"Please take your time leaving…"
Jiraiya nodded and bowed deeply as he watched the Great Toad Sage vanish into smoke, then immediately turned around, furious, and roared at Akihara Kagura: "Kid, you're not allowed to summon the Great Toad Sage again. If this keeps up, I'll be scolded to death by them!"
"Looking at the results, summoning the Great Toad Sage was the best choice."
Akihara Kagura has always been a results-oriented person and took the initiative to explain: "Among the toads of Mount Myoboku, my relationship with it is quite good. It responded to my summoning and helped me pass Teacher Jiraiya's test."
"…"
Jiraiya really didn't know how to refute that.
"Let's go."
Jiraiya called his disciple to follow him with a mix of frustration and resignation.
"Yes."
Akihara Kagura nodded, looking over his achievements.
[System Prompt]: [Make good use of your summoning beast to infiltrate the Rain Village without alerting anyone. Mission completed, reward: Toad Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique.]
[Toad Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique (Hidden within a person's shadow, controlling their actions through the shadow, its stealth far surpasses other shadow imitation techniques)]
This is a support-type technique.
Its powerful function lies in being able to stealthily hide within a shadow and control a person, a covert infiltration technique that any ninja would desperately desire.
"Let's ask around in the village first."
Jiraiya bought two raincoats on the spot, first helping Akihara Kagura put on a small one and then helping the kid put on the raincoat's hood.
"Keep your hood on, don't catch a cold."
"…"
Akihara Kagura remained silent, not responding, but helped his teacher put on a large raincoat and even tiptoed to help him with the raincoat's hood.
Jiraiya, seeing his disciple working hard to help, couldn't help but smile and softly said, "Let's go buy something to eat first, see if we can find out anything from the ordinary villagers..."
Boom!
Suddenly, an explosion sounded on the street!
The civilians on the street were frightened by the explosion and scattered in all directions!
A group of Rain ninjas immediately swarmed in, killing a ninja who had caused the explosion on the spot, and a Rain forehead protector, cut through the middle, fell into the muddy water mixed with blood.
After killing the person, the group of Rain ninjas immediately started searching for the ninja's accomplices, even directly using shuriken to deal with two civilians who were running slowly.
"This is..."
Jiraiya couldn't help but frown.
"It's like this every day."
An elderly lady who runs a shop seems to have lost all concern for life and death, sitting motionlessly in her own store, watching the distant Rain ninjas with a look of despair in her eyes.
"Every day, someone wants to rebel…"
"Every day, someone is inexplicably killed in battle…"
"Every day, someone is killed by them, mistaken for an accomplice…"
"When will this war ever end… It doesn't matter who wins… When will it end… Isn't the village leader claimed to be a demigod of the ninjas?"
…
A group of searching Rain ninjas had already come.
Jiraiya placed his hand on Akihara Kagura's shoulder, hiding with his disciple in a small alley, as the two of them, being new faces, were likely to be considered accomplices by the Rain ninjas.
"Let's go."
Jiraiya's expression was noticeably somber.
Even though Jiraiya had been traveling the ninja world for many years and had seen much human suffering, he still found it hard to bear upon witnessing these scenes.
However…
Due to his identity and power,
Jiraiya had no way to intervene.
"Continue gathering intelligence."
Jiraiya glanced at the environment of the Rain Village and called out, "Let's capture two ninjas from the Rain Village, extract intelligence from them, and compare the information to verify its truth…"
After speaking, Jiraiya led the way, searching for isolated ninjas within the Rain Village while taking the opportunity to educate his disciple, "If we're outside, we must use interrogation to gather enemy intelligence, which requires capturing more than two people to verify the truth of the information…"
"Understood."
Akihara Kagura nodded.
Jiraiya, as a teacher, truly took up the responsibility of instructing as a Jonin ninja, teaching Kagura all the everyday ninja knowledge, no matter how trivial.
Of course.
Actually, Jiraiya had an easier method.
For example, summoning a magical toad from Mount Myoboku that could disguise itself as a house and transform into a shop to lure in the Rain ninjas.
But…
Jiraiya was worried about Kagura summoning the Great Toad Sage.
Just then.
The Rain Village had a patrol team of only two people.
Akihara Kagura and Jiraiya leaped forward, attacking simultaneously and capturing the two Rain ninjas, grabbing them by the necks!
"We must question them separately."
