Konoha

A massive cliff face, below which lies a bustling village, with three human heads carved into the cliff face.

That's right, this is Konoha. After leaving Iwagakure, Yichen didn't go to the Land of Water, but came to Konoha.

Yichen chose to come to Konoha at this time, naturally hoping to take advantage of any loopholes, since there are very few high-level combatants left in Konoha.

Among them, Minato Namikaze, whom Yichen feared the most, was not in Konoha.

While Konoha has a frightening number of ninjas capable of Kage-level Combatant, fortunately, each of them has their own weaknesses.

At this point in time, neither the Legendary Sannin nor Minato Namikaze are in Konoha. Among all the Kage Level in Konoha, only Kushina Uzumaki is likely wandering around the village.

Other characters like Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō Fugaku Uchiha wouldn't wander around the village.

Yichen felt relatively safe.

As long as something goes wrong, he should fly away immediately. Yichen didn't think Konoha was a place where he was bound to die.

Yichen dared to infiltrate Konoha because of two main advantages. First, he possessed Ninjutsu that could suppress Chakra fluctuations, allowing Yichen to remain infiltrated within the Konoha while maintaining a certain level of combat strength.

Secondly, there's the Mind's Eye. The amazing thing about this S-rank Ninjutsu is that it's like seeing with your eyes and hearing with your ears, without consuming Chakra. Therefore, using Mind's Eye doesn't require worrying about revealing your ninja identity.

The only risk Yichen has to take is the moment he enters Konoha. Yichen cannot bring any Sealing Scroll, nor can he have a single Chakra in his body.

Otherwise, Konoha's Sensory Barrier would definitely have detected it.

At the same time, because Yichen entered Konoha disguised as an ordinary person, he was not allowed to carry any weapons.

Therefore, Yichen was at his weakest at that moment. Fortunately, he was Yichen and nothing unexpected happened when he entered Konoha.

Upon entering Konoha, Yichen immediately went into a tavern to practice his Chakra.

This process is risky. If the Konoha Perception Team's irregular village-wide scan happens to pass over Yichen at that moment, the unfamiliar Chakra source on Yichen, which has reached the Quasi-Kage level, will immediately trigger Konoha's highest-level alarm.

Fortunately, Yichen had done his homework before arriving, and this time was exactly when the Konoha Perception Team changed shifts. Yichen knew that the Konoha Perception Team wouldn't be conducting a time-consuming village-wide scan at this time.

After refining his Chakra, Yichen immediately used Ninjutsu to suppress Chakra fluctuations. Then, as if nothing had happened, Yichen left the tavern, circled around, and carefully observed the surroundings using Mind's Eye.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual in the surrounding area, Yichen finally breathed a sigh of relief. The infiltration was successful.

Yichen Konoha with a caravan, and although he only had three days, he had many things he wanted to do.

Taking advantage of the early hour, Yichen first arrived at the current settlement area of the Uchiha Clan. The reason Yichen dared to do this was simple: the Uchiha Clan had just relocated, and there were still other civilians living nearby.

Because the Uchiha Clan needed to build houses, there were also many civilians and ninjas in this area doing things like building houses.

Yichen had prior knowledge of these matters, so even though he was in the Uchiha Clan's gathering area, Yichen wasn't afraid of being exposed.

However, Yichen didn't go deep inside; he just strolled around the perimeter.

Yichen came to Konoha primarily for two people: Izumi Uchiha and Sokai Uchiha.

Yichen had long ago instructed the Intelligence Department to keep an eye out for kind-hearted children within the Uchiha Clan. These two were young but kind-hearted children from the Uchiha Clan whom the Intelligence Department had reported to Yichen.

Of the two, Izumi Uchiha is a girl, currently 5 years old, and a first-year student at the Ninja Academy. Sokai Uchiha is a boy, a year younger than Quan Luo, and will be entering the Ninja Academy in a month.

Yichen hoped to encounter one of these two people. This was Yichen's biggest goal for this trip. If either of them appeared in front of Yichen at this moment, Yichen would not hesitate to expose himself and capture the other person.

Anyway, we're already very close to the edge of Konoha. If we act quickly, even the Kage-level experts of Konoha might not be able to react in time.

Unfortunately, Yichen's luck seemed to be not very good. He didn't encounter Izumi Uchiha or Sokai Uchiha, but instead met a pair of unlucky best friends.

"What the hell? Why is Kushina Uzumaki here?" The newcomers were none other than Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto Uchiha.

Yichen couldn't understand why the Konoha High-ranking officials would allow the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to get so close to the Uchiha Clan. All Yichen knew was that he had encountered the last person he wanted to see.

Upon seeing Kushina Uzumaki, Yichen Yichen didn't entertain any particular thoughts. He had considered releasing the Nine-Tails into Konoha, like Obito, to deliver a devastating blow to the Konoha, hoping to eliminate at least one Hokage!

However, Yichen knew his own limitations. He might be able to defeat Kushina Uzumaki through various unorthodox methods, but it would definitely take a long time. In the end, he would surely be killed by Kage Level assassin who would arrive from Konoha.

So Yichen naturally turned his head and left in another direction.

Kushina Uzumaki was chatting with Mikoto Uchiha and didn't pay attention to Yichen.

"Nine-Tails must have sensed my malice. I hope Nine-Tails won't expose me. I remember Nine-Tails and Kushina didn't seem to get along very well."

The worst-case scenario that Yichen feared did not happen, and the two best friends Earth Flow the area where Yichen had just been.

