Chapter 111: Four Years Later
Amegakure Village (Village Hidden in the Rain).
Uehara Naraka didn't know what happened in Konoha.
As a qualified mastermind, what Uehara Naraka needed to do was check his results. Right now, the results looked pretty good.
A wanted-poster storm against Uchiha Obito, orchestrated by him from behind the scenes, directly caused his main quest progress to leap, reaching twelve percent.
Unfortunately, it could only stop here.
This was Uehara Naraka's last major move against Uchiha Obito this year.
Moreover, although the hidden villages of the Five Great Ninja Nations vehemently denounced Uchiha Obito, they ultimately found no trace of him. This storm gradually dissipated with the passage of time.
Time advanced bit by bit.
Uehara Naraka also gained two teammates, Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku. The Ame squad formed by these three gradually became active in the ninja world.
Uehara Naraka also grew day by day, becoming a naive and kind young adult ninja; Kaguya Kimimaro's body also improved day by day; only Haku in their squad grew increasingly delicate and cute.
Four years passed in the blink of an eye.
During these four years, the ninja world was like a pool of stagnant water.
It was actually normal for the ninja world to be so peaceful; after all, Uehara Naraka, this great mastermind, was also confined within Amegakure by his teacher.
Besides Uehara Naraka, whether the ninja world was chaotic or not was decided by the Uchiha.
Unfortunately, whether Uchiha Obito or Uchiha Itachi, both seemed to be staying quietly in some corner, not causing much of a stir.
But this year, a new Uchiha would become a ninja.
Precisely Konoha Village's Uchiha Sasuke.
Besides Uchiha Itachi, perhaps only Uehara Naraka would pay attention to Sasuke and Team 7's situation. After all, Team 7 would replace others to become his first batch of "leeks" to harvest.
Everything played out just as Uehara Naraka predicted.
When Team 7, led by Kakashi Hatake, was carrying out the Land of Waves mission, the ninjas they encountered were still Zabuza Momochi's squad.
Unfortunately, Zabuza Momochi's partner had changed.
This time, Zabuza's partner was that guy Mangetsu Hōzuki.
Zabuza Momochi + Mangetsu Hōzuki, two full members of Akatsuki—this was a combination sufficient to make Team 7 despair.
Because missions in Amegakure were scarce, Uehara Naraka couldn't find a suitable excuse to go out for a while. As he gradually grew older, Konan began to strictly prohibit him from contacting Akatsuki members, the reason being she worried he would be corrupted by those rogue ninjas.
Fortunately, there were still Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku.
Konan didn't mind those two contacting Akatsuki members.
Uehara Naraka sat on a concrete pipe in Amegakure, reached out to take a glass of iced juice from Haku's hand, and asked curiously, "Have Mangetsu Hōzuki and Zabuza Momochi returned? How did their mission in the Land of Waves go?"
"Looking at the results, not bad."
Kaguya Kimimaro nodded and said gravely, "They killed Gatō and have already transported Gatō's money and valuables to Akatsuki's base. However, a small problem occurred in the middle: the two seniors encountered Konoha's Kakashi Hatake, and both sides suffered heavy injuries."
Uehara Naraka couldn't help shaking his head, clicking his tongue in admiration, "Tsk, that guy really does fight everyone to a 50-50 draw!"
Kakashi Hatake's way of balance was truly absurd.
Two full Akatsuki members were defeated by him. Could it be that because of the Uchiha Obito affair, Kakashi Hatake became stronger again?
The Land of Waves incident passed, and Haku survived his fated death.
Uehara Naraka, on the other hand, completed a side quest just by lying down.
Side Quest: Let Haku Live (1/1). Mission Complete. Reward Skill: Ice Barrier.
Ice Barrier: Creates a giant ice wall by freezing the air, lasts 5 seconds. Minimum cost 75 Chakra. Cooldown 10 seconds.
This kind of skill, Uehara didn't care much about anymore.
During these four years, the hard work of peacefully training in Amegakure finally paid off. Uehara finally made himself stronger through his own cultivation and the accumulation of time.
Okay, mainly he grew up.
