[Name: Hanzo]
[Chakra: 130500]
[Skills: Water Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery: 6100/15000), Fire Chakra Nature Transformation (Mastery: 2000/15000), Water Body Flicker Jutsu (Mastery), Fire Release: Exploding Flame Formation (Mastery)...]
Among the Kage-level powerhouses Mutsuki has assessed, Hanzo is one of those with relatively fewer skills-only two types of Mastery-level Nature Transformations, and most of the Ninjutsu he commands are Water Release.
Although his skills are limited in number, that doesn't mean Hanzo is weak. His proficiency in Water Chakra Nature Transformation is quite high, and he has some Mastery-level Water Release Ninjutsu as well.
Mutsuki, well-versed in the plot, also knows of certain strengths Hanzo possesses that don't appear on the panel-namely, poison.
Hanzo possesses a summon beast called the Salamander, capable of releasing an extremely toxic, wide-range poison mist. Additionally, Hanzo himself has implanted a poison sac from a salamander into his body, which is why he always wears a mask.
If he doesn't wear the mask, the poison gas from his breathing can paralyze people around him.
Mutsuki had to admit, Hanzo's use of poison somewhat counters the Breathing Technique. Using the Breathing Technique in a poisoned environment would accelerate the invasion of toxins.
Mutsuki was aware of this flaw in the Breathing Technique from the beginning, which is why he's been working on improving it. However, improving it to that extent is even more difficult than developing a new Breathing Technique, so progress has been slow.
Mutsuki has two approaches-one is mitigation, the other is a complete solution.
Mitigation involves adding detoxification or poison resistance effects to the Breathing Technique, while the complete solution would be to change the way the Breathing Technique operates so that it no longer relies on normal breathing.
The former is much simpler than the latter, so Mutsuki plans to improve it step by step.
In addition, equipment could also be used-like wearing gas masks or oxygen masks.
The advantage of equipment is its simplicity; the downside is that it may get damaged during battle.
Given the intensity of ninja battles, it could break just from being grazed by a Ninjutsu.
Seeing Mutsuki return safely, the tension in the hearts of the ninjas finally eased.
No matter what opinions they might have about Hanzo, as long as they are ninjas of the Land of Rain, the first name that comes to mind when talking about the strong is undoubtedly the demigod Hanzo.
"According to the intel from Hanzo, I've been placed under a bounty. The bounty on the black market has reached 3.5 million ryo. Some bounty hunters may come after me soon."
After returning to the group, Mutsuki immediately shared the intel he had received from Hanzo.
"Some of them might be fairly strong ninjas, so the journey ahead won't be safe-it carries definite risk," Mutsuki warned.
If it were just a few people, Mutsuki was confident he could protect them. But he wasn't completely certain he could ensure the safety of all seventy-two people. After all, among bounty hunters are brutal types like Kakuzu.
If Kakuzu were the one to come, and he didn't focus solely on Mutsuki but instead attacked the squad members to distract him, Mutsuki wouldn't be able to protect everyone. At most, he could kill Kakuzu and avenge them.
"Three million five hundred thousand ryo..." Ike Masaya's pupils suddenly shrank.
As a wandering ninja, he had never seen that much money before, so he understood the level of attraction that amount held.
"Anyone who wants to leave the team can do so now-no one will blame you for it," Mutsuki offered on his own.
The ninjas looked at each other, all showing expressions of contemplation.
It had to be said, this really was a difficult decision.
Many of them weren't particularly strong-otherwise, they wouldn't be seeking out Mutsuki to learn Ninjutsu and grow stronger.
"Uncle Sosuke, don't underestimate the strength of our Akatsuki Organization! Not only can we protect ourselves, we can protect you too," Yahiko said with a hearty laugh.
Aside from Nagato, who was a special case, both he and Konan were strong-Yahiko wouldn't leave for something like this.
If anything, he wanted even more to stay by Mutsuki's side, worried that Mutsuki might be in danger.
"My strength is average, but I'll do my best not to hold anyone back," one ninja said with determination to stay.
Leaving would indeed be safer, but that's all-there would be no other meaning to it.
Staying, however, was different. Not to mention the Ninjutsu they could learn from Mutsuki-even just watching Mutsuki travel across the Land of Rain made him feel like he was witnessing a new chapter of history. Compared to his past life, he now felt like he'd been living in a haze.
After a period of internal struggle, Ike Masaya ultimately made a decision he never thought he would-he chose to stay.
After making that decision, even Ike Masaya found it unbelievable. The cautious man he was, now choosing to face danger head-on.
