In an open space of a remote village somewhere in the Land of Rain, two figures, one large and one small, were training under the scorching sun in the sky.
"Your movements are too slow, and not decisive enough!" Obito swiftly knocked Yoshida Ichiro on the head with his hand, then corrected him.
Obito's knock was very particular. The force was controlled just right, within the range where it would not injure someone but would be especially painful.
As for why Obito could control it so well, it was only because practice made perfect. After hitting many times, he naturally learned.
After failing to persuade Nagato last time, Obito had stayed in the Land of Rain teaching Ichiro, while also searching for traces of the families of other Akatsuki members.
After being knocked, Ichiro cried out in pain, but he did not stop moving. Instead, he completed the following movements even more seriously, only stopping when Obito saw that there was already so much sweat on his head that his eyes were becoming a little blurry and called for him to stop.
Ichiro wiped the sweaty parts of his face with a towel, then could not help asking, "Teacher, is my talent very bad? I keep failing to meet your requirements."
Although he himself worked very hard, Obito could always point out his shortcomings and mistakes, which made Ichiro somewhat discouraged.
"Your talent is not considered bad, if the people you compare yourself to are not those geniuses," Obito thought for a moment and answered.
Ichiro's talent was not bad. It could even be said that he had some talent. According to Obito's estimate, with his teaching, plus Ichiro's own hard work, Ichiro would be able to reach the level of a graduating Genin in two years.
The reason Ichiro had the misconception that his talent was bad was only because Obito's requirements for him were comparatively high.
With Obito's current strength and vision, helping Ichiro become a ninja naturally was not as simple as making him an ordinary Genin.
Otherwise, leaving behind training materials and some money would be enough. Obito was cultivating Ichiro by using Konoha's elites as the benchmark, so Ichiro naturally felt pressure.
"Is that so? But I have never satisfied you," Ichiro said somewhat doubtfully.
"That is because I am comparatively strict with you. To survive in this cruel Ninja World, what you need is not only passing, but good, or even excellent," Obito said.
Because he had been wandering through small countries such as the Land of Rain, the Land of Rice Fields, and the Land of Grass, Obito could feel some things that others could not.
On the surface, the current Ninja World was peaceful, as though peace had come again, but secretly, undercurrents were surging.
Nagato created the Light Ninja Village and was recruiting soldiers and buying horses in the Land of Rice Fields on a large scale to strengthen his forces. Amegakure, controlled by Akatsuki, was suspected of secretly plotting something with Kusagakure. Yugakure, whose ninja village strength had originally declined, suddenly received financial support from the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water again.
Not long ago, Obito had received news from Nagasawa, which was the matter of Rasa being attacked and nearly dying.
Even the Kage of one of the Five Great Ninja Villages had almost died in an attack. This was a major incident enough to trigger a Ninja World War, yet the culprit's whereabouts were unknown.
Obito longed for peace, but he also knew the danger of chaotic times. In chaotic times, the lives of people without strength could only be controlled by others.
"I understand. I will work hard and not let down your teaching," Ichiro said seriously.
"There is no need to regard my teaching too highly. I am also doing this to fulfill the agreement with your father," Obito shook his head and said.
Because of these several months of care and teaching, Ichiro no longer had his initial wariness and was very respectful toward Obito.
A disciple respecting his teacher was a good thing, but the relationship between Obito and Ichiro was somewhat complicated.
No matter how one put it, Obito was also the person who had personally killed Ichiro's father.
Although as long as Obito did not say it, Ichiro would most likely never know this truth, if one day Ichiro learned the truth and learned that the teacher he had always trusted and respected was the culprit who killed his biological father, how despairing would he be?
So Obito tried his best to make his own contribution sound smaller and push it onto Ichiro's father, while also always acting comparatively cold and strict.
"No matter what, you have still spent a lot of effort teaching me," Ichiro said respectfully.
Even if Obito said it was only because of an agreement, Ichiro still felt that he should properly thank Obito.
His father's life or death was unknown, and he himself knew absolutely nothing about any agreement. Obito could have completely pretended that this matter did not exist, yet he still came, and he was also teaching him very seriously.
Seeing Ichiro look at him with respect, Obito smiled helplessly and said:
"I have something to return to Amegakure to handle. The time is not fixed. If it is short, I may be back in a week. If it is long, it may take a month. During this period, you must train seriously and not slack off."
