April 24th, Konoha 43rd year.
Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina officially get married.
Although the wedding was not grand and not many people came, it was very important and lively.
The Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen served as the witness.
All three ninjas of Konoha are in place, including Uchiha Fugaku, Hyuga Hiashi, Hatake Sakumo, and the chief of the Shimura clan, Namikaze Minato's good friend and companion of the Ino, Shika and Chou clans.
From these people, Hoshita Shuichi has already vaguely seen some clues.
But...Jiraiya is really too unreliable.
He actually created a shadow clone to replace the busy Hoshita Shuichi, and then dragged Hoshita Shuichi to a corner to ask for materials.
Hoshita Shuichi's face turned black. As a model student, how could he do such a thing?
What if he was discovered?
Although he wanted to be famous in the ninja world, he definitely didn't want to be famous in this kind of "body art" way.
So Hoshita Shuichi flatly refused, but said that they could find another time to study it together.
In the afternoon, after seeing off all the guests, Hoshita Shuichi, Kakashi, Uchiha Shisui, and Uchiha Obito all felt tired.
"I didn't expect marriage to be so troublesome."
Uchiha Obito complained: "It would be nice if I could save this step in the future."
Kakashi immediately drew his sword: "You don't have to get married in the future!"
Uchiha Obito immediately became anxious and secretly glanced at Nohara Rin.
Uchiha Shisui smiled gently and said, "Don't worry, Obito. When you get married in the future, it will be other people who will be busy."
"Look at Minato-sensei, he's very happy now!"
Hoshita Shuichi and the others turned their heads and saw that Namikaze Minato was indeed smiling happily, although his ears were being pulled by Uzumaki Kushina at the moment.
Hoshita Shuichi couldn't help but secretly complain: I vomited after eating so much dog food today.
Uchiha Obito secretly murmured: "Kushina is too violent, Rin is more gentle."
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but secretly glance at Nohara Rin who was still busy, and a shy smile appeared on his face.
Noticing this scene, Hoshita Shuichi couldn't help but teasingly asked, "Obito, do you have a girl you like?"
Uchiha Obito was so frightened that he jumped up and hurriedly explained: "No!"
"Shuichi, don't talk nonsense."
Hoshita Shuichi smiled and said, "If you have one, don't miss it. Be brave and express your feelings."
"Look at that guy Asuma, he already took down Yuhi a long time ago."
Kakashi suddenly said, "Shuichi, Shizune is also your favorite, right?"
The embarrassed Uchiha Obito immediately found the direction: "Shuichi, Kakashi is right, hum, are you and Shizune together already?"
Hoshita Shuichi spread his hands and said, "I'm not denying it!"
So arrogant!
Uchiha Obito blushed with anger.
Hoshita Shuichi immediately suggested with a smile: "Obito, why don't we have a duel, and the loser can go and confess to the girl he likes!"
Uchiha Obito was not fooled at all, and curled his lips and said: "You are already a special jonin. I have no chance of winning against you!"
Hoshita Shuichi looked at Kakashi and said, "Then let's fight Kakashi!"
Uchiha Obito looked at Kakashi, somewhat hesitant, yet eager to try.
At this time, Uzumaki Kushina's voice was heard, and everyone immediately looked over and saw Uzumaki Kushina waving at them.
The topic came to an abrupt end.
It's destiny!
Hoshita Shuichi sighed secretly, and went to Uzumaki Kushina with Kakashi and the others.
Dinner was still eaten at teacher Namikaze Minato's house. After parting with Kakashi and the others, Hoshita Shuichi and Asuka walked home together.
Although it was night, the streets in the core area of Konoha were still bustling and lively. The sounds of hawking and children crying, laughing and playing were full of life.
Hoshita Shuichi put his hands in his pockets and watched and listened to all this quietly, with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.
This feels great!
Asuka's eyes were mostly on Hoshita Shuichi.
She felt that there was always a mysterious aura about this young man, which attracted people's attention unconsciously.
"Sister Asuka, do you have any ideals?"
Hoshita Shuichi suddenly asked.
Asuka was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Of course."
"That means I can live like this with Shuichi and Nono-nee forever."
Hoshita Shuichi raised an eyebrow: "This ideal is not so easy to achieve!"
Asuka was shocked: "Is this...very difficult?"
Hoshita Shuichi said: "Because Asuka-sister will fall in love with someone else in the future, right?"
Asuka breathed a sigh of relief, and then said, "No way, Shuichi, don't think about it!"
Hoshita Shuichi smiled, but felt the power of bond more and more powerful.
If you are not a heartless and ungrateful person, there will always be ties, feelings, and reluctance to part after being together for a long time.
