Chapter 524: Rasa's Changes
Land of Wind, Sunagakure. After sacrificing several intelligence shinobi, Rasa finally confirmed the movements of Kirigakure's various powerhouses.
Kirigakure's three Kage-level shinobi—Mizukage Kisame, Mei Terumī, and Mangetsu Hōzuki—had not left the village. All three had made public appearances.
Only Ning Mizunashi, for some unknown reason, had not appeared in public for a long time.
Thus, Rasa concluded that the one who had attacked Loulan and used Suna-nin as training dummies for his disciples was Ning Mizunashi.
The clues matched. The "yin-cold" that the Dragon Vein spoke of must have been referring to the chakra of Ning Mizunashi's Ice Release.
This conclusion made Rasa both angry and relieved.
For Ning Mizunashi to ignore everyone else, cross the entire shinobi world, and come to the Land of Wind's territory to stir up trouble... he had clearly sized up Sunagakure as being in decline, making it the perfect training ground for his disciples.
Because of this, Rasa felt deeply humiliated. A mere Ning Mizunashi dared to come to the Land of Wind alone to find trouble, acting as if the Kazekage didn't even exist.
But on the other hand, since this was done by Kiri, it was possible that Ishiro still didn't know about it.
Right now, the person Rasa feared most was Ishiro interfering with his revival plan.
Sunagakure was currently weaker than it had ever been.
Whether it was a direct military threat from Ishiro, economic suppression, or any other form of targeted action, the current Sunagakure could not withstand it.
Unfortunately, what Rasa didn't know was that the person who had caused trouble in Loulan was, in fact, Ishiro.
It was just that after his initial communication with the Dragon Vein, Ishiro felt that its power level was absurdly high, and he didn't dare to make any rash moves on it.
As for why Ning Mizunashi hadn't made a public appearance... it was simply because he needed to practice controlling the Tailed Beast within him, and it wasn't safe to do so in the village.
Ning Mizunashi, like many Jinchuriki, had moved out of Kirigakure long ago. He only returned secretly for high-level meetings.
Rasa, on one hand, sent the village's puppet masters to Loulan to create "immortal puppets" with the help of the Queen.
On the other hand, he began to ponder whether he could annex the small and medium-sized countries to the further south of the Land of Wind.
Rasa was actually very insecure right now. He desperately needed a large amount of capital to restore Sunagakure's strength.
Suna was currently in such dire straits that they hadn't even been able to complete the construction of the new village.
The surface-level buildings of the new Sunagakure were finished, but in the places one couldn't see, they didn't even have the money to set up the various barriers.
Sunagakure had even reduced the mission pay for its ninja. The compensation for Suna-nin was now probably only slightly better than that of Konoha-nin.
The only methods Rasa could think of to alleviate their financial situation were: one, mine gold; two, annex small countries like Loulan.
He had moved on Loulan only because it was completely surrounded by the Land of Wind, and Rasa felt he could keep the intelligence contained.
But the small countries to the south of the Land of Wind were different. The moment he moved to annex them, Iwagakure would have an excuse to intervene.
At that point, Suna might truly "try to steal a chicken, only to lose the rice," and even allow Iwagakure's influence to spread into the southern Land of Wind.
"We're still just too weak. In the Tsuchikage's eyes, the village is probably just an ant he can crush at any time. Perhaps, in his view, I'm no different from that Queen of Loulan." Thinking of this, Rasa took a moment to return home.
He wasn't there to reunite with his family. He wanted to see how his youngest son, Gaara, was getting along with the One-Tail, Shukaku.
Arriving at his door, Rasa saw his brother-in-law, Yashamaru, cooking. A nervous-looking Temari was cautiously calling Gaara to eat.
Kankurō wasn't home. He had just left Sunagakure with a group of puppet masters, heading for Loulan.
Kankurō was Sunagakure's greatest puppet genius after Sasori of the Red Sand and Ryosuke. He had already been studying under Ryosuke for several years.
Although he was young, he was the one in whom the puppet-master team had placed the most hope.
