Sending a Message

Only after Ikura captured Tanimoto Naoto did he have time to communicate with Yūma, an elite Jonin from the Sunagakure Elite Jonin.

Yuzuru is not in good condition Yūma now. He had just been surrounded by five people, which had exhausted a lot of his stamina and Chakra. He was also seriously injured during the battle. Later, when Ikura used a wide-range Water Release to help him out, he was the only one who was hit.

Therefore, Yūma desperately needs treatment right now. However, the conditions on site clearly do not allow it, and Yūma does not fully trust Ikura.

Ikura knew what Yūma was thinking, so he didn't explain. Instead, he first pulled out the Cloud ninja buried by S-rank Ninjutsu from underground, confirmed their identities in front of Yūma, and then handed over the captured Tanimoto Naoto to Yūma.

Ikura used this method to show that the Iwa ninja had no ill intentions towards the Sunagakure. Ikura also stated that the Iwa ninja were willing to form an alliance with the Sunagakure to jointly fight against the Konoha and Cloud ninja.

Yūma accepted the Iwa ninja 'Iwa ninja offer and promised to convey their intention to form an alliance to the Fourth Kazekage. He then declined Ikura's invitation to return to Iwagakure to recuperate, insisting on immediately taking Tanimoto Naoto back to Sunagakure.

He definitely needed to bring the news of Tanimoto Naoto's attack back to the village as soon as possible, and the information about the Byakugan that Tanimoto Naoto mentioned was also important intelligence.

After Yūma and Tanimoto Naoto left, Yichen and the others emerged from the shadows.

Looking towards the Land of Wind, Yichen felt a little regretful. Tanimoto Naoto was a Storm Release ninja, and Yichen's next bloodline limit would most likely be Storm Release.

If we can bring Tanimoto Naoto back to the village and interrogate him properly, Yichen might be able to gain some insights.

But Yichen also knew that forming an alliance with the Sunagakure was a big deal, and that the prisoner Tanimoto Naoto was the best proof of his loyalty.

Although the fact that the Cloud ninja attacked the Sunagakure has been confirmed, this only applies to Yūma Elite Jonin. His influence in the Sunagakure is not enough to determine the village's Strategic Direction.

The opposition can directly question what Yūma says.

However, if they bring Tanimoto Naoto back, the Sunagakure will have to figure out how to deal with the Cloud ninja's provocation.

Seeing that Yichen was still looking in the direction of the Land of Wind, Ikura smiled and said, "Alright, how was today's harvest?"

Yichen withdrew his gaze, shook his head, and said, "The gains are minimal. The distance is too great, and although the Cloud ninja used several Lightning Release, they only used each one once. While we have some guesses about those Ninjutsu, completing the research and development is simply impossible."

"Moreover, the Cloud ninja used only A-rank and B-rank Ninjutsu this time. These Ninjutsu are too complex; it's impossible to learn them without dozens of observations."

"Of course, if we could observe more closely, fewer observations wouldn't be a problem, but that's impossible."

After hearing Yichen's words, Ikura felt a little regretful, but after thinking about it, she felt relieved. If it were so easy to learn B-rank and A-rank Ninjutsu, that would be too exaggerated.

It's important to know that even with a complete training method, it takes a lot of time and practice for a ninja to learn a B-rank Ninjutsu.

"Let's go back to the village first." Ikura stopped dwelling on the matter.

Yichen nodded, glanced in the Yūma had left, and then followed Ikura back to the village.

After returning to the village, Yichen began practicing Chidori upgrades, taking advantage of the approximately one month remaining before the Third Joint Chunin Ninja Exams.

Although Lightning Release Stimulation Method, Chidori, and Chidori Flow are not strictly speaking A-rank Ninjutsu developed by Yichen himself.

However, during this process of learning and developing, Yichen's mastery of the Lightning Release continued to improve.

Yichen estimated that once he completed the training of Chidori Flow, his Lightning Release would be close to meeting the requirements for Chakra Fusion training. At that point, Yichen could proceed to the next step.

Therefore, Yichen even scheduled his Senjutsu training for after the third Chunin Ninja Exams.

Of course, this also takes into account that Senjutsu is the biggest secret of Iwagakure, and there are too many ninjas from other villages in the village now, so it is not appropriate to be too conspicuous.

However, before developing the Chidori Flow, Yichen felt it was necessary to first learn a few C-rank Ninjutsu he had stolen from the Cloud ninja. This learning process would definitely help in developing his Lightning Release.

After the second round of exams, Iwagakure returned to peace, but the other major Iwa ninja Great Ninja Village were not as relaxed.

Not only did the Cloud ninja send out a few people, Tanimoto Naoto, but the Third Raikage also set up a support force in the waters near the Land of Earth.

The leader of the support team was none other than the future Fourth Raikage, Yotsuki A, and his underling Killer B.

Yotsuki A waited for the main force of the Cloud ninja who had returned directly after participating in the Joint Chunin Exams, but Tanimoto Naoto was nowhere to be seen.

Not only did they fail to obtain the Byakugan, they also lacked accurate intelligence.

The Jonin who returned with a group of Genin only said that Tanimoto Naoto had led a team to ambush the Sunagakure. It was originally agreed that Tanimoto Naoto would catch up with them after the success, but even though he tried to slow down his pace, he still didn't see Tanimoto Naoto.

