"I don't know why, but seeing you like this makes me want to beat you up." Naruto rolled his eyes, thoroughly annoyed by Uzumaki Reikawa's smug act.
Uzumaki Reikawa, however, earnestly summed it up for Naruto. "That's called impotent rage."
Naruto lost it. "I@￥#" He raised his fist to punch him, only for Jiraiya to grab him and hold him back.
Jiraiya had a headache and deeply understood Kakashi's feelings. Naruto alone had already been troublesome enough, and now there was Lingchuan too.
With no time to gather material, it looked like the next installment of Icha Icha Paradise would have to be delayed. Jiraiya sighed sadly, then vigorously rubbed Naruto's head. "Naruto! Quiet down!"
Ouch, ouch! "But, but, look at how smug he is." Naruto finally calmed down, crouching on the ground and rubbing his head aggrievedly.
Seeing Jiraiya look over, Uzumaki Reikawa awkwardly reined himself in a little.
"Uzumaki Reikawa, you truly are gifted. It's fine to be proud, but you mustn't be arrogant. You understand that, right?"
Uzumaki Reikawa nodded repeatedly. If he failed to nod in agreement and ended up getting lectured, the exact feeling could be referenced from Tang Monk.
Seeing that Uzumaki Reikawa understood, Jiraiya relaxed. "Since you've more or less mastered the basic ninjutsu, can you show me your Adamantine Sealing Chains? You may need to carry out some missions later, so we'll use that to make an assessment."
Uzumaki Reikawa looked around and asked, "Is there a target?"
"Anything is fine. Try to display your full strength."
Uzumaki Reikawa nodded and stood where he was. Looking at the flowing waterfall before him, he gathered chakra. Golden chains instantly shot out one after another, fastening themselves around the mountain where the waterfall was.
Jiraiya's gaze turned grave as he counted the chains extending from Uzumaki Reikawa's back. One, two... eight!!!
He had to admit it—this was a genuine genius! Thinking of Uzumaki Reikawa's talent when learning ninjutsu earlier, Jiraiya felt that if the boy hadn't lacked a foundation as a child and had someone to teach him, his current strength probably wouldn't have been inferior to Jiraiya's own!
Seeing that the time was right, Uzumaki Reikawa clenched his hand. Seal!
In an instant, a miraculous sight appeared. The waterfall was cut off at the waist! Even a large stretch of the water source behind it was sealed and blocked by the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Naruto's pupils shrank. "This is?! The waterfall stopped!" His hand trembled slightly. So strong, really strong!! This guy—was this what the Uzumaki Clan was like?
Jiraiya was also surprised, but he had been mentally prepared when Uzumaki Reikawa produced eight chains. Facing Naruto's exclamation, he shook his head. "It hasn't stopped. Lingchuan intercepted the water here and the water behind it. Once enough time passes, the waterfall will still flow down from upstream." Yet it wasn't until Uzumaki Reikawa maintained the Adamantine Sealing Chains for ten minutes that the water finally flowed down again from upstream.
"..."
At this level of strength, Jiraiya looked at Naruto. Perhaps Lingchuan and Yamato could find a way to make the Nine-Tails obedient later on.
Uzumaki Reikawa suddenly said, "How about you leave first?"
"?"
Uzumaki Reikawa's body swayed, as though he could no longer hold on. He smiled bitterly. "I can't sustain it with my chakra anymore, but the water has started flowing again. If I cancel the ninjutsu..."
Jiraiya's expression twitched. Before Lingchuan could finish, he grabbed all of them, lifted them up, and ran. At the same time, the seal was released, and a massive man-made flood burst from the forest!
By the time the three returned to the village, they were all drenched like drowned rats. Walking down the road, Uzumaki Reikawa saw their miserable, dead-fish-eyed expressions and suddenly burst out laughing, loud and hard... "You guys, hahahaha...!"
Jiraiya and Naruto looked at each other. Seeing the other soaked through and looking like a miserable, unlucky wreck, they both snorted with laughter and began mocking each other.
After sparring with Naruto, Sasuke looked at his reflection in the mirror. His Two-Tomoe Sharingan suddenly appeared. The previous battle had seemed like a draw on the surface, but Sasuke knew he had already fallen behind Naruto.
"Do you know why you're not strong enough? Because you don't hate me enough." Uchiha Itachi spoke as if mocking him.
"You're truly too weak!" He remembered Uchiha Gen seeming to want to say something, only to ultimately remain silent...
Thinking of this, Sasuke lost control of his emotions. His chest heaved violently as he stared at himself in the mirror, then threw a kunai straight into its forehead, shattering his reflection in one blow! He wanted power! And the truth!!
However, after leaving, Sasuke failed to notice that the two tomoe in his Sharingan had moved slightly closer together, while a third tomoe faintly began to emerge.
On Uchiha Gen's side, after reaching an agreement, Obito suddenly wanted him to remove his mask, but Gen ruthlessly refused. His reason was that Obito hadn't removed his own either, so he didn't want to take off his. He even said something incomprehensible: Bull Fighter never took off his mask.
Obito: "..."
This generation of newcomers was getting harder and harder to manage.
"So I can't keep a Tailed Beast as a pet?"
Uchiha Obito felt a headache coming on when he heard that. "...No."
"Oh..." Uchiha Gen fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Where are we going now?"
"To the organization to collect your clothes and await assignments."
"Do we get paid?"
"..."
"Don't tell me we work for the leader, the leader doesn't pay us, and we even have to give him money instead."
"..." Uchiha Obito was speechless, because that was exactly how it worked. It had seemed perfectly normal before, but hearing Uchiha Gen suddenly put it that way made it feel strange.
Arriving beneath a cliff, Uchiha Gen felt that something was off about the environment ahead. He activated his Sharingan and focused his gaze. The genjutsu vanished, revealing an entrance large enough for people to pass through.
Seeing this, Uchiha Gen suddenly remembered. This place should have been where Gaara died after having his Tailed Beast extracted in his previous life.
Obito took the lead. "Come in." Uchiha Gen shrugged and followed him inside.
After entering, aside from Zetsu, who looked like a potted plant, everyone else was a holographic projection. Deidara had a bad feeling. "Leader, who are these two?"
Having received word in advance, Pain said, "They are new interns in the organization. If any of you lose contact, they will take your places."
They called it losing contact, but everyone present understood what that meant.
Uchiha Gen looked at the people standing on all ten fingers while he had to look up at them from below, and he felt a tiny bit unhappy.
Forget it. A true man could bend and stretch, and besides, Obito's treatment was no better than his right now. However, Sasori suddenly said, "Since they're interns, they shouldn't be protected by the organization's rules, should they?"
Pain said nothing, which amounted to tacit agreement.
Uchiha Gen put on a frightened expression. "Senior interns, they don't seem very friendly."
Obito was speechless. Could he make his acting any more fake? Yet on the surface, he transformed into Tobi and comforted him with a cheerful grin. "They're all like that. You'll get used to it~"
Before you continue