Chapter 498

It's not easy to meet Kushina.

In the past, Mu Yue basically had the Anbu delivery guys pass a message when they brought meals to arrange a time.

But now Mu Yue holds a somewhat special position in the Anbu, so the process can be simpler—he doesn't have to schedule at a fixed time.

Near the meeting spot, Mu Yue saw Kushina standing under a large tree.

It seemed like she was competing with him; except for the first meeting when Mu Yue arrived earlier, Kushina was almost always earlier afterward.

Although Uzumaki Karen didn't know what Kushina looked like, the moment she caught a glimpse of that vivid red hair, she had a feeling that person was the Uzumaki Kushina Mu Yue had mentioned.

"Kushina, good afternoon." Mu Yue walked up with a smile and greeted her.

Kushina was about to respond, but her attention was caught by Uzumaki Karen beside Mu Yue.

Kushina stroked her chin, carefully studying Uzumaki Karen, and began to form some guesses in her mind.

"Actually, I ran into danger in Kusagakure, and Lord Mu Yue saved me. Then, seeing that I was struggling to live, he brought me back to Konoha," Uzumaki Karen added.

"I understand the excitement of meeting a fellow clansman, but don't completely ignore me," Mu Yue said, shifting the topic to himself.

"Mu Yue, so you really do like red hair? I always thought…"

She was very grateful to Mu Yue; whether in Kusagakure or Konoha, he had helped her a lot.

"I happened to run into her while carrying out a mission in the Land of Grass," Mu Yue replied succinctly.

Meeting a clansman after so long made Uzumaki Karen excited too.

Even the lively Kushina found it hard to stay cheerful when recalling the downfall of her clan and country.

After looking at Uzumaki Karen, Kushina then looked at Mu Yue.

"Hehe, I just got a little excited!" Kushina scratched her head and explained.

"Always thought what?" Mu Yue looked at Kushina with a puzzled expression.

"Just like that?" Kushina's eyes widened. That was too simple—it sounded like he went out for a meal.

Since Mu Yue brought someone to see her, there were only two possibilities: either that person was closely connected to Mu Yue, or she was connected to Kushina.

If he didn't get to eat one day, it mostly meant he was out on a mission.

Mu Yue had never even had a girlfriend. If she had suitable friends, Kushina would have long wanted to set him up.

"Uzumaki Karen, a survivor of the Uzumaki clan."

Since the Uzumaki clan's destruction, Uzumaki Karen was only the second Uzumaki she had ever met.

Once they started talking, they discovered that their homes in Uzushiogakure were separated by just a few streets.

"Ahaha, nothing." Having guessed wrong, Kushina laughed it off to cover her mistake.

…

"Could it be that the world is just one big Minato and me?" Connecting Mu Yue's appearance with Karen's Uzumaki identity, Kushina got the feeling of an alternate version of herself.

The other one was Uzumaki Mito, who had lived in Konoha alongside Kushina, but Mito had already passed away from old age. Seeing another Uzumaki, especially one her age, made Kushina very happy inside.

In Uzumaki Karen's heart, Mu Yue was absolutely the greatest, most kind-hearted person in the world.

Uzumaki Karen watched Kushina in silence. Even before they started talking, she could clearly sense the difference in their personalities.

Kushina looked the two over carefully again and found that wasn't it either, because Mu Yue and Uzumaki Karen didn't even seem like friends.

It was once when Kushina was kidnapped by Kumogakure, and Minato Namikaze saved her. Only after getting to know the real Minato did their relationship begin to change.

Since they were both members of the Uzumaki clan, they talked about childhood memories of Uzushiogakure.

"No, that's not right." The more Kushina thought about it, the more she felt a strong sense of déjà vu. Wasn't this exactly the same as her and Minato Namikaze's experience?

"That's more like it." Kushina nodded. Although Uzumaki Karen's explanation was also brief, it was enough for people to imagine a perfect hero-saves-beauty story.

