Taking In

Because of Kawakita's unruly behavior, Konoha specially sent a number of Elite Jonin to the Chunin Ninja Exams venue when they began.

However, Konoha was clearly overthinking things. Kawakita didn't make any unusual moves, and the Iwa ninja who participated in this Chunin Ninja Exams were all behaving themselves. Only two of the four teams passed the first round, and in the second round, only Tomoko's team successfully made it to the central tower.

However, because Tomoko's three disciples lacked individual combat strength and were deliberately targeted by Konoha in the third round of the preliminary rounds, they all lost.

All the Iwa ninja were defeated, but a few Sunagakure made it to the finals. Neither Cloud ninja nor Mist ninja sent anyone to participate in the exam this time.

However, neither Tomoko nor Kawakita cared about the outcome. They had successfully drawn Konoha's attention, attracting many Elite Jonin to this location and reducing the possibility of Ikura's side being exposed.

Even Tomoko's three disciples were mostly excited. With their talent, being able to fight against Konoha's geniuses at this age was worth it.

Since there were no more Iwa ninja candidates after the third preliminary round, Kawakita's idea of challenging Konoha's swordsmanship masters again was rejected by Konoha. Helpless, Kawakita and the Iwa ninja candidates stayed in Konoha for another night before having to leave.

With the help of the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, the Konoha Anbu monitored Kawakita and his group until they left the border of the Land of Fire.

What Konoha didn't realize was that the day before Kawakita and his group left, Ikura's Anbu, along with thirteen Uchiha Clan children, left Konoha ahead of them.

Although Ikura occasionally encountered a few Konoha ninja squads along the way, they were all wiped out before they could even send out a distress signal due to Ikura 'Konoha Kage Level sneak attacks.

A few days later, Yichen successfully met up with Ikura and her group at the Land of Earth border. Seeing the children being held by the Anbu beside Ikura, Yichen breathed a sigh of relief.

Yi Chen glanced at Hu, who was beside him and had activated his Byakugan. Seeing Hu nod in agreement, Yichen then said to Sokai, who was standing next to him, "Go see your younger siblings."

Sokai: I quickly stepped forward, looked at this one, then at that one, reached out and poked this one's face, then hugged that one, feeling as if I hadn't done anything, yet I was too busy to keep up.

Yichen and his group waited at the border for another day until Kawakita and the others arrived in the Land of Earth, and then they headed towards Iwagakure together.

After Yichen arrived at Iwagakure, he convened a High-Level Meeting with Ikura and the others.

First, Yichen and the others discussed how to arrange for these Uchiha Clan children. Ultimately, at Yichen's insistence, the thirteen children were adopted in different places and given to childless civilians or small ninja families.

The Uchiha Clan ninjas should stop forming cliques and just go their separate ways. Stop thinking about the glory of the Uchiha Clan and just focus on providing Bloodline Ninja for Iwagakure.

Next, Yichen handed over the newly established tactical department to Ikura, allowing Ikura to directly select suitable personnel from within Iwagakure to form the tactical department.

Finally, Yichen proposed taking his disciple, Kawakita, on a trip. This reason was very compelling: Kawakita was Elite Jonin, and a young Elite Jonin. Such a genius, if it weren't for Iwa ninja and Ikura from Yichen, Ōnoki might have taken him on as a disciple and groomed him as his successor.

Therefore, when Yichen proposed taking Kawakita out to challenge sword masters to improve his skills, Ōnoki and the others couldn't object to this perfectly legitimate reason. They could only reluctantly agree.

Yichen the conference room with a triumphant air, feeling for the first time that he had achieved a fundamental victory in the High-Level Meeting.

The three new disciples were at a crucial stage in their cultivation, so Yichen decided to take them with him on this trip out of the village.

"Teacher Yichen, are we going to Kumogakure?" After leaving the village, Kawakita looked in the direction and felt that something was wrong.

They should have gone to Kumogakure by water, but Yichen led them towards the Land of the Falls instead. Yichen was planning to take the land route, which made Kawakita feel strange.

