Chapter 595: The Wool-pulling Plan

“See him.” Muzuki took a sip of the hot tea on the table, thought for a moment, and replied.

Iwagakure’s unusual behavior, combined with Nagato’s description, allowed Muzuki to confirm that the Ninja Nagato encountered was Roshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki of Iwagakure.

And it was most likely Roshi, who had just run away from Iwagakure.

If Muzuki remembered correctly, Roshi had also run away in the original work.

It was just that there was too little plot about Roshi in the original work, so Muzuki didn’t know when or why Roshi ran away.

Although Muzuki was unaware of the true reason for Roshi’s departure in the original work, he could guess some reasons for Roshi’s departure in this world.

After all, he was the biggest contributor to the defeat of Iwagakure’s two-thousand-man Ninja troop.

Muzuki had personally experienced the complete Tailed Beast transformation within the crowd and the indiscriminate bombing of Tailed Beast Balls.

However, since Muzuki was close, he knew that this was an order from Iwagakure’s command, not Roshi’s own impulsive idea.

The problem was that other Iwagakure Ninja might not know, because all the Ninja who were close had been killed by Muzuki.

Then, the treatment Roshi would receive after returning to Iwagakure was predictable.

In this situation, let alone Iwagakure, even if Iwagakure were replaced by Konoha, Roshi’s outcome would not be good.

Muzuki couldn’t say for sure about others, but Danzo Shimura would definitely give Roshi a hard time.

Either use some means to completely control Roshi, or simply replace the Jinchuriki.

“But tell him that I’m busy with something recently, and I’ll only have time to see him after I finish this matter,” Muzuki added, putting down his teacup.

Originally, he had no urgent matters in the Land of Rain recently, but since Roshi came, he would have to have some.

“I’m preparing to hold another unrestricted lecture.”

After the last unrestricted lecture ended, Muzuki began preparing for the next one.

Because the rewards for advanced classes were very appealing, and unrestricted lectures could also increase the Shinobi Sect’s influence, which was beneficial for the Shinobi Sect’s development.

Although it had been planned for a long time, this lecture was not part of Muzuki’s original plan, which had a gap of about a year between the two lectures, but now only half a year has passed.

One could only say that plans couldn’t keep up with changes; when Muzuki made the previous plan, he didn’t expect Roshi to run out of Iwagakure at this time and even come to the Land of Rain.

Muzuki didn’t know why Roshi came to the Land of Rain, but since Roshi came, Muzuki didn’t mind taking advantage of the situation.

According to the system’s mechanism, Jinchuriki attending classes add a lot of points.

Muzuki wouldn’t just take advantage for nothing; if Roshi really escaped from Iwagakure.

Then, Muzuki holding an unrestricted lecture could draw a large number of Ninja’s attention to the Land of Rain. In this situation, Iwagakure would either have to act more covertly or temporarily give up searching for Roshi in the Land of Rain.

If Roshi didn’t escape from Iwagakure, and Iwagakure’s activities in the Land of Rain had other reasons.

Then Muzuki’s unrestricted lecture could still serve to gather attention and prevent Iwagakure from acting recklessly.

Since it was beneficial to Muzuki and the Shinobi Sect either way, this lecture had to be held.

“I understand.” Nagato nodded.

Immediately after, Muzuki called Kakuzu and told him to start promoting and building momentum.

“Another class so soon? Have you thought of a new way to make money—oh, no, to develop the Shinobi Sect?” Kakuzu asked with interest.

With Sōsuke’s current reputation and prestige in the Ninja World, promotion was actually very simple; just spread the word as widely as possible, and no extra effort was needed beyond that.

The battle with Hanzō proved Sōsuke’s strength, and the first unrestricted lecture proved his knowledge and teaching level. Now, there are very few Ninja in the Ninja World who don’t know Ninja Master Sōsuke.

“This time, we won’t be advertising or holding extra events. The main goal is to enhance the Shinobi Sect’s influence, promote some of the Shinobi Sect’s objectives, and recruit Ninja,” Muzuki said, shaking his head.

He did have ways to make money, but some were not suitable for use right now.

Muzuki’s main purpose for holding this large lecture was to gain some rewards and recruit Ninja to strengthen the Shinobi Sect’s power.

“That’s good too. There are too few Ninja in the Shinobi Sect,” Kakuzu said, showing an expression of agreement.

Making money is good, but recruiting people is also very important.

As a Ninja force, especially one committed to establishing a peaceful Ninja World, it cannot function without enough Ninja.

After discussing with Kakuzu for a while, Muzuki summoned some of the Shinobi Sect’s veteran members and assigned tasks to each of them.

During the last big lecture, the Shinobi Sect also recruited some Ninja, but at that time, due to insufficient funds, not many were recruited.

This time, to recruit more people, Muzuki planned to slow down the pace of the lectures, lecturing for two days and resting for one.

On the rest day, Shinobi Sect Ninja would be arranged within Six Paths City to promote some of the Shinobi Sect’s ideals and recruit interested Ninja.

After finishing everything, Muzuki dismissed his Shadow Clone, allowing the memories to flow back to his main body. Muzuki’s main body spent most of his time in Konoha, and less time in the Shinobi Sect.

Although Nagato was also part of Uchiha Madara’s scheme, it wouldn’t harm Nagato at this stage.

Because Nagato’s role for Uchiha Madara was to perform Reincarnation to revive him.

Obito’s role was to become Uchiha Madara’s successor, collect Tailed Beasts after Uchiha Madara’s death, and have Nagato perform Reincarnation to revive Uchiha Madara.

