Chapter 701: Arrival

Chapter 701: Chapter 701: Arrival

Chapter 701: Arrival

After learning the details of the exchange event from Mugetsu, Obito immediately headed toward Rin’s house.

"Did something good happen, Obito? You look really excited," Rin asked with a smile.

It was not that she deliberately tried to read Obito’s thoughts.

Obito was simply far too easy to understand.

Most of the time, one glance at his expression was enough to tell what he was thinking.

"That’s because I heard about an opportunity for a publicly funded trip," Obito replied with a chuckle.

He quickly told Rin about the upcoming exchange with Kirigakure.

"An exchange in the Land of Water, huh? That does sound nice," Rin said after thinking for a moment.

The Land of Water was an island nation far from the mainland. It probably had many sights and landscapes that could not be found in the Land of Fire.

No wonder Obito was so excited.

"Yeah. Rin, you should come too. Opportunities like this don’t come around often," Obito invited her.

"Me...?"

Rin showed a thoughtful expression.

Normally, she would not travel to another country simply to see the scenery.

However, if Obito was inviting her, going might not be a bad idea.

Especially since she had not been particularly busy lately.

"We can invite Kakashi and Guy too," Obito continued when he saw that Rin had not yet decided.

"And while we’re there, we can give the Mist ninja participating in the exchange a good beating. Then they won’t dare declare war on Konoha again."

Although Kirigakure and Konoha were allies now, Obito still did not particularly like the Mist.

After all, they had been fighting each other only a few months ago.

Obito was joining the exchange partly to see the Land of Water, but he also wanted to strike a blow to the confidence of the Mist ninja.

"We’re allies now, so you can’t hit them too hard, alright?" Rin reminded him.

"Don’t worry. I have the Sharingan. Everything will be under control," Obito replied confidently.

With the Sharingan’s powerful observational ability, Obito could even make an opponent suffer tremendous pain without threatening their life.

Of course, he had no intention of going that far during a friendly exchange.

Kirigakure had contributed quite a bit during the final battle of the war.

That could at least be considered a form of atonement.

"Mm. Obito is amazing. I’ll cheer for you, then," Rin said, raising a fist encouragingly.

"Hehe."

Obito scratched his head with a grin.

It would have sounded even better if she had simply said, "I’ll cheer for you."

"Obito, are you going to tell the others now? I’ll come with you," Rin offered.

Obito naturally did not refuse.

The two first went to Kakashi’s house, then to Might Guy’s, and finally headed toward Shisui’s home.

"Go to Kirigakure for an exchange? Sure, I can go," Kakashi agreed.

Kirigakure had many ninja skilled in swordsmanship.

If he could spar with some of them, the experience might benefit his Kenjutsu training.

"An exchange in another village? How youthful! I’m definitely going!" Guy declared, flashing a bright smile and giving them a thumbs up.

His Taijutsu had improved recently, and he had been looking for suitable opponents to test himself against.

Since Shisui lived within the Uchiha Clan Compound, close to Obito’s own home, Obito told Rin she could head back first.

He would inform Shisui by himself and then return home.

"Sorry, I can’t participate this time. My position changed recently, so I’ve been quite busy," Shisui said, declining the invitation.

He had recently been promoted from squad leader to team leader.

After Mugetsu became Hokage, the training squad had undergone several major changes.

First, Mugetsu stepped down as its leader, and Orochimaru took over the position.

Then several new members were added, while those who had performed well received promotions.

"I see. That’s a shame," Obito replied.

He did not try to persuade Shisui further.

If Obito himself had something important to handle, he would not participate in the exchange either.

The Land of Water was not going anywhere.

There would always be another opportunity.

...

Time passed quickly, and soon the day of departure arrived.

"Check your belongings carefully and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. We’re about to leave," Kurenai Yuhi reminded everyone as the leader of the exchange delegation.

"The Land of Water is far away. If you forget any ninja tools, it won’t exactly be convenient to come back for them."

The ninja began checking their equipment one by one.

"Perfect. All my shuriken and kunai are here," Izumo said with a nod after inspecting his pouch.

"Mm. I brought my ninja sword too," Kotetsu added after checking his belongings.

"Mm. I brought my dango too," Anko said seriously.

"As expected of my subordinates. Truly well prepared," Obito praised them.

The exchange delegation had more available slots for chunin than for jonin.

After asking for their opinions, Obito had brought Anko, Izumo, and Kotetsu along as well.

"In a strange way, you being their captain is actually very fitting," Kakashi commented with a subtle expression.

At first, Kakashi had thought this squad was some kind of gathering of extraordinary individuals.

The combined "Obito content" of those three alone might exceed an entire Obito.

Whoever became their jonin captain would surely have a difficult time.

Fortunately, there was no longer any need to wonder who would suffer.

Their captain was Obito himself.

"Of course! You all agree, right?" Obito asked with a smug smile.

"That’s definitely true!" Kotetsu replied, giving a thumbs up in imitation of Guy.

Obito was actually an extremely responsible captain.

Even when he did not know how to teach the chakra nature of one of his team members, he would personally find someone qualified to teach them.

"Captain Obito is the best captain besides Teacher Mugetsu," Anko declared in support.

After all, Obito had once promised to appoint her Minister of Dango when he became Hokage.

