https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-487-The-Rare-Gathering-of-Team-Minato/12558733/
Chapter 486: Obito, Rin Nohara, and the Pokemon Hatching
Chapter 486: Obito, Rin Nohara, and the Pokemon Hatching
"What will become of the Land of Rain from now on?"
As he exited the Rain Country's feudal lord's palace, having successfully persuaded the lord, Hanzo looked up at the gloomy sky and felt a twinge of uncertainty in his heart.
This was a difficult concept for Hanzo to imagine. How could he, the revered demigod, be uncertain about his own decisions?
He had always considered himself a ninja with unwavering conviction. Thus, whenever he encountered an opponent with strong beliefs, even if they were enemies, he would spare their lives out of admiration for their dedication and persistence.
But at this moment, Hanzo wasn't sure if his actions could be considered right or if they truly aligned with his beliefs.
To avoid further conflict with the Ninja Sect and to put an end to his constant worries about Sosuke's attacks, Hanzo had used his influence in the Rain Country and the feudal lord's trust in him to smoothly convince the lord to agree to the Ninja Sect's conditions.
While persuading the lord, Hanzo had also been convincing himself.
He told himself that the Ninja Sect had not killed the Iwagakure ninja and that they were indeed peace-loving, as the rumors suggested.
He justified that with the Ninja Sect's power, the Rain Country would become stronger, leading to a more peaceful and secure nation rather than descending into chaos.
But was this truly the case? In reality, Hanzo didn't know; he was merely deluding himself, hoping for the best-case scenario.
After the official collaboration, the Ninja Sect essentially became another Rain ninja village, with the authority to represent the Rain Country in wars with other nations.
This meant that the Ninja Sect's actions would greatly influence the future of the Rain Country.
To Hanzo, the Rain Country was his home, and today, he had handed over the future of his home to others.
"I indeed failed to uphold my beliefs," Hanzo admitted to himself, no longer able to deny the truth.
When those words surfaced in his mind, he already knew what his actions implied, but he had been reluctant to accept it.
After all, he was the revered demigod Hanzo, and he shouldn't have made such a grave mistake.
He couldn't quite remember when he had started making excuses for himself.
His reason for retreating after the failed ambush on Sosuke was for the sake of the Rain ninja village, and he blamed everything that happened with the Ninja Sect on Iwagakure's mistakes and Danzo Shimura's blunders. It seemed he had become quite adept at finding justifications.
"It's too late to turn back now; I can only keep moving forward," Hanzo sighed.
While he was reflecting on his actions, he knew he couldn't go back to the feudal lord and explain the full implications of their agreement to change the orders. Hanzo wasn't that person anymore.
He was no longer the demigod with unwavering conviction; he was now just the leader of the Rain ninja village who wanted to live out his life peacefully.
Upon returning to the Rain ninja village, Hanzo dispatched ninjas to accompany Iwagakure in their response to the Ninja Sect.
Hanzo was willing to meet the Ninja Sect's demands, but he had one request: the collaboration discussions must take place near the Rain ninja village.
The Ninja Sect's credibility with Hanzo was even lower than that of Iwagakure, as the two sides had formed a deep-seated enmity.
Hanzo was concerned that the Ninja Sect might attempt a fake collaboration and a real ambush, emulating his previous attempt on Sosuke's life.
Near the Rain ninja village, Hanzo felt less anxious about such a possibility. No matter how strong Sosuke was, it would be impossible for him to single-handedly wipe out the entire Rain ninja village; he didn't have the chakra or stamina for that.
Hanzo's request, however, faced opposition from several Ninja Sect ninjas, as it bore a striking resemblance to the previous ambush.
"Why should we agree to a location near the Rain ninja village? It should be somewhere between the Ninja Sect and the Rain ninja village," one ninja objected.
"There's definitely something fishy about Hanzo suggesting this location," added another.
The Ninja Sect ninjas displayed extreme distrust of Hanzo.
Yahiko opened his mouth to speak but ultimately remained silent. He felt a great deal of responsibility for falling into the previous ambush, and if his words led to another trap, he would have no face left to show his Ninja Sect comrades.
Kakuzu maintained a neutral expression. This time, he didn't think Hanzo had any ulterior motives; he simply believed that Hanzo had been scared off by the Ninja Sect.
