Chapter 601 End of Course

Six Paths City, Land of Rain.

In the early morning, Sasori woke up on time. After brushing his teeth and washing his face in the bathroom, he opened the door, ready to go to the Shinobi Sect’s dining hall for breakfast.

As soon as Sasori opened the door, he saw Nagato standing under a large tree ten meters from his door.

Nagato nodded to Sasori, and then the two walked together to the Shinobi Sect dining hall.

“I mean, you don’t even live here, why do you have to come over every day? You don’t need to supervise me; I’ll still complete my tasks as usual. After all, I want to regain my freedom sooner,” Sasori said with dissatisfaction on the way.

Ever since that day he skipped breakfast and work, Nagato had waited for him at his door every morning to eat together.

Before, when Sasori hadn’t adjusted his body clock, Nagato would even knock on his door to wake him up if he slept late.

This annoyed Sasori a bit. Since childhood, only his parents had ever managed him like this; even his grandmother hadn’t.

Seeing that Nagato seemed to be getting addicted to supervising him, Sasori became a little anxious, no longer caring about Nagato’s control over his freedom.

“It’s not supervision.” Nagato shook his head.

He wasn’t coming over to be a supervisor; he just wanted Sasori to develop the habit of eating on time and not be too lonely by himself.

They were both children who had lost their parents very early. Nagato saw a bit of himself in Sasori.

Before he met Yahiko and Konan, Nagato wandered everywhere, often feeling that in such a vast Land of Rain, such a vast Ninja World, there was no place for him, no one to rely on.

Although their situations might be different, Nagato could feel the loneliness in Sasori.

Nagato wanted to be Sasori’s Yahiko, to make him no longer lonely.

“Then what is it? You really think you’re my brother, don’t you?” Sasori couldn’t help but mock.

Nagato showed a thoughtful expression, then asked, “When were you born?”

If he couldn’t be Sasori’s Yahiko, being his brother would also work.

“November 8th, XX year,” Sasori answered subconsciously.

“Then there’s no problem with the age. I was born on September 19th, XX year, the same year but earlier,” Nagato nodded.

From both age and height, he was sufficient to be Sasori’s brother.

Sasori looked at Nagato with a face full of black lines, thinking, “I make a sarcastic remark, and you just run with it.”

Did he think that just because their hair color was similar and he was a bit taller, he could take advantage of him?

“What do you mean ‘no problem’? I didn’t agree,” Sasori said, utterly speechless.

“Let’s go eat breakfast,” Nagato said calmly.

Looking at Nagato’s composed demeanor, Sasori suddenly felt very irritated.

They were the same age, so why was Nagato always so calm in the face of his provocations, making it seem like he was overreacting and being unreasonable?

Sasori thought carefully, and it really did seem like a good-natured older brother gently dealing with a mischievous younger brother.

“We still have Sōsuke-sensei’s class later, so we need to go a bit earlier,” Nagato said, seeing Sasori suddenly standing there with an unhappy expression, lost in thought.

Today was the fourth day of the unrestricted lecture. They had listened to the first two days of classes. Since there were quite a few Sunagakure Ninja present, Muzuki even gave Sasori a small perk: the Sealing Technique would not be maintained during the lecture period, allowing Sasori to use the Transformation Technique to disguise himself.

Sasori had actually thought about taking this opportunity to escape.

Because he felt that with so many Ninja suddenly pouring into Six Paths City, it would be very difficult for the Shinobi Sect to manage, plus not being sealed for more than ten days, it was an excellent opportunity to escape.

But as soon as he thought about Sōsuke saying that if he was caught escaping, his sentence would be tripled, Sasori was a bit reluctant to take the risk.

Sasori had witnessed Nagato’s sensory abilities, and he wasn’t very confident about escaping from Nagato, plus the mysterious Sōsuke, Sasori didn’t want to gamble.

If he lost this gamble, then revenge would truly be hopeless.

Sasori didn’t reply, just silently walked towards the dining hall.

Although Sasori didn’t particularly like Sōsuke, he had to admit that the title Ninja Master was indeed fitting.

Sasori specialized in puppetry and wasn’t interested in other people’s Ninjutsu, but he could still listen to Sōsuke’s lectures.

After they finished eating, Sasori used the Transformation Technique, then walked towards the Training Ground where the lecture was held.

They arrived neither too early nor too late; there were already many people standing on the Training Ground.

“Last time was seven days, this time is eight days, will the total teaching days for the third time become nine days?”

“That’s hard, Sōsuke-sensei’s lessons are of such high quality, it feels like he needs a lot of preparation, so the next time is uncertain.”

Since Muzuki hadn’t arrived yet, the waiting Ninja were all chatting with acquaintances.

