Chapter 551: Sage of Six Paths Is Real

Rōshi was heading south all the way.

Although he wasn't familiar with the Rain Country, his initial motivation was to come and meet Sōsuke, so there was no way he hadn't investigated the location of Ninshū.

However, after his experience in Shirakawa Village, Rōshi slowed his pace.

He didn't use a ninja's extremely fast travel speed to rush to Rikudō Castle located in the southern part of the Rain Country; instead, he treated Rikudō Castle as his final destination and moved slowly, like a traveler taking a leisurely journey.

This was a very novel experience for Rōshi.

In the past, he was either training or on missions; when did he ever have time to travel?

The most important thing was that the people here didn't give Rōshi strange looks. In villages, helping them drive away rogue ninjas earned him sincere gratitude. In towns, he could eat at any restaurant without anyone paying him any mind.

Such a life might be ordinary for ordinary people, but for Rōshi, this was a goal he hadn't achieved even when he left Iwagakure.

Rōshi genuinely felt that his current life could be called happiness.

Even though he had to sleep in the wild to avoid disturbing the villagers and townspeople, and even though he couldn't show his true face to evade pursuit from Iwa.

"Identity is a wonderful thing." After finishing lunch, Rōshi put down his chopsticks and sighed inwardly.

He was a thinking person, and after serious consideration, he figured out the reason.

In the eyes of the Rain Country's people, he was just an unknown ninja with no other special identity, so he could be sincerely thanked normally and enjoy an ordinary person's life normally.

But in Iwagakure in the Land of Earth, he was a jinchūriki, with the tailed beast symbolizing evil and destruction sealed inside him.

If the people of Shirakawa Village knew he was a jinchūriki, would they still thank him so sincerely, would they still invite him to their homes as guests?

Rōshi didn't know. He couldn't be sure.

"Don't overthink it. Just be happy living now," said Son Gokū with a hearty laugh.

"It's not like you became a jinchūriki voluntarily. Blame the people who treat us tailed beasts as weapons."

At that, even Son Gokū couldn't help feeling a bit depressed.

We tailed beasts don't fight or compete; we just live quietly in remote corners of the ninja world, never actively provoking any ninja. Yet for no reason, the ninja captured us and sealed us inside jinchūriki.

Not only were the jinchūriki unwilling, but we tailed beasts weren't willing either.

Rōshi nodded, stood up, and went to pay the bill.

He was just sighing a little. No matter what, his current life was far better than in Iwa.

Just the freedom alone outclassed Iwa a hundred times over.

After leaving the restaurant, Rōshi casually swept his eyes across the street, noticed a few ninja dressed as Iwa shinobi, paid them no attention, and continued walking south with a composed expression.

Ordinary Iwa ninja couldn't see through his Transformation Technique. As for sensor ninja, there were too few of them; as long as his luck wasn't too bad, he probably wouldn't run into any.

Ōnoki could guess that Rōshi wouldn't actively reveal his jinchūriki identity, and Rōshi also knew that Ōnoki wouldn't dare to send out Iwa ninja in a large-scale search.

After all, during wartime, if Iwa suddenly made a big move, the other major ninja villages would definitely investigate. If they found out a jinchūriki had run away, the consequences would not be something Ōnoki wanted to see.

Three Iwa ninja walked slowly down the street, carefully scrutinizing every pedestrian.

Some people felt uncomfortable, but seeing the forehead protectors on the Iwa ninja, they ultimately let it go.

Ordinary people couldn't afford to provoke ninja. And these were the cream of the crop among ninja—the shinobi of the Five Great Ninja Villages—even less to be messed with.

They also saw Rōshi using his Transformation Technique, but since Rōshi acted no differently from any passerby, they ignored him.

Occasionally, they would find someone behaving more suspiciously, then find a reason to step forward and interrogate them.

However, Rōshi noticed something strange: the further south he went, the more Iwa ninja he encountered on the road. This struck him as odd.

"Could they be using some secret technique to lock onto my location?" Rōshi wondered inwardly.

In the ninja world, there were all sorts of bizarre secret techniques and ninjutsu. Rōshi couldn't be sure Iwagakure didn't have such a technique.

In the afternoon, since it happened to be mealtime and Rōshi didn't have any rations, he paid a villager who was willing to let him eat at their house for a meal.

