Akaba wasn't unaware that he was being followed. With both sensory abilities and Observation Haki, the Third's Telescope Technique could no longer evade his perception.
But there was nothing worth hiding anyway. If the Third wanted to watch, let him.
Of course.
Later on, when the Third actually approached in person, this did come somewhat as a surprise.
Back at the manga shop, upon careful consideration, it didn't seem completely unexpected anymore.
Kozuke truly was a powerhouse.
Though just a jonin now, Kozuke's strength and combat experience placed him among Konoha's elite. His psychological resilience, however, left something to be desired.
Heart wounds can only be healed by the heart.
In the original manga, Kozuke spent his entire life haunted by those past events, never recovering from the nightmare of causing his teammates' deaths.
Hopefully, this time things would change.
Akaba sat down and thought about the storylines.
Today's drawings for One Piece finished the Skypiea arc. After that came an uneventful period before the storyline moved to Franky's saga—the Water 7 arc.
This arc marked one of the most exciting segments in the entire One Piece series.
Most importantly, during this part, after character C0 appeared, the Marines' Six Styles would be introduced alongside powerful Devil Fruits such as the Slow-Slow Fruit, Ice-Ice Fruit, and Door-Door Fruit.
These newly appearing powers were extremely strong.
Putting aside the Devil Fruits, even just introducing the Marines' Six Styles into Konoha's Taijutsu system could significantly enhance Konoha's overall power.
That alone would be powerful, especially if combined with the Eight Gates technique.
He hoped Duy could master Marine's Six Styles.
A spark of excitement stirred within Akaba. The combination of Eight Gates, Bull Model Fruit, and the Marines' Six Styles—later supplemented with Armament Haki—would become even more formidable.
Today, many people passed through the manga shop.
The encounter between Sasuke and Sai intrigued numerous readers. As soon as the new chapters updated, fans rushed in to buy the comics eagerly.
Yet, judging from the reactions, readers were more drawn to someone else instead of Sasuke or Sai.
Naruto had started training Wind Release Chakra Nature Transformation.
To be honest,
Though Naruto's strength was impressive, and his talent seemingly extraordinary, most still viewed him as having poor aptitude, only skilled at Multiple Shadow Clones and Rasengan.
But mastering Wind Release Nature Transformation changed everything.
Once Naruto mastered Chakra Nature Transformation, he'd be able to learn a whole series of Wind Release Ninjutsu techniques, significantly improving both his fighting style and combat capabilities.
That wasn't all.
Combining shadow clones with accelerated training—this idea hadn't even occurred to many previously.
Though the Third later got the inspiration from Akaba, due to the special characteristics of the Shadow Clone Technique itself, he kept this training method confidential instead of making it public knowledge, only revealing its benefits among chuunin and jonin ranks.
Therefore,
With this volume released, many tried out this Multiple Shadow Clone-assisted training method.
Consequently, hospital visits surged dramatically that day.
Akaba refused to take responsibility for this—he had clearly warned readers. He had already indicated in the manga the side effects and requirements of using shadow clones for training. If some people still insisted on being reckless, what else could he possibly do?
Some fools are beyond help.
However, the points earned over the past two days had clearly decreased—one reason was the increasing number of missions, and the other being the disappearance of the Second Kazekage from Sunagakure, with war on the verge of breaking out. Many jonin had begun leaving on missions to monitor activities across the Land of Wind.
The flow of people had dropped again.
Akaba thought for a moment, then withdrew six thousand points from his total exceeding thirty thousand to purchase five spirit points.
With his current level of spiritual energy, the impact of five points wasn't significant, but it would somewhat alleviate the intense fatigue caused by dispersing four Shadow Clones.
"Come to think of it, there's another ten chapters updating today—this update should involve Asuma meeting the immortal duo, right?"
Akaba glanced at the notes written by his clone before falling into thought—Asuma hadn't even been born yet.
Hmm, no big deal.
He mused further—if the "Third" Hokage himself had already "died," then a name like "Asuma" was barely worth mentioning, let alone needing an official report.
The Third had been too busy lately to even have time to read the manga.
So the next day, the moment the new chapter came out,
nearly everyone in the Sarutobi clan knew and saw the scene where Asuma was about to sacrifice himself—except for Hiruzen Sarutobi, who remained completely unaware.
By afternoon, a knock came at the door.
"Come in."
The Third spoke, and moments later Danzo opened the door and stepped inside slowly.
In his hands, he held two things: One was a detailed account of Nightdance's entire incident, along with analysis regarding Kakuzu and Madara; the other was a copy of the latest manga chapter.
This was today's update.
"We've exhausted every usable detail from Nightdance's memories. We can confirm that on that day, Madara Uchiha used genjutsu to control him, directing him all the way into the Land of Wind, where he also killed several Sunagakure ninjas along the border."
Danzo sat down without ceremony.
The Third listened while reading through the documents. As he read, he gradually furrowed his brow, sinking into deep thought.
Though Nightdance's memories contained little information, they were particularly critical for them. Despite his strength, Nightdance's abilities were roughly equal only to an elite chunin or tokubetsu jonin.
As for genjutsu, few in Konoha could resist Madara's control. For someone of Madara's ability, making Nightdance bypass the border guards should have been effortless—yet Madara had chosen not to.