Rasa stood at the door, his brows furrowing deeply as he watched Gaara—sporting two dark circles under his eyes and looking mentally drained—walk out of his room.
Because of his previous cooperation with the Fourth Raikage, Rasa had inquired about how to raise a Jinchuriki.
Although the Raikage hadn't directly told Rasa Kumo's secrets, he had given him some general pointers.
Rasa knew that one couldn't just suppress a Jinchuriki and their Tailed Beast. It required communication... it required "love."
Therefore, Rasa had not ordered Yashamaru to assassinate Gaara as in the original story. On the contrary, he had Yashamaru care for Gaara as much as possible.
Rasa had hoped that Yashamaru, Temari, and Kankurō could use familial love to "tame" Gaara.
But Rasa felt it was having no effect. Gaara's personality was much better than in the original story, but unfortunately, Rasa had not seen the original story.
His comparison points were Kumo's Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, and the now-deceased Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii.
Compared to those two cheerful and lively Jinchuriki, Gaara seemed far too lacking.
After watching at the door for a while, Rasa left, disappointed. He didn't go inside. A Gaara like this was not worth him taking the time to visit.
With this much time, he might as well go mine some gold.
What Rasa didn't know was that, after he left, Gaara turned his gaze to the doorway.
Gaara stared blankly at the empty entrance. He was even more disappointed than Rasa.
He had truly felt warmth from his uncle Yashamaru, his sister Temari, and his brother Kankurō. But he had hoped, even more, for just a little bit of affection from his own father.
Every time he thought of his cold and indifferent father, Gaara's heart, which had been so painstakingly warmed by the other three, would turn a shade colder.
And the One-Tail, Shukaku, inside him was never idle. It would always seize on Rasa's attitude, launching a barrage of verbal attacks at Gaara.
It tormented Gaara endlessly. As a result, his condition, far from improving, was actually getting worse day by day.
Just then, Yashamaru's voice sounded by his ear. "Gaara, time to eat."
A faint light returned to Gaara's dull eyes. He responded in a voice only he could hear, then pulled his gaze back from the door, lowered his head, and turned to go eat.
...
Iwagakure. Ishiro had found himself with free time again.
Of his three disciples in Team 7, Kamizuru Tsuruhime's training regimen was now set for a long time to come.
She had to both digest the gains her bees had received from the Dragon Vein...
And also cultivate the twenty species of Aburame clan insects she'd gotten from Danzō, to once again upgrade her bees' abilities.
Fujii Kaoru, meanwhile, had been assigned by Ishiro to the Yamanaka clan's spiritual-energy research group and had no time for missions.
Therefore, Team 7 simply couldn't get together right now.
Thus, Ishiro decided to dissolve Team 7 early.
He assigned Haku directly to the ANBU, letting him go on missions with them.
...
A village training ground.
Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
Ishiro watched the bees flying constantly around Kamizuru Tsuruhime, waiting patiently to the side.
A long time later, Tsuruhime finally finished testing all of the bees' new performance metrics.
Ishiro asked, "How are they?"
Tsuruhime's face was flushed with excitement. "Ishiro-sensei! Compared to before, my bees are like heaven and earth!"
"Their performance in all aspects has improved dramatically. A single bee now can easily defeat ten of the old ones."
"More importantly, the bees' strength increase seems to be comprehensive. There are no shortcomings."
"What the Dragon Vein did for my bees this one time is stronger than decades of my clan's efforts."
As she spoke, the little girl couldn't help but start to cry. She was clearly thinking of the desolate state of the Kamizuru clan over the past few decades.
Although Tsuruhime hadn't experienced much of it, she bore the hope of her clan's revival on her shoulders, and the pressure had always been immense.
Now that she had finally seen a glimmer of hope, she lost control of her emotions and began to sob.
Seeing this, Ishiro ruffled her hair and smiled. "Alright, your Kamizuru clan can finally see the hope of rising again."
"Work hard. You'll revive your clan sooner or later. Next, focus on cultivating those twenty types of insects."
