Chapter 679: The Sixth Largest Ninja Force?

Land of Rain, Six Paths City.

Unlike when he left, Muzuki had not informed the Shinobi Sect of his exact return time, so there were no Shinobi Sect Ninja to greet them when they returned to Six Paths City.

However, news of Muzuki and his group entering the city quickly spread. When they returned to the Shinobi Sect’s base, a group of Shinobi Sect Ninja had gathered.

“Sōsuke-sensei, welcome back!” the Shinobi Sect Ninja shouted excitedly.

Although they all knew their leader was very strong, their opponent was, after all, the Third Hokage, who stood at the pinnacle of the Ninja World, so it was impossible not to worry.

Therefore, seeing Sōsuke return completely unharmed, the Shinobi Sect Ninja were genuinely happy.

Theoretically, such adoration for a single person was not ideal, but that person was Sōsuke, the founder of the New Shinobi Sect.

In the eyes of many Shinobi Sect Ninja, Sōsuke was equivalent to the Six Paths Sage of the new era, so he could not be judged by the same standards.

“As I said, I would be back very soon,” Muzuki said with a faint smile.

Kakuzu listened, smiling but saying nothing. Who would have thought that Sōsuke’s statements about his strength were all true, with not a single word being for comfort or to boost morale?

Sometimes the truth sounds more absurd than lies.

No one asked about the outcome of the battle; all Shinobi Sect Ninja tacitly avoided the topic, simply celebrating their leader’s return.

It wasn’t until Muzuki returned to his office to work that some people subtly tried to inquire about the battle’s outcome from Nagato, Roshi, and the other accompanying Ninja.

From the perspective of reputation and prestige, it was not shameful for Sōsuke to lose to Hiruzen Sarutobi, an elder who had dominated the Ninja World for decades.

However, losing was still not a good thing. Their leader had been forced to fight for the Shinobi Sect and had finally returned safely, so they certainly couldn’t actively rub it in.

“He won,” the accompanying Ninja replied concisely.

If Sōsuke had won with great difficulty, they might have avoided discussing the battle’s outcome out of consideration for maintaining relations.

But Sōsuke had won so easily, almost a crushing victory, and Sōsuke had not specifically warned them not to reveal the challenge, so there was no reason not to speak of it.

What did Hiruzen Sarutobi and Konoha losing face have to do with them? If they were so capable, they should come and fight again.

The Shinobi Sect Ninja had not forgotten that Konoha’s first demand was “Sōsuke’s suicide.” Clearly, Konoha wanted their leader’s life, but they didn’t expect their leader to be so strong, and they ended up losing the battle themselves.

“He won? Sōsuke-sensei won against the Third Hokage?” Many Shinobi Sect Ninja showed surprised expressions, asking uncertainly.

They thought it would be good enough if Sōsuke could return safely after a narrow defeat, but they didn’t expect such a pleasant surprise.

“Not only did he win, but he won very easily. Hiruzen Sarutobi was no match for Sōsuke at all,” Kakuzu explained.

All the Shinobi Sect Ninja were dumbfounded; it wasn’t even a hard-won victory, but an overwhelming one.

The accompanying Ninja nodded secretly, seeing their reactions. They had been incredibly surprised on the scene, and they shouldn’t be the only ones shocked.

“An easy victory! Sōsuke-sensei is that strong!” Even Yahiko showed a stunned expression.

He did believe Sōsuke could defeat Hiruzen Sarutobi, but he didn’t expect it to be an easy victory.

“Did Konoha just watch the Third Hokage lose and do nothing?” Yahiko asked, puzzled.

He felt that Konoha was coming for Sōsuke, and according to his prediction, Konoha should have been willing to use any means to kill Sōsuke.

Had he been wrong?

“Of course not, they tried to interfere with the battle, but they didn’t succeed,” Kakuzu said, shaking his head disdainfully.

If Sōsuke hadn’t held back, those Konoha Ninja would all be dead.

“You all can disperse now. There’s no need to worry about Konoha anymore; with Sōsuke here, the sky won’t fall.”

Kakuzu now completely disregarded Konoha.

Given the strength Sōsuke displayed, even the Five Great Ninja Villages, if they wanted to move against the Shinobi Sect, would have to seriously consider whether they could withstand Sōsuke’s retaliation.

The Shinobi Sect Ninja, full of joy from the good news, left.

Their greatest hope was Sōsuke’s safe return; they never expected Sōsuke not only to return but also to bring them such a huge surprise.

The Shinobi Sect Ninja grew happier the more they thought about it, and unconsciously quickened their steps, leaving quickly.

They were already impatient to share this great news with their companions who hadn’t come for various reasons.

Thus, the news quickly spread within the Shinobi Sect. Except for Ninja on missions, almost all Shinobi Sect Ninja in Six Paths City knew that their leader had defeated the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

As time passed, various rumors began to circulate within Six Paths City.

This aroused the suspicion of the Iwagakure Ninja.

“What exactly is going on? Sōsuke isn’t dead. What is Konoha doing?”