After all, it would be too easy for the Ninja Sect to counter an ambush. With just Mukuro, Nagato, and himself, what could the Rain ninja village do to stop them?
If it came to a fight, they could even kill a bunch of Rain ninjas and still leave unscathed.
"It can be somewhere close to the Rain ninja village, but the Ninja Sect will decide the specific location and time," Mukuro proposed a compromise. "You can bring as many Rain ninjas as you want to the discussion."
He wasn't worried that Hanzo was planning another ambush like the last one. As long as his main body was present, breaking through with the Ninja Sect ninjas wouldn't be difficult.
Mukuro wanted to send a message to Hanzo through this refusal: the Ninja Sect wouldn't agree to any unreasonable demands from the Rain ninja village. They shouldn't assume that adding a condition about the Ninja Sect meant it would be accepted.
Hanzo could sense the confidence and mockery in Mukuro's response. The Rain ninjas could bring as many ninjas as they wanted, which was practically telling him, "I don't fear you. If you're worried, bring more people."
Although somewhat annoyed, Hanzo felt relieved. This indicated that the collaboration discussions were unlikely to be a plot against him.
Of course, "unlikely" didn't mean "impossible," so Hanzo still brought eighty percent of the Rain ninja village's forces to attend the collaboration discussions.
On Sunday noon, Hanzo, accompanied by a large number of Rain ninjas, met with Mukuro, who had brought eight Ninja Sect ninjas, and Kituchi, who led a portion of elite Iwagakure ninjas, at a flatland village for the collaboration discussions.
Mukuro had carefully chosen this time and place. Firstly, Sunday was his day off from training the Anbu, and secondly, by holding the discussions at noon, he could still make it to Tsunade's house in time to cook dinner.
"Let's first exchange our thoughts on this matter," Mu Yue said calmly as she sat across from Hanzo.
Hanzo had expected Sosuke to glower at him with resentment and make snide remarks after their reunion, but to his surprise, Mu Yue cut straight to the chase and focused on the discussion at hand.
"After this collaboration, ninjas from the Ninja Sect and the Rain Ninja Village must not harm each other. We must work together to safeguard the peace of the Land of Rain and jointly defend against external enemies..." Hanzo instructed his subordinates to present the prepared documents, which he then handed over to Mu Yue.
Mu Yue also asked Nagato to give their prepared materials to the Rain Ninjas.
Perhaps it was because she truly didn't want to be at odds with the Ninja Sect anymore, but Mu Yue found Hanzo unusually cooperative this time, even refraining from playing any word games. The content of their proposal largely aligned with the Ninja Sect's intentions.
"This collaboration will only last for five years. After that, the Ninja Sect will decide whether to continue based on the performance of the Rain Ninja Village," Mu Yue set a time limit for the collaboration.
Hanzo was a bit taken aback but agreed to Mu Yue's proposal.
He felt that having a time limit was better than an open-ended collaboration. If the Ninja Sect truly caused the Land of Rain to deteriorate, he would at least have a chance to salvage the situation.
"Spring is finally coming to the Land of Rain," Yahiko said excitedly.
He never expected the collaboration negotiations to go so smoothly. Just a few days ago, they had viewed each other as mortal enemies, and now they had reached an agreement so effortlessly.
Yahiko couldn't wait to eliminate all the factors that had been causing chaos in the Land of Rain, restoring peace to the country.
A genuine smile appeared on Nagato's face as well. Although he couldn't bring his parents back from the dead, his actions would ensure that fewer people would lose their loved ones.
"Teacher Mu Yue is truly making the Land of Rain a better place," Konan said as she handed a paper flower she had folded to Mu Yue.
Although they had been working towards peace by establishing the Akatsuki, their efforts had only managed to protect a handful of villages.
But Mu Yue was different. In a short period, she had rallied the Ninja Sect to travel across the Land of Rain, helping people in various places solve their problems, all thanks to her remarkable charisma.
After their failed attempt to wipe out the Ninja Sect, even the Rain Ninja Village dared not provoke them anymore, treating them as an equal force. Ultimately, this led to their collaboration, giving rise to hopes for peace in the Land of Rain.
"We are all working together to make the Land of Rain a better place," Mu Yue replied.
