Chapter 520: Some are happy while others are sad

“Cough, cough, well… Yahiko, long time no see,” Obito said, reluctantly walking forward to greet him.

Hearing someone call his name, Yahiko turned to look.

“Long time no see, Obito,” Yahiko replied with a smile.

Although he had only met Obito once, Yahiko had a strong impression of him because Obito had said he wanted to become Hokage and end the war.

Furthermore, Obito was a Ninja that Kakuzu’s intelligence suggested needed to be taken seriously.

“What a coincidence, I didn’t expect to run into you here,” Obito said, walking up to Yahiko.

“Mm,” Yahiko nodded, then thought of something and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Haha, but our reunion seems a bit too soon. Neither of us has become famous in the Ninja World yet.”

During that previous meeting, Yahiko and Obito had agreed that the next time they heard about each other, they would already be famous in the Ninja World. Given the current situation, it was clear they had failed.

Both Yahiko and Obito were only well-known within their own circles, not throughout the entire Ninja World.

“Aren’t we on the way to becoming famous in the Ninja World? If we both make it to the finals, our reputations will surely grow,” Obito replied with a smirk.

The Youth Martial Arts Tournament was different from the joint Chunin Exams held by the Ninja Villages. This truly garnered significant attention across the Ninja World. If one could win first place, in terms of pure publicity, it would definitely be considered becoming famous in the Ninja World.

“That’s true,” Yahiko thought. Indeed, with the popularity of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament, the top two would certainly receive immense attention.

“Rin, have you seen my photo? It didn’t get lost, did it?” Kakashi deliberately raised his voice and asked Rin Nohara.

He saw that Obito seemed to be getting carried away chatting and had forgotten their objective was to gather intelligence.

“I don’t think so,” Rin Nohara replied, turning her head to look around.

Obito successfully extracted the keyword “photo,” remembered Kakashi’s command, and quickly asked:

“Yahiko, do you know Ninja Master Sōsuke, the one who organized this competition? He’s become quite famous in the Ninja World recently.”

“Teacher Sōsuke? Of course, I know him. I’m one of Teacher Sōsuke’s first followers,” Yahiko replied proudly.

“Under Teacher Sōsuke’s leadership, the Land of Rain is gradually improving, moving towards peace and stability.”

Kakashi listened to Yahiko’s words and fell into thought.

It was clear that Yahiko was now a staunch fan of Sōsuke, and had even joined the Shinobi Sect.

Based on Nagato’s expression when looking at Sōsuke, Kakashi estimated that he was probably similar to Yahiko.

“The Akatsuki Organization becoming that evil organization that captures Tailed Beasts in the future is highly likely related to Sōsuke,” Kakashi speculated in his mind.

The current Akatsuki Organization was too different from the future Akatsuki Organization. Such an extreme transformation was clearly not a normal developmental trend.

Kakashi believed that the high-ranking leaders of the Akatsuki Organization had experienced some kind of major life change, which led to such a huge contrast between the organization’s past and future.

“Obito, how is your path to becoming Hokage progressing?” Yahiko asked.

Obito scratched his head, “Still working on it.”

Becoming Hokage was Obito’s dream, but he still didn’t know how to achieve it.

He hadn’t heard of any Hokage exam that one could pass to become Hokage.

“Keep it up! As long as you work hard, there’s definitely a chance,” Yahiko encouraged.

Yahiko thought it would be a very good thing for Obito to become Hokage. After all, how could a person who loved peace be a bad person?

“Contestants, please enter the lounge to draw lots and prepare for battle,” a Shinobi Sect staff member called out in the contestant waiting area.

Seeing this, Yahiko and Obito tacitly stopped their conversation. Obito returned to his team and went to the lounge with Kakashi and the others.

Upon entering the lounge, a Shinobi Sect staff member brought out a large box and had the contestants draw numbers one by one.

“Number one fights number two, number three fights number four, and so on. Defeating your opponent will allow you to advance to the next round,” the Ninja staff member explained the rules.

The rules of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament were the most straightforward kind, so no one stood up to ask questions. After all, with such simple and direct rules, explanations were superfluous.

“So far back,” Obito thought, looking at the number thirty written on the wooden stick in his hand, feeling his luck in drawing numbers was mediocre this time.

Number thirty meant that, apart from the first round, he would be the last match in all subsequent battles.

“Rin, what numbers did you two get? I’m number thirty,” Obito asked directly, walking up to Kakashi and Rin Nohara.

After everyone drew their numbers, the Shinobi Sect staff would register them immediately. It was impossible to exchange or change them, making it information that would inevitably be made public.

“I’m number thirteen,” Rin Nohara replied.

