The Possibility of Becoming a Ninja (Part 1)

Chiba sat quietly on a large rock, lost in deep thought.

Four days had passed since he was dealt a heavy blow by Xia Mu.

In these few days, after moving past the initial confusion and disappointment, Chiba had finally begun to calm down.

Through constant reflection, Chiba had finally identified a few paths that seemed vaguely feasible.

Although Xia Mu was right that for an ordinary person, the chance of becoming a ninja was almost zero, and even if one did, they would likely be reduced to cannon fodder.

But this did not apply to Chiba, because Chiba could not be measured by the standards of an average person.

One must remember that Chiba's mind contained the general plot of the next few decades.

In the entire Ninja World, were there really no commoners who rose to become powerhouses?

The answer, of course, was yes, and there was more than one.

In the future, right here in the Land of Rain, three Kage-level powerhouses would emerge, standing at the pinnacle of the Ninja World.

Yahiko, who founded the Akatsuki and rose to prominence in the Land of Rain, forcing Hanzo—the man known as a demigod—to seek outside help and resort to trickery just to deal with him.

Konan, the goddess who possessed unique paper-manipulation ninjutsu and could even control 600 billion Explosive Tags to unleash terrifying lethality.

Nagato, who possessed the strongest ocular jutsu, the Rinnegan, commanded over a dozen Kage-level powerhouses, and could even destroy the strongest ninja village, Konoha, with his own power.

These people were all commoners born in the Land of Rain.

And the reason they had the opportunity to become powerhouses was undoubtedly thanks to their shared teacher, a top-tier combatant of Konoha and one of the Sannin, Jiraiya.

Who was Jiraiya? The legendary Sannin, nicknamed the Mad Demon, disciple of the Third Hokage, teacher of the Fourth Hokage, and later the mentor to Naruto, the protagonist of the entire series.

Although Jiraiya's personality was indeed a bit goofy, this series of illustrious halos was enough to explain his strength.

It was precisely because of Jiraiya's three years of meticulous guidance that they achieved their future accomplishments.

Undoubtedly, the three were lucky; whether out of guilt toward the Land of Rain or simply because he had business that required him to stay there, they were taken as disciples by Jiraiya at the most opportune moment.

Of course, in Chiba's view, rather than saying the three were lucky to find a good teacher, it was more accurate to say that their path to becoming ninjas had already been inevitable.

Everything was because of Nagato.

As someone with the powerful constitution of the Uzumaki Clan, Nagato had been chosen by several of the strongest villainous bosses in the Ninja World—Uchiha Madara and Zetsu—as a vessel for the Rinnegan and a tool to help them realize their goal of collecting the Tailed Beast and resurrecting.

Although Nagato himself was unaware of this, he was, in fact, already a pawn for Madara and Zetsu to realize their ambitions.

To carry out their plan, they could not afford to let Nagato go without learning chakra.

Therefore, it was destined from the very beginning that Nagato would become a ninja.

Even without Jiraiya, there would have been a Jiraiya-A, Jiraiya-B, or Jiraiya-C—some suitable figure—to become his teacher.

Under Zetsu's guidance, they would always find the right time and the right person to instruct him.

As for Yahiko and Konan, one could only say they were lucky to ride Nagato's coattails and gain the opportunity to become ninjas.

Of course, they were equally unfortunate to have become someone else's pawns.

Regardless of whether becoming a pawn was a good thing, it was, at the very least, a shortcut to the path of the strong.

Without a doubt, Chiba, who had been nearly desperate about becoming a ninja, was tempted.

Judging by the current situation where the ninja war had not been raging for long, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan should not have yet embarked on their journey to find a teacher. As long as he could find them now, becoming a ninja alongside them in the future would naturally be a logical progression.

Of course, the greatest difficulty was undoubtedly how to locate them.

Although the Land of Rain was only a small country, its actual territory was quite vast. In such a large country, trying to find these few people was like looking for a needle in a haystack; it was almost an impossible task.

After all, there were not many descriptions of their childhood in the series, nor was there any specific mention of where they lived.

If he were to search town by town, there was no doubt that the chance of finding them would be near zero.

Furthermore, the Land of Rain was currently in the midst of war. Even if he wanted to search, he could not cross so many battle zones; acting recklessly would only be seeking death.

However, after combining the intelligence on the Land of Rain gathered by Xia Mu over the past few days with the bits of information Chiba already knew, he had vaguely formed some conjectures.

First, according to what Chiba knew, the town where Yahiko and the others lived was relatively peaceful and should have been a certain distance away from the battle zones.

Why say this? It was, of course, inferred from what Chiba had seen and heard in the few small towns he had passed through over the last two days.

According to Nagato's memories, the town they lived in as children was undoubtedly rich in supplies; there were many small merchants selling bread, meat, and various goods in the market when they were stealing.

Such stable conditions were undoubtedly impossible in or near a battle zone.

In the past two days, the caravan had passed through two small towns. In such areas near the front lines, the entire city could be described as deathly silent; not to mention merchants selling goods, even ordinary people had long since fled.

The only people left in the towns were a few types: those who lacked the travel expenses or vehicles to go far, or the elderly and widowed who were unable to move.

From this, it could be seen that the place where Yahiko and the others lived must have been one of the rare peaceful areas in the Land of Rain.

Moreover, Chiba believed that no matter how arrogant Zetsu was, he would not let such an important figure as Nagato be trapped in a battle zone. If he were accidentally killed by some random ninja, where would Zetsu go to cry?

And now that the Land of Rain, the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Wind were all locked in a chaotic war, were there really any peaceful places left?

The answer was yes.

Looking at the map, to the east of the Land of Rain was the Land of Fire, which was the direction of Konoha's offensive.

To the south and southeast lies the Land of Wind; this is the direction from which the Sand Ninja launch their attacks.

To the west and northwest lies the Land of Earth; this is the direction from which the Rock Ninja launch their attacks.

Consequently, the only areas within the Land of Rain that could still be considered barely peaceful are the narrow strip between the north and northeast, and a portion of the region between the south and southwest.

Given that Nagato's parents died at the hands of Konoha ninjas before he began his life as a wanderer, if he truly fled to a peaceful area, it would undoubtedly be this region between the north and northeast of the Land of Rain.

And this is precisely where Xia Mu and his group of refugees are headed.