Chapter 44: Buff Man!
"Oh?!"
Kakashi lowered his head to look at the book's cover, and his originally lazy eyes instantly sharpened.
On the cover was a voluptuous, dark-skinned mature beauty, together with a petite, cute white-haired loli!
"Heh heh heh~"
The secretly lewd Kakashi let out a strange laugh, slipped the book into his ninja tool pouch, and planned to take his time enjoying it once he had some free moments.
As for the royalties money, before setting off back to Konohagakure, Kakashi found a moment when no one was around and handed it directly to Shiromo.
Just as Kakashi was about to take his leave, he suddenly recalled the strange phenomena that had appeared during the previous battle and casually asked: "Oh right, those Snow ninja earlier, and Kazahana Dotō. Were you the one who dealt with them?"
"Oh, that was a secret technique belonging to someone in our organization,'Death Controlling Possessed Blood.' Its effect is…"
Under Kakashi's stunned gaze, Shiromo explained it exactly the same way he had to Ōnoki before, telling Kakashi about Hidan's Death Controlling Possessed Blood, the blood collection, and that its purpose was deterrence.
"…I was just asking casually."
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
Originally, even if Shiromo had refused to answer, Kakashi wouldn't have found it strange.
But Shiromo not only answered, he explained it in such detail that Kakashi was completely thrown off.
This just made things troublesome again.
The pleasant mood Kakashi had felt from getting the new edition of "Little Yellow Uncle" instantly disappeared.
After going back this time, he would have to report to the Third Hokage again.
---
In the blink of an eye, several months passed.
The Economic Mutual Alliance formed by Land of Snow, Earth, Water, Wave, and Rain developed quite well.
On the Raikage's side, things also unfolded exactly as Shiromo had said. After returning, he challenged the daimyo of the Land of Lightning, seized a great deal of power from him, and began developing the country.
However, unlike the Lands of the Economic Mutual Alliance, which had concrete plans prepared by Shiromo to follow, the Raikage had to feel his way forward on his own.
At first, the Raikage focused only on seizing power and forgot to delegate it.
He worked himself to the brink of death.
If he hadn't been a taijutsu-type ninja, he would have been worked to death outright.
Fortunately, timely intelligence arrived from the Land of Earth. The Raikage delegated the unimportant powers, handing them over to his trusted aides.
Only then did he finally have a chance to rest.
The Raikage learned that Konoha was about to hold the Chūnin Exams, but he had no intention of sending Kumogakure's genin to Konoha to take the test.
While walking through the streets of Kumogakure, the Raikage heard villagers whispering at the roadside. It sounded like they were mentioning him and his brother, Bee, and the Raikage immediately became alert.
During the recent reforms in the Land of Lightning, he had already suffered several assassination attempts from petty schemers.
Fourth Raikage wasn't afraid of assassination attempts. What he feared was someone failing an assassination and then, out of desperation, colluding with outsiders and selling out their own people's interests.
So the Raikage chose to follow them and continue eavesdropping.
In the end, he discovered that the two were actually just discussing a novel. He was instantly disappointed, but also relieved.
As for why his and Bee's names appeared in the novel, the Raikage frowned, used the Transformation Technique, and went to a bookstore to buy a copy, planning to read it during his spare time.
"Author: Hatake Kakashi. Hmph, Konoha."
Looking at the author's name on the cover, the Raikage snorted coldly.
---
Half a day later.
After reading only a small portion of the novel, the Raikage's face was as dark as Black Zetsu's backside.
The Raikage summoned a subordinate and ordered him to inform his younger brother, Killer Bee, that he could leave the Valley of Clouds and Lightning and move around near Kumogakure.
The Kumo ninja who received the order was extremely surprised.
Ever since the day the Third Raikage died, the succeeding Fourth Raikage had maintained an attitude of absolute protection toward Killer Bee. Even if it bordered on house arrest, he would not allow even the slightest possibility of something happening to Bee.
No one knew why things had changed today.
