Chapter 178 Progress on the New Technique
"Sensei, you can rest assured. There's no need to worry about negotiations with the Cloud ninja. Just proceed step-by-step according to the plan you and Suzaku established."
Ritsu was spirited and confident, his words brimming with assurance. He smiled at Hiruko. "If the Cloud ninja dare waver or harbor any unrealistic delusions, I'll make them understand that accepting the conditions you propose is their only option."
Hearing this, Hiruko was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help showing a gratified smile.
His student had grown into a towering tree that even he needed to look up at, its height immeasurable. He clearly understood Ritsu wasn't one for empty boasts or bragging. Since he dared say such things, he definitely possessed corresponding confidence.
Hiruko smiled for a few seconds, then said, "Ritsu, growing stronger is good, but don't forget there are always stronger people and greater heights beyond. Also, don't forget the cautionary tale of the Third Raikage. Individual power ultimately has limits. Don't overextend yourself trying to show off alone."
That was simply because the Third Raikage wasn't strong enough.
If it were Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara, let alone ten thousand Iwa ninja attempting to kill them—even if Iwagakure exhausted all its forces, they couldn't do anything to either of these two.
Ritsu pondered this silently but only let these thoughts circulate in his mind. He didn't voice objections to Hiruko's heartfelt concern, instead nodding repeatedly with sincere expression.
After master and student talked for a while, Ritsu's shadow clone formed seals and released itself, transmitting all received information to Hyuga Ritsu, who was training behind the mountains.
The mountain fortress was built against the mountainside.
Ritsu hadn't trained in the fortress's training grounds—he found those spaces too cramped. Moreover, the training grounds were limited in number, basically all shared by multiple people. He didn't wish to monopolize a field solely for himself—even though as Deputy Commander, he had complete authority to do so.
He'd left a shadow clone in camp for communication purposes. His true body came behind the mountains, used Earth Release to level the ground, and constructed an exceptionally spacious training ground where he trained alone.
Over ten shadow clones dispersed around the training ground's perimeter. Some researched Wind Release techniques. Some studied barrier techniques. Some hammered out Gentle Fist palm techniques. Meanwhile, Ritsu's main body attempted to research and develop a new technique.
His battle with the Fourth Raikage made Ritsu realize his greatest current weakness was speed. His current burst speed was sufficient for dealing with the vast majority of opponents, but when encountering opponents with extreme speed like the Fourth Raikage or his own Hokage, he couldn't keep up.
Though he'd relied on Shikotsumyaku's powerful defensive capabilities to withstand the Fourth Raikage's attacks, ultimately it was still too passive.
However, this direct confrontation with the Fourth Raikage, deeply experiencing Hidden Cloud Village's unique Lightning Release Chakra Mode, with Byakugan glimpsing numerous details of chakra flow within the Fourth Raikage's body—this brought him substantial gains.
A technique whose research progress had previously been difficult made tremendous advancement today.
However—
"Rip!" A sound.
Ritsu's sleeve tore. Blood sprayed. His right upper arm bore a wound deep to the bone. Even the bone itself carried deep gouges.
But the next second, the bone injuries smoothed and disappeared. Flesh rapidly regenerated. In the blink of an eye, the sliced flesh had grown and healed without leaving any trace. The smooth, pale skin showed no signs of having been injured.
Only from his tattered, hole-riddled clothing could one glimpse how many times Ritsu had injured himself during this new technique's development.
"Restraining the ever-changing wind is truly fraught with difficulties." Ritsu clicked his tongue.
He was imitating jinchuriki Tailed Beast cloaks and Hidden Cloud Village's Lightning Release Chakra Mode, developing a similar technique to enhance the combat power of his Hyuga clan's strongest members.
Because relying purely on chakra shape transformation lacked sufficient performance—ninja chakra was far less powerful than Tailed Beast chakra. One had to bring shape transformation to its extreme to possess corresponding power.
So Ritsu prepared to also incorporate chakra nature transformation. Among the five chakra nature transformations—wind, lightning, water, fire, and earth—excluding the rather abstract and difficult-to-utilize yin and yang chakra natures, he selected Wind Release chakra's nature transformation.
