I'm drawing manga in Naruto

Since we've been exposed, there's no need to hide it anymore.

Akabane smiled and said, "As expected of Kakuzu-senpai, a strongman who fought against the First Hokage, my little bit of cleverness really can't fool you."

"Hmph, little fox, let's not beat around the bush. I want to know if the Land of Rivers is Konoha's plan or your personal plan?"

Kakuzu said solemnly.

"It's not convenient to talk here, let's find another place."

Akabane released his senses.

There are some secret agents and guards operating and patrolling around, so it's safe for the time being, but it's definitely not a good place to talk.

"can."

Kakuzu continued forward, avoiding Akabane, and headed outside.

Akabane headed towards the village, secretly creating shadow clones to follow Kakuzu's pace using Earth Release.

The two stopped on a small hill far from Konoha. After confirming that there were no guards or ANBU around, Akabane revealed himself.

"Shadow clone? Hmph, that really suits your cautious style."

Kakuzu's tone was indifferent.

During this time, he had been investigating information about the "Hidden Mist Ninja," and even went to the Land of Water for it, but according to the information he received from the Land of Water, there was no such traitorous ninja there at all.

"I never expected you could trace it back to me."

Akabane smiled slightly.

Since the other party has already seen through it, there's no need to put on any more pretense.

"I originally came to buy another comic book, but after gathering some information, I think it's more likely that you're disguised as a rogue ninja."

Kakuzu said in a low voice.

"Alright, you truly live up to your reputation as a powerful figure from the era of the First Generation. Now I will answer your previous question."

Akabane paused for a moment, "I know that the village has made arrangements in the Land of Rivers, but the village doesn't know the actual situation there. The plan was my own doing and has nothing to do with the village."

"Is that so? In that case, I have something on you."

Kakuzu gave a cold smile.

"It's no use. You should know who my teacher is if you've already inquired."

Akabane didn't care.

His goal isn't to become Hokage. Even if Kakuzu exposes these things, it won't affect him much; he'll continue as before.

Firstly, he did not harm the village's interests; on the contrary, by occupying the Land of Rivers, he subtly expanded Konoha's territory and strengthened its information control over various countries.

Secondly, Danzo's style was unconventional; as long as it benefited the village, he didn't care what methods he used.

Of course, Kakuzu was clearly aware of this as well, and the reason for the meeting was definitely not to find fault or negotiate, but for another reason.

He remained noncommittal, glanced at the location of Konoha, and said with some emotion, "The last time I came to Konoha was when the First Hokage was still alive. I never expected that after so many years, Konoha would produce another incredible genius... To be honest, I almost couldn't resist the urge to kill him."

“Then I should be grateful that Kakuzu-senpai let me off the hook.”

Akabane spoke gently.

"Come on... I came to talk to you about the Land of Rivers. I've already secured a piece of territory, but our biggest selling book here is your One Piece. Now that you've stopped updating, it's difficult for me to get things going."

"Updates have recently resumed, and I will be updating all at once until the end of the Nami arc."

Akabane was somewhat speechless.

He made such a serious show of it, but after all that fuss, it turned out he brought it all down by his own failure to update.

However, Kakuzu's attitude is enough to prove that he is willing to continue cooperating, take control of the underground forces in the Land of Rivers, and gradually expand them.

of course……

It's certain that Kakuzu would be wary of Akabane. Even without this incident, Kakuzu still wouldn't trust Akabane, otherwise he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to find the true identity of the "Kirigakure rogue ninja."

People like Kakuzu will never trust others.

In his eyes, there is only himself and his own interests.

The two tested each other's limits while maintaining their cooperative relationship. Once they were sure of each other's intentions, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

Before parting, Kakuzu was somewhat eager to give it a try.

"If you really want to test my strength, you can try it out."

Akabane is very confident.

He knew Kakuzu wanted to test him, but he wasn't afraid of Kakuzu now. At worst, he would only lose a shadow clone, which wasn't his real body anyway.

"Forget it, I'm not interested in shadow clones."

Kakuzu hesitated repeatedly, still feeling uncertain.

Judging from the information gathered by the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, even in that battle with him, Akabane did not reveal his full strength in order to conceal his identity.

Fire Release, Genjutsu, Medical Ninjutsu, Summoning Beasts...

With an absurd number of hidden trump cards and no way to break that illusion, it's best to back down for now.

Kakuzu is gone, and his shadow clone takes its own life.

Far away in Konoha, Akabane let out a muffled cry of pain, and then his memories came back to him. He rubbed his chest—the shadow clone had acted decisively, stabbing him right in the heart.

"Hey, I wasn't slacking off, couldn't you have used a gentler method?"

Akabane is innocent.

He is indeed working on drawing. He has already completed one episode of the work, and with the addition of the work on another shadow clone, there will be three episodes to go.

Hmm, the efficiency is indeed not high.

He paused for a few seconds, then picked up the paper and continued drawing.

In terms of running speed, Akabane is indeed not as good as Sakumo, but his hand speed is in no way inferior to Sakumo's, and is even better than Sakumo's, who is skilled with a sword. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to form hand seals so quickly.

In one afternoon, he and his clone worked together to finally complete the expected update goal. They also added the five episodes of Naruto that the second shadow clone had rushed to produce, and sent them all together to Yamano Izumi.

Having completed the update, Akabane had no intention of returning to the preparatory division.