"Hello, I'm Uzumaki Kushina." Then, with a serious expression, Kushina introduced herself and looked at Uzumaki Karen.

Her relationship with Minato Namikaze hadn't been good at the beginning, because Kushina thought Minato was weird and strange, and he even wanted to compete with her for the position of Hokage.

They both spoke at the same time—Mu Yue introduced Uzumaki Karen, while Kushina voiced her inner guess.

At this point in the conversation, both sides fell somewhat silent.

"Hello, Kushina. I am Uzumaki Karen." Although Mu Yue had helped introduce them, Uzumaki Karen still introduced herself quite formally.

Kushina could tell whether Mu Yue was in Konoha just by looking at the cooking; when Mu Yue was in Konoha, he would basically make a portion for her as well.

Then Kushina thought of something and showed a curious expression as she asked, "By the way, how did you two meet? Mu Yue, weren't you on a mission?"

When he first met Minato Namikaze and Kushina, he had complimented Kushina's hair to build rapport; now Kushina had apparently misunderstood his relationship with Uzumaki Karen.

Because her parents, all the relatives she knew, neighbors, and playmates had all died in that war that destroyed a country—how could she be happy?

If not for Kushina being sent to Konoha, Uzushio being destroyed, and a series of other reasons, they might have been classmates in the school of Uzushio, going to school together and coming home together.

Kidnapped because of her Uzumaki constitution, and then Mu Yue burst in and rescued Uzumaki Karen...

"I'll communicate with her first and see what kind of person Karen is." Kushina made up her mind.

If Uzumaki Karen's personality was good enough, Kushina thought she could try to set the two up.

Just before mealtime, Obito finished his training and left the South Border Forest with Shisui to return home.

"I'm home!" Before even reaching the door, Obito eagerly called out.

"Oh, it's Obito." Hearing her familiar grandson's voice, Grandma showed a kind smile and slowly walked toward the door.

"Grandma, are you feeling well lately?" After entering the house, Obito accompanied Grandma back to the living room and asked with concern.

"I'm not senile yet. This mission of yours wasn't long; what changes could there be?" Grandma smiled to reassure Obito.

The time on the East Coast battlefield was when Obito was away for a long time; she remembered it was about half a year, and he only came back once in between, spending most of his time away from Konoha.

Obito chuckled and scratched his head. As long as Grandma could stay healthy, he didn't mind being scolded a little.

"Grandma, where's Charmander? Did it go out to play?" Obito thought of his summoning beast that he kept at home.

He had high expectations for Charmander, hoping it would become stronger than Jiraiya's toads in the future.

"Isn't Charmander right there?" Grandma pointed at the sofa.

Obito followed Grandma's finger and saw a flaming tail behind the sofa.

"Charmander, why are you sleeping at this hour? Get up!" Obito called out.

Taking a nap at noon was understandable, but still sleeping at dinner time—Obito had reason to suspect that Charmander had been slacking off while he was gone.

Hearing Obito's voice, Charmander wobbled toward him. It had been eating a bit too much lately, and the food made it drowsy.

"This is Charmander?" Obito stared at Charmander's round little belly with a look that questioned his life.

He remembered it had been a slim Charmander before he left; how had it turned into a little fat dragon in the span of one mission?

"Rawr!" Charmander let out an unhappy cry.

How dare it insult a dragon? If it wasn't Charmander, then who was?

Obito's mouth twitched. He grabbed Charmander by the scruff of its neck—its fate—and lifted it up to look it in the eyes.

"Charmander, did you not train at all while I was away? How did you get so fat all of a sudden?" Obito couldn't help asking.

Charmander shook its head. It would slack off a little when it rained, but it hadn't completely stopped training.

The reason it had turned out like this was entirely because Grandma's cooking was too good.

Obito couldn't tell if Charmander was telling the truth. He thought for a moment and said, "Let's forget the past. From now on, you need to increase your training to lose weight."