Yichen shook his head and said, "If we go to the Kumogakure, that would be an invasion. The Cloud ninja and we are neighboring countries separated by the sea. Although we have Konoha as a common enemy, we are also competitors."

"The Cloud ninja aren't stupid. Why would they train ninjas for our village? Given the Fourth Raikage's fearless nature, he might just keep us here."

"We need to cross the Land of the Falls to reach the Land of Iron. The samurai of the Land of Iron are all masters of swordsmanship."

"A samurai?" Kawakita asked thoughtfully.

At this moment, Uzumaki Riori was standing nearby, asked, "Teacher Yichen, do samurai also use Chakra and know Ninjutsu?"

Yichen said, "Early samurai only learned swordsmanship and didn't extract Chakra. Most modern samurai do extract Chakra, but they generally don't use Ninjutsu."

"But ninjas can never think like ordinary people, and there are also outliers among samurai. In fact, you've only ever seen one samurai who can use Ninjutsu."

"We've met before?" Atsumi Akino asked, puzzled. She didn't remember at all.

Uzumaki Riori and Ishinose Kiyoshi also looked puzzled.

Yichen smiled but did not answer.

"It's Hanzo," Kawakita gave Yichen the answer.

"Huh? Hanzo is a samurai? How could that be?" Uzumaki Riori looked surprised.

Yichen nodded and said, "That's right, Hanzo was born a samurai, but he broke free from the shackles of the samurai and took a path that combined the samurai and ninja styles."

"Sigh, actually, Hanzo is barely qualified to be called a demigod. Combining the strengths of two schools, Hanzo was almost unmatched in one-on-one head-on battles back in the day."

"Teacher, why are you sighing?" Ishinose Kiyoshi asked.

Yichen was silent for a moment before saying, "Hanzo's failure lay in his detachment from reality. His early success, his smooth ascent to the pinnacle of the Ninja World, made Hanzo seem less grounded."

"During the Second Shinobi World War, Hanzo was confident that he could win the title of the Sixth Great Ninja Village for Amegakure, but he failed. Afterwards, Hanzo lived in the shadow of that defeat."

"Actually, Hanzo lacked a friend. If he had had a close friend all those years ago to tell Hanzo his efforts had not been in vain, and that although Amegakure did not receive the title of the Sixth Great Ninja Village, his perseverance had already made the Five Great Nations dare not underestimate him."

"Starting from the Third Shinobi War, the Five Great Nations no longer treated Amegakure as casually as they did other smaller ninja villages. These were all changes that Hanzo brought to Amegakure and the Land of Rain. But Hanzo didn't see it that way; he always felt that his failure was that he couldn't immediately lead Amegakure to the top."

"Teacher Yichen, are you saying that Hanzo is too hasty, hasn't recognized his own strength, and is too ambitious?" Atsumi Akino said.

Kawakita stood to the side, seemingly lost in thought.

Yichen nodded and concluded, "So, you must never give up on yourselves because of one or two failures. The Ninja World is full of geniuses; only those who have the last laugh are the winners."

Since the establishment of the ninja village, how many Kage Level Ninja World? But how many of these Kage Level ninjas can live to the end? If it were like the Third Mizukage, whose life was nearing its end, that would be one thing, but the fact is that most Kage Level die in battle.

In the original story, if Madara Uchiha hadn't held back, Five Kage would have been wiped out.

Even if they successfully sealed Kaguya Otsutsuki, very few Kage Level would survive.

Those once exceptionally talented prodigies have all reappeared as Human Puppet.

Yichen felt somewhat emotional and stopped participating in the conversation between the three new disciples along the way.

A few days later, the group of five finally arrived at the Land of Iron.

The strongest in the Land of Iron is naturally Mifune, but according to ninja rankings, Mifune's strength is definitely at the Kage Level, far surpassing Kawakita's.

Yichen led the five men to change into the attire of samurai from the Land of Iron, and then equipped each of them with a well-fitting katana. They then began challenging renowned swordsmen from the Land of Iron with Kawakita.