When he was about to continue on his way, he suddenly saw a group of Iwa ninja in the distance confronting two red-haired youths, one of whom wore a Rain Country forehead protector.

When faced with rogue ninja robbing villagers, Rōshi would unhesitatingly lend a hand.

But if it was an internal conflict among ninja, under normal circumstances, Rōshi had no interest in getting involved.

In Old Purple's eyes, any ninja who would cruelly kill innocent civilians and plunder their property is beyond redemption—no matter how many times you beat or kill them, it's never wrong.

The reasons for conflicts among ninjas are numerous and complex—they could be stances between villages, clashes in missions, or personal grudges.

In such situations, he could easily do bad things with good intentions.

Moreover, ninjas are equals to each other; Old Purple is not some true champion of justice who mediates everything he encounters.

Old Purple wanted to take another path to avoid conflict, but at that moment, he recalled his experiences in the Rain Country over these past few days.

Because he acted decisively and asked for no reward, he had helped two villages, and both times he was mistaken for a ninja of the Ninja Sect.

This made Old Purple particularly interested in the Ninja Sect. He saw that the red-haired ninja's attire didn't resemble that of a Rain Village ninja, so it was possible he was a Ninja Sect ninja.

"Let's first listen to what they are saying," Old Purple thought to himself.

To avoid being discovered, Old Purple found an empty corner, used Earth Release to burrow into the ground, and quietly approached Nagato and the others.

"Your Hidden Stone's actions have already affected the lives of the people in the Rain Country. The Ninja Sect needs an explanation," Nagato said with a serious expression, looking at the Hidden Stone ninjas before him.

Although Hidden Stone's actions were not major, to the Ninja Sect, which was striving to build a peaceful and harmonious Rain Country, Hidden Stone's behavior was particularly glaring.

"Nagato, we have no comment. You are also a ninja; you should understand us. Leaking a mission is an act of betraying the village," the leading Hidden Stone jonin replied in a deep voice.

They were not ninjas sent specifically by Ōnoki to the Rain Country to find Old Purple; rather, they were ninjas entrusted to the Ninja Sect for training.

Having trained in the Ninja Sect for some time, they were on familiar terms with Nagato, so they did not use a threatening tone, only stating their own difficulties.

Mainly, even if they started a conflict, they couldn't win; Nagato was no pushover—he was a powerful ninja known as the greatest genius in the ninja world.

"You don't need to give an answer immediately. You can convey the Ninja Sect's intentions to the Hidden Stone Village.

The Ninja Sect and the Hidden Stone Village have a cooperative agreement for training ninjas; you are one of them. You know the Ninja Sect's attitude towards cooperation. The Ninja Sect also does not want this matter to affect the relationship between both sides," Nagato continued.

The higher-ups of the Ninja Sect have discussed it: if Hidden Stone does not provide a reasonable explanation and continues to disrupt the stability of the Rain Country, they will terminate the cooperation with Hidden Stone.

Nagato fully agreed with this decision. The Ninja Sect had worked so hard for the peace and stability of the Rain Country; if they backed down and dared not intervene just because the other party was one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, then all their previous efforts would be wasted.

Small ninja villages had never dared to provoke the Rain Country much anyway. The reason the Rain Country had become like this was because the Five Great Nations had turned it into a battlefield for their struggles.

If they tolerate Hidden Stone's behavior now, they might later tolerate Leaf's, and after that, Sand's. By then, what peace and stability would be left for the Rain Country?

"So the village has such cooperation with the Ninja Sect," Old Purple thought in surprise while eavesdropping underground.

No wonder the further south he went, the more Hidden Stone ninjas he encountered.

Old Purple guessed that Ōnoki had issued a mission to these Hidden Stone ninjas undergoing Ninja Sect training to search for him.

If Old Purple were Ōnoki, he probably wouldn't let his subordinates train peacefully at a time like this either—the impact of stopping a month of training was certainly not as great as losing a jinchūriki.

"I will report to the higher-ups," the leading Hidden Stone jonin replied.

Now that the Ninja Sect was involved, he really had to report.

On one hand, the Ninja Sect and Hidden Stone had a cooperative relationship; on the other hand, the Ninja Sect's high-level combat power was not weak. With the few of them in the Rain Country, Hidden Stone couldn't stir up any trouble.

In fact, the Hidden Stone jonin himself had a favorable impression of the Ninja Sect and hoped that the Hidden Stone Village could continue cooperating with the Ninja Sect.