After all, Uehara Naraka was already sixteen this year. Whether height or physique, too many changes had occurred. Adding the rewards from a few side quests, his strength had increased slightly.
Life Energy: 8321 (Standard Kage-level 3000~10000)
Chakra Energy: 10045 (Beyond conventional standards!)
Health Regen: 9/sec
Chakra Regen: 6/sec
Skill Cooldown Reduction: 50%
Remaining Gold Coins: 2730
Just as Uehara Naraka finished listening to Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku's report and was about to leave, a young girl climbed onto the concrete pipe where they were.
Her name was Ajisai; she was a newly graduated Genin from Amegakure this year.
Ajisai walked step by step before Uehara Naraka and said softly, "Lord Uehara, Lady Angel wants you to be in charge of receiving the Konoha envoys."
"Konoha envoys?"
Uehara Naraka couldn't help raising an eyebrow.
Amegakure had always been in a closed state, announcing externally that they were still in a civil war. Generally, neighboring countries had long since stopped bothering with Amegakure's affairs.
However, the arrival of these Konoha envoys this time was indeed for an important matter.
Their purpose was to invite Ame ninjas to participate in the joint Chunin Exams. According to ninja theory, the Chunin Exams were equivalent to the ninja world's arms race.
If Amegakure was willing to participate, they could directly send a team-leading Jonin and Genin participating in the exams to the border of the Land of Fire.
After registering with Konoha ninjas at the border, temporary Konoha Village passes would be issued uniformly to avoid unnecessary conflicts.
After the Konoha envoys left, paper butterfly after paper butterfly appeared beside Uehara Naraka, converging into Konan's form.
Four years passed.
Konan hadn't changed much, just gained a trace of mature charm.
Konan looked up at her taller disciple, a slight frown of worry on her brow, and asked softly, "Will there be any conspiracy in the Chunin Exams organized by Konoha?"
"Just showing off the abundance of talent in a major hidden village, perhaps?"
Uehara Naraka smiled and continued softly, "Konan-sensei, help me prepare three Genin registration certificates. Haku, them, and I will also participate in these Chunin Exams."
Hearing Uehara Naraka's words, Konan's eyes were full of bewilderment, "Naraka, why would you want to participate in the Chunin Exams?"
Has this disciple lost his mind?
Uehara was Amegakure's future leader!
"I want to investigate intelligence on Shimura Danzō."
Uehara Naraka looked at the worried Konan, shook his head, and said in a low voice, "Teacher, there's no need to worry about safety."
The Chunin Exams were a major event. Uehara actually also planned to use the opportunity to sneak out and have some fun, and incidentally harvest the "leeks" cultivated many years ago and the newly grown ones.
If possible...
Uehara Naraka's eyes glinted darkly. He really wanted to try and see if he could use this opportunity to lure Naruto Uzumaki to the dark side, even guide him to join the Akatsuki organization.
There were quite a few Naruto "dark side path" quests in the side quests!
For example, a certain side quest to have Pain and Naruto Uzumaki sit shoulder to shoulder smoking in the ruins of Konoha—the reward was absolutely unimaginably high!
But the completion difficulty was also extremely high.
After all, underage individuals in the ninja world were prohibited from smoking and drinking. Besides, Nagato couldn't possibly manipulate Pain to smoke, right?
This was very troublesome.
While Uehara was racking his brains, Konan was also considering the feasibility of her disciple participating in the Chunin Exams. Sixteen years old participating in the Chunin Exams, seemed plausible?
If one ignored Uehara Naraka's claim of investigating Shimura Danzō's intelligence, it felt more like Uehara Naraka was going to bully a group of children.
As for safety, there was no need to worry.
Under Konan's careful nurturing, her disciple's strength was not much different from Akatsuki's full members, and he could also summon the Deva Path Pain.
This disciple had also grown up; seemed like he could be let out to fly a bit?
After pondering for a moment, Konan raised a question, "You need a team-leading Jonin, but it's not convenient for me to appear..."
"That's simple."
A smile appeared on Uehara Naraka's face, "Why not just let Hirakawa-senpai go with us? He's an old friend of ours anyway."
(End of Chapter)
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