Small shinobi villages like Hidden Grass Village, Hidden Waterfall Village, Hidden Snow Village, and Hidden Star Village naturally cannot compare to the five major shinobi villages in terms of the number and quality of their shinobi.
However, if you combine all of them, they represent a force not to be underestimated.
The number of strong individuals in these small shinobi villages is limited, and shinobi skilled in sensory techniques are even rarer. Typically, there are no defensive barriers or sensory barriers, so there's no need for Shinji to expend much effort—just have Mumei infiltrate and mark them.
Even if there are occasional mishaps, with Shinji's current mastery of genjutsu, subduing a small number of people with illusions wouldn't cause any ripples.
Hidden Leaf has about ten thousand shinobi. If the other four villages can each mark a few hundred elite shinobi, that's equivalent to marking four or five thousand ordinary Hidden Leaf shinobi. As for the other small shinobi villages, their numbers are substantial, but their quality varies greatly, so we shouldn't overestimate them. Oh, and there's also the samurai of the Land of Iron!
Shinji suddenly thought of the Land of Iron.
The samurai collective of the Land of Iron can control an entire nation in the shinobi world and, in the original timeline, act as a neutral party during the Five Kage Summit, indicating their overall strength surpasses that of typical small shinobi villages.
So, if you include this group of samurai, marking all the small shinobi villages and the Land of Iron's samurai would be equivalent to about four or five thousand Hidden Leaf shinobi.
By this calculation, if the plan goes smoothly, Shinji could gain the chakra equivalent of twenty thousand ordinary Hidden Leaf shinobi.
Although this chakra amount likely still falls short of the Ten-Tails, it's still a considerable amount of chakra.
The remaining portion can only be made up by targeting individuals!
Shinji's thoughts began to wander.
Individuals like Karin and Shion, whose chakra reserves alone could match hundreds or even thousands of ordinary shinobi, could, to some extent, compensate for the numerical shortfall by marking a few such exceptional individuals.
Then Shinji realized he needed to rehearse this plan beforehand.
Otherwise, he couldn't be certain whether his body could withstand the strain when Mumei used Yachihoko to channel the chakra of tens of thousands of shinobi into him alone!
So much to do. What a headache!
As he pondered, Shinji rubbed his temples.
Now that he was gradually stepping from the shadows into the spotlight, exposed to the scrutiny of various factions, the number of enemies targeting him would multiply. Every action had to be taken with utmost caution, or he risked capsizing in the gutter.
For instance, his true self no longer left Hidden Leaf Village easily.
Even if there was something that absolutely required him to leave the village, he would first send a blood clone to scout the path, then use the dojutsu of his Koryugan, Red Dragon, to swap places with the blood clone, completing the spatial transfer of his true self.
…
The next day, Shinji once again conducted a session of Takamagahara in the massive venue.
As everyone's acceptance and familiarity with Takamagahara continued to grow, the duration of a single Takamagahara session had extended from the initial ten minutes to half an hour.
Half an hour in reality equated to two hours in Takamagahara.
Shinobi battles typically don't last two hours, as chakra and stamina rarely hold up that long, but Takamagahara could refresh the participants' conditions. Extending the experience to two hours allowed participants to engage in four to five intense battles.
The cost? Merely mental fatigue after exiting Takamagahara.
Because of this, more and more Hidden Leaf shinobi became addicted to Takamagahara. The number of people in the village applying to experience it grew, and even many proud clan shinobi couldn't hold back, joining the queue to apply for Takamagahara.
The training effects of Takamagahara were becoming increasingly apparent after these few days of sessions.
Shinji wasn't entirely sure about others, but for those he was familiar with—like Sasuke, Mumei, Karin, and Haku—their daily improvements were visible to the naked eye.
After being repeatedly crushed, Sasuke could now fight back. Though the outcome remained the same—a crushing defeat—at least it wasn't as humiliating.
Mumei, training against Shisui, was improving at a remarkable pace in all aspects. Combined with her already exceptional innate abilities, her progress was even more pronounced than Sasuke's.
Karin, who had mastered Wood Release and the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques, was already formidable. Through repeated practical combat training, her timing in deploying ninjutsu and sealing techniques became more refined, and her win rate against Hiruko was steadily increasing.
Haku's situation was the most unique.
His opponent was Ranmaru, who wielded Transparent Release, which meant Haku spent most of his time in Takamagahara in a "cat-and-mouse" game.
Naturally, he was the mouse.
Thus, his improvements were more focused on how to maneuver against an opponent he couldn't overpower.
However, he clearly realized that only by stepping into the Transparent World could he truly contend with Ranmaru, who mastered Transparent Release.
As for Shion, she still couldn't overcome her fear.
Evidently, the safe environment prevented her from taking that crucial step forward!
…
After concluding the day's Takamagahara session, Shinji, as usual, used Jikibi to contact his various subordinates.
When he connected with Kimimaro, Kimimaro reported, "Leader, today one of Orochimaru-sama's subordinates approached me."
"Oh?" Shinji was somewhat surprised and asked, "Who?"
Kimimaro answered truthfully, "A woman named Guren. She told me to cooperate with them to attempt a rescue of Orochimaru-sama!"
Guren.
Shinji recalled this person—she was indeed one of Orochimaru's subordinates.
So Shinji pressed further, "Who else is involved in this rescue? What's their plan?"
Kimimaro replied, "She didn't tell me the specifics. She only instructed me to be ready and cooperate with them at any time!"
Shinji nodded, musing to himself, The Sound Four are either dead or captured, and the Hidden Sound Village has been overrun. Orochimaru shouldn't have many subordinates left—only Kabuto and Jūgo are worth noting. But with just them, how could they possibly rescue Orochimaru from Hidden Leaf's heavy defenses?
If Danzō were still an advisor elder and working with them, there might be a slim chance. But now that even Danzō had been detained, relying solely on Kabuto and a few others made rescuing Orochimaru from Hidden Leaf impossible.
Though puzzled, the intelligence provided by Kimimaro sparked a new idea in Shinji.
To revive the Ten-Tails, the Nine-Tails didn't necessarily have to come from the half sealed in Naruto. If he could free the Fourth Hokage's soul, sealed in the Death God's stomach, he could access the other half of the Nine-Tails. And right now, the only one capable of that task was Orochimaru.