Nagato and Sasori walked to the spot where they had stood for their previous two classes and waited quietly.

About twenty minutes later, Muzuki arrived at the Training Ground and walked towards the podium amidst greetings of “Sōsuke-sensei” from the crowd.

At this moment, the previously noisy Training Ground quickly quieted down, and the Ninja all looked at Sōsuke.

Muzuki smiled slightly, picked a few lucky students to answer their questions, and then began the formal lesson when the time came.

Time flew by, and before he knew it, Sasori realized that dusk had arrived.

After having dinner with Nagato at the Shinobi Sect dining hall, Sasori went to the research lab Muzuki had specially prepared for him to begin his research on puppet prosthetics.

Normally, Sasori would conduct research during the day, but during the lecture activities, he had to attend classes during the day, so he switched to evenings.

When he first entered the research lab, Sasori would occasionally think about Kakashi or Nagato. After researching for a while, Sasori became fully absorbed in his research on puppet prosthetics.

Sasori’s reason for getting into puppetry wasn’t pleasant; it was Chiyo who taught him puppetry to help him cope with the pain of losing his parents.

However, after being exposed to puppetry, Sasori truly fell in love with it.

Puppets don’t die, don’t disappear inexplicably, and if they break, they can be repaired. Such things that can exist eternally are what Sasori considered true art.

Therefore, Sasori often became so engrossed in his puppetry research that he would forget himself, forgetting to eat and sleep were common occurrences.

“It’s about time. You should wash up and go to bed,” Nagato, who had been training in the adjacent training room, walked into the research lab to remind him.

Sasori, who was soaring in the ocean of puppet technology, was suddenly pulled out by force and couldn’t help but glare at Nagato.

This was like being woken up in the middle of sleep, or having your bowl smashed when you’re hungry and haven’t even eaten yet. How could Sasori not be angry?

“Tomorrow there’s still Sōsuke-sensei’s class, and the day after tomorrow is the rest day.”

Sasori’s imposing aura immediately weakened a lot, but he still said, “Even if I research for four more hours, I’ll still be able to wake up early and not be tired!”

It wasn’t that Sasori liked Sōsuke’s class so much that he absolutely had to attend; he just thought Sōsuke’s class was good.

The important thing was that Sasori was worried that if he didn’t attend the class, Sōsuke might think there was no need to use the Transformation Technique and take away that small perk, which would prevent him from making puppets on the sly.

“Mm, I believe you. Go back,” Nagato nodded and said.

Sasori’s forehead wrinkled into a tic-tac-toe pattern; Nagato’s perfunctory attitude was too obvious.

However, when Sasori thought of his small perk, he didn’t continue to argue, just snorted coldly and walked away on his own.

“The wisdom of ordinary people. When I transform myself into an eternal body, what does not sleeping for a week matter?” Sasori thought to himself.

The more Sasori thought about it, the more he felt that a flesh-and-blood body was too useless. It wasted seven or eight hours a day on sleep. If all that time could be used for research and study, the efficiency improvement would be too great.

…

Happy times are always short, and time quickly came to the last day of the second unrestricted lecture.

On this day, Muzuki no longer arrived ten minutes early, but arrived at the Training Ground thirty minutes before the lecture began.

“Eh, is time passing that fast? Is class starting already?” Some Ninja were surprised to see Sōsuke.

Because Muzuki was always so punctual, they instinctively felt that Sōsuke’s arrival meant there were only ten minutes left until class.

“Did everyone wake up late today?”

Someone noticed that the number of people on the field was not right; there weren’t as many as before.

“Why did it change to thirty minutes early?” Roshi wondered.

Since he usually arrived at this time, Roshi immediately knew that Sōsuke had arrived earlier than usual.

“Probably because this is the last class? After all, didn’t they say there were only eight days of classes?” Four-Tails thought for a moment and said.

“So it’s already the eighth class.” Roshi was slightly stunned.

He lived a fulfilling life in Six Paths City; when there was class, he would attend, and when there wasn’t, he would go to the Shinobi Sect’s classroom to read books and listen to Shinobi Sect Ninja discuss things, so he hadn’t really felt the passage of time.

“There are still thirty minutes until class begins. Next, I will randomly select some Ninja…” Muzuki began to randomly select Ninja to answer questions, just as usual.

The last day always had to be a little different. To give more Ninja the chance to ask questions, Muzuki arrived at the Training Ground earlier.

Hearing Sōsuke say that there were still thirty minutes until class, the Ninja below all showed expressions of delight.

Before, it was usually five to six selected in ten minutes, but today it was thirty minutes, so the probability of being selected had greatly increased.

