Waiting for the Sannin by the Stump

After more than a month of recuperation, Yahiko's injuries had finally healed completely. On a morning veiled in the faint light of dawn, Yuehua Ai and the three others braved the drizzle once more, embarking on their journey to find the Sannin.

Because they had been delayed for over a month, Yuehua Ai changed their route before setting off.

At this point, the war in Amegakure was nearing its final stages. Not only had large-scale battles vanished, but even small-scale skirmishes were constantly dwindling, and the frequency of ninja deployments had dropped significantly in recent days.

In his original plan, Yuehua Ai had accounted for the frequent small-scale skirmishes during the war. He believed that powerful ninjas like the Sannin were generally tasked with assault missions, requiring them to shuttle across the battlefield like guerrillas—appearing suddenly in minor skirmishes to provide support and turn the tide, thereby accumulating advantages that tipped the scales of victory toward Konohagakure.

The development of the war and the deployment of ninjas had been within Yuehua Ai's calculations. If the group had continued along their original route, they would have easily encountered those ninjas traversing the battlefield, as the boys' path had been plotted along the nodes connecting various battlefronts. This would not only have allowed them to avoid direct combat as much as possible but also maximized their chances of encountering the Sannin.

However, ideals are plump, but reality is skeletal. When the boys reached their second target point, they had the misfortune of running into the rogue ninja Xiangyuan.

Although they managed to save their lives in the end, everyone was injured. Yahiko, who was the most severely wounded, could not handle the jolts of the journey. Helpless, the group had to wait for his recovery. This back-and-forth cost them over a month, and during that time, the situation of the war had already evolved. As the boys drew closer to the front lines, they could no longer find refugee settlements to gather the latest intelligence.

With the month-long delay, the original plan was no longer suitable for the current situation. The decrease in small-scale skirmishes and the calming of many battles rendered Yuehua Ai's plan meaningless. Even if they reached their destination as originally intended, they would not only fail to encounter deployed ninjas but would also be easily dragged into random skirmishes.

Considering the many variables that had affected the original plan, Yuehua Ai decisively chose to abandon it and formulate a new route.

In Yuehua Ai's memory, the victor of this Second Shinobi World War had long since been decided. Because Kumogakure launched a surprise attack on the Land of Earth from the rear, Iwagakure was forced to recall its ninjas from the Amegakure front to defend their own borders against Kumogakure. Although Amegakure had become a battlefield early on, the Amegakure ninjas had not intervened in the war between the three great nations, leading to an awkward situation where Sunagakure had to face Konohagakure alone.

The situation on the Amegakure front was predictable. With Konohagakure no longer restrained by Iwagakure, they had almost completely crushed Sunagakure in the initial battles. After suffering massive losses, Sunagakure could only struggle to hold off Konohagakure's offensive. Fortunately, the ninja world was engulfed in war on all sides by then; not only were the five great villages of the five great nations involved, but more small nations and small ninja villages were gradually drawn into the vortex. Since Konohagakure was facing battlefields far beyond just Amegakure, the village high command decided to pull out a portion of their ninjas to rush to other fronts once they had gained an absolute advantage in Amegakure.

The shift in Konohagakure's strategic focus finally gave Sunagakure, struggling in Amegakure, a chance to breathe. Later, when Hanzo saw that Konohagakure's military presence had diminished, he decisively ordered the Amegakure ninjas to join the war between Sunagakure and Konohagakure to reap the benefits of the conflict. With the help of Amegakure, Sunagakure finally broke free from their retreating position and began a long-term tug-of-war with Konohagakure.

This tug-of-war manifested as a decrease in large-scale battles, with most combat devolving into small skirmishes. This brought the Amegakure battlefield into a state of relative stability. While there were still many minor disputes, the massive, meat-grinder-like battles had finally vanished. This period of relative stability was the few years since Yuehua Ai had been born.

The victor of this battlefield had long been Konohagakure. The resistance from Sunagakure and Amegakure, and the countless skirmishes over the years, were more about each party trying to secure war dividends, strengthen their own leverage, and prepare for the future division of the spoils.

This so-called future "cake" referred to the commissions and missions from various countries. The more powerful a village, the more commissions it could secure, and the more bargaining power it would have with the clients. The existence and maintenance of a ninja village had never relied on the strength or number of its ninjas, but on these commissions and missions from people everywhere.

Unable to obtain intelligence on the war's progress, Yuehua Ai could not judge the situation. He only knew that the war within the Land of Rivers was nearing its end. Once the war concluded, the major ninja villages would gradually withdraw their ninjas from the battlefield.

