Seeking the Teacher

The four of them pursued in the direction Jiraiya and his companions had retreated for two days and two nights, yet they found absolutely nothing.

They could guess that they must have been traveling too slowly, to the point where they could not keep up with the speed of those powerhouses.

For a time, everyone could not help but feel a bit dejected.

However, after a brief moment of disappointment, Yahiko quickly cheered up again.

"It doesn't matter. Even if we can't find them, we can look for others. I believe that in such a vast battlefield, there must still be powerhouses capable of teaching us."

Konan and Nagato nodded in agreement.

Yet Chiba secretly smiled bitterly to himself; apart from Jiraiya, there were truly few people in the entire Ninja World who possessed both the patience and the strength to teach a group of children like them.

And so, in order to find a powerhouse capable of teaching them, Yahiko led Chiba and the others headlong into the chaotic battlefield.

"Careful, don't go over there."

Yahiko reached out to stop Chiba and the others.

Silently watching the wounded person ahead who was crying for help, Yahiko frowned slightly and picked up a stone to throw at them.

"Boom!"

In an instant, a violent explosion kicked up countless clouds of dust.

"As expected, it's a Dummy Puppet."

For a moment, Chiba and the others could not help but break into a cold sweat; if they had actually walked over just now, they would likely have been in danger.

By now, more than three months had passed since the group set out to find a teacher.

As time went on, they began to venture deeper and deeper into the battlefield, and at the same time, the dangers they encountered grew more frequent.

It must be said that there were reasons why this small team was able to survive in such an environment.

Yahiko often possessed an instinctive keenness for crisis, having led them out of perilous situations several times already.

And compared to Yahiko, the one whose role was perhaps even greater was Nagato.

Standing on high ground, Nagato carefully observed the entire battlefield.

Compared to others who only had a field of vision of a few hundred meters, Nagato's vision of over two thousand meters undoubtedly had a much greater utility here.

Scenes in the distance that were difficult for others to see clearly were perfectly distinct to Nagato.

It had to be said that the Rinnegan was the Rinnegan; in terms of eyesight alone, it was something others could never hope to catch up to.

However, except for Chiba, no one else—not even the person himself—gave it much thought, simply assuming that Nagato was born with good eyesight.

"There is dense firelight in that direction, and I can see several black shadows flickering; it should be ninjas fighting."

Upon hearing this, Yahiko's expression turned cautious, but after a moment of hesitation, he said firmly, "We will move a little closer, but we must not get too near. Nagato, keep observing at all times."

The group understood that it would be difficult to get ninjas to teach them.

Therefore, their preliminary plan was to look for where there were ninjas left gasping for breath after a major battle and save them.

As for whether they would refuse to teach them later, it was unlikely they would harm their own saviors.

After all, generally speaking, ninjas also cared about their reputation; unless someone was a pervert, who would harm their benefactors who were mere civilians?

Even a pervert would have to consider whether anyone might see their act of returning kindness with enmity on such an intense battlefield.

Overall, this line of reasoning was not wrong.

Along the way, relying on the foresight provided by Nagato's Rinnegan, they had indeed saved several ninjas.

It was just that, without exception, none of these people were willing to agree to teach them.

But fortunately, it was not without gain; at the very least, they obtained some money, rations, and small tools.

Of course, things would not always go smoothly for them.

On a battlefield like this, it was inevitable that there would be people blinded by bloodlust, and no matter how cautious the group was, it was difficult to avoid such risks.

"Nagato, Chiba, Konan, run!"

Yahiko shouted in terror, yet the Rock Ninja opposite them toyed with them like a cat playing with a mouse.

There was no shortage of such people anywhere, those who took pleasure in bullying the weak.

And just as they were fleeing in a sorry state, several kunai suddenly shot out from a corner, and the Rock Ninja behind them, caught off guard, collapsed to the ground in an instant.

