Chapter 339 - – 335 Hanzo Is Dead?!

The idea of evolving the pair of Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan into Rinnegan seemed neet to Kuroto, but it was soon discarded by him.

In order to awaken Rinnegan, Kuroto will have to immediately learn the transplantation of Hashirama Cells, which is no joke.

It must not be forgotten that the life activity and cell division rate of Shodaime Hokage's cells is even more vigorous than Cancer cells. And once injected into Tsukihi Clone, regardless of success or failure, Tsukihi Clone will become useless for the ritual.

So, if the Rinnegan has to be awakened another body is needed, Uchiha Ryota is naturally the best option for that, but to use Uchiha Ryota he will have to be brought back to life which itself is too troublesome.

And Rikudo Sennin will obviously not be kind enough to give his Chakra for the purpose of evolving Rinnegan… so that's also not a possibility.

So, the plan of awakening Rinnegan is too difficult, and almost unrealistic, for now at least.

So Tsukihi had no choice but to accept the reality and work with whatever she had at hand.

Based on the degree of development of 'Blaze Release: Amenooshihomimi' it would take quite a lot of time for her to master this Kekkei Genkai completely.

The second-level breakthrough will only be achieved once Fire Nature and Lightning Nature Chakra are fused down to the bottom, and Amenooshihomimi can be used even without Visual prowess. But that will take a lot of training.

And sadly, there is no other alternative for Tsukihi. It would be unrealistic of her to master an entirely new, unheard-of Kekkei Genkai in just a span of two or three weeks.

Training… training… and more training… For the remainder of the time before the reunion of Team-11, all Tsukihi did was training.

And more training, thankfully Ryuumyaku was with her, to help in terms of Chakra Supply, such that Tsukihi was able to persist even with her weak foundation.

…

5 weeks later.

Kakashi, Guy, and Shisui have one-after-another arrived at their pre-discussed meetup point. And seeing that Kuroto also returned, each of them started reciting all the things that they experienced in the past two months, the matter of intelligence collection as well as other things.

When it came to Kakashi's turn, Kuroto asked, "Kakashi, what trouble did you encounter?"

Kakashi sighed and said, "Fortunately or unfortunately, I encountered a Rogue-nin."

Everyone immediately frowned. In these times, Rogue-nin is almost equivalent to too much trouble.

Moreover, Kakashi seemed to be injured, and that alone shows that this Rogue-nin is no simple, Kuroto continued, "The Rogue-nin was able to wound you? Who was he? A member of Akatsuki or Amatsukami?"

Kakashi recalled the description of the person, then shook his head, but spoke with a thoughtful face nonetheless, "Although that person did not seem to be a member of either Akatsuki or Amatsukami, he was by no means a simple individual… What's more troublesome is that he seemed to have an immortal body… he claimed that someone called 'Jashin-sama' had granted him an immortal body, and I confirmed it, he did not die even after I punctured his heart with a Kunai… No number of injuries could kill him…"

"Immortal Body…? 'Jashin-sama'?" – Guy and Shisui exclaimed at the same time.

Kakashi nodded, "I am not sure whether what he said about 'Jashin-sama' is true or not, but he did have an immortal body, and he also seems to be someone religious if you could call that twistedness to be religious behavior… he seemed to have a special knack for sacrificing people to the 'great Jashin-sama'. If you ask me, he is somewhat similar to Yomi, just like Yomi, he also had some sort of technique that probably allowed him to heal his injuries…"

Kuroto thought, 'Well, that's most likely Hidan… of the Zombie Combo. It's really a miracle that Kakashi managed to escape from Hidan on the first encounter, but that's probably because Hidan may not be as strong as he was in the canon.'

Shisui asked, "So, what happened at the end?"

Kakashi shook his head, "Understanding that he stood no chance, he retreated… I did follow him, but only to check whether he had any connection with Akatsuki or Amatsukami, but it was pointless… he seemed to be completely unrelated to either of them… and only acting for the so-called 'Jashin-sama' and since I could not think of any method to break through his immortality, I let him go…"

Kuroto sighed hearing Kakashi's words, 'If only it had been me there, Hidan would have either joined Amatsukami or buried two hundred meters under the earth.'

