Frustration

Upon returning to the camp in high spirits, Yichen immediately immersed himself in the practice of Lightning Release. With his mastery of Water Release, creating a lake for training was a piece of cake for him.

Yichen used Earth Release and Water Release to create a standard circular lake, and then evenly erected 100 thin earth pillars around the lake.

In the center of the lake, Yichen a small platform. Standing on the platform, he used the C-rank Ninjutsu, Lightning Conduction Lightning Conduction, Yichen strike dozens of small earthen pillars along the lake's edge.

However, none of these dozens of small earthen pillars were hit under Yichen's precise control. They were simply affected by the blast wave when the Lightning Conduction swept across in one direction.

This is quite awkward. To put it simply, Yichen's score was 0. Saying 0 might be an understatement; to be precise, it was negative several tens. Because hitting those few tens wasn't Yichen's intention.

"This... it feels like cultivating this Lightning Release Stimulation Method is like developing a second attribute—it's a long way off!"

The difficulty of practicing Lightning Release made it impossible for Yichen not to feel uncomfortable, because after several days, Yichen's performance was still negative. Let alone precise control, Yichen couldn't even keep the Lightning Release around the platform in the center of the lake and prevent it from affecting the edge of the lake.

What upset Yichen even more was that Kitsuchi gave him some information today, saying that the Cloud ninja knew he could use the Porcelain Release technique.

"How could this be?" This was Yichen's first reaction upon hearing this information. He had clearly silenced them, even destroying the ruler.

Yichen's first thought was White Zetsu. Yichen didn't think he had made any mistakes, but he was aware of White Zetsu's abilities. It was an intelligence issue, so Yichen's first thought was White Zetsu.

However, Kitsuchi was unaware of the existence of White Zetsu, and he believed it was Yichen's own problem. After listening to Yichen's description, Kitsuchi quickly pointed out the mistake Yichen had made.

"That Chunin been out of your sight for quite some time now. Haven't you considered that he might have left any clues?"

Then Yichen was dumbfounded; he had never thought of such a thing before.

It's not that Yichen lacks intelligence, but rather his awareness. Yichen can accept covering for his companions, but he still cannot accept the mindset of using himself as bait to protect intelligence.

This is considered a blind spot in knowledge.

In the previous life, everyone was amazed by Kisame Hoshigaki's willingness to risk his life for information.

But in the ninja world, this is actually the norm. Especially for ninjas who go into enemy territory to gather intelligence, it's a required course for them. Because sometimes intelligence is more important than life itself.

Furthermore, there's another point: in some situations, life is certainly not guaranteed to be saved, but intelligence can still be transmitted.

"The best course of action at the time was not to search for clues, but to ambush anyone who might come looking for them. Alternatively, you could Interrogation and find out where they hid the information."

Upon hearing this, Yichen nodded, because no one could be sure how many clues that Chunin would leave behind. The search would be endless.

As for Interrogation, Yichen felt that this method was not easy either. The other party was so determined to ensure that the information was not lost, even if it meant death. This kind of obsession was too deep. Just a few questions would make the other party break the Genjutsu.

Unless Yichen's mental strength is so powerful that he can directly ignore this obsession, he would probably need to give himself a pair of Sharingan and then use Interrogation Genjutsu amplified by the Sharingan to achieve this.

Although their Lightning Release training made little progress and they even leaked their intelligence, the Eastern Army at least successfully attracted the attention of the Cloud ninja, which can be considered as achieving their initial objective.

If Yichen had taken swift and decisive action against the Cloud ninja when the camp was first established, the Cloud ninja wouldn't have seen anything wrong with it, and their reaction wouldn't have been so extreme.

However, the Eastern Army first expressed goodwill by driving them away without killing them, but now they are inexplicably attacking the Cloud ninja deadly force. This makes it impossible for the Cloud ninja any doubts.

Moreover, recently, Konoha and Iwa ninja have opened a trade route within the territory under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Army.

So the Cloud ninja wondered, "Is Ōnoki up to his old tricks again?"

The Cloud ninja's counterattack was slow, partly out of caution, fearing some secret deal between the Iwa ninja and Konoha, and partly because of the distance, separated by the sea.

If the Land of Earth hadn't just joined the Land of Lightning in declaring war on the Land of Fire, the Raikage would definitely have thought that Ōnoki had sided with Konoha.

Although the Cloud ninja were a little slow to act, they eventually dispatched troops.

The Cloud ninja dispatched a force of two thousand men.

However, instead of landing directly in the Land of Earth, they landed on a small island off the northwestern coast of the Land of Iron under the pretext of escorting a daimyo's envoy to meet the daimyo of the Land of Iron of Land of Iron.

Although this small island does not belong to the Land of Earth, it is very close to Land of Earth. Since Yichen's chosen camp is in this area, the two sides have officially begun a standoff.

As Yichen had predicted, Konoha reacted as soon as the Cloud ninja arrived in the Land of Iron. Although the Konoha Camp where Minato Namikaze was located was not abandoned, about a third of the ninjas were transferred to other battlefields.

Seeing Konoha's reaction, Yichen breathed a sigh of relief. Under these circumstances, Minato Namikaze would definitely not attack him.

The Cloud ninja's invasion of the Land of Iron, with its target being the Iwa ninja, has attracted considerable attention from various countries, though the reasons behind it are currently unknown.

We can't ignore this. The current situation is four against one. If the Cloud ninja and the Iwa ninja clash, the favorable situation will be lost. Regardless of whether the Cloud ninja and the Iwa ninja actually engage in a full-scale war, neither country can focus all their efforts on Konoha.

