Chapter 596: The Complicated Situation (asking for monthly votes)

The Shinobi Sect responded faster than Roshi had imagined.

“Teacher Sōsuke has agreed to see you, but he’s been very busy recently preparing for a large lecture event, so he can only meet you after the lecture event concludes,” Nagato said, following Muzuki’s instructions.

“He’s going to hold another unrestricted lecture like last time?” Roshi’s heart stirred, and he quickly inquired.

Roshi had heard about the previous lecture Sōsuke held, but he hadn’t gone.

Firstly, he didn’t have time, and secondly, he wasn’t interested at the time.

Back then, Roshi felt that Sōsuke definitely wouldn’t teach any real skills, at most just some old, basic knowledge.

For a Ninja, knowledge truly is power, in a physical sense.

Ninja clans capable of consistently awakening Bloodline Limits, like the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan, are rare; most Ninja clans form their identity by inheriting certain advanced Ninja knowledge.

Konoha’s Ino–Shika–Chō, Inuzuka, Aburame, and Sarutobi are all Ninja clans that have mastered advanced Nature Transformation knowledge, which shows the importance of knowledge.

Although Muzuki didn’t directly teach a specific secret Ninjutsu in his lectures, he analyzed various elemental Nature Transformations from simple to profound, explaining the essence of Ninjutsu and secret Ninjutsu.

For an ordinary Ninja, this knowledge is very difficult to access, yet Muzuki was able to impart it for free to the Ninja who came to listen.

So, after learning the specific content of Muzuki’s lectures, Roshi greatly admired Muzuki; it takes such a broad mind to do something like that.

“That’s right,” Nagato nodded.

“This is indeed a major event, much more important than meeting me,” Roshi said seriously.

Although meeting Sōsuke was Roshi’s initial motivation for coming to the Land of Rain, if the delay was due to this reason, Roshi didn’t feel there was a problem; on the contrary, he felt his luck was quite good.

He couldn’t attend the first unrestricted lecture for various reasons, but now that he came to the Land of Rain to see Sōsuke, he happened to catch the second one. What else could it be but good luck?

“Could it be that he truly has no ill will towards the Shinobi Sect?” Roshi’s reaction somewhat surprised Nagato.

Then, Nagato asked Roshi if he wanted to return to Six Paths City with him.

Now that the Shinobi Sect had established its own town, such a large event would naturally be held within their own town.

Roshi declined Nagato; going to Six Paths City now was meaningless to him, as he couldn’t meet Sōsuke, and the unrestricted lecture hadn’t started yet.

He wanted to walk there slowly by himself, experiencing the customs and culture of the Land of Rain along the way, and occasionally helping unlucky villages drive away rogue Ninja.

Nagato asked once and didn’t ask again; with Roshi’s Chakra, it was impossible for him to encounter any trouble on the road.

Bidding farewell to Nagato, Roshi resumed his journey through the Land of Rain.

He traveled from the northern part of the Land of Rain to the central part, and finally entered the southern part.

Along the way, Roshi could clearly feel the difference between the south and the north.

When Roshi entered the first village in the northern Land of Rain, he encountered rogue Ninja robbing, and later even encountered bandits.

However, from the south, as he approached Six Paths City, he didn’t encounter a single instance of rogue Ninja causing trouble, nor did he see any bandits or robbers; instead, he saw many Ninja coming to attend the lecture.

“Sōsuke, who are you, truly?” With that question in his heart, Roshi quickened his pace towards the town in the distance.

…

When news spread that Sōsuke was holding another unrestricted lecture, there was no small stir in Amegakure.

Being in the Land of Rain and relatively close, many Amegakure Ninja had participated in the first unrestricted lecture.

A group of Rain Ninja, due to the past grievances between Amegakure and the Shinobi Sect, had not gone, and many regretted it when the lecture content became widely known.

Now that the second unrestricted lecture was about to begin, Rain Ninja who had gone the first time wanted to go again, and those who hadn’t gone the first time also wanted to go, leading to a large number of Rain Ninja secretly discussing the second unrestricted lecture.

Because too many people were discussing it, even though it was done quietly, it was almost as if it were openly discussed.

Some high-ranking Rain Ninja believed this was not good and needed to be stopped, as it made it seem like it was a grand event for Amegakure.

However, that high-ranking Rain Ninja’s idea was rejected by Lord Hanzo, on the grounds that it was not conducive to peace in the Land of Rain.

In fact, Lord Hanzo could have rejected the high-ranking Rain Ninja without a reason; Amegakure was his absolute domain, and those so-called high-ranking Rain Ninja wouldn’t even dare to look him in the eye when he was angry.

However, Lord Hanzo felt that not giving a reason would make it seem like he strongly supported Sōsuke’s lecture activities and enjoyed listening to Sōsuke’s lectures.

He felt that this was unacceptable.

“Should I go again this time?” Lord Hanzo hesitated.

He now both wanted to go and didn’t want to go.

He wanted to go because Sōsuke was knowledgeable and an excellent lecturer, and he was curious what Sōsuke would discuss this time and if the quality would be as strong as the last time.

He didn’t want to go because he was worried Sōsuke would recognize him again.

Last time he secretly attended the lecture and was recognized, which forced him to attend that Youth Martial Arts Tournament, where he spent his days either listening to Kakuzu’s sarcastic remarks or hearing people boast about Fire Dragon Dance, then dragging him out for public humiliation.

Lord Hanzo still didn’t know how Sōsuke accurately recognized him; there were so many people during the lecture, and his disguise was well done.

Knock, knock!

