Sokai Uchiha's Goal

"Hahahaha, hahahaha!" Upon hearing this, Yichen immediately burst into laughter, laughing heartily.

Sokai had this thought, it meant that he had completely regarded Konoha as an enemy. In Sokai now, the Uchiha Clan might be above Iwagakure, but Konoha was definitely not as important as Iwagakure.

"If Fugaku can unite the voices within the Uchiha Clan, then it's not impossible for me to intervene. I can even bring the entire village's elite forces to cooperate," Yichen said with certainty.

This is the truth. If that were really the case, how could Konoha's pitiful three Kage Level fighters possibly withstand the combined attack of Yichen and Fugaku?

As the rebels, Yichen held the initiative, and he could also help by transferring a group of Konoha's elites before the uprising.

"But, as I said before, Fugaku Uchiha is no good. I won't put all my eggs in one basket with the village on him," Yichen continued.

"However, if your strength improves quickly enough and you're able to participate in Kage Level battles, then I can take you to Konoha, and the two of us can help your clan together."

Sokai's eyes lit up, and he blurted out, "Really?"

Yichen smiled and said, "You are already my disciple. In order to make your heart completely turn to Iwagakure, I should take a risk."

"However, no matter the outcome, you must promise me that you will be a dedicated Iwa ninja from now on."

Sokai nodded and said, "I understand, Teacher Yichen. Don't worry, I'm not ungrateful. If I've tried my best and still can't change things, then I will personally raze Iwa ninja to the ground as a Konoha."

"Good, very good, that's ambitious." Yichen gave Sokai and said, "Now hurry up and start cultivating."

"Yes." Sokai responded and ran towards his two companions who were cultivating. "Chiga, Ayumi, wait for me."

From the Sokai Jie Chiga's voices, it was clear that he had finally put down a Taiseki on his heart. Or rather, only at this moment had he truly made up his mind.

The conversation with Sokai was short, mainly because Sokai is now quite mature. He already had answers to many questions before the conversation, and his approach to Yichen was more about finding an excuse to convince himself.

Seeing that Sokai had let go of his burdens and begun to live and train like a true Iwa ninja, Yichen got up, dusted off his clothes (which weren't actually dust), and smiled with satisfaction.

Having also put aside his worries, Yichen began to formulate a training plan for himself. When to take the three of them on a mission, when to train together, and how much time he could spend practicing Wind Release during training.

After formulating a detailed plan, Yichen resumed his monotonous and tedious cultivation life.

Sometimes, Yichen was actually very grateful to the disciples who had taken turns accompanying him over the years. It was in the process of urging his disciples to cultivate that Yichen himself found this kind of tedious cultivation not so difficult to endure.

For example, right now, Yichen leads three rookie Genin on various D-rank Mission every day. While the three of them are painfully carrying out the missions, Yichen feels that his own training has become much easier.

On this day, during a break from a D-rank Mission involving fruit picking, Yichen was reading Ogura Saki's cultivation notes on developing Flame Release.

The three newbie Genin chatted on the side.

Sasagawa Ayumi asked curiously, "Zhongxing, are you really from the Uchiha Clan? What was your original name?"

During this time, the three of them had become quite familiar with each other, so it wasn't surprising that Sasagawa Ayumi asked this question.

Sokai said, "My original name was Sokai Uchiha. The name Liangtiancheng Zhongxing was given to me by the Third Lord after I came to the village."

Chiga chimed in, "So, Sokai, how did you get to the village? Didn't Konoha stop you?"

Sokai honestly replied, "Was I captured by Teacher Yichen?"

Chiga and Sasagawa Ayumi looked completely bewildered. Then Chiga stammered, "Then, then why are you...?"

Chiga was unsure how to respond.

Sokai laughed and said, "Don't overthink it. Although I was captured by Teacher Yichen, I've genuinely joined the village now. And I'm quite grateful to Teacher for bringing me out."

Then, in his mind Sokai added, "Otherwise, if I had stayed in the village, I might have died without ever understanding what had happened."

Seeing that Sokai's expression was normal, Chiga looked back at Yichen and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Yichen didn't even bother to pay attention to them.

Sasagawa Ayumi said, "Then Sokai, are you the only Uchiha clan member in the village?"

Sokai thought of his younger siblings, a smile appearing on his face, and then said, "I'm not the only one; I have many younger brothers and sisters."

Chiga blurted out, "My God, just how many children did Teacher Yichen bring back?"

After saying that, Chiga quickly turned around to look at Yichen. Before she could even see Yichen's face, Yichen was tapped on the head by him.

Chiga stuck out her tongue, covered her head, and secretly glanced at Yichen. Seeing that Yichen wasn't angry, she turned her head back somewhat guiltily.

Upon Sokai this, Zao Jie burst into laughter and said, "They weren't captured by Teacher Yichen, but sent by the head of our Uchiha Clan."

