Besides the three boys, Rin Nohara also underwent intense training. However, since she specialized in medical ninjutsu, Sakumo Hatake's training method for her was much lighter—focused primarily on honing her observation and survival skills. The goal was to ensure she could protect herself even if surrounded by enemies on the battlefield, and still provide healing and support for her teammates.
This could be considered a highly professional approach to training a medical ninja.
This area was within Sakumo Hatake's domain of expertise. As the former top-tier shinobi known as the White Fang of the Leaf, Sakumo excelled at nurturing ordinary shinobi and drawing out their full potential.
And clearly, as a regular ninja without a bloodline limit, Rin Nohara fit right into that category.
In short, under Sakumo Hatake's guidance, all four students had grown significantly—each in their own way—and their strength had improved noticeably. This kind of progress couldn't have been achieved by simply playing the Genjutsu Game.
Rather, with their improvements, they could now enter the Genjutsu Game and digest what they had learned while strengthening their teamwork and combat coordination.
This was the benefit Sakumo brought to the four students. Despite the hardship and exhaustion, they were all deeply grateful to and respectful of the senior shinobi known as "Lone Wolf."
Thus, when the day of the release event approached, the Minato Squad trio felt they ought to inform "Lone Wolf"-senpai and formally request leave—after all, that day was scheduled for training.
Even though "Lone Wolf"-senpai was strict, after spending time with him, the trio realized that he was also reasonable. As long as they gave a valid reason, he wouldn't reject their request for time off.
And so, the three made plans with Nawaki to meet up during the release event and looked forward eagerly to the day's arrival.
In fact, many people besides them were excited about that day. All the fans of the Genjutsu Game were eagerly anticipating the upcoming grand celebration.
Moreover, because this release event had been announced more than a month in advance, it attracted the attention of far more major figures than any previous event.
Naturally, the nobles were especially excited. For the aristocracy, who didn't lack the money to play Genjutsu Games, these games had become their primary form of entertainment—far more engaging than traditional performances or so-called clan-based games.
If not for the constraints of their status and official duties, many nobles would have traveled to the Hidden Leaf Village in person just to attend this grand event.
Fortunately, Orochimaru and Sasori had developed television livestreaming technology, which allowed the release event to be broadcast live to all branches of the Leaf Game Chamber of Commerce. This meant even those outside the village could witness the event in real time.
Even though there would be some delay in the livestream, for the people of the Shinobi World, that was more than sufficient.
Indeed, when the livestream feature was first announced, it caused another small shock across the Shinobi World. After all, nothing like this had existed before.
This new "black-tech" from the Leaf was truly astonishing.
However, since the livestream function hadn't yet been formally implemented by the Leaf Game Chamber of Commerce, its actual effectiveness was still unknown. So the shock was, relatively speaking, only "minor."
Of course, everyone's reactions were different. For the majority, since the livestream hadn't yet proven itself, they couldn't imagine just how powerful it might be.
But for the rare few with visionary insight, the value and danger of this new technology were already apparent.
For example, the Daimyō of the Land of Fire felt a strong sense of threat upon seeing what the Leaf had developed. Though his foresight wasn't that great and he couldn't fully grasp the power of the livestream system, he had already been incited by Black Zetsu to harbor deep suspicion and hostility toward the Leaf—so this new invention immediately made him wary.
"Damn that Hidden Leaf! Just how far do they plan to go before they're satisfied?! This is outrageous, utterly outrageous!"
Inside his quarters, the Fire Daimyō gnashed his teeth, filled with fear and hatred—his paranoia spiraling under the notion that "someone's always trying to harm me."
By now, his mindset had completely degenerated into that of a classic paranoid ruler. Combined with his age, he'd fallen fully into the trap of "everything new is evil."
As a result, the Fire Daimyō began considering accelerating his own plans. He felt that he could no longer sit idly by and let the Leaf do as it pleased. What was originally a plan scheduled to take effect in three years now had to be advanced by one year—to be launched within two years.
Yes, you read that right—three years.
For a genuine political figure—especially one from a feudal era—many so-called "grand plans" moved slowly. Especially when dealing with a dangerous enemy, it wasn't uncommon for a strategy to be executed a decade later.
Had the Fire Daimyō not already been over fifty years old and aware of his weakening body, he wouldn't have even considered such a "rushed" three-year timeline. Most likely, he would've taken ten years to carefully prepare before finally striking to eliminate the Leaf as a threat.
That's how "anxious" he now felt—because he feared his lifespan wouldn't last that long.
So for the aging and decaying Daimyō, shortening the timeline to two years was already quite hasty.
Black Zetsu, who had allied with the Daimyō, understood this well. To him, two or three years was but a blink of an eye. He, who had waited a thousand years, didn't mind biding his time a bit longer.
However, the pace of change in the Leaf was simply too fast. As someone who had witnessed everything unfold in real time, Black Zetsu felt unsettled by the speed of change—and that unfamiliarity bred fear.
Having lived for millennia in a world resembling feudal serfdom, Black Zetsu couldn't fathom the terrifying changes brought by the industrial age. Like many relics of tradition, he felt a deep sense of unfamiliarity and fear toward such rapid change—and instinctively rejected it.
