Chapter 670: Sōsuke vs. Hiruzen Sarutobi
Land of Rain, Six Paths City.
Ninshū Office Building, leader's meeting room.
"Sōsuke sensei, I would like to accompany you to the border as your guard," Yahiko stated his purpose directly.
Konoha had approached Ninshū for negotiations twice, and with Danzo's actions already widely known throughout the Ninja World, the tense relationship between Ninshū and Konoha was no secret among Ninshū's members.
Furthermore, Mugetsu had not specifically ordered the results of the negotiations to be kept secret, so most of Ninshū's high and middle ranking members knew that Mugetsu was about to fight Hiruzen.
When Yahiko heard about it, he instantly became agitated.
The fact that the Danzo incident would be considered concluded after the battle made it seem as if Konoha intended to use this as bait to assassinate Sōsuke.
However, Yahiko believed that with Sōsuke's wisdom, he would not fail to see through Konoha's intentions. Since Sōsuke had agreed to this condition, there had to be a reason. Therefore, Yahiko did not question the negotiation itself. He only wished to go with him.
Yahiko did not doubt Sōsuke's ability, but circumstances were uncertain. Who could guarantee what Konoha would do?
Although he was not as monstrous as Nagato, Yahiko was still considered outstanding among jonin.
Before Mugetsu could speak, there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Enter," Mugetsu said, looking toward the door.
After receiving Sōsuke's response, Kakuzu pushed the door open and entered.
Seeing Yahiko, Kakuzu was not too surprised. He looked at Sōsuke and asked, "Have you arranged the accompanying ninja? Add me in. I want to witness your full power."
Sōsuke had displayed such strong confidence, and had even said that he had not used even two tenths of his strength when defeating Kakuzu. This made Kakuzu extremely curious about just how strong Sōsuke truly was.
Kakuzu was a well traveled ninja. He had even fought the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama. Although he had been easily defeated by Senju Hashirama, it still counted as having fought him.
Currently, Konoha's Hayate Mugetsu shook the Ninja World and was considered by many ninja to have the potential to become the second God of Shinobi.
Kakuzu wondered if Sōsuke could be the second Uchiha Madara.
Purely in terms of strength.
Just as Mugetsu was about to speak, another knock sounded at the door.
"Enter."
Nagato pushed the door open and walked in, pausing slightly when he saw Kakuzu and Yahiko standing inside.
"Sōsuke sensei, I wish to accompany you to the border." Seeing that neither of them spoke, Nagato closed the door and explained his purpose.
Nagato was the only one who knew about the connection between Sōsuke and Hayate Mugetsu.
Nagato was not worried that Mugetsu would lose to Hiruzen. Mugetsu's strength in any of his identities was astonishing, which meant his true strength had to be even greater than what those identities had displayed.
But Nagato felt that Mugetsu would be very uncomfortable caught between Ninshū and Konoha. He was somewhat worried that something might go wrong, so he wanted to go along.
Knock, knock.
Just as Nagato finished speaking, another knock sounded from outside the door.
Yahiko and Kakuzu's expressions became subtle.
Could it be another one?
"Enter," Mugetsu said.
Konan and Rōshi walked in together.
Seeing the three people standing in the office, their steps faltered slightly, and both of them showed surprised expressions.
"You first," Rōshi said to Konan.
They had met on the way to the leader's office, but they were not looking for Sōsuke for the same reason.
"Sōsuke sensei, I want to go with you to…"
As soon as Konan spoke, all four people in the office showed strange expressions.
Konan could not help feeling puzzled. She subconsciously glanced down at her clothes, only to find them as neat and clean as usual, with nothing abnormal.
"It's not that I don't want to agree, but if all of you leave, who will handle Ninshū's affairs?" Mugetsu said with a helpless smile.
Two or three leaving would be fine, but if too many high and middle ranking members left, who would do the work?
Just as Kakuzu was about to say something, the knocking on the door sounded again.
Then again.
And again.
After that, several more elders from Ninshū's founding period entered the office one after another, each expressing their desire to accompany the leader to the battle site.
Soon, the office was packed with people, leaving the last person to arrive stunned.
"How about this? We'll draw lots," Mugetsu finally decided. They would draw lots, and he would take four people. Then, he would select five more ninja from Ninshū who had performed well in the past to gain experience.
After all, these people were elders who had traveled the Ninja World with him. He could not show favoritism.
Mugetsu's decision was approved by everyone.
They also knew it was impossible for all of them to go together. They were all high and middle ranking members of Ninshū. If they all left, what would happen to the organization?
