Chapter 259 - 259 (1/2)
Yamato was already a few years older than Lain. With him now staying in the glassware for over a year, his Chakra started to grow upon the initiation of the integration, at a rate that's even a faster than hers.
Moreover, he did not get Lain's sudden drop in Chakra levels. Therefore, his Chakra eventually reached a level that's comparable to hers.
Speaking of Lain, she has been now for a year in the school, and was doing so good that she immediately skipped 3rd grade to fourth grade.
In the Academy, it wasn't out of the ordinary that genius children would skip a year or more. It's just that before Lain's attendance, this was exclusive to two current students: Uchiha Izumi, and Uchiha Itachi.
Lain was one year older than the two, but she was far behind the level of Itachi. He did better in Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and even in written exams.
In fact, even Izumi was stronger than Lain. This prevented the latter from ever feeling at ease, and pushed her to work harder and harder.
A lot of what special about the Uchiha was related to their Sharingan. At this age, they usually don't have it opened. Izumi did open it upon witnessing the death of her father on the Kyubi's Attack Night, but she never used it, and was not even conscious about it.
Lain, however, had perfect integration of Hashirama's genes with her own, gaining vitality and wood release that's similar to his. With such a ”hack”, the gap between her and the two Uchiha was getting smaller and smaller.
Eventually, she could beat Izumi in a match. A few days later, she did the same against Itachi, getting to the top of her class.
The loss had its impact on Itachi, who decided to practice a lot more diligently. Izumi was more indifferent to the loss, but she felt embarrassed upon watching her crush train so diligently. Under Shisui's guidance, the two improved very rapidly.
Within just a few days, Itachi beat Lain again!
Being Ryo's sister, Lain gradually became as relentless, and was not the type to admit defeat. To get back to the top of her class, she looked around for someone who could guide her training…
There was no more obvious choice than the Kage Tier monster who also happened to share household with her! Ryo, who had nothing to do recently, immediately agreed. He was interested in how this rivalry between the great Uchiha Itachi and the heir of Hashirama's Wood Release was going to turn out.
...
Meanwhile, in the Rain Country….
At the Akatsuki's new headquarters, two of the leaders of the Organization were not seen by its members for a long time.
For a whole year, the one who was in charge was Konan. She did not do well managing the organization, and her direction brought the Akatsuki heavy losses.
In fact, not too long ago, the organization's base was destroyed, and many of its members were caught by the Rain Village. Poor Konan was helpless, and the members of the organization could not bear the situation any longer, and they decided to find Yahiko and Nagato at any cost.
In fact, it wasn't just them; Konan hadn't seen Nagato in so long as well. Every time she tried to barge in through the door of the room in which he locked himself, she would be bounced off by a strong repulsive force.
She tried enough times to give up, but today she was faced by the members of her organization, and she could only bring them to Nagato's room.
”Yahiko and Nagato are inside, but I can't open the door; you can try for yourselves!”
The members of the Akatsuki looked at each other, and they finally decided to assign the one who's most powerful physically to try to push the door open.
Things obviously did not go any different, and the poor man was pushed far away from the door. However, the others did not believe that entry was impossible, and they tried to push the door in together, and together, they were sent flying back.
”Perhaps… Perhaps you should try Ninjutsu!” Konan had enough; she also hadn't seen Nagato for too long, and wanted to see what he was doing.
The Akatsuki agreed, and they all prepared to attack the door together.