Because the teaching quality of the Ninja Sect was very high; he genuinely felt that studying here could effectively improve his strength.

However, this matter was too big; the Hidden Stone jonin had no authority to decide anything.

Having said that, the Hidden Stone jonin left with the other Hidden Stone ninjas.

Old Purple had originally intended to wait for Nagato and the others to leave and then burst out of the ground, but for some reason, Nagato stood there for a full ten minutes without moving.

"Come out, no need to hide," Nagato said flatly toward the ground.

Nagato had powerful sensory abilities; he had long sensed a powerful chakra nearby that he had never sensed before.

When Old Purple used Earth Release to sneak over, Nagato's alertness reached its peak, ready to act at any moment.

If it weren't for the presence of Hidden Stone ninjas, Nagato was worried something might go wrong, he would have acted already.

Old Purple, who was preparing to use Earth Release to exit elsewhere, was somewhat surprised: "He found me. Is he a sensory-type ninja?"

After a brief thought, Old Purple burst straight out of the ground, standing five meters away from Nagato.

The Hidden Stone ninjas had already left for ten minutes; with a ninja's speed, they had run far away, so there was no worry of being discovered.

Moreover, the purpose of his visit to the Rain Country was to see Sōsuke, and since he wanted to see Sōsuke, encountering the ninja of Ninshū was unavoidable.

Rōshi sized up Nagato and Sasori, while Nagato also stared intently at Rōshi with his Rinnegan.

Under the enhancement of the Rinnegan, the disguise of Rōshi's Transformation Technique was rendered useless, and Nagato immediately saw Rōshi's true appearance.

"Such powerful chakra... no, it seems different from ordinary chakra—is this his chakra?" Nagato did not recognize Rōshi, but he was shocked by the chakra within him.

It was the first time he had seen so much powerful chakra.

Nagato took half a step forward, shielding Sasori behind him.

Sasori was still in a sealed state and unable to use chakra, so he needed Nagato's protection.

Aware of his own limitations, Sasori quickly stepped back two paces.

From initially tugging at him to keep him from leaving to now making such a move, it was clear that this opponent was not simple.

"These eyes!" The Four-Tails inside Rōshi's body let out an extremely shocked voice.

It actually saw eyes identical to those of the Sage of Six Paths on this ninja named Nagato.

"What's wrong with his eyes? They seem different from ordinary people's eyes," Rōshi asked in confusion.

Regarding special eyes, he only knew about the Byakugan and Sharingan of Konoha.

"His eyes are exactly the same as the Sage of Six Paths' eyes," replied the Four-Tails.

"The Sage of Six Paths? Have you seen the Sage of Six Paths? I thought he was just a myth or legend," Rōshi said, somewhat stunned.

Many legends surround the Sage of Six Paths, one of the most famous being the creation myth, in which the Sage of Six Paths created the entire ninja world.

Compared to ordinary people, shinobi can be considered superhuman, but a shinobi's strength has limits—even the terrifying destructive power of a Tailed Beast Ball can at most destroy a large mountain.

Since creation is even harder than destruction, he had believed the Sage of Six Paths was merely a fictional mythological figure.

"Of course not. I once lived with the Sage of Six Paths for a while," the Four-Tails shook its head and said.

To the Four-Tails' long life, the time spent with the Sage of Six Paths was very short, but those memories were so beautiful that the Four-Tails still cherishes them.

For him, those memories were more important than memories of hundreds or even thousands of years of solitary life.

Seeing the Four-Tails reveal an expression it had never shown before, Rōshi realized a problem: the Four-Tails knew him very well, but he did not know the Four-Tails as well.

That was only natural, because before that great war, he hadn't even been willing to call the Four-Tails by its name.

"Who are you? What is your purpose in coming to the Rain Country? Why were you eavesdropping on my conversation with the Iwa shinobi?" Nagato, seeing that Rōshi was not speaking, stared intently and questioned.

Although he had not yet fought Rōshi, just from Rōshi's chakra alone, Nagato knew this opponent was no simple character.

On top of that, since it was wartime, Nagato instinctively connected Rōshi with Iwagakure's activities in the Rain Country.

"Could he be a powerhouse from one of the great hidden villages? Are those great hidden villages trying to turn the Rain Country into a battlefield again?" Nagato's expression grew increasingly serious.

