Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 60 Encounter Battle

"Sigh!" Hyuga Kanan sighed softly, but still obediently prepared to go help the squad led by Shimura Danzo. With a flash, she quickly chased after the team in the direction they had left.

Soon, Hyuga Kanan spotted Shimura Danzo's group advancing slowly, carefully observing their surroundings.

With a Body Flicker Technique, he arrived next to Uchiha Kagami. Uchiha Kagami was somewhat surprised by Hyuga Kanan's arrival. Based on their previous interactions, his impression of Kanan was that he had no love for Konoha and seemed detached from everything around him.

"I only want to say this once. Whether you listen or not is up to you, but if the mission fails later, don't blame me for not warning you."

"We are now less than 2 kilometers away from the advance party of the Mist Ninja, but if we want to scout out the main force of the Mist Ninja, we must avoid this advance party. I will determine the route and then lead you there. If you are ready to follow my orders and carry out the mission, then get ready to move out now!"

Hyuga Kanan stared at Shimura Danzo, knowing that Danzo was the biggest problem. But this group clearly obeyed Danzo's orders; without his consent, the mission was pointless.

Danzo Shimura stared intently at Kanan Hyuga, a Konoha genin who had just directly contradicted him and was now ordering him around. Danzo felt his authority had been trampled on by this brat, making him feel utterly worthless. He genuinely wanted to kill him, but for the sake of Konoha's victory in the war against Kirigakure, Danzo nodded in agreement. In Danzo's mind, there were only two kinds of Konoha ninja: those useful to Konoha, whom he could tolerate even if they lacked respect; and those completely useless to Konoha, whom he would abandon without any remorse, even if they were extremely respectful.

Uchiha Kagami, standing nearby, also breathed a slight sigh of relief. He knew that Shimura Danzo harbored murderous intent towards this Hyuga clan brat, who was still a genin. However, for the sake of the mission's success, Shimura Danzo had chosen to agree to the other party's suggestion. This explained why, despite Shimura Danzo's harsh and hostile attitude towards the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Kagami still obeyed his orders. In Uchiha Kagami's eyes, all ninjas who could dedicate everything to Konoha were the best comrades, and Shimura Danzo, a fanatical Konoha enthusiast, would not hesitate to sacrifice his own life if it benefited Konoha. This was why Shimura Danzo would harbor murderous intent towards a Konoha genin—because he saw not a trace of love for Konoha in Hyuga Kanan's eyes.

Hyuga Kanan glanced at Shimura Danzo, and seeing him nod in agreement, he didn't waste any more words. He quickly found a path and set off, with the others following closely behind.

They quickly led the Konoha Mobile Squad to bypass the advance team of the Mist Ninja and moved rapidly toward the main force of the Mist Ninja.

Nothing unexpected happened along the way, and everyone arrived safely at a distance from the main force of the Mist Ninja. They could now sense a large force moving in the distance.

Danzo Shimura immediately gave orders for everyone to disperse and approach the Mist Ninja forces, gather as much intelligence as possible about the main Mist Ninja force, and then regroup at the designated location.

Soon everyone dispersed, heading towards the Mist Ninja forces to scout ahead. Hyuga Kanan, however, went directly to the designated location to await the arrival of the others, showing no intention of going to scout as well. After all, he had already fully grasped the situation of the opposing Mist Ninja forces using his divine sense, and there was no need to waste any more energy on reconnaissance.

Half an hour later, Hyuga Kanan, who was waiting at the designated location, was secretly surprised to see the team members arrive quickly one by one. They were able to return within the designated time without alerting the Mist Ninja Force. They truly deserved to be called an elite team among the Konoha Ninja.

Under Danzo Shimura's command, everyone compiled the intelligence they had gathered, recorded it on several scrolls, and then distributed them to the others to ensure that the intelligence could be transmitted back to the Konoha camp as much as possible.

Hyuga Kanan suggested that everyone bypass the advance teams of the Mist Ninja again and slowly return to the main camp to ensure that the intelligence could be safely sent back to the main camp. However, Shimura Danzo ignored Hyuga Kanan's advice and chose to forcefully break through the advance teams of the Mist Ninja and return to the main camp as quickly as possible.

Danzo Shimura knew this would cause casualties, but delivering the intelligence quickly and accurately was their mission objective. Furthermore, he was very confident in the abilities of his team members.

"We were on an intelligence gathering mission, and now that we've completed it, we should transmit the intelligence back as quickly as possible. How can we be afraid of fighting and choose to take a detour, wasting time!"

"How did you become a ninja looking like that?!"

