The Kirigakure ninja departed, leaving Kakashi's conversation with them and the terms of their agreement shrouded in mystery.
In the end, Ao and his companions only took Zabuza's corpse, the Executioner's Blade, and the fate of Haku, who remained between life and death.
Kurosuki Raiga's body and Raiga's Twin Swords, however, were claimed by Sasuke.
True to form, Kakashi promptly collapsed from chakra exhaustion.
While Kakashi negotiated with the Kirigakure delegation, Sasuke retreated to wash his wounds and change his clothes.
He didn't discard his blood-soaked attire carelessly; instead, he sealed it into a Storage Scroll, intending to dispose of it discreetly later.
After all, his blood and cells were highly valuable in this world, and with the existence of irrational curse techniques like Hidan's, caution was paramount.
Having taken care of his personal affairs, Sasuke buried Kurosuki Raiga and Ranmaru's bodies in a secluded spot.
Although Zabuza and Kurosuki Raiga had been defeated, Team Seven's mission remained: protect Tazuna until the bridge was completed.
With the bridge still some time away from completion, Team Seven would need to stay by his side during this interim.
Kakashi, who had fallen unconscious, was supported on either side by Naruto and Sasuke, with Sakura bringing up the rear.
They followed Tazuna to his home, where his daughter, Inami, greeted them warmly, though her eyes carried a hint of worry.
The return of her grandfather after many days away, combined with the sudden arrival of strangers, naturally startled Tazuna's young grandson, Inari.
The sight of Team Seven dressed as ninja, still carrying the aura of their recent life-and-death battle, made the inexperienced Inari somewhat afraid.
Unlike his counterpart in the original timeline, he refrained from speaking rudely.
That afternoon, the team ate a simple dinner at Tazuna's home. The Land of Waves was impoverished and under Gato's control, and Tazuna had spent most of his money on the bridge construction.
Naturally, the household couldn't afford lavish meals.
Despite the meager ingredients, it was clear Tsunami had put considerable effort into preparing the meal for her guests. Team Seven thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
"These are the ninja I hired from Konoha," Tazuna announced solemnly as he sat down, his expression grave. "Don't let their youth fool you—they are exceptionally skilled and highly capable ninja. I owe them my life for protecting me from Gato's assassins during my journey home."
Team Seven nodded slightly in acknowledgment.
As the meal progressed, Tazuna drank several cups of sake, a rosy flush creeping across his cheeks.
The alcohol loosened his tongue, and he began recounting the earlier battle. Having been protected by Sasuke's Shadow Clone, he had been closest to the battlefield.
Though his vision had been obscured, the sheer scale of the clash had left him deeply shaken.
In his increasingly embellished retelling, Tazuna unconsciously exaggerated Sasuke's feats and power.
Inari listened, his lips pursed in skepticism, but inwardly, curiosity burned. His gaze kept drifting toward Sasuke.
By evening, Kakashi had finally regained consciousness.
"Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi said gravely after waking up and speaking briefly with Team Seven, "I need to discuss the details of this mission with you."
Seeing Tazuna nod, Kakashi turned to the rest of Team Seven and instructed, "You all must be exhausted after today. Go back to your rooms and rest. I'll take over protecting Mr. Tazuna from now on. Get some sleep; I'll finalize our plans for tomorrow."
"Yes, sir!"
Sasuke, hands in his pockets, casually left the living room. He had no interest in whatever Kakashi and Tazuna were discussing.
This morning, while crossing the sea to the Land of Waves, he had sensed the Konoha Anbu agents tailing them vanish. As expected, they were likely dealing with Gato in the shadows.
He figured the Anbu might encounter Kirigakure forces, leading to skirmishes or even outright conflict, but Sasuke couldn't care less about such matters.
Instead of returning to his room to rest, he wandered around, inwardly reflecting on the lessons and gains from the recent battle.
He hadn't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
This left Sasuke somewhat disappointed, yet it was also logical.
During his final clash with Kurosuki Raiga, he had indeed felt an overwhelming threat of death, triggering a fierce will to survive.
His eyes had even shown faint signs of transformation. But in the end, something was still missing.
However, this battle wasn't without its gains.
Beyond the life-and-death trials and the increase in practical combat experience, the most significant change Sasuke felt was his enhanced strength.
This wasn't a post-battle improvement; his strength had surged during the immense pressure of Kurosuki Raiga's Thunder Blade Technique: Thunder Burial, breaking through his limits mid-fight.
Perhaps in other worlds, mid-battle breakthroughs or "power-ups" might seem contrived, but in this world, such phenomena were commonplace.
As is widely known, Chakra is formed by the fusion of spiritual and physical energies.
