Chapter 399: Kage-level Yin Release
The research on Yin Release by Ishiro and his team was not going smoothly. No matter what they did to Mōryō's tentacles, they couldn't get any useful data.
At this time, however, the ninja world suddenly became lively.
Iwagakure made a high-profile announcement, declaring that rogue ninja in the world were becoming increasingly rampant, and that S-rank rogues like Orochimaru now even dared to openly confront the great hidden villages.
Iwagakure claimed to have obtained intelligence that the S-rank rogue ninja Orochimaru was planning to establish a hidden village in the Land of Whirlpools.
The Land of Whirlpools was too far from the Land of Earth for Iwagakure to do anything about it. But for the sake of peace in the ninja world, Iwagakure intended to launch an indiscriminate strike against all rogue ninja, wanderers, and bandits within the surrounding small and medium-sized countries.
The ninja world had been at peace for a long time, but apart from the Five Great Nations, the small and medium-sized countries had always been plagued by rogue ninja. Iwagakure was willing to provide support to those countries that lacked the strength to clear them out.
Iwagakure would dispatch elite ninja to enter these countries, directly participate in the encirclement and suppression of rogue ninja, and would not charge any fees.
As soon as this announcement was made, the situation in the ninja world immediately became tense. The leaders of countries big and small all had the same thought: Has Iwagakure gone mad?
No one believed that Iwagakure had suddenly developed a love for peace and wanted to provide free services to the civilians of these small countries. Everyone thought that Iwagakure was using the banner of suppressing rogue ninja to make a move on the surrounding small countries.
But when the high-ranking officials of those small and medium-sized countries advised their Daimyo or village leaders to immediately seek help from the other four great nations, they were surprised to find that their leaders had already received the news.
In the capital of the Land of Grass, in the Daimyo's palace, the ministers who had received Iwagakure's announcement looked at each other in dismay, wondering where their calm-faced Daimyo's confidence came from.
One of them asked, "Lord Daimyo, Iwagakure is using the banner of clearing out rogue ninja to annex us. Why are you not worried?"
The Daimyo of the Land of Grass smiled, picked up a letter from his desk, and said, "I have already received a personal letter from Iwagakure's advisor, Ikura. You all should take a look."
After reading it, the person who had spoken was completely stunned.
In his letter, Ikura had stated clearly: Iwagakure would definitely seek the opinion of the Daimyo of the Land of Grass on the matter of entering the country to clear out rogue ninja. Before obtaining the Daimyo's consent, Iwagakure would not take any action.
If the Daimyo of the Land of Grass agreed to allow Iwa-nin to enter, he was requested to provide the specific locations for the cleanup and the approximate number of ninja required.
Only after verification would Iwagakure carry out the operation according to the Daimyo's request. Furthermore, Ikura had guaranteed in the letter that after completing the task, the Iwa-nin would leave immediately. If the Daimyo of the Land of Grass were to suspend the mission midway, they would also immediately return to the Land of Earth.
"This? Iwagakure will listen to us about how many ninja to send and where to send them?" that minister said with some disbelief.
The Daimyo smiled. "I have already sent a letter to Advisor Ikura, requesting Iwagakure to dispatch a four-man squad to the border to hunt down a B-rank rogue ninja."
The ministers looked at each other, all finding it hard to believe.
Finally, an elderly minister said, "Then let's wait for a reply from Iwagakure first. Let's see if they really only send four people."
The Daimyo nodded. "That's what I was thinking."
Many countries made the same choice as the Daimyo of the Land of Grass. They had a deep sense of the rise of Iwagakure and the Land of Earth. None of them were willing to offend the Iwa-nin, so more or less, they all gave them some face, allowing them to dispatch a few or a dozen ninja into their territory to carry out the operation.
But the intelligence received by Konoha and the other four great hidden villages was not like this.
Even if Iwagakure only sent a squad of a few or a dozen people to each country, they still created the momentum of preparing for an army of thousands. Although they had only dispatched a few dozen chunin squads for regular missions, Iwagakure had carried out a village-wide mobilization with great fanfare. The great hidden villages like Konoha, who didn't know the details, thought that a large Iwa army had already entered the Land of Grass and other countries.
