Chapter 521: The Dragon Vein
Haku, Fujii Kaoru, and Kamizuru Tsuruhime slipped past the Suna-nin and successfully infiltrated Loulan.
The original Loulan had no shinobi, and thus no sensory barriers.
After Suna took control, not enough time had passed, they lacked the funds, and they feared leaking intelligence, so no sensory barrier had been established.
Because of this, the trio, by sheer luck, infiltrated Loulan with incredible ease.
Considering Loulan was a small city where everyone might know each other, the three of them didn't disguise themselves as civilians. Instead, they used the Transformation Jutsu to pose as Suna-nin.
The three crept into a secluded alley. Kamizuru Tsuruhime nodded to the other two, signaling that her bees had secured the perimeter and it was safe.
Haku also set up his Ice Release mirrors in the surroundings, completing their surveillance.
Ishiro had encountered this move back in Kirigakure; his own camouflage jutsu had been seen through by the Mizunashi clan's Ice Release. After accepting Haku as his disciple, Ishiro had naturally passed this idea on to him.
With her teammates guarding her, Fujii Kaoru knelt and began to perform her sensory ninjutsu.
She used the same sensory jutsu Ishiro often used, placing one finger on the ground and closing her eyes to begin her probe.
Her sensory range wasn't large, but it was more than enough for the current environment.
A moment later, Fujii Kaoru opened her eyes. "Fifty meters to my front-left, there is a temporary Suna outpost. There are eight Suna-nin inside. Strength unknown."
"There are no other Suna-nin nearby. It's a relatively isolated position."
With relatively accurate intelligence, the three of them gathered for another discussion.
They knew that the Suna patrol they had killed would be discovered sooner or later.
Feeling the time pressure, Haku decided to take a risk.
He thought for a moment, took out a stack of explosive tags, and handed them to Kamizuru Tsuruhime. "In a moment, use your bees to place these tags in the surrounding area to create a diversion. We're going in hard."
"But don't rush. Right now, we're in the dark, and they're in the light. We still have time."
"After the tags explode, I'll lead the charge. I'll use a large-scale Ice Release."
"You two back me up. After we're done, we don't clean up the battlefield. We retreat directly out of the city and back to our previous hiding spot."
Kamizuru Tsuruhime and Fujii Kaoru both nodded grimly.
The three then formulated a relatively detailed assault plan. Once the plan was set, they decisively launched their attack.
Ishiro, watching from the sky, couldn't hear their plan, but when he heard the sudden explosions erupt from Loulan, he shook his head.
They're still too green. Choosing a frontal assault this quickly...
They were three against fifty. Once their position was exposed, not only would their mission fail, but Ishiro would probably have to step in and save them.
But Ishiro didn't intervene. The entire purpose of bringing them here was to give them actual combat experience. He didn't truly expect three Genin to wipe out all the Suna-nin in Loulan.
It was enough to let his disciples experience a true life-and-death crisis.
The situation developed just as Ishiro had predicted.
The initial assault was a success.
The three, who had expended a lot of chakra, cooperated well and had the advantage of a sneak attack. After killing the eight Suna-nin without taking any injuries, they quickly retreated from Loulan.
But they had made too much noise. The Suna-nin knew a strong enemy had invaded and quickly began a search. At first, the trio used their hiding spot to buy a little time to recover.
But after the hideout was discovered, they could only fight and flee.
In the end, the three of them were cornered on a small sand dune by more than thirty Suna-nin.
At this point, all three were injured, their chakra was severely depleted, and they were almost powerless to fight. If the Suna-nin launched just one more attack, Haku's team would be finished.
From their decision to attack to being surrounded, only half a day had passed. The five-day time limit Ishiro had set was now a complete joke.
Similarly, the perception-blocking barrier Ishiro had set up to prevent Suna from calling for reinforcements was also rendered useless.
Even if the Suna-nin in Loulan had called for help at the first moment, it would be too late for a large force to arrive.