Jiraiya signaled for Akihara Kagura to take another prisoner to the side before he started questioning his own captive: "Do you know about the Akatsuki organization? What is the relationship between Hanzo of the Salamander and the Akatsuki? If what you say does not match with your teammate's story, you might not survive..."
"The Akatsuki... are enemies of Lord Hanzo," the Rain ninja, a straightforward person by nature, confessed everything: "Those guys are gathering forces to challenge Lord Hanzo's rule. We are hunting down members of the Akatsuki organization everywhere..."
The entire village of Rain Village knew about the hostile relationship between Hanzo of the Salamander and the Akatsuki, aware that the organization was amassing forces to incite rebellion and civil war in the Land of Rain.
The two Rain Village ninjas provided consistent accounts.
Jiraiya was somewhat puzzled, furrowing his brows in thought: "The Akatsuki, they are not underlings of Hanzo of the Salamander?"
This matter...
Suddenly became very confusing.
Jiraiya lowered his head, pondering the purpose of the Akatsuki: "Could it be that this group of powerful individuals has come together to challenge Hanzo of the Salamander?"
"After all, he is the legendary demigod ninja..."
Akihara Kagura, looking at the heavily industrial-style Rain Village, continued: "From any perspective, Hanzo of the Salamander has value worth challenging, right?"
"..."
Jiraiya thought it over.
His disciple made a lot of sense.
Akihara Kagura clenched his fists tightly, saying in a deep voice: "No matter what they intend to do, we must stop them. Let's take the initiative to kill Hanzo of the Salamander, foiling their plan!"
"This is not a proper plan..."
Jiraiya shook his head, dismissing Akihara Kagura's suggestion.
"So what should we do now?"
Akihara Kagura presented the dilemma to his teacher.
After some thought, Jiraiya said in a deep voice: "Let's go, we should leave this place and capture some Rain ninjas with scratches on their forehead protectors on the battlefield..."
"..."
Akihara Kagura silently nodded.
Jiraiya, the teacher, was truly serious. Despite appearing carefree and unrestrained, his actions were methodical.
"Then let's go."
Akihara Kagura placed his hand on Jiraiya's shoulder.
The two figures directly used the Flying Thunder God Technique to return to the outskirts of Rain Village, a teleportation technique that inevitably aroused envy in others.
Even though Jiraiya had long ago witnessed another departed disciple use the Flying Thunder God Technique, seeing Akihara Kagura take him away directly still made him involuntarily open his mouth in admiration: "The Flying Thunder God Technique is always the most convenient ability..."
"Do you want to go to the battlefield?"
There was an unmistakably mysterious expectation in Akihara Kagura's eyes.
"I'll go alone."
Jiraiya quickly shook his head. He indeed wanted to teach his disciple a bit of common sense on the battlefield, but he was also worried about Akihara Kagura getting overly eager to kill there.
That is a battlefield!
The place most likely to make ninjas lose their way!
Even the bustling taverns pale in comparison to the battlefield!
When Jiraiya asked Akihara Kagura to wait in a cave, White Zetzu Awei's figure slowly emerged: "What are we going to do now?"
"Of course, go see Hanzo of the Salamander."
Akihara Kagura's fingers gently tapped, as if playing the piano with his fingertips, and as if he was manipulating some puppetry with threads at his fingertips.
Akihara Kagura chuckled lightly, asking White Zetzu Awei: "If Hanzo of the Salamander actively seeks out Teacher Jiraiya, and with me added to the mix, if we go trouble the Akatsuki together, how should the Akatsuki respond?"
"Hanzo of the Salamander has become less daring."
White Zetzu Awei shook his head, softly reminding Akihara Kagura: "That guy has aged, I feel that after that incident years ago, Hanzo of the Salamander has already lost his courage to fight, just wanting to barely survive, otherwise, he wouldn't be hiding and not daring to show himself..."
"That's a ninja demigod there!"
Akihara Kagura chuckled again, yet still praised Hanzo of the Salamander: "I believe he definitely has the courage to confront the Akatsuki... As long as I'm there, he will surely have the courage."
The Land of Rain.
A very secretive base.
This base was like a quiet village, completely unaffected by the internal conflict of the Land of Rain, and even people found it hard to discover this place.
Because this base was a breeding ground specifically ordered by Hanzo of the Salamander, it housed giant ponds, each nurturing a massive ninja beast, the Salamander.
Hanzo of the Salamander spent most of his time hidden in this base, ordering his trusted guards to protect the base to prevent his whereabouts from being discovered.
"That child with the Rinnegan..."
