Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 268: Joining

In the Village Hidden in the Rivers, in the office of the leader, Yahiko, the four of them—Yahiko, Nagato, Konan, and Ishiro—sat together chatting.

Yahiko was mostly happy about Ishiro's arrival. It was true that Jiraiya was the three's mentor, but Ishiro was also a companion whom Yahiko acknowledged. However, Yahiko still glanced at Nagato with some worry, afraid that Nagato and Ishiro would clash.

Ishiro knew what Yahiko was thinking. He looked at Nagato and asked, "Nagato, are you going to say it, or should I?"

Yahiko was stunned, looking at Nagato with a puzzled expression. Konan's hand, holding a paper crane, tightened, and she looked at Nagato with some panic.

Unlike Yahiko's clueless nature, Konan had actually sensed the change in Nagato. It was just that Nagato hadn't told her, and she was afraid of losing this hard-won friendship, so she had never told Yahiko.

Konan writing to Ishiro this time was actually in the faint hope that Ishiro could help reconcile Yahiko and Nagato.

In Konan's perception, Ishiro, like Jiraiya, was special to the three of them. No matter what outsiders said, it was useless, but the words of Ishiro and Jiraiya were different. She felt that Nagato and Yahiko might listen to their words.

Jiraiya was already dead, so Konan could only place her hopes on Ishiro.

It was just that Konan hadn't expected Ishiro to expose the thing she was most worried about as soon as he opened his mouth.

Nagato hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll say it myself."

Then, under Yahiko's curious, Konan's worried, and Ishiro's expressionless gaze, Nagato began to recount his thoughts.

After a long while, Yahiko lowered his head, not saying a word.

Konan was anxious. She glared resentfully at Ishiro, wanting to comfort Yahiko but not knowing how.

Ishiro, however, shook his head, signaling Konan not to worry.

After a while, Yahiko suddenly raised his head with a smile on his face, "Haha, Nagato, you've finally grown up too. Actually, I had anticipated this day long ago."

"In fact, Ishiro has also been working hard for the peace of the ninja world, but the path Ishiro walks has always been different from ours. Aren't we and Ishiro still friends?"

Just as expected. Ishiro smiled faintly. This was the real Yahiko. Although Yahiko's plot in the original story was not extensive, Naruto's was overwhelming. Yahiko was like a low-spec Naruto. Apart from not having as many power-ups as Naruto, he was no different from a protagonist.

If he were so easily thwarted by setbacks, then Yahiko wouldn't be Yahiko.

Konan let out a long sigh of relief and suddenly burst into a chuckle because she could clearly feel that Nagato had also breathed a sigh of relief.

Hearing Konan laugh, Nagato, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly blushed. That red color almost matched his hair.

Ishiro found it amusing, but he didn't dare to laugh, because Nagato couldn't do anything to Konan, but he could beat him up.

Yahiko saw it too. He also laughed heartily and then said, "Nagato, it's great that you have your own ideas. Your ideas have also shown me new hope. In these past two years, the development of the Akatsuki has been very slow, and the mentality of some members has also changed."

At this point, Yahiko's voice began to grow somber. Clearly, the change in the mentality of the Akatsuki members made him very sad. Yahiko had once wanted to change things, but his efforts had failed.

Although Yahiko remained firm in his own ninja way, when he was alone, he couldn't help but wonder, what if this path was wrong? Had he let Konan and Nagato down?

Now it was better. Nagato had also found his own ninja way. This way, even if his own path was wrong, there was still a chance. Originally, in Yahiko's view, besides his own ideas, only the path chosen by Ishiro was an opportunity. Now, with Nagato's path added, this was a good thing.

Although everyone's methods were very different, their original intention for the peace of the ninja world was the same.

Then, Yahiko, Nagato, and Ishiro began to open their hearts and chat freely about their ideas.

And Konan, on the side, watched with a silly smile, "This is great. Nagato is still Nagato, Yahiko is still Yahiko, everyone is still together, no need to separate, and even less need for conflict."

Konan was happy all by herself, in a silly daze.

But Ishiro and the other two suddenly turned their gazes to Konan in surprise. Was Konan about to become Kage-level?

"So Konan's ninja way is to protect the bonds between everyone. I just wonder if this bond also includes me?" Ishiro muttered to himself.

Yahiko reached out and patted Ishiro, saying, "Of course it includes you. Although you didn't grow up with us, ever since the Akatsuki was founded, you have always been helping us. We are all like-minded friends."

Even Nagato, on the side, nodded after hearing Yahiko's words.

Ishiro was stunned. So, he held such a significant place in the hearts of the three Akatsuki members?

Ishiro was also filled with emotion. All this time, Ishiro had actually been using the Akatsuki more than confiding in them. Only now did he realize that the three Akatsuki members had long since pulled him into their group; it was he himself who had always considered himself an outsider.

After a long time, Konan finally came back to her senses. Seeing the three of them looking at her, she was a little shy and lowered her head. Then, thinking something was wrong, she looked up and glared fiercely at the three of them.

After being glared at by Konan, the three of them awkwardly retracted their gazes.

Ishiro quickly changed the subject and said to Nagato, "Nagato, your Dark Akatsuki is in the recruitment phase and is short on manpower now. I can join. When you have enough people, I'll quit."

Yahiko was stunned, then slapped his thigh. "That's right! We can help Nagato!" He quickly said, "Yeah, yeah, Nagato, we can join first and help you build up the organization's structure."

