Chapter 213: Delivering the Message
Only after Ikura had captured Tanimoto Naoto did he have time to communicate with the Sand Elite Jonin, Yuma.
Yuma was not in good condition. Having just been besieged by five people had already consumed a large amount of his stamina and chakra, and the injuries sustained during the battle were not light. Later, when facing the large-area Water Release jutsu that Ikura used to rescue him, he was the only one hit.
So Yuma was actually in dire need of medical treatment. But the conditions on site clearly didn't allow for it, and Yuma didn't completely trust Ikura.
Ikura also knew what Yuma was thinking, so he didn't explain. Instead, he first retrieved the Cloud ninjas buried by the S-rank ninjutsu from underground, confirmed their identities in front of Yuma, and then handed the captured Tanimoto Naoto over to Yuma.
Through this method, Ikura demonstrated that Iwagakure held no ill will towards Sunagakure. Ikura also expressed Iwagakure's willingness to ally with Sunagakure to jointly resist Konoha and Kumogakure.
Yuma accepted Iwagakure's goodwill and promised to convey Iwagakure's intention to ally to the Fourth Kazekage. Then, he declined Ikura's invitation to return to Iwagakure to recuperate, insisting on immediately taking Tanimoto Naoto back to the Sand Village.
He indeed needed to bring the news of Tanimoto Naoto's attack back to the village as soon as possible, and the information Tanimoto Naoto mentioned regarding the Byakugan was also important intelligence.
Only after Yuma left with Tanimoto Naoto did Ishiro and the others emerge from their hiding place.
Looking in the direction of the Land of Wind, Ishiro felt a bit regretful. Tanimoto Naoto was a Storm Release user, and Ishiro's next Kekkei Genkai choice was highly likely to be Storm Release.
If he could have brought Tanimoto Naoto back to the village and interrogated him thoroughly, Ishiro might have gained something.
But Ishiro also knew that allying with Sunagakure was a major affair, and the captive Tanimoto Naoto was the best pledge of goodwill.
Although it was confirmed that the Cloud ninjas had ambushed the Sand ninjas, this was only from Yuma's perspective as an Elite Jonin. His influence in the Sand Village was not yet sufficient to decide the village's strategic direction.
The opposition could directly question Yuma's words.
But if Tanimoto Naoto was brought back, then Sunagakure would have to consider how to respond to Kumogakure's provocation.
Seeing Ishiro still looking in the direction of the Land of Wind, Ikura smiled and said, "Well, what were the gains today?"
Ishiro retracted his gaze and shook his head, saying, "The gains weren't significant. The distance was too great, and although the Cloud ninjas used several Lightning Release jutsu, each was only used once. While we have some speculations about those ninjutsu, it's impossible to complete their development."
"Moreover, the Cloud ninjas used A-rank and B-rank ninjutsu this time. These ninjutsu are too complex; without observing them dozens of times, it's impossible to learn them by observation."
"Of course, if we could observe them at close range, fewer observations would be needed, but that's impossible."
Hearing Ishiro's words, Ikura also felt some regret, but after thinking about it, he let it go. If it were that easy to learn B-rank and A-rank ninjutsu, it would be too exaggerated.
One had to know that even with a complete training method, a ninja would have to spend a lot of time practicing to learn a B-rank ninjutsu.
"Let's head back to the village first," Ikura said, no longer dwelling on the matter.
Ishiro nodded, glanced one more time in the direction Yuma had left, and then followed Ikura back to the village.
After returning to the village, Ishiro, taking advantage of the month or so remaining before the third round of the joint Chunin Exams, began practicing the Chidori upgrade.
Although, strictly speaking, the Lightning Release Stimulation Method, Chidori, and Chidori Nagashi were not A-rank ninjutsu developed by Ishiro himself.
But in this process of half-learning and half-developing, Ishiro's mastery of Lightning Release was constantly improving.
Ishiro estimated that after completing the training for Chidori Nagashi, his Lightning Release proficiency would be close to meeting the requirements for practicing chakra fusion. Ishiro could then proceed to the next step.
Therefore, Ishiro even scheduled his Sage Jutsu training for after the third Chunin Exam.
Of course, this also took into account that Sage Jutsu was Iwagakure's biggest secret, and with too many ninjas from other villages currently in their village, it was not suitable to be too conspicuous.
However, before developing Chidori Nagashi, Ishiro felt it necessary to first learn the few C-rank ninjutsu he had learned by observation from the Cloud ninjas. This learning process would definitely help in developing his Lightning Release.
...
After the second round of exams, Iwagakure returned to its tranquility, but several other major hidden villages were not as leisurely as Iwagakure.
Not only had Kumogakure dispatched Tanimoto Naoto and his group, but the Third Raikage had also stationed a support unit in the sea area near the Land of Earth.
The leader of the support unit was none other than the future Fourth Raikage, A, and his younger brother, Killer Bee.
A waited for the main Cloud ninja force returning directly after participating in the joint Chunin Exams, but he waited in vain for Tanimoto Naoto.
It was one thing not to have obtained the Byakugan, but they didn't even have accurate intelligence.
The Jonin who returned with a group of Genin only said that Tanimoto Naoto had led a team to ambush the Sand ninjas. It was originally agreed that Tanimoto Naoto would catch up with them after succeeding, but although he had slowed down their travel speed as much as possible, he still hadn't waited for Tanimoto Naoto.
