Chapter 214: Yagura Karatachi
"Lightning Release: Lightning Burst!"
Ten days before the third round of exams, at the secluded residence of the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Han, Ishiro was training with his three disciples Ogura Saki, Takumi, and Shinya Matsutani, as well as Tatsunori Nakata, Hanpei Haraguchi, and Dai Shimoyama.
Ishiro chose to train here for two reasons: first, to guide Han, and second, to protect Han. As the third round of the joint Chunin Exams approached, the number of outsiders in Iwagakure was increasing.
Among them were many ninjas from other villages under the pretext of escorting important officials to watch the competition.
There were definitely many spies among them, and the Tailed Beasts would undoubtedly be a top priority for their reconnaissance. Ishiro was a little worried.
He would look after Han, while Ōnoki personally checked on Rōshi. Han was very welcoming to Ishiro's and Ikura's disciples. Every time he watched them train, his desire to take on disciples grew more urgent.
Ishiro told him that the next graduating class was still a few months away from graduation, at which time he could choose one to three students, preferably three, to form a normal squad.
Of course, after the selection, Ishiro would personally inform the three chosen students about Han's special status and ask for their thoughts. Only with the students' consent could Han truly accept them as disciples.
Ogura Saki and her two companions didn't actually need much guidance from Ishiro anymore. Ishiro spent most of his time practicing Lightning Release himself.
These days, Ishiro had already finished learning the Lightning Release jutsu he had obtained from the Cloud ninjas: five C-rank jutsu plus a novel way of condensing lightning without it dispersing, learned from Yanagihara.
The Lightning Release: Lightning Burst that Ishiro was practicing just now was one of the five C-rank ninjutsu. This jutsu gathered Lightning Release chakra together and then exploded it like a bomb.
However, this explosion did not produce airwaves or shockwaves; its lethality relied entirely on the lightning itself. But its advantage was also clear: it could fully utilize the speed of Lightning Release.
The lightning scattered after the explosion attacked with extreme speed. After several attempts, Ishiro found that as long as the lightning was initially compressed to a certain degree, the outbreak could potentially reach a speed that even Elite Jonin, or Kage-level individuals, couldn't react to.
This reminded Ishiro of Sasuke's Kirin. When Sasuke fought Itachi, he had proudly called it an unavoidable attack.
Ishiro felt that after successfully developing Chidori Nagashi, he could consider integrating this method to further upgrade the ninjutsu.
Just as Ishiro wanted to continue his Lightning Release training, a squad of Anbu entered the valley. After an identity check, they quickly came before Ishiro.
"Advisor, Lord Tsuchikage requests your presence in his office immediately."
Ishiro was startled. The person who came was actually Zero. It seemed something major had happened, otherwise Ōnoki wouldn't be in such a hurry to summon him directly through Zero.
Ishiro nodded, entrusted his six students to Han's care, and then left with Zero.
When he arrived at the Tsuchikage's office, the other advisors were already there. Ōnoki didn't waste words, pointing to an intelligence report next to Ishiro's seat, signaling him to look at it first.
Ishiro quickly scanned the entire report and then chuckled out loud, "Poor Konoha."
Hearing Ishiro's laughter, Ōnoki glared at him but said nothing; his mood was also quite good.
It turned out the intelligence showed that after Minato Namikaze reinforced the Land of Whirlpools frontline, Kirigakure had also made a big move.
The future Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, had also joined the battle. Not only did he participate personally, but he also brought a Tailed Beast with him.
Originally, facing the Uchiha, Kirigakure had no intention of using a Tailed Beast, fearing it might be controlled. But Yagura Karatachi perhaps had a tacit understanding with the Uchiha, as this time, the target of the Three-Tails Jinchuriki's attack was precisely the elites brought by Minato Namikaze.
The Third Hokage had originally hinted to those elites from major ninja clans that this would be a journey for gilding their reputations. As a result, the Three-Tails gilded them with a layer of blood mist.
At the end of the battle, it was Minato Namikaze who broke free from Yagura Karatachi's entanglement and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to save the situation.
However, apart from his giant summoning animal technique, Minato Namikaze didn't have many good methods to deal with a Tailed Beast.
Ultimately, this battle ended hastily with Konoha's defeat.
Throughout the entire incident, the entire Uchiha clan was on a nearby battlefield, engaged in a mock battle with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and their subordinates.
It was at that moment that Minato Namikaze gained a profound understanding of the rift between the current village higher-ups and the Uchiha. It turned out that the two sides were already like fire and water.
Minato Namikaze seriously suspected that if not for the Uchiha clan's elderly and weak still being in Konoha village, the Uchiha clan might have already defected entirely. Perhaps they would have even dealt Konoha a severe blow before defecting.
When the news reached Konoha, the Third Hokage finally sobered up from his fantasy of easily handling the Uchiha clan. It turned out that, unknowingly, he had already pushed the Uchiha clan to this extent.
At this point, the Third Hokage felt some regret, but then a thought suddenly emerged in his mind that even he found terrifying: do not leave this Uchiha hidden danger to future generations.
Just then, Peng! The door to the Hokage's office was pushed open. Danzō walked in first, followed by the other two advisors, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado.
Seeing this scene, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes narrowed, and he grew wary: "Danzō, are you trying to force my hand?"
Danzō had no intention of forcing a coup. His current power was far from restored; the reconstruction of Root had only just begun. He had merely discovered his hope for a resurgence.
