Who are you calling a stable boy?!

Chapter 208: So what if it's fair competition?

"I appreciate your kindness, Master, but as you can see, I still have documents to process..."

As he spoke, Minato's gaze fell on Zheng Jing's shoulder.

Although his face wasn't visible from this angle, the person being carried by Zheng Jing was dressed in a black robe with red clouds, a typical Akatsuki outfit. This alone was enough to attract Minato's attention.

"Master, who is this gentleman?"

"Uchiha Obito."

With that, Zheng Jing threw the still immobile Obito onto the floor of the Hokage's office, making a dull thud.

"Obito?"

Minato murmured unconsciously and looked down.

Looking at Obito's face, sculpted by time and experience, his eyes widened.

"Obito?!"

"Oh, right, and this too, the reply to Mrs. Kushina. Since you're here, you can give it to your wife yourself."

He pulled a letter out of his backpack, flicked it lightly, and let it spin and land steadily on Shuimen's desk. Zheng Jing straightened up with a "heh heh" sound, ready to jump off the bed.

"Wait! Please wait a moment—"

Realizing what was happening, Shuimen quickly called out to Zheng Jing.

"Hmm? What? You want me, Old Zheng, to take another letter over? Sure, Old Lan and the others are still waiting for me in Wochao Village. But this time, you'll probably have to wait until Chashao Weasel brings back the reply."

"No, no, no! I can't possibly trouble you again!"

Shui Men waved his hand repeatedly.

"Is there anything else?"

Zheng Jing turned around curiously, squatted on the edge of the bed, and asked Shui Men.

"this......"

Even with Minato's eloquence, he needed to take some time to organize his thoughts at this moment.

Seeing Minato looking down at Obito on the ground, Zheng Jing suddenly realized what was going on.

"Oh! Don't worry, my immobilization spell will be lifted when the time comes."

"Actually, I wanted to ask you about... Obito."

Shuimen didn't think Zheng Jing would joke about his students who died in battle.

However, the soul that had long been engraved on the memorial stone suddenly appeared alive before his eyes. Even if he could believe that this was Obito himself, he would definitely want an explanation.

"That's a long story."

Zheng Jing scratched his head a few times, then his eyes darted around, his fingers covered in dirt.

"untie!"

Even after the immobilization spell was lifted, Obito remained motionless and silent.

It looked like a lifelike doll, drooping there.

"To make a long story short, this kid didn't die back then, most likely because he was saved by Uchiha Madara, and then he witnessed Nohara Rin's death. You know how the Uchiha people are, they've already turned to the dark side, tsk tsk... He awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, and he's got shady dealings with the Akatsuki, and that's not all, he's even already plotting how to betray his master and ancestors."

Zheng Jing looked down at Obito, who was lying motionless on the ground like a dead pig, with disdain.

"If you ask me, Master Men, you should just be straightforward and clean house! If you can't bring yourself to do it, we're good friends, and I, Old Zheng, can do it for you. It's just one blow, a piece of cake."

"this......"

If it really were Obito, Minato wouldn't have been able to bring himself to kill him right away.

Even if he believed every word Zheng Jing said, he couldn't bring himself to kill him.

The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was by no means an indecisive person.

But Minato Namikaze is, after all, just a human.

He is still a good person in the conventional sense.

Therefore, Minato always harbored feelings of pity for Obito.

Or rather, Minato felt this way about every ninja who sacrificed themselves for the village.

"In short, I've delivered the person to you. How you handle it is your business, Master Men."

He waved to Shuimen, and Zheng Jing immediately fell out of the window.

When Shuimen rushed over and peered out the window, Zheng Jing was nowhere to be seen.

"They appear and disappear without a trace."

With a helpless sigh, Minato turned around and looked at Obito on the ground.

Although the immobilization spell on him was lifted, Obito showed absolutely no intention of escaping.

He lay there on the ground, his empty eye sockets staring at the ceiling of the Hokage's office.

"Obito, you... sigh."

Without trying to help Obito up, Minato simply sat down next to him.

Would you like to tell me about it?

"..."

"I am very sorry about what happened to Lin."

"..."

"Kakashi misses you and Rin terribly. After you... left him, Kakashi was depressed for a long time. Actually, he's only slightly better now. But I believe he knows you're still alive—"

"Alive?"

Obito spoke up.

"Obito Uchiha is dead."

After he finished speaking, he fell silent again.

If it weren't for the faint breathing, it would indeed resemble a living corpse.

Minato glanced at Obito for a moment, then stood up.

He decided to have Kakashi meet Obito.

As for how to deal with the soil...

Minato believed that he would draw a conclusion after the two met.

