Chapter 80: The Sensing Rain Technique and a New Jutsu
"Yahiko, why did you tell them so much?"
On the way back, Konan couldn't help but ask. Nagato was also very curious and turned his head to look at Yahiko.
Yahiko, however, smiled wryly. "I don't know why either."
"Maybe... maybe it's because he acknowledged us!"
Nagato said, "Were you thinking of asking them to join us?"
Yahiko smiled. "I did have that thought."
Konan said worriedly, "But we don't know them at all."
Yahiko said, "Don't you two feel that Genichi-kun seemed like someone we've known for a long time?"
Konan and Nagato were both taken aback. They thought back carefully and both nodded.
"Could it be that they've seen us before?" Konan pondered, then suddenly said in alarm, "Could they be spies from some village who noticed us a long time ago and have been observing us?"
Yahiko thought for a moment and shook his head. "It doesn't seem like it."
"There's no dark aura around Genichi-kun. I feel that he's very confident, very powerful."
Nagato suddenly said, "Jiraiya-sensei!"
Konan was puzzled. "Jiraiya-sensei?"
Yahiko's eyes lit up. "That's right, it's that kind of feeling."
Konan said, "Are they Konoha ninja?"
Nagato nodded. "There is that possibility."
Yahiko smiled. "Regardless of whether they are Konoha ninja or not, as long as they agree with our ideals, then they are our friends."
Nagato and Konan looked at each other, then said, "Yahiko, then shall we bring some gifts and visit them again tomorrow?"
Yahiko immediately nodded. "Alright, it's settled!"
...
Back at the wooden house, faced with Uzumaki Ina's question, Genichi smiled and asked in return, "Faced with a group of sword-wielding bandits, do you think you could persuade them to let you go?"
Ina shook her head. She had experienced the chaos of war in her childhood, been displaced, and lost her father not long after, only to fall into endless darkness in the Village Hidden in the Grass. In terms of experience, what she had been through was perhaps even more hopeless than what Yahiko and his friends had.
Would those people in the Grass Village understand her pain? Would the people who invaded the Land of Whirlpools understand the pain of the Uzumaki clan? If the Land of Whirlpools had possessed the same power as Konoha, would it have been destroyed?
Ina felt that the ideas of Yahiko's group were too naive. But she didn't mock them. She even felt a certain empathy and could understand why they had such thoughts. Only those who have experienced the suffering of war could give birth to such naivety, because it came from a bone-deep hatred of war and slaughter, and a longing for peace.
Genichi sat down, took a slow sip of tea, and looked at the lines of rain outside. He said leisurely, "Actually, their ideas are not impossible to achieve."
"The prerequisite is that their strength is sufficient."
Ina was puzzled.
Genichi smiled. "If they had the strength to suppress the entire shinobi world, like Senju Hashirama did back then."
"If you encounter someone who refuses to submit, it's no matter. You can beat them into submission. You don't have to kill them, and you don't have to start a war."
"But if you are weak and powerless, everyone will come and bully you."
"You don't have to use great power, but you cannot be without it."
"As for mutual understanding..." Genichi shook his head. "Ina, do you think a noble can understand a beggar?"
Ina shook her head.
Putting down his tea, Genichi said, "Although it's not certain that human nature is inherently evil, some people, they are truly born evil."
Ina hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then, Lord Genichi, their end will be a very bad one, won't it?"
"After all, they are so kind and so quick to trust others. In this chaotic country, I'm afraid..."
Genichi looked at Ina and asked with a smile, "Do you want to help them?"
Ina quickly shook her head. "That's not what I mean. I just feel... I just feel it's a great pity."
Help the Akatsuki? Genichi secretly shook his head. Those whose paths are different cannot lay plans together. In the chaotic Land of Rain, how could there be peace without heads rolling?
And besides, was the peace of the Land of Rain for the Land of Rain to decide? No. It was for the five great nations to decide. Or at the very least, for the Sand, Konoha, and Stone villages to decide.
