Chapter 480: Obito and Rin's Pokémon Hatching

"What will the Land of Rain become from now on?"

Walking out of the daimyo's palace of the Land of Rain, Hanzo, who had successfully convinced the daimyo, looked up at the gloomy sky and couldn't help but feel a trace of confusion in his heart.

This was something difficult for Hanzo to imagine—the great demigod Hanzo actually feeling confused about his own decision.

He had always believed himself to be a ninja with firm convictions, so whenever he encountered a ninja with convictions, even if they were an enemy, he would spare their life out of appreciation for their beliefs and perseverance.

But at this moment, Hanzo didn't know whether his actions could be considered right or whether they had upheld his convictions.

In order to no longer be hostile to the Ninja Sect and no longer need to worry daily about Sōsuke's attacks, he used his prestige in the Land of Rain and the daimyo's trust to smoothly get the daimyo to agree to the Ninja Sect's conditions.

While persuading the daimyo, Hanzo was actually also persuading himself.

He told himself that the Ninja Sect had not killed the Iwa ninja, and that the Ninja Sect was peace-loving as the rumors said.

He told himself that with the Ninja Sect's power, the Land of Rain would become stronger, and then the country would be more peaceful and safer, not more chaotic.

Would it really be so? Actually, Hanzo didn't know; all of this was just him numbing himself with the best possible outcome.

After the cooperation officially took effect, the Ninja Sect truly became equivalent to another Rain Village, with the right to represent the Land of Rain in wars with other countries.

This meant that the Ninja Sect's actions would greatly affect the future of the Land of Rain.

For Hanzo, the Land of Rain was his home, and today, he had entrusted his home's future to others.

"I really haven't upheld my convictions." Hanzo simply couldn't continue deceiving himself.

When the words "I don't know" appeared in his heart, he actually already knew what his actions meant; he just didn't want to admit it.

After all, he was the revered demigod Hanzo, he shouldn't make such a big mistake.

He couldn't remember when he started liking to make excuses for himself.

His reason for retreating after failing to assassinate Sōsuke was for the sake of Rain Village; his reason for everything that happened with the Ninja Sect was the mistakes of Iwa and the mistakes of Shimura Danzo; he now seemed very skilled at finding various excuses.

"Since things have come to this, I can only keep going." Hanzo sighed softly.

Although he was reflecting now, going back to clearly explain all the pros and cons to the daimyo and then change the orders was something Hanzo couldn't do.

Because he was no longer that demigod with firm convictions; now he was just the leader of Rain Village who wanted to live until a natural death.

After returning to Rain Village, Hanzo sent ninjas to accompany Iwa in replying to the Ninja Sect.

Hanzo was willing to meet the Ninja Sect's demands, but he also had a requirement: the cooperation negotiations must be held near Rain Village.

On Hanzo's side, the Ninja Sect's credibility was even lower than Iwa's; the two sides had truly formed a deadly enmity.

Hanzo was very worried that the Ninja Sect would stage a fake cooperation and a real assassination, imitating his previous attempt to assassinate Sōsuke to assassinate him.

Near Rain Village, Hanzo had no such concerns; no matter how strong Sōsuke was, he couldn't destroy the entire Rain Village by himself, lacking that much stamina and chakra.

Regarding this requirement of Hanzo's, many ninjas in the Ninja Sect raised objections, because as soon as Hanzo made this requirement, it smelled too much like the previous assassination.

"Why choose near Rain Village? It should be chosen in the area midway between the Ninja Sect and Rain Village."

"This choice of location—Hanzo definitely has malicious intent."

The Ninja Sect ninjas showed extreme distrust toward Hanzo.

Yahiko opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing; he bore great responsibility for falling into the assassination trap last time. If he caused them to fall for it again because of his words, Yahiko would truly have no face to meet his Ninja Sect comrades.

Kakuzu's expression was calm; this time he instead felt that Hanzo had no other ideas, just that he had been scared by the Ninja Sect.

Because it was too simple for the Ninja Sect to break an assassination; if Muyue only brought Kakuzu and Nagato, what could Rain Village use to assassinate them?

If it really came to battle, they could even kill a batch of Rain ninjas and then leave calmly.