The overall situation of the war was already irreversible. Since he could not predict where skirmishes would occur, the only way to find the Sannin—aside from leaving it to fate—was to wait for them at a strategic point.

Yuehua Ai's new plan was to head to the border between Amegakure and the Land of Fire to wait. If Konohagakure recalled its ninjas, those receiving the orders would likely pass through the border of the two nations. That would be their final chance.

After Yuehua Ai briefly explained the new plan, everyone nodded in agreement. Once they set off early that morning, they stepped onto the path of the new route.

The new route was much shorter than the old one. To avoid missing the Sannin and to reach their destination as soon as possible, the route was designed to be as direct as possible. While these paths were concise and almost entirely straight lines, the terrain was far more treacherous than before.

The initial route had prioritized known roads between villages and towns, but the path they were now on was desolate. Not only did they have to cross jungles multiple times, but they also had to traverse several cliffs and river valleys. Despite the dangers, the boys' resolve was set, and no one backed down.

"The poison gas here is really intense; it's almost becoming solid!" Yahiko's muffled voice rang out. At this moment, not only him, but all the boys were wearing heavy gas masks and huddled inside thick protective suits.

Yuehua Ai reached out and waved his hand forward. The sickly green gas surrounding him dented like a colloid before being quickly filled in by the gas from the surrounding areas.

Yuehua Ai looked up at his surroundings. With his vision, he could only see a few dozen meters ahead. The visibility here was truly poor—not because of the gas masks, but because this jungle was filled with a strange green gas.

The density of this gas was high, so the higher one went, the thinner the green hue became, and the closer to the ground, the thicker it grew. At the boys' feet, the gas looked almost like flowing water.

Observing the environment, Yuehua Ai understood what this strange gas was: it was the miasma of the jungle. This miasma was produced by the decaying branches and leaves of the trees. Initially, it simply rotted and fermented on the surface. Because the jungle was sheltered with little wind and constant year-round rain, much of the miasma produced by decay dissolved into the rainwater and dripped down. Repeating this process, the area became like an airtight jar, preventing the miasma from dissipating. It accumulated and fermented here, deepening and changing over the years.

Thus, by now, the miasma had become almost gelatinous, and the toxicity contained within was something no ordinary person or beast could withstand. Fortunately, this environment was not uncommon in Amegakure, so the protective suits produced here were designed with this factor in mind.

Because the boys' protective suits were still intact, they were able to remain unharmed in this jungle where birds and beasts were nowhere to be found.

The boys trudged through the mud, which also contained significant toxicity. Fortunately, their protective suits provided airtight, full-body coverage, and their boots were made of protective materials.

In the jungle, there was no sound other than the boys' footsteps and the dripping of rain. After a long time in such silence, it was hard not to feel stifled. Fortunately, the heavy gas masks did not block out sound, and the boys could still communicate.

"Little Ai, do you think those three Konoha ninjas will teach us ninjutsu?" Yahiko asked as he walked. After more than half a year together, he realized that this little brat Yuehua Ai was the most knowledgeable among them. Moreover, compared to Nagato, Yuehua Ai had a more cheerful personality and talked more. Aside from his lazy tone, everything else was to Yahiko's liking.

"Who knows? Who can say for sure about the future? We haven't even found the people yet; thinking too much is useless!" Yuehua Ai adjusted the helmet on his head. He truly couldn't be certain about the future. After all, anime was anime; the difference between the 2D world and the 3D world was too vast. Plus, with a variable like himself in the group, he had no confidence at all about whether they would find the Sannin.

"How could it be useless? I'm just being prepared," Yahiko retorted, unwilling to give up.

"If we really meet the Konoha ninjas, how will they treat us?" For Nagato, Konohagakure was still a thorn in his side.

Yuehua Ai shrugged. "That's hard to say. Actually, whether we meet ninjas from Konoha or other countries, the situation should be about the same. If we meet ordinary ninjas, they'll probably ignore us, though they might question us for intelligence. If we meet some perverted ninjas, like that Amegakure ninja we encountered before, we might be in for some bad luck!"

When he mentioned "perverted ninjas," Yuehua Ai's mind conjured up an image of an eerie man in a kimono with black hair and long eyes. The rogue Amegakure ninja they had met before could only be called sick, not perverted. And when it came to perverts, it seemed no one in Naruto could compare to Orochimaru.

