Cloud Ninja Follow Suit

Neji's arrangements went smoothly. After being discharged from the hospital, he was picked up by Ōnoki. There, Yichen didn't need to worry about him much, as Ōnoki and Kitsuchi were in charge of both Neji's thoughts and training.

Meanwhile, the Cloud ninja, like the Iwa ninja, had chosen to withdraw their troops. Upon returning, the Fourth Raikage, who was preparing to study the Byakugan, discovered that the Byakugan they had obtained was merely an empty shell, its internal mechanisms having long been destroyed by the Caged Bird.

The enraged Raikage smashed the desk again.

"Lord Raikage, we've figured it out. The corpse we found actually belongs to Hizashi Hyuga of the Hyuga Branch Family. He's the younger brother of Hyuga Hiashi of the Hyuga Main Family, and the two look exactly alike." An Anbu in charge of intelligence told A the truth he had just uncovered.

"Damn it, Tsunade is too cunning. And the Iwa ninja, Fourth Tsuchikage, Yichen, know this was fake?" Ai was furious at first, then suddenly asked Yichen as if he had thought of something.

"They should know," said the ninja in charge of intelligence. "Because just when we were threatening Konoha, the Iwa ninja demanded Hizashi Hyuga's son from Konoha. Although we don't know the details, they definitely used us."

"Yichen, damn it!" Ai raised his fist to smash the table again, only to find that the table was gone.

"Did the Iwa ninja Jinchuriki gain anything from the True Waterfall?" Having nothing left to smash, A had to change the subject.

"The Iwa ninja who entered the True Waterfall this time was likely the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, named Han. He stayed inside the True Waterfall for a long time and eventually Earth Flow safely, so he must have succeeded."

"Damn it!" Ai was furious. His behavior during this Byakugan incident was like that of a complete brute.

The thought of all the trouble he'd caused, the sacrifice of his entire delegation, the humiliation he'd gone through, and the threat of war against Konoha, only to have all the benefits reaped by Iwagakure, made A want to smash things.

"Bring Killer B, Darui, and Yugito here." A knew that the Iwagakure was not to be trifled with now, possibly even more so than the Konoha Village. After all, the Hidden Jinchuriki Village had lost its adult Konoha, but the two Jinchuriki of the Iwa ninja Village were both in their prime.

Before long, a dejected Darui and a spirited Yugito arrived at the Raikage's Office.

Ai looked at Darui, first nodding in satisfaction, but then becoming dissatisfied with Darui's spirit and energy. "Darui, starting tomorrow, you will follow me to practice the Lightning Release Stimulation Method. You must learn it within a year, do you understand?"

Darui looked completely bewildered. What was going on? Why was he suddenly given such a task? Had the Fourth Raikage been provoked?

However, the Fourth Raikage clearly did not give him a chance to refuse or bargain. His tone was very firm; he was not discussing it, but giving an order.

Left with no other choice, Darui could only give a weak reply.

"Yugito, how have things been going with you and the Two-Tails lately?" Ai ignored Darui and turned directly to Yugito to ask.

Upon Yugito's previously eager body stiffened, and he said, "Lord Raikage, the Two-Tails hasn't fully accepted me yet."

Ai frowned and said, "Starting tomorrow, you will train with Killer B and he will teach you how to communicate with the Two-Tails."

After saying that, Ai looked around. Where was Killer B? Why hadn't he arrived yet?

No sooner had the words left his mouth Killer B's rapping voice rang out from outside the door. "Big brother, big brother, I'm instructing the younger generation of the village. Why are you in such a hurry? What's the matter?"

A said, "Starting tomorrow, you will guide Yugito in his training to communicate with Yugito Tailed Beast. Jinchuriki of Iwa ninja have passed the test of the True Waterfall, and the strength of Iwa ninja has improved again. We can't fall behind."

"Okay, big brother, little Yugito, follow me." After saying that, Killer B prepared to leave.

With a loud thud, Ai punched Killer B on the head and said, "I haven't finished speaking yet."

"Big brother, speak slowly." Killer B was startled once again by his hot-tempered older brother.

Ai turned and summoned one of the Anbu, asking, "How's the research on Jiraiya's body going all these years?"

The Anbu said, "Lord Raikage, the research on Jiraiya's body is progressing relatively smoothly. Jiraiya's mind was sealed, so we can't obtain most of his Ninjutsu, but we have made some gains. Through the Intelligence Department's careful analysis, we have obtained the method by Jiraiya practiced the Senjutsu of Mount Myōboku."

"However, the cultivation of Senjutsu at Mount Myōboku sending people there, which is impossible to achieve from our village."

Ai frowned and asked, "How did the Iwa ninja do that? Did they also cultivate Senjutsu through the Three Great Sage Locations?"

The Anbu said, "We don't know either, but one thing is certain: the Iwa ninja haven't made contact with the Three Great Sage Locations, and their Senjutsu is different from that of the Three Great Sage Locations."

Ai asked casually, not caring much about the origin of the Iwa ninja's Senjutsu, but directly asked, "Do our people have the opportunity to learn the Senjutsu of Mount Myōboku?"

