Growth, Distant Journey

Since that conversation with Kakashi, research on the Lightning Cutter has officially begun.

In general, there are two main difficulties. One is the intensity of chakra output. In this aspect, Shuichi has barely met the standard by relying on his chakra compression techniques. Once his body grows a bit more in the next two years, he will be able to control it without any pressure.

Another aspect is chakra control, which is related to techniques involving Lightning Element Nature Transformation. With his current control abilities, learning these skills is no longer difficult. Once he turns nine and receives additional points from the system, the development speed of his Lightning Cutter will accelerate even further.

"Although I don't have the Sharingan, the system's third skill is much more powerful than the ordinary Three-Tomoe. I can even learn a rough outline of Kakashi's fighting style in the future," Shuichi thought to himself. "Add to that my own reaction speed and Body Flicker Technique, and as long as I play it safe, I should be fine in the Third Shinobi War."

In the following months, there seemed to be far fewer ninjas on the streets of Konoha, Shuichi hadn't seen some of the Jonin faces he remembered for a long time.

It's estimated that the battle between Orochimaru and Shuichi last time made the village pay more attention to the Land of Rivers. After discovering that Sunagakure was outshone by Konoha in the Chunin Ninja Exams, they were clearly unwilling to be left out, and the covert confrontation between the two countries began to intensify.

Orochimaru and Shuichi maintained a normal routine on their missions. Instead of heading to the Land of Rivers again, they began traveling to various surrounding small countries. There were no high-level ninja duels during these missions; most were B-Rank Mission.

In August, Konoha Year 45, amidst the peaceful ninja life, Shuichi grew another year older, and the system allocated skill points as planned, continuing to select his third skill.

"It's time for some fun skill point allocation again!"

Passive Skill (Recovery and Growth): For every year the host grows, the recovery rate of Body Energy and Mental Energy increases by 3, and all other basic attributes increase by 3 [currently increased by 27].

Third Skill (Ninja Attribute Enhancement): For each point added, the host's reaction speed and thinking speed increase by 50 [currently increased to 150].

"This feels so good." Shuichi always chose to do his skill point upgrades at the training ground, and immediately began to feel and adapt to the effects of the improved abilities afterward.

"My strength has made another small leap forward. With my current learning ability, I can start researching some other Ninjutsu."

The power of conventional Five Element Ninjutsu increases with the strength of chakra, so he can free up some time to study other things, but he hasn't decided which direction to pursue yet.

"Hiss..." A Little White Snake emerged from the nearby woods.

"Teacher Orochimaru has taken on another mission?" Shuichi seeing this and disappeared from the spot in a few flashes.

In the Hokage's Office, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Orochimaru with some doubt, wondering why his disciple had changed his personality.

"Knock knock knock... Click." The door opened, and the person who entered was none other than Shuichi.

"It's Shuichi!" the Third Hokage said upon seeing him. "You seem more relaxed lately. Have you forgotten what we agreed on before?"

"What? What did you say?" Shuichi little confused. He really didn't know what the Third Hokage was asking.

"How dare you," the Third Hokage said irritably. "Didn't you say the Fourth Shinobi World War was about to start? Minato's team has been taking on a lot of missions lately, and I was wondering why. After asking around, I found out it was you who leaked the information."

"Uh..." Shuichi looked innocent. "Isn't that right? Last time in the Land of Rivers, we encountered two Jonin in one mission. Sunagakure is clearly dissatisfied with the current situation."

As he spoke, he went on to analyze the resources and economic situation of the Land of Wind, which seemed quite reasonable. The Shinobi World was about to be thrown into a state of panic.

"Your analysis sounds reasonable, but the actual situation is far from that. It's fortunate you didn't spread it around the village, otherwise it would have caused even greater panic." After listening to him, the Third Hokage didn't blame him anymore. It was quite remarkable for someone his age to have such thinking, but he still lacked experience.

Then the Third Hokage explained to him why this argument was untenable.

The lack of resources in Sunagakure is a well-known fact in the Shinobi World, a problem that has existed since the village's founding. The First Kazekage even prioritized land over the importance of Tailed Beast, revealing an extreme desire for land, which ultimately led to his being stopped by a coalition of other major powers.