Charmander wasn't intimidating enough to begin with; with its belly rounder, it would be even less imposing.

"Dragon." Charmander shook its head in dissatisfaction. It thought it was fine now and didn't need to lose weight.

"You mean increasing a little isn't enough; you need to increase the training volume?" Obito speculated.

Charmander:...

If it weren't for the fact that it couldn't out-flame Obito, it would really give Obito a bite. Bullying it just because it couldn't speak human language, right?

"What do you think of this training plan?" Obito made a training schedule for Charmander based on Mu Yue's previous training plan.

Charmander turned its head away and remained silent. Before seeing a translation, it wouldn't give Obito another chance to falsely accuse it.

On the other side, the Zorua that the little Charmander longed for was enjoying the dinner that Shisui had prepared for it.

Because Zorua displayed the most unique intelligence among all the ninja beasts, coupled with its exceptionally special illusion techniques, Shisui did not entrust Zorua to anyone else for foster care. Instead, he prepared a large amount of food and money for Zorua to manage on its own.

If it felt too lazy to move at home, it could eat the Inuzuka secret recipe dog food; if it wanted something hot, it could use illusion techniques to transform into a human and go buy it.

"How does it feel living alone?" Shisui asked as he untied his apron.

"At first it was a bit novel, but later I started missing Shisui." Zorua thought for a moment, then looked up and said.

For Zorua, it still preferred the atmosphere of the Southern Border Forest.

Although training was a bit tough, chatting and messing around during breaks was a lot of fun. Without the entertainment of tricking Obito, its life had become much more boring.

"Once you get a bit stronger, I'll take you along when I go on missions in the future." Shisui comforted Zorua, stroking the fiery red fur on its head.

Because the ninja beasts had only been born not long ago and were weak, the disciples did not bring their ninja beasts along. Even Kakashi, whose beast hatched the earliest, was the same.

After all, they were carrying out the highest-level war missions, and the probability of encountering powerful enemies on such missions was extremely high.

After dinner, Shisui took Zorua for a half-hour walk through the Uchiha clan grounds.

After sending Zorua home, Shisui went alone to attend the Uchiha clan meeting. Today happened to be the day of the regular Uchiha clan meeting.

Because Obito did not like clan meetings, and because Shisui's previous actions had helped him establish a certain degree of prestige within the Uchiha clan, Shisui did not call Obito.

"Shisui, haven't seen you in a while. Gone on another mission?" As he neared Naka Shrine, Shisui encountered Uchiha Inabi.

Shisui nodded.

"Lately I've encountered some doubts regarding Fire Release. Shisui, do you have some free time later?" Uchiha Inabi asked.

Although Shisui was much younger than him, Uchiha Inabi was a pure Uchiha who respected strength above all, and he didn't think it was bad to ask Shisui for advice. After all, Shisui was a powerhouse who had instantly defeated him with a single glance in battle.

"Let's talk after the clan meeting ends." Shisui agreed.

Besides his own personality, Shisui had another consideration.

He felt that he needed to cultivate some like-minded comrades within the Uchiha clan to change the Uchiha together.

Uchiha Inabi was one of the more prominent members of the younger generation of Uchiha, quite popular among the young Uchiha, making him a good choice.

However, the core reason Shisui chose Uchiha Inabi was that Inabi was currently neither a dove faction nor a hawk faction, just an Uchiha with a strong sense of family honor.

Uchiha Inabi had agreed with the hawk faction elders' proposals simply because he thought they would benefit the Uchiha's strength, but later, after Shisui explained the pros and cons, he decisively supported Shisui.

"Then I'll trouble you, Shisui." Uchiha Inabi showed a smile.

Then, with Shisui in front and Uchiha Inabi behind, the two walked into Naka Shrine together.

As soon as Shisui entered Naka Shrine, many Uchiha greeted him.

