Negotiation

Ōnoki first carefully examined Yichen, and only after confirming that Yichen was unharmed did he turn his attention to the three people captured by Yichen.

Ōnoki's gaze swept over the two Sunagakure Anbu, finally settling on Pakura, whose only visible feature was her bruised and swollen head. After a careful examination, he asked, "Is this Scorching Style User Pakura, the Sunagakure's Scorch Release user?"

Pakura was already unconscious and had no idea of her situation. She was completely unaware of the conversation between the two Tsuchikage.

As Yichen and Ōnoki flew back, Yichen nodded and said, "Yes. But I only saw five ninjas, including Pakura. Two of them are dead. I don't know where the others went."

Like Ōnoki, Yichen didn't care about the Sunagakure, but instead changed the subject and asked Yichen, "What was that large-scale Scorch Release just now?"

That attack was far more powerful than a regular S-rank Ninjutsu, Ōnoki is still shaken by it.

Most importantly, the area affected by this Ninjutsu was too large. You should know that even Ōnoki at the branch headquarters felt waves of heat coming from all directions.

The fact that it could cover such a large area, not to mention that Pakura deliberately controlled the Blazing Heaven Sky to rise into the sky, would have made the area even larger if it had covered the entire ground. This shows that Pakura's destructive power is almost equivalent to that of Tailed Beast.

Yichen explained, "That should be Pakura's biggest Trump Card, but it requires some time to prepare before it can be used. During this time, her Chakra fluctuations will be very strong, and anyone who has learned a little Sensory Ninjutsu can detect it, so it's not difficult to deal with."

"Furthermore, after using this Ninjutsu, Pakura's strength decreased significantly; she could be killed by an Elite Jonin."

Yichen knew what Ōnoki was worried about, so he offered an explanation.

"What do you plan to do with this Pakura?" Ōnoki asked again.

"Let's exchange something with Rasa, but we haven't decided what exactly to exchange yet. Third Generation, is there anything you urgently need?" Yichen said.

Ōnoki thought for a moment and said, "There's nothing I particularly need. You can decide for yourself."

Ōnoki wasn't worried about Yichen's abilities in this area; Yichen had never caused the village to suffer any losses.

"Now that things are settled, Third Generation, I'll take Pakura back to the village first. The construction of this branch will be left to you." Yichen had finally finished dealing with the matters he needed to handle in the Land of Snow, and it was time to go back.

"Hmm. This time, I established a branch in the Land of Snow, and you also sent Kawakita to the Land of Snow to clear out bandits, and you sent Ikura to the border. Under these circumstances, you shouldn't have come here personally. Please don't do this again next time."

"There was no other way before, but now the village must leave behind a Kage Level. One Kitsuchi isn't enough, and neither are the Han people."

"She's just Pakura. It wouldn't cost me much to take her down with the two of us, Ikura and I. She's not worth the risk."

Although Pakura's final attack was indeed terrifying, Ōnoki felt that if he and Ikura had attacked together, Pakura wouldn't have had a chance to use that kind of Ninjutsu at all.

Yichen nodded in agreement, but what he was thinking was: Next time, we can't send out all the Kage Level fighters. Besides myself, at least one of them has to stay in the village. Otherwise, how can I go out and have fun?

Before leaving, Yichen went to see Natsuki again. The little girl was very satisfied with her life after leaving the village and kept urging Yichen to go back quickly and not to worry about her.

Helpless, Yichen took Pakura and the other two prisoners and flew towards Iwagakure.

In Sunagakure, Rasa received a message from the Anbu sent to the Land of Snow: Pakura was missing.

As agreed, if a major battle broke out on Pakura's side and they fell into an ambush, then the Anbu would retreat first.

Before Pakura could even get close to the Rainbow Ice Wall, a violent Chakra surge erupted from there, followed by a dazzling clash of Ninjutsu.

These Anbu were still very worried about Pakura. Although they knew they couldn't get involved in a battle of that magnitude, they still left a small squad of ninjas to support Pakura.

The ninja team waited there for a long time but saw no sign of Pakura breaking through. Finally, after Pakura unleashed that terrifying Ninjutsu, there was not a sound at all.

This team of Anbu was quite responsible; they waited in place until midnight, and only left to rejoin the main force as dawn approached.

The next day, having received no news about Pakura, the Anbu could only quickly relay the information back to Sunagakure through special channels.

"Missing? Dead or captured? Probably captured. Pakura must be extremely weak after using Blazing Heaven. If she didn't defeat the enemy, she would be the one to lose. In this situation, the Iwa ninja would probably choose to take her prisoner."

"The treasure of the Daimyo of the Land of Snow? What a pity."

With Pakura captured, Rasa will no longer be able to covet the vested interests of Iwa ninja. In fact, he may have to pay a considerable price to get Pakura back.

After reading all the intelligence, Rasa's face turned grim. He had even used the Blazing Heaven, yet he was still captured. Did he encounter Ōnoki or Yichen? Ikura shouldn't have that kind of strength.

Hateful!

Rasa remained silent in his office for a long time before softly saying, "Someone come here."

