Chapter 444: Team Darui
Kumogakure's invitation for Konoha to return the visit was not deliberately kept secret.
So soon, this news spread like wildfire, and naturally reached Iwagakure.
The Stone Ninja were shocked—actually not.
Because they made the same decision.
Since Cloud and Stone could not unite, then naturally they should join the alliance on Konoha's side, four against the remaining one Stone/Cloud Ninja! It must be said that after loving and killing each other for so many years, the two villages were unexpectedly in tacit agreement.
Tsunade was very happy. Her painstaking efforts to invite the Cloud and Stone observation groups and show them muscles achieved immediate results—at this time, she didn't know the news that the Two-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchuriki had been taken by Akatsuki. Akatsuki's two slaps hurt the Raikage and Tsuchikage's faces, making them recognize the facts at once and decisively band together for warmth...
What a painful realization!
Don't laugh at these people's style of not shedding tears until seeing the coffin. In the original story, the Five Kage Summit was only convened when only the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails were left. That was truly swallowing tears even after seeing the coffin!
Of course, the current Five Great Ninja Villages didn't mean to unite as one to fight against Akatsuki yet—although they also knew cooperation would be beneficial and harmless, there were always many things to wrangle about when forming an alliance: loose and temporary, or tight and long-term? How much manpower and material resources should each contribute? Who takes the lead and who plays a supporting role? As long as the matter wasn't burning their eyebrows, according to human nature, these things wouldn't be resolved quickly.
Even Konoha, Sand, and Mist, who had just entered the honeymoon period and were as close as glue, had disputes over these issues: after all, although Sand bowed to Konoha, Mist did not! Terumi Mei was unwilling to be ordered around all day by an old woman old enough to be her mother but with a face younger than hers—jealousy made her separate from the cell wall.
The question of dominance was particularly critical.
Just because Konoha took the lead to bring everyone together didn't mean it could naturally be the leader, at least this logic didn't work with the Raikage.
"Konoha, Sand, Mist, and Stone all have rogue ninja becoming members of Akatsuki, only our Cloud Ninja are relatively united, with no high-level ninja defecting to Akatsuki! Just on this point, we are more qualified to be the leader than other villages!"
The Raikage said loudly to his subordinates.
Standing in front of him were the members of Team Darui.
Leading them was Darui, a man with the traditional dark skin of Cloud Ninja, thick lips, wearing a sleeveless flak jacket and bell-bottoms. The words "Lightning" and "Water" were tattooed on his shoulders respectively, representing the two nature transformations he was good at and their combined Kekkei Genkai: Storm Release.
The word Darui means lazy in Cloud Ninja slang. Cloud Ninja names are interesting; people named lazy generally have lazy personalities: Darui's catchphrases are "dull" and "sorry." His personality is a rare cynical type among the Cloud Ninja who advocate muscle and violence, truly an anomaly.
He is such a lazy but very strong ninja—really don't know how such a lazy person cultivated such strength.
"Understood, Raikage-sama~" Darui dragged out the ending sound and said漫不经心 (carelessly/nonchalantly).
Raikage Ay had seen Darui's lazy posture too much and didn't mind, continuing: "Especially certain villages, hiring Akatsuki to fight repeatedly. Those villages are not trustworthy and didn't have the strength to compete for the leader from the beginning!"
" anyway, listen well to these things! When you see Tsunade, don't forget to convey my words to her. Cloud Ninja can join the alliance formed by their three countries, but the responsibility of the leader should be borne by the Raikage! Do you understand?"
"Yes, Raikage-sama~"
Darui's lazy tone sounded quite unreliable. The Raikage's rough features twitched, hesitating for a moment whether to send someone else to Konoha.
"Forget it, it has to be him." The Raikage considered for a long time but still gave up this tempting idea. This mission was more important to show the strength of Cloud Ninja, as a response to Konoha's previous muscle flexing, so Darui, the only successor of the Third Raikage and possessing high strength, was the best choice.
The team members behind Darui couldn't stand it. A female ninja with fair skin, beautiful appearance, big breasts, and buttocks secretly kicked his calf: "Be serious, Captain!"
Her name is Samui—this word means "cold" or "ice" in Cloud Ninja slang. This girl's personality happened to be the calm and taciturn type, matching her name.
"Samui," the Raikage said with some helplessness, "You help Darui with this mission."
As an excellent Jonin among Cloud Ninja, unlike those Cloud barbarians with muscle brains and reckless actions, Samui was knowledgeable, cautious, and calm in action, skilled in using short swords. She was another anomaly among Cloud Ninja, thus deeply trusted by the Raikage, at least more trusted than the unreliable Darui. Of course, fair skin, calmness, and intellect were nothing—
Her biggest feature was...
"Yes!" Samui's answer was concise and powerful.
"Besides the mission of delivering the letter on the surface," the Raikage unfolded a scroll, handed it to Darui, and continued, "You pay a little attention to the Konoha ninja mentioned in this scroll. If there is a chance, get as close to them as possible to confirm the correctness of the scroll's intelligence."