"It can be relatively close to Rain Village, but the specific location and time must be decided by our Ninja Sect. During the negotiations, you Rain ninjas can bring as many ninjas as you want." Muyue did not agree to Hanzo's requirement but instead proposed a compromise.

It wasn't that he was worried Hanzo would pull another assassination like last time; as long as the main body was there, leading the Ninja Sect ninjas to break out was not difficult.

Muyue wanted to tell Hanzo one thing through his refusal: the Ninja Sect would not agree to any unreasonable requests from Rain Village. Don't think that just because you add 'must' the Ninja Sect has to follow.

Hanzo could feel Muyue's confidence and mockery toward him from Muyue's reply. Allowing Rain ninjas to bring any number of ninjas was almost like saying to his face: I have no ill intentions toward you; if you're afraid of death, bring more people.

Although somewhat annoyed, Hanzo felt much more at ease in his heart, because this meant that this cooperation negotiation was highly unlikely to be a conspiracy against him.

Of course, "highly unlikely" wasn't one hundred percent, so Hanzo still brought eighty percent of Rain Village's ninjas to attend the cooperation negotiation.

On Sunday noon, Hanzo brought a large number of Rain ninja, Mu Yue brought eight Ninja Sect ninjas, and Kitsuchi brought some elite Iwa ninjas; the three parties held a cooperation discussion near a certain flat village in the area.

This time was carefully chosen by Mu Yue after careful consideration. First, it was Sunday, so he had leave and didn't need to train the Anbu. Second, if the meeting was held at noon, he could rush back at full speed and still make it in time to cook dinner at Tsunade's place.

Hanzo looked at the somewhat familiar Ninja Sect ninjas, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

If that time he had actually cooperated with the Ninja Sect instead of encircling and killing them, what would things be like now?

"Let's exchange each other's views first." Mu Yue sat opposite Hanzo and said calmly.

Hanzo originally thought that when they met again, Sōsuke would sneer at him with contempt due to hatred, but Mu Yue did not target him and directly started discussing business.

"After the cooperation, Ninja Sect ninjas and Rain ninjas must not harm each other. Both sides must jointly protect the peace of the Rain Country. If an external enemy invades, we must fight together..." Hanzo had his subordinates take out documents and handed the prepared materials to Mu Yue.

Mu Yue also had Nagato take out their prepared materials and hand them to the Rain ninja.

Perhaps because he really didn't want to be enemies with the Ninja Sect anymore, Mu Yue found that Hanzo was surprisingly honest this time—he didn't even play word games, and his general intentions were basically consistent with the Ninja Sect's.

"This cooperation will only last five years. After five years, the Ninja Sect will decide whether to continue cooperation based on the Rain Village's performance." Mu Yue set a time limit for the cooperation.

Hanzo was a bit surprised, but agreed to Mu Yue's plan.

He felt this was better than a cooperation without a time limit. If the Ninja Sect truly caused the Rain Country to get worse and worse, he would still have a chance to salvage things.

"The spring of the Rain Country is finally coming." Yahiko was very excited.

He hadn't expected the cooperation discussion to go so smoothly. Just a few days ago, both sides had regarded each other as mortal enemies, yet now they had so smoothly reached a cooperation.

Yahiko couldn't wait to eliminate all the major factors causing chaos in the Rain Country and restore peace to the nation.

Nagato also showed a sincere smile. Although he couldn't bring his deceased parents back to life, his actions would ensure that more people would not lose their parents.

"Teacher Sōsuke is really making the Rain Country better." Konan gave Mu Yue a paper flower she had folded.

Although they had been working for peace ever since founding the Akatsuki organization, in reality, they had only relied on their own strength to protect a few villages.

But Mu Yue was different. With his personal charm, he quickly raised the Ninja Sect, traveled through the Rain Country, and helped the people in many places solve various difficulties.

Because Mu Yue was so powerful, even the Rain Village didn't dare to provoke the Ninja Sect after the failed encirclement. Instead, they regarded it as an equal force, eventually reaching cooperation with the Ninja Sect, giving hope for the Rain Country to restore peace.

"We are working together to make the Rain Country better," Mu Yue replied.

The perfect conclusion to the cooperation between the Ninja Sect and the Rain Village satisfied all three parties involved.

Hanzo and the Rain Village no longer had to worry about Sōsuke, the unrivaled Fire Release user. The Ninja Sect could finally develop peacefully and deal with the Rain Country's problems. And Kitsuchi had finally completed the mission Onoki had given him.

