69novels Chapter 91 Walking on Thin Ice
Chapter 91 Walking on Thin Ice
Chapter 91 Walking on Thin Ice
When the new leader of the Land of Rain greeted Minato Namikaze so familiarly, the Konoha ninjas accompanying him were all stunned.
Minato Namikaze didn't bring his three disciples today, so Shiba Kiyokawa was the only one present who recognized him.
This is because Kakashi has now begun preparing for his promotion to Jonin and needs to complete more high-level missions to fill his resume. Obito and Rin have also chosen to follow Kakashi and support him at this time.
Of course, the main support was actually provided by Rin, who was a medical ninja, while Obito... was just Rin's little follower.
So the people who came with Minato Namikaze this time were replaced by his two former teammates and three newcomers.
The two teammates are Shio Aburame and Choza Akimichi, while the three newcomers are Genma Shiranui, Raido Namiashi, and Deivashi.
These three newcomers were also the Shadow Guards promoted by Minato after he became Hokage in the original work. All three were later taught the Flying Thunder God Technique, but they did not have the ability to use it alone like Minato Namikaze, so they could only release the Flying Thunder God teleportation array together.
(The younger version of the trio from the future)
Seeing that the Akatsuki leader, who was rumored to have killed a demigod and seriously injured the village elder, was actually just a boy who looked only a few years older than himself, the expressions of Genma Shiranui, Raido Namiashi, and Deivashi were all quite interesting.
The pride of being a ninja from a great ninja village was once again crushed into the ground.
After his initial surprise, Minato Namikaze quickly regained his composure and responded in as calm a tone as possible.
"I never expected you to be the new leader of Akatsuki. It's been a long time, Shiba Kiyokawa."
The name Shiba Kiyokawa had actually been mentioned in the intelligence reports, but Minato Namikaze just hadn't matched the name with the person yet.
"What brings you here this time, Lord Minato?" Shiba Kiyokawa asked, still neither humble nor arrogant.
However, Minato Namikaze's smile at this moment appeared somewhat bitter.
It seems that no matter when they meet, he always plays the role of the one being controlled by this boy.
Last time, Minato Namikaze was held hostage by Rin, but this time, he is held hostage by the dire situation in Konoha.
"King Qinghe, I've come to clear up some misunderstandings."
I remember you said when we met last year that the Land of Rain has always maintained a neutral stance. If that's the case, why did it have to escalate to war?
Shiba Kiyokawa looked at Minato calmly, as if he were looking at the hardships he had endured along the way.
In the past six months, he has gone from having to scheme and bluff his way through even when he has hostages in his hands just to have the right to talk to them, to now being able to stand calmly and wait for Minato Namikaze to take the initiative to make excuses.
He has walked a very precarious path all the way!
Now that things have come to this, he no longer needs to be careful in front of the water gate.
His confidence stemmed from his improved strength and the presence of Kakuzu, Konan, Nagato, Karasuha, and others by his side.
"But Lord Minato, you promised that no Konoha ninja would come uninvited to disturb the Land of Rain, but you broke your promise."
This time, the fault doesn't lie with us.
Shiba Kiyokawa responded quite forcefully.
Minato Namikaze hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "I can apologize for what happened to Elder Danzo."
"If apologies were enough, what would be the point of ninjas holding kunai?"
Shiba Kiyokawa immediately spoke up, interrupting the other party's gesture of bowing.
He doesn't accept the spirit of craftsmanship.
Minato Namikaze sighed, still somewhat unwilling to give up, "Is there really no way to negotiate? War is not good for either side."
But Shiba Kiyokawa simply shook his head calmly.
He did not agree with Minato Namikaze's statement.
Konoha was indeed unable to undertake any more wars at this time, but the Land of Rain was not in the same boat.
More importantly, Shiba Kiyokawa needs to use a more sociable approach to conceal his true intentions!
What he is about to do in the Land of Rain is destined to be out of step with the current state of the ninja world.
If the surrounding powerful figures discover his ambitions, then no one can say for sure whether these vested interests will react with fury and rage.
At that time, the newly reborn Land of Rain might just follow in the footsteps of the Land of Whirlpools.
Shiba Kiyokawa doesn't want to fight the entire ninja world alone, at least not yet.
Therefore, he needs to disguise himself, keep a low profile, and try to appear as inconspicuous as possible.
Besides seeking revenge against Danzo, another major purpose of declaring war on Konoha was to create a facade!
They pretended to be an ordinary ninja organization!
They created the illusion that they had not broken free from the framework of "one country, one village"!
They created the illusion that they were still struggling and fighting numbly within the existing order, just like traditional ninjas!
Joining the Ninja World War would make them appear more sociable and more like "ninjas".
This naturally puts the daimyo at ease.
Shiba Kiyokawa dared not hope that this trick could fool the daimyo of all countries forever, but at least it should buy the Land of Rain a precious period of development time!
Therefore, he was destined not to agree to Minato Namikaze's request for peace talks.
The two sides were never on the same wavelength from the very beginning.
After several more rounds of verbal sparring, Minato Namikaze realized that he couldn't gain any advantage with his talk-no-jutsu, as it was all being defended by his opponent.
Helpless, he could only try to appeal to people's emotions.
"By the way, where's Yahiko? I haven't seen him today. Speaking of which, Jiraiya-sensei has been talking about him a lot lately after hearing about what happened to you guys. Is he alright?"
Minato Namikaze brought up Jiraiya and Yahiko, seemingly trying to use their shared camaraderie to bridge the gap between them.
It's a pity that things backfired.
Shiba Kiyokazu's words left him speechless.
"Yahiko is currently seriously injured and unconscious, with no signs of waking up yet. Hmm, this was caused by your village elder, Tanzo.
"..."
Minato Namikaze immediately felt embarrassed.
This conversation is impossible...
Helpless, he had no choice but to take his leave and hastily end the meeting to return to the village to report.
On the way back, the three newlyweds were very angry.
"These mere Rain Ninja are far too arrogant! Do they really think Konoha is easy to bully now that it's besieged on all sides?"
For a small ninja village to have such an attitude towards war, they're truly courting death!
Genma Shiranui said angrily.
Then, Raido Namiashi nodded, and looked at Minato Namikaze, asking, "Minato-senpai, why didn't you teach them a lesson back then? Let them see the magnanimity of Konoha!"
Unexpectedly, Minato Namikaze just sighed wearily upon hearing this.
"A lesson? Not so easy."
"How could that be?"
"I've known that kid longer than you all, so I know his potential better, and his growth is so fast it's unbelievable to me."
If it were possible, I would want to contain this threat more than any of you, but it's not that easy.
If a fight had broken out back then, all of you would have died.
The three little ones didn't believe it, but the next moment, even the usually silent Shio Aburame spoke up, "Minato is right. You are completely unaware of that person's threat."
(End of this chapter)