Chapter 600

Chapter 600: Konoha’s Political Development

“Did I… Did I make this hole?” muttered Naruto with a dazed expression because he never expected to see such a result.

Ichikishima hime smiled, and while patting Naruto’s head, she explain, “Naruto-kun currently you are in Sennin Mode… when you are in this mode, your action speed, reaction speed, physical strength, perception skills, as well as the recovery rate… everything will gain a qualitative leap, and you will be able to do things that other people, other ordinary people can not do, for example breaking this rock wall with just a single punch.”

Naruto exclaimed in shock and surprise, “Huh…? For real?!”

Being able to break such a hard wall with just a single punch was not something new to Naruto as he experienced such a scenario several times but the thing is, he has only ever done such a thing in his dreams, not in reality… but now that he actually managed to do it in reality as well, so, at this moment, Naruto was very excited.

Ichikishima hime giggled seeing Naruto’s exciting aura, and continued, “But this is not the only effect of the Sennin Mode… I will show you what other magical things you can perform in Sennin Mode… Now, Naruto-kun… press your hand on the rock wall…”

Having strong trust in Ichikishima hime, Naruto immediately stretched out his hands and pressed them on the rock wall.

Ichikishima hime then reached closer to Naruto’s ear, and whispered softly, “Now try to empty your mind and focus your thoughts… good… you are doing well… now think about what the rock wall looked like before you punched that big hole in it…”

Following Ichikishima hime’s guidance, Naruto quickly closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind, surprisingly it wasn’t that difficult and after that, he focused all his thoughts and tried to remember what the rock wall looked like when he touched it not long ago.

Just as Naruto started to imagine that scene, the rocks that the wall was made up of suddenly moved as if it came to life, like a liquid it slowly and steadily crept into the cracks and hole, and in just a few moments it returned to its original appearance without any signs of hole or cracks on it…

Clap Clap Clap Clap

Ichikishima hime clapped both her hands and prompted Naruto to open his eyes, “Naruto-kun… now look at the wall…”

Naruto opened his eyes, and saw the wall in its original appearance… he quickly realized that the wall before him has recovered back to its original state and all the cracks, crevices, and holes in it were completely gone as if they never existed in the first place… making Naruto a little surprised and puzzled… “How did this happen?”

Ichikishima hime snorted proudly with ‘um-hmm’, and answered, “This is the power of the Sennin Mode…”

When he again heard the answer, Naruto was now in deep thought… he looked at his fist that was capable of smashing a big hole in the rock wall then thought of the scenario where the wall restored itself, and after some time of thinking, he finally looked at Ichikishima hime expectantly and asked, “Onee-chan… can I beat Sasuke with Sennin Mode”

“Who is Sasuke?” Ichikishima hime was at a loss as she didn’t know who the person named Sasuke is.

Naruto realized his mistake, and quickly explained, “Sasuke is my friend… Although he is very arrogant and proud, no one can deny that he is very strong and a real genius… In fact, not long ago, Sasuke even awakened his eyes… um… what were they called? Raringan? No Sharingan! He even awakened his Sharingan not long ago… He is so strong that I can’t even land a single hit on him!”

After hearing Naruto’s explanation, Ichikishima hime suddenly asked, “Sharingan? Is this person Sasuke a member of the Uchiha Clan? And is he the same age as you?”

Naruto nodded, “Yes… Sasuke is from the Uchiha Clan… and he is only a few months older than me…”

Ichikishima hime smiled and said, “Don’t worry Naruto-kun… you have learned to sense and absorb the Natural Energy present in heaven and earth… with this ability, no one among the humans who is in the same age group as you can defeat you… and this Uchiha Sasuke is no exception…”

“But… but… Sasuke has awakened the Sharingan! Sharingan is the strongest Kekkei Bankai out there!” Naruto was not so confident… and he wasn’t sure if he will be able to defeat Sasuke with the Sharingan because everyone in the village keeps saying that the Uchiha Clan is extremely powerful, and the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan is the strongest Kekkei Genkai…

“When you are in the Sennin Mode, let alone a single Sasuke who has awakened his Sharingan, even if there were several Sasuke each with a pair of Sharingan fighting against you, they still wouldn’t be able to defeat you…” said Ichikishima hime with pride then she thought of something and added, “Of course, if you still don’t believe me, you can always try to fight against him when you meet him next time and then see the result…”

Naruto considered Ichikishima hime’s words, and nodded, “Yes… I won’t know until I see for myself…” but suddenly he thought of one problem and asked, “But Onee-chan… if I have to enter the Sennin Mode, I will have to sit still for several hours… how am I going to do that if I am going to fight with Sasuke? Onee-chan, is there a quicker way to enter the Sennin Mode that wouldn’t take so much time?”

