Meeting (Part 2)

"It's not easy to run into such a spirited animal; how could I let it get away?" Ye Wuji thought to himself. In his past life, Ye Wuji had wanted to keep an animal—a dog or a cat—to keep him company, but he never succeeded. First, the orphanage didn't allow pets, fearing the spread of disease or that they might harm the orphans. Second, when Ye Wuji was young, he spent all his time scavenging for scraps and didn't have the time to care for one.

"This time, I can't let it go." Thinking this, Ye Wuji took a quick look and figured out which direction the dog had headed.

Having learned his lesson from getting lost last time, Ye Wuji marked his path at intervals while chasing the dog. About ten minutes later, he caught sight of the dog's shadow.

The dog was running in one direction, not turning once, just bolting straight ahead. Even though its freshly bandaged wound had started bleeding again, it didn't stop.

"Strange. Ignoring the pain in its body, where on earth is it trying to go?" Watching the dog sprint, Ye Wuji grew curious. He figured that since he had left markers, he might as well see what the dog was up to.

He followed the dog for nearly three hours. By now, the dog's speed had slowed down; after all, it was still young, and being injured made it hard to run fast. Even so, the dog kept pushing forward. Eventually, Ye Wuji was gritting his teeth, his heart hardening as he thought, I want to see just how long you can keep running. In the end, it was Ye Wuji who had to find places to rest before catching up again.

Seeing the dog about to vanish from sight, Ye Wuji slowly stood up from the tree, preparing to follow again. Just as he was about to move, the sound of "clanging" echoed intermittently. Hearing this, Ye Wuji immediately hid himself. He was very familiar with this sound; it was the clash of weapons. Back when he was with Minato, they had practiced a few times with real blades.

Then, a voice filled with surprise rang out. "Hua!" It was a lovely girl's voice, followed immediately by two shouts of "Watch out!" Then came a "pfft" sound, which sounded like something piercing into flesh, followed by an "Ouch!" from the girl. It seemed she had been struck by something.

After that, the sounds ceased. But after waiting a moment, the "clanging" resumed. Ye Wuji thought for a moment, then slowly crept toward the source of the noise.

Along the way, Ye Wuji saw many people dressed in ninja attire lying on the ground. Judging by the bloodstains, they had been dead for quite some time. Looking at the headbands dropped nearby—four wavy lines—he realized they were Kirigakure shinobi. These people lying on the ground were all Mist ninjas.

Ye Wuji didn't touch the corpses. Although he really wanted to loot them—if he were lucky, he might even get a Kirigakure ninjutsu—the sounds of battle were still coming from ahead. He didn't know who had the upper hand. If the Mist ninjas won, they wouldn't leave these bodies behind. If Ye Wuji disturbed them, he would definitely be discovered. Every country in the Naruto World had a custom of recovering their own ninja's corpses, and Konoha's Anbu even had a rule to leave no remains behind. This was to prevent others from researching their secrets, such as common ninjutsu, training methods, or communication codes. More importantly, powerful nations might even study the Kekkei Genkai of other countries from their bodies.

After Ye Wuji walked a bit further, he could vaguely see several figures ahead.

Seeing the figures, Ye Wuji became even more cautious. This wasn't practice with Minato; one careless move and he might lose his life.

At first, after seeing the Mist ninja corpses, he had wanted to retreat immediately. But his heart was truly curious about what had happened to cause these Mist ninjas to lose their lives.

So, Ye Wuji decided to go up and take a look. They were currently in the middle of a battle; as long as he was careful, he shouldn't be discovered. If the situation turned dire, he would leave immediately.

Ye Wuji carefully hid himself in a tree. Before him lay the battlefield. Some surrounding trees had fallen, and others were still burning—likely the result of Fire Release. I didn't expect Mist ninjas to use Fire Release too, Ye Wuji thought jokingly.

Then, Ye Wuji turned his gaze to the two people fighting: an adult and a child about Minato's age. When Ye Wuji saw the child's face clearly, his head "boomed" as if struck by lightning.

Ye Wuji's gaze was locked onto the boy's eyes—concentric circles, like ripples. The Rinnegan, Ye Wuji shouted inwardly. The strongest ocular jutsu in the Naruto World, something he had only ever fantasized about.

