Chapter 311: The Ninja Swordsmen Mobilize
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was already late November of Konoha Year 53.
Over the past half month, Masahiko had discovered a magical thing—Ice Release was affected by the weather.
In his hands, he didn't feel much of a difference, but as the weather turned cooler, Haku's use of Ice Release became increasingly effortless, and 'her' progress was extremely rapid.
For example, right now, Masahiko was surrounded by over a dozen ice mirrors, and in each mirror, there was a Haku.
Haku in front, Haku behind, Haku when he opened his eyes, and Haku when he closed them... Masahiko felt a bit dizzy.
"What the hell, looks like I have to go beat up Naruto again today."
Ever since half a month ago, when Naruto used the Sexy Jutsu—female Haku version—right in front of him, Naruto's life had become a living hell.
Masahiko used his fists and feet to firmly engrave the fact that Haku was a boy into Naruto's mind. Later, when Kushina found out about this, she didn't hold back either.
It was fortunate that Minato had a 'gentle' personality, saving Naruto from being beaten a third time on the same day.
But that wasn't the end of it.
After all, Masahiko had to train Haku and the other two, which meant close contact with Haku every day.
A slightly girlish gesture from Haku, or a sentence spoken with a slightly girlish tone, would remind Masahiko of that incident again... and so Naruto would get another beating.
Today was even worse. Haku had preliminarily mastered the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals jutsu. Masahiko had 'her' use it on him, and then... there was Haku everywhere.
"Alright, cancel the jutsu. You've mastered it well. I can't even tell which one is the real one..." This was almost becoming Masahiko's weakness.
Haku complied and canceled the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals.
"Since you can use it, you must practice diligently. For sparring, you can find Kimima... find Karin, or if Zabuza is free, you can let him see your new jutsu."
"Mm." Haku smiled and replied.
Masahiko was dazzled by the smile for a moment and hurriedly waved his hand, letting 'her' go practice on her own, while he turned to Karin and Kimimaro.
During this period, Karin had successfully earned the title of 'Fast Hands Kunai Thrower'. She could throw ten boxes in a row, one box per minute.
Masahiko planned to teach her some basic Water and Earth Release jutsu in a few days; she possessed both of these affinities.
Not only that, ever since he used special methods to test Karin's chakra affinities a few days ago, Masahiko held great expectations for her future, even more so than for Kimimaro and Haku.
The Uzumaki clan physique mostly possessed Yang affinity, like Nagato; a minority possessed Yin affinity, like Kushina. But Karin had both Yin and Yang.
As for Kimimaro...
"Kimimaro, how many kicks was that!"
"Bang! Bang! 456 times! Bang! God."
Masahiko was helpless. "Can you not count silently? Don't you think shouting it out is the proper way for this kind of training?"
"Yes! 475, bang! 476, bang! Bang! Bang!..."
Masahiko: "..."
Counting out loud twice was already an eye-opener for him. Kimimaro was the only existence capable of using 'self-discipline' to train without his personality being affected at all.
"No, or perhaps the Mighty Dai lineage isn't quite normal either?" Masahiko felt inexplicably gratified. "Hitomi, you being single your whole life really wasn't your teacher's fault; it's just your nature."
Having shifted the blame, Masahiko had just breathed a sigh of relief when a Land of Whirlpools ninja appeared beside him.
"Great Elder, the White Fang of Konoha is here!"
"Sakumo?" Masahiko frowned. "I understand, I'll head over right now."
"Sakumo came personally... Is he here to get Minato to go back and be Hokage again?"
In the Land of Whirlpools, inside the Uzumaki Clan Head's hall, Masahiko met Sakumo.
"Here for Minato?" Masahiko asked directly.
"Elder Masahiko, I am here for you, not the Fourth."
"For me?"
Masahiko glanced at Minato, who nodded to confirm.
"Hold on, don't say anything yet, let me guess." Masahiko put on a thoughtful expression.
"First, you can't be here to ask for reinforcements. Konoha's only opponent now is the Rock Village, and the Land of Rain should have withdrawn from the war. Konoha holds a massive advantage in combat power."
"Second..."
"Elder Masahiko, I am here to ask for reinforcements," Sakumo interrupted.
"Yo! You guessed wrong, Teacher."
Masahiko helplessly rubbed his forehead. Sakumo, were you sent by monkeys specifically to mess with me?
Swaying his body, he glared at the gloating Nagato. Nagato hurriedly stood up and gave his seat to Masahiko.
"No situational awareness at all." Masahiko sat down and glared at Sakumo again. "Speak, what's going on?"
Sakumo smiled bitterly. "This has to start from you yielding the position of the Land of Rain's leader to Yahiko."
Masahiko nodded. He wasn't surprised that Konoha had guessed it was him. There weren't many powerhouses capable of successfully impersonating Hanzo in the first place; this was very normal... If he knew how Shikaku had guessed it, tears would probably fall from his eyes.
"You might not know this yet, but Yahiko is Jiraiya's disciple."
"How could I not know? If I didn't know, would I just casually give the leadership of the Land of Rain to him?"
Sakumo was stunned. "Wasn't it because he rescued your two apprentices?"
"It's a bit of both. Continue. Just being Jiraiya's disciple shouldn't affect Konoha's major decisions, right? They would still fight if they have to."
"It's not just him, there's also Obito and Rin..."
Masahiko scratched his head. He had only considered Jiraiya and forgot about his own involvement.
Sakumo continued: "There are three routes between Konoha and the Rock Village. The Land of Rain is impassable, and the Hidden Waterfall Village has Kakuzu, who is also a very troublesome guy. That only leaves the Hidden Grass Village."
"But the Grass Village is too close to the Sand Village. The Third Hokage doesn't want to let the Rock Village off easily, but if the Sand Village seizes the opportunity to rejoin the battlefield, getting dragged into a protracted war is not what he desires."
Masahiko was thoughtful, and Sakumo added: "Although the Third Hokage is asking for reinforcements, he doesn't need you to dispatch ninja troops."
Saying this, Sakumo looked at Nagato. "We only need you to have your disciple Nagato or Konan make a trip to show the Land of Whirlpools' stance, making the Sand Village afraid to make any reckless moves. We will hire them at the price of an SSS-rank ninja."
Masahiko shook his head with a smile. "Quite a comprehensive consideration."
Masahiko exchanged a glance with Nagato and smiled. "Never mind Nagato and Konan; they have their own matters to attend to. You know we recently established the Ninja Swordsmen, right? Have them make the trip. As for the reward, we are still missing two ninja swords. I plan to forge them myself, but I'm short on materials..."
Sakumo was stunned. The raw materials used to forge things like the Seven Ninja Swords were quite valuable.
"This requires the Third Hokage's approval."
Masahiko nodded, handed him a list of materials, saw Sakumo off, and turned to Nagato. "Gather those five guys. It's their first collective mission; have them make a name for the Ninja Swordsmen of the Land of Whirlpools. Don't make it seem like our Land of Whirlpools only has you four as our fighting force."
Masahiko didn't believe Hiruzen would disagree. The benefits of winning the war far outweighed those few materials.
"With this, the forging of the other two ninja swords can be put on the agenda... What should I forge..."
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