The perfect conclusion to the collaboration between the Ninja Sect and the Rain Ninja Village left all three parties involved highly satisfied.
Hanzo and the Rain Ninja Village no longer had to worry about Sosuke's unmatched fire jutsu, and the Ninja Sect could finally focus on developing and resolving the issues in the Land of Rain. Kituchi had successfully completed the mission assigned to him by Onoki.
"The next step is to sow discord between Konoha and the Land of Rain," Kituchi said as he looked at the mission scroll.
Iwagakure's true intention was not to help the Land of Rain prosper but to create trouble for Konoha.
However, the seasoned instigator Onoki knew that such matters couldn't be rushed. Hurrying would only lead to mistakes, so the plan to create discord wouldn't be executed immediately; they would start by laying the groundwork.
After reading the entire plan, Kituchi admired his father's cunning and stealth. He was truly a master ninja.
In the end, to incite conflict between the Ninja Sect and Konoha, Onoki would even take advantage of the existing tensions between Hanzo and the Ninja Sect, exploiting their past grievances. He would join forces with Hanzo to conspire against the Ninja Sect.
"Sosuke, in these turbulent times, it's a pity to have no one to rely on," Kituchi shook his head, feeling a bit of sympathy for Sosuke.
He liked Sosuke's character and personality, and if it weren't for Iwagakure's agenda, Kituchi believed they could have become good friends.
But before anything else, he was a ninja of Iwagakure, and his father's son.
After deliberately visiting the Ninja Sect's base to bid Sosuke farewell, Kituchi set off for the Grass Country to continue his mission.
His presence in the Grass Country wasn't initially necessary, but the Grass Ninjas felt that the Iwagakure ninja they had been dealing with didn't represent the village's true intentions, so they requested the presence of Kituchi, the son of the Tsuchikage and a well-known strong ninja from Iwagakure.
Upon arriving in the Grass Country, Kituchi was briefed by the Iwagakure ninjas on the current progress of the mission and the intelligence they had gathered.
"The newly appointed leader of the Grass Ninjas is the head of the Grass Fruits, a typical radical ninja. He has a strong desire to collaborate with Iwagakure, but he's concerned about being used as cannon fodder," an Iwagakure ninja reported.
"What about the Grass Flowers? Have they made any moves?" Kituchi inquired.
The Grass Fruits and the Grass Flowers were the two major factions within the Grass Ninja Village, with the former being the radicals and the latter the conservatives.
"We've been very discreet, so the Grass Flowers are unaware that the leader of the Grass Ninjas intends to collaborate with Iwagakure to deal with Konoha's ninja forces in the Grass Country," the Iwagakure ninja replied.
Kituchi nodded slightly. If the conservative Grass Flowers found out, they would undoubtedly try to sabotage the collaboration, and it would be challenging to convince the leader of the Grass Ninjas otherwise.
...
Konoha Village.
Southern Forest.
Today, Kakashi didn't rush into his training but instead attempted to teach Iwa-chan a Doton jutsu.
In his opinion, since Iwa-chan had naturally and instinctively grasped the Earth Release chakra nature without any training, she must have an extremely high aptitude for Earth Release techniques, making her the perfect candidate for learning Doton jutsu.
"Doton: Earth Flow Wall!"
Kakashi swiftly changed his hand seals, and with the manipulation of earth-style chakra, a wall of earth rose from the ground. Carved into the wall was a dog head that resembled Iwa-chan.
"Iwa!"
Upon seeing this, Iwa-chan let out an excited bark and jumped onto the wall, perching atop the dog head before leaping onto Kakashi.
Kakashi furrowed his brows in thought; it seemed a little difficult for Iwa-doggie to use ninjutsu in this way.
After a few more tries, Kakashi thought of the hard stone on Iwa-doggie's neck.
"You don't need to learn ninjutsu like me. Try to see if you can use your chakra to control the stone on your body and move it," Kakashi suggested.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, the stone on Iwa-doggie's neck shot out like a shuriken and embedded itself in the tree in front of him.
"Those stones are indeed extraordinary," Kakashi said, surprised that Iwa-doggie had succeeded on his first try.
With the power of Iwa-doggie's stone projectile, it wouldn't be difficult to take out a lower-level ninja by surprise.
