The amount of money spent is roughly the same as what a super ninja village would invest in training a Jonin or Elite Jonin.
Qingshui is only a Special Jonin, and Chiyo is not the Third Kazekage, nor is Qingshui Chiyo's son. The fact that he's valued at this price is partly due to his status as Chiyo's disciple, and partly because of his age.
A twelve-year-old Special Jonin would be considered a top-tier genius in any ninja village.
This price is quite fitting for his current position.
"Look at you, all smug."
Chiyo shot Qingshui an annoyed look.
"For now, you don't need to rush out on missions. First, master the Lightning Nature Transformation. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask Chiran or other Jonin skilled in Lightning Release. That way, even without Puppets, you'll have full Jonin-level Ninjutsu capabilities."
"Also..."
Chiyo reached into her sleeve and pulled out a scroll.
"As an elder of the Sand Village and the head of the Puppet Force, I bestow upon you the White Secret Technique. Before you read it, you must first form the hand signs shown on the scroll's cover and perform a Sealing Jutsu on yourself, to set a seal on your upcoming memories."
"This seal won't have any effect normally, but if you are ever captured alive and an enemy tries to probe your memories, the seal will be triggered and automatically delete that part of your memory."
Chiyo's eyes were fixed on Qingshui.
Qingshui understood that this was a small test, a step towards truly entering the core of the Sand Hidden.
The White Secret Technique is the highest skill for Puppet Masters in the Sand Village, a core secret among core secrets. If a Sand Hidden ninja, when looking at such a high-level secret, didn't even dare to set a seal on themselves, then not only would they never get access to the White Secret Technique again, but their loyalty to Sand Hidden would also be questioned. They would never advance further in the Sand Village, let alone become a Kazekage or a high-ranking official.
Under Chiyo's gaze, Qingshui quickly glanced at the scroll's cover and decisively formed the hand signs.
Even if this seal were triggered, it would only delete related memories, not cause death directly. Furthermore, Chiyo having him set the seal himself prevented others from controlling him through it.
Unless Qingshui was truly captured alive someday, and an enemy used mental Secret Techniques like Shallow Brain Manipulation or Mind Body Switch Technique to probe Qingshui's brain, there would be no effect on Qingshui.
If it ever came to that point, it would essentially be no different from death, perhaps even worse.
To climb to the position of Kazekage, one must at least prove their loyalty to the higher-ups of the Sand Village.
He unrolled the scroll, and it stretched out for a full two to three meters, covered in tiny script.
This was the core content of the White Secret Technique, sprawling across perhaps one to two hundred thousand characters, with detailed descriptions.
The techniques and knowledge within were in the same vein as the Sand Secret Technique and the Forbidden Jutsu, but infinitely more profound.
This was the highest Ninjutsu secret in the Sand Village, alongside Magnet Release—a grand path that could lead a Puppet Master to become a Kage-level powerhouse.
Just a quick glance at the initial content already made Qingshui feel he had gained something.
It not only involved Puppet manipulation but also contained unique and powerful methods and techniques for Puppet creation.
Chiyo said:
"After you've memorized the content, you'll also need to study Sealing Jutsu. Many of the techniques and key points within the White Secret Technique are intertwined with Sealing Jutsu. You could say that only by mastering Sealing Jutsu can one properly, or even fully, grasp the White Secret Technique. Otherwise, your potential would be limited, at most, to someone like Ishido."
Ishido wasn't weak by any means; he could simultaneously control four Puppets, and each Puppet was of high quality, making his overall strength that of a clear Elite Jonin.
However, Chiyo's expectations for Qingshui were higher than just Ishido's level.
"I understand, Teacher Chiyo."
Qingshui nodded to Chiyo.
Chiyo's ultimate technique, Three Great Treasures Suction Destruction, was a combination of Puppetry and Sealing Jutsu, possessing immense power.
Sealing Jutsu is easy to learn but difficult to master. If one only wants to get started, they just need to memorize a series of related knowledge to try using basic seals like the light array.
However, if one wants to achieve significant progress, it's not so simple. Ishido studied for many years and still couldn't be considered to have achieved much.
Moreover, the basic Ninjutsu of the Sand Village was at the bottom among the Five Great Ninja Villages. In the original timeline, when several major ninja villages already had relatively stable seals to control Tailed Beasts, Rasa would still occasionally send his brother-in-law to test Gaara.
Regardless of whether Rasa's actions were idiotic or not, it at least proved that Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, didn't trust his own seals to properly seal a Tailed Beast.
In fact, the One-Tailed Shukaku had rampaged multiple times and been suppressed by Rasa, requiring the use of certain sealing tools to re-seal it.
However, in recent years, there haven't been any Tailed Beast rampages in the Sand Village. One reason is the improved relationship between the Jinchuriki, Bunbuku, and Shukaku, and another is that Chiyo, the only person in the Sand Village who could be considered a master of Sealing Jutsu, didn't retire and withdraw from worldly affairs as she did years later.
...
...
After being placed on the bounty list, Qingshui was also happy that Chiyo gave him time off.
Lightning Nature Transformation, White Secret Technique, Sealing Jutsu—except for the first, which might not take too long, the others would require a great deal of time to thoroughly study. Not to mention, Qingshui currently had the important project of developing Separation Breathing.
And the war's progress was smoother than Qingshui had anticipated.
Before Chiyo could even contact Kakuzu, Konoha sent a negotiation agreement.
Because the Cloud Hidden Village finally couldn't hold back and advanced towards the Land of Fire, the Land of Hot Water, which was a buffer zone between the two great nations of Lightning and Fire, didn't even hold out for three days before the Third Raikage led his forces to conquer its entire territory and stationed troops outside the Land of Fire's border, starting a major war.
Danzō and Jiraiya were in the Land of Rain, Orochimaru and Mitokado Homura were in the Land of Rivers, Kato Dan was dead, Tsunade was half-crippled, and Hiruzen Sarutobi either had to send Utatane Koharu or go himself.
And the Third Raikage's strength was evident to the entire Ninja World; he had never been defeated since his debut, and even other Kage could at most fight him to a draw. Although Utatane Koharu wasn't old yet, her strength was only so-so; simply surviving against the Third Raikage would be a feat.
Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi had to personally take the field to block the Third Raikage.
In the current Ninja World, the Third Hokage's strength was still openly ranked among the strongest. With his mastery of the Five Nature Transformations and his diverse techniques, he could consistently win against Kage-level opponents weaker than himself. Against someone like the Third Raikage, who was also at the peak of Kage-level, even if he couldn't win, he could continuously entangle them and look for opportunities.
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Read 1111+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------