Chapter 597: Finally Meeting the Ninja Master
Six Paths City, Land of Rain.
Although Roshi had already entered the Land of Rain before the lecture event was announced, he had been traveling the whole time, so he did not arrive especially early.
He only entered Six Paths City one day before the unrestricted lecture was set to begin.
"Other than this place, it's hard to imagine such a scene appearing anywhere else," Roshi sighed as he looked over the city.
Because the lecture was about to start, nearly all the ninja who wanted to attend had already gathered in Six Paths City.
At this moment, ninja wearing all kinds of forehead protectors could be seen everywhere in the streets.
Roshi had only swept his gaze around a few times, yet he had already spotted ninja from several different villages.
But what truly made him sigh was not the sheer number of ninja in Six Paths City.
Iwagakure had far more ninja than this.
What moved him was the atmosphere of the place.
Even though ninja from many different villages were gathered here, they all behaved with remarkable restraint. Very few caused trouble, and there was no tense or hostile atmosphere in the air.
That was an extremely rare sight, especially in a Ninja World already thrown into chaos.
Roshi did not hurry to book a room. Instead, he wandered through Six Paths City at a leisurely pace.
On his journey from the northern part of the Land of Rain to the Shinobi Sect, Roshi had often slept out in the wild. He did not care much about such things. If there was nowhere to stay, he could always find a tree and lie beneath it for the night.
Six Paths City was more prosperous than he had imagined.
Because it had only recently been built, Roshi had assumed it would amount to little more than a somewhat larger village. He had not expected it to be even more prosperous than some of the towns he had passed through in the Land of Rain.
"Why do some of these buildings look so much like the ones in Iwagakure?" Roshi suddenly noticed that many of the city's structures bore a distinct Iwagakure style.
That gave him a strange feeling, as though Iwagakure had somehow followed him here.
Roshi shook his head and cast aside that odd thought before continuing his stroll.
Along the way, he ran into many Iwagakure ninja, including some he knew personally, such as Ōnoki's son, Kitsuchi.
Faced with ninja from his former village, Roshi kept his expression perfectly normal and revealed no flaws.
"It seems the cooperation between the village and the Shinobi Sect runs deeper than I thought if even Kitsuchi is here," Roshi mused inwardly.
As he continued to look around, Roshi noticed something else.
There were not many ninja from the Five Great Ninja Villages present.
He saw almost no Konoha ninja at all, and not a single Mist or Cloud ninja.
There were many Iwagakure ninja, enough that Roshi felt the number of Stone ninja in Six Paths City might not even be less than the number of Shinobi Sect members stationed there.
Then there was Sunagakure. Roshi had already seen several squads of Sand ninja, making them the second most numerous of the Five Great Villages in attendance.
"In that case, Sōsuke has unintentionally helped me," Roshi suddenly realized.
In Six Paths City, he did not need to worry at all about being hunted by Iwagakure.
The city was currently a gathering point for all kinds of factions. Anything that happened here would spread across the Ninja World in no time.
Unless Iwagakure was absolutely certain it could take him away cleanly, it would not dare make a move.
After casually finding a restaurant for lunch, Roshi resumed wandering through the city.
"Isn't that Lord Hanzō of Amegakure? I didn't expect him to come listen to Sōsuke-sensei's lecture this time," a ninja nearby whispered in surprise.
Hearing the discussion, Roshi turned with interest and quickly spotted Hanzō amid a group of Rain ninja.
As one of the legendary figures of the Ninja World, Hanzō the Demigod was someone Roshi had naturally heard many stories about.
For example, how he had been defeated by Sōsuke's Fire Release despite countering it with Water Release.
"Our Lord Hanzō-sama was invited by the Shinobi Sect," one of the Rain ninja on the street heard the whispered discussion and corrected them with a solemn expression.
"As expected of Lord Hanzō-sama, who bears the title of Demigod. This kind of honor really does seem unique among ninja," the ninja who had first spoken quickly changed his tune.
"Yes. I've never heard of Sōsuke-sensei personally inviting anyone before," another nearby ninja added.
At the center of the Rain ninja, Hanzō gave a slight nod inwardly.
This was exactly the effect he had wanted.
As the great Hanzō the Demigod, how could he possibly come on his own initiative? Naturally, he had only come because Sōsuke had personally invited him.
After Hanzō and the Rain ninja left the street, the other ninja resumed their discussion.
"Sure enough, once national interests are involved, it becomes much easier to talk things over. Their conflict used to be so intense, but now it looks like they've completely reconciled," said a ninja wearing a Grass headband.