"Depart!"

Kurenai’s command interrupted their conversation.

Realizing that it was time to leave, the group stopped chatting.

Under Kurenai’s leadership, the exchange delegation quickly made its way toward a port on the eastern coast of the Land of Fire.

From there, they would board a ship bound for the Land of Water.

Ninja could walk across water using chakra, but crossing an entire sea on foot required enormous stamina and chakra reserves.

That was not something ordinary ninja could easily accomplish.

Therefore, even ninja generally relied on ships for long distance sea travel.

"Whoa! I can’t even see the end of it. So this is the legendary open sea," Anko exclaimed as she stood on the deck and stared across the seemingly endless blue horizon.

It was her first time traveling across the ocean by ship.

"This is nothing," Obito said with the air of an experienced traveler.

"If you keep sailing far enough north, you can even see icebergs floating in the ocean."

"Icebergs? That must be really far away. Did you go there on some special mission, Captain Obito?" Izumo asked curiously.

"Well, it wasn’t anything particularly special."

Obito tried to sound casual, but the corners of his mouth were already rising uncontrollably.

"It was just an ordinary mission to protect a princess. Then we normally encountered a coup, helped suppress a rebellion, saved an entire country, and became heroes there. That’s about it."

He had been waiting for someone to ask.

"How is any of that ordinary?! That sounds like the plot of a ninja novel!" Kotetsu immediately retorted.

"Was the princess cute?" Izumo asked.

His focus was clearly different.

"Yeah, princesses in novels are always famous beauties known throughout the whole country," Kotetsu added, immediately becoming interested as well.

"Uh... Well, novels are novels."

Obito showed a regretful expression.

"Based on my personal experience, a princess isn’t necessarily beautiful."

Koyuki Kazahana had thoroughly shattered all of his wonderful fantasies about princesses.

Seeing Kotetsu and Izumo still holding their romantic expectations, Obito felt strangely emotional.

Perhaps this too was some kind of tradition.

"It would probably be better not to pass that tradition down," Kakashi said from nearby.

Obito immediately stared at him.

Did Kakashi know how to read minds now?

"And didn’t the Daimyo give us the title of ’Ice and Snow Warriors’?" Kakashi continued.

"Only Teacher Mugetsu was called the ’Ice and Snow Hero.’"

"When I said hero, I was using it as a description, not claiming it was my official title," Obito quickly defended himself.

He had contributed plenty during that mission.

Calling himself a hero was hardly an exaggeration.

After chatting for a while, Obito returned to his cabin.

They would be at sea for a long time.

There would be plenty of opportunities to talk later.

However, Obito did not return to his room to rest.

He returned to study the Flying Thunder God Technique.

After receiving several rounds of guidance from Mugetsu, Obito felt as though only a thin barrier remained between him and truly mastering it.

Ideally, he wanted to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique before the exchange began.

That way, he could use it to perform some impressive moves during the sparring matches.

Long distance sea travel could only be described as boring.

Those who had initially been fascinated by the seemingly endless ocean began missing the forests of the Land of Fire after several days at sea.

At least forests offered different scenery wherever one looked.

From a ship, the ocean seemed almost identical in every direction.

After staring at it for days, it felt as though they had been running in place the entire time.

"Land!"

After an unknown number of monotonous days and nights, Kotetsu finally spotted the faint outline of the Land of Water in the distance.

His expression instantly brightened.

He deeply regretted not bringing a ninja novel with him.

Traveling by ship was painfully boring, and even training was nowhere near as enjoyable as it was on land.

"Everyone, prepare yourselves. We’re almost at the Land of Water," Kurenai said as she looked over the delegation.

"Once we dock, ninja from Kirigakure will be waiting to receive us."

Hearing this, the Konoha ninja immediately straightened their clothing and equipment.

They could not allow their allies to look down on them.

Kirigakure had ninja stationed to monitor the surrounding waters.

They had detected the approaching Konoha delegation long before the ship arrived.

By the time the vessel docked, Kirigakure’s reception party was already waiting at the harbor.

"Leader Kurenai, welcome to the Land of Water."

A Kirigakure jonin standing beside Yagura stepped forward with a smile.

"I believe this exchange will strengthen the friendship between our two villages and allow us to achieve greater cooperation for mutual benefit."

"Mm. I hope both villages will gain something valuable from this exchange," Kurenai replied with a nod.

While Kurenai spoke with the Mist representatives, the rest of the Konoha delegation curiously surveyed their surroundings.

"That green haired guy looks pretty strong," Anko whispered with interest.

"Is he one of the Mist ninja we’ll be fighting during the exchange?"

Obito followed her gaze.

She was staring directly at Yagura Karatachi, who stood there with a proud and composed expression.

Anko fighting Yagura?

Seriously?

The corner of Obito’s mouth twitched.

Was this what clueless people looked like from someone else’s perspective?

For some reason, he suddenly understood why Kakashi used to look at him that way.

"Normally, no," Obito replied.

Yagura’s position within Kirigakure might actually be even higher than the Sannin’s position within Konoha.

After all, Konoha had three Sannin.

Kirigakure had only one Yagura.

However, if his Mangekyo Sharingan ability had no drawbacks, Obito would be confident enough to fight Yagura himself.

Kamui without restrictions could make him invincible.

....

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