Yichen breathed a sigh of relief. He guessed that there were too many people in Konoha who harbored ill will towards Nine-Tails or Kushina, and Nine-Tails had probably gotten used to it.

Yichen left the Uchiha Clan's territory and headed towards the tavern.

Suddenly, a father and son dressed in green bodysuits ran upside down from Yichen's Yichen and then quickly left from his right.

Yichen didn't move. Although he felt extremely unlucky, having encountered two Konoha ninja with Kage-level Combatant in such a short time, he calmly walked back.

He kept telling himself, "Konoha is too dangerous."

Hurry back to the tavern, or we'll be in big trouble if we run into Hiruzen Sarutobi's out observing the people's conditions.

Yichen breathed a sigh of relief after returning to his room at the tavern. He was so unlucky; if his Mind's Eye observation hadn't missed the problem, he would have thought he'd been exposed.

Yichen did not leave the tavern that afternoon, and did not come out again until after dark.

Yichen's target this time was Orochimaru's residence. Given Orochimaru's cautious nature, there shouldn't be anything confidential there. But in Yichen's eyes, besides the Ninjutsu Scroll recording various Forbidden Technique, the most valuable thing in Konoha was Orochimaru's research.

Even though he knew there shouldn't be anything in Orochimaru's house, Yichen still wanted to go and take a look, hoping to get lucky.

The journey was fraught with danger but ultimately safe. With his Mind's Eye observation skills, Yichen was able to evade danger from time to time, even though he occasionally needed to use Chakra to dodge. As long as he wasn't detected by Konoha's barrier, there weren't any major problems.

Orochimaru himself was still conducting his Human Experimentation in the Land of Whirlpools, and there was no one else at home. Yichen's infiltration went very smoothly.

Orochimaru's house was a two-story building. After Yichen entered, he went upstairs first, quickly searching through it before moving on to the first floor. After searching both floors without finding anything, Yichen began to examine the ground floor.

Based on Yichen's understanding of Orochimaru, even in his own home, Orochimaru would definitely have another hideout underground.

Yichen used his Earth Style: Earth Submergence and began to explore underground.

This process is naturally easy to expose, and being exposed underground means that Yichen loses its greatest advantage: flight.

Fortunately, the risk was worthwhile; Yichen encountered the seal not long after he descended.

"Huh, it's still the Five Elements Sealing Jutsu?" Although Yichen could break a different seal, it would take him some time to analyze it. But with the Five Elements Sealing Jutsu, Yichen circled around it for a bit and found a hidden door left by Orochimaru, then entered the seal from there.

The moment Yichen entered the seal, he was prepared for battle, after all, this was Orochimaru's residence. But Yichen was overthinking it; Orochimaru's place had no defenses whatsoever.

However, Yichen, who hadn't encountered any danger, wasn't very happy, because no danger meant no gain.

The basement wasn't large, only about the size of a small room, and Yichen could see the end at a glance. There weren't many things inside either, which Yichen had expected, because Orochimaru's stomach seemed to be able to hold anything; his own body was the biggest warehouse.

But Yichen was not willing to give up, so he carefully searched through the entire place. He first searched all the hidden places, but found nothing. Finally, he found two scrolls directly on the table.

Yichen was somewhat speechless; the two scrolls were placed in the most conspicuous spot. Judging from their location, Orochimaru was probably recording something before his last departure.

Yichen carefully opened it and took a look.

"Is this experimental data?" The first scroll contained some data that Yichen couldn't understand. Yichen didn't have the Sealing Scroll with him, so he just glanced at it and put it aside.

Upon opening the second scroll, Yichen's eyes lit up immediately. "Genjutsu!"

The scroll contained the very Genjutsu that Iwagakure (the Iwagakure) lacked most, and not just one, but four in total. Of the four Genjutsu, one was rank A and the other three were rank B.

Yichen quickly began reading, but soon Yichen brows furrowed. This was because all four Genjutsu were Sharingan Genjutsu; this scroll was Genjutsu used by the Uchiha Clan after they awakened the Three Tomoe.

Yichen only glanced at them briefly before realizing that all four Genjutsu were Dōjutsu Genjutsu, which could not be Sharingan.

Undeterred, Yichen circled around again, and after confirming that he had gained nothing more, he returned to the table, memorized the contents of the four Genjutsu, and then left the room.

Even if it can't be used directly, it's still good for reference, as Iwagakure lacks everything when it comes to Genjutsu.

After Yichen left, a Little Green Snake Little Green Snake emerged from a corner of the room. It flicked its tongue in the direction Yichen had gone, then lowered its head and remained motionless. It seemed to be searching its memories for Yichen's identity.

No matter how it thought about it, it couldn't recall Yichen.

Just then, Yichen re-entered the room. The Little Green Snake realized something was wrong and immediately slithered back into the corner. But it was too late. Yichen, who had used the Lightning Release Stimulation Method, flashed to the Little Green Snake's side and grabbed it by its vital spot.

Although the Little Green Snake is Orochimaru's Summoning Beast, it is clearly different from normal Summoning Beast. After being attacked, it did not disappear directly as Yichen had expected.

Yichen guessed that the Little Green Snake was probably not summoned by Orochimaru, but came directly from Ryūchi Cave.

Although Yichen had caught the Little Green Snake, he thought about it and realized that apart from killing it, there didn't seem to be any good way to deal with it.

"Should I try using Genjutsu?" Yichen suggested to himself.