The first expert that Kawakita challenged was a master swordsman from the border region of the Land of Iron, skilled in Quick Draw Slash.

In their first encounter, Kawakita was somewhat unaccustomed to the samurai's fighting style. Unlike ninjas, who typically probe their opponents' abilities, samurai usually opt for a quick and decisive battle.

Samurai skilled in Quick Draw Slash are experts at achieving swift victories. Kawakita's opponent unleashed his ultimate move right from the start, nearly killing Kawakita instantly.

After narrowly avoiding a fatal blow, Kawakita sustained minor injuries. Fortunately, his opponent lacked a follow-up powerful attack, otherwise Kawakita would have been dead for sure.

After several rounds of attack and defense, Kawakita finally grasped the samurai's fighting rhythm, seized the opportunity when his opponent drew his sword again and charged up, and injured his opponent with a single blow.

The opponent in the first match was clearly weaker than Kawakita, but Kawakita almost lost his life, which gradually calmed down Kawakita's impatience due to his inability to improve his swordsmanship.

As the group gradually approached the Artisan Village, the gathering place of the Land of Iron's samurai, the strength of Kawakita's opponents continued to increase.

However, despite the stronger opponents, Kawakita performed even better than before, Kawakita undefeated on the way to the Artisan Village.

Yichen's original plan was to continue with the challenge in Kawakita after arriving at the Artisan Village.

But to everyone's surprise, as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the Artisan Village, they saw Mifune leading a large group of people to greet them.

Yichen quickly led the four forward, and spoke first, "Is this Senior Mifune?"

Mifune didn't put on airs and replied, "I am Mifune. I wonder what important matter brings the Tsuchikage to the Artisan Village? The Land of Iron has always been neutral. If the Tsuchikage has nothing important to discuss, please leave."

Well, not only did they recognize me, but judging from their attitude, they don't even want me to enter the Artisan Village?

Yichen wasn't angry. The Land of Iron had always been neutral, Yichen understood Mifune's concerns. So he said, "I understand Mifune- senpai's concerns. This trip to the Land of Iron has nothing to do with the Land of Earth or the Iwagakure."

"This is my disciple, Kawakita. He loves swordsmanship, but our Iwagakure isn't particularly skilled in it, so I brought him to the land with the strongest swordsmanship in the Ninja World to broaden his horizons," Yichen said, pointing to Kawakita and addressing Mifune and the tense-looking people behind him.

After Yichen finished speaking, it was clear that most of these people breathed a sigh of relief. They were afraid that the Five Great Nations would try to drag them into the war.

Yichen spoke politely, and Mifune didn't want to argue, so he said, "Since that's the case, most of the skilled swordsmen in the Artisan Village are here now, why don't we practice our swordsmanship right here?"

Yichen had no objections. He had come from humble beginnings in both his past and present lives, so he didn't care much about such things.

Yichen nodded to Kawakita, then led the three of them, including Uzumaki Riori, back a short distance, leaving Kawakita standing in place.

Seeing Mifune also led his men back a bit. Then, Mifune gestured to one of them, and that person immediately stepped out of the crowd and came to Kawakita.

Kawakita wasn't a talkative person either; after nodding to the other side, he launched his attack.

The two were evenly matched and exchanged many rounds without a clear winner. In the end, Kawakita, relying on the abnormal thought process of a ninja, narrowly won by one move.

Seeing Kawakita's performance, Mifune's team was relieved. Kawakita's strength was not weak, especially considering he had reached this level at such a young age; his talent was truly enviable.

However, this swordsmanship certainly wouldn't tarnish the reputation of the Land of Iron. Not to mention Mifune, many among them are confident that their strength surpasses that of Kawakita. Kawakita's swordsmanship is inherited from a master, but in their eyes, it's still too immature.

Sure enough, seven or eight experts followed, each defeating Kawakita. Some experienced and powerful individuals stopped in time, while others couldn't, and Yichen intervened directly with the Banshō Ten'in.

The reason Yichen persisted despite repeated failures was because he saw a glimmer of light growing brighter and brighter in Kawakita's eyes.