This was the time Mokgetsu had carefully deliberated and chosen: firstly, because it was Sunday, he had a day off and didn't need to train the Anbu; and secondly, if conducted at noon, he could still rush back in time to make dinner at Tsunade's.
Hanzo looked at the somewhat familiar ninjas of the Ninja Sect, feeling a mix of emotions.
If only that time he had truly cooperated with the Ninja Sect, rather than setting a trap to kill them, how different would things be now?
"Let's first exchange our views," Mokgetsu said calmly, seated across from Hanzo.
Hanzo initially thought upon meeting again, Sosuke would sneer at him out of hatred, but Mokgetsu did not target him and immediately got down to business.
"After cooperation, the ninjas of the Ninja Sect must not harm the ninjas of the Rain Village, and both sides must jointly protect the peace of the Land of Rain. If an external enemy invades, they must resist together…" Hanzo instructed his subordinates to bring out documents and handed them to Mokgetsu.
Mokgetsu also asked Nagato to hand over the documents they had prepared to the Rain Ninjas.
It seemed he truly no longer wanted to be enemies with the Ninja Sect. Mokgetsu found Hanzo surprisingly straightforward this time, without even playing word games, and largely aligned with the general intent of the Ninja Sect.
"This cooperation will only last for five years. After five years, the Ninja Sect will decide whether to continue the cooperation based on the Rain Village's performance." Mokgetsu set a time limit for the cooperation.
Hanzo was a bit surprised but agreed to Mokgetsu's proposal.
He felt this was better than indefinite cooperation; if the Ninja Sect truly made the Land of Rain worse, he would have a chance to intervene.
"The spring of the Land of Rain is finally coming." Yahiko was very excited.
He didn't expect the cooperation negotiations to progress so smoothly. Just days ago, both sides considered each other mortal enemies, yet now they reached an agreement with ease.
Yahiko could hardly wait to eliminate all the factors causing chaos in the Land of Rain and restore peace to the nation.
Nagato's face also broke into a genuine smile, although he couldn't bring his deceased parents back to life, his actions would ensure more people wouldn't lose their parents.
"Sosuke-sensei is truly making the Land of Rain better." Konan handed Mokgetsu a paper flower she had folded.
Though they established the Akatsuki and had constantly worked for peace, they had only managed to protect a few villages through their own strength.
But Mokgetsu was different. With his personal charm, he quickly rallied the Ninja Sect to travel across the Land of Rain, helping many people resolve various difficulties.
Due to Mokgetsu's formidable strength, even after the failed ambush, the Rain Village no longer dared to provoke the Ninja Sect and treated it as an equal force, ultimately reaching cooperation with them, giving the Land of Rain hope for restored peace.
"We are all working together to make the Land of Rain better," Mokgetsu replied.
The perfect conclusion to the cooperation between the Ninja Sect and the Rain Village left all three parties very satisfied.
Hanzo and the Rain Village no longer had to worry about that Fire Release master Sosuke, the Ninja Sect could finally focus on developing and addressing the Land of Rain's issues, and Kitsuchi finally completed the task entrusted to him by Onoki.
"Next, we need to incite conflict between Konoha and the Land of Rain," Kitsuchi looked at the task scroll.
The Hidden Rock expended effort not for the development of the Land of Rain but to trouble Konoha, which was the real aim of the Hidden Rock.
However, the experienced Onoki knew these things couldn't be rushed, as rushing would lead to flaws, so the plan to incite conflict didn't need to be executed immediately, just prepared for now.
After reading through the entire plan, Kitsuchi was full of admiration for his father, astounded at how thoroughly ninja-like he was.
Finally, to incite conflict between the Ninja Sect and Konoha, Onoki even planned to leverage the old feud between Hanzo and the Ninja Sect, collaborating with Hanzo to undermine the Ninja Sect.
"Sosuke, in this chaotic world, without an ally is a sorrowful thing." Kitsuchi shook his head, feeling a bit of regret for Sosuke.
He really liked Sosuke's character and personality; if not for the needs of the Hidden Rock Village, Kitsuchi believed he would certainly become good friends with Sosuke.
But before being himself, Kitsuchi was first a ninja of the Hidden Rock Village.
After a special trip to the Ninja Sect's base to bid farewell to Sosuke, Kitsuchi went to the Land of Grass to continue the mission.
Although his presence wasn't initially necessary in the Land of Grass, the Grass Ninjas didn't consider the Hidden Rock Ninjas they were communicating with as representatives of the Hidden Rock's will, so Kitsuchi, the Tsuchikage's son and a renowned Hidden Rock strongman, had to make the trip.
Upon reaching the Land of Grass, the Hidden Rock Ninjas quickly updated Kitsuchi on the current task progress and intelligence.
"The newly appointed leader of the Grass Ninjas is the leader of the Grass Seed faction, a typical radical ninja with a strong desire to cooperate with the Hidden Rock, but worried about being used as cannon fodder by us."
"No movement from the Grass Flower side?" Kitsuchi asked.
The Grass Seed and Grass Flower are the two main factions of the Grass Village. The Grass Seed is the radical faction, while the Grass Flower is the conservative faction.
"We have been very discreet; the Grass Flower is unaware that the Grass Ninja leader is considering cooperation with the Hidden Rock to resolve the Konoha Ninja Squad issue in the Land of Grass," the Hidden Rock Ninja replied.
Kitsuchi nodded slightly; if the cautious Grass Flower faction found out, they would definitely try to sabotage the cooperation, and then it would be difficult to bring the Grass Ninja leader back to his senses.
...
Konoha Village.
Southern Border Forest.
Today Kakashi didn't hurry to start cultivation but instead tried to teach Rockruff Earth Release Ninjutsu.
In his view, Rockruff had self-taught itself Earth Attribute Chakra Nature Changes, which certainly indicated a high talent for Earth Release, making it most suitable for cultivating Earth Release Ninjutsu.