-

"If you have any questions, you can ask me directly, Itachi-kun."

Aizen, who was resting in the superior room arranged for him in Uzushio Village while holding a book, suddenly spoke up.

"Although I am not as good as Old Zheng in martial arts, I can probably still help you if you encounter any difficulties in other areas."

"You're too modest..."

Itachi lowered his head, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Excuse me, are you and Master... planning to use Uzushio Village as a base?"

“I do have this idea.”

Aizen adjusted his glasses and nodded decisively.

"As you can see, the location of Uzushio Village is quite ideal, and the soil and water conditions are also good. Ninjas are excellent laborers. If we follow my plan, I believe we can quickly establish the prototype of the Qitianfu branch on the existing foundation of the Land of Whirlpools."

"But......"

Itachi hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Although it was his first visit to the Land of Whirlpools, he could see that even though the village was declining, it remained united.

Therefore, in his view, if Aizen really wanted to establish an organization's base in the Land of Whirlpools, he would inevitably clash with Whirlpool Village.

Uzushio Village is not xenophobic. In fact, the fact that they still gave Aizen and his group the highest level of hospitality even now, despite the ultimatum issued by the Fourth Hokage, shows that Uzushio Village is at least dedicated to its allies.

But would Aizen only want to be an ally of Uzushio Village?

Itachi is uncertain.

He sometimes wondered how Zheng Jing and Aizen, two people like them, had come together and gotten to where they are today...

"Don't worry so much, Itachi-kun. Although taking direct action would certainly speed things up, Old Zheng would never agree to that kind of plan, so I will neither propose it nor do it."

Aizen turned the page.

"Besides, I don't actually dislike following the rules."

He raised his eyes and smiled at the weasel.

"It's still early, would you like to play a game of chess with me?"

Chapter 209: Ninja, Don't Blame Me for Being Despicable

The current leader of Uzushio Village and the ruler of the Land of Whirlpools is the son of Uzushio Ashina, Uzushio Ashina.

To be precise, he is an adopted son.

Ashina Uzumaki was a war orphan during World War II, who was fortunate enough to be adopted by Ashina Uzumaki.

Ashina Uzumaki, whose children all died in battle, cherished him dearly and taught him with great care, passing on all his skills to him.

Ashina Uzumaki lived up to expectations and grew into an outstanding man.

The Uzumaki clan has strong vitality, and if nothing unexpected happens, most of them are long-lived and can die without illness.

He is truly the king of endurance in the ninja world.

But even for Ashina Uzumaki, his eventful life still left its mark on his aging body.

Finally, at the end of the Third Shinobi World War, with the passing of Ashina Uzumaki at the age of nearly 120, Ashina Uzumaki officially succeeded to the position of clan leader.

Although not as good as Ashina Uzumaki, Ashina Uzumaki's strength and talent were more than enough to be compared with the Five Kage of the present day.

This is why Ashina Uzumaki was able to deeply understand the decline of Uzushio Village and the Land of Whirlpools.

Moreover, from the letter sent by Kushina Uzumaki—now it should be called Kushina Namikaze—Ashina Uzumaki realized that the Land of Fire and Konoha Village could hardly be relied upon at the moment.

For the sake of the village, for the sake of the country, Ashina Uzumaki had long been determined to stop at nothing...

Throughout the three wars, Uzushio Village and Uzu no Kuni have done everything they could for their allies.

Nowadays—

"Yo? Ashina-kun."

As Izumi pushed open the door, Ashina Uzumaki, who had come to visit Aizen, saw Zheng Jing and Aizen playing chess inside the house.

He couldn't help but froze for a moment.

Zheng Jing took the letter in his own handwriting right in front of him and left Wochao Village, saying he was going to Konoha to deliver the letter.

Given the distance between Uzushio Village and Konoha, even if the ninja delivering the letter were incredibly fast, it would still take at least three to five days to deliver the letter to Kushina without the aid of space-time ninjutsu.

However, from the time Zheng Jing set off until he made the decision to personally visit the settled Aizen, at most half a day had passed...

In half a day, you can run back and forth between Uzushio Village and Konoha?

"Chief Ashina, excuse me, please wait a moment, Old Zheng and I are almost finished with this game."

Aizen wore a gentle smile.

Ashina Uzumaki sensed that this smile was far more genuine than the one Aizen had shown when they spoke that morning.

"What? You're looking for Lao Lan? Looks like you have something important to discuss."

Zheng Jing scratched his cheek.

"How about we take a break, Lao Lan?"

"It's alright."

Aizen smiled and placed a black piece on the chessboard.

"It's over."