Kakashi and the others did not notice Kuroto's thoughts. After the matter of Hidan, Kakashi spoke further, but he too did not obtain any clue on Akatsuki.

Now it was Kuroto's turn, Kakashi asked, "Kuroto, were there any gains from your side?"

Looking at the gazes of the three gathered on him, Kuroto nodded with a serious face, "Mm-hmm, I found much shocking news and intelligence, it would be best to report all of them to Sandaime-sama."

Seeing Kuroto's serious gaze, Kakashi's droopy eyes condensed, and he asked, "What intelligence?"

Kuroto did not waste time speaking everything, he just took out a scroll, and passed it on to Kakashi, "Everything is summarized in this report."

Kakashi immediately unfolded the scroll, and he along with the other two started reading the report. The first few lines, already shocked Kakashi, and Guy.

Realizing that the location of Akatsuki's base is located in Amegakure, Guy spoke, "It's great, we finally found their base!"

But Kakashi was more puzzled, "How could the base of Akatsuki be in Amegakure? Hanzo is the leader of Amegakure… he would not allow an organization like Akatsuki to take root in Amegakure… is it possible that Hanzo too is part of Akatsuki, or maybe he is the leader?"

Kuroto shook his head, and explained, "No, Hanzo is long since dead, killed by the leader of Akatsuki, someone who is referred to as 'God' by the people of Amegakure."

Kakashi and Guy took a deep breath upon learning of Hanzo's Death.

Who is Hanzo? One of the strongest Shinobi to have ever lived in this Shinobi World! The three Sannin may shake the entire Shinobi world, but they were named Sannin by none other than Hanzo himself.

And the three of them still carry the title, a title that is a reminder of their defeat at the hands of Hanzo, a reminder of Hanzo's mercy.

The thought that someone like Hanzo, who was akin to a 'Demi-God' died and not even the voice of his dying breath was ever heard by anyone outside of Amegakure nerved Kakashi… The fear of Akatsuki deepened again.

Reading further of the information, Kakashi couldn't help but have a solemn face, "Hanzo died prior to the time when Akatsuki started recruiting rogue-nin, meaning that the leader of Akatsuki had no support against Hanzo… The leader of Akatsuki… is at least superior to the level of Hanzo…"

Kuroto nodded, while Shisui was silent.

Kakashi continued, "We have to report this information to Hokage-sama without any delay… let's go back to the village!"

The other four nodded and rushed towards Konoha.

ON the way, Shisui lightly whispered to Kuroto, "Kuroto-san, are you okay?"

Kuroto asked with a confused expression, "Hmm, what would be wrong with me?"

Shisui said, "I don't know why… but for some reason, you look very tired to me…"

Kuroto smiled, "Hahaha… don't worry… I was just doing some training with Tsukihi... so maybe a little tired."

Because Kuroto is currently using his main body, therefore, no direct physical exhaustion seems apparent. But for the past two months, he has been continuously training the Tsukihi Clone… so the spiritual body is indeed exhausted.

After all, continuous training for two months, using hundreds of Shadow Clones at the same time is no easy task… continuously using Mangekyou Sharingan is obviously burdensome for Kuroto, even with Ryuumyaku.

Putting aside the matter of whether he is exhausted or not, Kuroto is really surprised that Shisui was able to see through this so easily.

Guy and Kakashi may have not noticed his spiritual exhaustion to such an extent, but Shisui did… indicating that even if Shisui's vision is declining, his visual prowess and insight is increasing… already touching the realm of soul…

Thinking so Kuroto thought, 'Perhaps I should start preparing and testing for Hashirama Cells for Shisui, he would need Hashirama Cells Transplantation soon enough as his vision would soon diminish completely…'

With this thought in his mind, Kuroto made a mental note for another task to be performed… on his way to Kuroto.

…

The next day, Hokage Office.

