Cultural Confidence

The High-Level Meeting of Iwagakure went on very late, and everyone discussed many specific methods for propaganda.

Starting the next day, the daily lives of the villagers of Iwagakure began to include a new activity: discussing the heroic figures and deeds that the village was promoting.

The initial discussion went like this:

"Do you know Nakata Hajime, the head of the Medical Department? He's the strongest Medical Ninja in our village," Villager A said boastfully to the other person who was idly hanging around with him.

Villager B directly said he didn't know and asked A to explain it to him, which greatly satisfied the former's vanity.

Unexpectedly, villager C spoke up first, "I know him well. Nakata Hajime is a relative of my neighbor's daughter's senior in school. Not only is he the number one Medical Ninjutsu in our village, but he has also developed many Medical Ninjutsu that the village didn't have before."

"Previously, our Iwagakure's Medical Ninjutsu was far inferior to Konoha's, but now the gap between us and Konoha is not that big."

"Konoha only has Tsunade, who became the Fifth Hokage because of her Medical Ninjutsu. Otherwise, it's hard to say whether our Medical Ninjutsu or Konoha's is stronger."

After finishing speaking, Villager C looked at Villager A with a provocative expression.

At this point, someone raised a question, "Really? I don't recall the village being good at Medical Ninjutsu. And what about Mystical Palm Technique? Not many people in the village know that."

Villager A quickly replied, "When did you get that news? There are tons of Medical Ninja in the village who Mystical Palm Technique these days. You could pick any apprentice and they might even Mystical Palm Technique."

The others gasped in amazement, a sense of pride quietly welling up within them.

Before long, the news that the village was no less skilled in Medical Ninjutsu than Konoha spread throughout the entire village.

Then, after most people knew the news, someone brought up a new topic. "Hehe, you guys only know that the village's Medical Ninjutsu has improved rapidly in recent years and will surpass Konoha sooner or later, but do you know anything else?"

After successfully attracting everyone's attention, the man continued, "Our Sealing Jutsu have truly surpassed those of Konoha."

"Really? Really? We've really surpassed Konoha?" Many people couldn't wait to know the details. This was driven by both their sense of belonging to the village and their desire to boast to others later.

"Of course it's true! You all know the Uzumaki Clan, right? What, there are people who don't know the Uzumaki Clan? The Uzumaki Clan were originally the masters of the Land of Whirlpools. Their Sealing Jutsu are among the best in the Ninja World. They were once allies with Konoha, and the wife of Konoha's First Hokage was also from the Uzumaki Clan."

"However, because Konoha stood idly by, the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out by a combined attack from the Cloud ninja, Sunagakure, and Mist ninja. Our Third Lord personally rescued some of the Uzumaki Clan survivors at the time."

"These members of the Uzumaki Clan brought with them their most proficient Sealing Jutsu. Therefore, our Iwagakure's Sealing Jutsu have been no weaker than Konoha's since then."

At this moment, another person interjected, "I know that. My daughter has a classmate who's from the Uzumaki Clan. I heard that the Fourth Lord even took a member of the Uzumaki Clan as his disciple this time."

The man continued, "That's right. Moreover, Konoha's Sealing Jutsu have stagnated over the years. In fact, due to the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, Konoha's Sealing Jutsu have regressed significantly."

"Our Iwagakure is the complete opposite. The Fourth Lord and his Barrier Team have been researching new Sealing Jutsu. Think about it, we've been making progress, while Konoha has been regressing. Haven't we surpassed Konoha?"

"So that's how it is. The Fourth Lord was wise." Most people believed it.

But some were skeptical. "Have we developed any powerful Sealing Jutsu?"

The man remained unfazed, stating directly, "The specific Sealing Jutsu are a ninja's secret, but one thing can prove it."

The man paused deliberately, then said mysteriously, "Among the disciples of the Fourth Lord, there was one named Kawazoe Yura. She participated in the development of that powerful Sealing Jutsu and made great contributions."

"Now, Kawazoe Yura is already the vice class leader of the Barrier Team. Just think how old Kawazoe Yura is! If she hadn't researched a powerful Sealing Jutsu, how could she have received such an exceptional promotion?"

"So that's how it is!" The onlookers felt they had discovered the truth.

For a long time afterward, the villagers of Iwagakure talked about these things.

They feel like they have good news every day:

The village's Lightning Release Ninjutsu has achieved Great Breakthrough, and its Genjutsu has also made significant progress.

Since the era of the Hidden Villages, the Land of Earth is the only country that has expanded its territory. If it weren't for the Land of Grass separating us, the Land of Earth would have long ago forced the Land of Fire and pay reparations.

The Land of Earth is the only country where you don't have to worry about wandering ninjas or bandits within its borders. I've heard that Konoha ninja have to consider hiring a ninja as a bodyguard when they go out to use the toilet at night.

Our Iwa ninja is the Great Ninja Village with the fewest missing-nin (ignoring Cloud ninja). Unlike Konoha, Konoha frequently defect, even Hokage candidates sometimes desert.

Our Land of Earth's international influence is growing Tenten, and the small and medium-sized countries around us now have very good relations with us. You know, these countries used to be close to Konoha.

