Half a Year of Cultivation

Half a year later, Land of Fire Border.

Inside a temporary camp, a one-eyed man sat cross-legged on a cushion, studying a letter on the low table before him.

The bandages wrapped around his right eye and the X-shaped scar on his chin made his face highly distinctive.

Yet even more striking than those physical features was his temperament. One glance was enough to sense the gloomy aura emanating from him.

Like a hyena lurking in the grass, he gave the impression that the slightest carelessness would draw his attention—and end with him biting through your throat.

If Hoshi had been here, he would have recognized this man at a glance. If this person was not Danzo, Hoshi would eat the Wooden Sword on his back on the spot.

Danzo finally opened the letter. He held it in one hand and read it carefully, while the fingers of his other hand tapped lightly against the low table.

Though the letter was not particularly long, he read it with great care, afraid of missing even a single word.

More than ten minutes later, his tapping abruptly stopped. He put away the letter, slowly rose to his feet, and touched the bandages covering his right eye as he murmured, "The long war is finally coming to an end."

His teacher, Tobirama, and his friend, Kagami Uchiha, had both fallen in this protracted war. Even he himself had lost an eye on the battlefield. Now, at last, there were signs that the war was nearing its end.

In truth, once Cloud Village had finished setting its own affairs in order, the Main Battlefield had effectively come to an end. But the newly appointed Third Raikage was not someone easy to deal with either.

Although Cloud Village had indeed been at fault in this matter, were they the sort to reason with outsiders? The answer was no. Thus, while the Main Battlefield had ended, small-scale raids and unrest continued. Both sides hoped to wear the other down through these minor actions and gain greater benefits.

But in the end, Konoha, with its deeper resources, wore down Cloud Village. Yesterday, A, the Third Raikage, had sent someone to deliver a ceasefire agreement to Danzo, who was still stationed at the front lines.

Seeing the agreement before him improved even gloomy Danzo's mood considerably. But feeling better did not mean he would readily accept Cloud Village's plea for peace.

He resealed the letter, then took out paper and a brush and swiftly wrote another letter.

Once he had finished, he summoned a ninja and instructed him to deliver both letters back to Konoha.

Konoha, Hoshi and the others' private training ground.

By the stream, the four of them were currently sparring in pairs.

Sakumo and Hoshi traded attack after attack, and the metallic clanging of White Fang colliding with a Ninja Blade rang out without pause.

As their attacks grew fiercer, more sweat appeared on Sakumo's face. Hoshi had improved far too quickly. The guy was practically a monster when it came to Swordsmanship. Just half a year ago, their skill had still been evenly matched.

But now, dealing with Hoshi's blade was becoming more and more difficult. Originally, so long as Hoshi did not use his bloodline ability or that blade technique, Sakumo could still gain the upper hand in Close-quarters combat.

But over the past two months, Hoshi had suddenly developed a two-handed fighting style that combined a long blade and a Short Sword, making up for his weakness in Close-quarters combat as well. That only made Sakumo fall behind even faster.

At that thought, Sakumo felt a little indignant. He could not let Hoshi think he had been standing still all this time. It was time to bring out the new technique he had developed over the past half year.

Sakumo suddenly put all his strength into a slash that knocked aside Hoshi's attack, then leaped backward and began his counterattack.

After pausing where he stood for a moment, White Fang in his hand suddenly lit up with lightning. As the lightning flickered, Sakumo moved as well. His speed more than doubled as he abruptly charged at Hoshi.

Hoshi had never seen this move before, and he was startled for a moment. But as soon as he reacted, the hairs on his body stood on end.

He absolutely could not take this strike head-on.

It was not that he lacked the ability to block it, but that the blade in his hand was not up to the task. Sakumo's White Fang was already a high-grade weapon containing Chakra metal, and with the enhancement of Lightning Release, it could cut through iron as if it were mud.

The ordinary Ninja Blade in his hand definitely could not withstand it. If he tried to block it by force, the shattering of his blade would leave him seriously injured.

With that in mind, Hoshi did not hesitate. He decisively activated Line of Moonlight and chose to make a run for it. His figure flashed, and amid a streak of silver blade-light, he appeared ten meters to the left, causing Sakumo's slash to miss.

Once Sakumo came to a stop, Hoshi promptly raised his hand in surrender.

"Alright, this round's yours. Seriously, that was way too reckless. If I'd hesitated for even a moment longer, I might've lost my life."

Sakumo felt a little embarrassed at those words, though he still stubbornly replied, "I only dared to use it because I knew you had Line of Moonlight and wouldn't get hurt."

Hoshi rolled his eyes inwardly, but he still put on a stern expression and said seriously to Sakumo, "You haven't fully developed that technique yet. It should put quite a strain on your body too. Until you finish developing it, don't use it unless it's absolutely critical."

Sakumo was somewhat moved by those words. Compared with his own stubborn excuse just now, this was what a true friend should say. Thinking of that, he could not help feeling a little ashamed.

Seeing how embarrassed Sakumo was made Hoshi feel a little awkward as well. He patted Sakumo on the shoulder.

"Alright, it's nothing. It's just one loss. Haven't I lost plenty of times before? Come on, let's go see how Jiraiya and the others are doing."

As he spoke, he pulled Sakumo toward Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

Compared to the frenzied clash of steel on Hoshi and Sakumo's side, Jiraiya and Orochimaru's fight was much quieter. Other than Jiraiya, that idiot, occasionally shouting, there was not much noise.

Neither of them had mastered many ninjutsu yet, so their sparring was still primarily based on taijutsu.

From the looks of it, Jiraiya seemed much stronger than Orochimaru. After all, physical conditioning was not something that could easily be caught up through half a year of improved meals, especially when Jiraiya was a human beast.

But just because Jiraiya appeared to have the upper hand did not mean Orochimaru was losing.

Orochimaru's combat intelligence was frighteningly high. Whenever he evaded one of Jiraiya's attacks, he could always sneak in one or two hits from Jiraiya's blind spots.

After several minutes of taijutsu exchanges, Orochimaru had suffered few injuries, while Jiraiya had been left looking quite disheveled.

After being picked off so many times, Jiraiya was getting angry too. He took two steps back and suddenly began forming Hand Seals. "Damn Orochimaru, just wait until you get a taste of this."

As he spoke, Jiraiya began forming more Hand Seals. Judging from the sequence, it should have been Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.

Seeing Jiraiya form Hand Seals, Orochimaru did not panic. Taking advantage of the moment Jiraiya was occupied, he used the Shadow Hidden Wire Hand, and steel wires lined with tiny barbs easily wrapped around Jiraiya's arm.

Orochimaru yanked hard, interrupting Jiraiya's Hand Seals. At the same time, he swiftly closed in, launching a rapid bout of Close-quarters combat before Jiraiya could regain his balance.

With one final trip, Orochimaru sent Jiraiya sprawling to the ground. The Kunai he drew stopped at Jiraiya's throat.

"You big idiot. If you make such a racket while forming Hand Seals, even a fool would know to interrupt you."

Thanks to Archmage Funny, Guess What My Name Is g, and Flowers and Listening Sounds for the book coin donations, and thanks to all you brothers for your recommendations and favorites.

Also, Ye Zhi sometimes typed too quickly and ended up with typos or mistakes in names, numbers, and the like. Some might slip past during proofreading as well. If you spot any such issues, brothers, please mention them in the comments, and I'll correct them promptly.