"You want to accept this mission? Such a choice is quite out of character for you. Are you undergoing some sort of transition?" Orochimaru said in his deep, hoarse voice, a hint of confusion seemingly visible in his eyes.
Some things can only be seen clearly from the sidelines as a detached bystander. Orochimaru was one of the people who could best see through the essence of human nature. Judging by Hagoromo's past personality and actions, he was absolutely not the type of ninja to actively take responsibility upon himself.
To describe it, regardless of his strength, what Hagoromo did was at most fulfilling his obligations as a Konoha ninja. Anything beyond his basic obligations would be called "making a contribution to the village"—a concept Hagoromo had never entertained before.
So why did Hagoromo now want to shoulder this extra-obligatory responsibility? This left Orochimaru a bit perplexed.
In Orochimaru's eyes, although Hagoromo was only fourteen, his personality was quite mature. Hagoromo seemed to have no particular pursuits, but this also meant the village had no necessary binding force over him. This was very different from an average ninja.
Within Konoha, the people and things Hagoromo cared about could be counted on one hand. If one day Hagoromo suddenly left the village due to some special event, Orochimaru wouldn't feel surprised at all.
Despite having the same background and identical education, some people could never escape the village's shackles their entire lives, while others were never bound by the village at all. Hagoromo was clearly the latter.
The current Uncle Snake, however, still considered problems from Konoha's perspective.
Did Hagoromo want to voluntarily put these shackles on his own head? Not at all; he simply wanted to get things done.
"I am ultimately just an ordinary person, and ordinary people—whether subjectively or passively—will always change due to certain influences," Hagoromo said.
At Hagoromo's explanation, Orochimaru let out a somewhat strange laugh, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Sometimes Orochimaru felt that Hagoromo was the same kind of person as him, somewhat apathetic by nature. Yet at other times, when facing the exact same situation, the two would make completely opposite choices and judgments.
"You are strong. Even disregarding the factor of age, as a ninja, you are strong enough. But that is not enough. Being powerful does not mean you can handle everything... You saw the outcome of the Hidden Sand's Pakura. When it comes to villages—whether it's a ninja's own village or an enemy village—there are plenty of underhanded methods like assassinations..."
"And the mission you've chosen to accept is naturally ranked S-class in danger. Even with your strength, the probability of death is upwards of eighty percent. Because once you actually arrive at the Hidden Mist, the power to choose will not be in your hands, but in theirs."
Facing an entire village of enemies, Orochimaru felt that even he would be killed; Hagoromo was no exception.
Hagoromo shook his head. He agreed with some of what Orochimaru said, but not entirely. "I have my own judgment regarding the danger level of the mission. And since I am willing to execute it, I naturally have a certain degree of confidence in guaranteeing my own safety. Furthermore, those are merely potential crises. Since the Hidden Mist is willing to seek peace with the Hidden Sand, perhaps Konoha will receive the same treatment."
Was it really just a potential crisis? Hagoromo didn't quite believe that himself.
Orochimaru was judging the mission's danger level based on the strength Hagoromo displayed on the surface. But if he truly went all out, even Hagoromo himself didn't know what limits he could reach.
If necessary, and if he truly erupted on all fronts, it wasn't as if he couldn't unleash an ultimate move capable of instantly killing a Tailed Beast—though the cost would be overly severe, and he didn't have absolute certainty he could pull it off.
Based on a comprehensive assessment of various factors, Hagoromo actively took on the mission to act as Konoha's envoy to the Hidden Mist Village in the Land of Water.
Although Pakura's example was fresh and Hagoromo had witnessed it with his own eyes, he chose to actively accept this mission with basically no hesitation.
After learning all the intel regarding the related events from Pakura's mouth, Konoha formed some hypotheses regarding the Hidden Mist's attitude toward the war, and saw the possibility of achieving peace between the two nations.
Thus, after brief deliberation, Konoha sent their desire to conduct peace negotiations to the Hidden Mist through covert channels. Dispatching an envoy to the Mist was the first step.
The Hidden Mist reacted quickly. Konoha's message received a rapid reply, and they agreed to Konoha's request to send an envoy.
The danger of this mission lay precisely in what Orochimaru had said: the moment the envoy entered the Hidden Mist Village, the power to choose life or death was entirely handed over to the enemy.
The Mist's successive attempts to seek peace with the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Sand actually presented two possibilities.