But clearly this new technique's development process was extraordinarily arduous and difficult. Ritsu simply relied on possessing his Physical Regeneration superpower, which allowed him to so boldly test through practice, constantly learning from errors.
Fortunately, his blood and sweat weren't without effect. Though he'd injured himself countless times, he could see the dawn of completely constructing this technique.
Just then—
Ritsu suddenly narrowed his eyes. Numerous messages transmitted by his shadow clone flooded his mind. He curved his lips slightly, murmuring softly, "Orochimaru... is this so-called destiny?"
He sighed for less than a minute before casting this matter aside.
Though he'd previously considered cooperating with Orochimaru, ever since Orochimaru voluntarily gave up struggling and handed the Hokage's crown to Minato, his relationship with Orochimaru had grown increasingly distant. He clearly understood Orochimaru was a bomb—unpredictable timing, but nine chances in ten of exploding.
As for Orochimaru transplanting both Sharingan and Wood Release, these two great Kekkei Genkai... Ritsu felt nothing. He wasn't afraid Orochimaru would come cause him trouble, nor afraid anyone would attack him over this. In current Konoha Village, no one would idly offend him.
He quickly calmed his mind and continued researching this new technique.
Rather than waste energy on unreliable wild thoughts, better to invest energy in training. After all, in this world, authority didn't necessarily equal strength, but strength truly could equal authority. As long as his own strength was sufficient, he could sweep away all problems and troubles!
Gusts of fierce wind swirled around his limbs. Howling wind sounds echoed across the training ground, slowly sketching a translucent garment on Ritsu's body. But the next instant, blood light burst forth again.
"Chakra output is still somewhat unstable..."
Ritsu rubbed his already-healed wound, expression unchanged as he summarized another failure's cause. Time thus passed silently during the training process.
Before long, explosive news rapidly spread through the shinobi world. One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, had defected. Konoha declared him an S-rank missing-nin with a bounty of two hundred million ryo, creating a new record for missing-nin bounties in the shinobi world.
But few cared how insurmountable this new bounty record was. Most people's first reaction was doubt, believing this false news meant to deceive.
After all—
That was Orochimaru, one of Konoha's pillars. How could such a figure possibly become a missing-nin?
"The news is real!"
Xi, who'd rushed over, said breathlessly, "Raikage-sama, it's been repeatedly confirmed. One week ago, intense internal conflict erupted within Konoha Village. Orochimaru fought fiercely with Konoha ninja surrounding him, destroying nearly one-twentieth of Konoha Village's residential districts, causing tremendous losses."
"Now wanted posters for Orochimaru have been posted throughout the Land of Fire's cities. Reportedly, one of the Sannin, Jiraiya, left Konoha to pursue and capture Orochimaru and is currently wandering through the Land of Fire following Orochimaru's trail."
Xi's face carried intense excitement.
Seeing Konoha's misfortune genuinely pleased him. Their Hidden Cloud Village had recently suffered a setback at Konoha's hands—like a thorn stuck in the heart, impossible to forget.
"So it's actually true... Dodai, what do you think?"
A turned his gaze toward Dodai seated on his left.
He still remained at the Frost Country frontline camp. When arriving, he and Killer B had been transported via Heavenly Transfer Technique, but the technique user remaining in Hidden Cloud Village couldn't use Heavenly Transfer Technique to send him back from Frost Country.
He simply stayed here, planning to return to the village after completely resolving conflicts with Konoha.
Hearing the Raikage's inquiry, Dodai didn't directly provide an answer but softly asked in return, "Raikage-sama, do you plan to abandon negotiations?"
"Mm—"
A thought seriously for a moment, first shaking his head but then nodding, candidly answering, "I'm uncertain. Previously deciding to negotiate with Konoha to resolve issues was because Konoha's foundations run deep. Even after experiencing great war, they still possess numerous strong fighters. Under these circumstances, our odds of victory warring with Konoha are too low."