If it were him, he would first annex all the large and small ninja organizations in the Land of Rain to build up his strength. Then, he would negotiate with Hanzō. Of course, negotiation would only be a means. Killing Hanzō and taking over the Village Hidden in the Rain would be the goal.
Then would come forming alliances, cooperating with Konoha, the Stone, the Sand, and even the more distant Cloud and Mist villages, to avoid war breaking out within the borders of the Land of Rain as much as possible. According to the principle of "allying with distant states while attacking those nearby," he could form a long-term alliance with the Cloud and Mist villages. As for the Sand, Stone, and Konoha, it would depend on the situation.
The Land of Rain was a land of constant warfare. He would have to survive in the cracks, growing stronger bit by bit. When he had sufficient strength, he would then beat down the great ninja villages like Konoha one by one. Hanzō had tried to do this during the Second Great Ninja War, but he had failed. And so the Land of Rain became the hell it was now.
So, the most important thing was strength, strength, and still more damn strength! If Hanzō "the Demigod" had the strength of Hashirama "the God of Shinobi," the five great ninja villages would have had to lie low. But he didn't. Perhaps the title of "demigod" had gone to his head, so he had wanted to take on the five great ninja villages by himself.
Secretly shaking his head, Genichi thought no more of it. He had no intention of interfering in the Land of Rain or helping Yahiko's group. It would be a thankless task. It was better to think about developing his own ninjutsu.
"Hmm, I'll work on a sensory ninjutsu first."
Genichi looked at the fine rain outside, and a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind.
"Ina, let's start learning medical ninjutsu!" As he spoke, Genichi stood up, created a shadow clone to teach Ina, while he himself walked out the door and onto the surface of the river.
The rain fell, fine but dense, quickly soaking his clothes. He didn't mind. He sat cross-legged directly on the surface of the river, first performing the Art of Zai, then bringing his hands together.
Just now, Genichi had thought of Nagato's Sensing Rain Technique (Ukojizai no Jutsu). This sensory ninjutsu worked by infusing one's own chakra into the rain. When the rain fell on people, one would receive sensory feedback. However, Genichi felt this jutsu was not suitable for him. After all, his battlefields would be in all sorts of environments, not just rainy places like the Land of Rain.
But the Sensing Rain Technique and this very rain had given Genichi an inspiration. Not every place has rain. But every place has water vapor in the air. Even in an arid desert, the dry air has some. So, he could just infuse his chakra into the water vapor in the air and use that for sensing. This kind of sensing could be very precise and have an extremely wide range.
However, the difficulty should be very high. Infusing his chakra into raindrops, Genichi felt, was not very difficult. But water vapor... that was on another level.
Infusing chakra into a river was a basic operation of Water Release. Forget Genichi, any genin who knew Water Release could do it. The difference was in the level of control.
Genichi started by trying to infuse his chakra into the raindrops, then proceeded step by step.
Time passed bit by bit. Genichi soon managed to infuse his chakra into the rain, perfectly merging it with the water after nature transformation. At first, he only infused his chakra into the rain around his body, then gradually expanded the range.
By the time the rain gradually stopped, Genichi could already send his chakra high into the sky to combine with the rain, covering a large area, and then sense as the rain fell. This was already the Sensing Rain Technique (Ukojizai no Jutsu)!
But Genichi was still continuing. As the rain slowly stopped, the last falling drops turned into water vapor before they even hit the ground. Genichi's senses also spread out with them. But soon, a gust of wind blew, and it dispersed. His perception quickly became blurry until it disappeared.
Genichi was not discouraged. To have reached this stage on the first day was already very good.
"The chakra needs to be more refined..."
"The next step is to make my chakra spread like ink in water vapor, to merge with the water vapor in the air."
Genichi stood up and returned to the wooden house. At this time, inside the house, Ina was practicing medical ninjutsu on a fish. They had no lab mice, and it was difficult to even catch a rabbit. They had no choice. There were plenty of fish, so this was the most convenient method. And the dead fish could be eaten, so it wasn't a waste.