"I understand. Even if you are not here, I will complete the training on time," Ichiro nodded heavily, reassuring Obito.
Ichiro was also used to it. Obito would return to the ninja village to handle matters from time to time.
Ichiro could also understand it. After all, he was a ninja. He was already very satisfied that Obito could accompany him for such a long time.
After explaining that he had to leave, Obito left.
However, Obito did not go to Amegakure as he had said. Instead, he went to the Land of Rivers, which was sandwiched between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
Going to Amegakure was only an excuse. After all, Obito's current false identity was a ninja of Amegakure and a former friend of Ichiro's father.
Obito's true purpose was to go to the Land of Rivers to investigate a person from the Land of Rivers named Kinoshita Tsukasa.
Yes, it was that Kinoshita Tsukasa who came to Konoha to attack Nagasawa and was then beaten to death.
Nagasawa suspected that the attacker who attacked Sunagakure and Tsukasa should belong to the same organization, and there were no clues on the Sunagakure attacker's side, so Nagasawa could only have Obito go to the Land of Rivers to investigate and see whether he could find any traces.
Although he had already dispatched Anbu, Nagasawa felt that it still was not safe enough, so he notified Obito.
After Obito arrived in the Land of Rivers, he went to the base of the Hope Organization. The Hope Organization was actually the previous Gold Organization.
However, because the organization's purpose had changed, plus a series of issues with cooperating with Nagasawa, the organization's name was finally changed to Hope Organization.
The information Nagasawa gave him said that the Hope Organization was a local snake in the Land of Rivers and had considerable influence in the Land of Rivers, so it could assist him in the investigation.
At this time, Obito was wearing a blue-purple robe, and his face still had a mask on it, but it was not the previous spiral mask.
After all, half of his face was really somewhat frightening. A mask had become a necessity. When sneaking in to investigate, he could just use the Transformation Technique.
Because Nagasawa had also notified the Hope Organization, after Obito arrived, someone soon came over to cooperate with Obito's operation.
"You look like an extraordinary figure. As expected of someone from Konoha. Hello, little brother, I am the person here to assist you. If you have any needs, you can mention them to me." Hayakawa Satoru walked in front of Obito with a smile.
The one the Hope Organization sent to assist Obito's operation this time was precisely one of the Hope Organization's Four Great Cadres, Hayakawa Satoru.
He was the most suitable candidate. As for the other cadres, they were either pure fighters with average ability to handle affairs, or they had many matters to deal with.
"Kinoshita Tsukasa, do you have any relevant information on this person?" Obito asked directly.
"Assistant Nagasawa asked us this before. We investigated for a period of time and gained very little. We did not find any ninja named Kinoshita Tsukasa, let alone anything about him being powerful. The only thing related to the name Kinoshita Tsukasa that we found was a missing person notice from thirty-seven years ago," Hayakawa quickly answered.
After confirming that Tsukasa was from the Land of Rivers, how could Nagasawa forget that he still had the card of the Hope Organization in his hand? He quickly had the Hope Organization launch an investigation into this name, but there were no gains.
"A missing person notice from thirty-seven years ago..." Obito frowned.
"Mm. This is something we learned from an old person in a village. Thirty-seven years ago, a child named Kinoshita Tsukasa went missing. Later, we confirmed the accuracy of this information. It is true. This is also the only information related to Kinoshita Tsukasa that we found."
"A child from thirty-seven years ago..." Obito fell into thought.
According to the information Nagasawa gave, Tsukasa was an old man who looked about sixty to seventy years old.
Even if Tsukasa looked old, and was relatively young, at sixty years old, it was still impossible for a sixty-year-old to be a child thirty-seven years ago.
'Wait, it is not impossible. The information also said that Tsukasa mastered a Forbidden Technique that could erupt with strength, and the side effect was affecting vitality.' Obito thought of another possibility.
Perhaps Tsukasa's actual age was not as old as he looked. It was only because he had used the Forbidden Technique that he looked like a sixty- or seventy-year-old man.
No matter what, this was a clue. Obito continued asking, "Did you not continue investigating along this clue and find anything else? For example, the reason he went missing back then, where he went, and so on."
Hayakawa gave a helpless smile. "Little brother, you are overestimating us too much. You also have to think about what era it was thirty-seven years ago. There were too many people abducting children. Not only children, adults were abducted too. How could that be investigated?"