The Anbu said, "Yes. Although we used Jiraiya's blood to summon the Toad of Mount Myōboku, they are unwilling to sign Summoning Contract with us."

"However, they are not against practicing Senjutsu. The people of Mount Myōboku said that since the Warring States period, outsiders have often gone to Mount Myōboku to practice Senjutsu."

"They also provided instructions on how to enter Mount Myōboku."

"However, practicing Senjutsu on Mount Myōboku is dangerous; one wrong move and you could turn into a stone Toad. We also can't determine what kind of person is suitable for practicing Senjutsu, so we haven't taken any action yet."

A thought for a moment and asked Killer B, "Bee, ask the Eight-Tails, what kind of ninja is suitable for practicing Senjutsu?"

Killer B asked curiously, "Ask Hachi?"

"That's right, the Eight-Tails has lived for who knows how long, it might know some things," Ai said.

Killer B nodded and began to chat with the Eight-Tails in his mind.

After a while, Killer B spoke up, "Big brother, Hachi said it doesn't know much about Senjutsu either, but it said that people with simple minds might be more likely to master Senjutsu."

"Is he simple-minded?" Ai was somewhat doubtful. Currently, there is only one person in the Ninja World known to know Senjutsu, and that is our protagonist. However, in Ai's understanding, Yichen should not be described as simple-minded under any circumstances.

After a while, Ai gritted his teeth and said to the Anbu, "Based on these conditions, select ten Jonin the village, and three more ninjas with complex minds, to go to Mount Myōboku together. Let's figure out what kind of people are suitable for practicing Senjutsu first."

"Yes," the Anbu replied and left.

Although the Fourth Raikage always presented himself as a brute, he was actually quite shrewd. He deduced from Yichen's arrangement for Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, to enter the True Waterfall Yichen probably had no plans to wage war in the next few years, but rather placed his hopes on the future. In the next few years, the focus of Iwa ninja should be on training elite ninjas.

Therefore, the Fourth Raikage decisively chose to follow suit.

After both the Cloud ninja and the Iwa ninja withdrew their troops, Konoha sent a message to Danzo at the front lines, ordering him to withdraw his Danzo back to the village.

However, Danzo refused to return to the village, making various excuses and simply dragging his feet.

It turns out that Danzo hadn't been idle during the recent turmoil in the Ninja World. The ninjas who accompanied him to the border were all elites, and Danzo had been eyeing them for a long time.

This group of ninjas, together with the ninjas who were already on the border, totaled about 2,000 people. After removing those with special identities or those who were particularly close to Hiruzen Sarutobi or Tsunade, and those with average talent Danzo didn't think much of, there were probably about 700 to 800 people left.

Danzo has been trying to persuade these seven or eight hundred ninjas to join his Root these past few days, and surprisingly, some of Danzo have actually been convinced.

In total, at least two or three hundred ninjas either joined Root directly or expressed their willingness to support Danzo.

Danzo felt that if he had more time, he might be able to win over dozens or even hundreds more people. Therefore, when the order from Konoha came, Danzo kept suppressing it and did not carry it out.

It wasn't until Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't take it anymore and personally went to the front lines to give Danzo a good scolding that he brought the army back.

When the two brought the army back to Konoha, Tsunade nearly lost her temper. Konoha had been unstable for years, and the number of ninjas was insufficient. There were always more missions than ninjas to carry them out, and Danzo had been withholding several thousand people. Now that they had finally been returned, several hundred were missing.

How could Tsunade swallow this insult? She immediately convened High-Level Meeting and unleashed a furious tirade at Danzo.

However, Danzo had anticipated this situation. It would have been more alarming if Tsunade hadn't reacted at all. He simply waited until Tsunade finished her tirade before casually shifting the topic to the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.

Then Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to stand up for Danzo. He had to rely on Danzo's help when dealing with the powerful clans, so at the very least, Danzo had to take the Danzo.

During Danzo's absence, he worked with Tsunade, always taking on the role originally played by Danzo. This feeling of being a scapegoat was extremely uncomfortable; after all, he wasn't a professional!

After the meeting adjourned, Danzo walked out of the conference room with his back to everyone, a cold smile on his face, "Hmph, Hiruzen, you're still the same as ever."

"However, my power is still insufficient. With so few people, I'm not enough to seize power," Danzo thought as he walked.

Danzo quickly came up with an idea. He had successfully stopped Iwa ninja on the front lines, and these were thousands of elite Iwa ninja led by the Fourth Tsuchikage, Yichen, Ikura, and the Five-Tails Jinchuriki. This was a fact that should be publicized.

In contrast, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tsunade, within the village, were powerless against the Cloud ninja, ultimately having to force the Hyuga Clan leader's younger brother to commit suicide in exchange for peace. Such situations should be analyzed in comparison.

Konoha belongs to Konoha; this kind of thing can't be kept secret, it needs to be publicized properly.

There are likely many people who disagree with Tsunade's approach.

Looks like I'll be able to recruit another batch of ninjas.

After experiencing numerous failures, Danzo finally changed his strategy and prepared to seize power.