Since receiving news of Sasori's defection, Masahiko had been closely watching the movents of the Sand Village. First, he was curious about what exactly had changed. Second, he wanted to know if the Third Great Ninja War would still arrive on schedule.
Unexpectedly, he didn't get any news from the Sand Village side, but soone from the Land of Whirlpools ca to deliver a ssage. Because they couldn't find him, the ssage was passed to Hiruzen.
"Elder Masahiko, there are abnormal movents in the Cloud Village!" Sakumo found him.
Masahiko was startled and looked completely puzzled.
Although the Cloud Village had recovered so of its strength over the years and the Fourth Raikage had succeeded the position, they were still far behind the Land of Whirlpools. Even without adding Masahiko, they might not necessarily be able to defeat the Land of Whirlpools.
They knew this fact too. The annual "tribute" was handed over in a tily manner, never delayed.
Looking at Sakumo before him, Masahiko nodded. "I understand. Is there no other news? For example, news about the Mist Village or Sand Village?"
Sakumo hesitated but still spoke up.
"The Mist Village has no abnormalities, but the Sand Village seems a bit wrong; their movents are strange."
"That's more like it." Whether it was Sasori's defection or the death of the Third Kazekage, at least one event should have happened. It would be strange if the Sand Village were completely normal.
"Then what about the Cloud Village side? What's going on there?"
Sakumo shook his head. "We haven't detected the reason for that either."
Masahiko smiled. "It's fine. Probably sothing went wrong sowhere. I'll go back and take a look."
He didn't think the Cloud Village would be stupid enough to launch a resistance against the Land of Whirlpools at a ti like this. It must be so other reason.
However, taking this opportunity, Masahiko happened to need to return to the Land of Whirlpools; he had so things to do.
He gave so instructions to Sara, entrusting her to Ichiraku Ran again. Masahiko found that he didn't even need to worry about this daughter. Since she beca an apprentice at Ichiraku Ran, he could save a lot of worry on matters big and small.
"If my two apprentices co over, just say I have business and went out. Open the door for them and let them co in by themselves," Masahiko instructed.
Afterwards, Masahiko went straight back to the Land of Whirlpools. He didn't go looking for Nanako or Kento; he didn't feel there was any need for the two of them.
Flying high in the sky, Masahiko's speed wasn't very fast because he was holding a white kitten in his arms.
"You are also a cat who has seen the world now." Masahiko smiled.
"ow~" This wasn't a response, just the little kitten shrinking back into Masahiko's arms out of fear.
"You're not small anymore; can't call you 'little milk cat.' From now on, you'll be called Huamao (Flower Cat/Spotted Cat)." Who knows what Masahiko was thinking? It was clearly a pure white cat, yet he insisted on calling it a flower cat.
It took a full hour or more for Masahiko to fly back to the Land of Whirlpools, where he found Yoriko directly.
"Teacher, you're ba... brought a cat back." As soon as Yoriko spoke, she noticed the cat in Masahiko's arms.
"What kind of greeting is that?" Masahiko didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He put Huamao down, and it flew off to find a place to hide.
"I heard the Cloud Village seems unable to sit still, so I ca back to take a look."
Yoriko nodded. "I also sent people to scout during this ti, but found nothing. They don't look like they want to start a war, but they are indeed frequently sending out scout ninjas."
"Is that so?" Masahiko paused, then smiled. "Just send soone to ask them directly. If there's anything they need to scout, we can help them. Of course, we have to charge a fee."
Yoriko was stunned and nodded vaguely.
"Then Teacher, what if they don't say?"
"If they don't say, they don't say. Just ignore them. I'll stay in the Land of Whirlpools for a while to see if they've gone crazy."
Masahiko really didn't believe that the Fourth Raikage, who was reckless on the surface but "delicate" inside, wouldn't understand Great Demon King Masahiko's dominance.
Gravity burst forth, and Huamao flew into Masahiko's arms with a look of hopelessness.
Leaving Yoriko's place, Masahiko found his two young disciples at the training ground.
"Teacher!"
Masahiko nodded. "I haven't paid much attention to your training lately. Any progress?"
The two were already fourteen, in their developntal phase, improving rapidly—changing every day, so to speak. Masahiko had asked a purely nonsense question.
Unsurprisingly, Masahiko got the answer "There is progress." However...
"How many seconds for the hundred ters?" As soon as this question was asked, the two children's expressions stiffened again, obviously recalling the fear dominated by the 100-ter track. They felt that testing ninjas on a 100-ter dash was just too stupid; even Nagato didn't want to do it.
"Just teasing you, don't worry. Next, Nagato, you train by yourself for a while. Konan, it's ti to make paper bombs (explosive tags) again."
This was Masahiko's true purpose for returning. Regardless of whether the Third War started as scheduled, he wanted to stockpile a batch of explosive tags; they might co in handy.
"Yes, Teacher." The two agreed, and Konan followed Masahiko to find Yuna.
Currently, Konan's chakra volu wasn't bad. At 14 years old, according to Masahiko's stats, her Ninjutsu was probably around 200 points. Aside from Nagato, compared to her peers, she had a relatively large amount of chakra.
But to quickly mass-produce explosive tags, she still needed Masahiko's assistance, otherwise, it would take ten tis longer.
"Grandpa Masahiko, you brought Konan to make explosive tags again?" Yuna said with a smile. "You know how to use the machines yourselves now? You shouldn't need anymore."
Since the last mass production of explosive tags, Masahiko brought Konan to make small amounts every ti he returned. Now, Whirlpool ninjas even practiced throwing explosive tags during training. Rich and willful.
"Yuna, you don't have any urgent research recently, do you?"
"No."
Masahiko smiled and handed over the Huamao in his arms. "Then help take care of the cat for a while."
Yuna: "..."
"Alright, Konan, get ready to start."
Masahiko felt light without the cat.
...
anwhile, Nagato found a sowhat secluded forest in the Land of Whirlpools to train his chakra. This was a thod Masahiko taught him: hanging upside down from a tree, using chakra to stick to the branch while refining chakra, would have a greater effect... Actually, it was just psychological; sitting still and refining chakra was too boring.
"Training, training." Nagato was adept at the art of self-hypnosis and entered the state as soon as he hung on the tree.
Two seconds later, he suddenly felt sothing was wrong.
"Who is there!" Nagato's eyes widened as he looked behind a large tree.
After a mont of silence, a bronze-skinned boy walked out from behind the tree, wearing sunglasses and carrying several swords on his back.
"Who are you!" Nagato spoke vigilantly.
"Yi-yo!" (Yo!) The opponent suddenly stretched his hands forward and shouted at the sa ti, startling Nagato, who vigilantly pulled out a kunai.
"Walking here, tired, stopped to rest~
Found a red-haired boy training his best~
Didn't expect to be discovered~
Oh yeah!"
Nagato: "???"
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