'Spirit >>> Body, Body >>> Spirit.'
The spirit and body are inextricably linked. A strong body nurtures a robust spirit, and a robust spirit enhances mental acuity.
Emotions and mental state determine how much of one's potential can be unleashed. In his past life, athletes would often surpass their usual training performances in competition, driven by factors such as honor, the roar of the crowd, national pride, and a sense of responsibility.
Faced with mortal danger and the terror of death, those with unwavering resolve can unlock humanity's latent potential.
This phenomenon is even more pronounced in this world. Due to Chakra—a supernatural energy system where mental fortitude accounts for half of one's power—ninjas can solidify their battlefield breakthroughs with minimal effort.
Looking at the world's strongest figures, you'll find fanatics, madmen, self-proclaimed gods, and everything in between.
Without exception, these powerhouses share grand ideals and an indomitable will—even if those ideals are false or illusory.
Yet their convictions are undeniably real. When they abandon these convictions, their strength plummets and their prestige collapses.
This explains the origin of the saying: "Go dark, triple your strength; go clean, weaken by a third."
The very beliefs that sustained their strength have vanished.
Even someone as seemingly simple-minded as Might Guy, who appears to lack grand ideals, possesses a childlike heart that has remained steadfast for decades.
This unwavering dedication, which transcends mere resolve, is what truly makes him remarkable.
Hanzō, in his youth, was brimming with ambition and fervent patriotism, determined to liberate the Land of Rain from the clutches of the great nations.
At his peak, he effortlessly defeated the young Sannin and single-handedly protected his country from invasion by the three major powers: Wind, Earth, and Fire.
He was revered as the "Demigod" by the world.
In his later years, however, Hanzō, driven by a ruthless pursuit of power and desire, unhesitatingly slaughtered the Land of Rain's rising generation.
Having long abandoned his ideals and extinguished the fire in his heart, his strength waned drastically, leading to his swift annihilation by the Six Paths of Pain.
Returning to Sasuke, though he hadn't awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, his near-death battle had triggered a profound spiritual and cognitive transformation. His combat prowess had also significantly improved.
Previously, he needed to rely on his Three-Tomoe Sharingan to contend with elite jōnin.
Now, he could hold his own against such ninja even in his base state.
When Sasuke activated his Sharingan, though he hadn't yet reached Kage-level, he had officially attained the same level of power as the Sasuke from the original timeline three years later—equivalent to Hatake Kakashi's current strength!
He could hold his own against Kage-level opponents and easily defeat elite jōnin.
A rare 50-50 balance of power in the Ninja World.
Moreover, after his battle with Kurosuki Raiga, the hilt of Sasuke's Thunder God Sword shattered, and the Thunder Blade Fang splintered into countless fragments.
Following Kagutsuchi's example, he could ask Granny Cat to melt down both weapons and forge them anew into a legendary-grade weapon with unique attributes.
This new weapon would complement his Lightning Release Sword Technique and the Lightning Release techniques Sasuke had discovered on Kurosuki Raiga's corpse: Lightning Release: Thunder Fang, Lightning Release: Thunder Dragon's Tornado, Lightning Release: Thunder Armor, and a series of other Thunder Blade techniques.
Lost in thought, Sasuke had already reached the backyard of Tazuna's house.
Though the furnishings were simple, the house itself was surprisingly spacious, with a front yard, backyard, and courtyard.
Sasuke now stood in the open backyard, facing a large wooden structure that likely served as Tazuna's warehouse or storage shed.
Beside the warehouse, a wooden ship stood out—five meters tall and nearly fifteen meters long, it immediately caught Sasuke's attention.
[ A ship? ]
[ What a peculiar vessel. ]
He stared at the canvas sails that resembled hot air balloon baskets more than traditional sails, and the six propellers mounted at the stern. The unique design piqued his curiosity.
"It's called the Flying Orca Maru!"
Just as Sasuke was pondering the ship's strangeness, Inari, who had been trailing him discreetly, emerged and spoke.
"Tobishachimaru?" Sasuke murmured, the name stirring a faint sense of familiarity within him.
Turning to Inari, he asked, "Is this Mr. Tazuna's creation?"
"Of course!" Inari nodded, his eyes downcast. "Grandpa said that if the bridge couldn't be completed, he would build a flying ship to break Gato's blockade of this country."
[ A flying ship? ]
Sasuke froze for a moment, then immediately understood the source of that faint familiarity.
The Tobishachimaru was a creation from the official novel Kakashi's Great Mission—Lightning in the Icy Sky, a story set one year after the conclusion of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Kakashi was about to succeed as the Sixth Hokage. He boarded the Land of Waves' top-secret airship, the Tobishachimaru, on a mission to rescue hostages.