Why?
Hiruzen pondered this for a long time before a faint smile appeared on his face. "It seems these two aren't completely united."
"Yes, I believe Madara is wary of Black Zetsu. This mission was most likely a test conducted by Madara against Zetsu."
Danzo shared the same opinion as the Third.
But having attended meetings with the Anbu, he had considered far more than Hiruzen had.
He paused, then said, "I believe Sunagakure must have come to the same conclusion, yet they are likely to provoke a war anyway."
The Third stayed silent for dozens of seconds before solemnly nodding.
Indeed.
Even though they knew, war remained inevitable—the only difference lay in its scale.
Yet once the spark of war was lit, nobody could predict what would follow.
Sighing deeply, the Third placed the report aside.
Konoha couldn't stop this war from coming.
Others were trying to frame them, and Sand wanted to profit from the chaos—all they could do was brace themselves and handle each threat as it struck.
However.
He shot a puzzled glance at the manga beside him and eyed Danzo suspiciously.
He brought me a manga?
Their relationship was complicated — sometimes friendly, often adversarial. If Danzo brought him a manga, it must be like "a weasel bringing a gift to a chicken"—there's no such thing as a free favor!
He wondered secretly whether this volume was special.
"Hiruzen, I know you've been busy lately, so I specially brought one for you to relax."
Danzo smiled slightly.
Deep down, Hiruzen felt even more suspicious, but he picked up the manga and flipped through a few pages.
At first, everything seemed normal.
[Wind Release: Rasengan]
So the Rasengan could also incorporate Nature Transformation. If this truly succeeded, this jutsu would definitely be ranked S-rank.
During this part, Asuma appeared, guiding Naruto in training his Wind chakra nature transformation. Everything looked flawless.
However.
In the next second, Hidan and Kakuzu showed up.
For some reason, Hiruzen felt uneasy.
He flipped through each page and saw scenes featuring the Twelve Guardians, "Chiriku," and other storylines. The ominous feeling in his heart grew stronger.
Sure enough, Asuma was deployed.
Son, you're walking a dangerous path!
Hiruzen sighed deeply, already foreseeing Asuma's fate.
To quote Kakashi once again—"Death awaits you."
He glared fiercely at Danzo.
Danzo chuckled lightly and stood up. "I don't have such worries myself, so I can't truly relate to your feelings. However, Hiruzen, you should pay more attention to Shinnosuke and prevent another tragedy from occurring."
"Get out!"
Hiruzen waved impatiently, lighting a cigarette and taking a puff.
Ever since that mysterious artifact had been created, Shinnosuke had left the village, heading basically the same way as Asuma did in the manga.
Of course, there was no mention of the Twelve Guardians in reality.
He felt deeply troubled.
As the son of the Hokage, allowing Shinnosuke to wander outside likely exposed him to danger, especially during this time on the brink of war.
Not everyone could count on a long-distance rescue from Akaba every time.
But making him return—
Hiruzen knew this was practically impossible.
Shinnosuke was stubborn, held his own views, and wouldn't just come back because he asked him to.
"Shinnosuke, I hope you will find the answer you seek in your heart."
Hiruzen stood up and turned his head toward Konoha.
His love had all been devoted to the village; as a father, however, he was clearly inadequate.
Because other regions in the Land of Fire received the manga later, the Daimyo's mansion arranged for protective ninja to deliver the latest copy to Shinnosuke much later than others.
After finishing it, he remained silent for a long while.
Starting today, Shinnosuke officially turned fourteen years old.
It was still not a birthday spent with his father, but he'd already gotten used to it. The past fourteen years had always gone like this.
Still,
"Shinnosuke, happy birthday!"
A woman suddenly jumped out from behind, holding a cake.
Shinnosuke turned around, his face filled with surprise.
"Fuso, what are you doing here?"
"I checked your ninja profile and saw your birthday was today. Well, it's not very pretty, so please don't mind."
Fuso had striking red hair.
She was a member of the Uzumaki clan but held no passion for training or ninjutsu. Compared with fighting, she preferred a calm, peaceful life.
In Fuso's hands was something that looked like a cake but couldn't be identified.
"Thank you, Big Sister Fuso!"
Shinnosuke's eyes welled up slightly, his voice catching with emotion.
This was the first time, as far back as he could remember, that anyone besides his mother had wished him a happy birthday and given him a gift.
Fuso giggled. "Let's go eat in the courtyard—I picked some fresh fruit for you."
She took his hand and ran toward the courtyard.
As soon as they stepped outside, a loud chorus of "Happy Birthday!" rang out.
Kids from the Uzumaki clan and teenage ninjas were gathered there, all beaming with joy. In the center lay various fruits and snacks they had collected together.
"Thank you! Thank you all so much!"
Shinnosuke felt deeply moved. At that moment, he seemed to understand what Akaba had mentioned in the manga—the meaning of "[Jade]."
What exactly is [Jade]?
Not a Daimyo, not a Hokage—but rather, the things one holds dear, the people one wishes to protect.
The villagers, the citizens, and peace itself.
As long as those were what he wanted to guard, then titles and status meant nothing at all.
A realization settled deep in Shinnosuke's heart, and at that moment, he felt like he was living the happiest day of his life. Beside him, Fuso beamed with joy.
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