"Next is to provoke conflict between Konoha and the Rain Country." Kitsuchi looked at the mission scroll.

Iwa hadn't expended effort to develop the Rain Country; the real purpose of Iwa was to annoy Konoha.

However, Onoki, with his extensive experience as a veteran troublemaker, knew that such matters couldn't be rushed. Rushing would reveal flaws, so the plan to provoke conflict didn't need to be executed immediately—just prepared for now.

After reading the complete plan, Kitsuchi was utterly awestruck by his father's brilliance. It was so ninja-like.

Finally, to provoke conflict between the Ninja Sect and Konoha, Onoki even planned to exploit the old grudge between Hanzo and the Ninja Sect, starting from the two factions' past enmity, and collude with Hanzo to trick the Ninja Sect.

"Sōsuke, in this chaotic world, having no backing is a tragedy." Kitsuchi shook his head, feeling a bit sorry for Sōsuke.

He liked Sōsuke's character and personality. If it weren't for Iwagakure's needs, Kitsuchi believed he could have become very good friends with Sōsuke.

But before being Kitsuchi the person, he was first a ninja of Iwagakure.

After deliberately visiting the Ninja Sect's camp to bid farewell to Sōsuke, Kitsuchi headed to the Grass Country to continue executing his mission.

Originally, he didn't need to go to the Grass Country, but the Grass ninja felt that the Iwa ninja they had been talking to couldn't represent Iwa's will, so they had to trouble Kitsuchi, the Tsuchikage's son and a famous strong ninja of Iwa, to make the trip.

After Kitsuchi arrived in the Grass Country, the Iwa ninja carrying out the mission quickly briefed him on the current mission progress and intelligence.

"The newly appointed leader of the Grass ninja is the head of Grass Fruit, a typical radical ninja. He has a strong desire to cooperate with Iwa, but he's worried that we'll use him as cannon fodder."

"No movement from Grass Flower?" Kitsuchi asked.

Grass Fruit and Grass Flower are the two major factions of the Grass Village; Grass Fruit is the radical faction, while Grass Flower is the conservative faction.

"We've been operating very covertly. Grass Flower doesn't know that the Grass ninja leader intends to cooperate with Iwa to eliminate Konoha's ninja forces in the Grass Country," the Iwa ninja replied.

Kitsuchi nodded slightly. If Grass Flower, which primarily pursued stability, found out, they would certainly try to sabotage the cooperation, and then it would be bad if the Grass ninja leader came to his senses.

Konohagakure.

Southern Forest.

Today, Kakashi wasn't in a hurry to start training. Instead, he tried teaching Rockruff Earth Style ninjutsu.

In his view, Rockruff had mastered the nature transformation of Earth chakra without a teacher, which meant it had extremely high talent in Earth Style. The most suitable ninjutsu to train was Earth Style.

"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"

Kakashi's hands quickly changed hand signs. Under the effect of Earth chakra, an earthen wall rose from the ground. In the middle of the wall was carved a dog head bearing a striking resemblance to Rockruff.

"Rock!"

Seeing this, Rockruff barked excitedly, jumped onto the earthen wall, stood on the big dog head, then leaped onto Kakashi.

"Don't play around yet. Try it the way I just said." Kakashi grabbed Rockruff and placed it on the ground, saying.

Rockruff scratched its head with its paw, trying hard to mimic what Kakashi had just done. But its dog paws couldn't perform the hand seals like Kakashi. After a flurry of random moves, it still couldn't raise the ground.

Kakashi showed a thoughtful expression. It seemed difficult for Rockruff to use ninjutsu this way.

After trying a few more times, Kakashi thought of the hard stones around Rockruff's neck.

"You don't need to learn to use ninjutsu like me. See if you can use chakra to manipulate the stones on your own body to move them," Kakashi said.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!!

As soon as Kakashi finished speaking, the stones around Rockruff's neck flew out rapidly like shuriken, piercing into the big tree in front of Rockruff.

"So those stones really aren't simple?" Kakashi hadn't expected Rockruff to succeed on the first try.

With the power of Rockruff's flying stones just now, it wouldn't be hard to instantly kill a genin by surprise.