Just like Konoha now, he enjoys the peace at this moment and doesn't want to ruin it.
There is also Yakushi Nono, Shizune, Tsunade, Uzumaki Kushina, Namikaze Minato... Each person is like a thread, woven into a net, trapping him!
Hoshita Shuichi originally just wanted to live well, but now he wants more.
"Sister Asuka, you must work very hard for your dreams!"
Hoshita Shuichi suddenly laughed and jumped up.
This moment of enjoyment is enough, and next we must keep working hard until... until we stand at the top!
"Of course, I have been working hard!"
Asuka clenched her fists and then jumped up to chase after him.
In the evening, Asuka and Nono were studying medical ninjutsu in the study, while Hoshita Shuichi was practicing Lightning Release in the yard.
As far as the usual sense of the instant body movement is concerned, the most common and basic one is naturally the pure chakra burst to propel the body to move at high speed.
For ninjas, most of them use this type, but each has different tricks and different explosive power, resulting in different movement speeds.
In addition, there is the instant teleportation technique formed by adding different property changes.
Water teleportation, moving at high speed in the water area.
The wind flashed, Hoshita Shuichi only remembered that Bai had used the ice escape technique, coming and going like the wind.
The most famous person who can use the Lightning Release Instant Body Technique is undoubtedly the Third Raikage of the Kumogakure Ninja and the future Fourth Raikage.
In the Lightning Chakra Mode, the speed is extremely fast in the ninja world.
The only ones who can be faster than them are the space-time teleportation techniques like Flying Thunder God.
Even Naruto, who had just activated the Nine-Tails Chakra mode, did not dare to say that he was stronger than the Fourth Raikage at that time.
It can be seen that in terms of speed, lightning release Instant Body has an innate advantage.
As for the Lightning Release Chakra mode of the Cloud Ninja, the most typical one is the state of Chidori.
The change in the nature of Lightning Release activates cells and increases speed, which is called Lightning Release Instant Body.
However, the Chidori Style is obviously far from being comparable to the Cloud Ninja's Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
But it can still be called A-level difficulty.
At this time, Hoshita Shuichi was surrounded by electric light and moved at high speed in the yard, using the Chidori Style that he exchanged from Kakashi.
However, Hoshita Shuichi does not intend to use Chidori-ryu as his own Lightning Release Flash Body.
Although it was A-level, it was not difficult for him since he had obtained [lightning release Expert] and many other items that improved his talents.
With stronger chakra control, better understanding of the human body, stronger spirit and mental will, Hoshita Shuichi can completely use the Lightning Chakra to activate his own cells more deeply.
This also requires step-by-step in-depth exploration, while allowing cells in various parts of the body to get used to the stimulation of electric current.
Even different cells have different tolerances, so how to optimize and maximize the overall activation are details that need to be explored step by step.
The prerequisites that Hoshita Shuichi possessed only accelerated the process of exploration.
Time flies, and the vacation passes in a flash while I am practicing and experimenting.
The mission was resumed, but for Hoshita Shuichi, the difference was not particularly big.
Of course, with the guidance of Sarutobi Shinnosuke, the progress of water and earth jutsu is indeed faster.
On May 16, 43rd year of Konoha
During lunch, Sarutobi Shinnosuke suddenly said, "Shuichi, I have some bad news to tell you."
"Huh?"
Hoshita Shuichi was stunned for a moment: "Not good news?"
Chihiro on the side said first: "Shuichi, you have a reward!"
"ah?"
Hoshita Shuichi didn't react for a moment: "Reward?"
"It seems that I am exposed..."
"Iwagakure or Kumogakure? How much is the bounty?"
Chihiro held up three fingers: "Thirty million!"
"According to the information, it was a bounty issued by the Iwagakure Village!"
Hoshita Shuichi chuckled: "30 million is not a lot!"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke shook his head: "This is a lot, it's completely the treatment of a jonin, or even an elite jonin."
Hoshita Shuichi smiled and said, "I remember the captain's bounty is 40 million, right?"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke smiled bitterly. His 40 million came with the bonus of being the son of the Hokage.
Chihiro warned: "Shuichi, you should be careful when you go on a mission alone in the future. There are many people in the ninja world who specialize in bounty hunters, and there are many S-level wanted targets among them. They are very powerful."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke also said solemnly: "Chihiro is right."
Hoshita Shuichi nodded and put away his joking expression.
Of course he knew about bounty hunters, for example the famous Kakuzu, who was such a person before he joined Akatsuki, and a top one at that.
Even after joining Akatsuki, Kakuzu was still keen on exchanging his head for money.