The method of drawing lots was very simple. Numbers would be placed into a box, and everyone would draw. Only those who drew numbers one, two, three, or four could go with Mugetsu.
"Son, do you have a way to see through things?" Rōshi wanted to cheat.
The reason was simple. He felt that he was the strongest, and if something went wrong, he could help Sōsuke. This was well intentioned cheating.
"I don't have that ability." The Four Tails shrugged, indicating its helplessness.
Fighting was no problem, but when it came to drawing lots and cheating, it truly could not find a corresponding ability.
Rōshi had no choice but to draw honestly. To his surprise, his luck was unexpectedly good today, and he drew number four.
In addition, Nagato drew number one, Kakuzu drew number two, and Ikechō drew number three.
"Ah, my luck is bad precisely today," Yahiko sighed, scratching his hair.
He had drawn number five, just one number off.
"Even if you don't go to the site, you can still cheer for Sōsuke sensei in your heart," Konan comforted him.
After speaking, Konan walked up to Sōsuke and presented him with a paper flower.
"I wish Sōsuke sensei all the best."
"Thank you," Mugetsu said with a smile, accepting it and placing the flower on the office desk.
…
On the day of departure, the ninja who had not drawn winning lots gathered to see Sōsuke off.
Some of the more emotional ninja even had tears in their eyes.
They were not sure how strong Sōsuke was, but they knew that the Third Hokage was one of the pinnacles of the Ninja World.
So from many people's perspective, Sōsuke had been forced to agree to this extremely dangerous battle in order to preserve Ninshū.
"We must work diligently and cultivate hard, to strengthen Ninshū as soon as possible so we no longer have to bow to the Five Great Ninja Villages!"
This was the thought in the hearts of many of the ninja seeing them off.
In their hearts, Sōsuke was the greatest ninja in the Land of Rain. Even Hanzō could not compare to him.
Seeing their leader, the person they admired, endure such hardship, how could they not feel distressed?
"At most, I'll only be gone for a few days. Why are you acting as if I won't be back for a long time?" Mugetsu said with a smile, trying to reassure everyone.
When Mugetsu said this, the Ninshū ninja became even more moved.
As expected of their great leader Sōsuke. Even at a time like this, he could maintain such composure and comfort them.
Mugetsu was at a loss.
In this situation, even if he said he could surely win against Hiruzen, it would be useless. These people had already decided in advance that he was sacrificing himself for Ninshū.
"Sōsuke sensei, please come back safely! I still want to hear you talk about Ninshū philosophy," a Ninshū ninja said reluctantly.
These words instantly stirred the emotions of the ninja seeing him off, and all of them followed suit and shouted.
The nine ninja who were able to accompany Mugetsu to the border also became solemn, feeling the heavy burden on their shoulders.
The importance of Sōsuke to the Land of Rain and Ninshū was self evident.
Could Ninshū maintain such vitality without a pivotal figure like Sōsuke? No one dared to give a definite answer.
"Everyone, rest assured. I will be back very soon," Mugetsu said, giving all the Ninshū ninja a warm and confident smile.
After speaking, Mugetsu led Nagato and the others eastward.
During the journey, Mugetsu's main body arrived and found an opportunity to replace the Shadow Clone.
As Mugetsu approached the mountain where the battle was to take place, he activated Observation Haki to sense his surroundings and discovered that Hiruzen and his group were just starting to climb the other side of the mountain.
As for Orochimaru and the negotiation team he led, they had arrived earlier and were already halfway up the mountain.
Ultimately, Mugetsu and his group arrived at the mountainside at around the same time as Hiruzen.
The two sides stood opposite each other, sizing each other up.
However, on both sides, most people's gazes were focused on their respective leaders.
Hiruzen for Konoha.
Mugetsu for Ninshū.
Kage stood at the pinnacle of the Ninja World, and unless one belonged to the same Village, meeting a Kage was extremely difficult.
As for Sōsuke, in the perception of the Konoha ninja, he was also a powerful figure shrouded in mystery.
He had suddenly appeared in the Land of Rain, established Ninshū, stirred up the Land of Rain, and quickly became famous throughout the Ninja World.
"Is this the Third Hokage of Konoha? What an imposing aura!"
Some of the less powerful Ninshū ninja felt immense pressure from Hiruzen's sharp gaze alone.
"A Ninja Master against the Professor of Ninjutsu. It's hard to imagine the coming battle," Kakuzu thought to himself.
Kakuzu had seen the First Hokage, but he had not seen the Third Hokage before.
Although he had never met him, Kakuzu had heard many stories about the Third Hokage.
