Chapter 336: News of the Demigod’s Death

Chapter 336: Chapter 336: News of the Demigod’s Death

The thought of evolving the Rinnegan flashed through Hyuga Kagami’s mind, but he immediately cast it aside.

If he wanted to evolve the Rinnegan, Kagami would first have to resurrect Uchiha Ryota and use his body as a vessel. On top of that, he would still have to solve the enormous problem of implanting First Hokage cells.

The vitality of the First Hokage’s cells was even more overbearing than that of cancer cells. Once they were implanted into his Fire Release clone, regardless of whether the procedure succeeded or failed, the clone would no longer meet the requirements of Kagami’s Kekkei Mōra Project.

Therefore, evolving the eyes could simply be ruled out.

Obviously, the Sage of Six Paths wasn’t going to pour Six Paths power into Kagami and let him awaken the Rinnegan without lifting a finger, either. So that method was equally impossible.

Thinking this far, Kagami had no choice but to accept reality.

Given the current state of his Fire Release clone, completely mastering Blaze Release would probably take quite a long time.

If he wanted to make a breakthrough, he had only two options: either achieve an unprecedentedly perfect fusion between the chakra natures of Fire and Lightning, or accumulate enough ocular power.

The former required an enormous amount of practice.

The latter required time.

No matter how he looked at it, mastering Blaze Release within just one or two weeks was simply unrealistic.

Kagami did not waste the next two weeks. Instead, he buried himself in training day and night.

Fortunately, he had the Dragon Vein’s chakra supporting him. Otherwise, with the relatively weak foundation of his Fire Release clone, there was no guarantee that it could have endured such intense training.

When the day came for Team 11 to regroup, Kagami switched back to his original Yin Release body and quickly made his way to the meeting point.

By the time Kagami arrived, the other three members of Team 11 were already there. Kakashi even seemed to have suffered an injury, with bandages wrapped around his shoulder.

Kagami asked, "Run into some trouble?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. I encountered a group of rogue ninja."

Kagami teased, "If they managed to injure you, those rogue ninja must’ve been something else."

Recalling what had happened, Kakashi’s expression grew somewhat solemn.

"That group really was unusual. One of them seemed to possess an immortal body..."

"An immortal body?!"

Guy and Shisui exclaimed simultaneously.

Kakashi sighed. "I’m not entirely sure whether he was truly immortal. Maybe it was something like Yomi from the Land of Demons—perhaps that guy possessed some kind of secret technique that allowed him to rapidly heal his injuries."

With that, Kakashi stopped discussing the group of rogue ninja that had injured him and instead asked the others, "Did everyone find anything useful during your intelligence-gathering missions?"

Hearing this, Shisui immediately turned to look at Kagami.

Kagami could only chuckle and say, "I found quite a bit on my end. We’ve got enough to report back to Lord Hokage this time!"

Kakashi’s drooping eye immediately sharpened.

"What did you find?"

Kagami didn’t waste any time and directly gave Kakashi the explanation he had prepared beforehand.

After hearing Kagami’s account, Guy didn’t think too deeply about it and exclaimed, "That’s great! We finally found the Akatsuki’s base!"

Kakashi, however, looked puzzled. "How is that possible? The Land of Rain is the territory of the ’Demigod.’ Why would he allow the Akatsuki to establish themselves in his own territory?"

Kagami explained, "Hanzo died a long time ago. Apparently, the one who killed him was none other than the leader of the Akatsuki."

"Hiss..."

Kakashi and Guy both sucked in a sharp breath.

To ordinary ninja, Hanzo of the Land of Rain—the man known as the ’Demigod’—was an existence bordering on the divine.

The Legendary Sannin were renowned throughout the ninja world, yet the very title of ’Sannin’ had been bestowed upon them by Hanzo himself.

From that alone, one could see just how prestigious Hanzo’s reputation was throughout the ninja world.

The thought that even someone like Hanzo the ’Demigod’ had silently died at the hands of the Akatsuki made Kakashi even more wary of them.

"It seems the Akatsuki are even stronger than we imagined." Kakashi’s expression darkened as he continued, "We need to report this intelligence to Lord Hokage as soon as possible. Come on, we’re heading back to the village!"

In an instant, the four members of Team 11 set off toward the village.

Along the way, Shisui quietly asked Kagami, "Senpai, are you feeling all right?"

Kagami paused for a moment. "What’s wrong? I’m fine."

Shisui replied, "I’m not sure why, but you seem... really exhausted."

Kagami smiled. "Heh, I’m fine. I’ve just been traveling continuously, so I’m a little tired."

Since Kagami was currently using his original Yin Release body, physical exhaustion wasn’t actually an issue.

What was truly exhausted was the spirit within his body. After all, two straight weeks of nonstop Blaze Release training had taken quite a toll on him.

What surprised Kagami, however, was that Shisui could actually perceive the exhaustion of his spirit.

Neither Kakashi nor Guy, who were traveling alongside them, had noticed anything whatsoever. This showed that Shisui’s ocular power had improved yet again recently, to the point where he could now vaguely perceive abnormalities within the spirit itself.

Before long, Team 11 returned to the village and arrived at the Hokage’s office.

As usual, the Third Hokage was buried beneath mountains of paperwork, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to grow more numerous with each passing day. When Team 11 arrived to report on the progress of their mission, he didn’t even raise his head, his gaze still fixed on the documents spread across his desk.

But Kakashi had barely begun his report when the Third abruptly looked up.

"You found the Akatsuki’s base?"

Kakashi nodded. "It’s within the Land of Rain. Kagami was the one who discovered it."

"The Land of Rain..."

Mulling over the words Land of Rain, the Third Hokage showed the same puzzled expression Kakashi had earlier.

Clearly, he too had thought of Hanzo the ’Demigod,’ ruler of the Land of Rain. Unlike Kakashi, however, he did not immediately voice the question.

Kagami took the opportunity to report, "Hanzo has already been killed by the leader of the Akatsuki. At present, aside from a small number of remnants still loyal to Hanzo, the entire Land of Rain has fallen under the Akatsuki’s control."

A flash of surprise crossed the Third Hokage’s face.

"Is this information reliable?"

Kagami nodded. "I interrogated several Amegakure ninja, and every one of them gave me the same information. So personally, I believe it to be credible."

The Third Hokage picked up his pipe and placed it between his lips, murmuring to himself, "Even Hanzo fell at the hands of the Akatsuki...?"

Kagami continued, "While interrogating the Ame ninja, I also obtained another piece of intelligence. It seems Iwagakure and Kirigakure have some kind of cooperation with the Akatsuki. If we intend to move against them, those two villages cannot be trusted!"

Shisui spoke up. "If we combine the forces of Konoha, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure, that should still be enough to deal with the Akatsuki."

The Third Hokage rose from his seat and clasped his hands behind his back, silently weighing the situation.

A moment later, he returned to his desk, wrote two letters, and handed them to Kakashi.

"Deliver these two letters personally into the hands of the Raikage and the Kazekage..."