The Suna-nin in the lead, a Jōnin, looked at the three surrounded kids and did not immediately give the order to attack. Instead, he repeatedly asked a sensory-nin beside him, "Sense it again. Check if there is anyone else in the vicinity."
But with Ishiro's current strength, hiding himself from a common sensory-nin was all too easy.
Ishiro himself was an expert in sensing and a master of sealing jutsu. He had countless ways to evade conventional detection.
"Sir." The sensory-nin scanned the area carefully, but still found nothing. "Lord Chisaku, besides our own people and these three brats, there's no one else."
"Lord Chisaku, do you suspect there are more Kiri-nin hiding in ambush?"
The Suna Elite Jōnin, called Chisaku, shook his head. "A large force is unlikely. I'm afraid these three have a powerful Jōnin-sensei."
"That Ice Release brat from Kiri... although his strength isn't weak, he's still too green. He doesn't look like this squad's leader."
"But his talent is terrifying. At such a young age, he already has strength surpassing a normal Jōnin. Think about what kind of treatment a genius like that gets in our village."
The sensory-nin thought for a moment. "Lord Kazekage's son is personally mentored by Lord Baki."
"And I heard that back then, Lord Ryosuke was taught directly by Lord Kazekage himself."
At the mention of Ryosuke, Chisaku fell silent for a few seconds. Ryosuke was an eternal pain for Suna.
Chisaku took a deep breath. "I'm afraid these three Kiri-nin also have some big shot behind them."
"Perhaps, at this very moment, that big shot is watching his disciples, to see how they perform in their final moments."
"In my opinion, this Ice Release user's talent is even greater than Ryosuke's. When Ryosuke was this age, he was far from having this kind of strength."
This was the truth. Ryosuke hadn't received the same level of guidance and resources as Haku when he was young.
Ryosuke's true rise began only after he participated in the joint Chūnin Exams hosted by Iwagakure. After placing first, he entered Rasa's line of sight.
Chisaku's words made the sensory-nin's hair stand on end. "Lord Chisaku, what do we do then?"
Chisaku thought for a moment. "You take ten men and split up. I won't attack for now. You get the intelligence out."
"If I don't move, even if someone is hiding in the shadows, they won't be in a hurry to act. This will give you a chance to survive."
"When you get back to the village, tell Lord Kazekage everything that happened here."
"If I'm wrong... then the rest of us are more than enough to kill these brats. We won't have lost anything."
"Yes, sir!" the sensory-nin replied. He immediately picked ten ninja skilled in taijutsu and speed, and they left the group.
"Hm?" In the sky, Ishiro watched the Suna-nin's movements and couldn't help but let out a sound of surprise.
"What is Suna doing? They're about to wipe out the enemy, so why are they splitting their forces?"
Ishiro didn't stop the departing Suna-nin. Just as Chisaku had guessed, he wanted to see his three disciples' reactions at the very end.
Even though they probably guessed he was nearby, it was still good for them to feel the fear of approaching death.
The Suna-nin, Chisaku, waited a long time. Believing the men who had left were safe, he finally launched his attack.
And Ishiro decisively intervened, blocking the Suna-nin's attack and quickly killing all of them.
When Chisaku first sensed a powerhouse making a move, he sighed, thinking: "As expected. Good thing I sent men to deliver the message in advance."
"I just don't know which Kiri powerhouse it is. Mei Terumī? Or Mangetsu Hōzuki? It couldn't be the Mizukage himself, could it? Mangetsu Hōzuki's Hydrification Technique is better for hiding; it's more likely him."
But when he saw that nightmarish Porcelain Release, his eyes instantly turned bloodshot.
"Tsuchikage! It's the Tsuchikage!" Chisaku roared, and then he launched a frenzied, suicidal attack at Haku.
Porcelain Release was Ishiro's symbol, and it was the nightmare of all Suna-nin.
Suna had finally, with great difficulty, seen a glimmer of hope for their rise—four Kage-level shinobi in one village, a peak Suna had never reached before.
