Naruto : Akatsuki Bizzare Strategist!

"A challenge? What challenge?"

Tenten curiously leaned over to look at the letter.

"Kakashi-sensei clearly says he has a friend who specializes in taijutsu and wants you to come help develop a new direction for physical techniques. Where does it say anything about a challenge?"

After reading the front, Tenten took the letter from Guy and even checked the completely blank back before staring at him in confusion.

She genuinely had no idea how Guy had reached that conclusion.

"Tenten, how forgetful can you be? Have you already forgotten that movie we watched a few days ago after finishing our mission?"

Guy snatched the letter back, clutched it dramatically, and immediately began shedding tears.

"The movie clearly explained that whenever someone starts a sentence with, 'I have a friend,' they're actually talking about themselves!

"Therefore, the true meaning of this letter is that Kakashi is issuing me a challenge and inviting me to our five hundred and third duel!"

"Guy-sensei, you can do it! You have to win!"

Lee immediately became fired up as well.

The two shouted themselves hoarse before throwing their arms around each other.

"I'm not even going to bother explaining what's wrong with that."

Tenten's face sagged in exhaustion.

"I just want to know one thing. Even if Kakashi really is challenging you, what does that have to do with us? Why did you call all three of us here?"

"Well, um…"

Faced with such a direct question, Guy finally looked slightly embarrassed.

"From what I understand, Kakashi has Naruto and Konohamaru helping him come up with inspiration for developing new techniques.

"They're a team.

"And we're a team too!"

"Uh…"

Tenten became even more speechless.

At least Guy possessed some self-awareness.

He clearly knew there was no way he could beat Kakashi in a research competition by himself.

If Kakashi had two helpers, then naturally Guy needed Tenten and Neji helping him too.

What about Lee?

Why was Lee not counted separately?

Obviously because Lee and Guy were basically one unit already.

You could simply treat them as the same person.

"Fine, I'm in. There hasn't been much to do lately anyway. Maybe going to Kirigakure will help me find some new inspiration for training."

Tenten stretched lazily.

"And we can take a vacation while we're there."

"I'll go too."

When Guy and Lee simultaneously turned their sparkling gazes toward him, Neji—who had remained silent until now—hurriedly agreed before the two of them could perform another embarrassing display.

Tenten's explanation about looking for new training inspiration had merely been something she casually threw out.

The vacation part might have been sincere.

The training part definitely was not.

Because lately, Tenten had barely been training at all.

After Kakashi's group left Konoha and began traveling from country to country spreading Sage Mode, Konoha, as the place where the shortcut had originated, naturally began promoting it internally under Kiba's leadership.

Most people had at least tried it once or were considering doing so.

Only Tenten felt like everyone around her had gone insane.

She could understand why people were willing to sacrifice their dignity for greater strength.

She also understood that the shinobi world genuinely needed stronger methods to deal with the looming crisis.

But understanding it did not mean she could bring herself to participate.

So she could neither oppose them nor join them.

All she could do was stay home.

She could barely even go outside anymore.

If she wandered around Konoha casually, there was always a chance she would accidentally stumble across someone trying to practice the Sage Mode shortcut.

Then why, if Tenten did not want Sage Mode, was she not excited about the new taijutsu system Kakashi was supposedly proposing?

Because she had a terrible feeling that whatever "new taijutsu" Kakashi wanted Guy to help develop would somehow end up being combined with senjutsu.

And once that happened, they would probably circle right back to needing that same shortcut.

Neji, however, had agreed immediately without explaining himself.

Mostly because Tenten had already stolen his reason.

Neji was actually the one who genuinely wanted to train, improve his strength, and travel to Kirigakure in search of a new direction.

With Neji's personality, at least at this early stage, he could not bring himself to lower his dignity enough to try the Sage Mode shortcut.

But watching other people potentially surpass him—the so-called "genius"—without having to compensate for talent through relentless effort, instead relying on some bizarre shortcut?

Neji could not swallow that either.

Necessity forced people to change.

If nothing had happened today, perhaps after enduring the pressure for a while longer, Neji would eventually have broken down and compromised.

But now that a new opportunity had appeared?

Naturally, he chose the alternative.

And so, Team Guy's four members traveled to Kirigakure through the Flying Raijin Formation.

They arrived only shortly after Kakashi's group.

In fact, Kakashi had barely finished telling Terumī Mei that more people would be arriving when Might Guy and his team appeared.

Kirigakure did not actually have many important figures at the moment—meaning named shinobi anyone would recognize.

Much like Sunagakure, aside from ancient figures such as the Elder who could barely walk anymore, practically every recognizable ninja still available had come to greet them.

It was an extremely respectful reception.

Of course, there was another possible explanation.

Kirigakure was the final Great Ninja Village on the Sage Mode promotion route.

Terumī Mei already knew what was happening, so she had probably gathered everyone in advance so they could immediately divide up the training assignments afterward.

Welcoming the visitors was merely a bonus.

Before Kakashi mentioned that Guy was coming, he first passed along Gaara's greetings and explained what had happened in Sunagakure.

Gaara had specifically asked him to do so.

After all, Sunagakure and Kirigakure were in remarkably similar situations.

Both had recently installed new Kage.

Both had lost most of their older generation.

Both new leaders had inherited enormous messes created by their predecessors.

Even their geography created similar problems.

By keeping each other informed, Gaara and Mei could learn from the problems the other encountered and prevent similar incidents before they happened.

"So Sunagakure has its stubborn old conservatives too? And you already dealt with them?"

Terumī Mei smiled faintly.

"You won't need to worry too much about Kirigakure. A few days ago, I hired former Mist shinobi Hoshigaki Kisame to come help deal with that problem.

"Of course, if you happen to encounter anything similar while staying here and decide to lend a hand, I certainly won't stop you.

"I'll remember every good deed you do for Kirigakure."

Mei briefly explained the village's current situation.

The Land of Water and the Land of Wind were actually quite similar.

One had habitable oases scattered throughout a desert.

The other had habitable islands scattered throughout the sea.

Nobody lived in the middle of a barren desert.

Likewise, nobody simply lived out in the ocean.

Their populations were divided into isolated pockets separated by sand or water, which made centralizing authority far more difficult for Sunagakure and Kirigakure than for the other Great Ninja Villages.

Naturally, that also made hunting down people hiding in remote regions much harder.

It was simply one problem piled on top of another.

"Hoshigaki Kisame?"

Hearing the name immediately reminded Kakashi of the shark-faced man he had once encountered.

He still remembered Kisame nearly trying to eat the bridge builder's grandson.

Only later had Kakashi learned that the entire incident had merely been part of a scripted performance.

Hoshigaki Kisame was, in reality, an absurdly straightforward and honest man.

"Hahaha! Kakashi, I'm here!"

Guy's booming voice suddenly came from the Flying Raijin transfer area behind them.

Kakashi had not even reacted yet.

But someone standing behind Terumī Mei immediately did.

The person's entire body stiffened before they abruptly turned and started walking away to the side, clearly attempting to avoid Guy altogether.

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