Inside a dome-shaped stone house in Six Paths City, built in the style of the Land of Earth, an Iwagakure Jōnin expressed his confusion to his companion.

“Who knows? Maybe, as the rumors say, Sōsuke defeated Hiruzen Sarutobi and returned safely,” a burly Iwagakure Ninja said, frowning.

Sōsuke’s successful return had disrupted their plans.

Originally, their plan was to take advantage of Konoha’s desire to kill Sōsuke, put some pressure on the Shinobi Sect, and make the Shinobi Sect a secret pawn of Iwagakure.

It wasn’t for Konoha’s sake, but to plan for the next fifty years.

If they couldn’t defeat Konoha, which had the second God of Shinobi, then they would slowly endure, letting Konoha enjoy themselves for fifty years first.

“Brother Jonin Hikari, how credible do you think this news is?”

The Iwagakure Ninja who spoke first looked at Jonin Hikari, who was sitting at the head of the conference table, and asked.

“Most likely true,” Jonin Hikari said after a moment of contemplation.

“Since even the common people in Six Paths City have learned of it, then it’s only a matter of time before the news spreads throughout the Ninja World.

If this were false news, it would inevitably deepen the conflict between the Shinobi Sect and Konoha, increasing the likelihood of Konoha deploying troops against the Shinobi Sect. Only brainless fools would speak quickly without considering the consequences, and Sōsuke is clearly not such a fool.

That can only mean Sōsuke isn’t afraid of a conflict with Konoha, so Sōsuke must have won against Hiruzen Sarutobi, and not just a simple win.”

“This is not good news for us. We must quickly mobilize our forces to investigate thoroughly and then report to the Village,” Jonin Hikari said with a serious expression.

Previously, Iwagakure attached great importance to the Shinobi Sect largely due to Sōsuke’s personal strength.

Now, Iwagakure wished Sōsuke would die sooner.

Because they discovered that with Sōsuke present, Iwagakure would never be able to control the Shinobi Sect.

Even though Ōnoki had offered considerable benefits, Sōsuke’s attitude remained firm: economic cooperation was acceptable, but anything else was out of the question.

Sōsuke’s firmness, combined with the Shinobi Sect’s conflict with Konoha, led Ōnoki to change his strategy.

Sōsuke was very strong, but the Shinobi Sect also had Nagato, a top genius, who might become even stronger than Sōsuke once he matured.

However, Ōnoki also knew that as long as Sōsuke was alive, let alone Nagato, even ordinary Shinobi Sect Ninja would never side with Iwagakure.

Therefore, Sōsuke’s death was very important; Sōsuke, dead at Konoha’s hands, was Iwagakure’s good partner.

“Yes!” The Iwagakure Ninja nodded one after another.

Verifying the intelligence was faster than Jonin Hikari had imagined; the Shinobi Sect Ninja didn’t treat this as a secret at all.

The Shinobi Sect’s attitude made Jonin Hikari believe it even more.

So, he quickly consolidated the gathered intelligence, added some of his personal thoughts, and sent it back to Iwagakure.

Ōnoki placed great importance on the arrangements in the Land of Rain. Upon learning that important intelligence had arrived from the Land of Rain, he immediately put aside other relatively less important matters.

“Hmm?” Seeing that Sōsuke had defeated Hiruzen Sarutobi, a question mark appeared in Ōnoki’s mind.

He carefully checked it, confirming that this was indeed important intelligence from the Iwagakure in the Land of Rain, and not someone’s prank.

Ōnoki continued to read the intelligence with a solemn expression, meticulously going through every single word.

“Sōsuke actually possesses such strength.” Ōnoki’s fingers drummed rapidly on the table, and his expression turned somewhat grim.

Upon seeing this intelligence, Ōnoki’s first thought was not about controlling the Shinobi Sect, but about regretting that Sōsuke had not agreed to his plan to encircle and kill Muzuki.

If Sōsuke had joined, then even if the Third Mizukage betrayed them, they should still have been able to kill Muzuki.

However, Sōsuke not only didn’t agree to the encirclement plan, but now he also refused to die properly, disrupting Iwagakure’s arrangements.

“If only Hiruzen Sarutobi had died,” Ōnoki sighed.

If Hiruzen Sarutobi had died, it would have been another excellent opportunity to cause trouble.

But Ōnoki knew that Hiruzen Sarutobi definitely hadn’t died, otherwise Konoha wouldn’t be completely inactive.

Ōnoki was truly speechless; if either Sōsuke or Hiruzen Sarutobi had died, it would have benefited Iwagakure, but neither of them died.

Now, Ōnoki’s Shinobi Sect arrangements were disrupted and he couldn’t move, and he couldn’t stir up trouble with Konoha either; he couldn’t do anything.

“Shinobi Sect, Konoha…”

Ōnoki fell into deep thought.

Konoha, with its continuous emergence of talented individuals and its acquisition of vast wealth and resources through war, was bound to flourish if nothing unexpected happened.

The Shinobi Sect, with the powerful Sōsuke at its helm and an excellent geographical location, had visibly great development potential.

“No, we need to confirm the details of the battle.” Ōnoki felt that Iwagakure still needed to take action.

