During the negotiations, Yuu's group of four, along with the Sunagakure squad led by Pakura, came out of the watchtower one after another to get some air.
Some leaned against the wall with their arms crossed and dozed. Some quietly looked toward the distant forest. Others idly nudged pebbles on the ground with their toes. All of them looked bored, simply waiting for the final result.
At a time like this, Obito was obviously the one least able to sit still.
First, he ran over to Kakashi and tried to drag him into a spar, but Kakashi couldn't be bothered with him and just kept lying against the wall reading.
Ever since Obito had teased him with the title "perverted ninja," Kakashi had specially wrapped Icha Icha Paradise in a book cover to hide the title. So as long as Yuu and the others didn't say anything, outsiders had no idea what he was reading.
On the other side, Yuu had his eyes slightly closed, playing the galgame in his mind, while Rin was using the spare time to look through her medical notes. Neither of them had much time to talk to Obito either, only giving him the occasional "mm" or "yeah" to humor him.
Obito was so bored he could barely stand it. In the end, his gaze landed on Sunagakure's side, on a square-faced boy whose head was wrapped in bandages.
"Hey, Suna guy!"
"?"
The square-faced boy froze, then turned his head and pointed at himself.
"Yeah, I'm talking to you."
Obito planted his hands on his hips, lifted his chin at him, and put on an arrogant look.
"Judging from the way Elder Chiyo looked earlier, you guys are probably about to admit defeat and surrender to Lord Orochimaru, right?
"Hmph, I told you. How could Sunagakure ever be a match for Konoha? A mayfly shaking a great tree—laughably overestimating yourselves. If you keep fighting, you'll lose for sure in half a month at most!"
"…Nonsense!"
The square-faced Suna boy was not happy. He stiffened his neck and argued, "What surrender? We're just… just making strategic adjustments! We don't want to fight you to mutual destruction, that's all! If Sunagakure mobilized fully, could Konoha really withstand us?
"Besides, our Lord Third Kazekage hasn't even acted yet. You're only showing off because the Third Kazekage hasn't appeared. Otherwise, where would you get the chance to stand here and talk?"
"Third Kazekage?"
Obito sneered loudly. "Didn't he go missing ages ago? In my opinion, who knows if that disappearance is even real? Maybe he didn't dare go against Konoha, so he secretly hid himself!
"If we're talking about the strongest Kage, it has to be Konoha's Lord Third Hokage. They call him the Professor of Ninjutsu. He's proficient in all five nature transformations. If he personally acted, Sunagakure would've been flattened already. You'd have to find a new location to build your village and rename it New Sunagakure!"
"You're full of crap!"
The square-faced boy's face flushed red, and his voice rose several pitches.
"Lord Kazekage's Magnet Release is invincible! No matter how strong your Third Hokage is, he's still flesh and blood. Can he withstand overwhelming waves of iron sand?"
"Tch, anyone can brag! Our Lord Hokage knows a technique called Shuriken Shadow Clone. Once he forms a seal, he can instantly create thousands upon thousands of shuriken and poke ten thousand holes through your Kazekage!"
"So what if he throws some shuriken? Our Lord Kazekage dares to go deep behind enemy lines alone to gather intelligence. Hundreds of enemies couldn't catch him!"
"What's that? Our Lord Hokage… dares to stand upside down on the Hokage Rock and eat ramen!"
"?!"
Yuu's foot, which had been nudging a pebble, paused. He snapped out of the galgame system and slowly turned his head, just in time to meet Kakashi and Rin's suddenly widened eyes. All three of them nearly failed to keep straight faces.
How… did this topic go off the rails like this?
Sarutobi Hiruzen standing upside down on the Hokage Rock eating ramen…
Yuu instinctively imagined that scene and felt like there were too many things to mock and no words to mock them with.
The square-faced boy was also stunned by Obito's exaggerated description. His mouth hung open for a long time, unable to find a rebuttal. Finally, after wracking his brain, he squeezed out, "S-so what? Ramen or whatever… our Lord Kazekage dares to take a sh—during meetings…"
"Baki! Shut up!"
Pakura finally couldn't hold back and shouted, cutting off the square-faced boy.