So while two or three years might seem fast to the Fire Daimyō, to Black Zetsu, it was still too slow. Ideally, he wanted the so-called "grand plan" to launch within a year and plunge the Leaf into chaos—forcing Madara Uchiha to snap out of his game addiction and resume the Eye of the Moon Plan.
In this mindset, a variety of schemes began forming in Black Zetsu's mind. He felt he needed to do something to accelerate the process.
Thus, Black Zetsu set his sights on the Five Great Shinobi Villages. He believed it was time to make them wage war.
He already knew the other villages were waiting patiently—waiting for the Leaf to rot from within before initiating the next Shinobi World War. After all, White Zetsu's intel-gathering was unparalleled; Black Zetsu was fully aware of these intentions.
At first, he hadn't minded this wait. For someone like him, even a decade was fleeting. Besides, he was currently using Madara's identity and couldn't risk exposing himself through reckless actions.
But now—with Madara addicted to games and in danger of abandoning the Eye of the Moon Plan, and the Leaf's growth skyrocketing—letting the other villages continue dragging their feet was no longer acceptable.
Black Zetsu concluded that he had to do something to provoke them—something to make the other villages abandon their wait-and-see attitude and start the war ahead of schedule.
However, just what he should do was a real headache.
His personal combat power was weak, and he had to avoid being discovered by Madara. That left him with very few options.
Sure, in the "original" story, he had even managed to sneak up on Madara—but that only worked because Madara had zero guard against him. If Madara had been even a little cautious, trying to ambush him would've been laughable.
So hoping for Black Zetsu to assassinate village leaders and ignite a war? Total fantasy.
What? He ambushed Izuna Uchiha and caused his death?
Please. That only worked because Izuna was already critically wounded by Tobirama Senju and couldn't fight back. Black Zetsu simply took the opportunity to kill him and framed Tobirama, allowing Madara to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō.
If it were a fair fight, Black Zetsu wouldn't even be able to ambush Kakashi or Sakura. Later on, when he subdued Six Paths Naruto and Sasuke, it was only thanks to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's power.
His own strength had always been extremely underwhelming.
Thus, Black Zetsu found himself in a dilemma. He didn't know how to spark the war early—because it was genuinely difficult.
And then—just when he thought all hope was lost—a new opportunity emerged.
Because this new game release event attracted the attention of multiple village leaders!
The Third Kazekage of the Hidden Sand and the Third Raikage of the Hidden Cloud had both submitted formal diplomatic requests to attend the release event.
This was unheard of—truly a first in history.
Sure, other villages had sent representatives to past events. But representatives were one thing; the actual Kage-level leaders were another entirely.
When this news reached the Leaf, its leadership was shocked and deeply puzzled. While the Genjutsu Game was impressive, for two Kage to attend a release event seemed excessive—like using a cleaver to cut tofu.
But since the diplomatic requests had already arrived, the Leaf couldn't ignore them. After deliberation, the senior leadership approved the applications and agreed to provide the best seats for the visiting Kage.
With that, the schedule for the release event was finalized—elevating an already grand occasion to something nearing the scale of a multi-village Chūnin Exams.
For Black Zetsu, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
With the two Kage personally coming to the Leaf—and the Uchiha base relocated beneath the Naka Shrine—Konoha had essentially become Black Zetsu's infiltration stronghold. Countless White Zetsu were hiding throughout the village, giving him plenty of room to maneuver.
As for what exactly he would do—that required careful planning.
So, why did the Kazekage and Raikage decide to attend?
Simple. They sensed danger from this new game release.
The game, titled Shinobi World War, was an RTS (real-time strategy) game. Anyone with a basic understanding of the genre would know it helped cultivate leadership and battlefield command skills.
Naturally, the Leaf could use this game to train a large number of excellent commanders. And both Kage knew all too well that the publicly sold version of the game would be watered down. After all, that had already happened many times. Anyone who wanted the full version would have to pay a steep price.
The other villages had already suffered greatly in this regard—and continued to suffer.
In addition, there was the livestream feature. The Kazekage, using his sharp intellect, realized the strategic threat livestreaming could pose and thus decided to personally come to the Leaf to investigate.
As for the Third Raikage A, though he wasn't as bright, his advisory team was quite capable—and his warrior's instincts had already made him wary of livestream technology.
So he, too, decided to personally scout out the Leaf.
The third reason both Kage came was that intelligence reports about the Leaf's transformation were just that—reports. Nothing beat witnessing it firsthand.
This release event provided the perfect chance to observe the Leaf's changes up close.
And so, both Kage came to the same conclusion: they needed to visit the Leaf personally. Hence the diplomatic applications.
The Raikage and Kazekage—two of the strongest figures in the Shinobi World—would soon meet in the Leaf. And they would see with their own eyes just how far the Hidden Leaf had come.
Like this story Leave a review ; it would really help me out a lot.
Want to Read Ahead in Advance?
Join my Patreon!
+75 Chapters
Support me in
Patreon.com/BestElysium