The Tobishachimaru had only been mentioned briefly in the novel, and Sasuke's attention had been more focused on Kakashi's new Lightning Release technique, Purple Lightning, so he hadn't remembered it immediately.
With this in mind, Sasuke asked, "Isn't Mr. Tazuna a bridge builder? Does he have any experience with ships?"
While the Tobishachimaru was developed by the Land of Waves, there was no mention of Tazuna being its founder or chief engineer.
Moreover, their respective fields of expertise seemed entirely unrelated.
"My grandfather is the Land of Waves' most renowned architect," Inari replied. "And since the Land of Waves is an island nation, is it really so strange that he knows how to build ships?"
'Is this ninja really as formidable as Grandfather says? He seems completely clueless.'
Inari pursed his lips and gave Sasuke a strange look, as if he were a clueless country bumpkin.
'But this isn't just any ship—it can fly!'
Sasuke's lips twitched, his mind overflowing with complaints he didn't know how to voice.
The image of Tazuna standing before the Tobishachimaru flashed through his mind.
Adjusting his glasses, a glint of shrewdness in his eyes as he calmly stated, "As a bridge-building master, it's only natural that I can also build airships, right?"
'Natural my ass!' Sasuke thought bitterly. 'In my previous life, we had airships and planes, but nothing like this black magic—a ship that flies with just a few propellers and a basket!'
'So Tazuna isn't just some ordinary guy,' Sasuke realized. 'How else could he have built something like the Tobishachimaru?'
At that moment, Sasuke understood how Tazuna had managed to complete the massive bridge connecting the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire in just one year.
While the bridge far shorter than the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge from his previous life, it still stretched for several kilometers.
Yet Tazuna had only a small construction crew, and they had to work under constant interference from Gato's forces.
To complete such a project in a year under these conditions proved that Tazuna was no ordinary bridge-building master.
'Did Boruto dig up some other ridiculous plot holes later on?'
'I wonder how many more sins Danzo's being blamed for now?'
Sasuke mentally scoffed.
Though he hadn't watched Boruto, he'd heard the production team kept piling blame on the long-dead Danzo, seemingly never tiring of it.
"Mr. Tazuna is truly a man of many talents and vast knowledge!" Sasuke chuckled casually, deflecting the conversation.
"Of course! Grandpa's always been amazing!" Inari lifted his head, fixed Sasuke with a serious gaze, and nodded firmly, his voice brimming with pride.
Though Inari sometimes acted disrespectfully and discontentedly toward his grandfather, deep down, Tazuna was one of the people he admired and respected most.
The other was his adoptive father, Kaiza!
Both men were the only ones in this nation who dared to defy Gato.
"This past year, besides building the bridge, Grandpa spent his time here designing the Tobishachimaru. He also always read and studied all kinds of books in his spare time!"
'Books?!'
That word caught Sasuke's attention.
"Mr. Tazuna, what kind of books do you usually read?" Sasuke asked, his expression unwavering.
"Brother Sasuke, are you interested in reading some?" Inari asked.
"Just curious."
"Mostly books about architecture and travelogues."
"Oh, that's right!" Inari slapped his forehead, remembering something. He pulled a book from his backpack and offered, "I have a book here that Grandpa collected. Would you like to read it?"
"Of course!" Sasuke nodded and accepted the book.
'Retsu Kingdom Travelogue?'
What kind of country is this?
Sasuke searched his memory. Although the Ninja World was vast and filled with countless countries, he was certain he had never heard of this one.
Seeing Sasuke's slight frown, Inari explained, "The Retsu Kingdom is a nation nestled deep within the mountains in the western part of the continent. It's a land blessed with abundant water and lush greenery, where the people live peaceful and beautiful lives!"
"Legend has it that the Sage of the Six Paths, the founder of the Ninja Sect, loved this country so much that he once secluded himself there for many years."
"Of course, these are just fantasies from the book. The Sage of the Six Paths is just a legend, and the Retsu Kingdom is probably fictional too!"
Sage of the Six Paths?
The Sage of the Six Paths was the founder of the Ninja Sect, a figure in this world akin to the founders of religious sects in his previous life — Jesus.
Everyone knew the Sage of the Six Paths by name.
However, the Sage's specific deeds were shrouded in mystery.
Beyond founding the Ninja Sect and gathering disciples, verifying any concrete details about his life proved nearly impossible.
Upon hearing this, a flicker of contemplation crossed Sasuke's eyes. He didn't immediately open the scroll but instead tucked it into his robes.
"Thank you, Inari. I'll take it back to my room and examine it later."
___
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