So Yichen's disturbance actually calmed down the other battlefields a bit. But this calm was only temporary. Seeing that Yichen's side hadn't really started fighting, everything quickly returned to normal. Moreover, to avoid any unforeseen complications, the Sunagakure were inclined to expand the scale of the war again.

For Yichen, he successfully attracted the attention of the Cloud ninja without a large-scale battle breaking out, and Konoha adopted a stance of non-interference, which was the best possible outcome.

"There should be a few days of peace and quiet that we can take advantage of."

Lightning Release training needs to be maintained, but there won't be much progress. His Lightning Release Chakra is too low, and it will take a long time to learn a new C-rank Lightning Release. Developing Fire Release would probably be even more troublesome, and with war imminent, Yichen turned his attention to Natural Energy.

The biggest gain from the Jashin Cult was Natural Energy. My affinity for Natural Energy increased significantly, which can be said to have brought me from zero to one.

So now Yichen remembered the bug that Natural Energy could give ordinary ninjas the ability to fight against quasi -Sage.

In Yichen's original memory, one characteristic of Natural Energy is its domineering nature.

To harness Natural Energy, one must first have a vast amount Chakra, which is far from sufficient for Yichen's small frame.

Secondly, one should try to get as close to nature as possible. Previously, Yichen didn't even have the mind to cultivate, not for any other reason than that his intimacy with the Natural Energy was too low.

Thirdly, one must be able to sense Natural Energy. This was originally the most difficult part because of the objective reason that Natural Energy is scarce in the Ninja World, but now it has become the simplest, as a single seal can solve the problem.

The first point is that he can only wait for his body to slowly grow. The Body changes brought about by the Porcelain Release are still ongoing, and Yichen doesn't know where his limit is, or whether he will be able to cultivate Senjutsu after he finishes growing. But the preparations for the second point can begin.

In the original work, Naruto's training in Senjutsu was described in several steps. However, these involved divine artifacts like Toad Oil and Black Rod, Yichen couldn't rely on. But Naruto's method of training his mind was worth trying.

Naruto's training in Sage Mode involved three stages: first, absorbing Natural Energy with the help of Toad Oil; second, absorbing Natural Energy without relying on Toad Oil after mental training; and third, utilizing Senjutsu Chakra.

Because of his Sensory Ninjutsu, Yichen can skip the first step and directly cultivate the second step within the barrier sealing Natural Energy. However, there are two problems: one is the need to train his mind, and the other is how to absorb Natural Energy.

The method for training the mind is readily available; there's a method from Naruto's original work, Yichen can just copy it.

However, the question arises as to how to absorb Natural Energy. The original text doesn't mention it, and Yichen doesn't know how to do it either.

Don't think this is simple. Ninjas have never had the experience of absorbing external energy during their training. Ninjas can only replenish their energy through food.

Yichen had pondered this question. Perhaps the mysterious Chakra itself was connected to nature; otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why eating such a small amount of food could produce inhuman destructive power.

However, Yichen was only a Jonin, not Sage, and had not yet reached the level of analyzing the principles of Chakra. He only needed to know the result.

So how exactly should we absorb Natural Energy? Perhaps we can learn from Dango when we reach that point.

Without hesitation, Yichen used Earth Release to create two Stone Cones that Naruto used for training in the original story. The tops of the Stone Cones were pointed, and Yichen placed a wooden board on top of the Stone Cones to practice his balance.

Unlike Naruto, Yichen isn't very tall, only about 1 meter, mainly to prevent him from falling to his death. The reason for making two is that the other one is for Dango.

The Shironeko was very curious about what Yichen was up to, and together with Yichen's three disciples, they surrounded the man and the cat.

Watching Yichen and Dango struggling to maintain their balance on top of the Stone Cones without using Chakra, the three little ones whispered among themselves.

Tomoko asked the Shironeko, "Shironeko Sister, what is the teacher doing?"

The Shironeko said, "Your teacher said it's about practicing how to calm the mind and how to connect with nature."

Kajiyamari then asked, "Shironeko -senpai, why does Dango need to train too?"

"I guess it's related to Natural Energy?" the Shironeko wasn't sure either.

"Should we practice too?" This time it was Kawakita who asked, feeling that practicing this might be helpful for his swordsmanship.

"I don't know either. Let's ask Yichen after he finishes his cultivation."

Just then, Yichen fell off the Stone Cones, and the three disciples rushed over to inquire about the situation.

Having failed to achieve any results in his cultivation, Yichen didn't know how to explain it to his three disciples, so he vaguely replied, "I'll explain it to you after I succeed in my cultivation."

The Shironeko ignored Yichen; her Dango was still struggling on the wooden board.

Although the wooden plank kept swaying from side to side at the top of the Stone Cones, the Dango never fell down.

Cats have a strong sense of balance, and since Dango has absorbed a lot of Natural Energy, although she is far from being able to remain completely still like Naruto later on, she is much better than Yichen.

Seeing this, the Shironeko became curious and asked Yichen, "Yichen, why did you fall, but Dango is alright?"

Yichen was speechless. Did he expect him to answer that he was inferior to a cat?

Dango's strength has improved much faster than Shironeko's; now, in terms of speed alone, she can be rated Special Jonin. Her other weaknesses are also gradually being addressed.

But in the end, Dango is just a Ninja Cat. How could an Elite Jonin by a Ninja Cat? Wouldn't I lose face if word got out?