"Huh?" Chiga and the other two were puzzled.

However, Sokai didn't intend to explain anything. He changed the subject, saying, "Alright, we've rested enough. Let's continue with the mission."

After saying that, Sokai charged aggressively toward the remaining fruit trees.

Upon seeing this, Chiga and Sasagawa Ayumi quickly followed.

Yichen continued reading his book.

This routine continued for a month, until Sokai started clamoring for a higher-level mission.

That day, after finishing another boring D-rank Ninjutsu, Zao Sokai and insisted on taking on a high-level mission.

Watching Sokai incite his two companions to constantly complain that D-rank Ninjutsu was too boring, Yichen felt a little dazed. Had another month passed so quickly? It was time to start developing his Flame Release.

During this month, Yichen was not idle. Although he said he was leading three disciples on a mission, the mission was actually completed by the three of them. During the mission, Yichen was thinking about the process of fusing Fenghuo and fire Chakra.

While his three disciples were training, Yichen's Wind Release training did not lag behind. Now, Yichen's proficiency in Wind Release is no less than that of Lightning Release when he first developed Storm Release.

Now that all preparations are complete, it's time for the main quest, which has been quiet for a while, to move forward.

"Teacher Yichen, Teacher Yichen, are you listening?" Sokai's dissatisfied voice pulled Yichen back to reality.

Yichen smiled slightly and said, "Tomorrow, we'll take on a C-rank mission."

"Oh! That's great!" The three of them cheered in Sokai, clearly they had been holding back for ages.

The next day, a large group left Iwagakure and headed towards Iwagakure's branch in the Land of Snow.

The team consists of five fully-equipped Anbu Squad responsible for the main protection, and five regular agents providing support. Yichen's Squad is one of them.

At the heart of this team is Atsumi Akino, a disciple of Yichen. Atsumi Akino was commissioned by the High-ranking officials to establish a new Heavenly Transfer Technique base at the Land of Snow Branch, in order to facilitate the transfer of emergency items between the two locations.

The mission of the five Anbu Squad and the five regular squads is to escort Atsumi Akino and a large amount of materials for constructing the Heavenly Transfer Technique safely to the branch, and to return safely after completing the setup.

This team is highly well-equipped. Four of the five Anbu Squad are led by a powerful Jonin or Elite Jonin. The remaining squad is a specially formed temporary squad: all members Jonin.

Besides Yichen, the other four regular squads were all led by Jonin. Although their squad members were Genin, they were not rookies, but veteran Genin who had experienced war.

Such a massive force, all for one person. Every squad leader received the same order when accepting the mission: protect Atsumi Akino at all costs.

The Iwagakure has already treated Atsumi Akino as a strategic-level ninja, and absolutely cannot afford to lose her.

Of course, the missions they received were all level B or A. Only Yichen's Squad received level C missions.

In fact, the original plan only included nine teams, Yichen and his three companions were completely unnecessary.

Yichen was also worried about Atsumi Akino, so he took advantage of Sokai's words to accept this mission that never existed in the first place.

The High-ranking officials naturally had no objections. They had been discussing whether to send Ikura to escort them, and now that Yichen had taken on the task, they were happy to save themselves the trouble.

The three men, Sokai, were very excited, never expecting that they had been dispensable from the beginning. They believed that the village's decision to send them on such a massive mission was an affirmation of their abilities.

The three of them were very serious throughout the journey and completed every task assigned by Yichen perfectly.

As someone who's been through it all, Atsumi Akino couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. She knew that her unreliable teacher must have said something to her three junior brothers, otherwise they wouldn't have been working so hard.

Thinking back to her own past, Atsumi Akino felt a pang of nostalgia for her teammate Uzumaki Riori. Uzumaki Riori was the only one left in her team when they were about to disband, and she'd been a silly girl who thought Yichen was right. She wondered how Riori was doing in the Anbu. Had she gotten into any trouble?

Yichen walked over to Atsumi Akino and asked, "Akino, what are you thinking about?"

Atsumi Akino snapped out of her reverie, looked up at Yichen, and said, "I was thinking about Riori. I wonder how she's doing in the Anbu? Has she caused any trouble for her captain?"

Yilan smiled and said, "Riori is right behind you. She's Anbu team that will escort you to the Land of Snow Branch this time."

"Huh? Really?" Atsumi Akino looked around but didn't see any members of the Anbu.

Yichen said, "Don't bother looking. The Anbu don't usually come out. So, even though you know Riori is right there, you won't see her."

"Oh." Atsumi Akino nodded, somewhat disappointed.

It's been a while since we parted ways, and she really misses her best friend who used to be the most lively and energetic member of the group.

Yichen was helpless. He wouldn't dare send Uzumaki Riori on normal Anbu missions, so this kind of mission where he accompanied her was a good opportunity for Uzumaki Riori to gain some experience.