Public Opinion * Ren

During his Appointment Ceremony, when he opened the map to see the distribution of Tobirama Shadow Clones, he saw White Zetsu.

He then realized that it had been a long time since he had seen Black Zetsu.

Just now, right after the Appointment Ceremony ended, he expanded his search area and found its location on the border of the Land of Fire, near the Land of Water.

Anyone who has read about Obito and Kakashi's past would know what's there.

After Black Zetsu escaped, he probably went straight there and then sent White Zetsu out from there.

But there was only one White Zetsu. Izuna scanned the map again and, after confirming this, his expression turned strange.

I remember there were so many White Zetsu, right? This guy should be severely injured by my amnesiac self and unable to wander around on his own, right? Why not send more White Zetsu to gather intelligence?

As the king of survival in the Shinobi World, he shouldn't be so arrogant as to think that one ninja can gather enough intelligence.

Why is that? Could it be that White Zetsu requires some kind of condition to be deployed? Come to think of it, before the Fourth Shinobi World War began, the White Zetsu army that appeared beneath Obito and the others seemed to be standing there motionless.

So, it seems there are indeed conditions required? Sending only one means Black Zetsu is so weak that they can only use one White Zetsu for fun, and sending more would be a burden?

Eh~ now's the perfect time to seal him away, right?

Speaking of seals, he thought of Mito. Of all the Sealing Jutsu developed for Black Zetsu, only Konoha, as the Mito of the Uzumaki Clan, possessed the ability to create such techniques in the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

He had asked her to do this before, but he didn't know how it was going.

Halfway there, he stopped and turned into Sweets Shop to buy two boxes of Mizuyōkan).

Last time, because of the Netsuke issue, he cried his eyes out in Mito's Workshop. Looking back, it was really embarrassing, but Mito was tolerant of us who suddenly barged in and even took an hour out of her busy schedule to help with the testing.

He had always remembered this favor, and now it was time to repay it.

The Office door was ajar.

Izuna knocked twice on the door frame, heard a "Come in" from inside, and then pushed the door open and went in.

Mito was sitting at her workbench, with an open Sealing Jutsu manual in front of her and a cup of tea that had gone cold beside her.

She looked up and saw Izuna, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Mito- nee." Izuna placed the Mizuyōkan on the workbench. "Thank you for what happened last time. I'm so sorry for causing you so much trouble."

Mito glanced at the pastries, then reached out and pushed the box towards herself. "No trouble at all. But what happened to that Netsuke?"

"It's on my waist now." Izuna the Black Peach Wood Crow at his waist. "Since you all said it's fine, I'll wear it. It looks quite nice."

Mito stared at the Netsuke his waist for two seconds, a faint smile flashing in her calm eyes. "You're quite carefree. You're so suspicious, yet you still wear it on your body so confidently? Aren't you afraid something might happen?"

"We'll just have to deal with whatever comes our way. There's no other way; I find I feel uneasy if I'm away from it for even a short while." Izuna up a chair, sat down, and clasped his hands together above his head. "So I've come here today specifically to apologize and express my gratitude—and I also have something else I'd like to ask."

Mito unwrapped the Mizuyōkan, cut off a small piece with a bamboo skewer, and put it in his mouth, gesturing for him to continue.

"How's the formation for dealing with Black Zetsu Formation along?"

"The spell is complete." She took out a scroll, placed it on the table, and unrolled it.

It was covered in densely packed Runes. "I had Hashirama try it for me, and even he struggled to break it. I think there's no Sealing Jutsu stronger than this for capturing enemies."

"However, I'm not sure if this will work for the kind of existence you're talking about." Mito nodded.

"Black Zetsu —according to your description, it has no fixed form, can move freely underground, and its existence is closer to that of a pure Chakra aggregate. My technique is designed to seal both the physical form and Chakra, but I haven't actually tested it, so I don't know if it will work."

Izuna nodded.

