The following day, news of the Iron Country's general's defeat quietly spread within limited circles.
Had this been the defeat of a Kage from one of the Five Great Hidden Villages, the rumor would have swept the entire ninja world like a storm.
But this time it involved the Land of Iron and was a battle between samurais—ordinary ninja simply didn't care.
After all, ninja had dominated this world for far too long.
In their eyes, a samurai duel was no different than children pretending to be warriors.
Under such circumstances, even a battle involving a top general of the Land of Iron barely drew any attention.
However, those who had been intentionally gathering intelligence did pay attention to this piece of information.
Inside a ruined building in the Rain Country:
"Still hiding in his shell, is he?" Nagato coldly asked.
"He won't show his face until he figures out how to deal with your abilities!" Yahiko shook his head as he spoke.
"Hmph! Coward!" Nagato sneered.
"Don't underestimate him!" Yahiko's expression turned serious. "Didn't he wait until you were exhausted last time before returning to ambush you? If it weren't for our mentor's intervention, he would've already won!"
Nagato, however, seemed somewhat displeased. "Last time I wasn't fully attuned to my abilities. This time, I definitely won't suffer from exhaustion again!"
Yahiko sighed, "The Rinnegan puts too much strain on you. Avoid using it if possible."
Before Nagato could say anything else, Konan soared back excitedly on her paper wings.
"Konan, you seem so happy. Did something good happen?" Yahiko laughed as he asked.
"Of course it's good news!" Konan dispersed her wings and touched down lightly on the ground. "I might have found a clue about our mysterious savior!"
"Really?" Nagato asked excitedly.
"It's not confirmed yet, but it's quite possible!" Konan took out several photos and handed them over. "Take a look!"
They took the photos—the images showed two warriors locked in battle, though their incredible speed left only blurred afterimages behind.
After flipping through several "mosaics," the two finally found a somewhat clear photo.
Before Yahiko could say anything, Nagato was already excited. "Exactly! That's the same clothing! Even though he isn't wearing a mask, his aura can't be concealed!"
"Speaking of masks, take a look at this as well," Konan handed over another photo showing a red-haired woman carrying a baby.
Yahiko looked puzzled. "What's the issue?"
"This woman travels with him," Konan first explained, then continued, "Look at the backpack the woman is carrying."
"Backpack?" Yahiko squinted as he looked, before exclaiming in shock after a while, "It seems like one of the horns on the Shinigami mask is visible from the backpack!"
"It's very likely!" Konan nodded. "Also, the woman's and child's traits are worth noting."
At this moment, Nagato, who had been silent since seeing the woman's photo, suddenly spoke, "The hair! I still remember during the Chunin Exams, Seiki mentioned that the most obvious feature of the Uzumaki clan is their bright red hair!"
Konan gave a slight nod. "Although we can't say for sure that everyone with red hair belongs to the Uzumaki clan, the fact that they're traveling with this mysterious benefactor makes for a reasonable speculation..."
"I got it!" Yahiko slapped his palm. "This man must be our benefactor. He helped us last time because Nagato and his wife and daughter are from the Uzumaki clan!"
"Wife and daughter?" Konan exclaimed. "Where did you get that from?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Yahiko laughed. "I think they look alike!"
"Rather than making wild guesses, why don't we go find them ourselves?" Konan suggested.
"Great idea!" Yahiko agreed immediately. "I've wanted to thank him in person for a while!"
"What about you, Nagato?"
When both looked toward him, Nagato, still reeling from the revelation about his clan heritage, also nodded. "Let's leave right away!"
...
Mifune's Manor, Land of Iron.
"Aizen, are you really not planning to stay in our Land of Iron?" Mifune asked with some regret.
"No, thank you," Aizen politely declined. "I'd like to see more of the world's scenery!"
"That's true," Mifune mused. "With your strength, ordinary opponents can hardly help you improve. To become even stronger, one must take nature as their teacher!"
"That's not quite it," Aizen humbly replied. "The reason I came here was actually to learn about the Land of Iron's body forging techniques."
"Body forging techniques?" Mifune asked in confusion. "Don't you have those already, Aizen?"
"Certainly not," Aizen clarified. "It's just my belief that besides the mysterious nature of ninjutsu itself, another main reason why ninjas have replaced samurai as the mainstream is the superiority of the chakra control techniques."
"The Chakra control techniques require combining both physical and mental energy, while body forging techniques only require physical energy. In theory, it should be simpler than chakra extraction, yet the reality is completely different."
Aizen paused, then sighed with admiration in his eyes. "So, if I could develop a more efficient way to utilize physical energy, it might not replace ninjas, but at least it could help slow the decline of the samurai."
Mifune was genuinely moved. "So Aizen was dedicating himself to preserving the samurai tradition... even going so far as challenging us weaklings to experience it firsthand?"
Aizen smiled. "Just one of my ambitious plans. It's nothing really."
"Who would've thought Aizen was engaged in such a great undertaking!" Mifune exclaimed with admiration before declaring, "Please, allow me to contribute as well! Let me collect the body forging techniques of the Land of Iron... Although we may not rival ninjas, samurai have also developed numerous physical cultivation methods through long years - breathing techniques, herbal bath methods, striking techniques, and more."
Aizen hesitated before speaking. "Would that be too much trouble?"
Mifune shook his head. "Compared to Aizen's vision, these are just minor things!"
"Since that's the case, I'll gladly reciprocate with a gift of my own."
"Aizen took out a scroll," he said. "This is a new body forging technique I obtained from Konoha. I find it quite fascinating, but the ninja there are too arrogant to put much effort into it."
Based on Moryo's design and developed through collaboration between him and Orochimaru, they finally completed the Konoha Body Forging 1.0 – [The Rising Sun].
It was definitely an improvement over standard body forging techniques, but still fell short of his ideal results.
Unfortunately, there were very limited research resources available. Even with his personal involvement, it was hard to gather substantial data.
Mifune had no idea about his hidden agenda and hesitated, "A body forging method from Konoha? Won't that cause any problems?"
As a wandering samurai, he naturally didn't need to worry about such things, but Mifune was the general of the Land of Iron. If this caused any diplomatic issues, it would be problematic.
"Don't worry, Konoha may not treat their own ninja too kindly, but they're usually generous enough with outsiders," Aizen explained. "You just need to send an envoy to sing their praises a bit, and then request Konoha to provide a copy of that body forging technique."
"After all, those ninja never really placed much value on body forging techniques to begin with."
"That does make sense," Mifune suddenly understood. He then firmly stated his determination, "Since you personally recommend this body forging technique, I'll definitely give it a try!"
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