In fact, when they had just begun installing the seawater desalination equipment on the coast, nearby villagers had already come to investigate.
Large parts of the Land of Wind lacked both water and supplies. By comparison, the coast was the easiest place to obtain those things.
Wherever there was a coastline, there were more or less villages gathered nearby.
Although food was available, fresh water was relatively scarce.
In coastal areas, there was usually a boundary underground between saltwater and freshwater.
This was the so-called "saltwater-freshwater interface." If a well was dug too close to the sea and too deep, it could penetrate that boundary and cause the well water to become salty.
The people here didn't know any of this. Whether they could dig a well with fresh water was entirely a matter of luck.
Although distillation and solar evaporation could produce enough fresh water for daily use, they couldn't provide much more than that.
Besides the lack of water, there was also the problem of saline-alkali soil, making it very difficult to grow crops.
The people here mostly lived by fishing and farming.
Since there were no roads, the fish they caught could only be traded with nearby villages. Money was rarely used here, and barter was the norm.
Forget advanced technology, they didn't even have electricity.
Besides fish, the local diet consisted of a kind of millet and the fruit of a cactus-like plant.
Many people spent their entire lives without traveling more than a hundred meters from home.
Over the course of their lives, they ate fewer than five kinds of vegetables.
Their standard of living was extremely poor.
Rengoku gave Karin a general description of life here.
Karin was reminded of the time before she and Kasui wandered to Kusagakure. Although the environment had been better, their lives had been just as difficult.
"These people may live in the Land of Wind, but Sunagakure doesn't care about them at all."
"Our people only told them that we could provide fresh water, drought-resistant plants, and create green land."
"The village chief immediately chose to join us."
After hearing Rengoku's explanation, Karin finally understood why he had spent so much time greening the land.
The people here knew almost nothing about what was happening in Sunagakure. They didn't even know who the Kazekage was.
They had no real sense of belonging to the Land of Wind.
They simply happened to live here.
Now that Konoha from the Land of Fire had reached this place, they naturally wanted a better life.
"Now that the water supply is solved, it'll be enough for our green belt to extend across the Demon Desert."
"Konoha will announce that anyone who surrenders to the Land of Fire can use the water free of charge."
"Let's see how Sunagakure responds this time."
Rengoku said with a smile.
Karin reached out and touched the black diamond-shaped mark on Rengoku's forehead.
"Shishou, is your senjutsu storage full now?"
Rengoku nodded slightly, "It's full. My strength has improved quite a bit again."
He had thought of this before, storing pre-mixed senjutsu chakra directly.
When he released the Strength of a Hundred Seal, the surging senjutsu chakra would give him tremendous explosive power.
After all, senjutsu would be an extremely important part of Rengoku's combat system in the future.
Against the Otsutsuki clan, it was very difficult for ninjutsu made purely of chakra to injure them.
But senjutsu was different. First, it enhanced the user in every aspect.
Second, the Otsutsuki clan didn't possess a senjutsu system.
Nor could they absorb ninjutsu enhanced by senjutsu.
By now, Rengoku had mastered the nature transformations of Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Yin, and Yang.
His body had also become much stronger.
At the very least, his potential had increased significantly.
According to Orochimaru's calculations, to achieve a Kekkei Mora, besides mastering the five elemental nature transformations, Rengoku's Yin and Yang attributes also had to reach the same level. Combined with a massive amount of chakra, his bloodline would then evolve further.
However, the Yang attribute within Rengoku's body was much weaker than his Yin attribute.
Although Orochimaru had transplanted Karin's organs into Rengoku's body, the Yang chakra they produced was far too little. It was impossible for it to catch up with his Yin attribute.
Rengoku's strength had currently reached a bottleneck.
He could only slowly wait for his Yang chakra to increase, or find some other solution.
For the moment, Rengoku had no ideas.
He decided to take care of other matters first.
———
[The Land of Water]
After a month of playing hide-and-seek, the Raikage and the others from Kumogakure hadn't been eating or sleeping well.
Aside from the two jinchuriki, everyone looked miserable. Their eyes were bloodshot, with dark circles underneath.
"Have the Kirigakure people caught up with us again?"
The Raikage tore into a half-cooked roasted wild boar leg while continuing to move.
He had eaten too many soldier pills. If he didn't eat some meat, he felt like he couldn't take it anymore.
Even though the boar leg wasn't fully cooked and had a foul smell, the Raikage forced himself to chew it down.
Kaifu's eyes were sunken and lifeless. Looking utterly exhausted, he replied, "Yes, Lord Raikage. After all, Yagura is a jinchuriki."
"His recovery ability is extremely strong. Kirigakure has probably split into several groups."
"There were several times when they got quite close to us, but they still didn't attack."
"Maybe Kirigakure is trying to wear us down."
The Kumogakure shinobi weren't fools. After Kirigakure had spent so long doing nothing but pursue them without cutting off their escape routes, Kaifu had already figured out their intentions.
But despite doing everything they could to hide their movements, Kirigakure still found them every time.
Without question, Kumogakure had been forced completely onto the defensive.
Every one of their previous plans had fallen apart because Kirigakure had someone capable of suppressing their sensory ninja.
What they didn't know was that the reason Kirigakure could stay on their trail so relentlessly was entirely thanks to Rengoku's Kagura Mind's Eye.
With that top-tier sensory ability, as long as he had enough chakra, he could even extend his perception to cover the entire Land of Water.
And this clone of Rengoku had copied Yagura, a jinchuriki. With the Three-Tails Isobu's chakra, he naturally had more than enough.
The Kumogakure group had nowhere to run.
If not for the constant reports from the village saying that Konoha had stopped advancing on the Land of Wind front, the Raikage and the others would have returned long ago.
Their condition had already deteriorated considerably, and the Raikage was no longer confident he could definitely defeat Kyokotsu.
"Let's go back. There's nothing to gain here anymore."
The Raikage swallowed the cooked portion of the boar leg in a few bites. The remaining half-cooked meat smelled far too strong and gamey.
Thinking about how they had spent the entire month hiding all over the Land of Water... every member of his group was one of Kumogakure's pillars. Nothing could happen to them.
Nor could he take the initiative to clash head-on with Kirigakure. The situation was so frustrating he could barely stand it.
The Raikage wasn't even sure whether Konoha would come to the Land of Water after all.
After all, the offensive in the desert had stopped for quite some time.
He didn't dare gamble on it.
Killer B and the others also let out sighs of relief. They had wanted to leave for a long time.
But since the Raikage hadn't given the order, and they had only been exhausted rather than facing real danger, no one had spoken up.
Now that the Raikage had ordered the retreat, everyone answered in unison.
They immediately headed at full speed toward the coast.