However, Iwa-doggie's subsequent performance showed Kakashi that he wasn't ready for battle yet.
Iwa-doggie couldn't control the direction of the stone and could only throw it randomly, and after a few throws, he looked exhausted.
Kakashi sat on the ground and stroked the tired Iwa-doggie to comfort him. Just then, a voice filled with youthful enthusiasm rang out.
"If you don't make it to the finish line in time, you'll have to run a hundred more laps!"
Might Guy was excitedly racing against Riolu.
Guy was in the lead, with Riolu gritting his teeth and struggling to keep up.
Whoosh!
Just as the distance between them widened, Riolu suddenly burst forward, moving rapidly for a short distance before returning to his normal speed.
"Body Flicker Technique?" Kakashi wondered if Guy's ninne beast's talent had manifested in his physical techniques.
Riolu had visible formidable stamina and endurance, and now with a technique similar to Body Flicker, he was a natural-born talent for physical techniques.
"Sakura, don't be envious of them. In typical ninja novels, the later a character appears, the stronger they are. Our nin-beasts will hatch later, so they'll definitely be stronger than theirs," Obito said to Sakura Haruno, who had been watching Iwa-doggie and Riolu.
'Sakura' gave Obito a strange look.
"Obito, I'm not envious. And I'm right here," Sakura said with a sneaky smile as she held her Pokemon egg.
Obito froze, then quickly looked to his side, only to see Sakura's figure disappear, replaced by a cunning-looking red-furred fox.
"How rude! My name is certainly not Sakura," Zorua said, puffing out her chest.
Obito's fists clenched tightly.
This inherently evil red-furred fox dared to embarrass him in front of Sakura. She was asking for death.
"I told you to train your Illusion techniques, not to prank people," Itachi sighed helplessly as he grabbed Zorua by the scruff of her neck and lifted her up to eye level, staring into her light blue eyes.
"So, this is considered pranking people? Zorua doesn't know that," Zorua said, batting her eyes innocently.
She was just a baby, barely a couple of weeks old, so she didn't understand complicated things.
Itachi stared at Zorua for half a minute before finally putting her down. Expecting a child who was barely a month old to be sensible was probably asking too much.
"You can pretend all you want, but in ninja novels, foxes are never any good. They're all tricksters," Obito said, unconvinced.
A dark red light flashed, and Sakura reappeared in front of Obito, hands on her hips and looking displeased. "You're not any better yourself."
Seeing Sakura's never-before-seen attitude, Obito was stunned. He never knew that Sakura could be so cute when she was angry. If Sakura herself had said those words, Obito might have been able to accept them.
Obito quickly pushed down his chaotic thoughts and dispelled the illusion. This red-furred fox was not to be underestimated.
"Let's work on strengthening your physique for now," Itachi said as he grabbed Zorua by the scruff of her neck and moved away from Obito and the others.
Although Itachi didn't know where Zorua had learned it, she did seem to have a knack for pranks and mischief.
No, it wasn't just pranks. Zorua had even tried to prank Iwa-doggie and Riolu.
However, she hadn't succeeded. Iwa-doggie could smell Zorua's scent, and Riolu had noticed even faster than Iwa-doggie, though Itachi couldn't figure out how.
"When will you hatch?" Obito asked, hugging his Pokemon egg and sighing inwardly.
Seeing that Kakashi's nin-beast had already started training and had some combat capability made Obito anxious.
He didn't want his nin-beast to go through what he had—falling behind and being unable to hold his head high in front of Kakashi for a long time.
As if hearing Obito's inner thoughts, the Pokemon egg in his arms suddenly burst into a dazzling white light, enveloping his entire body.
Obito's initial disappointment was instantly forgotten as his nin-beast egg finally hatched.
"I pray to the Moon Goddess that my nin-beast is both strong and handsome," Obito silently pleaded to the Moon Goddess.
At that moment, Sakura's nin-beast egg also burst into a brilliant white light.
The sudden burst of two lights attracted the attention of everyone present.
"Sakura's nin-beast egg is hatching so quickly?" Kakashi was a little surprised.
Obito's nin-beast egg had taken a while to hatch, but Sakura's egg had only been with her for a short time, making her the fastest among the disciples.
(End of Chapter)
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