Hanzo shook his head, a helpless look on his face.
"Why do I get the feeling you're mocking me?"
"Not at all."
Qingshui said earnestly.
"The younger generation is truly formidable…"
Hanzo looked at Qingshui, then at Pakura and Baki, and finally, out of the corner of his eye, glanced at a spot among the Rain Village crowd.
Perhaps the era belonging to their generation was coming to an end.
Young geniuses were emerging one after another, and surely some would surpass him.
He was nearly sixty now, having declined slightly from his peak, though it wasn't obvious.
But it was predictable that in the coming years, his decline would accelerate.
Meanwhile, Qingshui and Pakura were like the rising sun; by the time they reached their zenith, he would be completely old.
Fortunately, the Land of Rain wasn't without successors. Heaven had been kind, sending three excellent talents his way, one of whom even possessed the Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths.
Given some time to nurture these young people, he believed the Land of Rain would be better in the future than it was now.
After withdrawing from the valley, Qingshui's team followed Salamander Hanzo and his group to the Rain Village.
As one of the notable ninja villages beneath the Five Great Ninja Villages, Rain Village was naturally large, but its buildings were compact and cramped, mostly tower-shaped, constructed primarily from stone and metal, with many thick pipes connecting them.
This architectural style was born from the unique climate of the Land of Rain.
Although more costly, stone and metal were less prone to rot than wood and bamboo in a damp, watery environment, and the tall, tower-shaped buildings were less likely to be submerged during heavy rains and floods.
Upon arriving at Rain Village, Hanzo immediately handed Qingshui's team over to a Rain Village Jonin and eagerly went off to train with his three newly accepted disciples.
"Qingshui-kun, this is it. Aside from the top two floors, you are free to browse the three floors below today. We have already categorized the intelligence by its source."
A middle-aged Rain Village Jonin, wearing a mask and with shoulder-length hair, led Qingshui and his three teammates to a five-story tower.
"Thank you, Yushan-Jonin."
Qingshui nodded slightly to the Rain Village Jonin.
This must be one of Rain Village's intelligence storage centers.
The top two floors likely contained some critical intelligence that was important to Rain Village and would not be easily leaked.
Hanzo had also said earlier that he would open non-confidential intelligence for them to review.
Beyond that, it wasn't something Qingshui could access just by doing Hanzo a small favor.
But Qingshui and his team didn't need to see those.
Entering the tower, Qingshui noticed that the Jonin named Yushan merely guarded the stairs leading to the upper floors and didn't watch which files they accessed.
He was quite straightforward in his actions.
However, some precautions still needed to be taken.
"When you're reviewing later, remember to restore the files to their original arrangement so they can't tell which files we've looked at.
Focus on investigating the domestic forces and their distribution in the Land of Grass and the Land of Hot Water, as well as Konoha, Stone Hidden, and Cloud Hidden Village's deployments in those countries. Next, look at the neighboring Land of Waterfalls, Land of Frost, and Land of Iron. Also, record the terrain and topography to facilitate planning alternative action and retreat routes, and cross-reference the compiled information with the intelligence our village's intelligence division gave us…"
As Qingshui gave instructions to his teammates, Hanzo also took his three disciples to the training ground.
"How does it feel? Are you feeling a lot of pressure?"
Hanzo asked his disciples.
"There is pressure, but I believe with Sensei Hanzo's guidance, we won't be inferior to them in the future. But Sensei Hanzo, are the top geniuses from the other Great Ninja Villages all like this too?"
Hanzo slowly shook his head.
"Not necessarily. Generally, people like Baki and Pakura are normal. My strength at their age was similar to theirs. As for Qingshui… I can't quite read him. He grows very quickly. I've thoroughly investigated his information.
He first stepped onto the battlefield four years ago. He also came from a common background, and his strength back then might not have been much greater than yours. But with his outstanding Puppetry talent, he quickly entered the sight of Sand Hidden's higher-ups, received full cultivation from Chiyo and others, and rapidly grew to his current level."
As Hanzo spoke, his gaze shifted to Nagato.
"I have never seen a genius of this caliber. He will undoubtedly be stronger than me in the future.
But the Rinnegan, I have also never seen it before. In fact, in the past thousand years, those eyes have only appeared on the Sage of Six Paths.
Nagato, people once hailed the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, as the second Sage of Six Paths, calling him the God of Shinobi. I hope you will be the third, like the Sage of Six Paths and the First Hokage, to end war and bring peace to the world, to prevent the exploitation of smaller nations by larger ones from happening on the soil of the Ninja World."
"Sensei Hanzo, I…"
Nagato lowered his head.
Nagato, who had not yet experienced pain, was timid by nature.
"If it's Nagato, I believe he can do it!"
Yahiko had a bright smile on his face, patting Nagato's shoulder.
"Konan and I, and Sensei Hanzo, will all help you."
"That's right, Nagato!"
Hanzo watched his three disciples getting along harmoniously and couldn't help but smile.
Each of his three disciples had a slight flaw in their character. Nagato was the most talented but lacked confidence, Yahiko was brave and resolute but impulsive, and Konan was cautious and meticulous but overly kind.
However, they were still young, and their character flaws could still be corrected.
"Alright, after that kid Qingshui leaves, I'll take you to the intelligence tower to see who the talented individuals are in other villages, those around your age. They will all be your future rivals. For example, Minato Namikaze from Konoha, and Uchiha Fugaku, the young clan head of the Uchiha clan, and Kitsuchi from Stone Village…"
...
...
Marvel Universe.
In the underground laboratory of Qingshui's private mansion.
Numerous Arc Reactors, glowing with a beautiful blue light, were placed on a table. Not far from them were two Arc Reactors that had already been disassembled.
Qingshui carefully used tweezers to extract a palladium rod from the core of an Arc Reactor.
The dazzling blue light instantly extinguished.
"Incredibly stable."
Qingshui turned his head and looked at the data on the scanner beside him.
Even a battery carried the risk of exploding during use, yet the Arc Reactor, as a product of cold fusion, had an absurdly high level of stability and safety.
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