Ike Masaya had considered more than the others. A 3.5 million ryo bounty might not immediately attract powerhouses like Mutsuki, but as Mutsuki kills the bounty hunters drawn in, his bounty will rise-making things more and more dangerous.
But in the end, he still decided to stay-for reasons he couldn't even understand himself.
In the end, no one chose to leave the team. Everyone decided to continue following Mutsuki.
This surprised Mutsuki a bit-he had expected at least a few to leave, especially since these ninjas hadn't been with him for very long.
The black market bounty didn't affect Mutsuki's actions; he continued traveling the Land of Rain at his own pace.
If they encountered bandits, he dealt with them. If they lacked food, he completed commissions from local villagers. For difficult tasks, he stayed longer; for simpler ones, he left sooner. More and more places were visited by their group.
"So I didn't know the Land of Rain as well as I thought," Yahiko sighed.
He had once believed he understood the Land of Rain well, but it wasn't until he followed Mutsuki, traveling on foot to every village, that Yahiko realized he had only seen the tip of the iceberg.
Each village and town had its own unique struggles and conflicts. Though he had devoted himself to bringing peace to the Land of Rain, he now realized that there were problems in some places he simply couldn't resolve.
"But aren't you getting to know it now?" Mutsuki smiled and patted Yahiko on the head.
Mutsuki's main goal was to make Nagato one of the disciples listed in the system, but along the way, he didn't mind nurturing a revolutionary fighter as well.
That afternoon, Mutsuki and the others arrived at a new village. At the entrance, two children were arguing about something.
"The sun is closer to people when it just rises than at noon."
"No, no, the sun is farther when it rises than it is at noon."
"When the sun first rises, it looks as big as a wagon wheel, but at noon it's only the size of a plate. Doesn't that mean things look smaller when they're far and bigger when they're close?"
"But it feels cool when the sun first comes out, and it's scorching hot at noon. Isn't that because it's hotter when it's close and cooler when it's far?"
The two kids argued fiercely, neither willing to back down.
"Uncle in white, you look really smart. Who do you think is right?" one of the kids asked, looking at Mutsuki.
Mutsuki stepped forward with a thoughtful look, as if he were about to say something.
Whoosh!!
Suddenly, the two children sprang into action, pulling out kunai and thrusting them at the seemingly defenseless Mutsuki.
"Sosuke-sensei, look out!" a nearby ninja shouted in alarm.
They tried to move to help Mutsuki but realized it was far too late.
Bang! Bang!
Two heavy thuds rang out.
Mutsuki threw his fists at lightning speed, striking the two attacking ninjas and knocking them to the ground.
Because of the forceful blows, their Transformation Jutsu immediately broke, revealing their true appearances.
"How is this possible? He was that fast?!" The bounty ninja looked at Mutsuki in disbelief.
At such close range, Mutsuki shouldn't have been able to react in time.
Seeing Mutsuki deal with the ambushers so easily, the accompanying ninjas breathed a sigh of relief and immediately surrounded the two bounty hunters.
Mutsuki just smiled quietly. With his mastery of the Transparent World, Sensory Ninjutsu, and Byakugan, no matter how well-practiced an ordinary Transformation Jutsu was, it could never fool him.
After extracting information through interrogation, Mutsuki killed the two without hesitation.
This surprised his followers-they were seeing Mutsuki kill someone for the first time. They had assumed he was the kind of person who would reform enemies with compassion.
"When facing enemies who try to kill us, we are justified in responding in kind," Mutsuki said calmly.
He didn't kill often, but when someone tried to take his life, he never held back.
The ninjas all nodded, feeling like they now understood Mutsuki a bit more deeply.
As Mutsuki continued his journey, the number of ambushes steadily increased, and the attackers were becoming stronger.
However, thanks to the efforts of Mutsuki, Yahiko, and the others, there were no casualties within the group.
But from the bounty hunters he defeated, Mutsuki learned some troubling news: his bounty was still rising-now soaring to ten million ryo.
This was within Mutsuki's expectations. The more powerful enemies he defeated, the more credible the rumors of him being the inheritor of the Ninja Sect became-and naturally, his bounty would rise accordingly.
To improve his followers' combat abilities, Mutsuki assigned them to handle some of the weaker bounty ninjas, allowing them to hone their skills through real battles.
As the ambushes became more frequent and battles more numerous, the fame of Ninja Master Sosuke spread rapidly throughout the Land of Rain and even across the entire shinobi world. The Ninja Sect once again entered the awareness of many ninjas.