After the Kumo ninja left, the Raikage looked at the novel again.
The disgust and revulsion in his eyes were impossible to hide, yet in the end, he still didn't throw it away.
The Raikage's change in attitude toward Killer Bee was mainly due to two reasons.
The first reason was that the novel contained a story about him and Killer Bee. The process was something the Raikage didn't even dare recall, but the "ending" was that Killer Bee died.
That was what the villagers had been discussing earlier.
Killer Bee had been confined in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning for over ten years.
Villagers suspecting that Killer Bee was already dead because of the novel's plot wasn't a big problem.
But if that were the only reason, the Raikage would not have changed his stance.
The real reason was a particular segment of the story that reminded the Raikage of the previous Eight-Tails jinchūriki, and of the words Namikaze Minato had once said to him.
You must find something to fill the emptiness in a jinchūriki's heart.
---
Land of Fire, Konohagakure Village.
At the training ground, Kakashi informed the three of them that he had signed them up for the Chūnin Exams. After telling them the exam schedule, he left.
On the way back, Kakashi took out the novel and began reading.
Today, Kakashi finally finished it.
That's right, the first time. He had just finished it.
Kakashi had been reading 'Icha Icha Paradise' from the age of eighteen until now because he reread it over and over again.
The reason this novel took so long for him to finish on the first read was that every time he reached certain scenes, Kakashi simply couldn't summon the courage to continue.
Each time, he had to go through a round of mental struggle, combined with intense curiosity, before forcing himself to read on.
The novel's title was similar to 'Icha Icha Paradise', 'Buff Man Paradise'.
It told a story set in a fictional world similar to the ninja world.
In this world, there were no Five Great Ninja Villages, but instead Five Great Sects.
They were still Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, and Lightning.
The story's protagonist, Lei Ai, lost her ability to reproduce when she was young while saving a fellow female disciple.
The female disciple was deeply guilty. To repay Lei Ai, when she was on the brink of death during a mission, she asked the accompanying medical ninja to transplant her own purple bow into Lei Ai.
Lei Ai wept as she accepted it and vowed that she would live on with the female disciple's purple bow, experiencing the world in her stead.
The youth arc ended.
After obtaining the purple bow, Lei Ai cast aside emotion and began to cultivate diligently.
With yin and yang united within her, Lei Ai's strength soared. She quickly became the sect master of the Blue Cloud Sect of the Land of Lightning, and an object of admiration to all.
Lei Ai's body was strong and pure.
She was cold and aloof on the outside, yet deeply concerned for the safety of her disciples, she was known throughout the entire ninja world as the "Cold Immortal Maiden."
She was the dark-skinned beauty on the novel's cover.
Next came the great sect war.
Lei Ai's father had been killed by the sect master of the neighboring Land of Earth's Soaring Rock Sect.
The Soaring Rock Sect's master was named Damu Mu, the short white-haired loli on the cover, whose age was unknown.
Then came all kinds of love, hatred, and entanglements, endlessly intertwined.
For example, when Lei Ai led her junior sister Qi Kubi into battle against the Flourishing Leaf Sect of the Land of Fire, she was branded with an indelible mark by a blond man who always wore a gentle smile.
When leaving the mark, he also said, "You are the most beautiful girl from the Land of Lightning I've ever seen," and reminded her that she needed to fill the emptiness in her junior sister Qi Kubi's heart.
After the grand finale, there was even a preview for the next volume. Lei Ai lets go of her hatred and joins forces with Damu Mu and the other sect masters to fight against the ancient witch Radama, resurrected by resentment.
After finishing the novel, Kakashi felt deeply unsatisfied.
There were many details that simply couldn't be described.
For instance, Lei Ai and Qi Kubi practiced an extremely terrifying move called Thunder Raccoon Absolute Crushing Hot Crotch.
As for how it was performed, first, make two "V" signs with your hands.
These represent Lei Ai and Qi Kubi, and the enemy's head would be directly crushed by the force of the two colliding together.
(End of this chapter )