At first, when Akashō saw Kakashi's three-man team, he thought it was just another cliché love triangle.
But as time went on, he started noticing something off. Obito's feelings were way too obvious—there was no way Rin couldn't sense them. Yet even so, she never deliberately avoided interacting with him.
It was almost like those manipulative "nice girls" from his previous life.
However, judging by the situation now, it seemed Rin had been moved by Obito risking his life for her earlier, falling for him instead and giving up on Kakashi.
Tsk tsk… if Obito hadn't died, he might've actually ended up with the girl. Or maybe not—who knows, maybe if Obito hadn't died, Rin wouldn't have been moved at all.
Well, none of that had anything to do with him anyway.
...
"The Hidden Stone Village's key strategic routes have been destroyed. They won't be able to hold out much longer. According to our scouts, the main forces and Rōshi have already started retreating, leaving behind only some insignificant troops."
Minato Namikaze looked at the intelligence scroll in his hand and let out a tired sigh.
"The Third Great Ninja War is finally coming to an end. What's left now is just the Earth-Fire battlefield and cleaning up the remnants on the Mist side, which has been watching closely."
"But none of that requires my involvement anymore."
Minato turned to Akashō and instructed,
"The Third Hokage has already called me back to the village to prepare for the Fourth Hokage selection ceremony. You should go find Kokushibo and the others and lie low for a while."
Akashō nodded. "Got it."
After further discussion, Akashō and Minato had each made concessions. For the time being, Akashō would remain hidden under Kokushibo's cover until Minato became the Fourth Hokage and secured his position. Only then would Akashō go to the Hidden Leaf Village to meet him.
As for whether Akashō would truly do nothing but hide during this time—that was something he had his own plans for.
"Alright, I'll be heading out too. Take care, all of you."
This time, it wasn't Akashō speaking, but Minato. As for Kakashi and Rin, under the Hidden Leaf Village's orders, they would head to the Lightning-Fire battlefield's Konoha camp to monitor the still-inactive Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Mist Village, which continued to harass the borders. Meanwhile, the Earth-Fire battlefield here would be taken over by Uchiha clan ninjas.
"May sensei successfully become the Fourth Hokage."
"There's no need to overthink it—it's definitely Minato."
Akashō waved his hand dismissively. Putting everything else aside, someone like Orochimaru, who was obsessed with scientific research, probably wouldn't even want the position even if it were offered. The man's fanatic expression when asking for his blood was still vivid in his mind.
Minato smiled slightly. "Then I'll thank you in advance for your congratulations."
After saying their goodbyes, the four of them split up and headed in three different directions.
After walking some distance, Akashō stopped, then pulled up the interface of his three Villain Template personas and glanced at their reputation values.
Compared to right after yesterday's battle, all three had gained varying degrees of reputation. The news of that fight must have already spread.
A total reputation of 2.83 million—more than enough to unlock a new S-rank template.
That's right—Akashō planned to directly activate a fourth Villain Template.
The reason was simple: he didn't have enough personas.
Kokushibo and the others were already tied to the Dark Council, so they couldn't easily show themselves to build fame. In that case, why not just create a new persona?
It's not like the Four Great Ninja Villages would mobilize everything just to hunt down someone they'd never even heard of.
Looking at it that way, being able to create unlimited personas made him practically invincible.
Of course, considering the possibility of probing attacks and the fact that ninja battles often escalated unpredictably, there was no way he'd settle for just an S-minus rank template. Unless it had something like Kokushibo's near-immortality, it wouldn't be all that useful.
Just like Bertholdt Hoover—aside from showing off in large-scale battles, who could he actually beat in a one-on-one fight? He might not even be able to defeat someone like Rasa.
"Heh, I really am a genius."
After organizing his plans and goals for the near future, Akashō relaxed. At the same time, the urge to pee hit him.
He crossed a stream and walked beneath a cliff, untying his pants and starting to relieve himself while whistling.
But just as he finished and hadn't even shaken it twice, a few small stones suddenly fell from above his head.
What the—
Akashō looked up, only to see a boy about his age descending rapidly. The boy had two kunai embedded in the rock face, carving shallow grooves as he slid down.
Just as he neared the ground, he kicked off with both legs, pulled out the kunai, leapt over ten meters, and caught what seemed to be an injured crow midair before landing smoothly.
Uchiha Itachi turned his head, looking at the boy not far away who still hadn't pulled up his pants, and spoke in surprise.
"A kid?"
Akashō raised an eyebrow and glanced at the clan emblem on the boy's clothes.
"An Uchiha?"
That made sense—the Uchiha clan had indeed been assigned to handle cleanup on the Earth-Fire battlefield.
Still, this kid looked about the same age as him and wasn't even wearing a ninja headband. So how did he end up on the battlefield?
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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