[Disciple Nagato Trust Level Increased, Current Trust Level Three]
As Mutsuki expected, the trust level had increased.
Previously, by revealing his identity to Nagato, he had already gained some trust. Now, having risked his life to protect him, it was natural for the trust level to rise.
If Mutsuki had spent two years with Nagato instead of just two months, he felt it might have even reached Trust Level Four.
Time was simply too short, but Mutsuki was satisfied with the current results.
Besides completing the disciple plan, Mutsuki had also done some things for the Ninja World within his capabilities.
He had founded the Ninja Sect in the Land of Rain to spread the philosophy of peace. If the Ninja Sect continued to develop at its current pace, it would not be a problem to change the chaotic situation in the Land of Rain, even if world peace was still out of reach.
"Let me heal you all first."
Mutsuki split a Shadow Clone to heal the Ninja Sect ninja and used Mystical Palm Jutsu on himself as well.
Seeing that Mutsuki was seemingly unharmed, Nagato, who had been tense the whole time, finally relaxed, panting heavily with a pale face.
Although his berserk state made him fierce, it had consumed a great deal of his Chakra and energy.
The other Ninja Sect ninja also collapsed to the ground in relief. Although not much time had passed, the tension of life-and-death battle was extremely exhausting.
"We actually won..." Ike Masaya, slumped on the ground from exhaustion, could hardly believe it.
He had thought the best outcome would be for Mutsuki to lead them to escape safely. After all, their opponent was Demigod Hanzo, the strongest in the Land of Rain and known as the pinnacle of ninjas in the ninja world, and he was accompanied by so many elite Rain Ninja.
But instead, this time was a complete victory for them-no one died, only some were injured.
Of course, Ike Masaya knew very well that although he was one of the participants, this victory had little to do with him; it was all due to the efforts of Mutsuki, Kakuzu, and Nagato.
There was no doubt that the best of the battle was Mutsuki, who held off the strongest Hanzo and came to their rescue at their most difficult moment.
Kakuzu also contributed greatly. If Kakuzu had not single-handedly held back so many Rain Ninja, the weaker Ninja Sect ninja could not have endured such pressure.
Before Nagato's outburst, he served as a Ninjutsu artillery output, and after his eruption, he quickly dealt with many enemies, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Although they had achieved a rare victory, the atmosphere on the battlefield was very quiet. Few spoke, and even Yahiko, who usually talked the most, remained silent.
However, everyone's reason was different. Nagato and Ike Masaya were too exhausted to speak, while Yahiko had been struck too hard to find words.
Even though Yahiko now despised Hanzo, before today, his feelings toward him had been genuine; he truly admired and looked up to Hanzo.
He had met Mutsuki and joined the Ninja Sect, making some progress on the path of pursuing peace.
Being invited by his idol Hanzo to maintain peace in the Land of Rain together-both of these things should have been incredibly joyful for Yahiko. Together, they should have brought him dreamlike happiness, but reality was that the cooperation was merely a trap; Hanzo wanted to eliminate the Ninja Sect.
"Why did it turn out like this? Were those rumors all false? Were they all intentionally spread by Hanzo?" Yahiko could not understand.
The one who finally broke the silence was Kakuzu.
"Sosuke, you really are a strange person," Kakuzu said, finishing tending to his own wounds and looking at Mutsuki.
Even Kakuzu didn't quite know how to evaluate Mutsuki.
Calling Mutsuki naive wouldn't be right; it felt as if the entire development of this incident was under Mutsuki's control. Mutsuki had deliberately led the Ninja Sect ninja into Hanzo's trap so they could witness the harsh reality themselves.
Can someone who acts like this and thinks like this really be called naive? Kakuzu felt that a truly naive person wouldn't do such things; even a small mistake could have killed some of the weaker Ninja Sect ninja.
If Mutsuki wasn't naive, then in Kakuzu's eyes, Mutsuki's goals and thoughts were nothing more than impossible, naive fantasies.
The more Kakuzu spent time with Mutsuki, the more puzzled he became about what kind of person Mutsuki really was. But Kakuzu wasn't without gains; he realized that Mutsuki's strength was immense, a depth of power that was hard to fathom.
"Just strange? That's not so bad," Mutsuki said with a relaxed smile. He had expected Kakuzu to use more aggressive words.
Kakuzu's face darkened slightly; he still respected the truly strong.
"Winning and still crying, looking so glum-someone might think you lost the battle and your comrades died," Kakuzu said to Yahiko, no longer gentle, firing directly.
"I..." Yahiko wanted to say something, but closed his mouth again.