The Sunagakure already had this problem before the Second Great Ninja War.

Even so, they did not initiate a large-scale ninja war first, but waited for Amegakure to start it, and then took this opportunity to test the waters with Konoha and Iwagakure.

"You must understand that border conflicts between major powers occur frequently, but they never completely escalate into a full-blown Shinobi World war. This is especially true of Sunagakure, precisely because of its limited resources." The Third Hokage is now instructing Shuichi from the perspective of the village's Kage, perhaps also addressing Orochimaru in a way.

The missions accepted by ninja villages can benefit the village because the village takes a cut. However, the Fourth Shinobi World War was completely different, with a distinct characteristic.

That means the form of commissioning has completely changed. When it comes to large-scale wars, the village issues war missions and commissions its own ninjas to fight.

For the ninja village, this is a completely unprofitable deal, consuming all of the village's own resources without any return. Once the war starts, they will need the full support of the Daimyo's Mansion, otherwise they simply cannot withstand such consumption.

"Therefore, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Sunagakure is unlikely to initiate a Shinobi World War," the Third Hokage stated definitively. "As the Kage of a village, one must consider all aspects. Sunagakure already lacks resources; such an action would be a complete gamble."

"But then, an unexpected thing happened." Shuichi hearing this, but he definitely couldn't say it aloud; spoilers would be in big trouble.

He now admits that the Third Hokage's words were wise and mature. According to the normal trajectory, even if another Shinobi World War were to break out, it would be at least 10 years later. The Third Kazekage wouldn't dare gamble with the future of his village.

The Sunagakure is now full of skilled ninjas and has been a strong contender for the title of the second-best ninja village in the Shinobi World for many years. Even if they have fewer resources, they are unlikely to take any radical actions.

In the future, if a war breaks out, it might be similar to Second Shinobi War: first, they would instigate friction between a few small ninja villages, and then they would intervene themselves.

But life is unpredictable, and accidents can happen at any time in the Ninja World. No one could have imagined that the strongest Kazekage, whose strength overwhelmed the entire Sunagakure, would suddenly disappear. In reality, he was killed by a genius boy from his own village, and the powder keg of the entire Shinobi World was ignited.

"I see!" Shuichi said with genuine admiration. "As expected, Lord Hokage, you are truly experienced. I hadn't considered things carefully before." Anyway, he couldn't control the other Konoha Ninja; he could just focus on training his own comrades.

"It's good that you know. It's not a big deal. It's actually beneficial for ninjas to have a sense of crisis." The Third Hokage said calmly, but secretly he felt a little pleased. It felt really good to be flattered by a genius like Shuichi.

"Even so, Sunagakure still dispatched quite a few skilled individuals, especially their elite Puppeteer unit. Are you...?"

Shuichi pulled a Scroll from his bag and handed it directly to the Third Hokage. "Here, this is a summary of information about Puppeteer, including the functions of their Chakra Threads, the setup of their puppet mechanisms, and their fighting styles."

"Oh?" The Third Hokage was surprised. Shuichi was being so generous this time; it wasn't like him at all.

Since there was still plenty of time, Sarutobi Hiruzen opened it and took a look.

"Phew..." The completeness of the contents made his expression immediately become serious. It was so detailed that this information was extremely valuable to Konoha, much more detailed than what the village had previously reported.

"I won't hide it from you anymore. If the information is true, you've done a great service again." The Third Hokage felt that Shuichi was already a good child who had inherited the Will of Fire. "However, we definitely can't tell everyone that this information was your doing; it's for your safety."

After discussing it for a while, Shuichi, who was about to go on a mission and hadn't decided what area to study in his future training, told the Third Hokage that the reward would be postponed.

"Alright, now let's talk about the mission." Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't say much about it. "The mission isn't difficult, but the journey is long, so it will probably take quite a while. Since your teacher accepted it, you can ask him about the details later."

"... I see." Shuichi also felt strange. Orochimaru was the kind of person who always hated trouble, so he must have some special purpose in making this trip all this way.