This time, Yuu completely lost it and laughed out loud. Rin also covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling slightly.
Meanwhile, the other two members of Sunagakure's guard squad were also desperately holding back laughter, wanting to laugh but not daring to be too loud.
Alright.
Yuu had originally thought Obito's wisdom stat was already low enough. He had not expected Sunagakure to have someone even braver. Put these two together, and they really were a pair of smiling tigers, two horned sharks. The stupidity level of their conversation was about to break through the sky.
However…
Pakura had just called him "Baki"?
Yuu carefully looked at the square-faced boy's appearance again and vaguely recognized him.
That's right. This guy should be the Suna leader from the original Konoha Crush plan, the supervising teacher of Temari and her siblings.
His strength more than ten years later was pretty decent. With one Wind Release: Blade of Wind, he directly killed the protagonist of Shippuden, Hayate Gekkō. Although there was still a big gap between him and elite jōnin like Kakashi and Guy, among the overall jōnin group, he could indeed be considered upper-middle tier.
Unfortunately…
his intelligence did not seem especially high.
Being able to chat so smoothly with a "wise fool" like Obito meant his life was basically set…
Obito and Baki's "idiot conversation" was only a small interlude.
However, thanks to their comedy routine, the atmosphere in the area eased somewhat and was no longer as sharply divided as before.
The two Suna guards beside Pakura gradually became bolder and started chatting with Obito and Rin about harmless topics, such as what people usually ate in each other's villages.
As for Yuu, his reputation as the "White Reaper" was too terrifying, especially on Sunagakure's side. It could almost stop children from crying at night. So those two Suna ninja, let alone speaking to him, barely dared to look at him, afraid that if their gaze was wrong, he might cut them down with one slash.
Pakura, meanwhile, chose to remain silent to conceal her private connection with Yuu.
Yuu was happy to take it easy. He closed his eyes alone at the side and rested, chatting with the ninjutsu girls in his "harem group" and occasionally gaining one point of affection. He was in a pleasant mood.
Time passed slowly like that.
It was not until the sun tilted westward that the watchtower door creaked open from inside.
Orochimaru and Nara Shikaku came out first.
Then came Chiyo's group.
Both sides looked tired, with bloodshot eyes. Clearly, this long negotiation had consumed a lot of energy.
"Lord Orochimaru, Shikaku-sensei, how did it go?"
Obito was the first to rush up and ask.
Orochimaru glanced at Chiyo and the others behind him, smiled, and spoke in his raspy voice.
"The main body of the agreement has been determined. However, some details involving prisoner exchange and bilateral trade still need to be revised separately…
"Elder Chiyo, I hope your village keeps its promises. Don't disappoint us."
"Hmph. You don't need to remind me of that. You should worry more about yourselves."
Chiyo snorted coldly and swept her sharp gaze across Yuu and Kakashi's side. Then she waved her hand, signaling for the Suna group to leave together.
Before parting,
Yuu raised his head and briefly met Pakura's gaze.
He saw her raise her right hand, spreading her pale palm open, then make a gentle blowing motion, as if hinting at something.
If Yuu guessed correctly, that gesture should be hinting at "Wailing Canyon."
Judging from the current situation, the ceasefire and agreement between Konoha and Sunagakure were already basically settled. This war, which had lasted for more than half a year, was about to come to a temporary end.
In that case, the "Weasel trip" the two had privately agreed on…
could more or less be put on the schedule.
…
That night,
news that the war was about to end quietly blew through every corner of Kikyo City like the evening wind.
The tense atmosphere in the camp visibly relaxed. The laughter around the campfires became a little more genuine, and even the steps of the patrolling ninja seemed lighter.
Among ninja, those whose minds were full of battle lust were a minority. Most people participated in war to protect their homes. If the war could end earlier and let everyone return home to reunite with their families, most people would be very willing.
However, Nara Shikaku still specifically called over several jōnin captains and reminded each of them to continue patrol work properly and not let their guard down.
After all…
There had been precedents in ninja history of sudden sneak attacks on the eve of a ceasefire.
Especially from a certain northern ninja village famous for stealing other countries' kekkei genkai.