The Ninja who arrived later were stunned to see Sōsuke already standing on the podium, also thinking they were late, and only learned from others’ explanations that Sōsuke had arrived earlier.

By fifteen minutes before class, most of the Ninja attending the lecture had arrived.

Because Sōsuke usually arrived ten minutes early, many people had the idea that if Sōsuke arrived early one day, the chance of being chosen earlier would be greater.

Good news: Sōsuke did arrive early.

Bad news: He arrived too early, unexpectedly so.

But few people would quibble over this; they were all focused on listening to Sōsuke’s answers.

Because the problems most Ninja encountered were actually quite similar, answering one person’s question was useful to many.

“Can he answer my question?” Hanzō thought to himself, looking at Sōsuke on the podium effortlessly resolving the Ninja’s doubts.

He was very curious about Sōsuke’s Water Release level, wondering if it would be stronger than his own.

However, Hanzō did not want to be chosen by Sōsuke.

Because for him to ask Sōsuke for guidance in such a public setting, what would that look like?

Hanzō also knew that Sōsuke wouldn’t choose him, after all, he had warned Sōsuke before.

The thirty minutes before class quickly passed, and Hanzō was indeed not chosen.

“If I were to challenge him privately and only use Water Release, would he agree?” Hanzō thought of a simpler, more direct method.

How good his Water Release level truly was would be known once they fought.

The method was indeed a good one, but Hanzō’s face showed a rare look of hesitation.

Hanzō had to admit that from the time he met Sōsuke until now, even if he only compared his most proficient Water Release, Hanzō wasn’t confident he could defeat Sōsuke.

Moreover, for Hanzō, this was a battle of no value.

If he won against Sōsuke, it would be useless to boast about it and would only further diminish his reputation.

Because Hanzō had the reputation of being the strongest Water Release user in the Ninja World, what good would it do for him, the strongest Water Release user, to challenge a Fire Release expert in Water Release and then win?

If he lost, it would be even worse; the strongest Water Release Ninja would also become Sōsuke.

“The content to be discussed today is…”

As Sōsuke’s lecture reached Hanzō’s ears, Hanzō’s mood calmed down, and he stopped thinking about other things, concentrating on listening to the lecture.

“All classes have now concluded. I hope everyone has gained something.”

It was Sōsuke’s voice again that pulled Hanzō out of his thoughts about the lesson content.

“It’s over again, it feels so fast, like I just came yesterday,” a Ninja sighed.

The past half-year when Sōsuke wasn’t lecturing felt like years to him, but these past ten-plus days of classes felt like time flew by.

“Yes, it always feels like a day passes so quickly here,” a nearby Ninja said, empathizing.

Sōsuke’s lectures seemed to have some mysterious ability to make time accelerate.

“Eight classes are already over.” Roshi also felt a bit emotional, and at the same time, a little excited.

Like other Ninja, he also felt that class time passed very quickly, and he was left wanting more.

But the end of the lecture activities also meant that Roshi was about to meet Sōsuke, so Roshi was a little excited.

Before setting off, Roshi wanted to meet Sōsuke simply out of admiration for Sōsuke’s deeds and a desire to witness the legendary Ninja Master.

Upon arriving in the Land of Rain, traveling from the south to the north, and then to Six Paths City, the experiences and observations on this journey allowed Roshi to learn more about Sōsuke.

But Sōsuke was a very mysterious person; the more Roshi learned about him, not only did he not lose interest, but he became even more eager.

Hanzō glanced at Sōsuke, and in the end, did nothing and said nothing, just turned and left.

Some Rain Ninja saw Hanzō leave without a word and immediately used body language to alert the surrounding Rain Ninja who hadn’t reacted yet, then followed him.

With the lecture activities concluded, most Ninja dispersed, while a small portion remained temporarily for various reasons.

Roshi was one of those who stayed.

After class, Roshi ate at a restaurant near the inn, then stayed quietly in the inn, reading and waiting for news from the Shinobi Sect.

Roshi expected to receive news from the Shinobi Sect in about two days, and then be able to meet Sōsuke in about a week.

After all, Sōsuke had just finished a large-scale lecture event, so it was reasonable for him to rest for a short period.

“Do you have time tonight? If you do, I can take you to meet Sōsuke-sensei in an hour,” Nagato asked Roshi.

Roshi was a little surprised; he hadn’t expected Sōsuke to choose to meet on the very evening the event concluded.

“Yes,” Roshi quickly replied.

He was truly idle now, available all day.

PS:

The XX year in Konoha does not exist in the original work; it is a product compiled based on the ages of the original characters and the official data books.

Since the original work does not have a specific calendar year, only XX year is written. Nagato and Sasori were indeed born in the same year.