This search for the Sannin was, in fact, to follow Jiraiya and learn ninjutsu. At this time, Jiraiya was still with Orochimaru and Tsunade. If they really met Jiraiya, they might get a glimpse of Orochimaru and Princess Tsunade, but he hoped they wouldn't run into Orochimaru alone. Without Jiraiya by his side, an war orphan like himself might be "passively liberated" by him.

"Why must we look for those three Konoha ninjas? We've met other ninjas along the way; can't we just follow them and learn?" Konan bit her lip, voicing the doubt in her heart.

"Of course not! We must follow powerful ninjas. Those three Konoha ninjas are existences capable of fighting Hanzo; how could other ninjas compare?" Before Yuehua Ai could speak, Yahiko replied hurriedly.

Yuehua Ai shook his head at Yahiko's words. "Yahiko is right, but not entirely."

"What do you mean?" the others asked, confused.

"To learn ninjutsu, it's not necessarily true that the stronger the teacher, the better the results. Every ninja has their own strengths. Only someone who knows how to teach according to a student's aptitude is the best teacher."

"The reason we are looking for the Konoha ninjas is actually because their style is relatively kinder. It is much safer to interact with them than with ninjas from other villages."

"Also, we can only be taken as disciples if we seek out those three. You must know that ninjas are not free existences. Low-level ninjas cannot defy the arrangements of their superiors. Things like taking in orphans from enemy countries as disciples on a whim—they don't have the ability or the guts to do that. Only powerful ninjas possess a high degree of freedom; only they can act according to their own will."

"If we meet those three ninjas, and they are interested in taking us as disciples, they will do so, and no one can stop them. If they have no intention of taking us in, they will simply ignore us."

"But if we try to follow just any ninja we meet to learn ninjutsu, it would be lucky if they just ignored us. It's more likely they would just dispose of us on the spot. Therefore, I think following those three Konoha ninjas is our best choice."

"So that's how it is." The others suddenly realized.

Yahiko felt a bit dejected. When he decided to look for the Konoha Sannin, he hadn't thought much about it. He only felt that they were powerful ninjas capable of fighting Hanzo, and as long as he followed them, he would eventually become a powerful existence capable of standing on his own.

Hearing Yuehua Ai's words, he suddenly realized that he had been too impulsive and reckless. Just because a thought had crossed his mind, he had led everyone on a journey to find the Sannin without considering anything else.

This completely irresponsible approach toward his companions made him feel a wave of guilt. Although he hadn't thought it through, fortunately, their goal hadn't gone wrong by some stroke of luck, and with Yuehua Ai there to analyze and summarize, they would still make the most correct decisions.

Yahiko took a deep breath. The decision he had made was still too rash; as the leader of the team, he bore the responsibility of protecting every companion's safety. Every one of his decisions had to take his companions into account.

I will not be willful again! Yahiko secretly clenched his fists, resolving himself inwardly.

Yuehua Ai had not expected his words to affect Yahiko so deeply, but after his self-reflection, Yahiko had indeed become much more mature and steady. He had begun to form the habit of planning before acting, and the many arrangements and plans he made during the subsequent journey left Yuehua Ai quite satisfied, causing him to marvel at Yahiko's sudden transformation.

Over the next two months, the group of four youths traversed countless perils and finally reached their intended destination.

During this period, as they shuttled through various battlefields and forbidden zones, the group encountered innumerable dangers. For instance, while crossing a canyon, they were extremely unlucky to encounter a landslide and mudslide; had it not been for the eruption of Nagato's Rinnegan at the critical moment, they might have long been buried beneath the earth.

In those two months, the group encountered many natural disasters, but the number of man-made calamities they faced was just as high. Because they were traveling along the edges of battlefields, those areas were frequently rigged with traps by various ninja. There were dummy traps, pitfall traps, explosive traps, and so on. Fortunately, the group acted with caution; although they sustained some minor injuries during the first few encounters, nothing was of any serious consequence.

As the days passed in this manner, the group of youths, under the protective shade of Nagato's Rinnegan, finally arrived at their destination.

Upon reaching their destination, all that remained for the group to do was wait and search. Every day, they dispersed to different locations, hiding along various thoroughfares to quietly observe and search for their target.

After nearly half a month of waiting for a rabbit to hit a tree stump, just as their patience was being worn thin by constant disappointment, Konan suddenly sent back a message one afternoon.

The Konoha ninja the youths had been tracking for three months, after they had overcome countless hardships and obstacles, had finally reappeared in their field of vision.