[Ding!
Congratulations to the streamer for reaching 100 followers.
The ‘Hard Work Makes The Dream Work’ Livestream System is now officially bound.] [This System will autonomously determine the quality of the livestream content to earn popularity points for the streamer.] [The popularity point exchange function will be unlocked in the future.] [Streamer Rock Lee, please keep up the good work and bring everyone exciting livestream content.] Just as the notification finished, before Rock Lee could fully understand what was happening, he saw another notification.
[Ding!
Congratulations to the streamer for unlocking the gift donation function!] [Ding!
You have received a donation from Empress: Elementary Weight-Bearing Leg Straps.] [Elementary Weight-Bearing Leg Straps: They weight 750 kilograms.
These were Empress’s toys when she was a kid.] “Pfft…” Rock Lee’s jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw the description.
This Empress is too incredible.
She could wear 75o kilogram weights as a kid?
Wait, a pair would be 1500 kilograms.
That’s just too powerful.
Following the instructions, Rock Lee silently muttered ‘Receive Elementary Weight-Bearing Leg Straps,’ and instantly felt a heavy weight in his hands.
Before he could even see what they looked like, his body was slammed face-first into the ground by the sudden increase in weight.
Kakashi asked in confusion, “Lee, what’s wrong?” Rock Lee quickly muttered ‘Retract’ in his mind, then laughed awkwardly.
“It’s nothing, I just suddenly felt a bit tired.” Tazuna smiled and said, “I’m truly sorry for the trouble this time.
It’s fine now.
Everyone, come to my house and relax for a bit.” Tazuna’s house was built over the water, connected to the shore by a winding wooden path.
The furniture inside was simple, but every piece was filled with the atmosphere of daily life, showing at a glance that a warm and harmonious family lived here.
After the group exchanged greetings, they settled in for their stay.
However, Rock Lee was a training fanatic who couldn’t sit still.
Even in Tazuna’s house, he occupied himself by doing push-ups on the side.
Meanwhile, Kakashi and the others were discussing the upcoming protection mission.
Kakashi felt that there was something slightly discordant about the Zabuza incident.
Generally speaking, ninjas responsible for hunting down Rogue Ninja usually only leave the head behind as proof of mission completion.
The rest of the body is typically disposed of immediately via cremation or other methods to prevent the corpse from falling into the hands of other Ninja villages, which could lead to the leakage of their own village’s intelligence.
But as he recalled the scene of Zabuza being ‘killed’ and then being carried away, the more he thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.
Suspicion one: the senbon used by the masked ninja were too light.
Unless they hit a vital point, the lethality of such weapons is very low.
Suspicion two: Tracker Ninjas generally have an expert understanding of human anatomy, they can easily put someone into a state of near-death.
Suspicion three: the masked ninja didn’t destroy the body on the spot, but specifically carried Zabuza away.
Combining these three points, Kakashi finally reached a conclusion.
That is, that masked ninja didn’t come to kill Zabuza.
On the contrary, they were there to save him.
Kakashi’s expression changed as he realized this.
Sakura noticed the change in his expression and asked, “Kakashi-sensei, did you think of something?” Kakashi didn’t intend to hide it and replied, “I suspect that Zabuza might not be dead yet.” Sakura and the others were immediately stunned.
“How can that be?
Didn’t you confirm that he was dead?” She certainly didn’t want to encounter such a powerful enemy again.
Kakashi nodded.
“I did confirm it, but at that time, it was likely just a state of near-death.” Furthermore, because he had overused his Sharingan, he had reached his limit and didn’t want to invite unnecessary trouble.
Looking at it now, the other side had planned this all along.
Training on the side, Rock Lee overheard their conversation and suddenly realized as well.
No wonder he felt like he had missed something.
It turned out he had forgotten about the ninja named Haku.
He remembered that the mysterious comments from before mentioned that Zabuza traveled with Haku.
It was just that he had been so nervous dealing with Zabuza that he had completely forgotten about this person.
He sighed in self-reproach.
If he had remembered then, perhaps he could have stopped the two from leaving.
As expected, I’m still too weak.
Youth requires shedding even more sweat.
Rock Lee became inexplicably excited and immediately prepared to rush out and shed some sweat.
However, just as he opened the door, he almost collided with someone.
The newcomer was a young boy wearing a blue and white striped hat and green overalls.
He immediately apologized, “Sorry, I almost ran into you just now.” He then flexed a bicep and asked, “Are you also going out to shed the sweat of youth?” The boy glanced at him expressionlessly, then ran to Tazuna, hugged his leg tightly, and said, “Welcome back, Grandpa.” Tazuna happily ruffled the boy’s hat and smiled, “Inari, where did you run off to?” Inari looked at Rock Lee and the others, saying, “Grandpa, these guys are all going to die.
There’s no chance of winning against Gato and his men.” Rock Lee was stunned.
This kid had so little faith in them?
However, he was Rock Lee, a hot-blooded ninja who would never be defeated by hardship.
He immediately gave a thumbs up and declared, “Inari, you can rest easy and leave the mission regarding Gato to us.
I will definitely protect you all.” Inari said, “Didn’t you hear me?
You’ll be killed by Gato.” Rock Lee laughed heartily.
“I’m not afraid of dying.
Compared to being defeated by Gato, I’m more afraid of not having worked hard for it.
So, he can’t scare me.” After thinking for a moment, he suddenly shouted, “To avoid being defeated by Gato, I must do 1,000 kicks in the water today!” With a ‘whoosh,’ he rushed out.
Inari stared dumbfoundedly at the retreating figure, and after a long while, he murmured, “Idiot.” Naruto immediately said angrily, “You brat, what kind of stupid things are you saying?
Lee is very strong.
That Gato or whatever is no match for us at all.
Just you wait, I’ll definitely defeat Zabuza and become a superhero as great as the Hokage.” Inari continued to be discouraging, “What superhero?
You’re like an idiot.
Heroes don’t exist.
If you don’t want to die, you should go back early.” After saying that, ignoring the shouting Naruto, he went back to his room on his own.
However, this did serve as a reminder to Kakashi.
Thinking of the upcoming battle, he said, “If the enemy attacks again, they will certainly go all out.
So you all need to train as well.
Starting tomorrow, I will teach you the techniques for utilizing Chakra.”