"Me too, me too!" Konan said quickly, afraid the three would leave her behind.

Seeing the three looking at her, Konan quickly said, "You all saw it. I'm about to become Kage-level. I won't hold you back."

The three of them were delighted.

...

"Yahiko, you are the Jade Maiden (玉) of the Dark Akatsuki. Konan, you are the White Tiger (白). Ishiro, you are the Big Dipper (北)." Before parting, Nagato made three rings and gave them to Ishiro and the other two.

...

This trip to the Land of Rivers was very successful. Ishiro successfully resolved the conflict between himself and the three Akatsuki members caused by the Jiraiya incident.

Konan, because her strength had increased, gave Ishiro another set of notes on Paper Release, while Nagato shared his insights on Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in with Ishiro. Yahiko had nothing to help Ishiro with in terms of training.

Of course, Ishiro was not one to only take and not give. Ishiro shared his experience of developing three Kekkei Genkai with the three of them. This was not of much use to Yahiko, but it was a great help to Konan, who had also developed Paper Release, and an even greater help to Nagato, who was fusing yin and yang.

It was just that Ishiro could only share some of his own insights and experiences but could not directly teach them the method of developing a Kekkei Genkai; those things belonged to Iwagakure, after all.

Besides this, what should have been most helpful to the three Akatsuki members, especially Nagato, was Sage Jutsu. But Ishiro likewise did not have the qualification to teach it. Although the Sage Jutsu of Iwagakure was developed under Ishiro's leadership, it used the village's resources.

To develop Sage Jutsu, the resources consumed by the village were so much that even Mei, the "Grandma God of Wealth," couldn't bear it.

...

A few days later, Ishiro bid farewell to the three Akatsuki members and returned to Iwagakure.

After returning to Iwagakure, Ishiro planned to train properly for a period. He had obtained many good things recently and now urgently needed time to convert these good things into his own strength.

According to his original rhythm of taking on a new batch of disciples every two years, Ishiro should have been continuing to take disciples after a while. But this time, Ishiro did not do so. He planned to take a year off first. In this one year, Ishiro decided to first properly digest his various gains.

After telling Ōnoki about his idea, he quickly got approval.

Then Ishiro began a one-year period of closed-door training.

Ishiro's training tasks were very arduous.

Firstly, because he had read Madara's ninjutsu notes, Ishiro felt that all the ninjutsu he had learned had improved somewhat, so he planned to reorganize all the ninjutsu he knew.

Secondly, the combination of Porcelain Release and sealing jutsu also required Ishiro's careful research. The power of sealing jutsu was beyond doubt. Ishiro once believed that theoretically, there was no upper limit to sealing jutsu in the ninja world. So Ishiro decided to use the time he had planned in his childhood for developing Water Release ninjutsu on developing long-range sealing jutsu instead.

Then there was the Kekkei Tōta, Light Release. Light Release was Ishiro's strongest attack method at present, and also his only powerful attack method. As the second Kekkei Tōta to be developed in the ninja world, Ishiro felt that the future of Light Release was still great. For this, Ishiro completely gave up on spending time developing Storm Release.

Next was Sage Jutsu. The importance of Sage Jutsu needed no further explanation; just the healing aspect alone had benefited Ishiro immensely.

Besides these, Ishiro also had to practice Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in, and also spend time adapting to the increased perception range of his Mind's Eye.

Finally, and most importantly, the main quest Ishiro had set for himself absolutely could not be put down. Ishiro now had a certain level of research in the five attributes of water, fire, lightning, and earth. Among them, water and earth formed Porcelain Release, water and lightning formed Storm Release, and water, earth, and lightning also formed Light Release.

So, the three attributes of water, earth, and lightning did not require too much training from Ishiro. But the two attributes of fire and wind still required Ishiro to continue spending time practicing.

Among them, the proficiency of the fire attribute was manageable. Ishiro's fire attribute was his third attribute, and its development level was originally no less than his lightning attribute, also barely reaching the level for developing a Kekkei Genkai.

It was only later that the lightning attribute participated in both the development of Storm Release and Light Release, so now the fire attribute's proficiency was far less than the lightning attribute's.

But now there was an opportunity. Madara's specialty was Fire Release. Although his ninjutsu notes contained all kinds of attributes, Fire Release was the most numerous. Ishiro felt that there was a lot of room for improvement for his Fire Release.

But Ishiro's mastery of Wind Release was far from enough. The only Wind Release Ishiro occasionally used now was Wind Release: Breakthrough. Its development level was far from enough to develop a Kekkei Genkai.

Ishiro planned to develop Fire Release and Wind Release together, combining the two to develop a new Kekkei Genkai.

His disciple, Ogura Saki, was currently walking this path. Ogura's wisdom was very trustworthy. She had already formed a certain theoretical basis, so Ishiro didn't need to start from scratch, which could save a lot of time.

These training tasks were all Ishiro's individual training tasks. Besides these solo tasks, Ishiro also had to occasionally cooperate with Yuran Kawazoe to develop sealing jutsu, pay attention to Katsumata's genjutsu development, guide Dango in Sage Jutsu training, learn from Takumi's body movement techniques, learn the one-handed seals developed by Kazumasa Yoshimura, and guide Takuhiro Uchiyama in training gravity-type ninjutsu.

It was precisely because his training tasks were too arduous that Ishiro decided to take a year off before taking on new disciples.

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