For the Uchiha, defeating a clan elder was far more intuitive than battlefield rumors, so after the tournament, Shisui's reputation within the Uchiha rose another level.

Shisui responded to each one in turn—this was something Mu Yue had taught him.

In order to increase the clan members' favorability, Shisui had specially obtained from Fugaku the list of all Uchiha ninjas, memorizing the names and faces of every Uchiha ninja to ensure no one was left out.

Uchiha Seiqing noticed this scene and was somewhat impressed, placing even greater importance on Shisui in his heart.

A powerful genius is not frightening; if he lacks brains, he can only end up as a thug. But a genius who is both strong and knows how to win people over is not to be underestimated.

"As expected of a descendant of Senior Kagami. Could he possibly accomplish the unfinished task of Senior Kagami?" Uchiha Seiqing thought, then shook his head.

He thought it was unrealistic, even if Shisui was even more outstanding than Uchiha Kagami had been back then.

Uchiha Seiqing believed that if Konoha did not undergo a major reshuffle, then for the Uchiha to become Hokage was out of the question—even becoming part of Konoha's top leadership was a luxury.

When the meeting began, Uchiha Seiqing stopped thinking about other matters. After a moment of deliberation, he spoke.

"To restore the glory of the Uchiha, we must gain a greater voice in Konoha. The most important thing is to have an Uchiha Hokage in Konoha!"

"During the Warring States period, the Uchiha were a ninja clan on par with the Senju. Now, the Senju have already had two Hokage, yet we Uchiha haven't had even one. I believe this is unjust."

"No matter how difficult it is to go from having nothing to having something, we Uchiha must strive with all our might for the position of Hokage!"

Uchiha Seiqing's words instantly heated up the atmosphere in Naka Shrine. The Uchiha ninjas were all infected by his speech, thinking that if the Senju could do it, then they, the Uchiha, must also be able to.

Shisui had to admit that Uchiha Seiqing really had a way of stirring up emotions. In just a few sentences, even Uchiha Inabi beside him had become filled with fervor.

Shisui didn't object this time, because Uchiha Seiqing's words really weren't wrong, and Shisui even thought that the Uchiha clan ought to produce a Hokage.

If there were an Uchiha Hokage, it would be much easier to resolve the Uchiha problem.

"So how should we go about competing for the position of Hokage?" an Uchiha asked.

Everyone knew that having a clansman as Hokage would make things easier, but becoming Hokage was an extremely difficult challenge.

At present, the Sannin were at their peak in Konoha, and there was no Uchiha ninja capable of contending with them.

"To become Hokage, the most important things are contributions to Konoha and strength. I believe Clan Leader Fugaku is capable of competing for the Hokage position," Uchiha Seiqing put Uchiha Fugaku forward.

Uchiha Seiqing was just chanting the daily slogan to boost his clan reputation; he had no actual plan to make Uchiha Fugaku Hokage.

After all, when failure and embarrassment came, it wouldn't be him — it would be Uchiha Fugaku, the one who competed.

Uchiha Seiqing was waiting for Fugaku to fail so that he could step forward, stir up Uchiha emotions, and strengthen the hawk faction.

Uchiha Seiqing already had a rough draft in mind: he would say that Fugaku's election failure was definitely not a matter of ability, but that Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other higher-ups were biased against the Uchiha.

"Clan Leader Fugaku is indeed the strongest ninja among us Uchiha. He should be the most promising," some Uchiha responded.

Uchiha Fugaku was stunned, not expecting Uchiha Seiqing to suddenly pull this trick.

Uchiha Fugaku looked at the expectant expressions of his Uchiha clansmen and his own expression grew hesitant.

Didn't he know his own strength? Without having awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, in a few more years he might not even be a match for Shisui or Obito, let alone compete on the same stage as the Sannin.