"But now Konoha has internal strife. One of the Sannin, Orochimaru, has defected. One of the Sannin, Jiraiya, is constrained and unable to break free. Konoha lost two top-tier combat powers in one breath. I—"
Before A could finish, Dodai somewhat impolitely interrupted, "Raikage-sama, do you believe we can now defeat Konoha in war?"
A wasn't angry at Dodai's interruption, instead frowning and very honestly stating his thoughts. "That's precisely where I'm conflicted. I feel this is an opportunity, but the problem is I have no certainty of victory!"
Dodai sighed softly. "Since there's no certainty of victory, then warring with Konoha at this time would be thoroughly reckless adventurism. Raikage-sama, do you believe we've already declined to a desperate situation where we can't survive without taking risks?"
A shook his head repeatedly. "Of course not!"
"Since we haven't reached that point, why must you take this risk, Raikage-sama? We've already confirmed Konoha's Missing-nin Anonymous truly exists. We can steadily push all responsibility onto Missing-nin Anonymous and jointly apprehend this missing-nin with Konoha."
Dodai looked at A, earnestly persuading, "Though doing this ultimately won't gain as much as defeating Konoha would, it's stable with almost no risk. What our Hidden Cloud Village needs now is stability, not turmoil."
Over the past week-plus, sufficient time had passed for Hidden Cloud Village to mobilize forces investigating Missing-nin Anonymous's general situation, confirming this wasn't Konoha's deflecting excuse but truly such a dangerous figure.
Dodai changed his tone, continuing, "Speaking of which, I believe this is also an excellent opportunity to suppress the village's unhealthy atmosphere. We can't continue implementing everything following village public sentiment. If we're constantly swept along by village public opinion, our Hidden Cloud Village will eventually be destroyed by this!"
A sat behind his desk, silent, seriously considering Dodai's rhetoric.
Honestly—
He also disliked this feeling of being swept along by village public sentiment. Though he likewise desired to use his fists to beat Konoha and Iwa ninja until they fled in disgrace, he equally understood compromise's importance. When unable to defeat opponents, retracting fists to accumulate strength was very necessary—not recklessly entangling to the death with poor odds, dragging oneself into inescapable quagmire.
So the village's current extreme belligerence, causing disturbances at the slightest dissatisfaction—this atmosphere truly needed suppressing. Otherwise, upper leadership would become useless decorations. He didn't wish to constantly replace Raikage Advisors like his father had.
After a moment—
A slowly nodded. "Dodai, continue according to the original plan. However... we can use Orochimaru's defection to try applying some pressure on Konoha, striving to gain as much benefit as possible in negotiations for us."
As a Kage, this Fourth Raikage was undoubtedly qualified.
He hadn't let his own belligerent emotions overwhelm his rationality.
Dodai's face showed a gratified smile. "Please rest assured, Raikage-sama! I will definitely do everything possible to secure sufficient benefits for our village."
A nodded. He never doubted Dodai's abilities.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have entrusted negotiation matters with Konoha entirely to Dodai.
Of course, new negotiations hadn't yet begun. These days they'd been busy gathering Konoha intelligence. Only by mastering more intelligence about opponents could they have targeted responses in negotiations, occupying superior positions.
"Also, don't forget about our village being attacked by that dead man Shimura Danzo. Though we still haven't identified the true culprit behind it, we can also use this to demand benefits."
A couldn't help adding another reminder.
The night the Frost Country frontline camp suffered attack, Hidden Cloud Village internally was also slaughtered bloodily, disturbing the village all night. Even now they were still pursuing the true culprit, but unfortunately, no investigation results existed. The perpetrator had vanished like a ghost without trace.
This was also an important reason inclining him toward negotiating with Konoha rather than war. Without eliminating this murderer who could infiltrate their village and easily kill dozens including several jonin, his heart always carried baggage, making everything feel unsatisfactory.
Dodai smiled in response. "Raikage-sama, I haven't aged to the point of forgetfulness. Moreover, I'd say this perpetrator very likely is Konoha's Missing-nin Anonymous. I'll do my utmost to utilize these conditions negotiating with Konoha."
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