Back then, Senju Tobirama had lost his life while signing an alliance with them, and the Second Raikage had died as well. Fortunately, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others took up their duties in a crisis. On top of that, Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchūriki at the time, the First Hokage's wife, Uzumaki Mito, was still alive, so the situation stabilized.
After that incident, the Five Kage became extremely cautious about these kinds of meetings. If they could avoid attending personally, they avoided attending personally.
Sunagakure's reputation was not as bad as Kumogakure's, but it was not great either.
So until the peace treaty was fully signed, they still needed to maintain wartime status and could not be careless.
After everyone dispersed,
Yuu went to Jiraiya alone and brought up the matter of "asking for leave."
"Hm? You want to leave camp for a week?"
Jiraiya froze slightly. "Where are you going?"
"The Death Desert."
Yuu chose to tell the truth. "I learned through certain channels that there's a powerful summoning beast clan there. I want to go try my luck."
"The Death Desert… isn't that in the Land of Wind? If you want a summoning beast, why not come directly to me? Why go so far away for it?"
Jiraiya scratched his head. He wanted to say a few words of advice, but in the end he relented.
"How long will you be gone, and when are you leaving? Need help?"
"About a week. I'll leave in the next couple of days. I don't need help. It's more convenient for me to move alone, and I'll be a smaller target."
Yuu said.
Jiraiya stared at him for a few seconds. The eyes that usually carried a slightly unserious smile now looked especially sharp. After a long while, he sighed and heavily patted Yuu on the shoulder.
"Yuu, you're no longer an ordinary brat. You're the standard-bearer of Konoha's new generation, someone with the potential to reach the same height as me, Orochimaru, and Minato. The old man has high expectations for you too. So… no matter what, you must be careful. If the situation looks wrong, withdraw immediately.
"If something happens to you in the Land of Wind, Konoha's loss will be huge. And it will be hard for me to explain, since this is a private action."
"I understand."
Yuu nodded.
He had actually considered leaving a shadow clone in the camp and secretly departing with his real body, which would mean there was no need to request leave.
However, he rejected that idea.
After all, although Yuu's strength was already decent, he was far from invincible. Going to the Death Desert, his possible enemies would include not only the Weasel clan, but also Sunagakure's border defenses, patrols, and other unpredictable threats. It was possible that he would need to fight with his full strength.
If that happened and he had to dispel the shadow clone, exposing the fact that he had left without permission, it could become very troublesome.
According to ninja world tradition, that already counted as desertion.
So Yuu decided to say something to Jiraiya first.
In any case, Jiraiya himself was not exactly a rule-abiding person. After the Second Ninja World War ended, he had stubbornly stayed alone in the Land of Rain for three years, teaching Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan until they were ready. In the years after that, he also left the village from time to time, wandering around in search of the so-called "Child of Prophecy."
Compared with him, Yuu's one week was nothing.
Unfortunately, Summoning Technique's affection was still not high enough for him to gift it the Flying Thunder God skin.
Otherwise, Yuu would only need to leave a mark here in camp—or even on Rin and Kakashi—and he could fly back whenever something happened, saving the effort of traveling back and forth.
After receiving Jiraiya's approval,
Yuu left the command center, walked along the camp path for a while, then turned his steps toward the brightly lit medical team area.
This area consisted of rows of medical tents recently erected. Most of the medical ninja on the southwestern battlefield were stationed here, along with wounded soldiers sent over one after another from surrounding strongholds.
Inside one of the tents, lamplight flickered. Rin and Hebishi were gathered around a table, discussing something in low voices. The table was covered in diagrams and notes, densely marked with eye structures, nerve distribution, and the incision angles for chakra scalpels.
"Huh, Yuu, you're here?"
Hearing footsteps,
Hebishi looked up and waved. "Perfect timing. Rin and I were just discussing the surgery plan for that child named Inumaru. Come help us think it over."
"That child is still young. His eye structure is still developing, and the nerve tissue around his pupils is thinner and more fragile than an adult's. If we really do surgery to restore his vision, we need to consider every possible situation in advance and prepare contingency plans…"
~~~
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