Thus, in a high-level meeting that Danzō did not participate in, Tsunade approved the decision to send reinforcements to the Land of Grass.
Due to incomplete intelligence on Iwagakure, Tsunade decided to first dispatch a vanguard of about a hundred men into the country. It wasn't that she didn't want to send more people; it was that besides the Land of Grass, there was also the Land of Waterfalls and some small countries nearby that also needed troops. A few troops to each country added up to a lot.
Konoha reacted very quickly, not giving Iwagakure any chance to create a fait accompli.
The reactions of Sunagakure and Kumogakure were not slow either. They also dispatched a certain number of ninja to the surrounding small and medium-sized countries.
However, unlike Konoha's caution, Rasa's and A's plan was, on the one hand, to prevent Iwagakure's expansion, and on the other, to expand themselves. So, the number of ninja they dispatched far exceeded Konoha's, and their actions were more decisive. As soon as they entered those small countries, they began to control some of the towns and villages along the way. Suna and Kumo didn't even bother to look for Iwagakure's traces; instead, they focused their main energy on how to plunder the wealth of the towns they had occupied.
In Rasa's and A's view, Iwagakure making an enemy of the entire ninja world was seeking its own destruction; it was impossible for them to successfully annex these small countries. There was no need for them to rush to fight Iwagakure to the death and give others the opportunity to be the fisherman. It was better to take advantage of Iwagakure's madness to grab some benefits.
Thus, in the eyes of the high-ranking officials of those small and medium-sized countries, this scene appeared:
The Iwa-nin, who had been shouting about entering their countries to clear out rogue ninja, in the end, only sent a few people. Moreover, these people were well-behaved, earnestly hunting down rogue ninja under the watch of the guides they had sent. Although, because the people who came were not very strong, there was almost no progress in the cleanup.
And the Suna and Kumo-nin, who had been saying they would help them resist Iwagakure's invasion, were instead carrying out a real expansion. They hardly bothered to conceal their open plunder. This kind of behavior was actually not uncommon during the Great Ninja Wars; otherwise, how could the wars between ninja have such great destructive power and cause widespread displacement of civilians? In the context of a Great War, no one would pay attention to such small matters, nor would anyone dare to criticize a great hidden village that had seen red.
If Iwagakure had launched a war of annexation, then these small actions of theirs would indeed be insignificant. But Iwagakure had only been shouting slogans from beginning to end. So, their malicious behavior suddenly seemed very jarring.
Soon, under the guidance of Iwagakure, the public opinion in the ninja world changed. It was as if everyone had finally seen the true nature of Suna and Kumo, and they began to unanimously condemn their malicious behavior.
This time, Rasa and A were completely dumbfounded. What about the Iwagakure invasion you promised? How did I suddenly become the villain? I remember I was operating under the banner of bringing freedom and independence to those small countries.
Then, both of them felt a trace of relief. Fortunately, there's still the Kazekage (Raikage). Otherwise, if it was just me doing this, it would be really embarrassing.
Just at this moment, the former Priestess of the Land of Demons suddenly announced that the country would end the rule of the Priestess and change to the rule of a Daimyo. The new Daimyo was the former Priestess, Miroku. And this new Daimyo, Miroku, stated that to prevent a Suna invasion, she would invite Iwagakure to establish a branch in her country.
As soon as the news came out, the entire ninja world was in an uproar.
Suna, in particular, was at a loss for words. If you want to defect to Iwagakure, just do it. Why throw the blame on us?
Although we sent ninja to occupy the towns of the surrounding small and medium-sized countries, we didn't provoke you, the Land of Demons. You are close to the Land of Earth and far from the Land of Wind. We hadn't even had time to take action yet.
And at this time, even if Suna wanted to interfere with Iwagakure's annexation of the Land of Demons, it would be difficult. The Land of Demons had voluntarily sought refuge with Iwagakure. But they, the Suna-nin, had occupied the towns of countries like the Land of Bears and the Land of Birds without the consent of their owners. Their actions were even worse than Iwagakure's.
They, who could have righteously condemned Iwagakure, had now become the villains.
And Iwagakure, which had truly annexed a country, was not being resisted by the high-ranking officials of those countries.
