LRAB Chapter 216 The Weasel's Secret Meeting with Jiraiya
Chapter 216 The Weasel's Secret Meeting with Jiraiya
Chapter 216 The Weasel's Secret Meeting with Jiraiya
The forest surrounding Konoha Village in the Land of Fire.
Kisame, with his shark-like face, grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp, serrated teeth, and casually asked, "Mr. Daiichi, aren't you going in this time?"
He shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice, "No, we won't go in for now. It's been too short since we last came to Weiye, and Weiye probably hasn't let its guard down yet."
Kisame grinned upon hearing this: "That's true. We caused quite a commotion last time. Konoha is probably on edge right now. It would be unwise to rush in."
"I wonder what Payne called us here for. I'm getting impatient."
As he spoke, Itachi recalled the scene from when he rashly infiltrated Konoha last time.
The image of Sasuke charging at him recklessly, his pained and twisted expression, and his heart-wrenching lament still seemed to echo in his ears.
Thinking of the pain Sasuke had endured back then, a barely perceptible sadness flashed across Itachi's eyes. It was only thanks to Jiraiya's sudden arrival that he and Kisame were forced to retreat in a panic.
Although his initial intention was for Sasuke's good, he did not intend to let his younger brother go through the same torment again in the short term.
Therefore, Itachi decided not to rashly enter Konoha Village this time.
Just then, Tobi's voice came from Itachi, his tone quite dissatisfied: "Come in! I haven't been to Konoha in ages!"
1
Itachi ignored the sudden noise and simply turned to Kisame, instructing, "Kisame, find a secluded spot nearby to set up camp and rest. We'll wait here for Pain's next instructions. I'll scout out the situation in Konoha."
Kisame readily nodded: "Understood."
He then shouldered his bandaged sharkskin sword, turned and walked into the forest, preparing to find a place to stay.
Seeing that Itachi remained unmoved, Tobi persisted in urging, "Come on in! There's so much good food in Konoha! It would be such a waste not to go in now!"
Itachi paused for a moment upon hearing this, then narrowed his eyes slightly: "Judging from your tone—you're very familiar with Konoha?"
Afei smugly snorted, "Of course! I came to Konoha more than ten years ago!"
"Oh?" Itachi gave a thoughtful "oh," then pressed on, "So what were you doing in Konoha back then?"
Afei was speechless: "Uh—"
As soon as he uttered the words, he immediately realized he had let something slip, and his voice abruptly stopped.
After a brief silence, Afei suddenly yawned exaggeratedly: "Ah, I'm so sleepy! I can't take it anymore, I'm going to sleep!"
Seeing this, Itachi narrowed his eyes expressionlessly. This idiot is quite wary.
He then ignored Ah Fei and let him "sleep," while he sat down cross-legged.
Itachi quickly formed hand seals.
"Spiritual communication techniques."
A cloud of white smoke billowed up, and when the smoke cleared, a crow appeared on the ground in front of him.
"Come here." Itachi stretched out his arm, and the crow flapped its wings and flew to perch on his wrist.
He took a short copper tube from his pocket, stuffed it into the crow's beak, and then gently waved his hand.
The crow understood, silently flapped its wings and flew off towards Konoha Village.
Watching the crow disappear into the foliage, the weasel closed its eyes, its consciousness connecting with the crow's.
In an instant, the bird's-eye view replaced his vision—he seemed to transform into a crow in the sky, overlooking the vast Konoha Village below.
In the distance, the high walls of Konoha Village stretched across the edge of the field of vision.
The village is crisscrossed by streets and lined with houses, and pedestrians move about as tiny as ants.
Everything was calm and peaceful as usual, with no unusual disturbances.
At the edge of the horizon, the massive stone statues of the Hokage of each generation are clearly visible on the Hokage Rock, silently overlooking the entire village.
Instead of hastily lowering the crow's altitude, he hovered in the air for a moment, quietly observing the activity within the village. He noticed that at the village entrance, several Konoha guards were checking passersby, and occasionally groups of two or three ninjas would sweep across the rooftops, patrolling every corner of the village.
However, overall, Konoha Village appeared orderly, peaceful, and tranquil, just like usual.
A moment later, Itachi had a thought: Now that we're here, let's first check on Sasuke's situation.
He controlled the crows to glide slowly through the air, beginning his search for Sasuke.
The crow flew around Konoha Village for a long time, and finally, over a secluded training ground, it spotted two figures engaged in fierce combat.
The weasel's eyes lit up slightly, and it immediately swooped down to approach.
That place is the seventh training ground of Konoha Village.
Konoha Village, Training Ground 7.
The midday sun shone brightly on the training field, dust flew everywhere, and a faint smell of burning filled the air.