It was unlikely to contend with Konoha for the title of the strongest Shinobi Village, but Ōnoki also didn’t want Iwagakure to fall too far behind Konoha.

As for the Shinobi Sect, Ōnoki dared not underestimate it now.

If Sōsuke’s strength approached or even reached the level of Senju Hashirama, then the Shinobi Sect was very likely to become the sixth major Ninja power, and it was not impossible for the Land of Rain to become the sixth great nation.

Of course, Ōnoki would absolutely not sit by and watch all of this happen.

The Ninja World’s cake was only so big; if another major power emerged, then Iwagakure’s share of the cake would be even smaller.

…

Land of Fire, Konoha.

The day after the Jonin meeting ended, Kakashi finished his morning exercise and went to the shopping street to buy breakfast. He saw that the Leaf Newspaper had published its latest issue, so he bought a copy.

The newspaper’s headline was “From Chunin Teacher to Hokage Assistant.”

Kakashi thought to himself that the Leaf Newspaper knew how to write headlines; even if he didn’t know Muzuki and didn’t know who the newspaper was reporting on, seeing such a headline would pique his interest and make him want to read it.

No other reason than the vast difference between these two identities.

A Chunin teacher was a profession that ordinary Ninja who were willing to do it could generally take on.

A teacher’s salary was less than the commission for missions, and while not busy, it wasn’t easy either. Chunin with ambition generally wouldn’t choose to become a Ninja Academy teacher.

But Hokage Assistant was different; it was a high-level position that could determine Konoha’s direction, and only Ninja with strong abilities and sufficient contributions could hold it.

Walking into the breakfast shop, Kakashi skillfully ordered his breakfast, then ate while reading.

“Eighteen-year-old Hayate Mugetsu was a young teacher who had just entered the Ninja Academy. Lacking teaching experience, he first consulted his seniors and then made improvements in actual teaching activities…”

The newspaper began by recounting Muzuki’s deeds within the Ninja Academy.

For example, he proposed large classes with multiple classes attending simultaneously, which alleviated the busy situation of teachers due to insufficient teaching staff at the Ninja Academy at the time. He also established a holiday tutoring and internship system, which significantly improved the quality of Genin who graduated that year.

Most commendable was the performance of the class Muzuki taught, which had a landslide lead over all other classes. Even if one looked back through the records to the very establishment of the Ninja Academy, no class could compare to the one Muzuki taught.

Let alone compare, there wasn’t even one slightly inferior, which perfectly demonstrated Muzuki’s teaching level.

Teaching a few genius disciples could be attributed to Muzuki’s good eye for talent, but for an entire class of so many people to all be excellent, there was no explanation other than his ability.

Kakashi graduated early; when Muzuki was a teacher at the Ninja Academy, he had already graduated for about three years, so he found Muzuki’s experiences at the Ninja Academy quite interesting.

The Leaf Newspaper didn’t spend too much ink on the Ninja Academy. After clearly detailing Muzuki’s various contributions, it quickly shifted to the Third Shinobi World War.

“The Strongest Konoha Hero of the Third Shinobi World War”—just this sub-headline alone made Kakashi feel Hiruzen Sarutobi’s support for Muzuki, even using “strongest.”

However, given Muzuki’s battle record, using “strongest” was perfectly fine.

On the Hidden Mist battlefield, Muzuki first slew Haku, a renowned Ice Release Ninja of the Hidden Mist, and several members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Then, in a crucial battle during a Hidden Mist surprise attack, he slew a Jinchuriki, turning the tide.

In the war with Iwagakure, Muzuki turned the tables, using Iwagakure’s spies to set a trap for Iwagakure, accomplishing the feat of winning with a thousand against two thousand.

In the second engagement with Hidden Mist, Muzuki used Wood Release to capture over a thousand Hidden Mist Ninja, laying the foundation for victory in the final battle.

Any one of Muzuki’s contributions, given to any Konoha Ninja, would be enough for that person to achieve fame and success. When reported together, the effect was simply explosive.

After Kakashi finished breakfast, he could hear many people on the Konoha streets discussing it.

“No wonder Assistant Muzuki became Hokage Assistant at such a young age; it turns out he made so many contributions.”

“Yes, it’s hard to imagine how difficult these past few years would have been for Konoha without Assistant Muzuki.”

Kakashi listened for a while and felt that the vote of ordinary Ninja and civilians might have a greater disparity than the Jonin vote.

After all, there might be staunch supporters of Orochimaru among the Jonin, but that wasn’t necessarily the case for the larger base of ordinary Ninja and civilians.

“I heard from a traveling merchant who came yesterday that there are rumors outside that our Hokage-sama was defeated by that Sōsuke of the Shinobi Sect.”

“These small Ninja powers are truly detestable, even fabricating such rumors to slander our Sandaime-sama.”

“Yes, and defeating the Sandaime-sama? What a boast. Why doesn’t he just say he’s the reincarnation of the Six Paths Sage?”

Kakashi paused slightly, then after a brief thought, walked towards the South Border Forest.