But in the end, Chiyo, Pakura, and Ryosuke had all been killed, one after another, by Iwagakure.
Suna didn't understand. Why does Iwa always keep targeting us for death?
In the current Suna, the few remaining veteran Elite Jōnin, like Chisaku, held a hatred for Ishiro that surpassed his imagination.
So, the instant he recognized the Porcelain Release, he immediately decided to take Haku and the others down with him.
But it was useless. When his sword was still half a meter from Haku, he was riddled with holes by Ishiro's porcelain.
In truth, the only reason Chisaku had even gotten that close to Haku was that Ishiro had let him, wanting to put more pressure on his disciples.
Until the moment of his death, Chisaku's eyes were filled with hatred.
He hated Ishiro for reducing Suna to its current state, and he hated himself for misidentifying the enemy because of Haku's Ice Release.
If the Suna-nin who had escaped managed to evade Ishiro's pursuit, the intelligence they brought back to the village would only be: "Suna's Loulan base was attacked by Kiri-nin; all forces wiped out."
After all, the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai was not known to have ever left Kiri. The fact that Ishiro and Obito Uchiha had "poached" people from Kirigakure was not something an ordinary ninja would know.
After finishing off the Suna-nin, Ishiro didn't bother chasing the ones who had fled.
A dozen Suna-nin... if they ran, they ran. It didn't matter.
Ishiro landed in front of his three disciples and treated their injuries.
He didn't rush into Loulan. Instead, he had the three of them eat something and begin recovering their chakra.
After a long while, Ishiro finally spoke. "Alright. Let's rest here and, at the same time, summarize our gains and losses from this encounter."
Ishiro swept his gaze over the three. "Who wants to go first?"
Kamizuru Tsuruhime said, "Ishiro-sensei, I'll go first. We made a lot of mistakes. We shouldn't have exposed ourselves so early..."
Fujii Kaoru said, "Ishiro-sensei, we shouldn't have blindly trusted our own strength. We didn't make any backup plans..."
Haku said, "Ishiro-sensei, I underestimated the strength of the Suna Jōnin. I also didn't expect thirty Suna-nin working together to be that powerful..."
The three of them then began to discuss the gains and losses of the mission.
"We should have prepared more safe houses in advance and set traps around them."
"We shouldn't have left Loulan. Fighting Suna-nin in the open desert was foolish."
...
Ishiro listened quietly as the three of them went back and forth, summarizing their experience. He nodded, and then added his own supplement.
He didn't blame them. These were all mistakes of inexperience. In truth, it was his own fault. He had been so busy training that he hadn't had time to teach them.
There was one thing, however, that made him very happy. In that battle, during the final, desperate escape, Haku had become a Quasi-Jōnin.
At that time, Kamizuru Tsuruhime's chakra was exhausted from cultivating her bees, and she had stumbled and fallen.
Fujii Kaoru had risked her life to save her, but both girls were injured in the process.
When Haku saw this, he thought of the two "sisters" he needed to protect, and he was struck by a deep sense of his own powerlessness.
And then, he broke through the first great hurdle on his path of growth.
In a way, Ishiro's original objective had been achieved.
After resting a while longer, Ishiro said, "Alright. Although your performance this time was less than satisfactory, you also gained a lot."
"When we get back to the village, organize your thoughts properly. Think about what you should do the next time you encounter this situation."
"For now... let's go check out that mysterious Dragon Vein."
"Dragon Vein? What's that?" Haku asked.
Ishiro explained, "The Dragon Vein is a type of energy. It's a bit like natural energy, but with differences."
"I don't know the specifics, either. Let's go take a look."
While Haku and the others had been fighting, Ishiro had already used his Mind's Eye to carefully sense the Dragon Vein beneath Loulan.
The Dragon Vein felt somewhat similar to the natural energy beneath the Rainbow Ice Wall in the Land of Snow, but it was also different.
He just couldn't put his finger on what the difference was.