He felt that the Ninja Sect falling into Hanzo's trap was largely his fault, and being criticized was what he deserved.
"What, you think everything is your fault? Don't think so highly of yourself," Kakuzu seemed to see right through Yahiko's thoughts.
"Because..." Yahiko tried to explain, but Kakuzu's words cut him off.
Seeing Yahiko being reprimanded so harshly, Konan wanted to say a few words in his defense.
But Kakuzu didn't care about gender or age; he attacked both Konan and Yahiko at the same time.
Under normal circumstances, Kakuzu wouldn't target anyone specifically, so he also attacked the others once.
"Facing setbacks isn't scary. What's scary is letting setbacks break you. We must take lessons from them as nourishment for growth to make ourselves stronger," Mutsuki ended the dispute with one sentence.
Kakuzu had to admit that Mutsuki spoke very well; he understood the reasoning, but to say it so convincingly, Kakuzu knew he couldn't match that.
"You didn't kill me, and I saved your subordinates. Our grievances are settled," Kakuzu said suddenly.
"This time you really helped a lot, thank you," Mutsuki said with a smile and a nod of thanks.
If it weren't for Kakuzu's help, this battle wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
"No need to thank me. If you really want to show gratitude, give me money," Kakuzu said bluntly.
"That won't do. The money I have is for treating everyone after the meeting, but I can invite you to eat together," Mutsuki refused to give money.
"You want to eat?"
"Let's eat then!" Kakuzu agreed without hesitation. He needed to eat properly with Mutsuki.
Kakuzu trusted that Mutsuki had no money. Even though Mutsuki was strong, he didn't take commissions, steal, or rob, so of course he had no money.
Before leaving, Mutsuki found the Kunai that Hanzo had initially thrown at him to force him into a suicide attempt. Because of the explosion, the Kunai had become worn.
Mutsuki gave the worn Kunai to Yahiko. "If you really can't let it go, you need to learn from this experience even more."
Yahiko nodded seriously and put the worn Kunai away. He would probably never forget what happened today.
Although Mutsuki said he wanted to treat everyone to a meal, such a major event still required them to first return to the Ninja Sect headquarters and report Hanzo's actions.
Some also worried that Hanzo might send ninjas to attack the Ninja Sect members who didn't attend the meeting.
When they returned to the Ninja Sect headquarters and saw the peaceful village, Yahiko and Ike Masaya finally relaxed.
Kakuzu wasn't too worried because he felt Mutsuki must have prepared some contingencies.
Mutsuki gathered the Ninja Sect members and explained Hanzo's plot.
The Ninja Sect members were all in disbelief. If it weren't Mutsuki speaking, they absolutely wouldn't have believed Hanzo could do something like this.
Some of them didn't care much about Hanzo, but no one thought he was a deceitful, cunning villain. In the impression of the Land of Rain's ninjas, Hanzo had always been a broad-minded and powerful figure.
"I didn't expect Hanzo to be that kind of person. Boss, are you okay?" Kyusuke immediately believed Mutsuki and looked at Yahiko with concern.
Although Kyusuke usually liked to joke with Yahiko, he also knew that Yahiko's mood wouldn't be good at a time like this.
"I'm fine. Uncle Sosuke is very strong. This time, Hanzo brought the trouble on himself," Yahiko shook his head and said.
Along the way, being mediated by Kakuzu and Mutsuki, Yahiko had already come to terms with many things.
It didn't matter what kind of person Hanzo really was anymore; what mattered was what they would do next.
After hearing the full account of Mutsuki and the others attending the meeting, many of the Ninja Sect members showed expressions of shock.
It wasn't that they were easily surprised, but the events had a tremendous impact on the ninjas of the Land of Rain.
The Ninja Sect members respected Mutsuki greatly, but in their hearts, the strongest in the Land of Rain was still Hanzo, because that had been their impression for decades and it was hard to change suddenly.
Mutsuki repelling Hanzo was basically like shattering their worldview, so it was difficult not to be shocked.
Mutsuki also understood the impact this would have on the Land of Rain's ninjas, so he gave them enough time to adjust and didn't assign any tasks.
After a brief rest, Nagato couldn't help but ask Mutsuki about Fire Release.
After this battle, Nagato realized that although he could use various Ninjutsu proficiently, there was still a lot of room for improvement, whether for simple Ninjutsu or high-power techniques.
While answering Nagato's questions, Mutsuki also taught him a Fire Release Ninjutsu.
[You taught your disciple Fire Dragon Flame Bullet. Because the disciple is very grateful, a critical reward is granted-Reward: Lightning Nature Chakra Transformation (Mastery level).]