"When I made the trade with the Hokage, I made a request. All the insects he provided are ones that can cultivate a specific special ability in your bees."
"Some provide simple water resistance, some simple electrical resistance, some basic detoxification. They all have different effects."
"Although these insects aren't the strongest of their kind, they are more than enough for cultivating your bees."
"Work hard. When you've transferred all of those abilities to your bees, they will be ready for actual combat against the Aburame clan."
As he spoke, Ishiro handed the containers of insects to Tsuruhime.
Tsuruhime wiped away her tears and accepted them with extreme care.
She then nodded firmly at Ishiro. "Ishiro-sensei, thank you! I will work hard to cultivate my bees!"
Ishiro nodded. Originally, he hadn't held out much hope for Tsuruhime's bees.
But now, things were different. After the baptism of the Dragon Vein, the base ability of Tsuruhime's bees might even exceed that of the Kikaichū the Aburame clan currently used.
Of course, base ability alone wasn't enough. The Aburame's Kikaichū had many special abilities.
Those diverse abilities were what greatly enhanced their combat power.
But from his time with Tsuruhime, Ishiro knew that enhancing an insect's special abilities was relatively easy; enhancing its base ability was the hard part.
Tsuruhime's bees were definitely no match for the Aburame's Kikaichū right now, and they still wouldn't be even after she finished cultivating these twenty new abilities.
But her bees' potential now surpassed that of the Kikaichū.
Ishiro ruffled the girl's small head again. "Cultivate them well. Try to finish before this year's Chūnin Exams begin."
"At that time, you will pass the Chūnin Exams and become the first Chūnin of your Kamizuru clan in all these years."
Tsuruhime nodded. She said her goodbyes to Ishiro and then fell silent. Hugging the insects, she went straight home; the training ground was not a suitable place to cultivate them.
Watching Tsuruhime leave, Ishiro's Team 7 was now officially dissolved.
...
A few days later, the first ten-day deadline arrived. All the ninja participating in the spiritual-energy research gathered again at the Tsuchikage's tower.
Izumi Uchiha also came along with Sōkai. When Ishiro saw her, he nodded. "Izumi, you're here too? Go ahead and sit down. Don't be nervous."
"Iwagakure isn't like Konoha. You don't need to be so guarded. No one here will be jealous of your abilities, and no one will be prejudiced against your origins."
"Everyone here is one of us. If you have any insights, you can say them. We discuss, learn, and improve together."
Izumi Uchiha nodded. "Lord Tsuchikage, I understand."
Then, the discussion began. Everyone described their training process over the last ten days, including their various questions.
Afterward, the group discussed the problems that could be answered or guessed at.
Finally, at Ishiro's request, the research group established its key research directions for the next ten days.
In this discussion, several people performed exceptionally well. The first was Sakura.
Sakura's dual personality made her training smoother than everyone else's. She was the only ninja who had managed to "grasp the basics" in just ten days.
Not only had she grasped it, but because of her dual personality, one could control her body while the other trained.
She could even train while attending school, or train while studying medical ninjutsu. Neither one was delayed.
Ishiro couldn't help but sigh internally. The Sakura from the original story had been completely ruined by Kakashi.
Kakashi only had eyes for Sasuke Uchiha. The other two barely registered to him.
Naruto, after Sasuke's defection, at least got taught a little bit about chakra nature transformation.
But Kakashi... had never taught Sakura a single thing.
The critical issue was that Kakashi knew Sakura had a strong talent for genjutsu, and he himself knew genjutsu, yet he taught her nothing.
Sakura's later achievements in medical ninjutsu and her super-strength were just applications of the super-fine chakra control granted by her powerful Yin Release.
And that chakra control came from her dual personality.
The benefits of a dual personality were far more than just that.
Sakura should have learned Yin Release. Yin Release was what suited her most.
She became Kage-level just by learning medical ninjutsu. Her achievements in Yin Release would only have been higher.
Sakura was, without a doubt, the most dazzling of the group. The next was Izumi Uchiha.