In the center of the training field, two figures were locked in a fierce battle, engaging in sparring.
On one side was Naruto Uzumaki, who created a series of shadow clones, three, five, and even more than a dozen of them swarming forward to attack the other person from all sides.
His main body was mixed among his clones, sometimes launching fierce attacks with fists and feet at close range, and sometimes rapidly forming hand seals to release wind-style ninjutsu, creating sharp gusts of wind.
The other side, without a doubt, is Sasuke.
He remained calm as he dodged Naruto's overwhelming attacks, using his Sharingan to skillfully evade Naruto's storm-like onslaught.
Naruto's every movement became slow and visible in the reflection of his eyes.
Taking advantage of a brief lull in Naruto's relentless attack, Sasuke swiftly formed hand seals and took a deep breath: "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive, blazing fireball roared out, hurtling straight at the group of clones ahead.
In an instant, the first few Naruto shadow clones were engulfed by flames and exploded into white smoke.
Seeing this, the remaining Narutos quickly scattered and jumped away, causing their attack to stall for a moment.
As the smoke cleared, Naruto was seen covered in sweat, but his face was beaming with excitement.
"You almost beat me, Sasuke!" He wiped the sweat from his brow and exclaimed, "I must say, you've improved quite a bit!"
Sasuke gave a soft hum: "Likewise."
Sakura, watching from the sidelines, clasped her hands tightly to her chest, her eyes fixed on Sasuke's figure on the field.
Seeing Sasuke dodge Naruto's fierce attack, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, she saw something and quickly called out, "Sasuke-kun, watch out behind you!"
Snapped!
Sasuke didn't even look, as if he had expected it, and tossed a shuriken behind him.
boom!
The shadow clone that attempted to launch a sneak attack instantly turned into a cloud of white mist and disappeared.
On the tall canopy at the edge of the training field, an inconspicuous black crow stood quietly in the dense shade of the leaves.
Through this crow, the weasel, far outside the forest, could see everything inside the training ground.
Seeing his younger brother effortlessly handle Naruto's attacks and even counterattack and gain the upper hand, Itachi Uchiha, who was usually calm and collected, couldn't help but smile with a hint of satisfaction.
Compared to their last separation, Sasuke has grown very rapidly.
Whether it's ninja tools, taijutsu, or the application of ninjutsu, everything has become more sophisticated.
Itachi glanced at Naruto and nodded to himself.
With a thought, Sasuke's figure rapidly zoomed in and magnified in the shared perspective of the crows.
With the help of those crimson eyes, he clearly saw Sasuke's stubborn and focused expression, and nodded in satisfaction.
Just then, Sasuke in the arena suddenly stopped moving, as if he had sensed something and abruptly looked towards the woods to the side.
His Sharingan quickly caught a strange red light—deep in the bushes, it seemed as if a pair of red eyes were watching him!
At the same time, a very subtle yet familiar chakra fluctuation also swept through my senses.
Sasuke's pupils contracted slightly, and he was suddenly startled: Was someone in that direction?
Moreover, this chakra gives me a strange sense of familiarity. He stared intently at the spot where the tree shadows were swaying, trying to figure it out.
However, Naruto, who was in the midst of a fierce battle, would not let this opportunity pass him by.
Seeing Sasuke suddenly lose focus, he immediately shouted, "Sasuke! What are you looking at?!"
With that shout, Naruto pounced forward from the side, his clenched fist carrying all his strength, and slammed it hard into Sasuke's face!
boom!
Caught off guard, Sasuke took the full force of the punch.
With a muffled thud, he was sent flying, rolling twice on the ground before finally coming to a stop.
"Haha!! I won!! I won!!" Naruto jumped up excitedly after landing his attack, hands on his hips, and grinned triumphantly at Sasuke. "What did I tell you? Sasuke, you were too careless, Sasuke! Getting distracted in battle is a major taboo!"
Sasuke, clutching his numb and throbbing cheek, got up from the ground, glaring angrily at Naruto: "Idiot Naruto, you're so sneaky! How dare you attack me when I wasn't looking!"
Naruto retorted, "What?! You lost and you're not admitting it! This was a fair and square duel! It wasn't me who made you lose focus!"
"Alright, alright!!" Sakura quickly ran forward, spreading her arms to block between the two. She glared at Naruto first, "Naruto, you went too far! Sasuke-kun is injured!"
He immediately turned around and anxiously helped Sasuke up. "Sasuke-kun, are you alright? Are you hurt?"
Sasuke gently pushed away Sakura's hand that was supporting him, dusted himself off, frowned, and looked towards the bushes where the crow had just perched. He said in a deep voice, "I clearly sensed something over there just now—"
Naruto and Sakura looked in the direction Sasuke pointed, and saw the shadows of the trees swaying in the forest. Apart from the rustling of the leaves in the breeze, there was nothing unusual.
