Monari asked politely after ordering food.

The middle-aged man replied while cooking, "Oh, not much. Just the usual business, the Shinobi are still a pain, they are still fighting around. But trouble rarely comes here.

"I heard some big fight erupted in the Shinobi Village Konoha though, but don't know what really happened. News from there is always vague. But, what does it have to do with us, common people? The further away we stay from that village the better for our lives."

"Yes, that's right. Only troubles come from meeting Shinobi. Their business is never simple. Well, thank you for telling us, uncle. Let's eat now, Shiro." She was acting her part of being a cheerful clueless girl.

But, Shiroken was stuck thinking about Konoha. Something big happened there. ~Was it related to Kurama or Shukaku? I should hurry up there~

[You can see Monari's disguise on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

I LIKE STONES! Just saying.

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You can read 30 advance chapters at -patreon.com/misterimmortal.

Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*

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