111. Blood-Eyed

Jiraiya asked Sora to stay for a while so they could talk alone.

Sora followed Jiraiya to another room.

"Jiraiya-sama, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Sora felt he had nothing to discuss with Jiraiya, and he wasn't interested in talking to him about anything.

Because Sora had already guessed what Jiraiya wanted to discuss—most likely, it was about Kakashi.

"Sora, Kakashi's condition isn't very good. Should we give him some time off to let him rest?" Jiraiya asked.

Sora said calmly, "Lord Jiraiya, Kakashi is my disciple. I know his situation best. Kakashi is in very good condition now, and he's fully capable of handling this mission."

Jiraiya said seriously, "Kakashi didn't used to be such a cold person. He might have psychological problems. Sora, as his teacher, you need to pay attention to this matter."

Sora stared at Jiraiya and said, "Lord Jiraiya, I'll say it again—I know Kakashi's situation very well. He simply understands a truth now."

Jiraiya frowned and asked, "What truth?"

Sora said word by word, "As a shinobi, compared to companions, the mission is most important. As long as the mission is completed, anything can be abandoned. This is a truth that Lord Sakumo taught Kakashi with his own life."

Jiraiya's frown deepened.

He completely disagreed with Sora's theory.

But now, he seemed unable to refute it.

Because of Hatake Sakumo's tragedy, Sora's theory had been confirmed.

"Master Jiraiya, if there's nothing else, I'll take Kakashi to carry out our mission."

Sora turned and headed for the door.

When he reached the doorway, Sora suddenly turned back to Jiraiya and said, "Master Jiraiya, if you have the opportunity to meet Minato Namikaze, if possible, I hope you can help me convey a message."

"What?"

"His original theory that companions come first was wrong, and this has now been proven."

After saying this, Sora left the room directly.

Jiraiya kept watching Sora until he was gone. Jiraiya's expression was heavy. He couldn't understand how Hatake Sakumo's tragedy could have led to this.

Maybe Hatake Sakumo was truly wrong, but his mistake definitely wasn't to this extent.

According to the rules of shinobi, Hatake Sakumo was wrong, but according to the Will of Fire, Hatake Sakumo wasn't wrong.

Hatake Sakumo shouldn't have been blamed by everyone.

"How did it become like this? It shouldn't be like this, old man..."

What really worried Jiraiya was Kakashi.

If Kakashi became Sora's disciple, he would most likely be taught by Sora to become like him and Orochimaru—a person with cold emotions.

Jiraiya sighed.

He could only warn him; he couldn't do anything else...

Sora and Kakashi began their mission in the Land of Grass.

As time passed, a rumor spread throughout the Land of Grass.

A Shura with blood-red eyes and a masked white-haired boy were slaughtering enemies mercilessly on the battlefield. The one called "Blood-eyed Shura" was Sora.

The masked white-haired boy was, of course, Kakashi.

Although Sora and Kakashi had accepted the intelligence mission to investigate the Iwa shinobi's situation,

Whenever they encountered a small team of Iwa shinobi, Sora and Kakashi would attack and eliminate them.

Through these frequent battles, Kakashi's strength improved almost daily.

And Sora's habits were also adopted by Kakashi.

Either beheading the enemy or cutting their throat—in short, killing the enemy efficiently.

Now, Kakashi's fighting style was almost exactly the same as Sora's.

Sora and Kakashi's actions didn't have a major impact on the overall war situation.

Iwa shinobi continued to act according to their plans.

But being killed by Sora and Kakashi was something the Iwa shinobi found intolerable.

The Iwa shinobi formed hunting teams several times to track down Sora and Kakashi.

However, due to Sora and Kakashi's mobility, every hunt by the Iwa shinobi ended in failure.

Whenever Sora and Kakashi gathered information about the Iwa shinobi, they would use summoned animals to report to Jiraiya and Nara Shinsuke as quickly as possible.

Thanks to this intelligence support, although they couldn't counterattack the Iwa forces, the situation was temporarily stabilized.

The Iwa leaders didn't want their shinobi to be killed by Sora and Kakashi in vain, so they issued an order: If an Iwa team had fewer than seven people with only one Jonin, they could retreat immediately upon encountering Sora and Kakashi without facing punishment.

After all, with fewer than seven people and only one Jonin, they had almost no chance of winning against Sora and Kakashi, and there was no need to fight them to the death.

In the Land of Hot Water, Sora's reputation was slightly known because of Kuroiwa Tatsuji, the leader of the Hidden Hot Spring Village.

And now, in the Land of Grass, Sora had gradually made a name for himself as the "Blood-Eyed Shura."

"Blood-eyed Shura, what an ugly nickname."

Sora curled his lips in disgust.

Sora and Kakashi simultaneously pulled their blades from the necks of two fallen Iwa shinobi.

Kakashi wiped the short blade in his hand and complained, "Teacher Sora, your title is already very good! I'm being called the 'white-haired child,' which is simply unacceptable. If Sensei's wife knew about it, she would definitely laugh at me."

Every time Uzumaki Kushina replied to their letters, she would ask about Kakashi's situation, so Kakashi now wrote separate letters to send to Uzumaki Kushina along with Sora's messages.

In her letters, Uzumaki Kushina liked to tease Kakashi.

So when Kakashi first heard he was called the "white-haired child," his first thought was that Uzumaki Kushina would definitely laugh at him if she found out.

After Sora put his ninja sword back into its sheath, he said, "There's no helping it. Who made you a little kid now? It's already very good not to be called something worse than 'white-haired child.' If they really called you by an even sillier nickname, you wouldn't need to worry about Kushina—I'd be the first to laugh at you."

Kakashi's throat tightened. If he were really widely known as the "white-haired child," Kakashi would be too embarrassed to face anyone.

Kakashi asked, "Teacher Sora, where should we look next?"

Sora held the map, which was already covered with dense X marks.

Sora scratched his head in frustration, "I don't know either. I've searched all the places I should have looked, but why can't I find them? Are they not in the Land of Grass?..."

Kakashi thought for a moment and said, "Teacher Sora, why don't we go to Kusagakure Village to look for them? After all, isn't Kusagakure Village the place with the most people in the Land of Grass?"

Sora shook his head and said, "Kushina's people must be in hiding now. Why would they go to Kusagakure Village, which is so crowded?"

Kakashi frowned and said, "But sometimes it's easier to hide when there are a lot of people around, isn't it?"

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