Kage-Level Yin Release

Yichen and his team's research on Yin Release was not going smoothly. No matter how much they struggled with the tentacles of the Yichen Moryo, they couldn't obtain any useful data.

At this moment, the Ninja World suddenly became lively.

The Iwagakure suddenly announced that missing-nin in the Ninja World are becoming increasingly rampant, with rogue missing-nin like Orochimaru even daring to openly confront Great Ninja Village.

The Iwa ninja claim to have obtained information that Orochimaru, an S-rank Rogue Ninja, is planning to establish a ninja village in the Land of Whirlpools.

The Land of Land of Whirlpools is too far from the Land of Earth, leaving the Iwa ninja helpless. However, for the sake of peace in the Ninja World, the Iwa ninja plan to launch an indiscriminate crackdown on missing-nin, wandering ninjas, and bandits in all the surrounding small and medium-sized countries.

The Ninja World has long enjoyed peace, but apart from the Five Great Nations, the smaller and medium- Ninja World countries have consistently suffered from the ravages of missing-nin. Iwagakure is willing to provide support to those countries that lack the power to Rogue Ninja Extermination.

The Iwagakure will send elite ninjas into these countries to directly participate in the suppression of missing-nin, without charging any fees.

The moment Iwagakure issued this announcement, tensions rose immediately Ninja World. High-ranking officials in countries large and small shared the same thought: Had the Iwa ninja gone mad?

No one thought that Iwagakure had suddenly become peace-loving and wanted to provide free services to the civilians of these small countries. Everyone assumed that Iwagakure was using the pretext of eliminating missing-nin to attack the neighboring small countries.

However, when the leaders of those small and medium-sized countries advised their daimyo or ninja village chiefs to immediately send aid to the other Four Great Nations, they were surprised to find that their daimyo or chiefs already knew about it.

In the capital of the Land of Grass, in the Daimyo's Daimyo's Mansion, the ministers who had received the notice from Iwagakure looked at each other, wondering where their Daimyo's confidence came from, as they saw the Daimyo's calm expression.

One of them asked, "Daimyo, the Iwa ninja are using the pretext of Rogue Ninja Extermination to annex us. Why aren't you worried, Daimyo?"

The Daimyo of the Land of Grass smiled and picked up a letter from the table, saying, "I received a personal letter from Iwagakure's Advisor Ikura, a long time ago. You should all take a look."

The person who spoke was completely dumbfounded after reading it.

In his letter Ikura clearly stated that the Iwa ninja would definitely consult the daimyo of the Land of Grass of Grass to Rogue Ninja Extermination. The Iwa ninja would not take any action until they obtained the Land of Grass's consent.

If the Daimyo of the Land of Grass agrees to allow Iwa ninja to enter Rogue Ninja Extermination, please provide the specific locations for the elimination and the approximate number of Land of Grass Iwa ninja needed.

After verification, the Iwa ninja will carry out the request of the Daimyo of the Land of Grass. In addition, Ikura also guaranteed in the letter that the Iwa ninja would leave as soon as the mission to Rogue Ninja Extermination was completed. If the Daimyo of the Land of Grass terminated the mission midway, the Iwa ninja would return to the Land of Earth immediately.

"What? How many ninja Iwa ninja sects have? They're out there Rogue Ninja Extermination, and they'll still listen to us?" The minister was somewhat skeptical.

The daimyo laughed and said, "I've already sent a letter to Advisor Ikura, requesting that the Iwa ninja send a four-man team to the border to hunt down a B-rank missing-nin."

The ministers exchanged glances, all somewhat incredulous.

Finally, an older minister said, "Let's wait for a reply from the Iwa ninja and see if they really only sent four people."

Daimyo nodded and said, "That's what I think too."

Many countries made the same choice as the Daimyo of the Land of Grass, deeply affected by the rise of the Iwagakure and the Land of Earth. They were unwilling to offend Iwa ninja Iwagakure and gave it some face, allowing it to send a few or a dozen Hidden Iwa ninja Iwagakure into their territory to carry out operations to Rogue Ninja Extermination.

However, the information received by the Four Great Ninja Villages, including Konoha, was different.

Even though Iwagakure only sent a small team of a few or a dozen people to each country, it still created the impression of preparing for a massive war.

Despite only sending a few dozen Chunin squad on routine missions, the Iwa ninja mobilized the entire village in a grand display. This led the Great Ninja Village, such as Konoha, who were unaware of the true situation, to believe that the Iwa Ninja Army had already entered countries like the Land of Grass.

Thus, at High-Level Meeting in which Danzo was not present, Tsunade approved the decision to send reinforcements to the Land of Grass.