The Uchiha's cold indifference on the Land of Whirlpools battlefield this time convinced Danzō that Hiruzen Sarutobi had definitely developed murderous intent towards the Uchiha clan.
And Danzō knew very well what kind of person Hiruzen Sarutobi was; such dirty work would surely be thrown his way, and this was his opportunity.
As for whether Hiruzen Sarutobi would hypocritically say a few high-sounding words in the process, let him be.
The subsequent developments unfolded just as Danzō had predicted. After he, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado expressed their dissatisfaction with the Uchiha clan, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still trying to smooth things over, playing the good guy.
In any case, the final result was that Danzō received more funding to expand Root, and Hiruzen Sarutobi even allowed Danzō to select geniuses from various ninja clans.
This was impossible before. Although Hiruzen Sarutobi restricted the development of these ninja clans to a certain extent, they were, after all, his supporters, and Hiruzen Sarutobi also played the role of protecting them.
Danzō occasionally managed to gain the allegiance of one or two branch family members not valued by those ninja clans, but he had never obtained true geniuses.
Hiruzen Sarutobi relenting this time was also because he considered that the Uchiha had not only angered them, the higher-ups, but also other ninja clans.
As long as it was hinted to these ninja clans that their talented juniors joining Root was to target the Uchiha clan, then the clan heads, considering the possibility of participating in carving up the Uchiha clan's vast legacy in the future, would inevitably be tempted.
At this time, Minato Namikaze paid a visit to the current Uchiha clan head, Uchiha No, and the future clan head, Fugaku Uchiha.
Originally, Minato Namikaze thought the Uchiha clan would try to cover up their actions, but during the exchange, Minato Namikaze found that the Uchiha clan seemed very confident; Uchiha No didn't seem to care much about the reaction of the village higher-ups.
Minato Namikaze didn't know that the current Fugaku had already successfully awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Although Uchiha No was the clan head, he had only seen the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan in clan documents, so he held great expectations for these eyes, which were the same as those that had helped the Uchiha achieve their fearsome reputation as the "Asura of the Ninja World."
Moreover, he had also gained some understanding of the Mangekyo Sharingan's power during spars with Fugaku Uchiha; it was a power that even his own top-tier Elite Jonin strength couldn't shake in the slightest.
Uchiha No had already decided to step down after the war ended. He believed that Fugaku Uchiha would definitely become the Uchiha clan's leader of resurgence.
Although Minato Namikaze didn't understand where Uchiha No's confidence came from, he also saw Uchiha No's high regard for Fugaku Uchiha. So, after the exchange, he privately visited Fugaku Uchiha.
And Uchiha No didn't seem to care about their meeting.
Minato Namikaze opened the conversation by leveraging the close friendship between his girlfriend, Kushina Uzumaki, and Fugaku Uchiha's wife, Mikoto Uchiha.
Minato Namikaze found that Fugaku Uchiha lacked the kind of confidence Uchiha No possessed; Fugaku Uchiha appeared much more reserved compared to Uchiha No.
In the end, Minato Namikaze and Fugaku Uchiha reached a relatively vague intention of alliance, generally meaning they would do their utmost to bridge the gap between the Konoha higher-ups and the Uchiha.
Minato Namikaze would never have imagined that while he was trying his best to mend the conflict between the two sides, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already developed murderous intent towards the Uchiha clan.
Regardless of whether the Konoha higher-ups were trying to win over or suppress the Uchiha clan, the atmosphere in Iwagakure was very cheerful. Everyone had a strong desire to chat.
Mei said, "This Yagura Karatachi's political wisdom is not low. He should have seen the conflict between the Uchiha clan and the Konoha higher-ups and utilized this conflict."
Ikura also nodded and said, "I agree with Senior Mei's statement. Kirigakure probably didn't reach any agreement with the Uchiha. Yagura Karatachi likely just exploited the resentment the Uchiha clan felt from the Konoha higher-ups in this war."
After hearing Mei's and Ikura's words, Ishiro deeply agreed. For Yagura Karatachi to become the Fourth Mizukage, he definitely had the means.
"Alright, let's talk about Konoha's possible responses," Ōnoki started a new topic.
Mei thought for a moment and said, "I estimate the Konoha higher-ups will probably try to appease the Uchiha clan. After all, the Uchiha clan is recognized as the number one clan in the ninja world, with strength comparable to a medium-sized hidden village. Compared to Amegakure, they only lack a Kage-level individual."
Hearing this, Ishiro's eyes flickered. He wondered if Fugaku Uchiha had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan yet. If he had, then the Uchiha clan's overall strength might truly surpass that of a village like Amegakure, which had hopes of squeezing into the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
However, Fugaku Uchiha's personality was really... Ishiro shook his head internally. If Fugaku Uchiha had been a bit more assertive, it would have been questionable whether the Konoha of the original work could have lasted until the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Thinking of this, Ishiro thought about the method for the Uchiha clan to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
There were two mainstream theories: one was to personally kill one's closest relative, and the other was to experience intense emotional trauma.
Ishiro leaned towards the latter. The Sharingan was the "eye that reflects the heart," the ultimate manifestation of Yin Release, so it was normal for it to be related to emotional stimulation.
However, Ishiro felt there was another condition for awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan: an extremely kind heart.
---
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you