The speed at which the Ninja Sect responded was faster than Roshi imagined.
"Teacher Sosuke has agreed to meet you, but he is currently very busy preparing for a large lecture event. You'll have to wait until the event concludes to see him," Nagato said, following Mokgetsu's instructions.
"Is he going to hold another unrestricted lecture like before?" Roshi's heart stirred, quickly inquiring.
During the last lecture by Sosuke, Roshi had heard the publicity, but he did not attend.
Firstly, he didn't have time, and secondly, he wasn't interested at the time.
At that time, Roshi thought Sosuke surely wouldn't teach any real skills, at most some basic old talk.
For ninjas, knowledge truly is power, in the most literal sense.
Ninja clans like the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan that can steadily awaken their bloodline limits are rare; most ninja clans become ninja clans by inheriting a form of advanced ninja knowledge.
The Ino-Shika-Cho, Inuzuka, Aburame, and Sarutobi of Konoha are all familiar with mastering advanced nature transformation knowledge as ninja clans, showing the importance of knowledge.
Though Mokgetsu did not directly teach any secret techniques during the lecture, he analyzed various attributes of nature transformation from shallow to deep, revealing the essence of ninjutsu and secret techniques.
For an ordinary ninja, these are difficult knowledge to access, yet Mokgetsu was able to freely impart such knowledge to those who came to listen.
Thus, after learning about Mokgetsu's specific lecture content, Roshi greatly admired Mokgetsu—what a broad-minded person he must be to do such a thing.
"That's right," Nagato nodded.
"It really is a big deal, much more important than meeting me," Roshi said seriously.
Although meeting Sosuke was Roshi's initial motivation for coming to the Land of Rain, if such a reason delayed seeing Sosuke, Roshi didn't see it as a problem; rather, he felt lucky.
The first unrestricted lecture he missed for various reasons, and now coming to the Land of Rain to meet Sosuke, he coincidentally catches the second one—isn't that good fortune?
"Can it be he's really not malicious towards the Ninja Sect?" Roshi's reaction surprised Nagato.
Then Nagato asked Roshi if he wanted to return to Six Paths City with him.
The Ninja Sect had now established its own town, and such a large event would naturally take place in their town.
Roshi declined Nagato. Going to Six Paths City now was meaningless to him—they couldn't meet Sosuke and the unrestricted lecture hadn't begun.
He wanted to slowly walk over by himself, experiencing the customs of the Land of Rain along the way, occasionally helping villages plagued by wandering ninjas.
After asking once, Nagato didn't ask again. With Roshi's chakra, there's no way anything would happen on the road.
Bidding farewell to Nagato, Roshi resumed his journey through the Land of Rain.
He traveled from the north to the center of the Land of Rain, finally entering the south.
Throughout his journey, Roshi clearly felt the difference between the southern and northern regions.
In the first village Roshi entered in the north, he encountered a robbery by wandering ninjas and later came across bandits.
But walking from the south near Six Paths City, he hadn't encountered a single instance of wandering ninja trouble, nor saw any bandits or robbers, but did see many ninjas coming for the lecture.
"Sosuke, who is the real you?" With this question in his heart, Roshi quickened his pace towards the nearby town.
...
When learning that Sosuke was going to hold another unrestricted lecture, the Rain Village experienced quite a commotion.
Since they were close within the Land of Rain, many Rain Ninjas attended the first unrestricted lecture.
A batch of Rain Ninjas hesitated to attend due to past tensions between Rain Village and the Ninja Sect, later regretting it when the lecture content spread.
Now, with the second unrestricted lecture about to begin, those who went the first time want to go again, and those who didn't want to attend as well. Many Rain Ninjas are secretly discussing the second unrestricted lecture.
Since so many people are discussing it, although it's whispered, it's almost as if it's in the open.
Some Rain Village high-rankers feel this is bad and needs to be stopped, as if it's a grand event in Rain Village.
However, that thought was denied by Hanzo; the reason given was that it's not conducive to peace in the Land of Rain.
Actually, Hanzo could deny the Rain Village high-rankers without a reason. Rain Village is under his sole command, those supposed high-rankers don't dare to meet his eyes when he's angry.
Yet Hanzo thought denying without reason would make it seem like he was very supportive of Sosuke's lectures and liked listening to Sosuke teach.
He felt that wasn't right.
"Should I go this time?" In his mind, Hanzo hesitated.
Now he wants to go, yet also doesn't want to.
He wants to go because of Sosuke's extensive knowledge and high lecturing skills—he's curious about what Sosuke will teach this time, whether the quality will be as strong as last time.
He doesn't want to go for fear of being recognized by Sosuke again.
Last time he secretly attended the lecture and was recognized, leading to his participation in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament, having to hear Kakuzu's slyness daily, or hear someone boasting about the Fire Dragon Dance, then he'd be dragged out to be mocked.
To this day, Hanzo is unclear how Sosuke accurately recognized him among so many people, especially when he was so well disguised.
Thunk, thunk!
Just then, the door of Hanzo's office was knocked.
"Come in," Hanzo raised his head and said in a calm voice.
