Omen

A year later, after tireless efforts, Yichen's research and development team finally completed the development of more than one hundred C-rank Lightning Release and seven B-rank Lightning Release techniques.

On this day, Yichen officially handed over the position of captain of the research and development team to Qi. After a year of adjustment, Qi is now a qualified Jonin.

Qi's role in the research and development team needs no introduction. More than half a year ago, Qi, as the deputy leader of the research and development team, began to lead the team's research and development process.

Yichen's involvement in the research team was exactly the same as when he was researching Sealing Jutsu. Yichen basically just got started. For the first month, Yichen was involved in the whole process, but then Yichen realized that his presence or absence made no difference.

After that, apart from occasionally coming over to check on the progress, Yichen never participated in the actual research and development again.

Yichen once again focused his cultivation on Ranged Sealing Jutsu.

At the entrance of the research team's laboratory, Yichen glanced back at the group of people who had resumed their busy work inside, smiled slightly, and then stopped paying attention.

The research and development team will now focus all its efforts on mastering a brand-new A-rank Lightning Release. Yichen relinquished his position as team leader precisely because he saw this as a good opportunity to elevate Qi's status within the research and development team and even the entire Iwagakure.

Yichen himself is not lacking in the qualifications to develop A-rank Ninjutsu. Yichen has even contributed S-rank Ninjutsu to the village. Having one more or one less A-rank Ninjutsu will not affect Yichen.

But it's different for Qi. He's contributing a brand-new A-rank Ninjutsu to the village, and it's even Lightning Release, which the village is least proficient in. You can imagine that if Qi leads the research team to success, his status in the village will be no lower than that of Elite Jonin.

The people around Yichen have changed quite a bit in the past year.

Natsuki, the adopted younger sister, graduated from the Ninja Academy. Thanks to Yichen's strict requirements over the years, the little girl had good grades when she graduated. However, she still couldn't find a way to develop her inexplicable talent.

Natsuki graduated, and Sokai Uchiha enrolled in Liangtiancheng Zhongxing. As Yichen had predicted, although he was placed in the Advanced Class, he was always at the Dead Last of the class, a veritable second Obito.

Kitsuchi and Purple Lightning got married. Yichen remembered that when he first heard the news, his jaw almost dropped in shock.

Yichen served under Kitsuchi and Purple Lightning for a period of time, and the three were colleagues during the Third Shinobi War. However, Yichen was completely unaware of their affair. Kitsuchi got married, and Yichen didn't know if his wife in the original story was Purple Lightning, nor did he know if Kitsuchi's child would be Kurotsuchi.

While attending the wedding, Yichen discovered that his former teammates Shinohara Wada Tana, were also together. Thinking back to that Uzumaki Yumi couple, Ikura and Uzumaki Yumi, Yichen realized that in the end, he was all alone!

Just a few days ago, Ōnoki announced that he had finally completed his training in Senjutsu Mode.

Like Yichen at the time, Ōnoki was already able to complete Sage Mode within the Sealing Barrier. Most importantly, through his training in Senjutsu, Ōnoki's mastery of Dust Release had reached a new level.

Before the introduction of the Kōten Taisai and Kekkei Mōra, Dust Release's destructive power was among the top in the Ninja World. Dust Release's speed was also fast enough. The combination of the two made Ōnoki one of the most unwanted opponents among the Kage Level ninjas in the Ninja World.

However, Dust Release also has a weakness: the charging process is too slow, and the intense Chakra fluctuations generated during this process are enough to alert enemies of the same level.

Although it is difficult to dodge after Dust Release is launched, it can be predicted. For Kage-level experts, as long as they can predict the direction of Dust Release, it is not difficult to dodge.

Therefore, although Dust Release is the number one offensive Ninjutsu, it has never killed a Kage Level ninja; it can only be used to kill low-level soldiers.

But things are different now. While practicing Senjutsu, Ōnoki made connections and improved his mastery of Dust Release, greatly reducing the time it takes to cast the spell. It can be said that Ōnoki's combat power has suddenly undergone a qualitative leap.

In recent days, Yichen had even noticed a restless, eager impulse in Ōnoki's eyes. If the situation of the Ninja World nations secretly confronting each other a year ago were to repeat itself, Yichen felt that Ōnoki would be the one to actively disrupt the balance.

Now, Ōnoki desperately needs a Kage Level life to verify the power of Dust Release, his Kekkei Tōta.

What surprised Yichen the most this year was not Ōnoki's progress, but Han's change.

Under Yichen's guidance, Han began to communicate with the Five-Tails, and with the influence of his three lively disciples, Han's mindset improved.

About two months ago, when Yichen visited Han as usual, Han excitedly told him, "Advisor Yichen, Five-Tails has told me its name; it's called Kokuō."

Yichen was overjoyed. Although Dao & Ming was useless, this was a good omen, meaning that the Five-Tails Kokuō was beginning to truly accept the Han.

Even if Iwagakure doesn't have a way to make Han the Perfect Jinchuriki, Han, having gained the Five-Tails' approval, can still draw upon more of the Five-Tails' power. Most importantly, the possibility of Han going berserk in this state would be extremely small.

Therefore, Yichen persuaded Ōnoki and others at the High-Level Meeting to allow Han to take his three disciples on a mission outside the village.

The biggest changes this year were among Yichen's disciples.

The three members of Team One have all become Jonin, so there's not much to say about them.

