After finding an excuse to slack off, Byakuya went to his room to claim his rewards. This time, the rewards included Puppet Creation Jutsu, as well as the abilities of the Human Path, Animal Path, and Hell Path.
The Puppet Creation Jutsu needs no explanation; it allowed him to master the technique for creating the Six Paths of Pain. The Human Path's ability is to extract souls and read memories.
The Animal Path grants the ability to summon and control a large number of beasts, while the Hell Path provides the ability to revive puppets.
These abilities align with the direction in which Nagato's strength is increasing, but for Byakuya, they seemed somewhat redundant. With Nagato around, there was no need for him to create the Six Paths of Pain himself.
At that moment, Byakuya received intelligence from his Wood Clone.
The report was brief, with only a few words and one significant piece of news: Nagato had already summoned the body of the Ten-Tails, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, a crucial element for the Eye of the Moon Plan.
After digesting this important information, Byakuya stood up and went to the balcony, looking in the direction of the Hokage's office.
The abilities he had just acquired weren't entirely useless; at least they could be used to lay the groundwork for some plans against Konoha.
Konoha was too powerful, backed by a population of over a hundred million, with thousands of combat-ready ninjas in the village.
If Konoha could not be plunged into internal chaos, there would be no hope for the Land of Rain.
---
Time quickly moved to the third day.
Today, the Amegakure delegation was scheduled to visit Konoha Hospital.
Upon entering Konoha Hospital, Byakuya, Yahiko, and the others saw the historical introduction of the hospital.
Like the Ninja Academy, Konoha was the first ninja village to establish a medical institution. It was also the first to implement medical reforms and establish the three principles of medical ninjas.
The first principle: A medical ninja must never give up on a comrade before they die.
The second principle: A medical ninja must never stand on the front lines of battle.
The third principle: A medical ninja must never die before the rest of their team; they are the ones most in need of protection.
Neither Yahiko nor Konan had any objections to these three principles, and Byakuya had little to say about them either. The medical ninja in a squad is indeed the most crucial member.
But even more than ten years later, Konoha had still not managed to assign a medical ninja to every squad.
The number of medical ninjas in the ninja world is too scarce, and Amegakure has only a handful of them, far from meeting the demands of war, and even in peacetime, they are stretched thin.
However, Amegakure had so far relied on the core combat strength of a few individuals.
In the short term, they had no plans for external expansion and could only continue trying to recruit talent in the ninja world. Doctors don't necessarily need to be ninjas to fulfill their roles.
After exchanging a glance, Byakuya and Yahiko understood each other's thoughts and entered a state of serious observation.
The methods Konoha used to train medical ninjas, along with their teaching methods and evaluation criteria, were all worth learning from. They needed to find a way to bring these practices to Amegakure, where they could be studied and improved upon.
Seeing this, Minato smiled warmly.
The more interest Yahiko and his group show in Konoha, the greater the likelihood of forming an alliance with them in the future. Although Konoha has already forged alliances with Sunagakure and several smaller nations, Suna's alliance was more out of necessity, and the smaller nations are fickle and unreliable.
If Konoha could establish an alliance with Amegakure, it would secure a stable ally, reducing the chances of another war and preventing Konoha from being caught off guard, as it had been in previous ninja world wars.
At this moment, Jiraiya walked into the middle of the delegation, catching the attention of Minato and the others.
Jiraiya's appearance was rather alarming—deep dark circles under his eyes and a face that looked bruised, as if he had been beaten up.
"Jiraiya-sensei, what happened to you?" Minato asked with concern.
"It's nothing... I just accidentally tripped on my way home last night," Jiraiya replied, unwilling to tell his student the truth. However, his eyes couldn't help but glance toward Byakuya in the distance.
"Does it have something to do with Byakuya?"
Minato frowned slightly and then said, "Jiraiya-sensei, I'll have someone check last night's surveillance footage to see what really happened."
Hearing this, Jiraiya quickly waved his hands and explained,
"Yesterday, I agreed to invite Byakuya to dinner, right? But halfway through the meal, the old man came over to chat with Byakuya, so I took the opportunity to leave. Byakuya then got back at me because I didn't pay for the meal."
"How did he get back at you?" Minato asked curiously.
"Well..." Jiraiya hesitated, then said, "I was gathering material when Byakuya caught me. He immediately reported me to the police force..."
Minato guessed what had happened and looked at Jiraiya with a mix of amusement and exasperation.
"Jiraiya-sensei, Byakuya is still just a kid, and your hobbies are... well, not exactly easy for people to accept, so I'm afraid I can't really help you with this."
Jiraiya blushed and replied, "Minato, you're the one who kept asking."
Minato smiled, saying, "I had no idea the situation between you and Byakuya was so entertaining. And yesterday, when he called you 'Jiraiya-sensei,' you actually responded."
"Keeping up with the younger generation helps you stay young..." Jiraiya said, then added offhandedly, "I wonder what Byakuya and the old man were talking about. Could Byakuya be connected to the village in some way?"
Minato nodded and revealed Byakuya's background,
"Jiraiya-sensei, Byakuya does have some connection to the village. One of his parents was a member of the Uzumaki clan, making him a distant relative of both Kushina and Nagato."
"Byakuya possesses the Uzumaki bloodline?" Jiraiya's eyes widened in surprise. His first reaction was disbelief, but after thinking it over, it started to make sense.
Byakuya had approached Nagato because Nagato was an Uzumaki ninja, but why hadn't Byakuya directly allied with Konoha? After all, Kushina was also a descendant of the Uzumaki clan.
Noticing Jiraiya's thoughts, Minato Namikaze quietly lowered his gaze,
"That's what worries me. Not all Uzumaki ninjas are willing to accept the village. Byakuya seems to be one of those who don't want to be part of Konoha. But from what we can see, he doesn't seem to harbor any malice toward the village; he just doesn't want to become a Konoha ninja. He seems to view Amegakure as a new Uzushiogakure, much like Nagato does."
Hearing this, Jiraiya sighed softly. He didn't know much about the history of the Land of Whirlpools and hadn't expected there to be so many untold stories.
However, with Konoha and Amegakure at peace now, their relationship could gradually improve.
At that moment, Jiraiya seemed to remember something, murmuring with a hint of confusion,
"Minato, you say Byakuya has the Uzumaki bloodline, but why isn't his hair red? Could it be that he has another bloodline as well?"
Minato shook his head.
"I don't know about that, but the Third Hokage must have some idea. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to meet with Byakuya yesterday."