Even with all the troubles, Konoha is facing, the Hokage office is still the same as it was a few years ago… the only change would be the heavier pile of documents and the more wrinkled face of Sandaime.

Seeing that team-11 had returned from their two-month-long mission and came to report the progress, Sandaime did not even look up, he just signaled for Kakashi to proceed with the report while Sandaime's eyesight still remained on the pile before him.

Kakashi did not speak anything, he just passed on the scroll given to him by Kuroto.

Sandaime frowned and took the scroll from Kakashi's hands. With tired eyes, he unfolded the thread on the scroll and went on to read the content.

With his tobacco pipe in his mouth, Sandaime took a puff of smoke… as he started reading the first line… But just as he read the first line, all that tiredness was washed away, his eyes instantly shot open…

The next thing he did was to put down the tobacco pipe and clear both of his eyes with his hands… just to make sure that he was not daydreaming… confirmed that he was not, Sandaime ordered for all the Anbu members on the watch to retreat and activated the silent seal, a seal that would block all the sounds and everything to escape out of this room.

With that done, he asked, "Are you sure that the location of Akatsuki's hideout is Amegakure?!"

Kakashi said, "As mentioned, it is Amegakure, it was discovered by Kuroto."

"Amegakure…!" – Sandaime chewed out the few words. Similar to Kakashi, he too was puzzled about Hanzo, before any further questioning, Sandaime continued to read the report and he landed on the line that mentioned Hanzo's death… "Hanzo is dead…?" – he muttered.

Kuroto nodded, and explained, "Yes, Hanzo died at the hands of the leader of the Akatsuki Organization. A few years ago, a civil war broke out within Amegakure, the winning side was led by the leader someone by the name of Pain… He killed Hanzo… and after Hanzo's death, he became the leader of Amegakure… as well as established the Akatsuki Organization to what we know it is today. Although some supporters of Hanzo come out from time to time, they are unilaterally neutralized by Pain."

If it is said that Sandaime was just shocked then that would be an understatement… astonishment was clearly apparent from his face… someone like Hanzo died and nobody outside Ame did not even hear the whispers of his death? A civil war broke out within Ame and none of the great shinobi villages ever heard of it?

Calming down his nerves, Sandaime thought a lot, then asked, "What is the credibility of the information?"

Kuroto said, "I personally tortured it out of some high-level Ame Shinobi, so the information is more than credible. In fact, the only reason why nobody ever heard of Hanzo's death is that the shinobi of Ame are instructed to treat as if Hanzo is still alive when they are out of Amegakure for missions but in reality, Hanzo has long been dead."

At this time, Sandaime got up and walked towards the window, he had a distant look in his eyes, "Even someone like Hanzo die so silently… sigh, the shinobi world we live in is really cruel…"

Neither of the four had anything to say to Sandaime's words. Each of the four members has had their individual losses.

One lost his parents, other lost his father.

One lost his friends, while the last one lost his father, friends, as well as teacher…

The pain one suffers is not calculated based on how much one has lost, it is calculated based on how much one valued what he has lost.

Everyone's suffering… This is one hard truth of this war-littled Shinobi World.

Sandaime took a deep breath, then turned towards the Kuroto and asked, "And the mention of Iwagakure and Kirigakure?"

Kuruto suppressed the sadness in his heart and answered, "Although it is not clearly apparent, however, there is some sort of cooperation between Iwagakure and Kirigakure… Probably involving the dirty work that they wouldn't want to take the blame on… so if we want to deal with Akatsuki in the form of a surprise attack these two villages can not be involved."

Sandaime considered Kuroto's words and after a long time of weighing out his own thoughts, he returned to his chair and wrote something in two scrolls.

After writing it, Sandaime neatly folded them and sealed them inside two different cases.

Next, he handed one scroll to Kakashi, while the other two Kuroto, with the instructions, "Hatake Kakashi, and Might Guy, deliver the scroll to Raikage in Kumogakure, while Hyuga Kuroto and Uchiha Shisui will deliver the scroll to Kazekage in Sunagakure."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" – All the four nodded, and then left on their next missions.

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