We are now allies with Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, but Konoha can't even protect their staunch ally Uzushio Village.

Our village still has the Kekkei Tōta, and I heard that the Fourth Lord and his disciple Ogura Saki both developed new Kekkei Genkai. In contrast, Konoha has even lost its strongest Wood Release.

What do you mean by "lost"? It's clearly because Hiruzen Sarutobi was afraid that the Wood Release would appear and threaten his rule, so he sent the entire Senju Clan to the battlefield.

I've heard that Hiruzen Sarutobi is planning to target the Uchiha Clan, and then his Sarutobi Clan in Konoha.

Isn't there also the Hyuga Clan?

What do you know? The Hyuga Clan's territory was just destroyed by Hiruzen Sarutobi a few days ago, under the pretext of dealing with the missing-nin Orochimaru. Pshaw, everyone knows he and Orochimaru were putting on a show.

We Iwa ninja are the most united people. Even in the competition for the Fourth Hokage, Lord Yichen and Lord Ikura simply had their respective disciples compete.

Unlike Konoha, where Hiruzen Sarutobi used public opinion to force White Fang to commit suicide in order to pave the way for Orochimaru. Later, Orochimaru grew too fast and threatened Hiruzen Sarutobi's position, so he supported Minato Namikaze instead.

Heh, Konoha!

Every day is different; the villagers of Iwagakure have access to valuable Top Secret Intelligence about their village and plenty of embarrassing stories about Konoha to gossip about.

Life is full of flavor.

In these casual conversations, the villagers of Iwagakure's sense of belonging to the village, their identification with Iwa ninja, and their pride in being a member of the village all increased rapidly.

A few days later, the ninjas who had been on a mission returned to the village, only to find that the village had changed drastically.

The buildings of Iwagakure remained unchanged, but the villagers' gazes towards them had changed, becoming more affectionate and proud. Their radiant confidence, a sense of "everyone else suffers, but I reap the rewards," almost blinded everyone.

The ninjas quickly went up to inquire, as gathering intelligence was already Hon to them.

These villagers also needed the ninjas to confirm things. As a result, the villagers offered some information, and the ninjas agreed with some of it.

The ninjas thought about it carefully and it seemed to be true. So the village had become this powerful? Looking at the way the villagers were looking at them, the ninjas subconsciously puffed out their chests.

In that instant, my spirit and energy became more refined. Although there was no qualitative change, my combat power was still slightly enhanced.

This scene was witnessed by Yichen, who was hiding in the shadows, and he was quite satisfied.

These past few days, Yichen has been secretly observing the changes in the village, and the village's propaganda content and methods have been constantly adjusted.

This wasn't the first time Yichen had witnessed a change in the mindset of the village's ninjas.

In addition, Yichen felt that he himself was also changing. After gaining some insights in Konoha last time, Yichen's mental strength had improved significantly.

Afterwards, Yichen observed the changes in the villagers and the improvement in the strength of the Iwa ninja in his own village. He felt warm and energized, and was full of motivation for everything he did (except for processing documents).

Yichen felt that his speed in cultivating Wind Release had increased significantly in the past few days.

However, the villagers didn't seem entirely convinced by these rumors, and Yichen seemed lost in thought.

So, that afternoon, Yichen gathered the villagers for a speech.

Yichen stood on the roof of the Tsuchikage's Office Building, while the villagers gathered on several streets near the Tsuchikage's Office Building, all waiting expectantly for Yichen to speak.

This was the first time Yichen had given a dedicated speech since assuming the title of the Fourth Tsuchikage.

"Hello everyone, I am the Fourth Tsuchikage, Yichen, whom you have chosen."

"Fourth Generation! Fourth Generation! Fourth Generation!" Everyone was excited. They had heard a lot about what was happening in the village these past few days, and they knew that many of these things were related to this Fourth Generation.

Yichen waved his hand, and after everyone quieted down, he continued, "First of all, I want to tell you all that the news you've heard these past few days is true."

"Oh!"

"Very good!"

"It really is true!"

"We're about to surpass Konoha!"

This time, Yichen did not interrupt the villagers' cheers.

After a long while, when everyone began to quiet down on their own, Yichen continued, "There are many things that you are not aware of, so today I will report to you the results of the village's research."

"First, there are the various elemental ninjutsu: our village didn't know many in previous years, mainly Earth Release, then a small number of Water Release and Fire Release. Lightning Release was extremely rare."

"Let's take this opportunity to demonstrate the Lightning Release that everyone has developed."

As soon as Yichen finished speaking, two members of the Anbu on either side of the audience immediately unleashed an A-rank Lightning Release. The two A-rank Lightning Release covered the area above the heads of all the villagers, collided with each other, and emitted a dazzling light.

The villagers were initially taken aback, but then erupted in continuous cheers.

In this way, Yichen demonstrated many of the village's achievements: Medical Ninjutsu, Sealing Jutsu, Summoning Beast (he didn't choose a shark, but Giant Panda), and Kekkei Genkai (Porcelain Release and Flame Release).

Yichen even demonstrated the Senjutsu that was said to be only known to the First Hokage.