This Ninja Is Obviously Not Strong but Really Hard to Kill

"Why has no one ever told me about this? Why did Aoba hide it from me?" Naruto asked excitedly.

Jiraiya sighed, "That's another matter, and it's not yet time to tell you. To stay by your side and take care of you, that person has made a lot of sacrifices."

"Even though he chose to betray the village, he did not harm you. So I also wonder if he had to leave for some unavoidable reason." frёewebnoѵēl.com

Naruto suddenly stood up, wiped the tears from his face, and said with firm determination, "I must find Aoba and ask him clearly, then bring him back!"

Seeing Naruto regain his spirit, Jiraiya seemed to see the shadow of Minato in him.

Then Jiraiya suddenly spoke, "With your current strength, the gap is still too big. Are you willing to train with me?"

Naruto nodded seriously. No matter the method, as long as it made him more robust and capable of bringing Aoba back to Konoha, he was willing to try!

Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief. Keeping Naruto close also prevented him from becoming obsessed and going to extremes.

So, he needed to give Naruto hope and then use this hope to keep him anchored.

In the short term, Naruto would faithfully train by his side, which meant there was no need to worry about him doing anything foolish.

And when he felt Naruto was ready to be alone, who knew what the future would hold?

When the time came, if Naruto were still determined to find Aoba... they would deal with it then.

This mess, he had managed as best he could.

But he had already found out Tsunade's whereabouts, and it was time to welcome back the princess of Konoha.

Looking towards the horizon, Jiraiya's gaze deepened.

...

Meanwhile, after leaving Orochimaru, Aoba contacted Pain when he found the time.

Claiming he needed to continue his seclusion as an excuse, he wanted to make a deal with Sasori and incidentally asked if any complex missions required his involvement soon.

Pain did not suspect anything, merely hinting that there were none for now, but there might be many in the future.

He advised Yasuo to make the most of the present to enhance his strength, as he would be active later.

Speaking as Yasuo, Aoba acknowledged this and confirmed the deal's location with Sasori before disconnecting.

In Aoba's view, now was the best time to act.

The Mist and Sand were disabled, not worth fearing!

The Cloud and Stone had not fully regained their peak strength either.

Konoha, having been meddled by him, seemed eager but powerless to interfere.

Most importantly, extracting the Nine-Tails' chakra didn't require an attack on Naruto. All he needed was to find the Reaper Mask, release Minato's soul, which the Reaper Death Seal sealed, and then let Orochimaru perform the Reanimation Jutsu.

After all, Minato was already dead, so taking the sealed Nine-Tails chakra from his body wouldn't matter much.

So, there was no need to clash directly with Konoha.

He wouldn't just watch as Akatsuki captured Naruto!

It was unclear what Nagato thought; he may have felt that Akatsuki needed more development time.

Hidan and Deidara were still in progress, but the others were already complete. Even Kisame, without Samehada, was not to be underestimated.

Was it because of Orochimaru's betrayal that Nagato became more cautious?

That was a possibility, as once the plan to capture the tailed beasts began, it meant exposing the Gedo Statue to all members.

If this information leaked, the major ninja villages might unite to destroy them, so being cautious was reasonable.

But Aoba felt it was more complex. Based on his understanding of Obito, Obito would want Nagato to start the plan immediately, as he had mentioned more than once during their meetings.

It couldn't be because he was no longer the Hokage that he would just put it aside.

Obito wanted to move on to the plan's next step, but Nagato disagreed...

If that was the case, Nagato and Konan were not yet ready to turn against 'Madara,' so they needed more time.

Despite missing out on such a good opportunity...

After all, Akatsuki still obeyed Pain, the apparent leader and Akatsuki's strength could be seen as Nagato's strength. On the other hand, Obito didn't care about these people's lives.

Aoba thought this might be the case, but after all, he was still making deductions from a god's eye view. As for the absolute truth, he could not be sure.

However, his actions were clear: first, met with Sasori to turn the Fourth Kazekage's body into a puppet, enhancing Sasori's strength.

When Obito and Nagato fight each other to death, he may step in as a minor character to take advantage of Akatsuki's great power.

And the Reaper Mask, he had to keep it in his hands until it was necessary to release the souls inside.

Once he had the initiative, he could comfortably wait for the outcome.

He vaguely remembered that the Reaper Mask was always hidden in the ruins of the Whirlpool Country. Once he saw Sasori, he was ready to make a trip there.

After sorting these things out, Aoba pressed down on his hat and set off again.

...

Meanwhile, a considerable shadow moved beneath a lake in the Land of Rivers.

It scared the people around into thinking they were seeing hallucinations...

But since more than one person saw it, absurd theories about 'sea monsters' and 'lake gods' began to circulate on a small scale. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

However, since no one was hurt and no one had seen it, most people who heard about it simply did not believe it.

But it attracted many curious people to come and see, and some who felt they had long lives even dived into the water to find out.

Unfortunately, they all came up empty.

Let alone 'sea monsters,' they didn't even find a ghost's shadow.

So, the rumor self-destructed.

People did not know there was a dark crack at the bottom of the lake, where a giant eye would suddenly open occasionally!