At midnight, it started to rain again. Genichi created six shadow clones to continue training. The rain didn't stop until dawn. Genichi dispelled his shadow clones and created new ones to continue. He had reached a critical point.
Yesterday, he had needed the rain to evaporate to merge his chakra with the water vapor in the air. Now, he had transitioned to being able to directly inject his chakra into the abundant water vapor around him. The rainy day, with its rich water vapor, had greatly reduced the difficulty. And this step was very crucial. In fact, by achieving this step, this ninjutsu had crossed the threshold and become a proper technique.
And next was the most critical part. In an environment full of water vapor, he had to make his water-natured chakra spread out rapidly and combine with it, just like a drop of ink in a bottle of water. Genichi's water-natured chakra was the ink, and the water vapor in the air was the bottle of water. But this step was the most difficult.
And so, when Yahiko's group arrived with some gifts, they saw the scene of Genichi's numerous clones training all around. Some were on the roof, some were sitting on the river. Others were on the treetops, on the hills... this training scene was somewhat shocking to them.
"Um... it seems we've come at a bad time?" Konan said in a small voice.
Just then, Yahiko saw Genichi beckoning at the front door.
"That should just be a clone. Let's go!"
The three of them came to the door. Although they were curious about what training Genichi was doing, none of them asked.
The topic was still war and peace, and it gradually expanded to the situation in the shinobi world, the major hidden villages, and the various countries. Genichi actually had a great time chatting with them. He had nothing better to do anyway.
After lunch, Konan couldn't help but ask, "Genichi-kun, are you from Konoha?"
Genichi smiled and nodded, admitting it.
Yahiko quickly asked, "Then do you know Jiraiya, one of Konoha's Sannin?"
Genichi smiled. "Of course."
"I once learned ninjutsu from Jiraiya-sensei." As he spoke, he formed a hand seal, and his black hair immediately grew long, half-wrapping around his body like a hedgehog.
Konan was pleasantly surprised. "Needle Jizo (Hari Jizō)!"
And so, with Jiraiya as a bond, the relationship between the two sides immediately improved by leaps and bounds.
"Genichi, are you practicing some special ninjutsu?" The question that had seemed very presumptuous before, Konan couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
Genichi smiled. "I'm developing a sensory ninjutsu based on Water Release."
Developing a ninjutsu! The three of them were shocked.
"That's amazing!" Yahiko gave a thumbs-up. "I'm sure you'll complete it soon, Genichi."
"By the way, are you planning to stay in the Land of Rain for a long time?"
Genichi said, "I'll leave once the ninjutsu is complete." Actually, before Yahiko and his group had appeared yesterday, he had been planning to leave in a couple of days. But now, this environment in the Land of Rain was very suitable for him to develop his ninjutsu.
At 3 PM, Yahiko's group took their leave.
Watching the three of them leave, Uzumaki Ina asked with puzzlement, "Were they trying to invite you to join the Akatsuki?"
Genichi chuckled. "They might have had that thought before, but now that they know I'm a Konoha ninja, they definitely won't."
"Ina, what do you think would be a good name for my new jutsu?" Genichi pinched his chin in thought.
His thoughts jumped so quickly that Ina was stuck for a moment before she stammered, "Um..."
Just then, Genichi's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands. "I've got it..."
"Let's call it Heavenly Water, Boundless (Tensui Mukai)!"
To name a ninjutsu before he's even finished it... Lord Genichi is really a bit impatient! Ina complained to herself, then asked, "Lord Genichi, are we going to be staying in the Land of Rain for a long time?"
Genichi turned and asked, "What's wrong, don't you like it here?"
"But it's true, it's not that great. It rains every day. I haven't seen the sun in a long time."
Looking up at the gloomy sky, Genichi smiled. "Don't worry, it won't be too long!"
(End of Chapter)
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We cross the 400 power stone goal and as promise here the bonus chapter