Kakuzu is also proficient in the five major escape techniques, very strong! In the afternoon, Sarutobi Shinnosuke and Chihiro left one after another for some business, leaving only Hoshita Shuichi on duty next to the Hokage's office.
The memory of the shadow clone who stayed outside to practice suddenly came back, and the talent tree in his mind immediately moved.
The spirit manifested, and Hoshita Shuichi appeared under the talent tree.
This is something he recently discovered, similar to the spiritual world under the chakra connection.
Looking up at the talent tree, [water release Expert] finally reached the standard for lighting up and activation.
Light up!
As soon as Hoshita Shuichi thought about it, the leaves of the talent immediately lit up, and the talent effect took effect.
water release talent increased by 100%, allowing you to perform water release ninjutsu without any seal.
"The only thing left to gather all five release techniques experts is Earth release..."
Hoshita Shuichi was quite looking forward to it.
However, even if he obtains the [Ninjutsu Doctor] talent, his focus will still be on Flying Thunder God.
After becoming the Flying Thunder God, he would go back and transform the five releases Expert into a five releases Master.
I just don't know if I can trigger more powerful talents than [Ninjutsu Doctor] later.
Just as he was thinking, Hoshita Shuichi suddenly heard Kakashi's voice coming from next door, and then his teacher Namikaze Minato.
Hoshita Shuichi immediately focused.
What happened?
Hoshita Shuichi heard something vaguely about Hatake Sakumo.
Soon, he heard Namikaze Minato and Kakashi leave.
"What is it?"
Just as he was thinking, Hoshita Shuichi heard Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice coming over: "Flame!"
Hoshita Shuichi's figure immediately sank to the floor, and then rose up from the ground in the Hokage's office next door: "Third Hokage!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen said in a deep voice: "It has been confirmed that the jonin Hatake Sakumo who was carrying out the mission is missing!"
Hoshita Shuichi suddenly looked up, with a look of shock under the mask.
Konoha White Fang is missing?
Are you kidding me? Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to see Hoshita Shuichi's astonishment, and sighed, "Sakumo is carrying out a secret mission alone this time. According to the previous agreement, within half a month, no matter whether the mission is completed or not, we must retreat back to Konoha."
"But now it has been a month. One of the two teams sent out previously lost contact. It was later determined that they encountered a strong enemy and all of them were killed in the battle."
"And this is the intelligence brought back by the second team. According to some information left by the first team, Sakumo may have encountered an ambush, including a puppeteer!"
Hoshita Shuichi's eyes narrowed: "Puppet master... Third Hokage, according to the information we know so far, in the entire ninja world, the only puppet master who can threaten Sakumo-senpai is probably Chiyo from the Sand Village."
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded, his eyes solemn: "The mission that Sakumo was carrying out was indeed in the Kingdom of Wind, and it was in the Kingdom of Wind that he lost his trace."
"So, Flame, this time I need you to lead a team to the Wind Country to investigate this matter."
"In addition to you, Minato's squad will also be along."
Hoshita Shuichi nodded: "Understood!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately said in a deep voice: "Go and get ready, they will be waiting for you at the entrance of the village!"
Hoshita Shuichi disappeared immediately.
At the exit of Konoha Village, Hoshita Shuichi appeared, having only taken off his Root robe and mask.
And he also saw his two teammates.
Aburame Shiwei should be the next chief of the Aburame clan.
As for the other one, Hoshita Shuichi didn't recognize it, but that ninja dog was too iconic. He was a member of the Inuzuka clan.
He walked straight to the two of them and said, "Hello, I'm Hoshita Shuichi!"
Aburame Shiwei, who was wearing sunglasses, said, "Captain, I am Aburame Shiwei."
Another person said, "Captain, I'm Inuzuka Jaguar!"
"Woof woof!"
The ninja dog following Inuzuka Jade greeted Hoshita Shuichi, and Inuzuka Jade immediately said, "Captain, this is Hoshimaru."
Hoshita Shuichi looked at the ninja dog with black spots in its white fur and greeted him, "Hello, Hoshimaru!"
Then he turned to look at Namikaze Minato: "Teacher Minato!"
Namikaze Minato nodded and said, "Let's talk about it on the way!"
Hoshita Shuichi readily followed the advice, and the group of seven set off immediately.
After leaving the village, Hoshishita Hideichi glanced at the somewhat anxious Kakashi, but instead of speaking to comfort him, he asked Namikaze Minato: "Teacher Minato, do you have more detailed information?"
"Let me tell you!"
Aburame Shiwei said: "The previous information was brought back by my previous team."
Hoshita Shuichi immediately turned to look at Aburame Shiwei.