The group stared blankly at the suddenly fallen ninja, unable to react for a long time.

"Is he... dead?"

A moment later, Yahiko couldn't help but say with relief, "We really are lucky. This guy was taken out by someone else."

In fact, this was not the first time the group had been lucky.

For Yahiko and the others, they could attribute this to luck, but Chiba would never be so naive.

So, it really was Zetsu who made a move, huh?

Chiba felt a moment of relief.

Fortunately, he had hesitated for a long time before finally choosing to save Nagato; otherwise, if they had relied solely on their own strength to traverse this battlefield, they likely wouldn't even know how they had died.

Having narrowly escaped death once again, the group felt a sense of relief, yet they could not help but feel a renewed sense of dejection.

Even Yahiko could not help but waver slightly.

Stealing a glance at Chiba and the others, Yahiko quickly withdrew his gaze.

In truth, he was also afraid of what might happen if Chiba and Konan were to die because of him.

Yet, no matter what, he did not want to give up.

Several days later, just as the group was searching for potential opportunities once more, the ground suddenly began to tremble slightly.

Stunned for a moment, Yahiko was the first to react, running toward higher ground, with Chiba, Nagato, and the others following closely behind.

This time, even without the warning from Nagato's eyes, they could clearly see who was engaged in the battle.

"Found them, we finally found them."

At this moment, Hanzo and the Sannin were locked in another fierce battle.

As the fight progressed, Hanzo began to feel increasing pressure.

These three Konoha ninjas opposite him had actually grown stronger again.

Hanzo could not help but feel a headache coming on.

The growth rate of these few people was far too astonishing; last time they were clearly at a disadvantage, but this time, that disadvantage was no longer so obvious.

The key was that no matter how much of an upper hand he held, it was difficult to kill any one of them.

For a moment, Hanzo even had the subconscious illusion that he was merely an experience point source for others to level up—though he might not have understood the meaning of the term "experience point source," he truly felt that way.

Even if he could still maintain the upper hand now, it wouldn't be long before he was no longer their match.

If Jiraiya and the others couldn't win, they could simply run; with their mutual coordination, there was no possibility of Hanzo killing them.

But if he, Hanzo, were defeated, he would face their pursuit, and it would be hard to say whether he could survive then.

Thinking of this, and considering the losses on the overall battlefield, Hanzo finally made a decision.

"Stop."

Hanzo ceased his attacks and stood calmly atop the Salamander, looking at them.

"Hm?"

Jiraiya and the others were all somewhat puzzled.

"This ends here. As for this war, it should come as no surprise that Konoha has won."

Although he was very unwilling, Hanzo had to admit that the gap in combat power between the Rain Ninja and Konoha was indeed too great.

The three people before him were not even the entirety of Konoha's high-level combatants; on other battlefields, Konoha was still fighting against various nations, with countless powerhouses among them.

Yet, they, the Rain Ninja, only had him to hold the line.

Now that Konoha had gradually gained the advantage on other fronts, even if he could continue fighting, once other Konoha reinforcements arrived, the Rain Ninja would still face nothing but defeat and destruction.

Therefore, it was better to withdraw early than to let that happen.

"I must admit, your strength is truly formidable to have forced me to this extent. State your names."

"Orochimaru."

"Tsunade."

"Jiraiya."

"From this day forward, I shall call you the Sannin of Konoha. In the name of the Demigod, I acknowledge your strength."

Afterward, the group reached a verbal agreement regarding the general intentions of a ceasefire.

Due to the Rain Ninja's combat strength remaining largely intact and the strain on other fronts, the Rain Ninja did not suffer too many losses in terms of interests within the agreement.

At this very moment, the war in the Land of Rain, which had caused turmoil for years, was finally coming to an end.

Of course, these were not things that Yahiko and his group needed to know or consider.

After the battle involving Jiraiya and the others concluded, the four of them quickly pursued in the direction where Jiraiya and his companions had headed.