...
While the ninja world was in a flurry of verbal battles, Ishiro's research group finally made progress.
The Mōryō tentacles they were studying, as Ishiro had expected, finally began to slowly dissipate after a period of time. These tentacles, unable to maintain their condensed soul form, seemed to be reverse-engineering the process of Yin Release training. This suddenly made many of the unresolved aspects of Yin Release crystal clear to Ishiro and the others.
So this is how Yin Release is practiced. So this is how the soul is condensed.
As the Mōryō tentacles disintegrated and disappeared one by one, Iwagakure's understanding of the soul and Yin Release also continuously improved.
And Ishiro himself was the one who benefited the most. In terms of quantity, his spiritual power had long reached the Kage-level standard, but because he had not practiced Yin Release, its quality had not met the standard. But after this period of research, Ishiro's mastery of Yin Release had finally taken a critical step forward.
With this, Ishiro officially entered the third stage of Yin Release. Although his soul still couldn't leave his body to attack an enemy like Dan Katō from the original story, who had learned the Spirit Transformation Technique, Ishiro was just lacking the means. In essence, he was no longer at a lower level than Dan Katō. Similarly, soul attacks of the level of the Spirit Transformation Technique could no longer be fatal to him.
Although some time was wasted, Ishiro had compensated for his shortcoming in genjutsu resistance. It couldn't be considered a great waste.
And after all of Mōryō's tentacles had dissipated, Ishiro prepared to disband this temporary research group. Based on their gains during this period, the group compiled a detailed theoretical study of Yin Release. This theory was placed in the village's collection by Ishiro as an A-rank secret treasure. Then, Ishiro also calculated some mission records for the participants and also gave them a few B-rank genjutsu, all of which were offensive genjutsu exchanged from Konoha.
After disbanding the research group, Ishiro finally had time to understand the progress of the annexation of the Land of Demons.
He did not convene a high-level meeting but listened to Ikura give him some detailed intelligence.
There were no variables in the annexation of the Land of Demons itself. The location for the branch had already been selected.
But the storm over the cleanup of rogue ninja that Iwagakure had created to divert everyone's attention was not yet over.
Suna and Kumo were unwilling to just retreat like this. They shamelessly occupied those towns and were slow to return them. The various parties were still constantly engaged in a war of words.
Ishiro nodded. He was very satisfied with this result. Iwagakure was, in any case, the side that was profiting. As long as a war did not break out immediately, it was unlikely that one would.
Although Iwagakure's annexation of the Land of Demons was an expansion, it was consensual between the two parties. And the actions of Suna and Kumo were naked invasions. Although those small countries did not dare to openly confront the great hidden villages, they had already sent envoys to contact the other great powers, requesting mediation. For example, Iwagakure had received a mission request from a certain small country, hoping that they would make a move to drive Suna out of their borders.
Of course, Ishiro would not accept such a mission. For every day that Suna occupied the towns of the Land of Bears, their image would worsen by a day. This was a good thing for Iwagakure.
As a rising power, it was difficult for Iwagakure to become the new hegemon. Both face and substance had to be taken into account. Without real benefits, Iwagakure could not rise; without a positive image, it would be easily boycotted by the collective.
Annexing the Land of Demons was the substance; Iwagakure could obtain tangible benefits. Tolerating Suna was the face; Suna's actions could serve as a foil to Iwagakure's image.
In fact, Ishiro also knew what Suna was thinking. Suna was not really losing out either. Taking advantage of the big momentum that Iwagakure had created before, occupying those towns and grabbing some money could also increase the village's income.
In any case, whether it was the Land of Bears or the Land of Birds, no matter how loudly they shouted, it was just verbal cannon fodder and couldn't harm Suna in the slightest. If they really wanted them to go to war, they wouldn't dare.
The current Suna was just like the Iwagakure of the Third Great Ninja War. What they wanted were tangible benefits; they didn't care much about face. At that time, Iwagakure was willing to acknowledge Konoha as the victor in order to get a sum of benefits from them. This was the same consideration.
Suna had just started a little later than Iwagakure. They were walking the path that Iwagakure had walked and succeeded on.
(End of Chapter)
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 35 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