Aburame Shiwei said, "Because of the terrain of the Wind Country, we didn't actually find any traces left by Sakumo-senpai. What we found was the battlefield where the first team sent out by the Third Hokage died, and part of it has been buried by the wind and sand."
"Luckily, they were poisoned, so their bodies were relatively well preserved. We were able to obtain some information they left behind before they died, and learned that Senior Sakumo had been ambushed by a puppeteer."
"But there is no further information."
Hoshita Shuichi thought after hearing this, "So, the intelligence that the previous team actually obtained was also very limited."
"Perhaps the battlefield was covered and destroyed by the wind and sand, or perhaps someone cleaned the battlefield."
Aburame Shizu nodded slightly, "We were inclined to make the same inference at the time, and the key point is that the information left by the previous team did not mention whether Sakumo-senpai himself died in the battle, or whether there was any information about his body."
Uchiha Obito couldn't help but say, "If there is no body, it means that Sakumo-senpai is still alive!"
"In this case, he should have been captured by the enemy, right?"
Ignoring Uchiha Obito, Hoshita Shuichi said: "Sand and wind can cover up many traces, blood, smells, and even corpses."
"If there was no poisoning, there would not even be a need for sand and wind to cover the body, as insects and birds would have digested it quickly."
"But judging by the current situation, Sakumo-senpai was either captured, died in battle, or escaped injured, but may have been poisoned, or was too seriously injured to return to Konoha to report."
Although three situations are mentioned, everyone who understands knows that there are only two situations.
Either dead or captured! As for the third possibility of escaping from injury or being poisoned... In the Wind Country's environment, the probability of death is very high after such a long period of time.
However, some people were obviously very emotional. Uchiha Obito shouted again: "Even if they died in the battle and their bodies were eaten by insects and birds, there would be no trace at all."
Namikaze Minato shouted: "Obito!"
At this time Kakashi suddenly said: "Shuichi, you haven't mentioned one situation yet, that is...his body was taken away by the enemy!"
At the end, Kakashi's voice trembled a little.
Hoshita Shuichi nodded: "Since the enemy is very likely to clean up the battlefield, it is also possible that they can take away Sakumo-senpai's body."
"You know, even the dead bodies of ninjas are extremely valuable for intelligence, especially for ninjas like Sakumo-senpai."
Uchiha Obito glanced at Kakashi, and then said: "A powerful ninja like Sakumo-senpai should require the dispatch of the Kazekage of the Sand Village, or a large number of elite ninjas to besiege him, right?"
After hearing this, Hoshita Shuichi thought seriously: "Maybe it was really the Third Kazekage who took action personally..."
"The strongest puppeteer in the Sand Village is Chiyo, but with Sakumo-senpai's strength and his fighting style, Chiyo can't stop him."
"Obito is right. Either the enemies are outnumbered, or there is another strong person who is limiting Sakumo-senpai's speed."
After saying that, he looked at Namikaze Minato and said, "Minato-sensei, we probably won't get much useful information if we explore the places that the previous team has explored."
Namikaze Minato understood instantly and said, "So, you want to sneak into the Sand Village to investigate?"
Hoshita Shuichi nodded: "It is very likely that the Sand Village will take action. After all, Senior Sakumo has a great hatred for the Sand Village."
"Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law died at the hands of Sakumo-senpai, two powerful puppeteers at the level of jonin."
"Sneaking into the Sand Village should be the fastest way to break through!"
Inuzuka Jaguar said: "But it is also the most dangerous way!"
"Even if we enter the Sand Village, the fastest and most appropriate way to verify it must be against Chiyo, or the Third Kazekage, right?"
Namikaze Minato said: "We can also verify it from the side first, to see if the Third Kazekage took people out of the village half a month ago."
"There should be quite a few people who know this information."
Hoshita Shuichi nodded and said, "It's decided then. We will split into two groups. Minato-sensei, you guys follow the previous traces, and I will carry out the mission of sneaking into the Sand Village."
Namikaze Minato quickly said: "Let me do it!"
Hoshita Shuichi shook his head and said: "Minato teacher, your transformation skills are not as good as mine, and your illusion skills should not be as good as mine..."
After hearing this, Namikaze Minato could only nod in agreement.
When sneaking into the Sand Village, the more people there are, the better.
However, after listening to Hoshita Shuichi's words, Uchiha Obito was stunned.
Isn't Shuichi too arrogant?
The key is that Minato-sensei actually...actually agreed!
After the two captains made their decision, it was naturally settled.
They spent the night at the border of the Fire Country that night, and after crossing the River Country and entering the Wind Country the next day, Hoshita Shuichi agreed on a meeting point with Namikaze Minato, and then traveled alone to the Sand Village.
However, there are also a group of crows flying overhead!
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