If things had already reached this point, it would be an utter disaster for both Ninshū and the Rain Country.

Nagato's words interrupted Rōshi's thoughts about the Four-Tails. After thinking for a moment, he spoke:

"You are Nagato? The disciple of that Sōsuke."

Rōshi only knew three ninja from Ninshū. The first naturally went without saying: Ninja Tutor Sōsuke, the one he wanted to meet.

The second was Kakuzu, and the third was Nagato.

The Youth Martial Arts Tournament had made Nagato famous across the ninja world. Even though Rōshi was not interested in such information, he had heard some things.

"I am."

Nagato silently adjusted his breathing technique, bringing his own condition to its peak.

"You don't need to know my name. Just know that I mean no harm—I came to the Rain Country only to meet your teacher, Sōsuke," Rōshi chose to conceal his identity.

Based on what he had seen along the way, Ninshū was a fairly decent ninja faction.

However, that was not enough for Rōshi to completely let down his guard—after all, he had just learned that Ninshū was also cooperating with Iwagakure.

If Iwagakure and Ninshū worked together to spring a trap, Rōshi would be in trouble.

"You want to see Master Sōsuke?" Nagato looked at Rōshi with a skeptical expression.

He felt that this appeared to be the Great Ninja Village wanting to carry out a decapitation strike against Muyue, thereby dismantling the Ninja Sect.

"That's right. If Sōsuke is willing to meet, then we'll meet once. If he is not willing to meet, then tell me as soon as possible, and I'll go somewhere else." Rōshi continued.

He knew his request was somewhat excessive, making such a demand without revealing his identity.

However, Rōshi had no choice; the risk of exposing his identity was too great.

"Since you're unwilling to give your name, at least explain which ninja village or which faction's ninja you belong to." Nagato wanted to probe for information.

"I don't belong to any ninja faction." Rōshi replied.

Nagato looked at Rōshi, trying to deduce from Rōshi's expression whether his words were true or false.

"Can't judge..." Nagato sighed inwardly.

As expected, he failed; he wasn't good at this.

"Whether you agree or refuse, once you've decided, you can come find me in this village." Rōshi said.

He planned to leave a shadow clone in this village for communication.

Nagato nodded, and ultimately left with Sasori.

Rōshi had no intention of fighting; Nagato would not act against Rōshi based solely on conjecture in his heart.

"Sasori, do you think he was lying?" Nagato looked at Sasori and asked.

"Which answer scores higher?" Sasori did not answer directly.

"The correct answer."

"Then I don't know."

Nagato at least had the experience of wandering with Yahiko; Sasori had been alone for a long time since his parents left — how would he know how to read people?

"Your teacher is so strong, just let him go. Maybe that person is even an admirer of your teacher; after meeting, he'll join your Ninja Sect." Sasori said casually.

Sasori rather hoped that Sōsuke would meet with an accident; many sealing techniques lose their effect after the caster dies.

If Sōsuke were assassinated, then Sasori wouldn't even need to wait a year; he could find an opportunity to retrieve his puppet and continue his revenge.

"Although Teacher is powerful, the enemy might not choose a one-on-one fight; they could send an elite team to surround and kill him." Nagato shook his head. The ninja world had too many strong people die from being ganged up on.

A ninja's strength is built on chakra. No matter how strong Muyue is, if he doesn't finish off the enemies before his chakra runs out, then Muyue will be the one in danger.

In the end, Nagato didn't offer any opinion; he just returned to the Ninja Sect, told Muyue the information, and let Muyue make the decision himself.

Muyue always encouraged him to think more and take initiative, but Nagato understood that his own ability was still insufficient at this moment. On such an important matter, he couldn't affect Muyue's judgment.

"Wants to meet me, vast and powerful chakra, unknown actions from Iwagakure..."

After connecting all the clues, Muyue vaguely came up with an answer in his heart.

"Describe his appearance." Muyue said to Nagato.

"Reddish hair, tied into a high ponytail, a thick beard, looks around thirty years old." Nagato answered after recalling.

Muyue could now be one hundred percent sure who the person Nagato had met was.

"Teacher Muyue, will you meet him?"

Anyway, my schedule is messed up again. Plus it's the weekend, so I stayed up until past four and wrote one thousand; this chapter is 5k.

Tomorrow I should be able to write a bit more, but it's hard to say exactly how much more, since I have to work the day after tomorrow and can't sleep too late.

xhytd