Danzo Shimura was already annoyed by Kanan Hyuga's fear of battle, and angrily berated him. Without giving Kanan a chance to reply, he directly ordered the team to move.

Hyuga Kanan finally understood this time; it seems that he had brought so much trouble upon himself by meddling in other people's business.

I must change myself. Before, I always thought that since I was in Konoha, I could offer whatever help or guidance I could. Now it seems that all the trouble was self-inflicted. I am just an outsider. What happens in the ninja world has nothing to do with me. My goal is to cultivate diligently, break through the void as soon as possible, and ascend to immortality.

He used to think of himself as a transmigrator, superior and wanting to guide the development of this native world, always believing he could break the Sage of Six Paths' plans and give the ninja world a different way of life. But now, Hyuga Kanan suddenly realized that he was just an outsider, only wanting to use the ninja world's superior, abundant natural energy for training. He had no need to care about how the ninja world developed, fought, or slaughtered. Because these things were irrelevant to him, and the world's will didn't require him to change anything, only to continuously absorb the soul energy of the ninjas, strengthen its authority, and rapidly improve his own strength. This would allow him to grow better and faster, helping it slow down the Sage of Six Paths' encroachment on it.

Forcing himself to join the battlefield was solely for the purpose of directly absorbing and devouring the soul energy of ninjas, not to help either side achieve victory. From the perspective of the World Will, everyone in the ninja world is treated equally; there is no preferential treatment given simply because one is from Konoha. He was completely misled by the fact that everything in the original story revolved around Konoha, leading him to believe that the World Will favored Konoha and even bestowed upon Jiraiya the power of destiny.

The World Will's only requirement of itself is to continuously absorb and refine the soul energy of ninjas and increase its own strength so that it can better assist it later. It doesn't need to be involved in anything else.

Constantly influencing the people of Konoha to force themselves onto the battlefield is merely a way to accelerate their own training, rather than allowing them to cultivate slowly in the rear. After all, time is running out; Hyuga Kanan needs to grow as quickly as possible to slow down the Sage of Six Paths and give the world's will a chance to resist.

Hyuga Kanan knew he was overestimating himself. He was just one of the means of resisting the world's will, and no one knew if he would succeed. All he could do was try his best.

After figuring things out, Hyuga Kanan looked at the Konoha team again, and he no longer had the same feeling as before. It was as if he were looking at passersby.

Hyuga Kanan silently followed behind the group, making no attempt to warn them about the Mist Ninja ambush on their path. To him, life and death were irrelevant at the moment, as long as he could absorb soul energy.

He no longer cared about the punishment from Konoha. As long as the other side had such thoughts, Hyuga Kanan would just find an opportunity to defect. These Kage-level shinobi from Konoha couldn't possibly pay attention to him every day; they were still at war with Kirigakure! They would always find a chance to escape.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

As the Konoha team advanced at high speed, a dragon-shaped water column, several meters long, suddenly attacked them directly at high speed.

Just as the water column was about to hit the team, the team reacted very quickly and scattered instantly, directly dodging the frontal attack of the water-style ninjutsu.

"Boom!" The water dragon bullet struck the tree trunk directly, instantly shattering several thick tree trunks, with broken branches flying everywhere.

Dozens of figures appeared quickly, surrounding the scattered Konoha members who had just been dispersed. Clearly, they had made ample preparations and had a general understanding of the Konoha team's situation.

Hyuga Kanan had already spotted the Mist Ninja ambush team, so he stopped far away, concealed himself, and silently watched the battle that was about to begin.

Danzo Shimura and Kagami Uchiha quickly drew their kunai, and the Konoha ninjas around them also drew their swords, looking at each other with serious expressions.

Opposite the Konoha ninja, there were at least 50 people scattered around, forming a circle that surrounded the Konoha ninja, leaving them no room to escape.

Soon, a long-haired Mist Ninja walked out from the Mist Ninja encirclement and walked not far from Shimura Danzo.

This Mist Ninja was extremely beautiful. Even wearing the standard Mist Ninja armor couldn't hide her elegant and graceful aura. She exuded a chilling aura, and her eyes were full of mockery as she twirled a senbon needle in her hand.

Meanwhile, the surrounding Mist Ninja revealed bloodthirsty eyes, locking onto the Konoha members, clearly waiting for the Mist Ninja in front of them to give an order.

The Konoha members also formed a triangle, their eyes fixed intently on the opposing Mist Ninja team. When they saw the exceptionally beautiful Mist Ninja, they took a deep breath. This was no ordinary Mist Ninja; she was the top ninja of the Mizuki clan and the inheritor of Ice Release ninjutsu.