But as the Uchiha clan leader, directly admitting that he wasn't qualified to compete for the Hokage position would severely dampen his clansmen's confidence. For a moment, Fugaku didn't know what to do.

"The Third Hokage is still strong and healthy, and the next Hokage election is far off. How about Elder Seiqing first talk about how we Uchiha should assist Clan Leader Fugaku to become Hokage, so we can make preparations," Shisui said, helping him out of the situation.

Shisui had once fought Uchiha Fugaku. Fugaku's strength was not weak, but it didn't reach the level of the Sannin.

Shisui felt that Uchiha Fugaku might not even be able to beat Might Guy in the Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates combined with Rock Breathing Chakra Mode.

Because Fugaku's Sharingan genjutsu had no effect on Might Guy.

Uchiha Seiqing didn't think Uchiha Fugaku could become Hokage, so he hadn't thought very deeply and just casually mentioned some things that Uchiha Kagami had done back then.

After the meeting, Shisui gave Uchiha Inabi the promised guidance, then went to Muyue's home and told her what had happened at the clan meeting.

"If you could make the Uchiha clan produce a Hokage or a high-ranking official, that would naturally be very beneficial to your plan. But it's not realistic in the short term," Muyue said, shaking her head.

Unless it entered the era of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the Uchiha would face enormous resistance.

"However, this is actually an opportunity. You can use the excuse that the Uchiha monopolizing power would make other clans wary and affect the Hokage election, to persuade the Uchiha higher-ups to reform the Police Force."

In Muyue's design, if the Police Force problem were completely resolved, Shisui's life mission might advance by about forty percent.

The Police Force was one of the major core reasons the Uchiha had become what they were.

Tobirama Senju truly understood the Uchiha too well; who could have guessed that this seemingly generous cake carved out for the Uchiha actually contained deadly poison?

Shisui showed a thoughtful expression.

He ran through a simulation using the idea Muyue had given him and found it much better than his original plan.

The best part of Muyue's idea was using benefits to attract the Uchiha to give up the poisonous Police Force.

If he used the reason that the Police Force was harmful to the Uchiha to advise them to abandon it, he would be treated as insane. But if it was for the sake of the Hokage position to sacrifice some interests of the Police Force, then the perception would be completely different.

"It's so good to have a teacher like you," Shisui sighed sincerely.

Every time, he felt he had learned much from Muyue, but every time he could learn even more from her.

…

Land of Rain, Ninja Sect Base.

The intensive training for relocation to the eastern Land of Rain had entered its final stage. Muyue's Shadow Clone issued another mission, ordering the Ninja Sect ninjas to publicize the matter of the large lecture.

In order to successfully unlock a higher-level lecture reward, Muyue maximized public opinion, striving for the best.

Amegakure was Muyue's key focus for publicity. From the leader of Amegakure, Hanzo, down to ordinary Amegakure genin, everyone knew that Muyue would soon conduct a one-week unrestricted lecture.

Not only ninjas cooperating with the Ninja Sect from Amegakure, but also rogue ninjas and ninjas from other countries could attend the lecture — there were no barriers whatsoever.

"That ninja teacher's lecture… I kind of want to go. I hear he's really good at teaching."

"I want to go and I don't want to go. Even though they're partners, Lord Hanzō probably doesn't like them. If I go, I might get punished."

"That's way too conflicted. If it's really that bad, just use a transformation jutsu to disguise yourself."

"Good idea. The first day I'll disguise myself and go see what's going on. If it's not as amazing as the rumors say, or if they don't teach anything useful, I'll come back."

Hanzō, patrolling in Amegakure, let out a slight sigh when he heard the words of the patrolling rain-nin.

What kind of image did he have in others' eyes now? A leader who flew into a rage after being defeated by Sōsuke? Even just attending a lecture made them fear punishment.

What unsettled Hanzō even more was that he himself had actually entertained a faint similar thought in his heart.

Thinking of his subordinates longing to receive instruction from Sōsuke, Hanzō felt very uncomfortable in his heart—those were his subordinates.