"Furthermore, casting this Sealing Jutsu requires a startup time, and its stability is somewhat lacking." Mito frowned slightly. "Didn't you say it's very cunning? It'll run away at the slightest disturbance, so I'm currently researching how to make it activate instantly. But..."

Mito sighed, "There's really no way to compress it... The technique is too complicated. Even with the help of scrolls, if the Chakra flow is too fast, it will all be ruined. I've thought about suppressing the Chakra fluctuations to make them less noticeable, but that's impossible too."

"This technique can only succeed if you Teuchi without alerting them."

Izuna seemed to be deep in thought. Could it be that technique?

In one episode of Hokage, Konoha went to capture the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, and Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Shizune used a Barrier Ninjutsu together.

Does this technique have a name?

"I call it the Barrier Four-Square Formation."

Does this technique also have a detection function?

"Yes," Mito said in surprise, "The detection function was something I added to compensate for the speed and stability of spell activation. I didn't expect you to think of that too."

Izuna didn't explain why he "thought of" it, but instead pretended to look at the scroll twice before saying, "It seems it won't work. That guy is not only fast, but his detection abilities are also terrifyingly strong. Your Sealing Jutsu won't work."

Mito sighed, "I'm sorry, I wasn't of much help."

"No, that's already quite remarkable," Izuna said. "To be able to create a new technique, he truly deserves to be called a master of Formations."

So what are your plans next?

"Let's think of another way. If all else fails, I'll ask Hashirama and Madara to beat him so badly he won't dare show his face and will hide underground." Izuna held up one finger. "Anyway, I can find out where he is. We can catch him later when we have a better plan."

Mito laughed. "So that Black Zetsu is such a coward?"

"Yes, if it weren't for his possession ability, which is also difficult to detect, he probably wouldn't have even brought himself out. That's the Strength of the King of Survival in the Shinobi World."

"I don't understand. But since that's the case, I'll get back to work."

"Okay, bye-bye, Mito- nee."

After Izuna left, he found himself with nothing to do again.

Izuna left Mito's Workshop and walked slowly down the corridor.

There are Shadow Clones working for him at the Hokage Building; the documents and such have been temporarily handed over to Rokuhiko and the others.

He didn't need to worry about the Amusement Park; the patriarch of the Senju Clan personally oversaw it as the park's director.

That old man who always puffs out his beard and glares at him whenever he sees him. He may have a terrible temper, but when it comes to getting things done, he's more attentive than anyone else. Even if something were to go wrong, the old man would probably put it down.

He stopped at the corner of the corridor.

When was the last time he had nothing to do like this? It seems like it was right after he arrived, before he took on any work at the Foreign Affairs Department. He spent his days wandering between the Rehearsal Ground and the Commercial Street, freeloading off other people.

Now that I have free time, I'm actually finding it a little strange.

Maybe it's because everyone was busy.

In this era without cell phones and computers, people are the best way to kill time, but right now all my friends are busy, everyone is working hard, and I'm just wandering around here...

Um...

He took a few steps toward the Hokage Building, then stopped.

Forget it, the Shadow Clones are doing just fine; going over there now would only disrupt their rhythm.

The Sweets Shop? I only bought two boxes for Mito, and forgot to bring one for myself.

Going home... Damn it, there's nothing fun at home! Am I destined to remain a hot-blooded youth, wasting all my energy on cultivation?!

It's not impossible.

Izuna stroked his chin and decided to go to the Training Ground to train the children and see what they were doing.

Izuna strolled leisurely toward the Training Ground. The afternoon sunlight of Kasuga filtered through the leaves, dappling the stone path with light, making it feel warm underfoot.

He walked slowly, stopped briefly when he passed the Dango Shop, found the queue too long, and then continued walking.

Meanwhile, undercurrents were surging in Konoha.

An hour had passed since the Appointment Ceremony, and the crowd in the square had long since dispersed, but the fervor stirred up by the speech Hashirama had not yet subsided.