Those iconic eyes, combined with that shock of fiery red hair—there was no doubt. It was Nagato, one of the founders of Akatsuki, the Six Paths of Pain who wore the "Zero" ring. And he was a possessor of all-nature chakra.

Ye Wuji looked to the side. Sure enough, a yellow-haired boy was guarding a light-purple-haired girl. The girl was covered in blood. It was Konan. She was sitting on the ground, holding the dog Ye Wuji had seen earlier. It really was the three of them: Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan.

The organization that would later shake the ninja world, "Akatsuki," was founded by these three. The so-called Akatsuki began as a mercenary group formed by these three to achieve peace and keep people away from war. Unfortunately, they were later used by Madara. Perhaps Madara's shadow had been there from the very beginning, influencing them slowly ever since he gave Nagato the Rinnegan.

Konan seemed severely injured and could only sit there. As for Yahiko, his swaying body showed he was also near his limit. As for Nagato, who was currently fighting, he looked to be in a bad spot, being suppressed by the Mist ninja. The Mist ninja seemed to have some reservations, only skirmishing and pinning Nagato down. Several times, Ye Wuji could see openings where he could have killed or severely wounded Nagato, but the ninja chose not to. Why he did so, Ye Wuji couldn't know. Around them were about five other Mist ninjas, though they all seemed heavily injured. Two more ninjas lay on the ground, looking even worse off, which was likely why the five were just watching from the sidelines instead of joining the fray. They were probably protecting the fallen.

Just then, the Mist ninja feinted and retreated to his side, while Nagato fell back to stand in front of Konan and Yahiko.

"Lord Hétián, are you alright?" one of the ninjas asked as the Mist ninja retreated.

"I'm fine," the Mist ninja said, staring at Nagato's side. He then asked, "How are Caobu and Shangben?"

"Lord Shangben is gone. As for Lord Caobu, his life is temporarily saved, but he needs to be sent for treatment immediately. If we drag this out too long, I'm afraid..." The rest of the sentence went unsaid, but the ninja named Hétián understood the implication.

"I never imagined that while hunting a rogue ninja, we would run into the legendary Rinnegan. What luck. Tch." Hétián stopped there.

"What? Lord Hétián, is that the legendary Rinnegan? Do such eyes really exist?" Hearing "Rinnegan," the other ninjas couldn't help but gasp.

"Yes, my lord. I don't mean to doubt you, but that is the eye of the legendary Sage of Six Paths. Can someone in reality actually possess such eyes?" one ninja asked.

Hétián glared at him and said, "Those eyes look exactly like the ones in the records. Besides, if it weren't for those eyes, do you think a child—and you've seen his strength, he's at most an elite Chunin—could have beaten our three squads into this state?

Damn it, it truly lives up to the legend. Three squads led by Jonin, and we're almost wiped out here. If it weren't for the fact that they had to protect that dog at the start, giving us an opening, we would all be dead by now."

"Then, my lord, what should we do? If we want to leave now, they don't seem capable of stopping us," one subordinate suggested.

"My lord, I think we should finish them off. You know this is the Rinnegan! If we can bring it back to the village, it would be a massive achievement. Look at them, they're finished. Only that Rinnegan brat is left. Even if those eyes are powerful, looking at him now, he shouldn't be able to use them anymore. This is our chance, my lord," another subordinate argued.

"Damn it, do you think I don't see that he's about to collapse? But he's been 'about to collapse' since the beginning, and he still took down Caobu and Shangben! Are you telling me to gamble on this? And don't forget, if something happens to me, you're all finished too. Plus, what about our mission? If we don't complete the mission and return to the village, you know what the consequences are," Hétián cursed.

"Exactly! Do you want our captain to gamble with his life, just like Captain Shangben did?" another ninja chimed in.

"But my lord, you said it yourself, we still have a mission. But look at the situation—can we still complete it? And you know the punishment for failing a mission in Kirigakure. But if we bring back the Rinnegan, it would count as atonement. Or does the captain want to become a rogue ninja? Remember, your family is still in the village," the first man said.

"What you say... does have some merit," Hétián said upon hearing this.