But when Hanzō thought rationally, he could somewhat understand them. Before Sōsuke defeated Kakuzu and him, he was already famous for his teaching ability.

If he really didn't have ability, how could so many ninja be willing to follow him?

"Maybe I should go and take a look too?" A thought arose in Hanzō's heart.

After thinking it over carefully, he realized that he didn't seem to understand the Sōsuke he regarded as a great enemy.

What was Sōsuke's true purpose? Why did Sōsuke found the Ninshū? What kind of person was Sōsuke? He only had a vague feeling about all of this.

They had actually only interacted three times. The first was when Hanzō, having heard of Sōsuke's reputation, summoned him to Amegakure to give a warning; the second was before the canyon battle; the third was the peace negotiation.

In truth, his impression of Sōsuke came more from intelligence—both from the rain-nin and from Shimura Danzō's intelligence.

Hanzō felt that he really might need to go, to see what Sōsuke's purpose was in making such a big deal about his lectures, and to see what that so-called "Ninja Teacher" was really like when giving a lecture.

That day, Hanzō dispatched his Anbu to investigate the attitude of all the ninja in Amegakure toward Sōsuke's lectures.

He was surprised to find that two-fifths of the ninja had considerable interest and wanted to attend.

Moreover, the remaining ninja didn't think Sōsuke lacked ability; rather, they felt that in a public lecture, Sōsuke wouldn't teach anything genuine, so they weren't interested.

This was something Hanzō hadn't expected. Their Amegakure had been opposed to the Ninshū before, yet nearly half the ninja wanted to attend Sōsuke's lectures.

This made Hanzō, who had been somewhat hesitant, make up his mind. On the first day of the unlimited lectures, he would disguise himself as a wandering ninja and attend Sōsuke's course to see what was going on.

Muzuki's publicity work was very thorough—not only in Amegakure, but news of this major event spread rapidly through all the countries surrounding the Land of Rain.

"Lectures and teaching with no restrictions whatsoever." In Iwagakure, Kitsuchi, who had received the intelligence, was quite tempted.

He greatly admired Sōsuke and was very curious about Sōsuke's teaching ability, which he only knew from intelligence reports.

With his strength, he naturally didn't need Sōsuke to teach him anything. At his level, if he wanted to improve further, he basically had to rely on his own efforts.

Ultimately, the tempted Kitsuchi went to the Tsuchikage's office at the large Tsuchikage building and sought permission from Ōnoki.

"In wartime, you want to go to another country just to attend lectures with a bunch of wandering ninja and small-country ninja?" Ōnoki said with an exasperated look.

The essence of Ōnoki's exasperation wasn't that Kitsuchi was going out for some reason, but that Kitsuchi's reason was too straightforward, to the point of being a bit foolish.

If he had said it was for reconnoitering the situation in the Land of Rain, it would have sounded much more proper. If he had added that he wanted to win over the emerging ninja faction, Ōnoki might even have approved a budget for him.

"Then I'll leave you to it." Kitsuchi thought it wasn't possible and was about to give up.

Ōnoki pondered for a moment and said, "You can go to the Land of Rain, and you can also attend the lectures, but you'll have to do a mission on the side."

"Now that the deployment in the Land of Grass has failed, we need to speed up the deployment in the Land of Rain and let the Land of Rain drain Konoha's strength."

Although it was terribly straightforward, he was still his son, so Ōnoki wasn't unable to accommodate such a small request.

Given the situation on the Kusagakure battlefield, one more or one less Kitsuchi didn't make much difference.

Kitsuchi showed a simple smile and nodded in agreement.

Because it was for a mission, besides Kitsuchi himself, he also brought three Iwagakure jōnin and five Iwagakure chūnin.

The Land of Wind was also one of the major countries bordering the Land of Rain, and a lot of information about the Ninja Teacher's lectures had flowed in.