"Moreover, the parents of the child who went missing back then also died in the chaos of war. There is simply nowhere to start."
Obito fell silent. Sometimes, this world was rotten beyond your imagination.
When Obito was young, he lived in Konoha, the strongest ninja village in the Ninja World, so naturally, he did not need to worry about such problems when he was young.
"Tell me the address of the old person who provided the information. I want to go and take a look," Obito thought for a moment and said.
Since this was currently the only clue related to Tsukasa, he naturally could not let it go. He would investigate this first.
Although Hayakawa felt that they had already investigated carefully enough, and Hayakawa did not think Obito could obtain any more useful information, since Obito wanted it, Hayakawa gave it to him.
......
'They are all people of the Hyuga Clan. Why must there be a distinction between main family and branch family?'
Ever since he was branded with the Caged Bird at the age of three, Neji had always been puzzled by this point.
Clearly, everyone had the same eyes, the same hair, and the same surname. Why did there have to be a difference between main family and branch family?
The Caged Bird was a kind of Cursed Seal mastered by the Hyuga Clan.
After being branded with the Caged Bird, the Byakugan, which originally had three hundred and sixty degrees of vision without blind spots, would gain a blind spot that could not be observed.
Most importantly, from then on, the life of the person branded with the Caged Bird would be completely in the hands of the caster, that is, the main family.
As long as the Cursed Seal was activated, it could directly destroy the brain and Byakugan, causing the person branded with the Caged Bird to die on the spot.
Originally, his eyes could observe without blind spots, but suddenly there was one point that could not be seen. Only people who had experienced this feeling knew how uncomfortable it was.
Fortunately, Neji was not someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, otherwise he would feel even worse.
What made Neji feel even more uncomfortable was that the mark of the Caged Bird was on the forehead, and it was a crossed pattern.
It was as though he had been branded with an inferior mark, becoming lower than others from then on. Neji did not know whether such a description was appropriate or not.
Neji's father, Hyuga Hizashi, had always comforted Neji, saying that the Hyuga family had always been like this. The main family was responsible for developing and strengthening the Hyuga, and the branch family was responsible for protecting the main family.
The Caged Bird was actually not to confine the branch family, but to protect the Hyuga clansmen, because the Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan was truly too powerful.
It had to be said that these words were not completely without reason. The Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan was indeed the Kekkei Genkai that all the major ninja villages in the Ninja World coveted the most.
There was no other reason. The Byakugan was simply too unfair in ninja warfare. It was equivalent to a see-through cheat.
Although he had his father's comfort, Neji still felt that this was abnormal and unreasonable.
His father was clearly the biological brother of Hyuga Hiashi, the current head of the Hyuga Clan, but Hiashi was the family head who controlled the entire Hyuga, while Hizashi could only become branch family.
Because of the Caged Bird, Neji's relationship with the cousin he had previously played well with also worsened.
Because that cousin of his was the daughter of the current Hyuga family head and was main family. Even after turning three, she had not been branded with the Caged Bird like Neji.
Actually, Neji was not angry at Hinata, because Hinata did not show any arrogance of the main family. She was still that timid and easily shy cousin. It was just that Neji felt all of this was somewhat too unfair.
Neji now basically did not communicate with Hinata anymore. He rarely even greeted her.
Right now, Neji just kept training seriously. He wanted to use reality to prove that it was not that the branch family could not strengthen the Hyuga Clan. He wanted to become even stronger than the main family.
"Hinata, what is wrong with you? Why is your progress so small?" Hyuga Hiashi looked at Hinata's performance on the training field, frowned, and scolded her.
Neji stopped his movements and glanced over there, then continued practicing Gentle Fist.
"As the main family, you should be much more outstanding than you are now!" After saying that, Hiashi pointed at Neji and said.
"Look at Neji's Gentle Fist, then look at your Gentle Fist. Think about why the gap is so large."
Hinata lowered her head and did not dare speak, only silently enduring it.
"With your Gentle Fist trained to this state, you are not allowed to go out this month. Other lessons will also be put aside temporarily. Properly train your Gentle Fist," Hiashi said.
The heir of a large clan needed to possess many things, but in the Ninja World, the most important thing for a family head was undoubtedly strength. Only powerful strength could ensure that one's clan could survive.
Hearing that her father wanted her to be unable to go out for a month, Hinata's body trembled slightly.