It was rumored that this Hokage had mastered most of Konoha's Ninjutsu and secret techniques, possessing more methods than anyone could imagine. No one could counter him in battle. Instead, it was very easy for him to counter others.
However, Kakuzu believed that Sōsuke should not be countered by Hiruzen. Based on Sōsuke's level in theoretical classes, Sōsuke's Ninjutsu of other attributes would not be bad.
"Besides Orochimaru, Konoha's elder has also come," Rōshi noticed Homura beside Hiruzen.
As a former enemy of Konoha, Rōshi was not unfamiliar with this Konoha elder.
After becoming an elder, Homura rarely took action, but before that, Homura had also been a famous genius ninja of Konoha.
Rōshi was glad he had come. Otherwise, with so many strong ninja on Konoha's side, if the battle did not favor Konoha, the one on one fight might be interfered with.
"Is that Sōsuke? He's so young," Homura thought, looking at Mugetsu's transformed appearance.
Although Mugetsu looked older after his transformation than his true body, to Homura, who was nearing old age, this was still young.
"Former bounty ninja Kakuzu, the Ninja World's greatest genius Nagato…"
Homura then shifted his gaze to the other Ninshū ninja.
He did not believe that such a young Sōsuke could defeat Hiruzen.
Defeating Hanzō certainly showed strength, but it was limited to that.
With a prepared antidote, Homura was confident he could defeat Hanzō, and Hiruzen was considerably stronger than him.
"The strongest combatants have all come, but I won't let you interfere with Hiruzen's battle," Homura thought as he estimated the strength of both sides, then felt completely at ease.
Their side was superior to Ninshū in both individual strength and overall strength.
"I hope it doesn't become too ugly," Shisui, standing beside Orochimaru, sighed inwardly.
He did not want to see Ninshū and Konoha stand against each other, but he was powerless to stop it.
Hiruzen's gaze quickly swept over everyone in Ninshū, finally resting on the ninja with short brown hair wearing a long robe.
"Senior Hiruzen, it is a pleasure to meet you," Mugetsu said with a faint smile, taking the initiative to greet him.
Sōsuke's action was somewhat unexpected to Hiruzen. He had imagined that Sōsuke would be more anxious.
After all, Sōsuke was about to face the Third Hokage, who shook the Ninja World, the leader of the strongest Ninja Village, a true pinnacle of the Ninja World.
"A pleasure to meet you," Hiruzen responded indifferently.
One did not strike a smiling person. He did harbor killing intent toward Sōsuke, but Hiruzen also knew that Danzo's death was mainly due to Danzo's own actions. If Danzo had not attempted the assassination, nothing would have happened.
If one had to say what Sōsuke's fault was, it was that his power was too weak, and his self defense was excessive, leading him to provoke a force he could not afford to offend.
"Shall we begin now?" Mugetsu asked.
As he spoke, Mugetsu used the Appraisal Technique on Hiruzen.
His chakra was still roughly the same as the appraisal result from a few years ago, though there had been some progress in his skills.
[Name: Hiruzen Sarutobi]
[Skills: Combination Ninjutsu, Mastery, 14000/15000. Fire Release Chakra Nature Transformation, Mastery, 9000. Earth Release Chakra Nature Transformation, Mastery, 7500. Lightning Release Chakra Nature Transformation, Mastery, 6100...]
The first time Mugetsu used the upgraded Appraisal Technique to check Hiruzen's panel, the dense array of skills had left a deep impression on him.
At that time, he had thought that if he had a panel that surpassed Hiruzen's, he would not need to worry about survival and could do what he wanted.
Over the past four years, he had continuously worked hard, with a little help from the system, and now his skills were no less than Hiruzen's. He even had several Perfect level skills that Hiruzen did not possess.
He was indeed doing what he wanted now, using his knowledge and abilities to bring change to this tragic world.
"Now."
After saying that, Hiruzen looked at the Konoha ninja, signaling them to retreat.
For ordinary ninja, even the aftermath of a strong ninja's battle was dangerous.
Mugetsu also signaled the Ninshū ninja to retreat with his eyes.
Hiruzen was very strong, and in the current era, without outside cheats, he was particularly outstanding. Because of that, Mugetsu would show his true abilities.
Since Hiruzen had taken the initiative to cause trouble, Mugetsu would not be polite.
It just so happened that he had some powerful abilities that had not yet been tested in actual combat.
Orochimaru stared intently at the battlefield.
He had not seen Hiruzen personally take action in a long time.
....
https://discord.gg/KvMN2CFsMR
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03].