“Fifteen,” Kakashi replied concisely.

Obito’s eyes widened. Their numbers were so close; if they both advanced to the second round, they would face each other in the next match.

“That inherently evil white-haired guy is actually going to make Rin stop in the second round!” Obito grumbled inwardly.

Originally, Obito thought Rin Nohara had a certain chance of reaching the quarterfinals. Besides the few disciples of Muzuki, only Nagato had shown overwhelming suppressive power, and the Puppeteer was only suspected of being strong.

But Rin Nohara’s luck today was clearly even worse than Obito’s; she would meet Kakashi in the second round.

“No, maybe it’s Kakashi’s bad luck that dragged Rin down.”

Thinking of Kakashi threatening him to do things just now, Obito cursed Kakashi inwardly again. How could the kind and beautiful Rin Nohara have a problem? It must be Kakashi’s fault!

“My number is eleven! The numbers are very close, Kakashi! Is this the bond between best friends?!” Might Guy shouted excitedly after drawing his lot.

Kakashi quickly calculated in his mind, and his expression became somewhat serious.

If he and Might Guy both advanced to the third round, they would meet in the quarterfinals.

“Too little Chakra. If I had more, I could use more tactics,” Kakashi instinctively ran through a simulation of fighting Might Guy in his mind, then shook his head.

No Thought Strike was too draining for him. Kakashi couldn’t use it if his Chakra consumption was even slightly high, but without consuming Chakra, it was difficult to create opportunities for attack.

Might Guy, with his Eight Gates stacked with Rock Breathing Chakra, not only possessed absolute power but was also extremely fast.

In contrast to Kakashi, Obito’s eyes lit up.

Might Guy was number eleven, and he was number thirty, which meant Obito could only possibly meet Might Guy in the finals.

Kakashi could still gamble on No Thought Strike, but Obito truly had no way to deal with Might Guy right now. Under normal circumstances, his probability of beating Might Guy was zero.

“I’m number nineteen,” Shisui walked over and reported his number.

“The knockout rounds are about to begin. Contestants, please pay attention to the broadcast in the lounge. The match order is displayed on the screen,” a Shinobi Sect staff member reminded.

As soon as the Shinobi Sect staff member finished speaking, the large screen in the lounge lit up, displaying the order of the sixteen first-round battles from top to bottom.

“Number one is actually Nagato,” Baki’s face changed slightly when he saw the first match on the big screen and then looked at his own number two.

One Sand Ninja had been assigned to Nagato’s bracket during the preliminaries, so Baki knew Nagato was a formidable opponent.

Nagato casually glanced at the big screen before looking away.

It didn’t matter who his opponent was, because he would keep winning until the competition ended.

“Excels at wide-range Ninjutsu, primarily using Wind Release and Fire Release…” Baki began to ponder countermeasures based on Nagato’s intelligence.

“I can keep dodging and wait for the opponent to expose a weakness, then look for an opportunity for close-range attack.”

Baki was a Ninja specialized in Wind Release, but he didn’t pursue attack range. He primarily focused on the destructive power of Wind Release, aiming for a single decisive blow.

As long as he seized an opportunity to attack, no matter what disadvantage he was in beforehand, Baki was confident he could turn the tide.

Kakashi didn’t look for his own opponent first, but instead looked down from the very beginning.

“Sand Crab is number eight, so that’s a good draw for us,” Kakashi saw Sand Crab’s name in the fourth match of the first round.

If both Nagato and Sand Crab advanced, they would meet at the latest in the quarterfinals. At that point, neither Nagato nor Sand Crab would likely be able to continue hiding their strength.

“First match, Number one Nagato versus Number two Baki! Contestants, please enter the arena quickly!” The referee’s voice echoed into the lounge.

Nagato greeted Konan and Yahiko, then left the lounge and walked towards the central battle arena.

“Baki, you can do it!” Yura encouraged.

Sunagakure hadn’t sent many people to begin with; only the two of them had advanced to the knockout rounds. If Baki lost, he would be the sole remaining one, and the pressure would instantly change.

“I’ll do my best,” Baki replied in a deep voice, walking out of the lounge.

As soon as he entered the battle arena, Baki could clearly feel a large number of gazes on him.

“Perhaps the Kazekage should have paid more attention,” Baki thought to himself.

He felt that if one was going to participate, they should do so seriously, or not at all. This half-hearted approach made it seem as if Sunagakure’s strength was lacking, with only two Ninja entering the knockout rounds, and no telling when they would be eliminated.

From the high platform, Hanzō’s eyes narrowed upon seeing Nagato, recalling some unpleasant memories.