A qualified successor was what Uchiha Madara urgently needed now, so Obito was more dangerous than Nagato.

Of course, the most dangerous one was actually Muzuki; Uchiha Madara definitely wanted to kill both his main body and his alias.

As long as Muzuki was alive, Uchiha Madara would have a hard time tricking Obito into turning dark.

As long as Sōsuke was alive, the difficulty for Uchiha Madara’s successor to control Nagato would increase.

However, Muzuki had many methods now, and he rather hoped Uchiha Madara would come knocking.

At this moment, Muzuki’s main body was still reading. After the Shadow Clone’s memories flowed back, Muzuki put down the book and showed a thoughtful expression.

“I’ll let the Shadow Clone handle the Kenbunshoku Haki teaching for a while; the matters at the Shinobi Sect are more important.” Muzuki decided to let the Shadow Clone teach Kenbunshoku Haki.

Kenbunshoku Haki teaching time is only three hours a day, plus Kenbunshoku Haki is inherently slow to learn, so it won’t have too much impact.

…

Land of Earth, Iwagakure.

Thump, thump.

Ōnoki looked at the two documents on the table, frowning and lightly tapping the table.

Of these two documents, one came from Iwagakure in the Land of Rain, and the other from the Shinobi Sect.

He had read both, and in Ōnoki’s opinion, the two documents had a large overlap in their core issue: the actions of Iwagakure Ninja in the Land of Rain.

Ōnoki hadn’t expected the Shinobi Sect to be so sensitive and so bold.

He hadn’t ordered Iwagakure Ninja to kill people in the Land of Rain, nor had he told them to rob; they were just secretly looking for someone in the Land of Rain, and the Shinobi Sect wanted to interfere with that.

This was indeed something Ōnoki had not anticipated.

His original idea was that having a large number of Ninja search for Roshi everywhere would easily reveal problems, so he mobilized the Iwagakure Ninja who were already in the Land of Rain.

This led to a problem: the Shinobi Sect would inevitably discover that Iwagakure was operating in the Land of Rain.

Because Iwagakure Ninja, who should have been undergoing training, suddenly stopped training and were running around in the Land of Rain, anyone in the Shinobi Sect who wasn’t foolish would realize they were on a mission.

Ōnoki had thought of this point, but he hadn’t expected the Shinobi Sect to meddle in this matter.

They were one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, Iwagakure! They weren’t attacking the Land of Rain, so why did the Shinobi Sect dare to interfere with them?

“A bunch of idealistic fools who don’t know their place,” Ōnoki rubbed his brow, feeling a bit annoyed.

Originally, he had thought of raising the Shinobi Sect to deal with Konoha, but before the Shinobi Sect and Konoha could clash, they had already gotten into conflict with Iwagakure, which made Ōnoki very frustrated.

If he could capture Roshi and bring him back, then a conflict with the Shinobi Sect was acceptable; Ōnoki couldn’t possibly be afraid of a Ninja Organization with fewer than two hundred people, even if its leader was very strong.

The key was that the Iwagakure Ninja searching there hadn’t found any trace of Roshi, in other words, they couldn’t even confirm that Roshi was in the Land of Rain.

If Roshi wasn’t in the Land of Rain, then getting into a conflict with the Shinobi Sect was clearly not worth it.

According to feedback from the Iwagakure Ninja who received training, the Shinobi Sect’s training was very effective.

Ōnoki still had the idea of sending Ninja Academy teachers to study at the Shinobi Sect. If Iwagakure’s relationship with the Shinobi Sect deteriorated, where would they go to learn?

“But Sōsuke chose to hold another lecture event at this time. Could he know something?” Ōnoki thought of the invitation in the Shinobi Sect’s document.

The Shinobi Sect stated that they would be holding another large lecture event soon, and any interested Ninja from Iwagakure could come to attend.

The last time the Shinobi Sect held a large lecture event, over a thousand Ninja from all over the Ninja World went to the Land of Rain.

This time, with the accumulation from the previous event, the number of attendees could only be higher. At that time, the Land of Rain would become a mixed bag, which would be very unfavorable to Ōnoki’s plan of secretly searching for Roshi.

“It should be a coincidence.” Ōnoki then shook his head.

He had kept it so secret that the other Great Shinobi Villages didn’t know what had happened, so how could the Shinobi Sect know?

Moreover, Ōnoki thought carefully, and now was indeed a good time for the Land of Rain, which was surrounded by the three great nations.

Currently, there were no major wars between Iwagakure, Konoha, and Sunagakure, so the Land of Rain and its surrounding areas were relatively peaceful.

“Temporarily abandon the search in the Land of Rain, and focus efforts on searching in the Land of Grass and the Bird Country.” Ōnoki finally decided to change his strategy.

Besides the Land of Rain, Roshi might have run to the Land of Grass or the Bird Country. These two small countries not only bordered the Land of Earth but also bordered the Land of Rain.

Continuing to push forward with operations in the Land of Rain might result in Iwagakure gaining nothing, and that was not the outcome Ōnoki wanted to see.

“Shinobi Sect, Amegakure, Konoha.” Ōnoki narrowed his eyes slightly.

His role as a mediator to promote cooperation between the Shinobi Sect and the Amegakure was to create trouble for Konoha. Now that the Shinobi Sect was developing better and better, it was almost time for it to play its part.

To make the Shinobi Sect and Konoha oppose each other, Ōnoki had made many plans.

However, it seemed now that some of them might be superfluous, because the Shinobi Sect was simply too stubborn.

Even with Iwagakure, which was in a state of cooperation, they were so unyielding. Would their attitude be any better towards Konoha, which had once invaded the Land of Rain?