Mutsuki nodded to himself; the reward was quite good.
Although he had already reached Mastery level in Lightning Nature Chakra Transformation through training, his proficiency level wasn't high, and receiving the reward repeatedly could increase it.
However, for Mutsuki, the best reward from Nagato was the daily Return of Apprenticeship, as every day it helped increase Mutsuki's Chakra.
[Disciple Nagato diligently trained, increasing Chakra: Return of apprenticeship Chakra +240]
These 240 points of Chakra-if Mutsuki wanted to farm them through lessons, he would have needed to give twelve small classes-but this was just the reward from one day of Nagato's training at trust level three.
Mutsuki saw the freedom of Chakra in Nagato. Perhaps in a few years, after entering Breathing Technique Chakra Mode, he wouldn't need to hurry to turn it off, and Armament Haki could be freely used with other Ninjutsu without worrying about consumption.
Because the lesson content this time wasn't special, Mutsuki didn't specifically take Nagato to that barrier cabin. Other Ninja Sect members instinctively came over to listen, and later Mutsuki simply gave a Fire Release class, with even Kakuzu listening seriously.
Having used Fire Release to defeat the current strongest Water Release user in the ninja world, the value of Mutsuki's Fire Release was extremely high.
Mutsuki continued teaching until evening and, due to time constraints, just ate casually at the base.
At night, Kakuzu lay in his room, constantly recalling Mutsuki's lecture content.
"If this guy charged for lessons, he might even make more than me," Kakuzu admired Mutsuki's teaching ability.
Mastering a skill and being able to teach it well are two different things; teaching is also a talent.
As Kakuzu closed his eyes, he suddenly felt like he had forgotten something.
"Weren't I supposed to leave? Why am I sleeping here?" Kakuzu remembered that when he told Mutsuki their grudges were settled, he had planned to leave.
Kakuzu got up and sat back on the bed, lost in thought.
He realized that whether he stayed or left didn't make much difference; he didn't have a home to return to.
Kakuzu's home used to be the Waterfall Ninja Village, but after being betrayed by the Elders, he no longer had a home and wandered freely across the ninja world, going wherever there were high-bounty ninjas.
"Someone like Sosuke, and a force like the Ninja Sect, will probably clash with many strong people in the future; they'll definitely run into bounty targets often."
Kakuzu thought a lot. He recalled his very first battle with Mutsuki; even then he felt Mutsuki was strong, but judging from Mutsuki's fight with Hanzo, Mutsuki had actually held back.
Kakuzu also remembered the life he led sealed within the Ninja Sect by Mutsuki. To refute Mutsuki and the Ninja Sect's ideology, Kakuzu had been observing the entire Ninja Sect during his travels-after all, he had nothing else to do.
Finally, thinking about today's battle, Kakuzu lay back down on the bed.
Following the Ninja Sect meant encountering bounty targets and even attending Mutsuki's lessons. That didn't seem so bad, and since Mutsuki had said he'd treat them to a meal-which Kakuzu hadn't eaten yet-he had to finish eating before leaving, otherwise it would feel like a loss.
...
"Sosuke knows the Rinnegan, but he doesn't seem interested in it. Sosuke is very strong; he can suppress Hanzo's Water Release with Fire Release even in the rain," Black Zetsu reported everything that happened in the Land of Rain to Madara.
"It shouldn't affect my plan in the short term," Madara nodded slightly, not paying much attention to Black Zetsu's following words.
For the ninjas of the Land of Rain, Hanzo was engraved in their minds as the strongest, but to Madara, Hanzo was just a junior he didn't know well-how strong could he really be?
Madara looked down equally on everyone except Hashirama.
"Keep an eye on him and gather intelligence," Madara said after thinking.
Nagato played an important role in Madara's resurrection plan. His successor would guide Nagato, and if Mutsuki was still by Nagato's side then, Mutsuki would become an obstacle that had to be removed.
Seeing that Madara didn't seem particularly concerned about Mutsuki, Black Zetsu felt a bit disappointed. He had expected Madara to propose some solution to deal with Mutsuki.
Black Zetsu valued Mutsuki highly. After the battle with Hanzo, Mutsuki's level of Fire Release made the Ninja Sect's so-called legacy seem more credible. How could ordinary people cultivate Fire Release to such a level? After living for thousands of years, didn't he know the limits of ordinary ninjas?
"Madara is only at this level. That's fine-once the Eye of the Moon Plan is completed, the final step will be very simple." Black Zetsu prepared to find a way to deal with this ninja named Sosuke.
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