The battle between Ishiro's team and the Suna-nin had affected the civilians of Loulan. When the four of them walked through the city streets, there wasn't a single person in sight.
Ishiro could sense that everyone was hiding in their homes, trembling, afraid of being caught in a ninja battle.
Ishiro didn't sense the aura of either of the Loulan Queens from the movie, nor did he find anyone among the houses who seemed like a queen.
He led his three disciples directly to the center of Loulan. The four of them followed a wide passage straight down, finally arriving at the location of the underground Dragon Vein.
Looking at the "eye-like" Dragon Vein, which was half-open, Ishiro, who had been maintaining Sage Mode, began to sense it at close range.
Haku, Fujii Kaoru, and Kamizuru Tsuruhime, with nothing to do, gathered around the Dragon Vein and whispered among themselves.
Kamizuru Tsuruhime whispered to Haku, "Haku, have you ever been in contact with natural energy?"
Fujii Kaoru also looked over curiously.
Haku said, "When I was little, before Lord Third left to travel, he hadn't mastered Sage Mode."
"So, my understanding of Sage Mode and natural energy is the same as yours. We only know the basic information we learned from Ishiro-sensei."
"I heard that learning Sage Mode is highly dependent on talent. Ishiro-sensei's disciple, Shinya Matsutani, is the one in the village who has mastered it best."
Fujii Kaoru asked curiously, "We often see Ishiro-sensei enter Sage Mode and use Sage Art. Is Ishiro-sensei's talent for it also amazing? How does it compare to Shinya-senpai?"
Haku carefully glanced at Ishiro, saw that he was meditating with his eyes closed and sensing the Dragon Vein, and lowered his voice even more. "No."
"I heard... that Ishiro-sensei's talent for Sage Mode is actually terrible. Back when he was practicing how to balance, he was laughed at for a long time."
"My... my parents used to tell it as a funny story. I heard that back then, everyone even invented a new unit of time: a 'Chen,' based on his name."
"People would measure their Sage Mode aptitude by how many 'Chens' it took them to get it."
Hearing such rare gossip about Ishiro, Fujii Kaoru and Kamizuru Tsuruhime were both excited. Tsuruhime whispered, "Haku, did your parents tell you any other funny stories about Ishiro-sensei?"
Haku whispered back, "They did. I'll tell you the details later."
The two girls nodded vigorously.
Although Ishiro heard what Haku said, he didn't have time to deal with him right now.
After a period of sensing, Ishiro had finally discovered the difference between the Dragon Vein, normal natural energy, and the natural energy under the Land of Snow.
The Dragon Vein had life. Comparatively, it was more like a Tailed Beast. He had even found the "Dragon Vein Spirit."
Ishiro was trying to communicate with the Dragon Vein Spirit.
At first, the Dragon Vein Spirit didn't understand the messages Ishiro sent. But after a few attempts, Ishiro discovered that the Dragon Vein Spirit's intelligence didn't seem to be high.
It was like a newborn. To make a hard comparison, it was more like Ishiro's own Little Saiken and Little Chōmei.
Unfortunately, Ishiro hadn't brought the two small Tailed Beasts with him on this trip.
Both Tailed Beasts had been assigned tasks by Ishiro: they were to supervise Sakura's and Shion's studies, respectively.
Sakura was fine. Ever since Ishiro had provoked her into a competition with Karin, she had become very self-motivated in her studies and training.
But Shion was a different story. She still needed a small Tailed Beast to watch over her at all times just to get her to train.
Otherwise, he could have let the two little ones have a good chat with the Dragon Vein. They might have had an unexpected harvest.
But even without Little Saiken and Little Chōmei, Ishiro had his own idea.
The Dragon Vein had, to some extent, the properties of natural energy. Ishiro himself knew Sage Mode. It was a good chance to "get close" to it.
But this Dragon Vein didn't seem to have ever practiced communicating with people. It ignored every message Ishiro sent.
Ishiro squatted down, placed his hand on the Dragon Vein, and slowly channeled a trace of Sage Chakra into it.