The Rain Ninja received Hanzo's approval and pushed the door open to enter. They walked to the desk, lowered their head, and placed a letter on the desk, saying:
"Lord Hanzo, this is a letter from the Ninja Sect."
Hanzo nodded expressionlessly. The messenger, savvy with the situation, exited the office and closed the door behind them.
Hanzo opened the envelope and found the letter was written by Sosuke. The content was very simple, just an invitation for him to attend a lecture.
"Could it be that he has even guessed my thoughts now?" Hanzo felt conflicted.
If it were an official invitation from the Ninja Sect, Hanzo wouldn't have to be so indecisive.
Previously, he had concealed his identity to attend the lecture, mainly to avoid the Rain Village ninjas from finding out.
Even though he was slightly inferior to Sosuke in combat, he was, after all, a long-renowned Demigod of the Ninja World. Actively attending Sosuke's lecture would be akin to bowing before a junior.
But with an invitation, it's different. He could pretend that he reluctantly gave Sosuke face to attend the event.
However, Hanzo still could not immediately decide whether to go.
If he goes just because Sosuke invited him, then it seems pointless to give Sosuke face.
After all, Sosuke made his name in the Ninja World by stepping over him, every time someone discusses Sosuke or his famous Ninjutsu, Hanzo is brought up as a backdrop.
Ultimately, Hanzo picked up a pen to begin writing a reply.
Attending Sosuke's lecture was secondary; the main purpose was to ease relations between the Ninja Sect and Rain Village, and to stabilize the situation in the Land of Rain.
With the passage of time, the news of Sosuke holding another unrestricted lecture spread across the Ninja World.
The neighboring countries like the Land of Wind, Land of Fire, and Land of Grass were the first to know, while the distant Land of Hot Water and Land of Thunder heard about it somewhat later.
Perhaps the previous event was too successful, this time even some Ninjas from the insular Land of Water took interest in this news.
However, due to various reasons, ninjas not on the mainland would rarely take action.
The main participants were still ninjas from the Land of Rain and neighboring countries.
...
Land of Fire, Konoha Village.
The ninja master's lecture event, which was hotly discussed in the Ninja World, did not cause much of a stir in Konoha. While many people talked about it, few were actually interested in going.
On one hand, Konoha's situation was tense recently with many ninjas still on missions at the borders or in small countries, leaving few ninjas in the village. On the other hand, Konoha had Mokgetsu.
Mokgetsu had conducted various training and special training sessions teaching many people, and through word of mouth, most Konoha ninjas knew of Mokgetsu's extraordinary teaching ability.
However, while Mokgetsu's students were not keen on attending Sosuke's lecture, one of Mokgetsu's disciples was eager to go to the Land of Rain for the lecture.
"That Sosuke's teaching is definitely not as good as Teacher Mokgetsu's." During a training break, Obito once again expressed a view he had voiced several times.
He was the one eager to attend the lecture in the Land of Rain, but Obito had different motivations than ordinary lecture attendees; he wanted to prove that Mokgetsu was the best teacher and expose any falsities.
"If you want to go, then apply for it. I'm not going." Kakashi said indifferently.
Normally he might have been curious to visit the Land of Rain since there's the issue of the corrupted Akatsuki there.
But having recently mastered the Yang Seal and with his strength greatly increased, Kakashi was focused on training further and challenging Might Guy.
"I didn't say I want to go." Obito observed others' expressions with his peripheral vision, sensing that no one was interested in Sosuke's lecture, so he temporarily gave up on the idea.
Going alone seemed too boring, and the thought of Kakashi and others using the time to rigorously train made him feel it was a loss.
Meanwhile, at the Root Base, Shimura Danzo was studying new intelligence.
In fact, Shimura Danzo was the Konoha ninja most concerned about the unrestricted lecture.
However, for Shimura Danzo, the lecture itself was not the focus — it was the people and forces organizing the lecture that mattered.
If the lecture's organizing force was the Rain Village, Shimura Danzo wouldn't pay nearly as much attention.
"Mobilize the organization members in the Land of Rain to quickly take advantage and infiltrate Six Paths City." Shimura Danzo discovered that this was a great opportunity to gather intelligence on the Ninja Sect.
With so many ninjas attending the lecture and the limited number of Ninja Sect members, there would inevitably be more chances for mistakes to be made.
Even though they had received information about the Ninja Sect's heritage from "Uchiha Madara," the doubting Shimura Danzo still wanted to investigate for himself.
Thinking of "Uchiha Madara," Shimura Danzo couldn't help but frown.
Since the day they talked about cooperation, "Uchiha Madara" hadn't contacted him again, and Shimura Danzo had no means to contact him, which made Shimura Danzo feel like he was being toyed with.
Shimura Danzo shook his head; regardless of what "Uchiha Madara's" situation was, he must get his hands on the Rinnegan and the Ninja Sect heritage.
Even if he can't get the Wood Release promised by "Uchiha Madara," his Root still has a Wood Release Ninja, so it's not a big problem.
PS:
I finally finished writing two chapters at five in the morning, but my condition is indeed not great.
I have taken a leave today (not from writing, but from work).
It's a new month, so I'm asking for the baseline monthly vote.
I hope to adjust my schedule back within a week; otherwise, it will be quite tough.