"I heard that this Ninja Teacher is unrivaled in Fire Release, able to suppress Hanzō's Water Release with Fire even in the rain." Pakura showed an interested expression.

She was an expert in Scorch Release, but she was also proficient in Fire Release. Due to the high efficiency of Scorch Release in killing, Pakura rarely used Fire Release.

However, this legendary Ninja Sōsuke's Fire Release was clearly no ordinary Fire Release. After all, his opponent was the demigod Hanzō, and he had defeated him despite the elemental disadvantage, which was somewhat against common sense.

Pakura looked at her schedule and found that she happened to have nothing important on the days when Muzuki was giving lectures.

After thinking for a long time, Yegara decided to go to the Land of Rain to join in the excitement.

However, she was ultimately the Sand Hidden Hero, and if Muyue did not present something that interested her on the first day, then Yegara would leave quickly.

As time fermented, even Muyue's main body, far away in Konoha, heard the news in Konoha that the Ninja Sage, Sosuke, would be holding unrestricted lectures.

"Ninja Sage? It's just that Muyue-sensei is low-key; otherwise, this title would definitely belong to Muyue-sensei!" Obito straightforwardly said Sosuke was inferior to Muyue.

Obito didn't care about other titles, but he felt that the title of Ninja Sage was very suitable for Muyue.

As for that Sosuke, he was just a title thief.

The class that Muyue taught was the strongest class in the history of the Ninja Academy, and he had taught several famous geniuses like them. What teaching achievements did that Ninja Sage have?

"Don't underestimate Sosuke. Although he probably can't compare to Muyue-sensei, he should still be a highly skilled ninja. Otherwise, he couldn't have gained so many followers in such a short time." Kakashi told Obito not to underestimate people in the world.

In Kakashi's mind, Sosuke was an enhanced version of Hanzo — someone it's best not to provoke if possible.

Yamato scratched his head. He didn't know who the Ninja Sage was, nor who Hanzo was. He simply couldn't understand what they were talking about.

His special experiences had left him completely ignorant of various matters in the ninja world — even Obito could get a taste of being a top student in front of him.

Shisui wasn't interested in the topic between Obito and the others. During break time, he was usually thinking about Uchiha clan affairs.

"Muyue-sensei, are you going to attend? I feel you could demonstrate your teaching skills on the spot and let them know what a true Ninja Sage is." Obito hoped Muyue could reclaim his title.

Muyue smiled and shook his head. Ruining his own stage would be a bit of a pointless endeavor.

"There is always someone better. Don't think I'm incomparable." Muyue reminded.

Although it was good that his disciples trusted him, over-reliance could cause problems.

"Muyue the Immortal is surely omnipotent and incomparable," Obito muttered.

Even Muyue the Immortal himself could never shake his faith.

Root.

"Unrestricted lectures? Sosuke, you really are a threat." Shimura Danzo immediately felt that this man would become a major menace after seeing Root's intelligence.

Initially, it was by relying on Sosuke's lecturing everywhere that he gathered some ninja, eventually forming the Ninja Sect.

Now that Sosuke was creating such a large-scale lecture event, Shimura Danzo immediately thought Sosuke wanted to expand and strengthen the Ninja Sect.

The Rain Ninja Village bordered the Land of Fire. Shimura Danzo would not allow small countries bordering the Land of Fire to become too strong; that would not be in Konoha's interest.

Shimura Danzo immediately mobilized Root squads to the Land of Rain to strengthen Root's forces there.

He felt that the Ninja Sect was planning something big in the Land of Rain, which might become his opportunity to obtain the Ninja Sect's inheritance and the Rinnegan.

PS: Fugaku having the Mangekyo is original anime plot, but even in the anime original, the Mangekyo awoke only after he went to war and lost a close friend. Currently, Fugaku has not yet participated in the Third War, so he does not yet have the Mangekyo Sharingan.