Naruto curled his lip, saying dismissively, "There's nothing at all! Sasuke, you're not just making excuses because you can't accept defeat, are you?"
Sasuke snorted coldly and did not reply, but the doubts in his heart lingered.
Or is it really just my imagination?
But why did that fleeting chakra fluctuation just now remind me of—
He pursed his lips and said nothing more, but a faint unease rose in his heart.
Anger and resentment swirled in his heart, and Sasuke shook his head violently, temporarily setting aside those distracting thoughts.
He touched his still-numb cheek, re-assuming his fighting stance, and stared intently at Naruto: "Again!"
Naruto laughed heartily, clenching his fists excitedly: "Bring it on! You defeated opponent!"
Before he could finish speaking, Sasuke snorted coldly, rushed in front of Naruto, and delivered a fierce spinning kick.
Seeing this, Sakura couldn't help but sigh and rub her forehead, "Seriously, here we go again—."
I
Beneath the shade of the trees in the forest surrounding Konoha Village, Itachi Uchiha slowly opened his eyes, withdrawing from the crow's remote view.
"Ichishichi-san, did you find something?" With a cheerful voice, Kisame emerged from the forest carrying Samehada.
He had already set up a hidden camp not far away. Now, back beside Itachi, he casually asked, "How is the situation in Konoha?"
How tight is the security?
Kisame keenly noticed that Itachi, who was usually expressionless, seemed to still have a strange look lingering at the corner of his mouth.
However, before he could think about it further, he had already concealed the strange expression on his face and regained his usual calm demeanor.
Itachi slowly shook his head and said, "Everything is normal. I'll continue my investigation."
After saying that, he closed his eyes again, intensifying his connection with the crow.
At that moment, the crow was circling high above Konoha Village.
With a slight adjustment of its direction, it quickly locked onto another target.
In my field of vision, a familiar figure came into view—Jiraiya.
At this moment, Jiraiya was squatting on the outside of a hot spring wall, his body pressed against the wall, leaning forward and sticking his head out, peering through a crack in the wall with an expression as focused as a devout believer.
This one of the legendary Sannin was now striking an extremely lewd pose.
He leaned forward, his buttocks raised high, with his hands on the wall, his body leaning forward and one eye closed, while the other eye was pressed against the crack in the wall, peeking inside.
Seeing Jiraiya's "dedicated" demeanor, Itachi, who was observing from a distance, couldn't help but twitch his lips slightly.
He then composed himself and manipulated the crow to swoop down silently, landing lightly on Jiraiya's left shoulder.
From inside the hot spring walls, the occasional giggles of young girls playing in the water could be heard, almost making Jiraiya lose control; his nose was bleeding from excitement.
"Hehehe, this is amazing! These are all rare finds!"
Just as Jiraiya was engrossed in reading and imagining the plot he would write next, he suddenly felt a weight on his left shoulder, as if something had fallen on him.
At the same time, a strange aura of chakra appeared silently beside him, making the hairs on his body stand on end.
"Who?!"
He slowly turned his head, glancing warily at his shoulder out of the corner of his eye.
It was a completely black crow, perched quietly, its head tilted, staring at him with a pair of eyes that glowed with an eerie red light.
"Those eyes—!" Jiraiya's pupils contracted, and he immediately recognized the uninvited guest.
Jiraiya was no stranger to Itachi's summoning crows, and upon seeing the bright red light in the crow's eyes, he instantly recognized it as Itachi's summoning beast!
Upon thinking of this, Jiraiya's previously lewd smile vanished instantly, replaced by a serious and cautious demeanor.
The crow remained perched on his shoulder, its bright, red eyes fixed on Jiraiya.
They noticed the crow's strangely human-like gaze.
Jiraiya blushed slightly, then broke the silence with an awkward dry laugh: "Haha, I was just passing by! Just passing by!"
As he spoke, he casually moved his face away from the crack in the wall and quietly straightened his back.
It wasn't embarrassing; I just heard the playful noises coming from inside when I was passing by, and I couldn't help myself.
I didn't expect to get caught red-handed.
The crow on his shoulder naturally didn't respond; it just tilted its head and stared at him.
But the next second, it suddenly let out a "caw," opened its black beak, and spat out a small copper tube.
Jiraiya reacted quickly, catching the copper tube in his hand. He glanced suspiciously at the crow before carefully removing the stoppers from both ends of the tube and pouring out a small strip of paper rolled up inside.
When the note was unfolded, Jiraiya found that there was not a single word on it, only a simple map drawn in ink.
The map shows a secluded woodland outside Konoha Village, with a small crescent moon next to it, representing the agreed-upon meeting time at night.