Chapter 426: The Yagura Clan
When Jiraiya sent a messenger hawk to find Ino, she was still in the Land of Whirlpools in the East Sea, dealing with the aftermath of the Mist Village with Shikaku and Shikamaru.
In the past two months, a lot had happened in the Mist Village.
Genpaku had died. The old ninja had used his life, which was like a candle in the wind, to protect Mei Terumi. All the blame fell on him alone. He was the mastermind, and Mei Terumi was just a puppet placed on the stage. Regardless of whether the outside world believed it, he had taken all the blame upon himself.
Even though Genpaku had sacrificed his life, the Mist ninja still experienced significant turmoil.
At the call of a certain Dharma King, three ninja clans left the Mist Village. The leader was the clan of the former Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. Because they had been controlled by Obito and had implemented the policy of the Bloody Mist, after the chaos was rectified, the Yagura clan found it extremely difficult to survive in the current Mist Village. There were simply too many enemies who wanted to kill them!
Among those who had been enlightened under the twin trees and had their sins washed away was the son of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, Yagura Yashiro.
The Mist Village was full of androgynous beauties, with Haku and Ranmaru being representative examples. Someone as feminine as the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, was a rarity. There, androgynous beauties were the way to go.
The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, was 1.43 meters tall, with rosy lips, fair teeth, and a delicate face, looking like a big loli. But in reality, he was a pure man! Gender: male, preference: female.
He not only had a wife, but also a son and a daughter-in-law. If it weren't for the great ninja war, in a few more years, his grandson would have been born!
Why did Konoha bully the Mist? Because the Mist was too weak! Why was the Mist so weak? Because during the Fourth Mizukage's era, the ninja with Kekkei Genkai clans were killed too harshly.
There was already a great deal of resentment. With this series of blame-shifting operations, if the Yagura clan didn't want to be wiped out in the middle of the night, they could only pack up and run.
Now, they had taken advantage of the chaos to break away, and had also taken two ninja clans that were close to the Yagura clan with them. These were also accomplices in the Bloody Mist of the past.
For ordinary ninja to leave the protection of the village was extremely difficult. But the Yagura clan was, after all, a former Mizukage clan. Even after being suppressed by Genpaku and Mei Terumi in turn, the family's foundation was still there.
Ino went deep into the Land of Water, brought them out, and settled them on the ruins of the former Land of Whirlpools, as an outer barrier for Konoha.
With three ninja clans as the main body, and recruiting some small ninja clans and civilian ninja, it was no problem to create a small-scale ninja village.
To express their gratitude, the Yagura clan gave a large amount of gold and jewels as a reward. Yagura Yashiro also personally gave Ino a ninjutsu, which looked unremarkable and had a very ordinary name: "Water Release: Water Mirror Technique."
This was the ultimate technique of the Fourth Mizukage. It could create a water mirror with Water Release chakra, and in the mirror would appear a person identical to the enemy, who could also completely copy the enemy's ninjutsu.
The learning difficulty of this jutsu was extremely high. Yagura Yashiro himself didn't know it.
Ino held the scroll. With her current attainment in Water Release ninjutsu, plus the assistance of her three-tomoe Sharingan, it still took her nearly half a month to master this ninjutsu.
If the learning difficulty of the Flying Thunder God Technique was in the first tier, then the learning difficulty of the Water Mirror Technique was in the second tier.
To put it in a roundabout way, this Water Release ninjutsu was not a Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu, but its power was superior to a Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu.
Ino was very satisfied with this. Using her connections, she borrowed a batch of food from the Land of Fire Daimyo's younger brother, En City Councillor, for the Yagura clan. They had escaped from the Land of Water and were lacking in all aspects. Food was more precious than gold at this time.
After receiving Jiraiya's message, she handed over the work to Shikaku and Shikamaru and rushed to the front lines in the northeast.
After hearing the mission briefing, Ino was stunned.
"The Land of Demons? Where is that country?"
Tsunade was particularly hearty. She took out a map and pointed it out to her.
Ino looked at it very seriously.
She saw Tsunade's finger go from the Land of Fire to the Land of Grass, and then all the way west, through the Land of Rain, the Land of Wind, the Land of Bears, the Land of Haze, and then... and then her finger went off the map.
Tsunade drew a circle two fingers' width outside the map. "It's probably around this location."
Ino rolled her eyes. A country that's not on the map, what's the point of you pointing it out to me! A fifty-year-old woman, how can you be so immature, like a child.
Tonton and Shizune were laughing from the side.
Jiraiya also took out a map. This was one he had drawn himself while traveling the ninja world. The Land of Demons was marked on it, but it was also at the edge of the map.
Ino thought for a moment and asked, "I can go and investigate, of course. Isn't it just an S-rank mission? The problem is, if I leave, will there be any setbacks on the front lines?"
Tsunade finally got serious. "The Cloud Village's losses are actually greater than ours. Darui came to talk about this matter before on behalf of the Fourth Raikage. The two sides have formally ceased hostilities and are waiting for the results of your investigation."
In fact, the Fourth Raikage was also under great pressure.
On his side, there were only four Kage-level fighters: himself, Killer B, Yugito, and Darui. They were fighting against Konoha's Jiraiya, Tsunade, Ino, and the occasionally cross-dressing Minato Namikaze.
In this lineup, the Cloud was at a complete disadvantage. Jiraiya, Ino, and Minato Namikaze all had the strength to fight two against one. Tsunade could fight any of the first three plus Darui to a draw. It was only because Konoha's Kage-level masters had to take turns resting, Minato Namikaze was not a permanent combat unit, and Ino had fought on the southeastern front for two months and been back in the village for two months, that a stalemate had been reached.
The Fourth Raikage had been leading his army against Konoha for half a year, with a small battle every three days and a big battle every five. He was battered and bruised and urgently needed to recuperate. Now, he was taking the opportunity to withdraw his troops, go back to lick his wounds, and prepare to continue fighting next time.
Konoha had a similar idea.
The two families successively withdrew their troops and temporarily ceased hostilities.
The main forces withdrew, but that didn't mean that no ninja were arranged to defend the border.
Asuma replaced Jiraiya and Tsunade to guard the eastern front, and Shizune replaced Ino to guard the southeastern front.
Ino first returned to the village, and Jiraiya handed her a secret letter.
She looked at the handwriting; it was from Minato Namikaze.
Minato mentioned in the report that the priestess of the Land of Demons had prophesied Naruto's death and wished to meet Naruto in person.
"Prophecies are often very ethereal, but if you look carefully, you can still see some clues. Minato will continue to investigate this matter secretly, but if—I mean if—without endangering your life, please help Naruto. I beg you."
If it were another Hokage, they would not be too attached to so-called prophecies. They would just listen and be done with it. What does it have to do with me?
But the current Hokage was Jiraiya. This hero of the ninja world attached great importance to all kinds of "prophecies," fearing that something regrettable would happen.
Naruto will die? Ino didn't believe it at all. This prophecy was too ridiculous! Unless King Frieza came over, under normal circumstances, even if everyone else died, Naruto, the reincarnation of Ashura, would not die.
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