Because Izumi wanted to gain everyone's approval, she had been the most diligent in her training over the past ten days.
A Mangekyou Uchiha's Yin Release level could be considered "Layer 3," which was in the Kage-level domain.
Although Izumi's understanding of Yin Release was insufficient, her level was high enough. Among all the participants, only Sōkai's Yin Release level could compare to hers.
But Sōkai's intelligence... was hard to describe.
Therefore, in this discussion, Izumi Uchiha filled the role that originally would have belonged to Ishiro.
Looking down from a higher level, she proposed many high-level theories.
Ishiro didn't steal Izumi's thunder. On the contrary, he completely yielded the floor to her.
The last person to perform well was Katsumata. Katsumata was Iwagakure's foremost expert in Yin Release research.
Although he was limited by his own level and his vision wasn't as far-reaching as Izumi's, and his talent was less than Sakura's, Shion's, or Natsuki's, his strength was his solid foundation. He was the one who found ways to verify many of the hypotheses.
At the same time, Katsumata was also, in effect, the leader of this research team. In Ishiro's place, he arranged the research schedule and assigned tasks to everyone.
Ishiro was very satisfied with this first discussion. Although Sakura was still the only one who could practice the spiritual technique, everyone could now see the hope of fully analyzing this scroll.
With the spiritual-energy research now on the right track, Ishiro stopped paying close attention to it. He prepared to go study the Uchiha Gunbai that had been stored in the warehouse for so long.
However, just as he returned to his office, Sōkai and Izumi Uchiha followed him in.
Ishiro sat down in his chair and looked at the two of them curiously.
Before Ishiro could ask, Izumi Uchiha spoke first. "Lord Tsuchikage, I want to join Iwagakure. Officially. The kind of joining where I am entered into the village's ninja system."
Ishiro smiled slightly. "Good, good. Izumi Uchiha, I welcome you to officially join Iwagakure."
"Wait here a moment. I will summon the village's senior council right now to formally announce this matter."
Izumi Uchiha and Sōkai both nodded, their faces full of joy.
Sōkai even said, "See, Izumi-neesan? I told you Ishiro-sensei would welcome you to the village."
Ishiro glanced at the simpleton with a smile, then summoned the Iwagakure high council and formally introduced Izumi Uchiha to them.
At the high-level meeting, everyone expressed their welcome to Izumi. Then, Ishiro officially signed and issued Izumi Uchiha's ninja registration, forehead protector, and a set of uniforms.
In addition to that, Ishiro also specially allocated Izumi a house near the village center, as a "special talent acquisition" bonus.
After the meeting, Ishiro said to Izumi and Sōkai, "I have one more thing I need to see you both about."
Saying this, Ishiro led them to the room where Iwagakure stored important items, like the Sealing Scroll.
Ishiro retrieved the Uchiha Gunbai from the room and said to them, "This is your Uchiha clan's divine weapon, the Uchiha Gunbai."
"Your clan's crest is based on this."
"This fan has a miraculous ability: it can absorb an enemy's ninjutsu and reflect it back perfectly."
Izumi Uchiha took the fan from Ishiro's hands, observing it closely. "Lord Tsuchikage... I have heard the clan head, Fugaku Uchiha, mention this fan."
"It's said it was the weapon of our ancestor, Madara Uchiha, but it disappeared when he left."
"Lord Tsuchikage, where did you get this?"
Ishiro said, "I got it from Obito Uchiha. That's not important. Let's get to the point."
"I recently took a trip to Loulan. Beneath Loulan, there is a Dragon Vein."
"This Dragon Vein has an ability. It was able to absorb Fujii Kaoru's flames. I personally watched as the Dragon Vein broke down the flames and then completely reassembled them."
"At the time, I was at close range, sensing the entire process with my Mind's Eye."
"I gained a lot of insight from watching the Dragon Vein's disassembly and reassembly process. But I lack other examples, so I can't turn this insight into practical strength."
"I hope you can quickly master the use of this fan, and then... help me experience that process again."
