The Flying Thunder God Technique had one advantage: as long as a mark was left and one had enough chakra, any marked location could be reached instantly. But the Flying Thunder God Technique also had a disadvantage: if a place wasn't marked, you could only look at it, unless you could touch it to leave a Flying Thunder God formula.
If you called it strong, well, without a suitable formula mark, it was more useless than an average ninjutsu. But if you called it weak, then sorry, once you were marked with a Flying Thunder God formula, you might as well type "GG."
Therefore, to solve this awkward problem, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, extended this with the ingenious concept of engraving the Flying Thunder God formula on kunai for practical combat use.
One could boldly imagine, with sufficient funds, scattering Flying Thunder God kunai all over a battlefield. Regardless of whether it was a human wave tactic or a decapitation strike—ever seen a Yasuo infinitely dashing across the battlefield? Kiting, ganking, the full one-stop service, maxed out.
Of course, there was still a rather serious problem: the chakra consumption for such infinite dashing would certainly not be a small amount. After all, how can you cast skills without mana? But Naruto indicated that none of this was an issue for him.
Funds? Whether it was his own strength or the high-level sealing jutsu knowledge in his head, he could quickly accumulate wealth. Chakra reserves? That had never been a problem for him.
He had already decided: if he encountered an enemy he couldn't beat in the future, he would just flood the area with Flying Thunder God kunai and intersperse it with basic attacks maxed out. As long as the opponent had a health bar, he could wear them down to death.
Ever since Kusabimaru had been reforged with chakra metal, Naruto was full of confidence in his normal attacks.
Rouran.
Minato Namikaze, wearing a patterned mask, gazed at the towering buildings in the distance, a flicker of surprise inevitably flashing through his eyes.
They had heard of this small country established in the desert. But the splendid scene before them was not something a small country should possess; perhaps even within the Land of Fire, few cities could compare.
"Even for an arsenal, Sunagakure has built this too luxuriously, hasn't it?" Choza Akimichi couldn't help but click his tongue.
Although there was still some distance between them, the puppets constantly shuttling between the tall buildings had already entered their field of vision.
"So many puppets. They must be dealt with before Konoha and Sunagakure engage in all-out war," Minato Namikaze said with a grave expression.
With the god-like perspective his future son had provided him, understanding the outcome of Konoha's hard-won victory in the Third Great Shinobi World War, Minato was eager to change this ending.
The Third Hokage had already deployed most of Konoha's forces to the western front. He found it hard to imagine what kind of major defeat Konoha must have suffered under such troop deployment to be pushed back to Kikyo Pass.
Upon seeing the sky full of puppets in the distance, Minato felt he might have found the root of the problem.
Perhaps it was precisely because Sunagakure's puppeteers received an endless supply of puppets that Konoha's ninja suffered heavy losses, creating defensive gaps that led to the enemy reaching their doorstep.
Of course, Naruto was unaware of Minato's thoughts at this moment.
The Ninja Academy primarily taught how to fight, kill enemies, and complete missions. Historical events were only told to them as an elective, and major historical incidents were merely summarized briefly, without detailing the cause, development, climax, and outcome.
This led to the stories Naruto told Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki of this world also being just brief summaries. It directly caused Minato to associate Konoha's defeat with Rouran as the cause.
Within Rouran, atop a high tower.
Anrokuzan felt the gradually strengthening Dragon Vein energy, the curve of his lips becoming increasingly wanton.
Soon, very soon, he would be able to gain complete control of the Dragon Vein.
But that woman, Seramu, was too shrewd. He had to find a way to get rid of her.
To be honest, even Anrokuzan himself had no confidence in obtaining full control of the Dragon Vein's energy while Seramu was still alive.
The control he currently had over the Dragon Vein's energy had been obtained bit by bit from that woman Seramu over the past year, using the "boiling a frog in lukewarm water" method.
A whole year, and he had only obtained three-tenths of it.
If he really had to grind it out like this, would his dream of dominating the shinobi world ever come true?
Therefore, the immediate priority was to find a way to eliminate Seramu and put her daughter, Sara, on the throne. The means couldn't be too obvious. If he truly pushed Seramu too far and she manipulated the Dragon Vein energy to crush him directly, he wouldn't even have a place to cry.
"Hmm?"
Anrokuzan, who had just been fantasizing about his bright future, frowned. He had lost contact with several puppets.
"Could it be that a certain component malfunctioned?"
Accidents where core components failed, causing chakra transmission problems and leading to puppets losing contact, happened from time to time.
When production volume increased, it was difficult to guarantee quality.
Plus, those manufacturing these puppets were commoners who knew nothing about puppet craftsmanship; a higher failure rate was somewhat inevitable.
He was just about to have someone retrieve the disconnected puppets for inspection.
Another ten or so puppets lost contact.
Anrokuzan instantly understood. It wasn't a problem with the puppets' quality; rats had infiltrated.
"Sunagakure? Or Konoha?"
His face turned grim. A year was still a bit rushed. Although he had accumulated quite a few trump cards, directly facing one of the Five Great Hidden Villages still made him a little apprehensive.
At this moment, how he wished those rats were just wandering ninja who had stumbled in by accident.
"They vanished…"
Anrokuzan turned his head towards the northwest, the direction where the puppets had lost contact.
While contemplating countermeasures, he walked towards the high tower where Seramu resided.
He was now a man with an organization. If ninja invaded, he certainly wasn't the one who should be most worried.
At her desk, Seramu was processing Rouran's governmental affairs one by one.
"Your Majesty, i-it's terrible!" Anrokuzan's voice approached from afar, his tone unprecedentedly urgent.
"Lord Anrokuzan, please calm yourself!" Seramu unhurriedly put down the document in her hand and inquired, "What has happened to make you so anxious?"
"Ninja have invaded from the northwest! They've destroyed more than fifty puppets! That's the wealth of the people of Rouran!" Anrokuzan wailed, recounting the invaders' various atrocities.
He looked like an innocent young girl who had been seduced and then cruelly abandoned by a scumbag, tearfully complaining to her parents about the scumbag's wicked deeds—as heartbroken as could be.
Seramu ignored him, instead closing her eyes as if sensing something.
"Take your puppets and go meet these enemies from afar," she said gravely after a moment, opening her eyes.
"…" Anrokuzan stared at her blankly. This wasn't how he had envisioned things!
"Yes!" Seeing the Queen's icy gaze directed at him, he hastily complied.
In an underground space, Minato's team of four quietly discussed the recent events.
"Don't you guys think there's something off about the puppets here?" Choza Akimichi asked.
"Surprisingly weak," Kakashi stated.
"Indeed," Shibi Aburame nodded slightly.
Just as Minato Namikaze was about to offer his own opinion, he was interrupted by a cold female voice.
"Ninja from afar, why have you appeared in Rouran?"