Some of the Ninjas returned to their posts, some went to the Mission Hall, some continued to make purchases, and others returned to their respective clan territories to report on the matter.

They went about their business as usual.

They were doing tasks, shopping, and taking care of their children. But the way they talked had changed. Their voices were lower, and their tones were more urgent, as if they were repeatedly confirming the same thing.

"Did you hear that? The Five-Year Plan," the middle-aged man who had lost a hand shared with the Cloth Shop owner. "It says there's a re-employment rate of at least 70% for those Ninja have suffered injuries or disabilities."

"Does that include us?" the Cloth Shop owner asked in a low voice.

"Aren't we the ones who are cruel Ninja?"

The Cloth Shop owner sighed, "I could give up on that, but my second son is only nineteen this year. If he could really find another job..."

"The results haven't been posted yet, so the policy is still uncertain."

"I know, but Lord Madara said that in front of everyone, it can't be a lie, can it?"

The same unrest spread within the Ninja clan in a different form.

The Elders of the Senju Clan Compound sat around in the Council Hall, breaking down and analyzing the detailed rules that Ban had read aloud on the stage, word by word.

What does "the Council of Clan Representatives" mean? What does "the Supervisory Committee" mean? With each fragment of the sentence, the silence grows longer.

After a long silence, someone finally whispered, "So they're changing the Clan Rules into village rules?"

No one refuted it, and no one agreed.

Even those who weren't there could hear the deafening cheers.

Even if they object, those young people won't listen to them.

In Ordinary People household, a man returned home and told his wife, "Ryōko, they said the Ninja Academy is open to all races!"

"They mentioned this before, didn't they?" Ryōko said dismissively. "Isn't that all their Ninja business? What does it have to do with us?"

"They said that all races include us commoners!"

"Ah?"

"Ryōko, can our family's children learn Ninjutsu too?" The man gazed longingly at the distant Amusement Park, now completely exposed after Hashirama's Ninjutsu removed the obstructions. "Such powerful strength... if only he could learn it..."

"Stop daydreaming, who knows if that's true?" But despite saying that, Ryōko still looked into the distance with her husband, their eyes filled with longing.

And these messages are spreading outwards at a different speed.

The Samurai and Ninjas accompanying the Delegation sent their first wave of intelligence back to their respective villages using Summoning Techniques, coded messages, and encrypted scrolls.

The intelligence reports varied in content, but each one carried a similar sense of astonishment and contemplation.

This intelligence will travel along mountain roads, waterways, and on the wings of birds, towards the Four Nations of Earth, Thunder, Wind, and Water, and will gradually reach the hands of the high-ranking officials of each kingdom and the leaders of each village in the following days.

Those in high positions would repeatedly read these encrypted texts, trying to discern Konoha's true intentions.

They wouldn't believe it, but it was the truth, and even if they didn't want to, they would begin to think about the significance of Ninjas to the country.

Just as Konoha was in turmoil, Wakako and Hinata Rei met.

It was an inconspicuous street corner scene in the Amusement Park.

According to Izuna's plan, Rei only needed to stand by the roadside in the costume from the play. She didn't need to perform; she could do whatever she wanted, whether it was reading or practicing hand seals, as long as she made some movements.

Lian was very obedient. At this moment, she was practicing the moves of Gentle Fist on the street. Each move was Isshiki fierce and graceful.

With the deliberately chosen framing behind her, it was as if she were dancing under the flowers, a scene as beautiful as a painting in Wakako's eyes.

Wakako slid off the Summoning Beast and quickened her pace toward this spot. The hem of her yukata trailed on the stone path, fluttering in the wind as she walked. Her maidservant cried out anxiously, "Your Highness, be careful!"

"Ren!"

Seeing this, Lian immediately stopped, but before she could even bow, Wakako grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

Lian's shoulders stiffened for a moment, her hands hanging in mid-air, unsure of where to put them.