Sōsuke had become famous throughout the Ninja World by defeating Hanzō, so many ninja were familiar with the love-hate relationship between the Shinobi Sect and Amegakure.
Amegakure had once used cooperation as bait to lure Sōsuke into a trap and ambush him. That had led to the battle between Sōsuke and Hanzō, and ultimately to Sōsuke's rise to fame.
"After all, they're both ninja from the same country," another Grass ninja nearby replied.
In the adult world, interests always came first. Given the chaotic state of the Ninja World, a reconciliation between the Shinobi Sect and Amegakure was not strange.
"If only Lord Hanzō would challenge Sōsuke-sensei the way Pakura did. I'd really love to see the full power of Fire Dragon Dance."
"That's impossible. Pakura only challenged him because she'd never fought Sōsuke-sensei before. How could Lord Hanzō challenge someone he knows he can't beat?"
"Not necessarily. The two sides are cooperating now, after all. Even if Lord Hanzō did challenge him, Sōsuke-sensei wouldn't let him lose too much face. He'd probably go easy and make it look like a draw."
Hanzō's Shadow Clone, disguised as an ordinary ninja nearby, grew darker and darker in mood.
So even if he beat Sōsuke now, people would still say it was only because Sōsuke had held back?
And why did everyone keep bringing up Fire Dragon Dance? Were there no other Fire Release techniques left in the Ninja World?
If he could do it over again, Hanzō truly wanted to go back in time and kill Danzo the moment that man had come knocking.
They had called it cooperation, yet Amegakure had suffered losses, Hanzō had lost face, and Danzo's side had only lost a handful of Konoha ninja.
Even though he was annoyed, Hanzō had no intention of causing trouble for a few ordinary ninja. After a brief glance around, he dispelled the Shadow Clone.
The moment the clone's memories flowed back, the real Hanzō, seated in the Shinobi Sect's reception room, darkened visibly for an instant before quickly returning to his usual composed expression.
Mugetsu was slightly taken aback. He wondered why Hanzō had just gone through such a dramatic change in expression.
"Sōsuke, don't say I didn't warn you. Although I accepted your invitation, if you suddenly ask me to cooperate in some kind of activity during the lecture, I might not agree," Hanzō said flatly.
Hanzō truly had no intention of challenging Sōsuke. It had nothing to do with winning or losing. He simply felt it would be meaningless.
Still, even though he himself had no such intention, Hanzō suspected Sōsuke might want to use him as a teaching prop.
During the last unrestricted lecture, Sōsuke had deliberately called him out to use Water Release to extinguish fire. Hanzō felt it was entirely possible that this time Sōsuke might ask him to spar on stage.
To keep himself from becoming background material, Hanzō had chosen to state his position in advance.
"Of course. That's perfectly fine," Mugetsu replied with a faint smile and a nod.
He could not say he fully understood Hanzō's thoughts, but he could guess most of them.
Mugetsu had indeed considered using Hanzō as material, but not by defeating him in combat. That would have been a bit too humiliating.
Hanzō nodded calmly and felt much more at ease.
If he were really defeated by Sōsuke again in front of thousands of ninja, then he would truly become nothing more than Sōsuke's stepping stone.
Soon after, Hanzō left the Shinobi Sect reception room and returned to the residence the Shinobi Sect had arranged for him.
The moment he thought about those people outside saying that even if he won, it would only be because Sōsuke had shown mercy, Hanzō found himself unable to calmly remain seated across from Sōsuke.
On the other side, after seeing Hanzō off, Mugetsu began reviewing his lesson plan.
This time, both the number and the quality of the attending ninja surpassed the previous lecture. That meant the teaching quality also had to be excellent if he wanted an S rating.
After checking everything, Mugetsu spread his Observation Haki across the entirety of Six Paths City.
There were simply too many ninja in the city, and with the limited number of Shinobi Sect members, it was difficult to guarantee that nothing would happen.
"Hm?" Mugetsu's gaze sharpened slightly.
He had not noticed anything before, but once he actively spread his senses, he immediately picked up a few familiar chakra signatures that absolutely should not have been there.
Since those chakra signatures were within the range of his Byakugan, Mugetsu activated it at once and cast Appraisal on them one by one.
[Name: Hirasuishoku]
[Chakra: 8300]
[Skills: Water Release Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery Level)…]
[Name: Kyokuto Den]
[Chakra: 7600]
[Skills: Fire Release Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery Level)…]
"So it really is those Root ninja," Mugetsu thought after reading the Appraisal results, confirming that he had not been mistaken.
The information revealed by Appraisal was the most reliable. Even White Zetsu, who possessed the strongest disguise ability known, could not fool it.
