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From the Rain Ninja's mouth, Hayato finally learned that Konoha had actually gone to war against the Rain Village. What surprised him even more was the reason—it seemed to somehow involve himself. Hayato didn't quite know what to say about that.
But knowing the Rain Village and Konoha were at war made Hayato feel uneasy. After all, the whole conflict was heavily tied to him.
If both sides found out the truth, would he get dragged into it again? Konoha alone had been bothering him on and off, and every time tougher people came knocking. Heaven knows if the Rain ninjas found out, would they come after him too?
He was pretty confident in his own "green giant" bloodline. But the ninja world had all sorts of weird techniques—who knew if there was a jutsu out there that could counter his bloodline? Plus, forbidden techniques like the Dead Demon Consuming Seal existed, and Hayato had no clue if he could withstand something like that.
At that moment, he started wondering if he should just move again. But thinking back to how he had struggled to escape from Konoha all the way to the Land of Rain, could he really uproot himself all over again? And even if he did, would he ever find peace? After considering all this, he decided to stay put for now.
As for Konoha, the Rain Village, or any other faction—if anyone dared come after him, he'd kill them.
Forbidden jutsu like the Dead Demon Consuming Seal? Just have to be careful. Of course, if push came to shove and he couldn't handle it, he'd just accept his fate and admit he was unlucky.
On Konoha's side, the strong fighters were many, pushing the Rain ninjas back step by step. Meanwhile, Sarutobi Hiruzen from Konoha still hadn't given up on Hayato. While waging war against the Rain Village, he sent people to hunt down Hayato, aiming to capture him.
Hayato hadn't moved. Every day, he trained hard, pushing himself to the limit. Because in his mind, everything was caused by lack of power.
If he had overwhelming strength—unbeatable power—no one would dare mess with him. This thought made him train even harder.
Right now, Hayato was standing in front of a wooden post, hitting it fast and hard.
The base of this wooden post had a rotating platform. Whenever a spot got hit, it would spin, turning the whole thing—kind of like an attacking tool.
This training dummy was made by Hayato himself, based on the wooden dummy from the movie Ip Man. But since it was made of wood, if he used full force, one punch would almost break it. So he had to hold back his strength but pushed to increase his speed, making the dummy spin like a fast top.
The faster the dummy spun, the quicker its counterattacks would be, forcing Hayato to keep speeding up his attacks to counter the dummy's strikes.
Without anyone to guide him or spar with, this was the only way Hayato could gain real combat experience besides hunting down other ninjas.
Luckily, this method was simple and effective. The only downside was he couldn't unleash his full power.
As Hayato pounded the dummy rapidly—bam bam bam—some shinobi wearing Konoha headbands sneaked nearby, hidden in the shadows. Leading them was a pale-skinned man with a sickly look and snake-like vertical pupils.
This man was none other than Orochimaru—one of Sarutobi Hiruzen's three sons.
Orochimaru had been ordered by Sarutobi Hiruzen to gather information on Hayato. If possible, capturing him would be even better. That's why Orochimaru was here, watching Hayato from a distance.
"Hmm? A wooden dummy, huh? Interesting way to train," Orochimaru said, narrowing his eyes at Hayato, a faint smile on his lips.
"Lord Orochimaru, shall we move in?" one of the nearby ninjas whispered, unable to hold back after watching Orochimaru stare at Hayato for almost an hour.
"Wait a bit longer. I want to see the whole training process first," Orochimaru replied with interest. Ever since he got info about Hayato from Sarutobi Hiruzen, Orochimaru had developed a strong fascination with him.
He was eager to study Hayato in detail, so he wanted to observe his everyday training routine carefully.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"
"....."