The first was that they were preparing to gradually and completely withdraw from the war. The second was the exact opposite: they were preparing to resolve their rear concerns to focus all their efforts on dealing with the Hidden Cloud and Konoha.
It was a 50/50 split. Konoha wasn't clear on what the Mist's true intentions were, but regardless, from a sensory standpoint, the latter actually seemed more likely.
Moreover, Konoha had recently—and was currently—causing endless headaches for the Hidden Mist.
Only a few days after the war restarted, Konoha had first raided a thousand-man Mist stronghold, then dispatched ninjas to infiltrate the Land of Water to cause various acts of sabotage, and subsequently wiped out the Mist's elite Jonin group, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen... Without a doubt, the Mist had a grudge against the Sand, but their grudge against Konoha was even greater.
"If you feel there is no problem, then as you wish, this matter is entrusted to you. After all, there aren't many ninjas capable of executing such a mission to begin with."
A decision made upholding one's own will would not be stopped by Orochimaru. Even if a "genius" voluntarily went to their death, Orochimaru might feel regret, but he wouldn't stop them beforehand.
However, this kind of mission wouldn't commence immediately. First, there was a rather complex procedural arrangement for this sort of thing; at the very least, Hagoromo needed to obtain a handwritten letter from the Hokage before taking action.
Second, Hagoromo personally needed to prepare. It was a high-risk mission, after all; he needed to mentally prepare for the worst possible scenarios in advance.
Therefore, he needed to equip himself with a set of weapons of mass destruction—namely, mass-producing a batch of high-explosive grenades: Reverse Four Symbols Sealing scrolls.
Drawing sealing formulas on scrolls, no matter how complex, was something Hagoromo was highly adept at. But the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing was an ultra-offensive sealing jutsu that consumed a massive amount of the caster's chakra. Without corresponding preparations, even if given a pile of scrolls, Hagoromo would be lucky to throw a few; throwing too many would quickly drain his chakra dry.
So, to be able to use the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing instantly and in large quantities, Hagoromo made some modifications to the formula. The main change was pre-sealing his chakra into the formula for temporary storage. This way, when it came time to use them, he only needed to form the hand sign, avoiding the burden and risk of drawing a massive amount of chakra on the spot.
Thus, for a period of time before the mission began, because he needed to consume large amounts of chakra every day, Hagoromo was in a constant state of feeling like his body had been hollowed out.
Just like that, operating at the pace of a small sweatshop—two a day—he produced twenty Reverse Four Symbols scrolls. Although that method of temporarily sealing chakra resulted in a limited shelf life, it was enough to last until his mission was over.
When the time came that combat was absolutely necessary, the first thing Hagoromo would do was toss these things into the Hidden Mist Village. If he was surrounded by enemies, he would specifically throw them into the thickest crowds; the combat effectiveness would undoubtedly be outstanding.
However, because chakra was already stored within the scrolls' formulas, they were practically in a state where they could detonate at any moment. As a result, Hagoromo always handled them with extreme care. He didn't want to turn a perfectly good, highly destructive weapon into a suicide terrorist bombing attack.
If the scrolls triggered while still on him, Hagoromo would be the first one unable to escape.
And so, by the time the Hokage's handwritten letter arrived, Hagoromo's preparations were more or less complete.
Then, he was about to embark on his third, highly uncertain journey to the Land of Water. One early morning, Hagoromo departed from the camp, walking step by step toward the Land of Water.
His departure happened to have three witnesses.
"Huh, isn't that Hagoromo? What is he doing out so early?" "Probably some mission?" "Probably not..."
These three sentences came from the trio rescued by Dai: Ebisu, Genma Shiranui, and Guy, respectively.
The last sentence was spoken by Guy, who understood Hagoromo relatively well. He went on to explain: "He's probably going somewhere to test a new ninjutsu again. Hagoromo likes researching those highly destructive things. If he were going on a mission, he would be wearing that white mask he always carries."
Guy didn't know that Hagoromo's mask was already an unnecessary item.
Hagoromo didn't hold any extravagant hopes that the Hidden Mist would welcome his arrival with goodwill, and he could imagine that there might even be enemies ambushing him along the way. But right now, he possessed a certain confidence: if he wanted to go to the Hidden Mist, no one could stop him; and if he wanted to leave the Hidden Mist, no one could bar his way.
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