Chapter 282: Konoha's Joint Chunin Exams
Chapter 282: Konoha's Joint Chunin Exams
The one least surprised by the Akatsuki's actions was their neighbor, the Village Hidden in the Sand. The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had long known the strength of Nagato and Yahiko. Putting himself in their shoes, if he were the leader of the Akatsuki, he would also have returned to conquer the Land of Rain sooner or later.
However, Rasa was still very worried about the close relationship between the Akatsuki and Iwagakure. Iwagakure had indeed become strong to the point where it was starting to inspire wariness.
But to say he was afraid would be an overstatement. The living environment of the Land of Wind was too harsh. Precisely because of this, Rasa did not believe the Akatsuki would make a move against the Land of Wind.
It should be known that the Land of Rivers, where the Akatsuki was located, was still an ally of the Land of Wind, even though Rasa had never taken this alliance seriously.
As for the invitation from Konoha regarding the joint Chunin Exams, Rasa scoffed at it. Rasa's perspective on the ninja world situation was completely different from Konoha's. What Konoha saw was the rise of Iwagakure, with Iwa being the most likely to challenge its hegemonic status.
But Rasa didn't think so. What Rasa saw was Iwagakure attracting Konoha's firepower, acting as the bird that sticks its neck out, while his Sunagakure was quietly developing in the shadows.
Although the current Sunagakure looked weak, upon careful calculation, they also had three Kage-level individuals; their strength was not inferior to Iwagakure's. Moreover, the puppeteer Ryosuke, who had participated in Iwagakure's Chunin Exams back then and suppressed the Stone to take first place, was now an Elite Jonin under Rasa's focused cultivation.
Such a young Elite Jonin had a limitless future. And, Rasa had also given the Third Kazekage human puppet to Ryosuke. Although the current Ryosuke could not yet fully utilize the puppet's strength, Rasa was not in a hurry. In a few more years, when conflict broke out between Konoha and Iwagakure, Ryosuke's strength would likely have advanced even further.
And although the Sand had been tricked by Danzō's poison insects before, it had also helped Rasa eliminate his opponents. The current Rasa was a true Kazekage whose word was law.
In addition, his own offspring seemed to be quite talented. The first child his wife Karura had borne him was a daughter, Temari, whose talent was very good.
Although his second son, Kankurō's, talent was a bit lacking, if he walked the path of a puppeteer in the future and became Ryosuke's apprentice, it was hard to say he wouldn't achieve something.
And his third son, Gaara, who was just born, was exceptionally talented. Rasa was currently considering whether to make this son the One-Tail Jinchuriki.
"Indeed, having more children can increase the village's strength. A pity about Karura; she died in childbirth when delivering Gaara. Otherwise, we could have had a few more."
The current Rasa was emulating the Iwagakure of yesteryear, sitting back and watching the chaos of the ninja world, reaping the fisherman's profit for himself.
However, he still had to participate in the joint Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha. Letting Konoha think that he had fallen for their scheme was no big deal; it was a good way to lull the enemy into a false sense of security.
The Akatsuki from the Land of Rivers had conquered the Land of Rain. This matter made the Fourth Raikage's heart itch; he wished he could rush over and get a piece of the action, but unfortunately, his own village was too far away.
If it had been the Village Hidden in Hot Water conquering the Land of the Moon's hidden village, then the Fourth Raikage could have launched an invasion under the righteous banner of restoring the Land of the Moon.
"What a pity," the Fourth Raikage sighed, then secretly cursed Rasa for being useless, for not knowing how to seize such an opportunity.
As for Konoha also wanting to hold a joint Chunin Exam?
The Fourth Raikage didn't even look at the wording on the invitation and directly ignored it. Whether to participate or not depended entirely on his mood. Why reply to such a thing? Why give Konoha time to prepare?
...
The Akatsuki had originated from the Land of Rain, so this time when they returned to conquer it, the other countries didn't say much. Because they were wary of each other, no one stood up to seek justice for the deceased Hanzō.
Konoha did not receive a reply from the Cloud but unexpectedly received a letter from Iwagakure. Iwagakure expressed that they also wanted to participate in the joint Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha.
Regarding Iwagakure's move, it was not good for Konoha to refuse, nor was it good to agree.
Strictly speaking, Iwagakure and Konoha were still in the state of peace signed during the Third War. Iwagakure had not officially fought with Konoha in the Fourth War, so they had naturally not torn up the peace treaty.
Therefore, it was not good for Konoha to refuse Iwagakure's request to participate. And proposing to participate in the Chunin Exams at the same time as Konoha was the new village of the Land of Rivers: Akatsuki. That's right, Yahiko had established a new village in the Land of Rivers, and the name of the village was Akatsuki.
Yahiko had directly revoked the ninja qualifications of the original ninjas of the Village Hidden in the Rivers, sending them back to farm. Yahiko planned to find children anew from all over the Land of Rivers. He planned to educate and train these children, to make them true members of the Village of Akatsuki.
As for Nagato, after he disbanded the Village Hidden in the Rain, he did not establish a new village. He felt that one Akatsuki village was enough. He established the Dark Akatsuki organization and began to recruit rogue ninjas like Jūzō Biwa.
And a portion of the former River-nin members dismissed by Yahiko, as well as some former Rain-nin members, were incorporated into the Dark Akatsuki by Nagato, serving as the organization's outer members.
...
To this day, in Ishiro's view, the situation in the ninja world was already different from when he had just transmigrated.
When he first transmigrated, the ninja world had one superpower and many strong powers; Konoha's strength far surpassed that of any other great nation.
Now, it was a contention of many powers. Including Konoha, no single country could completely crush any other great nation.
It was just that among these contending great powers, the Land of Fire's comprehensive strength was still the strongest, and Konoha's potential was also still the greatest.