Beside them, Sōkai cut in. "Ishiro-sensei, why don't you let me try?"
Ishiro shot him a look but said nothing. It's one thing to have low intelligence, but to be completely unaware of it...
Ishiro said to Sōkai, "With your talent, do you think you have any hope of mastering this fan?"
Sōkai: ...
Sōkai glanced awkwardly at Izumi Uchiha, thinking: Ishiro-sensei, can't you save me some face in front of Izumi-neesan?
Ishiro said, "Izumi, try it. Let's see if this fan is compatible with you."
Izumi Uchiha nodded. The three of them went to a training ground.
Izumi first tried to channel her chakra into the fan. Then, she looked at Ishiro, a bit puzzled. "Lord Tsuchikage... how about you try a low-level ninjutsu on me?"
Ishiro was stunned. Could she have mastered it that quickly? He didn't ask. He raised one hand, formed a single seal, and a line of water shot toward Izumi.
Izumi was startled by the speed of Ishiro's jutsu and instinctively blocked with the fan.
The water line was absorbed by the fan. The next instant, an identical water line shot out of the fan.
A flash went through Ishiro's eyes. It really works.
Just now, he had looked casual, but his Mind's Eye had been focused on the fan the entire time.
In that instant, Ishiro vaguely sensed the water line change, but it was too fast. He couldn't grasp the details.
Izumi had barely recovered when another water line was already shooting toward her.
This time, Izumi handled it with much more ease. She held the fan with one hand, and with a light swing, she reflected the water line.
Then, again and again, Ishiro attacked Izumi with C-rank ninjutsu.
Then came B-rank, and A-rank.
As the rank of the ninjutsu increased, the speed at which Izumi could reflect it with the fan grew slower and slower.
And the details Ishiro sensed with his Mind's Eye became clearer and clearer.
For the next month, Izumi Uchiha spent every day helping Ishiro sense the detailed process of the fan's reflection.
One month later, Ishiro told Izumi the experiment was over.
He gave the Uchiha Gunbai directly to Izumi Uchiha.
He, himself, went alone to the "Little White Ball" research laboratory.
Ishiro found Ikura, who was in charge of this research, and asked, "Ikura, how is this project coming along?"
Ikura had been plagued by the "Little White Ball" data every day. Seeing Ishiro, he sighed. "Don't even mention it. That 'Little White Ball' you got is terrifying."
"The connections between the five natures within it are just too complex. It took us a very long time just to collect data on a part of one of its structures."
"And even after collecting the data, we have no way to analyze it. The internal structure is too fine. We can't understand it at all."
At this point, Ikura suddenly changed the subject. "But this thing is useful, that's for sure. My own five natures have all improved greatly during this time."
"If it weren't for that benefit, I would have already planned to ask you to halt this research."
Then, Ikura led Ishiro to a database, pointed to a room full of scrolls, and said, "This much data... how long do you think it will take us to process it?"
Ishiro said, "First, give me the detailed introduction. I came here this time precisely to solve some problems. Perhaps... we don't need to worry about processing the data."
"If I'm not mistaken about something... I alone can process all of this."
Ikura was stunned. He pointed at the room full of scrolls. "This many scrolls... you're going to process them alone? How long do you plan to take?"
Ishiro casually picked up a scroll, flipping through it as he spoke. "If my guess is correct, I can spend an entire year dedicated to processing this."
Ikura looked at Ishiro seriously. "Have you... found the path beyond Kekkei Tōta?"
Ishiro said, "It's hard to say right now. But... there is a certain possibility."
Ikura thought for a moment. "Alright, then. I'll start analyzing the data with you from the very beginning."
Ishiro nodded.
The two of them went to the very back of the warehouse, and Ishiro, with Ikura's explanation, began to seriously analyze the data.
The more he analyzed, the brighter his eyes became.
Half a day later, Ishiro looked up, his voice trembling as he said to Ikura, "Ikura, add more personnel to the 'Little White Ball' research team."
"Also, build another, separate laboratory. I... need to practice balancing all five natures."
(End of Chapter)
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