Hanzo of the Salamander remembered that scene from many years ago, still somewhat haunted.
Many years ago.
Hanzo of the Salamander and Shimura Danzo joined forces, ambushing the Akatsuki led by Yahiko, forcing Yahiko to commit suicide, and even nearly killing Nagato and Konan with explosive tags.
The result…
Nagato's Rinnegan erupted, summoning a colossal Gedo Statue. It not only captured him and Shimura Danzo's subordinates in one fell swoop but also nearly killed him.
Since then, Hanzo of the Salamander has been constantly worried about retaliation from the Rinnegan, always on guard against the possibility of being killed by the Akatsuki organization. He feared the power of the Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue that could devour lives.
Because of this…
Hanzo of the Salamander dared not live in the Rain Village.
Hanzo of the Salamander lived on the highest rooftop of this base, forbidding any guards from coming up except for his closest aides, to avoid having more people discover his whereabouts.
Knock knock knock…
A knocking sound came from outside the door.
Just as Hanzo of the Salamander was about to instruct the person to leave today's breakfast outside the door, the person delivering the meal suddenly opened the door.
"Who allowed you…"
Hanzo of the Salamander instantly reached for his scythe!
"Shh, don't move!"
The visitor was a young boy he had never seen before.
This young boy was precisely Akihara Kagura. With White Zetzu Awei's active help, Akihara Kagura found Hanzo's whereabouts.
Akihara Kagura, holding a breakfast tray in his hands, was not at all intimidated by his might, instead, he smiled and said, "Lord Hanzo, you wouldn't want others to discover you hiding here, right?"
"Who exactly are you?"
Hanzo of the Salamander looked at the newcomer and sternly shouted, "How did you find this place? Who leaked my whereabouts!"
"Don't rush."
Akihara Kagura still smiled at him, even slowly sat down, and placed the breakfast tray on the ground: "Lord Hanzo, do you remember your former ally?"
"…"
Hanzo of the Salamander couldn't recall for a moment.
"Do you need me to remind you?"
Akihara Kagura smiled at Hanzo of the Salamander and continued, "The ally who once fought against the Akatsuki organization with you, but in the end, suffered heavy losses... It seems, Lord Hanzo, that you are still troubled by the Akatsuki organization!"
"You are… a subordinate of Danzo!"
Hanzo of the Salamander remembered the ally who had betrayed him.
If it hadn't been for that ally claiming that the existence of the Akatsuki organization posed a threat to his rule, he wouldn't have become enemies with the Akatsuki, nor would the situation have deteriorated to the extent it has today!
Of course.
The fact was just as the ally had predicted.
The development of the Akatsuki indeed threatened his rule.
More and more ninja from the Rain Village were defecting to the Akatsuki.
In fact.
Hanzo of the Salamander had also deceived Shimura Danzo.
Because Hanzo of the Salamander knew that Shimura Danzo wanted to use him, but Hanzo was aware of his own capabilities and knew that the Rain Village could never fully commit to any major nation. He only made verbal promises, which he never fulfilled.
"What does Shimura Danzo want by sending someone here?"
Hanzo of the Salamander's palm still grasped his sickle, not daring to let down his guard, still most concerned about his own safety: "Exactly who told you that I live here?"
"Don't be anxious."
Akihara Kagura picked up the chopsticks from the plate as if he was in his own house: "It was too early when I arrived this morning, I hadn't had the chance to eat breakfast yet…"
"Kid! Do you think I wouldn't dare to kill you?"
Hanzo of the Salamander's sickle swung fiercely, almost instantly resting on Akihara Kagura's neck!
"Is the demigod ninja so brave?"
Akihara Kagura didn't care about the sickle at his neck, continuing to eagerly eat Hanzo of the Salamander's breakfast, mumbling: "The food at this base isn't very tasty, remember to improve it next time."
"Oh, right."
Feeling the chill on his neck, Akihara Kagura continued to enjoy his breakfast, taking the initiative to remind: "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm not only Lord Danzo's subordinate. My name is Akihara Kagura, I have many identities, which one would you like to know?"
"Oh, right."
"A friendly reminder."
"Each of my identities represents a potential fate for you…"
"You might want to take the time while I'm eating breakfast to think about which fate you want, which identity of mine you want to know?"
~~~
Patreon.com/Bleam
— 70 Advance Chapters!
Get 2 Sponsored Chapters "Every Month" for every person who joins the "Special Jonin•Bleam" Membership!