Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 255: The Seven Ninja Swordsmen

Kazumasa Yoshimura knew what Ishiro was puzzled about and said, "I'll need Teacher Ishiro's help. I want to establish a branch within the Ninjutsu Development Department dedicated to researching how to simplify hand seals and how to develop new seal forms. I want to organize a complete, systematic method for simplifying hand seals for the village."

Ishiro was slightly stunned, not expecting Kazumasa to have such an idea. He pondered for a moment, then said, "I understand. Don't worry, I will fight for you in the high-level meetings. However, you must first write a document organizing your achievements in hand seals over the past two years. Only when Lord Tsuchikage sees your potential will he open such a branch."

"Hehe." Kazumasa took out a small booklet from his ninja tool pouch and handed it to Ishiro.

Ishiro was taken aback, not expecting Kazumasa to have prepared it long ago. It seemed this idea was not a sudden whim but had been well thought out.

Finally, there was Katsumata. Ishiro said to him, "Katsumata, your talent for genjutsu is very strong. Have you considered joining the genjutsu R&D team?"

Katsumata's choice was the same as Kanako's; he wanted to be a squad leader.

"Teacher Ishiro, I've decided. I have too little experience. I need combat, I need to hone my genjutsu in the process of carrying out missions," Katsumata said with a determined face.

In fact, to engage in combat, the best choice was to enter the Anbu. But if Katsumata entered the Anbu, he would just be a junior team member, and he wouldn't be able to decide which missions to take. But if he became a squad leader, he could choose some missions suitable for honing his genjutsu.

Ishiro nodded and said, "Alright then."

At this moment, Squad Three and Squad Four were officially disbanded.

...

With Squad Three and Squad Four disbanded, and the new batch of graduates not yet ready, there was a period of free time. Ishiro had originally wanted to use this free time to properly improve his proficiency in Light Release.

However, Ishiro's step-by-step training plan was interrupted. The reason was simple: a change had occurred on the front lines.

In Ōnoki's words, the Mist ninjas had gone crazy again.

Although all the nations of the ninja world had long since completed their war preparations, no one was willing to be the one to stick their neck out. The Sand, Cloud, and Stone were all afraid of being targeted by Konoha and were all trying to find ways to provoke other hidden villages to start a war with Konoha first.

Only the Mist; the Mist seemed not to care about Konoha's retaliation.

Just yesterday, the Mist had gathered an army of over seven thousand ninjas and entered the Land of Whirlpools without any concealment.

At this time, the armies of Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure were still within their own countries, yet Kirigakure had once again entered the Land of Whirlpools.

It was under these circumstances that Ishiro received an urgent notice from Ōnoki and came to the Tsuchikage's office for a meeting.

After quickly reading the intelligence, Ishiro's brows furrowed even deeper than Ōnoki's.

Ōnoki was thinking about what madness the Fourth Mizukage was up to, but Ishiro was thinking whether the Fourth Mizukage was already being controlled by Madara Uchiha. Otherwise, with the political wisdom Yagura Karatachi had previously shown, why would he be so impulsive?

Or could it be that Madara's control over the Mist was already sufficient to sideline Yagura and directly launch a war?

Whether Yagura was being controlled or not was a matter that could be big or small, but Ishiro had no way to confirm it, which made him feel extremely frustrated.

"Ishiro, how do you think Konoha will respond?" Ōnoki asked while Ishiro was still deep in thought.

Ishiro thought for a moment and said, "Among the four great nations excluding Konoha right now, Sunagakure is at the bottom in terms of overall strength, followed by Kirigakure. But in terms of high-end combat power and the number of Kage-level individuals, the Mist has the fewest."

"I deduce that Konoha will treat the weakest, Kirigakure, as the key target for attack, and may adopt thunderous methods to deter us."

Ōnoki nodded and said, "Your thoughts are similar to mine. It's just that the war is changing too quickly, and relying on intelligence ninjas to transmit information is not timely enough. So, you should make a trip to the Land of Whirlpools."

Ishiro was overjoyed and nodded quickly. He had been looking for a reason to go out anyway.

Seeing this, Ōnoki immediately shouted, "You cannot act rashly! You have disrupted Konoha's plans multiple times with your Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu. Now, Konoha has very likely made targeted tactics. It will probably be impossible for you to come and go freely like you did during the Mist-Cloud conflict."

Hearing this, Ishiro also nodded. He certainly understood this point. As a high-level official of the village, Ishiro himself had done plenty of things like formulating special tactics after obtaining enemy intelligence.

The most recent instance was against Kakuzu. Ishiro had not concealed the intelligence on Kakuzu, so after fighting with him, Ishiro had coordinated with the Anbu to conduct multiple tactical training sessions and formulated several sets of tactics to deal with Kakuzu.

By the same token, it was impossible for Konoha not to have formulated tactics to counter the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu.

However, Ishiro only listened to Ōnoki's warning casually and didn't take it too much to heart. Formulating tactics against the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu was not difficult, but as far as Ishiro knew, Konoha had no means to deal with a Kage-level who could fly.

Afterward, Ōnoki and Ishiro discussed some views on the direction of the war between Konoha and the Mist, and then Ishiro got up and set off.

However, Ishiro did not go to the main battlefield in the Land of Whirlpools but instead went to the vicinity of the Land of Waves.

Ishiro was not very interested in the great war between Konoha and the Mist. What interested him was the other force the Mist might have: the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

In the original story, when the Seven Ninja Swordsmen launched a long-distance raid on Konoha, Konoha had already experienced almost the entire Third Great Ninja War and its strength was greatly damaged. At that time, it made some sense for the Mist to choose to backdoor Konoha. But now the Fourth War had just begun, and Konoha's strength was not damaged. Ishiro was not sure if the Mist would still do this.