Even Obito and the others, far away in Konoha, happened to hear the name by chance.
"Ninja Master Sosuke? What kind of title is that? It'd make more sense if it were given to Mutsuki-sensei," Obito scoffed.
Obito believed Mutsuki was the one truly worthy of the title "Ninja Master." In terms of teaching quality, Mutsuki had trained them-acknowledged young geniuses. In terms of student numbers, he had once led a special training camp of nearly seven hundred people.
"Don't underestimate that guy. They say his strength rivals Hanzo's," Kakashi said, shaking his head. He knew slightly more than Obito.
Even if it was just a rumor, Kakashi was certain Sosuke had to be very strong. Otherwise, Hanzo's subordinates alone would've been enough to give him serious trouble-Hanzo himself wouldn't have needed to act.
"No matter how strong he is, his ambition is definitely not small-he actually dares to proclaim the revival of the Ninja Sect," Kakashi said, recalling the many pieces of information he had about it.
Back when he first met Mutsuki, Mutsuki had told him some things about the Ninja Sect. More recently, as Kakashi researched the Sage of Six Paths, he came across even more history related to it.
The Ninja Sect could be considered the origin of all ninja. Establishing a faction called the Ninja Sect in today's shinobi world was practically a direct provocation to every other ninja force.
Shimura Danzo felt provoked himself. He immediately went to Sarutobi Hiruzen, requesting to send an elite team of Konoha ninja into the Land of Rain.
"This Sosuke is definitely not ordinary. To prevent any unforeseen dangers, Konoha must strengthen its presence in the Land of Rain," Shimura Danzo said in a deep voice.
"This way, whether it's a conspiracy from the Land of Rain or some scheme from this Sosuke, we won't be caught off guard."
Since the Land of Rain bordered Konoha, Shimura Danzo believed Konoha's current strength there was insufficient to handle the growing unrest.
"The situation in the Land of Rain is extremely complicated. Konoha is already entangled in numerous conflicts-it's not the right time to get involved," Hiruzen directly rejected Danzo's proposal.
Hiruzen had no particular interest in the so-called Ninja Sect inheritance. Ninjutsu wasn't necessarily more powerful just because it was ancient. In fact, the newer era of ninja had developed improved techniques based on older ones, making them more practical.
In addition, Hiruzen had another concern-he feared that if Konoha's forces in the Land of Rain became too strong, it might provoke suspicion from the Hidden Sand.
Right now, the Land of Rain was basically a chessboard between the Hidden Sand and Hidden Cloud, with the Hidden Rock occasionally stirring up trouble.
If Konoha dispatched more ninja to the Land of Rain, it might give the Hidden Sand the impression that Konoha was preparing to become their enemy.
"Hiruzen, you're too indecisive! This might be our chance to break the deadlock!" Danzo said darkly.
Even though Danzo couldn't exactly explain how the deadlock could be broken, that didn't stop him from making bold claims.
Because Hiruzen rejected him so directly and bluntly, Danzo was extremely displeased, feeling that Hiruzen hadn't taken his suggestion seriously at all.
"I'm the Hokage," Hiruzen calmly reminded him.
As Hokage, his authority was absolute. When he was in a good mood, he might chat with Danzo, but when it came to truly important decisions, Hiruzen chose to trust his own judgment.
Danzo's face immediately darkened. Without saying a word, he turned and walked toward the door of the Hokage's office.
"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!" Danzo said coldly. With a loud bang, he slammed the office door and left the Hokage Building.
On his way back to Root, the more Danzo thought about it, the angrier he became.
He was angry that Tobirama had passed the position of Third Hokage to Hiruzen instead of him. He was angry that Hiruzen, his former classmate, showed him no respect.
Most people would get mad and then let it go-but Danzo wasn't that kind of person. If Hiruzen refused to give him face, he would act on his own. His Root hadn't been built up for nothing.
Danzo immediately issued an order, dispatching a portion of the Root ninja to the Land of Rain, and then mobilized Root forces outside of Konoha to head there as well.
If he weren't worried about Hiruzen noticing, Danzo would've gone to the Land of Rain himself-he was extremely curious about that so-called Ninja Sect inheritance.
...
A ninja with stitch marks on his body exchanged a corpse for a bag of money at a bounty exchange station. He looked down and flipped through the bounty book.
"Sosuke, title: Ninja Master. Capable of fighting with five chakra natures. Bounty: 13 million ryo. An additional 5 million ryo for capturing him alive."
The stitched ninja closed the booklet and nodded in satisfaction.
"A perfect capture earns 18 million ryo. Not bad at all."
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