Ishiro could clearly feel the Dragon Vein radiating an emotion of "confusion." But it had no other reaction. It just stared blankly at Ishiro, like a child.
The Dragon Vein didn't seem to be able to absorb the Sage Chakra Ishiro sent into it. It let the Sage Chakra circulate once through its massive chakra body, and then... very naturally, it expelled it.
It was like a child being fed something by a stranger, deciding it didn't taste good, and spitting it out.
Ishiro frowned. This simple action from the Dragon Vein shocked him.
Ishiro knew that if someone else injected their chakra into his body, he had no way of controlling that chakra as flexibly and naturally as the Dragon Vein just did, letting it take a lap inside him before pushing it out.
The most Ishiro could do was to wrap the foreign chakra with his own, and then, in the form of a jutsu, forcibly expel both.
But the Dragon Vein, both in circulating Ishiro's Sage Chakra and in expelling it, did so with perfect, natural control.
When his chakra was pushed out, the Dragon Vein's own chakra didn't leak out in the slightest.
From this, it was clear: although the Dragon Vein's intelligence was low, its control over its own chakra—or perhaps natural energy—was far superior to Ishiro's.
This must be its instinct. This Dragon Vein Spirit might have only recently gained sentience, but the Dragon Vein itself was perhaps once incredibly powerful and versatile.
Ishiro tried again, this time to absorb some of the Dragon Vein's chakra. But it was a pity. The Dragon Vein was like a child guarding its food. Not only did Ishiro fail to absorb anything, but he also successfully sensed its "vigilance."
This emotion was very familiar to Ishiro. When he "bullied" Riori in the past, she had shown this exact emotion.
Ishiro quickly pulled his hand back. He didn't want to anger the Dragon Vein.
His own attempt had failed, but he wasn't panicking. He had no hope, but he still had a backup plan.
Ishiro turned his gaze to Kamizuru Tsuruhime. "Tsuruhime, try putting some of your little bees into the Dragon Vein's chakra."
Kamizuru Tsuruhime nodded, confused. "Okay."
She held out her hand and placed a dozen or so small bees into the Dragon Vein.
She had lost many bees in the battle against Suna. Although she had cultivated some new ones during their rest, she still didn't have many.
So, Tsuruhime was very careful, releasing only a dozen.
The bees quickly entered the Dragon Vein.
Ishiro sensed the Dragon Vein hesitate. Discerning it carefully, he felt one emotion that seemed to be "kill the invaders," and another that was "curiosity," wondering what on earth these things were.
As Ishiro worried about the Dragon Vein's choice, he pondered its life form.
The only reason Ishiro could clearly sense the Dragon Vein's emotions was because of his Sage Mode.
This proved that the Dragon Vein and Sage Chakra had something in common.
But the Dragon Vein had rejected his Sage Chakra. This meant the Dragon Vein could clearly distinguish the difference between the two.
Just as Ishiro was pondering the Dragon Vein's nature, the dozen bees, after circulating once inside, were sent back out.
However, when the bees left the Dragon Vein, only two of them survived.
Ishiro's and Kamizuru Tsuruhime's eyes lit up at the same time. Tsuruhime immediately pulled the two living bees back into her body to cultivate them.
Fujii Kaoru and Haku, who had also reacted a moment later, joined Ishiro in staring intently at Tsuruhime.
After a long moment, Kamizuru Tsuruhime's eyes suddenly flew open. She looked ecstatic, waving her arms at Ishiro and the others. "It worked! It worked! The bees are stronger! I just... I just don't know their new abilities yet!"
Ishiro, listening to Tsuruhime's somewhat incoherent words, also broke into a happy expression.
This trip was not in vain. After Haku becoming a Quasi-Jōnin, Kamizuru Tsuruhime also had a major breakthrough.
Although he didn't know what Tsuruhime's bees had become, after being "baptized" by the Dragon Vein's Sage-like chakra, Ishiro felt the bees' improvement would definitely be enormous.
(End of Chapter)
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