A paced back and forth restlessly on the small island, his entire being exuding a暴躁 (bàozào - irritable/fierce) aura. No one else dared to utter a sound; only Killer Bee's strange rap never ceased.
"Stupid brother, still don't get it, yo? Tanimoto Naoto, surely done for, yo! Byakugan's gone, the man is too, yo!"
A, already annoyed, felt a vein throb on his forehead upon hearing this. He punched Killer Bee on the head, stopping his rap.
After a while longer, A said, "Return to the village."
Seeing A finally give up, the others breathed a sigh of relief. They had been waiting here for several days. Adding the time deliberately delayed on the road by those returning from the exams, Tanimoto Naoto was already about five days behind schedule.
Everyone knew something had gone wrong; it was just that no one dared to provoke A. Now that A had finally decided to stop waiting, it made everyone else feel a sense of relief. The oppressive force from a violent Kage-level individual like A was too great.
The Cloud ninjas all cast grateful glances at Killer Bee; it was thanks to Killer Bee that A had vented his anger.
Unlike the inexplicable sense of failure on the Cloud ninjas' side, the Sand ninjas first experienced great sorrow, then great joy.
First, a large number of Chunin and Genin scattered and fled back into the Land of Wind, bringing news that the contingent returning from the joint Chunin Exams had been ambushed. This caused panic among the Sand ninjas, with many speculating whether someone was targeting them, attempting to provoke a war.
After all, the Sand Village was feeling insecure right now. In past wars, Sunagakure was the only one that had used its full strength.
Konoha's and Kirigakure's Kage and Jinchuriki hadn't even participated, while Iwagakure and Kumogakure each still had one Jinchuriki they hadn't deployed.
Only Sunagakure had played all its cards. And now, they hadn't even successfully recovered the One-Tail.
But just as the person in charge of the Sand border transmitted the news back to the village via urgent means and was making some preparations within his capacity for a possible war, Yuma returned, bringing with him the captured Tanimoto Naoto.
The head of the outpost didn't know if the village higher-ups would, like him, be in a flurry and then lose face when news of Yuma's return reached them. Anyway, while he felt embarrassed, he was mostly relieved.
He was relieved that it wasn't Iwagakure that had attacked Sunagakure this time. He had feared that this joint Chunin Exam was Iwagakure's conspiracy. If Iwagakure were to target Sunagakure, there was a high probability of war breaking out. The two countries were practically neighbors, and he directly ignored the small countries separating them.
But now that Iwagakure was replaced by Kumogakure, it was much easier to handle. Anyway, Kumogakure was unlikely to launch a large-scale war against Sunagakure from so far away.
Especially after hearing that Yuma was able to escape because he received support from Iwagakure, this significantly increased the border ninjas' goodwill towards Iwagakure.
By the time Yuma safely returned to the Sand Village under the escort of border ninjas, the Sand Village's higher-ups had basically reached a consensus. Most of them agreed to ally with Iwagakure.
Originally, they had hoped that other hidden villages would overlook Sunagakure's awkward situation due to being busy with post-war reconstruction. But it turned out that not only did the other major hidden villages overlook Sunagakure's awkward situation, they even overlooked their military deterrence.
Kumogakure dared to ambush a Sand ninja team so directly; this clearly showed they didn't take the current Sand Village seriously.
What was most unbearable was that Sunagakure itself also felt that Kumogakure had seized a very good opportunity, hitting them right at their vital weakness. At the high-level meeting, no one even proposed retaliating against Kumogakure.
So, when Yuma brought back Tanimoto Naoto and confirmed Iwagakure's intention to ally, the higher-ups immediately passed the resolution to ally with Iwagakure. The alliance was scheduled to be formed during the third round of the joint Chunin Exams, with the location being Iwagakure.
As for the news Yuma brought back about the Byakugan, the higher-ups discussed it briefly and then paid no more attention to it, because the current Sand Village could do nothing. Who the Byakugan ultimately ended up with had nothing to do with Sunagakure.
After the high-level meeting ended, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, stood alone at the window of the Kazekage's office, looking at the village before him, various thoughts churning in his mind.
Rasa, who had smoothly risen to power during the war, had initially thought he could make great strides and lead Sunagakure to new heights. But reality proved he had thought too much. When managing the village, the help that military strength could provide him was too little.
After the original high-level officials were purged, the interest groups they represented still existed. The newly promoted high-level officials were not much better than the original ones. Apart from being somewhat younger, their conservative thinking was no different.
If not for the Daimyo withholding a large amount of Sunagakure's military funds, and him, Rasa, happening to have the 'cheat' of mining, allowing him to place confidants by distributing military funds, he, the Kazekage, might have been turned into a figurehead.
Thinking of this, Rasa looked towards a corner of the Sand Village; that was where Chiyo lived in seclusion. Rasa was dissatisfied with Chiyo because Chiyo, originally his biggest supporter for ascension, had continued her secluded life after returning to the village.
This was what allowed those old forces, suppressed by him and Chiyo, to have a chance to rise again.
"A few more years," Rasa thought to himself. "Just a few more years, and I will be able to grasp most of the power. Then I will deal with these people."
Then Rasa turned his gaze northward, towards the Land of Earth.
"Perhaps, through this alliance, I can accelerate the transfer of power in the village."
While Kumogakure and Sunagakure were only experiencing slight ripples, Konoha and Kirigakure were where the real commotion was.
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