After the Land of Fire were the three great nations where Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure were located. These three were in the second tier. They had no qualitative difference from the Land of Fire, but their comprehensive strength was considerably weaker.
After them were the Land of Water where Kirigakure was, and the Land of Rivers plus the Land of Rain where Akatsuki was. The former lacked top-tier power, while the latter only had top-tier power to show for itself.
These were the major powers worth mentioning in the ninja world.
One rather awkward point about the contention of many powers was that they were all relatively wary of each other, and no one dared to go all out and fight to the death with any one party.
So although Konoha's strength had declined severely, the situation in the ninja world had, on the contrary, become calmer. After the end of the First Great Ninja War, the ninja world was in such a situation, and at that time, it had maintained a considerably long period of peace.
It was precisely under this calm pattern that the Konoha higher-ups decided to adopt political means, wanting to buy time to recover their strength.
...
Ishiro finally returned to Iwagakure with his group of disciples. This trip to the Land of Rain hadn't yielded much for Ishiro himself; he had only used Sage Mode once in actual combat and Light Release once.
But his disciples had all gained a lot. Most importantly, everyone had witnessed a battle between the top powerhouses of the ninja world.
With such a clear goal, Ishiro believed that everyone's enthusiasm for training would also increase significantly, and they would have a more definite plan for their own futures.
Among them, Kanako, Takuhiro Uchiyama, and Kawakita had all made direct gains. The three had made further progress in their respective areas of expertise. The one with the most obvious progress was not Kanako or Takuhiro, who were taught by their teachers hand-in-hand, but rather Kawakita.
Ishiro could see that Kawakita had gained a lot and urgently needed time to properly digest this insight.
Next were the six children who had just graduated. Whether it was Ishiro's Squad Five trio or Deidara's trio, they had all successfully changed their mentality, at least in terms of mindset, truly becoming ninjas.
After returning to Iwagakure, Ishiro first sent a letter to Konoha, stating that Iwagakure also wanted to participate in the joint Chunin Exams.
Ishiro just didn't want the Konoha higher-ups to be comfortable. Even if it was just to annoy them, he had to send a few Genin squads over to join the fun.
However, the matter of writing a letter to Konoha reminded Ishiro of Uchiha Sakai.
Thus, taking the letter Fugaku had requested to be delivered to Uchiha Sakai, Ishiro found him just as he was let out of the Ninja Academy, preparing to go home (that is, Ōnoki's home) to play with Haku.
"Ryōtenbin Chūkō!" Ishiro shouted at Uchiha Sakai from a distance.
Hearing Ishiro's call, Sakai subconsciously turned his head. Upon seeing it was Ishiro, the Fourth Tsuchikage, he snorted, didn't stop, and continued to run in the direction of home.
Ishiro didn't mind and, with a Body Flicker, caught up, "Ryōtenbin Chūkō, where are you running so fast?"
"Hmph, my name is Uchiha Sakai," Sakai did not answer but emphasized his real name.
Not many people knew his name, and he had promised not to tell anyone, which made him feel a bit upset sometimes. What made him even more upset was that he seemed to be getting used to the name Ryōtenbin Chūkō, because it was under this name that he had made many friends.
Ishiro, while keeping pace with Sakai, chatted with him idly.
Soon, the two arrived at Ōnoki's house.
Ishiro didn't come here often, but the people here all knew him. Seeing him arrive, Ōnoki's family members all bowed to him. Although they were strange as to why Ishiro had returned with Young Master Chūkō, they were tactful enough not to ask.
Ishiro waved his hand and said, "Is Captain Shiden at home?"
A butler came over and told Ishiro that Shiden was not at home; she had gone out for postpartum recovery training.
Ishiro asked again, "Where's little Kurotsuchi?"
Kurotsuchi was the daughter of Kitsuchi and Shiden. A little girl, yet Ōnoki had named her Kurotsuchi (Black Earth). Ishiro was speechless.
As soon as Ishiro's voice fell, a little boy ran out holding a baby girl.
The person who came was Haku Minazuki—no, now called Ryōtenbin Haku. The baby girl he was holding was Kurotsuchi.
Behind the two of them followed Deidara with a look of displeasure. He had also come to find Ōnoki today. He wanted to learn some powerful ultimate moves, but Ōnoki was at the Tsuchikage Tower for work today.
Ishiro gave Haku a few extra glances. He really did look like a girl.
"Deidara, you play with Haku and Kurotsuchi for a while. Chūkō and I are going to have a chat," Ishiro instructed Deidara.
"Hmph." Deidara was a little unhappy. He hadn't come here to babysit, but he didn't dare to disobey Ishiro's words. He still remembered what Ishiro looked like when he unleashed his power.
Whether it was the unstoppable Light Release or the dazzling five-element Sage Art, both made Deidara feel extreme terror. So Deidara's body very obediently took Haku and Kurotsuchi away, leaving behind the equally displeased Sakai.
Ishiro led Sakai to a relatively empty place. The two sat down. After a while, Ishiro finally said, "Uchiha Sakai, do you still remember the promise we made back then?"
"Hmph." Sakai didn't speak. Of course, he remembered that promise, but now it seemed he was going to lose that bet.
Back then, Ishiro and Sakai had made a bet that if the Fourth Hokage was an Uchiha, or if the Uchiha clan moved back to the center of Konoha before Sakai graduated, then Ishiro would lose.
But the Fourth was the Yellow Flash, and the Fifth was Tsunade, neither of whom had anything to do with the Uchiha. And the Uchiha clan was still on the edge of Konoha to this day.
Seeing Ishiro also remain silent, Sakai thought Ishiro was mocking him, so he said stubbornly, "I haven't graduated yet. The time for our bet isn't up."
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