Upon returning to the village, Yichen first took advantage of Pakura's unconscious state to draw a large vial of her blood for the village's research on Scorch Release. Then, Yichen had the Barrier Team cooperate with him to cast an S-rank Sealing Jutsu on Pakura.

Then they locked Pakura in the Anbu and waited for news from Rasa.

Now Yichen is eager to try out the method that Matsutani Shinya mentioned.

Yichen first entered Sage Mode, and then began practicing Sage Technique Wind Release Ninjutsu.

Yichen's Wind Release Ninjutsu is mainly the Wind Release developed by Ogura Saki; other Wind Release are secondary. After all, Yichen wants to follow Ogura Saki's Flame Release path, so it's best to follow Ogura Saki's pace.

Two days later, Yichen felt that his proficiency with Wind Release Ninjutsu had increased.

The potential of Senjutsu far exceeds Yichen's imagination!

In Yichen's original understanding, Senjutsu could improve a ninja's physique and prolong their lifespan, which was Yichen's main purpose in initially studying Senjutsu.

Yichen worried that he would end up like Madara Uchiha, only discovering the true meaning of Chakra in his later years.

Madara Uchiha possessed the power to achieve peace in the Ninja World at his own will, yet his life was nearing its end. Yichen the other hand, did not wish for Madara to find that his body had completely decayed Kekkei Mōra Limit.

As for using Senjutsu to enhance combat power, that was something Yichen cared about the least.

After Yichen truly mastered Sage Mode, his understanding of Yichen Senjutsu expanded further: Senjutsu could gradually increase the upper limit of Chakra, which was very important to Yichen.

It was precisely because of the fourfold enhancement of his body— Kekkei Genkai Porcelain Release, Storm Release Kekkei Genkai Light Release Bloodline Elimination Tota, and Sage Mode —that Yichen was able to gradually improve his physique, allowing him to test that extremely large-scale Porcelain Release Ninjutsu against Kazahana Dōtō. Otherwise, with Yichen's pitifully small amount of Chakra, how could he have managed such a feat?

In short, Yichen's previous understanding of Senjutsu was limited to three points: increasing lifespan, increasing the power of Ninjutsu, and increasing Chakra reserves.

But now Yichen has completely changed these superficial understandings. Senjutsu Chakra, or Natural Energy, contains abilities far beyond Yichen's imagination.

Perhaps, if one day he discovers that the path of Chakra Fusion is impassable, Yichen can settle for the next best thing: the path of Sage Mode. However, this path is destined to be long and tedious, and it's uncertain whether he can even survive the epic battle between gods in the original story.

While Yichen was deep in thought, Zero, the Anbu Captain, came over. "Lord Tsuchikage, news has come from the Sunagakure that they want to exchange for Pakura, Kazekage has asked about the conditions of the Iwa ninja."

Yichen smiled slightly and said, "They've finally arrived. Go back to the Tsuchikage's Office and invite the advisors over for a meeting."

"Yes," Zero replied and left.

In the conference room, besides Yichen, Ming, Saka, Ikura, Tomoko, and Kitsuchi, there were two Tsuchikage Assistant responsible for taking notes, as well as Zero, the ninja responsible for contacting Rasa.

Yichen said, "Kazekage wants to exchange Pakura with us. Do you have any suggestions? What would be a good exchange?"

After meditating for a moment, he said, "If there's nothing in particular you want, let's get some funding. The Land of Snow's military funds haven't arrived yet, and the branch has already started construction, so the village's finances are a bit tight."

Saka said, "Asking for funds isn't actually cost-effective. The Daimyo of the Land of Wind isn't very supportive of the Fourth Kazekage. The Sunagakure's funds were only raised by the Kazekage mining gold. The Sunagakure doesn't have much money. Let's see if we have any high-level Ninjutsu."

Yichen and the others thought about it. Although Sunagakure had many high-level Ninjutsu, Iwagakure did not have what they needed.

"How about we exchange Puppet Technique?" Saka suggested.

Ikura shook his head. "It's not worth it. Our village doesn't have the environment for Puppet Master to grow. Even if we get the Puppet Technique from the Sunagakure, we won't achieve anything."

"Puppet Master are technical ninjas, somewhat similar to seal Puppet Master. They even need to communicate with each other more than seal masters. Our village doesn't have a single Puppet Master right now; it would be a waste to waste the opportunity on this."

Tomoko suggested, "If we can't think of any substantial benefits, why not hold another Joint Chunin Exams to strengthen the alliance between the two countries?"

Ikura nodded in agreement, saying, "We can even use this opportunity to deepen our cooperation. Over the years, the Kazekage has been quite resistant to us Iwa ninja. Although he hasn't completely cut off trade routes, the main reason is the insistence of the Daimyo of the Land of Wind. This is a good opportunity to break the deadlock."

After listening to Tomoko's words, Kawakita said, "Perhaps we can consider having some friendly matches with the Sunagakure. It shouldn't be limited to Genin; some veteran Chunin, genius Chunin, and even Jonin can participate. We can compete and improve together."

Kawakita thought about his own experience and felt he could create some fighting opportunities for the other ninjas in the village.