That day, if Nagato had been weaker, and assuming Kakuzu hadn’t been there, perhaps his encirclement plan wouldn’t have ended in utter defeat.

Hanzō sighed slightly. Indeed, it wouldn’t have been such an utter defeat, but it would still have failed, because even if he were reborn and tried again, he wouldn’t be sure to kill Sōsuke.

Opposing someone like Sōsuke was just asking for trouble. If he were truly reborn, Hanzō would most likely directly kick Danzo Shimura out the door, then give Sōsuke a title to help him become famous.

That way, they wouldn’t just avoid becoming enemies, Hanzō could also subtly be half a rank higher than Sōsuke, since he bestowed the title.

In the stands, Root members quietly took out their notebooks, preparing to record Nagato’s intelligence.

Kitsuchi shook his head at the sight. Having witnessed that encirclement, he knew Nagato’s strength was bizarre; Nagato had far surpassed ordinary Ninja.

After learning that Nagato was among the contestants, Kitsuchi knew that the Shinobi Sect would not allow other forces to take the first-place prize.

The contestants in the lounge all focused intently on the battle arena as the match was about to begin.

Intelligence plays an important role in Ninja battles. For participating Ninja, watching the matches was also part of the competition.

Whoever could gather more intelligence from the battle details would gain a greater advantage in the upcoming battles.

“Begin!” The referee immediately shouted once both were ready.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Baki did not rashly advance or retreat. He chose to pull out Shuriken and throw them towards Nagato.

“Wind Release: Pressure Damage!”

Nagato still chose to use the tactic from the preliminaries, leveraging his immense Chakra reserves to use wide-range Ninjutsu for suppression.

A large amount of wind-style Chakra was compressed into a small spherical shape and expelled from Nagato’s mouth.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The moment the wind sphere was expelled, a fierce gale erupted in the arena. The high-density wind sphere, upon exploding, caused a terrifyingly destructive giant storm. The ground was torn apart beneath this storm, and for a moment, dirt and rocks flew, and dust filled the air.

“It’s actually this strong,” Baki was secretly alarmed.

Hearing information from others was never as direct as seeing it with one’s own eyes. At this moment, he understood why that Sand Ninja had been subtly fearful; this Wind Release was indeed terrifying.

Baki activated his full Chakra and retreated rapidly. In this situation, he could only avoid its sharp edge and look for opportunities, which was his original battle plan anyway.

Fortunately, the battle arena was wide enough, and Baki, with his decisive movements, successfully retreated out of Nagato’s attack range.

“Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide!”

One attack failed, but Nagato’s expression remained unchanged as he continued to form hand signs. Muzuki had taught him many high-level Ninjutsu of the five basic natures; this was just the beginning.

Rumble! Rumble!

Baki only felt the ground shake violently as the ground on both sides suddenly cracked open and rose, rapidly pressing towards him.

Baki couldn’t care about anything else. He burst out with speed beyond his limit, barely escaping to avoid being crushed into Baki paste.

“Earth Flow Divide isn’t very useful in this situation,” Kitsuchi commented.

Earth Flow Divide was Kitsuchi’s specialty Ninjutsu. Unless the opponent was very large, or there were teammates to restrain them, the hit rate of Earth Flow Divide was concerning.

Of course, the power was truly immense. If it hit, Kitsuchi believed few people in the entire Ninja World could withstand it.

“Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!”

As Baki escaped the squeeze of Earth Flow Divide, a fierce sea of fire surrounded Baki, completely trapping him in a desperate situation.

“Nagato wins!” The referee announced Nagato’s victory.

Baki wiped the hot sweat from his face, with no trace of resentment in his heart. He was utterly convinced of his defeat in this battle.

Their strength difference was too vast. From the very beginning of the fight, Nagato had been chasing him around. Finding Nagato’s weakness, as he had envisioned, was simply unrealistic. Dealing with Nagato’s Ninjutsu had already consumed all his energy.

P.S.: Oh no, I really became 2.5 Gojo. Today, I’m inexplicably sore all over and have writer’s block, just can’t write anything.

I really shouldn’t make flags. It’s all Gojo’s fault (not really).

Reporting on the progress of the extra chapters: the framework and outline are all complete, only the specific content needs to be filled in.

I will try to write a portion of Naruto’s extra chapters before May 10th (the main story will still be daily updates, extra chapters are bonus updates).

The content of Naruto’s extra chapters in May will be the Pain Arc, roughly Yang Release Breathing Naruto VS Pain or something.

Currently, I’m thinking about whether to combine the extra chapter content into one chapter. Having a bunch of extra chapters in the main story’s table of contents doesn’t look good.