"Is Danzo planning to make a move against the Shinobi Sect?" Mugetsu considered.
No one understood Danzo better than Mugetsu. The old man most likely wanted the so-called sage inheritance and Nagato's Rinnegan.
"What method is he planning to use this time?" Mugetsu could not immediately see through Danzo's approach.
The Root's strength was enough for gathering intelligence, but if it came to forcibly taking something from the Shinobi Sect, that would be nearly impossible, even if Danzo led the operation personally.
The Shinobi Sect's surface-level strength was already far from weak among ninja organizations.
There was Sōsuke, who had defeated Hanzō. There was Kakuzu, the legendary terror of the black market. And there was Nagato, the genius hailed as the greatest prodigy of the Ninja World.
Those three alone formed a terrifying force.
"He wouldn't be planning to send me, would he?" Mugetsu suddenly thought of his status as a Root ninja.
It sounded absurd for Konoha's most prominent young ninja to be used to attack a powerful neutral organization, but if the one giving the order was Danzo, then Mugetsu found the idea strangely believable.
After all, Danzo's operations were never something normal people could understand.
"He might also try to make use of Amegakure again," Mugetsu thought, forcing himself into Danzo's perspective.
From Danzo's point of view, there were really only two options. Either mobilize Konoha's own strength directly, or collaborate with some external force that already had reason to oppose the Shinobi Sect.
Amegakure was an obvious choice. First, it had a history of joining forces against the Shinobi Sect. Second, the conflict between Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect was fundamentally irreconcilable.
And if Amegakure were weakened again after another clash, that would only benefit Konoha further.
"Sunagakure is also a strong possibility."
The Land of Rain bordered the Land of Wind, and there was no way Sunagakure would feel comfortable watching its former dependent rise into a force that could no longer be controlled.
Moreover, of the Five Great Ninja Villages, Sunagakure was currently the only one that had not declared war on Konoha. Mugetsu felt there was a strong chance Danzo would try to cooperate with it.
After warning the Shinobi Sect ninja responsible for guarding the ninja encampment, Mugetsu paid the matter no more attention.
There was no point in capturing those Root agents.
To avoid exposing his own secrets, Danzo had gone to extraordinary lengths with his Root subordinates. Even the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques would not be able to extract useful information from them.
Rather than alerting them, it was better to pretend nothing had been noticed.
At a critical moment, that information gap might even be useful for feeding them false intelligence.
…
The next day, the second unrestricted lecture began right on schedule.
Although the Shinobi Sect now had its own city, Mugetsu had no intention of holding open lectures too frequently, and Six Paths City still needed further expansion, so there was no dedicated lecture hall.
The arrangement was much the same as before.
He selected a Training Ground, set up a podium, and that was it.
Yet the simplicity of the venue did not diminish the enthusiasm of the attending ninja in the slightest.
For example, Roshi had believed arriving thirty minutes early would be enough, only to discover that by the time he got there, the area around the podium was already packed solid.
Roshi stared at the crowd, which looked as though an entire army had gathered there.
"How early did these people get here?" Roshi muttered helplessly.
"It only proves that Sōsuke truly is capable. Otherwise, he would never inspire this much support," the Four Tails said.
Not only Roshi, but even the Four Tails had grown curious about Sōsuke.
After all, Sōsuke had founded the Shinobi Sect and had a disciple who possessed the Rinnegan.
The Four Tails could not shake the feeling that Sōsuke might somehow be connected to the Sage of Six Paths.
"We'll know soon enough," Roshi said, scanning the area before withdrawing his gaze after confirming that Sōsuke had not arrived yet.
On his journey from the northern Land of Rain all the way here, Roshi had already gained many unexpected insights, so the trip had not been wasted.
Still, his original purpose had always been the man called Sōsuke.
If Sōsuke turned out not to live up to his reputation, then even now Roshi would feel a small trace of disappointment.
With ten minutes left before the lecture began, Mugetsu finally arrived.
"Sōsuke-sensei!"
The ninja who had attended Mugetsu's previous lecture all bowed their heads in greeting.
"Mm. Good morning," Mugetsu replied with a faint smile, lifting a hand in acknowledgment.
Immediately, the crowd parted of its own accord and made way for him to walk toward the podium.
Roshi should have been able to catch sight of Sōsuke at that point, but unfortunately, he was a little too short, and the people in front blocked his line of sight. Even standing on tiptoe did not help.
In the end, he had no choice but to gather chakra and quietly raise the earth beneath his feet.
Only then did he finally see what Sōsuke looked like.
…..
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I Became the Alien God in Tokyo