Just then, the door to Lord Hanzo’s office was knocked.

“Enter,” Lord Hanzo looked up and said calmly.

The Rain Ninja, having received Lord Hanzo’s permission, pushed the door open and walked in. He approached the desk, lowered his head, and placed a letter on the desk, saying:

“Lord Hanzo, this is a letter from the Shinobi Sect.”

Lord Hanzo nodded expressionlessly, and the Rain Ninja who delivered the letter tactfully left the office, closing the door behind him.

Lord Hanzo opened the envelope and found that the letter was written by Sōsuke, and the content was very simple: it was an invitation for him to attend the lecture.

“Could he even guess my current thoughts?” Lord Hanzo’s mood was complex.

If it was an official invitation from the Shinobi Sect, Lord Hanzo wouldn’t need to be conflicted.

He had previously concealed his identity to attend the lecture mainly because he didn’t want the Ninja of Amegakure to know.

Although he was slightly inferior to Sōsuke in combat, he was still a long-famous Ninja World Demigod; proactively going to listen to Sōsuke’s lecture would be like bowing to a junior.

With an invitation, it was different; he would be attending the event out of courtesy to Sōsuke.

However, Lord Hanzo still couldn’t immediately decide whether to go or not.

If Sōsuke invited him and he just went, why give Sōsuke face?

After all, Sōsuke had risen to fame in the Ninja World by stepping on him; whenever Sōsuke or his famous Ninjutsu were discussed, Lord Hanzo would be pulled out as a background.

Finally, Lord Hanzo picked up a pen and began to write a reply.

Listening to Sōsuke’s lecture was secondary; the main purpose was to ease the relationship between the Shinobi Sect and Amegakure and stabilize the situation in the Land of Rain.

As time passed, the news of Sōsuke holding another unrestricted lecture spread throughout the Ninja World.

Neighboring countries like the Land of Wind, Land of Fire, and Land of Grass learned about it the earliest, while the more distant Land of Hot Springs and Land of Lightning learned a bit later.

Perhaps because the previous one was so successful, this time even some Ninja from the Land of Water, which is on an island, were interested in this news.

However, due to various reasons, Ninja not on the mainland would rarely take action.

The main force participating in the event would still be Ninja from the Land of Rain and its surrounding countries.

…

Land of Fire, Konoha Village.

The Ninja Master’s lecture event, which was hotly discussed in the Ninja World, didn’t cause much of a stir in Konoha; many people discussed it, but only as a topic of conversation, and not many wanted to go.

On one hand, Konoha’s situation had been tense before, with many Ninja still on missions in border areas or small countries, so there weren’t many Ninja in the village; on the other hand, Konoha had Muzuki.

Muzuki had taught many people through various training and special training sessions, and through word of mouth, most Konoha Ninja knew that Muzuki had extraordinary teaching abilities.

However, while Muzuki’s students didn’t want to attend Sōsuke’s lecture, one of Muzuki’s disciples was very eager to go to the Land of Rain to attend.

“That Sōsuke definitely doesn’t teach as well as Teacher Muzuki,” Obito said again during a training break, expressing his opinion which he had stated numerous times.

He was the disciple who wanted to go to the Land of Rain to attend the lecture, but Obito was different from ordinary attendees; he wanted to go to the Land of Rain to prove that Muzuki was the best teacher, he wanted to expose a fraud.

“If you want to go, just apply; I won’t go anyway,” Kakashi said calmly.

Normally, he might have the leisure to go to the Land of Rain to see, because there was also the issue of the Akatsuki Organization turning dark there.

But recently, having greatly increased his strength by mastering the Yang Seal, Kakashi’s mind was filled with thoughts of further cultivation and then challenging Might Guy.

“I didn’t say I was going,” Obito observed the expressions of others out of the corner of his eye, and feeling that no one was interested in Sōsuke’s lecture, he could only temporarily give up.

Going alone would be too boring, and the thought that Kakashi and the others would use this time to train hard made him feel like he was missing out.

On the other side, in the Root Base, Danzo Shimura was studying new intelligence.

In fact, Danzo Shimura was the Konoha Ninja most concerned about the unrestricted lecture.

However, for Danzo Shimura, the lecture itself was not the focus; the person and the organization hosting the lecture event were the focus.

If the organization hosting the event was Amegakure, Danzo Shimura wouldn’t pay so much attention.

“Have the organization members in the Land of Rain act quickly and take the opportunity to infiltrate Six Paths City,” Danzo Shimura realized this was a good opportunity to collect intelligence on the Shinobi Sect.

With so many Ninja attending the lecture, and the Shinobi Sect having only so few Ninja, it would definitely be easier for errors to occur.

Although he had received information about the sage art inheritance from “Uchiha Madara,” the suspicious Danzo Shimura still wanted to investigate for himself.

The thought of “Uchiha Madara” made Danzo Shimura frown.

Since the day they discussed cooperation, “Uchiha Madara” had never come to him again, and Danzo Shimura had no means of contacting the other party, which made Danzo Shimura feel as if he had been played.

Danzo Shimura shook his head; regardless of “Uchiha Madara’s” situation, he had to get his hands on the Rinnegan and the sage art inheritance.

Even if he couldn’t get the Wood Release promised by “Uchiha Madara,” his Root still had a Wood Release Ninja, so it wasn’t a big problem.

PS:

Stayed up until five to finally finish two chapters, but my condition is really not good.

Taking a day off today (not from writing, but from work).

New month, asking for guaranteed monthly votes.

Hope to get my schedule back on track within a week, otherwise it’s a bit tough.