Ichikishima hime shook her head, “I am sorry Naruto-kun, but there is no shortcut to entering the Sennin Mode… And since you have just learned the Sennin Mode, it will take time for your body to adapt to the absorption of Natural Energy…”

Naruto sighed… “Is there no other way…?”

Ichikishima hime shook her head, “I am afraid not… Only with continuous training, you will be able to slowly increase the Natural Energy absorption speed, and decrease the amount of time it takes to enter the Sennin Mode… other than this method, there is no other way…”

In fact, there is one thing Ichikishima hime forgot to mention… The environment of the Ryuchi Cave is quite special, because of which the concentration of Natural Energy at Ryuchi Cave is quite high, several times compared to the environment of the Shinobi World.

This is the reason why Naruto was able to enter Sennin Mode after just a few hours of absorbing Natural Energy… if it was somewhere else, and not at Ryuchi Cave, it would have taken much more time for him to absorb the appropriate amount of Natural Energy to enter the Sennin Mode.

…

Konoha Village

Poof…

After the summoning crow disappeared, Kuroto went out.

Since the next target for creating the Earth Clone has been decided, so Kuroto sent several instructions to the Mizukage and the Kazekage.

One of the instructions he sent them was to use their Anbu and investigate the location of Deidara, of course, it’s not that Kuroto himself didn’t try to find Deidara, but after searching for a while, Kuroto soon realized that Deidara is really a problematic child and continues to roam all over the Shinobi World, finding such a child on his own caused a headache to Kuroto and so he decided to take the help of some of his subordinates.

As the most talented disciple of Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki, Deidara was once part of Iwagakure’s elite Explosion Corps, highly praised for his clay sculptures, Deidara desired to reach greater heights in the pursuit of art which resulted in him stealing one of Iwagakure’s Kinjutsu and thus became a rogue shinobi.

Currently, the kid is only around eleven or twelve years old and is often heard for his ‘art is an explosion’ tendencies. If it weren’t for Sandaime Tsuchikage’s reputation, and because of the fact that all the villages are distracted towards the Akatsuki Organization, Deidara would have long been declared as a wanted criminal by the five great Shinobi Villages.

Considering all the things that he was busy with, Kuroto obviously didn’t have enough time to track down such a problematic child, so he did the next best thing, and instructed his two subordinates to find the whereabouts of that kid.

Anyway, while all his instructions were delivered, Kuroto after coming out of his home and made his way towards the Anbu base.

He wasn’t too surprised to find the Anbu base fully crowded, as except for the members currently performing very important tasks, almost all the Anbu members were gathered at the base at this moment.

As Kuroto entered the base, his subordinates, Kurenai, Hayate, Yugao, and Itachi quickly greeted him, then the five members of team Ro stood at a corner of the hall.

The reason why all the Anbu have gathered here is the sudden political development. Just this morning, Shimura Danzo––who was removed from all his position a few months ago by Sandaime Hokage––officially announced his distrust and dissatisfaction towards Sarutobi Hiruzen’s capabilities as Konoha’s Hokage because of his repeated failure of protecting the village from the Akatsuki Organization and asked for his resignation.

Considering all the political drama that has been ongoing in Konoha for the past few months, this move of Danzo wasn’t so unexpected, and because Hokage is involved, so naturally, all the Anbu have gathered here in order to follow any orders they will be instructed with to deal with the situation, in case Danzo tried to use force or initiated a Coup d’état.

However, it was exactly as Kuroto had expected, Danzo did not intend to use force to take power, and Sandaime too did not intend to use force to resolve this situation as that would have caused a tense atmosphere in the village and once again affect Konoha’s stability. So, although Anbu members were assembled for the ‘what if’ and ‘by chance’ scenario, the atmosphere was not too heavy, and everyone was discussing the sudden turn of events.

It didn’t take long when other acquaintances such as Kakashi, Shisui, and Guy also showed up at the base. Although Guy has left the Anbu and is currently a regular Shinobi, being a former Anbu shinobi, he was called here nonetheless.

After greeting each of his acquaintances, Kakashi with droopy eyes and tired expression yawned in sleepiness.

Seeing Kakashi’s state, especially the heavy dark circles under his eyes, Kuroto asked, “Didn’t sleep again?”

Kakashi sighed, and while helplessly scratching the back of his head, he said, “I was training and didn’t realize when the time passed by…”

Kuroto nodded lightly and chose to remain silent…

This is Kakashi’s state these days… whenever he is not doing any mission, he is training… Kuroto even suspects that Kakashi is trying not to sleep at all… perhaps because of nightmares…

Although such behavior is harmful to oneself, it is still better than getting lost on the path of life… at least now Kakashi knows what he wants to do now…