One month later.
Ninja Academy.
"Hey! Haku, pay attention in class, or I'll hang you on the Hokage Rock!"
In the classroom, Haku was spacing out when Chizan flicked a piece of chalk that struck his forehead with perfect accuracy.
The pain made Haku quickly focus on the lesson.
In the end, Haku still enrolled in the Ninja Academy, but it wasn't Chizan's or Pakura's idea.
It was Haku himself who wanted to go to school. After Chizan talked things through with him, he had already walked out of the gloom, and with Yamato and Gekko Hayate encouraging him, he decided to go study at the academy.
When Chizan found out about it, he directly chased Yamato and Gekko Hayate around and beat them for an entire day.
But in the end, he still agreed to Haku's request. After all, he was still just a child.
...
During lunch break, Chizan and Pakura took Haku out to eat together.
Recently, Chizan had become obsessed with Ichiraku Ramen. Seriously, once you eat it once, you get addicted. He even suspected that the owner Ichiraku might really be Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku.
Had he somehow infused all the abilities of the Rinnegan into the ramen? Otherwise why was it so addictive???
Because of this, he even imagined a scene in his head.
Teuchi with the Rinnegan attached to his body muttering toward his own ramen:
"Feel it, foolish humans..."
"Secret technique... Double Addiction Technique..."
Yes, everything above was just Chizan's imagination and didn't count.
"Hm? sensei, you're here too?"
"Oh, Kakashi. What's up? Back from a mission? Another bowl. My treat."
Looking at the Kakashi who was as muscular as Guy, Chizan grinned and paid for the ramen.
The current Kakashi was completely different from the original story. Not only was his personality cheerful, but his strength had also undergone major changes.
He still couldn't use the Hatake swordsmanship, but his taijutsu and close-combat abilities had already formed a system, making him an absolute strength-type existence among Konoha's jōnin.
"Sensei, what do you think about the Daimyo's Mansion?"
"The ninja troops over there have already started taking missions within the Land of Fire."
"Because of them, the village's mission volume has begun to drop sharply."
Kakashi took the bowl of ramen handed over by Boss Ichiraku, then very naturally pulled down his mask and prepared to eat.
The current Kakashi was no longer bound by that mask. Back when he first attended Chizan's class, Chizan had directly ripped it off his face and even gave him another rather indescribable cover.
Chizan remained silent for a while.
Regarding the Daimyo's Mansion, he was finding it harder and harder to understand.
Especially with their recent actions—they had already begun targeting Konoha Village. But what benefit did that bring?
No matter how strong Konoha was, it was still the military force of the Land of Fire.
"Are you in charge of investigating the Daimyo's Mansion now?"
"Yeah. The Hokage has sent many people to investigate them. After all, what the Daimyo's Mansion has been doing has already exceeded the original estimates."
"Who knows? Maybe the new Daimyo has something wrong with his brain? Or maybe he's been brainwashed by that guy Kazuma?"
"That skinny monkey-looking Daimyo is really impossible to understand."
They had clearly already struck down Kazuma's group before. They thought it would make them behave a little.
But what happened instead? They became even more aggressive.
Were these guys like cockroaches that just wouldn't die? Never knowing what it meant to be discouraged???
Thinking of this, Chizan could only sigh helplessly. There was no helping it—after all, the man was the Daimyo.
Still, he always felt that something about the Daimyo's Mansion was wrong.
...
Daimyo's Mansion.
"Danzo, you truly deserve to be called the man known as the Darkness of the Shinobi World."
"Even though you came from Konoha, when dealing with Konoha you show absolutely no mercy."
"We're seizing Konoha's missions on such a large scale. Aren't you afraid they'll be dissatisfied?"
Kazuma stood inside the Root base, looking at the calm-faced Shimura Danzo before him and speaking teasingly.
Danzo's response was extremely simple:
"Konoha ultimately still belongs to the Land of Fire, but it has somewhat deviated from its purpose."
"Whether it's the new Hokage or the jōnin within the village, they are intentionally or unintentionally straying from the original path. If corrections are not made—"
"—then the future of the Land of Fire will be worrying."
"Taking action now is better than doing nothing. If we wait until things develop to the point where they cannot be reversed, it will be too late."
Kazuma nodded. Taking action against Konoha had his tacit approval.
He had always felt that the existence of Konoha Village had grown somewhat excessive.
Clearly the Daimyo's Mansion was the core of the Land of Fire, while Konoha Village was merely an armed force. As a weapon, how could it defy its master?
"However, Danzo, take it a little easy during training. Leech and the others have already expressed their dissatisfaction with you to me many times."
"Although our ninja force is large in number, with that kind of hell-like training you run, how many people can actually endure it?"
"A large number of casualties isn't good for me when I have to report upward."
Danzo showed no reaction.
In his view, elites were elites. To train elites, inhumane training was necessary. Only those forged through such methods could truly be called elites.
When they reached the real battlefield, only such elites could deliver devastating blows to the enemy.
"I have my own plans for this matter. The ninja of my Root are the best example."
"Even if the numbers increase, without quality this ninja force is nothing but a joke."
"You understand very well the significance of high-level combat power."
After leaving those words behind, Danzo walked away. Kazuma had no solution either, because what Danzo said was indeed correct.
Whenever he thought about the memory of Chizan arriving at the Daimyo's Mansion back then, he wished he possessed strength capable of destroying heaven and earth.
...
Land of Fire, southwestern coast.
"Hey, Zetsu, why do you always choose places near the sea every time?"
"The Land of Fire has so many mountains. Just pick one."
"I think Kikyo Mountain would be pretty good."
Uchiha Makito looked at the seaside in front of him. Honestly, he was already tired of the ocean.
He really didn't want to stay by the sea anymore.
When he mentioned Kikyo Mountain, Black Zetsu suddenly nodded.
"Not bad. I didn't expect you to know about Kikyo Mountain. There was once a battle there."
"It's indeed a good place."
"Placing the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path there would be a good idea."
Hearing Black Zetsu agree with his choice made Uchiha Makito quite happy.
Kabuto, standing to the side, instead revealed a thoughtful expression.
After a long while, he slowly spoke:
"If possible, I want to leave for a while."
"Hm? Go do what?"
Both Uchiha Makito and Black Zetsu were curious about Kabuto's departure. After all, he was still just a young kid—where would he go after leaving the organization?
"Kikyo Mountain is very close to the Land of Wind. I want to make a trip there."
"That place is the birthplace of puppet techniques. Maybe I can find something useful there."