"What? You're all Chūnin now, and Shikamaru's already a Jōnin?"
Naruto stared at Sakura in shock.
Sakura nodded. "That's right."
Hearing her confirm it again, Naruto looked like he'd lost all hope. After all the training and journeying, he came back only to find that everyone else had already climbed the ranks while he was still a Genin.
"Oh, right."
Sakura glanced at Naruto again. "Konohamaru and the others are also Genin now. You're at the same level as them."
That hit Naruto even harder, making him slump in despair.
"Ahem—"
Jiraiya stepped in to interrupt the exchange, moving closer and saying, "Alright, enough about that. Let's head to the Hokage building. By the way, Sakura, how long is Tsunade going to be busy?"
Sakura shook her head. "I'm not sure, but it shouldn't be much longer."
Jiraiya nodded. "Alright then, lead the way."
With that, the group didn't linger any further and began walking toward the Hokage building.
…
Meanwhile, elsewhere—inside the Pokémon Home.
In the backyard, Ryo stood with a frown, gazing toward the outskirts of the village.
"Are you sure? That masked man gathered more ninja and is preparing to pursue his goals again?"
Standing in front of him, Nagato nodded. "Yes. This is the first time the masked man has come out in years. Our intel is accurate."
Ryo rubbed his temples at the thought. So this was the world's way of restoring the original plotline?
The Akatsuki had already joined him, yet Obito had still assembled a new group.
He glanced at Nagato curiously. "What about their strength?"
Nagato's expression turned grim. "All of them are Kage-level. Only four have been spotted so far, but they're all that strong—and there may be more."
Ryo felt a bit impressed. At this point, there weren't many Kage-level ninja left in the world, yet Obito had managed to pull together four—possibly more. That alone was worth acknowledging.
He had thought that by drawing the Akatsuki to his side, the original storyline would collapse. But somehow, events were still moving forward on their own path.
Then Ryo asked with a hint of doubt, "But their goal is to extract the tailed beasts' chakra and inject it into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Without the Rinnegan, can they even control it?"
"They can. Somehow, the masked man has found a way to partially control the statue," Nagato replied with a deep frown. "I don't understand it either."
He'd questioned this ever since he found out. How could someone else control a creature that was originally his summoning beast?
At the time, Obito had claimed to be Madara Uchiha. Though Nagato had doubted it, it hadn't seemed entirely impossible.
But even now, he still couldn't figure out how Obito managed to control the statue without the Rinnegan. He had the Rinnegan himself and even then struggled with it—yet Obito could do it without one?
Ryo wasn't all that surprised though. He remembered that the Demonic Statue originally belonged to Madara, so it made sense that some control method might've been left for Obito to use.
Thinking it through, it wasn't too hard to accept.
He shook his head. "Forget it. Let them continue."
"Hm?" Nagato blinked, puzzled. "I could stop them from using the Demonic Statue. Shouldn't we intervene?"
Ryo shook his head again. "No need. If they're willing to show themselves now, they must be confident they can counter you. Let them come out. It's better than them hiding."
Nagato thought about it and nodded in agreement. What Ryo said made sense. Someone who had stayed in the shadows for so long wouldn't suddenly show themselves without a solid plan. Obito wasn't reckless.
"How's your body holding up?" Ryo asked with concern.
Recently, Gardevoir had broken through to the Super-Kage level. All of her abilities had advanced, including her healing skills, which was why Ryo brought up the topic.
Nagato nodded. "It's going well. The healing is working."
He'd never expected that his body could recover at all. Even if the current effect was minimal and full recovery might take a very long time—perhaps even longer than his lifespan—it still gave him hope.
That was enough for now.
But Ryo wasn't entirely satisfied. He didn't just want gradual recovery—he wanted Nagato to be completely healed.
A fully healthy Nagato and a crippled one had a vast difference in combat strength.
Still, there wasn't much he could do at the moment. Gardevoir wasn't a specialized healing-type, and Nagato's condition wasn't something that could be easily fixed.
If full recovery were possible, only the legendary Pokémon—the true gods—might have that kind of power.
So Ryo nodded slightly and moved on. "Alright, how's the Pokémon integration going?"
At the question, Nagato smiled. "All five Great Ninja Villages now have Pokémon Home stores. Word of mouth has spread completely. Even the smaller villages, though they don't have dedicated stores yet, have people who've started catching Pokémon. Full integration is only a matter of time."
Ryo asked again, "Any trouble?"
"Nothing major. Some people tried to control us—tried to take over the Pokémon—but we dealt with them quickly."
Ryo wasn't surprised.
There were always power-hungry fools who didn't understand their own limits. In this world, there were far too many like that.
Danzo had been one of the best examples.
He didn't dwell on that and instead asked, "What about the Pokémon Battle Tournament? How many participants so far?"
"Thanks to the prizes you prepared, a lot," Nagato said, his eyes lighting up. "People from the five Great Ninja Villages and smaller ones are all aiming to win the championship."
"And the tournament has even caught the attention of the higher-ups from each village. Some of them might join the competition themselves."
As he spoke, Nagato's excitement grew.
The more successful this tournament became, the more it meant the Pokémon culture was becoming ingrained. In his heart, it was also a step closer to peace without war.
Ryo, too, looked visibly excited.
He had been waiting for this tournament for a long time. Now that things were coming together, how could he not be thrilled?
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