However, Rockruff's subsequent performance made Kakashi realize that Rockruff couldn't participate in battle yet.

Rockruff couldn't control the direction of the stones well; it could only throw them randomly relying on luck, and after a few throws, it looked exhausted.

Kakashi sat on the ground and patted the tired Rockruff to comfort it. At that moment, a voice full of youth and passion came.

"If you can't cross the finish line in time, you'll have to run a hundred more laps!"

Might Guy was excitedly running a timed race with Riolu.

Might Guy was leading in front, while Riolu was gritting its teeth and chasing behind Might Guy.

Just as the distance between them was growing larger, Riolu suddenly burst into speed, moving rapidly over a short distance before returning to normal speed.

"Body Flicker Technique?" Kakashi felt that Might Guy's summon beast's talent might be focused on taijutsu.

Riolu had visibly great stamina and strong willpower, and now it had mastered a technique like Body Flicker. It was a natural fit for training in taijutsu.

"Rin, you don't need to envy them. In general, the later characters appear in shinobi stories, the stronger they are. Our ninja beasts hatched later, so they're definitely stronger than theirs." Obito, seeing Rin walk over and keep looking at Rockruff and Riolu, said to comfort her.

"Rin Nohara" looked at Obito with a strange expression.

"Obito, I'm not envious. Also, I'm over here." Rin Nohara, holding a Pokémon egg, said with a sly smile.

Obito froze for a moment, then quickly looked beside him again. Rin Nohara's figure had disappeared, and in its place was only a red-furred fox with a cunning gaze.

"How rude. My name is not Rin." Zorua said, puffing out its chest.

Hard, hard. Obito's fists clenched tight.

This naturally evil red fox actually dared to embarrass him in front of Rin. It already had a death wish.

"I told you to train in genjutsu, not to mess with people." Shisui, looking helpless, grabbed Zorua by the scruff of its neck, lifted it up, and stared into its light blue eyes.

"So this is called messing with people? Zorua didn't know." Zorua widened its eyes, acting cute.

It's just a baby born a little over ten days ago. It doesn't know complicated things.

Shisui stared at Zorua for half a minute, but finally put it down. Expecting a half-month-old child to understand seemed a bit too demanding.

"Just keep pretending. Foxes among shinobi are never good; they're all better at tricking people than the last." Obito said, unconvinced.

A dark red light flashed, and Rin Nohara appeared before Obito again, hands on her hips, looking displeased. "You're the one who's no good."

Seeing a pose that the real Rin Nohara had never shown, Obito was shocked. So being angry could be this cute? If it were the real Rin saying that, Obito felt he wouldn't mind hearing such words.

Obito quickly suppressed his distracting thoughts and dispelled the genjutsu. This red fox really couldn't be underestimated.

"I'd better train your physique first." In the end, Shisui still grabbed Zorua by the scruff and pulled back a little distance from Obito and the others.

Though he didn't know who he learned it from, Zorua inexplicably loved pranks or teasing people.

No, it wasn't just people—Zorua also tried to prank Rockruff and Riolu.

But neither succeeded; Rockruff sniffed Zorua's scent, and Riolu noticed even faster than Rockruff, though Shisui couldn't figure out why.

"When will you hatch?" Obito picked up the Pokémon egg and sighed inwardly.

Seeing that Kakashi's and the others' ninja beasts had already started training and possessed some combat power, Obito was extremely anxious.

It was because he started slow that he couldn't hold his head up in front of Kakashi for a long time; he didn't want his own ninja beast to follow in his footsteps.

As if hearing Obito's thoughts, the Pokémon egg in his arms suddenly burst into dazzling white light, enveloping his entire body.

Obito's earlier disappointment was instantly cast to the winds; his ninja beast egg had finally hatched.

"Muyue Immortal bless me, let it be a ninja beast that is both strong and cool." Obito silently prayed for Muyue Immortal's protection.

Just then, the ninja beast egg in Nohara Rin's hands also suddenly erupted in dazzling white light.

The two bursts of white light caught everyone present's attention.

"Rin's ninja beast egg hatched this quickly?" Kakashi was somewhat surprised.

Obito's ninja beast egg hatching was quite normal—it had been quite a while. Nohara Rin's ninja beast egg had only been obtained recently, yet it was the fastest to hatch among the disciples.

92xs