Ogura Saki from Team Two had already undergone a transformation during the Chunin Ninja Exams more than a year ago, and in the past year, Matsutani Shinya has also crossed that threshold.

The reason, however, left Yichen both amused and exasperated.

Matsutani Shinya and Suda Himezuki previously adopted a Ninja Cat. Because Ninja Cat are black and white, Matsutani Shinya casually named the kitten Little Flower. Matsutani Shinya's attitude towards raising cats is completely different from Suda Himezuki's meticulous approach.

Matsutani Shinya managed to raise Little Flower to have the same lazy personality as him.

If he were still in Yichen's team, Yichen would have corrected him long ago. But since Matsutani Shinya currently unsupervised, he is the captain of a Genin squad himself.

However, Yichen didn't expect that his lazy personality would actually match the original nature of the Ninja Cat, and his Little Flower actually had a wonderful encounter. Although due to lack of exercise, its physique was not as good as Suda Himezuki's Little Fenghuo, but its compatibility with nature was much higher.

So one night some time ago, Little Flower unintentionally absorbed Natural Energy for the first time, just like its mother, Dango. Matsutani Shinya, Little Flower's owner, Matsutani Shinya with his own talent for being relatively close to Natural Energy, he was the first to notice this.

That's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Matsutani Shinya seems to have seen a way to win without lifting a finger in this matter, and has undergone a complete transformation in an instant.

When Matsutani Shinya approached Yichen to explain his situation, Yichen opened his mouth several times but couldn't utter a single word. Yichen genuinely didn't know whether to criticize or praise him.

After a moment of silence, Yichen directly chased Matsutani Shinya away. "Don't corrupt my new disciple."

After Matsutani Shinya left, Yichen told his six disciples who were training that after rigorous training, Matsutani Shinya was finally going to become a Jonin, just like the senior Tomoko they knew.

Upon hearing this, the six disciples were immediately filled with motivation and practiced even more diligently. Yichen nodded in satisfaction.

As a result, of the three disciples in Yichen's Team Two, only Takuya remained at the Chunin level and had not yet been able to transform.

However, Yichen didn't have a good solution to this problem. Takuya was good at speed, which didn't suit Yichen. Yichen's guidance to Takuya mainly focused on the basics.

During his two years with Yichen, Takuya only mastered the Three Basic Jutsu and solidified his basics. However, Takuya's Ninjutsu talent was too poor; he only managed to learn the Body Flicker Technique, which Yichen required, in the last year.

However, although Takuya had learned the Body Flicker Technique, he still lacked the skill to apply it in actual combat. As for Yichen's higher expectations for Takuya, the Lightning Release Stimulation Method, Takuya hadn't even scratched the surface. Takuya couldn't even master the transformation of Lightning Release Nature Transformation.

As for Takuya's guidance, not only Yichen was helpless, but almost the entire Iwa ninja was helpless as well, because the main fighting style of the Iwa ninja village was based on heavy and imposing. Takuya's pursuit of lightness and speed was something that no senior in the Iwagakure had experience in.

Yifa had originally planned to give up, but when he saw the six disciples in front of him, each with their own unique characteristics and almost none of whom had any precedent to follow, he suddenly realized that perhaps he had been too concerned about the original work all along.

Yichen had always hoped to make Takuya a speed-type ninja like Minato Namikaze, Shisui Uchiha, or the Fourth Raikage. But at this moment, Yichen felt that perhaps he could help Takuya find a completely new path.

That evening, Yichen greeted the village's defense patrol personnel, then donned the uniform of Konoha Anbu and went to cause trouble for Takuya.

This was the only way Yichen could come up with to provoke Takuya. If this trick didn't work, Yichen would have no choice but to give up.

Takuya is currently on a mission with the Iwa Ninja Anbu, but he didn't go out today; he took Takuya day off. He wasn't in a good mood because he had already heard about Matsutani Shinya's situation, and he was worried that his mindset might affect his mission, so he decided to rest in the village for a few days.

As Yichen's disciple, he knew that his attributes were not compatible with Yichen's, and he received the least guidance among the Team Two.

Although he knew he shouldn't ask for too much, he was still somewhat unwilling, especially after his two disciples, Ogura Saki and Matsutani Shinya, who were originally inferior to him, had now surpassed him. Takuya felt even more distressed.

So, as Takuya walked home after a day of training, he looked somewhat dazed.

Suddenly, Takuya, walking down a deserted street, jolted awake and instinctively lunged forward. Although he didn't turn around, he clearly felt a murderous aura locking onto him from behind, and a blade of Sword Qi flashed past the spot where he had just been standing.

This is a formidable enemy! There was no time to ponder how the enemy had entered Iwagakure or why they had suddenly come looking for him. The enemy behind him had moved again, and that palpable killing intent once more surged towards him like a tidal wave.

Takuya had no chance to turn around and could only rush forward with all his might. However, the murderous aura from behind followed him like a shadow, and Takuya found that his full-speed burst had not created any distance. On the contrary, the feeling of being pricked by needles told him that the enemy was faster than him.

Takuya panicked when his area of expertise was being crushed by the enemy, but his year in the Anbu had still tempered his character to some extent. He didn't give up. Since he couldn't match his opponent's straight-line speed, he would turn and use his agility to create distance.

As Takuya charged forward at full speed down the street, his right foot suddenly thrust to the right, propelling his entire body forward to the left with a speed comparable to a straight-line sprint.