After finally managing to steal a little rest time, going back would be something only a fool would do, right?

However, to Akabane's surprise, the topic of prioritizing comrades in ninja rules, which had been discussed a few days ago, has now been changed by a new rule posted on the village's quest board—

The team leader is allowed to decide, after careful consideration, whether to save their teammate or continue the mission when their teammate is in danger.

For example, during that day's test, Lu Ming first determined the priority of various tasks and then made a reasonable allocation of personnel.

The new rules did not completely abolish the "Ninja Code" nor completely oppose "saving comrades." Instead, they adopted a compromise approach, allowing the team leader to make the judgment and decision himself.

This rule is equivalent to allowing ninjas to abandon their mission to save their comrades under "reasonable conditions".

But what if the conditions don't allow it...

For example, if the task is of extremely high importance, then the task should still be prioritized.

This is also normal.

To be honest, the fact that the third generation was able to go so far as to "issue rules" was beyond Akabane's expectations.

After all, in the manga, the Third Hokage never introduced such rules later on, and the textbooks still use the old rules. Whether "partners first" or "mission first" depends on the philosophy of the Jonin leading the team.

This is equivalent to the authorities making some concessions.

Chapter 236 Your dream is to become Hokage? You?

After finishing his work, Akabane began to study the Flying Thunder God Technique.

A few days ago, Kakashi's side story came out, and his exchange list already included the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Mastering space-time ninjutsu is no easier than developing a bloodline limit. As an S-rank space-time ninjutsu, the Flying Thunder God Technique requires a considerable number of points.

It requires a full five thousand points.

of course.

I actually had enough points the day before yesterday, but Akabane is still exploring ways to lower the price of points and hasn't redeemed them directly yet.

After much deliberation, Akabane decided that he still needed to talk to the Third Hokage.

The Flying Thunder God Technique is recorded in the Book of Seals, and Minato Namikaze learned it through the sealing scroll, which is enough to prove that the Third Hokage did not have much of a taboo about this technique.

Therefore, he decided to try his best to persuade the Third Hokage to let him see the Flying Thunder God Technique.

If he could read the Book of Sealing, his points would decrease, but another reason would be that he could openly use the Flying Thunder God Technique; otherwise, he could only claim that he developed it himself.

Although there are some notes from the second generation, this excuse is still not very credible.

Upon arriving at the Hokage Building, he bumped into the advisor elder, Mitokado Homura. He was about to greet him when Mitokado Homura snorted coldly and walked past him downstairs.

"..."

what the hell!

Akabane glanced back at the guy and made a mental note of him.

The old guy never did anything in the comics, and now he's inexplicably giving him attitude...

Upon closer reflection, it doesn't seem so inexplicable.

Few people knew that Mitokado Homura had been humiliated by Danzo, but many medical ninjas had witnessed his attempt to provoke Koharu Utatane and his subsequent failure.

Akabane held a fairly high position among medical personnel, so it was only natural that he knew.

"You petty wretch, I'll definitely get you later."

He muttered to himself before going upstairs and finding the door to the third generation's office.

The door wasn't closed, and from outside, one could see the Third Hokage smoking with a melancholy expression. Judging from the scene, Mitokado Homura had probably just had a fight with the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage saw Akabane and said irritably, "Come in."

Akabane entered the office and closed the door behind him. Before he could speak, the Third Hokage tapped the table with his pipe and stared at him with an unfriendly expression, leaving Akabane momentarily speechless.

"You never come looking for me with anything good. So, what are you up to this time?"

"Hehe, Hokage-sama, you see I've accumulated quite a few merits in the village recently, and I've also learned many ninjutsu techniques. Could you please ask for a ninjutsu from the Scroll of Sealing?"

Akabane rubbed his hands together.

The gesture was somewhat lewd, and the request was rather sensitive. After hearing this, the Third Hokage unconsciously sat up straighter and said solemnly, "You should know that there are some ninjutsu that I would never release."

"I want to see Flying Thunder God."

Akabane cut to the chase.

The Flying Thunder God Technique should not be among the techniques that the Third Hokage absolutely forbids.

really.

The Third Hokage's expression relaxed slightly after hearing this, and his movements were not as stiff as before. He advised as an elder, "The Flying Thunder God Technique is a space-time ninjutsu. Practicing this technique is extremely dangerous. I hope you can be more cautious."

The most common space-time ninjutsu is the Summoning Jutsu.

However, the method of spirit communication is relatively safe—provided a contract is signed.

Without a signed contract, the danger of psychic magic is also extremely high.

The probability of someone like Jiraiya, who didn't have a fixed contract, surviving a summoning spell and "coincidentally" arriving at Mount Myōboku is extremely low.

"Please believe me, I would never joke with my own life."

Akabane was very serious.

However, as soon as he said that, the Third Generation burst out laughing, coughed violently a few times, and tried to compose himself, but he still couldn't help but laugh.

They don't just not joke about their lives, they're absolutely obsessed with their lives to an outrageous degree.

The Third Hokage thought it over carefully and realized that his worry was ridiculous—given Akabane's character, if he really knew a deadly technique, he would probably be the first to give up, so why should he worry about him?

"Don't just keep smiling, it's just a matter of saying whether it's okay or not."

Akabane looked completely bewildered.

Is it really that funny to just tell the truth?