However, if the actions of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen in the original story were spontaneous and not a decision of the Mist's higher-ups, or if they were led by Madara, then Ishiro felt he could still come and try his luck.

The Land of Fire and the Land of Water were not adjacent; they were separated by the sea. Theoretically, the Mist could land at any point along the Land of Fire's long coastline.

But considering that ninjas also need supplies, and the most suitable Land of Whirlpools was where the main forces of both sides were, Ishiro guessed that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen might land from the direction of the Land of Waves.

If the Mist's sneak attack this time only consisted of the seven members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, then Ishiro felt they could land anywhere. But Ishiro remembered that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were only the vanguard; behind them was a large ninja army.

In the original story, this force seemed to have been scared off by a single Shisui Uchiha.

But in any case, a large-scale ninja army wanting to launch a sneak attack would still leave traces.

The next day, after a long flight, Ishiro arrived in the sky above the Land of Waves.

However, Ishiro circled the Land of Waves for a whole day but did not find any signs of a large ninja army's activity. Ishiro also contacted the Iwagakure intelligence ninjas in the Land of Waves, and the conclusions were all consistent. Apart from some economic impact due to the war, there were no changes in the Land of Waves.

This made Ishiro begin to hesitate. Did the Seven Ninja Swordsmen not act alone, or did they land somewhere else, or had they not arrived yet?

Ishiro was unwilling to miss the opportunity just like that. There were fewer and fewer parts of the original plot that could be used for advantage.

After some consideration, Ishiro expanded his search area. With the Land of Waves as the center, Ishiro began to scout the nearby sea areas. Anyway, he could fly, so going back and forth wouldn't take much time.

Moreover, even if he went to the Land of Whirlpools battlefield, Ishiro couldn't do much. If he had completely mastered his Kekkei Tōta and possessed powerful long-range attack capabilities, then Ishiro wouldn't mind trying to see if he could kill another of Konoha's Kage-level individuals.

But for now, Ishiro felt that his sneak attacks during a battle between two large armies wouldn't have much effect.

Just as Ishiro began to wander around the Land of Waves, the military deployments of the five great nations all changed.

Konoha, personally led by Hiruzen Sarutobi, prepared to use thunderous methods to kick the Mist out of the game first. Hiruzen ostensibly brought five thousand ninjas, but whether there were other Kage-level individuals following in secret, no one knew.

At least, Danzō's whereabouts suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight.

This move by Konoha was not stupid. The deterrent effect of a Kage-level whose whereabouts were unknown was far greater than him holding the fort on a certain battlefield.

But the responses of the other nations were not slow either. The Fourth Raikage and the Fourth Kazekage almost simultaneously swaggered to the front lines to provide support.

Their purpose was simple: if you want to hide, fine, I can't find you. But we can force you out.

Iwagakure, on the other hand, did not take action, but at the very beginning of the Fourth War, Ishiro and Ikura had taken turns holding the fort on the front lines.

This was also a manifestation of Iwagakure's strength. Iwagakure had three Kage-level individuals and had enough strength to have a Kage-level commander on the front lines from the very beginning.

The Cloud only had two, one of whom was a Jinchuriki, so they naturally couldn't do the same as Iwagakure. And although the Sand also had three Kage-level individuals, Chiyo had retired and was not under the command of the Fourth Kazekage, making their Kage-level deployment less flexible than Iwagakure's.

At this point, the three great nations in a standoff with Konoha all had Kage-level individuals arriving at the front lines. The atmosphere of the war changed instantly.

Hiruzen had clearly stated he was going to deal with the Mist, so Konoha had to dispatch other Kage-level individuals to deter the three major hidden villages.

But did Konoha have that many Kage-level individuals?

Actually, they did. But unfortunately, they each had their own troubles.

Fugaku was still enduring!

Might Duy, who knew him?

Although Tsunade had been found by Hiruzen, her hemophobia had not been cured.

As for Danzō, our dear Minato expressed that he couldn't command him.

Minato himself was the Hokage and theoretically couldn't go to the battlefield casually.

Kushina Uzumaki was a Jinchuriki, and a Jinchuriki from the Land of Whirlpools at that. This origin was originally not a problem; the Land of Whirlpools was a traditional ally of Konoha. But now, with Ikura's rise, everyone knew that the Uzumaki clan had joined Iwagakure and was about to be linked by marriage to Iwagakure's young genius, Ikura.

Under these circumstances, the Konoha higher-ups did not feel at ease letting Kushina go to the front line. What if she was turned by Iwagakure? It would be one thing for Konoha to lose Kushina as a Kage-level, but should they also lose the Nine-Tails?

So although Konoha had numerous Kage-level individuals, Minato couldn't dispatch even one.

Helplessly, Minato chose to personally take command.

Minato had his reasons for doing this. The ability of the Flying Thunder God Technique allowed him to support several different battlefields. He alone was equivalent to two or three Kage-level individuals.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps it was precisely the calculation of the Mist or Madara Uchiha, but after Minato left Konoha, Ishiro discovered the tracks of the Mist's detached force.

Flying thousands of meters high above a sea area, Ishiro carefully observed the fleet of ships below.

From the scale, he estimated that this Mist force numbered around three thousand. As for whether it was led by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Ishiro, worried about being discovered by a Byakugan, didn't dare to get close to scout.

A minute later, Ishiro left this sea area and went to the Land of Fire.

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