Yotsuki A paced back and forth on the island, radiating an aura of irritability. No one else dared to utter a sound, except for Killer B's strange rapping that never stopped.

"You idiot brother, don't you understand? Tanimoto Naoto is finished. Byakugan's gone, and he's gone too."

Already annoyed, Yotsuki A's forehead veins throbbed as she punched Killer B on the head, stopping his rap.

After a while, Yotsuki A said, "Let's go back to the village."

Seeing that Yotsuki A had finally given up, the others breathed a sigh of relief. They had been waiting here for several days. Including the time that those returning from the exams deliberately took, Tanimoto Naoto was already about five days behind schedule.

Everyone knew something was wrong, but no one dared to provoke Yotsuki A. Now that Yotsuki A had finally decided to give up waiting, everyone else felt a sense of relief. The pressure from Yotsuki A's violent, Kage Level power was simply too great.

The Cloud ninja all cast grateful glances at Killer B he had allowed Yotsuki A to vent her anger.

Unlike the Cloud ninja's inexplicable feelings of defeat, the Sunagakure experienced both great sorrow and great joy.

First, a large number of Genin and lower scattered and fled back to the Land of Land of Wind, bringing back news that the teams returning from the Joint Chunin Exams had been ambushed. This caused panic among the Sunagakure, who speculated that someone was targeting them and trying to start a war.

After all, the Sunagakure feeling guilty right now; in the past wars, the Sunagakure was the only one that used its full strength.

None of the Kage and Jinchuriki from Konoha and Mist ninja participated, while Iwa ninja and Cloud ninja each still had one Jinchuriki hadn't been deployed.

Only the Sunagakure used Trump Card. And yet, they still haven't managed to retrieve the One-Tail.

Just as the Sunagakure Village border official was sending the message back to the village via urgent means and making some preparations for the possible war, Yūma returned, bringing with him the captured Tanimoto Naoto.

The outpost commander wasn't sure if the High-ranking officials would be thrown into a panic and lose face like he was after news of Yūma's return reached the village. In any case, while he felt embarrassed, he was mostly relieved.

Fortunately, it wasn't the Iwa ninja who attacked the Sunagakure this time. He was afraid that the Joint Chunin Exams were an Iwa ninja conspiracy. If the Iwa ninja were targeting the Sunagakure, there was a high possibility of war breaking out. The two countries are practically neighbors, and he completely ignored the small countries in between.

But now that the Iwa ninja have been replaced by the Cloud ninja, things are much easier. The Cloud ninja are unlikely to launch a large-scale war against the Sunagakure from such a distance.

In particular, the border ninjas' goodwill towards the Iwa ninja increased considerably after hearing that Yūma was able to escape danger thanks to the support of the Iwa ninja.

When Yuzuru returned safely to Sunagakure Yūma the escort of border ninjas, the Sunagakure's leadership had largely reached a consensus. Most agreed to form an alliance with Iwa ninja.

They had initially hoped that other ninja villages would be too busy with post-war reconstruction to notice the Sunagakure's predicament. However, they discovered that not only did the other Great Ninja Village ignore the Sunagakure's predicament, they also ignored their military deterrence.

The Cloud ninja dared to launch such a direct sneak attack on the Sunagakure team; it's clear they don't take the current Sunagakure seriously.

The most frustrating thing was that even the Sunagakure felt that the Cloud ninja Villagers had seized the perfect opportunity, striking right at their vital point. At the High-Level Meeting, no one even suggested retaliating against the Cloud ninja.

Therefore, after Yūma brought back Naoto Tanimoto Naoto and confirmed Iwa ninja's intention to form an alliance, the higher-ups immediately approved the decision to form an alliance with Iwa ninja. The alliance was scheduled to take place during the third Joint Chunin Exams, in Iwagakure.

As for the news about the Byakugan brought back by Yūma, the higher-ups discussed it briefly and then stopped paying attention, because the Sunagakure couldn't do anything about it at the moment. Who ultimately possessed the Byakugan was none of the Sunagakure.

After the High-Level Meeting ended, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, stood alone at the window of the Kazekage's Office, looking at the village in front of him, his mind churning with various thoughts.

Rasa, who had risen to power smoothly during the war, thought he could make a name for himself and Sunagakure to new heights. But as it turned out, he was overthinking it; when it came to managing the village, force could offer him very little help.

After the original top officials were purged, the interest groups they represented remained, and the newly appointed top officials were not much better than their predecessors. Apart from being younger, their conservative thinking was no different.

If it weren't for the Daimyo blocking a large portion of the Sunagakure's military funds, and Rasa having the advantage of mining, he could use the military funds to settle his cronies, and he might have been sidelined as Kazekage.

Thinking of this, Rasa looked at a corner of Sunagakure, where Chiyo lived in Chiyo. Rasa was dissatisfied with Chiyo because Chiyo, who was originally his greatest help in rising to power, had returned to the village and continued to live a secluded life.

This gave those old forces that he and Chiyo had suppressed a chance to rise again.

"In a few more years," Rasa thought to himself, "If only in a few more years, I could seize most of the power, and then I could deal with these people."

Then Rasa turned his gaze northward, towards the Land of Earth.

"Perhaps this alliance can accelerate the transfer of power in the village."

While the situation in the Cloud ninja and Sunagakure was only slightly turbulent, it was a real spectacle in the Konoha and the Mist Village.