That was the paper filled with intelligence recorded by the observation group.
The Raikage tapped hard on the scroll, exactly where the intelligence text about Haruno Sakura was.
"Especially this person."
"If there is no chance, forget it. Don't be too abrupt."
"Depart!"
Samui rubbed her shoulders and followed Darui out of the Raikage's office. Her figure destined her shoulders to bear a heavier burden—after all, being a woman is tiring.
When Darui brought Samui, Omoi, and Karui to Konoha, Haruno Sakura happened to return to the village to resupply daily necessities and food.
By the way, Omoi and Karui mean "heavy" and "light" in Cloud Ninja slang. Both are disciples of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. The name Heavy doesn't mean Omoi is fat and heavy; he is a traditional Cloud Ninja man, brown skin, good at Kenjutsu, physically strong; but the name Light hints at something... after all, lacking a few ounces of flesh on the chest.
In the Hokage's office, Haruno Sakura met the visiting Cloud Ninja group.
"Sakura, is your training over?" Tsunade was a little puzzled.
"Not yet!" Sakura shook her head and said, "I just came back to replenish some supplies, including food."
"Oh." The Fifth Hokage responded simply.
With ninja from outside the village present, it wasn't good for her to ask about the girl's training progress in detail. She mentioned it slightly and decisively stopped the topic.
"Let me introduce," Tsunade said with a smile, "These are messengers from Kumogakure. They came to deliver a letter to me by order of the Raikage."
"This is Darui... Samui... Omoi... and Karui." She pointed one by one to the Cloud Ninja standing aside, whose style was obviously different from Konoha ninja.
"This is Haruno Sakura, Konoha Jonin, and also my disciple."
When mentioning Sakura, Tsunade obviously showed a somewhat proud expression on her face.
The Cloud Ninja were all a little surprised.
Surprised to meet the main target the Raikage specifically asked them to pay attention to so quickly, and even more surprised by Haruno Sakura's youth.
Although the data had stated her age, seeing such a slender and young girl actually able to repel Akatsuki members successively, and even kill an Akatsuki member in a one-on-two battle last month...
"Hello, Haruno Sakura... I've heard a lot about you."
The slovenly expression on Darui's face suddenly disappeared, and light seemed to suddenly appear in his lifeless fish eyes.
He took two steps forward, actively extended his right hand, and made a gesture of shaking hands.
This behavior was actually somewhat impolite. A boy actively initiating a handshake, in some people's eyes, meant wanting to touch a girl's hand and take advantage, especially when facing a cute girl.
Haruno Sakura didn't have so many fastidious and hypocritical rules. She shook hands with him generously and smiled: "Hello. Welcome to Konoha, hope you have fun."
Darui's hand was powerful. The calluses on his palm indicated he was a good taijutsu user. The feeling of chakra was lively; he probably also had achievements in ninjutsu. Haruno Sakura analyzed subconsciously.
Darui, who came prepared, also analyzed a lot from this contact.
The palm was warm, soft, and delicate, without calluses, indicating she rarely used ninja tools, and her combat style leaned towards empty-handed or ninjutsu combat; the fist face was flat, fingers powerful, and the knuckles of the middle finger had traces of wear, a typical sign of practicing punching, indicating frequent use of Monstrous Strength...
The intelligence about Haruno Sakura in the scroll given by Raikage-sama basically matched the reality.
While the Cloud Ninja scrutinized Haruno Sakura, the girl was also carefully examining them.
Cloud Ninja seemed to all have the same dark and rough skin, carrying a long sword on their backs—except for Samui. Her skin was snow-white, firm and smooth like the finest white porcelain, so delicate that not a single pore could be seen. She didn't have a long sword on her body, but a short sword hung at her waist.
Of course, Samui's most eye-catching feature was not her flawless skin, but the pair on her chest; it was the first time Sakura saw a woman who could compare chest size with her master!
As the captain, Darui felt very strong. Haruno Sakura could even vaguely sense the scent of Kekkei Genkai on him...
As for the other two, probably side characters, not worth mentioning.
"Tsk... then, you guys chat first." Haruno Sakura let go of her hand and chuckled lightly, "I'm leaving first."
She came here just to greet Tsunade.
The training in Shikkotsu Forest was not finished yet—the little slug's remark about the difficulty being higher than she imagined wasn't said casually. After replenishing supplies and getting some things from the secret base, Haruno Sakura immediately went back to continue training...
Almost at the same time.
In an underground cavern in the Land of Rain.
The Gedo Statue stood quietly in the pitch-black space. It extended its hands forward, palms open, ten fingers curled pointing to the sky.
The cave flickered with glimmering light. That was the Magic Lantern Body Technique. Akatsuki members gathered here through this move, each projecting onto a finger.
There were not many people.
Orochimaru left, Deidara and Kisame Hoshigaki died.
This summer, Akatsuki's gathering was a bit lonely.
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