Encounter

However, Shiro still had a problem with making Dragon Tooth Soldiers: the production speed was too slow. There was nothing he could do about it except slowly improve his proficiency. Fortunately, he had plenty of Snake Fangs.

Shiro and the others did not rest for long. After stopping for roughly half an hour, they set off again.

Shiro was a little disappointed; he had not made many Dragon Tooth Soldiers yet. But unlike Shiro, Taichi and Shikaki were quite happy, especially Shikaki. The fact that he was actually happy about traveling left Shiro rather puzzled.

He wondered if Shikaki had been replaced by someone else. But when he saw Shikaki and Taichi's slightly twitching hands, a smile gradually appeared on Shiro's face. Finally. I wasn't the only one experiencing this despair.

Shiro laughed happily along the way until they stopped to rest at dusk, when Nakamura stood before him.

"...Why?" Shiro asked despairingly.

"Sigh... Don't hate me. I'm doing this for your own good."

Shiro gave the Dragon Tooth Soldier he had just made a tragic look, then reluctantly turned away and practiced hand seals with Taichi and the others.

Perhaps suffering truly could be shared. With Shiro joining them, the two immediately became much more cheerful.

"Sigh... Harming others only comes back to harm yourself..." Shiro sighed as he formed hand seals.

"All right, focus. Hand seals are extremely important to a ninja. Since you have such a good opportunity to practice ninjutsu, you should cherish it."

"..." x3

"Also, you should thank Shiro properly. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have such a good training method."

"..." Shiro's scalp tingled as he felt two chilling gazes.

"Ah, don't worry. We'll definitely thank Shiro properly!"

"Haha, all right. Enough chatting. Hurry up and practice."

That night, Shiro went to find the Sharingan with twitching fingers.

The next day, while they were traveling, Nakamura suddenly stopped. "Stay alert. Someone's here!"

"Reinforcement, begin!"

Shiro leaped to a high spot and looked in the direction Nakamura was watching. In the distance, he saw four ninjas, all wearing Konoha forehead protectors.

"They seem to be Konoha ninjas," Shiro said as he jumped down.

"Are you sure? They're all wearing forehead protectors, and I recognize someone among them. But we can't rule out the possibility that they're using the Transformation Technique. They're too far away to tell."

"Mm, then let's wait. They've spotted us too and are heading this way."

Before long, they arrived. At a ninja's speed, that distance did not take much time to cross.

"Taichi!"

"Yes!"

Taichi, who had long been prepared, activated his Sharingan and examined them for traces of the Transformation Technique.

The reason they had Taichi use the Sharingan was to be safer. Even Jonin could make mistakes; sometimes, what Nakamura could not see did not mean the Sharingan could not see it either.

They did not exchange any secret signals. Such things were not reliable in the Shinobi World. However, upon seeing the Sharingan, the other side abandoned the idea of proving their identities.

According to what Minato had said, there was his friend among them, so all they had to do was wait. Of course, they could not let down their guard.

"No problem." Taichi deactivated his Sharingan.

Hearing that, Shiro's hand glowed white, and a kunai appeared within it.

Anyone familiar with him knew this was Shiro's unique signature ninjutsu. At present, only he could use it. If there was still a chance that Uchiha ninjas with the Sharingan had defected and ended up outside the village, then Projection Magecraft absolutely could not appear on anyone else.

Though that might not necessarily hold true in the future. What if Orochimaru managed to recreate it? But that was a matter for later.

Thus, seeing this, Minato first smiled at Shiro before saying, "Captain, no problem."

Minato's current squad leader was not Jiraiya. Jiraiya had not returned after the war, and Shiro guessed that he was probably teaching Nagato and the others now. (This was mentioned earlier; the timeline has been adjusted slightly here.)

His current squad leader was a Jonin named Nakamori Aota.

"Aota, long time no see."

"Yeah, it has been a long time. Have you completed your mission?"

"Mm, we're heading back to the village now. What about you?"

"Us too. Want to travel together?"

"Mm, sure."

It was clear that their relationship was only ordinary, merely at the acquaintance stage. After exchanging greetings, they did not continue chatting.

Shiro did not pay any attention to it. It was not a big deal anyway.

"Brother Minato, long time no see. These are my teammates, Shikaki and Taichi. This is Brother Minato."

"Mm, thank you for taking care of Shiro." Minato first thanked Shikaki and Taichi, then said, "Shiro, your injuries are fine now, right? Sorry I didn't visit when you were discharged."

"It's fine, Brother Minato. It wasn't a big deal."

"Mm. Oh, right, let me introduce you. This is my captain, Nakamori Aota. These are my teammates, Mai and Shinji."

"Hello, Sister Mai. Hello, Brother Shinji."

"Mm, hello."

"All right, save the catching up for later. Let's get moving first."

"Yes."

Along the way, Minato merely asked Shiro about his daily life and did not touch on anything related to missions. Shiro did the same. The rules in that regard were still quite strict.

That night, Shiro and the others were still miserably practicing hand seals. Minato watched from the side for a while before saying, "Isn't this the Sealing Jutsu Kushina taught you? You taught it to them too?"

"Mm, we share blessings together."

Shikaki and Taichi gave Shiro strange looks. Both silently thought, Then next time, I'll share some blessings with you too!

"Huh? Brother Minato, you said 'too'?"

"That's right. I taught it to my teammates as well, but they haven't practiced much. Still, your hand seal speed is pretty good."

"Sigh... Practicing this every day, how bad could we possibly be?"

"Haha, then keep practicing. I won't disturb you." With that, he walked to a corner, took out a scroll, and began reading.

But in truth, Shiro and the others did not practice for long. After all, they were unlike the others and were not as dependent on this, so after practicing for a while, they each took out scrolls to read.

There were more people around now, so some things were unsuitable to practice here.

Thus, for the moment, they were all reading scrolls.

Shiro's scroll had been copied by himself. It contained some knowledge of Magecraft and part of Medea's insights into Magecraft.

What Shiro was currently researching was Barrier Magecraft. This Magecraft was highly practical, and Shiro also wanted to see whether he could recreate Unlimited Blade Works.

After all, EMIYA's Projection Magecraft was, in a sense, a degraded product of a Reality Marble. Therefore, since Shiro could use EMIYA's Projection Magecraft, he should possess a Reality Marble as well.

However, it should differ somewhat from EMIYA's, because Shiro could also project other Noble Phantasms.

Therefore, besides practicing Projection Magecraft and Reinforcement Magecraft, Shiro had always been researching Barrier Magecraft. Unfortunately, he had made no progress and could not even get started.

But Shiro did not give up. Everything had to go through hardship; no one had a smooth journey all the way through.

Shiro firmly believed that as long as he persevered and built a solid foundation, when he acquired more Magecraft knowledge and insights in the future, his gains would surely be greater!

Thanks to Tianxiang Longyu, thousands of troops and tens of thousands of horses avoid the white robe, Seber Does Not Exist, Ai, Kaede, Keep It Simple, Book Friend 131224200715569, Ms. Tiramisu Is Ready, and Professional Roast Machine for your recommendation votes. Thank you for your support.