Due to incomplete intelligence regarding the Iwa ninja, Tsunade decided to first send an advance team of about one hundred people into the Land of Grass.

It wasn't that Tsunade didn't want to send more people; it was simply that besides the Land of Grass, there was also the Land of the Falls and some small countries near those two that needed to send troops.

Because the Land of the Falls had allied with the Land of Earth, they openly declared that they would allow Konoha ninja to enter. However, other smaller countries did not have the same confidence.

If each country sends a little, it adds up to a significant amount.

Konoha reacted swiftly, giving Iwagakure no chance to act first and create a fait accompli.

The Sunagakure and the Kumogakure also reacted quickly, sending a number of ninjas to the surrounding small and medium-sized countries.

However, unlike Konoha's cautious approach, Rasa and Yotsuki A planned to both stop the expansion of Iwa ninja and expand their own territory.

Therefore, they dispatched far more ninjas than Konoha, and their actions were more decisive. Once they entered those small countries, they began to control some towns and villages along the way.

The Sunagakure and Cloud ninja didn't even bother searching for the Iwa ninja; instead, they focused their main efforts on how to seize the wealth of the towns they had occupied.

In Rasa and Yotsuki A's view, Iwa ninja was making enemies of the entire Ninja World, which was tantamount to courting their own destruction, and it was impossible for them to successfully annex these small countries.

There's no need for me to rush into a fight with the Iwa ninja, giving them the opportunity to reap the benefits. I'd rather take advantage of the Iwa ninja's madness and make the most of it.

Thus, the following scene unfolded in the eyes of the leaders of those small and medium-sized countries:

The Iwa ninja, who had loudly proclaimed their intention to enter their country Rogue Ninja Extermination, ultimately only sent a handful of people. Moreover, these people behaved themselves properly, diligently engaging in the raid on the missing-nin right under the noses of the guides they had been sent to show them the way. However, because the newcomers were not particularly strong, the Rogue Ninja Extermination almost no progress.

Meanwhile, the Sunagakure and Cloud ninja, who claimed to be helping them defend against the Iwagakure invasion, were actually carrying out genuine expansion. The Sunagakure and Cloud ninja made almost no attempt to conceal their open plundering.

Such open looting was not uncommon during the Ninja World War; otherwise, how could the war between ninjas have been so destructive, causing widespread displacement of civilians?

In the shadow of the Ninja World War, no one paid attention to such trivial matters. Nor did anyone dare to criticize the Great Ninja Village that were blinded by bloodlust.

If the Iwa ninja were to launch a war of annexation, their petty actions would indeed be insignificant. However, the Iwa ninja have only been paying lip service from the beginning. Therefore, their despicable behavior suddenly seems very jarring.

Soon, Ninja World changed under the guidance of Iwagakure. It was as if everyone had finally seen through the true nature of Sunagakure Cloud ninja, and began to condemn their Cloud ninja acts in unison.

Rasa and Yotsuki A completely dumbfounded. What happened to the Iwa ninja invasion? How did I suddenly become the villain? I remember I was fighting under the banner of bringing freedom and independence to those small countries.

Then, both of them felt a sense of relief, thankful that there was still the Kazekage (Raikage). Otherwise, it would have been too embarrassing for them to do it alone.

Just then, the former Miko of the Land of Demons suddenly announced that the rule of the Miko in the Land of Demons was ending and that it would be ruled by a daimyo. The new daimyo was none other than the former Miko, Miroku. Furthermore, Miroku, the new daimyo, stated that in order to prevent the invasion of the Sunagakure, he would invite the Iwagakure to establish a branch in the country.

The news caused an uproar throughout the Ninja World.

The Sunagakure were in a difficult position. If you wanted to join the Iwa ninja, fine, but why are you shifting the blame onto us?

Although we sent ninjas to occupy towns in the surrounding small and medium-sized countries, we didn't provoke your Land of Demons. Your Land of Demons is close to the Land of Earth and far from the Land of Wind; we haven't even had a chance to take action yet.

At this point, it would be difficult for the Sunagakure to interfere with the Iwa ninja's annexation of the Land of Demons. The Land of Demons had voluntarily submitted to the Iwa ninja. However, the Sunagakure had occupied the towns of the Land of Bears, the Land of Birds, and other countries without the consent of their respective rulers.

Their behavior was even worse than that of the Iwa ninja.

They, who could have righteously condemned the Iwa ninja, have now become the villains.

However, Iwagakure actually annexed a country, was not resisted by the high-ranking officials of that country.

While the Ninja World was embroiled in heated debates and arguments, Yichen's research team finally made progress.

As Yichen had predicted, the Moryo of the demon they were studying finally began to slowly dissipate after a period of time.

These tentacles, unable to maintain their condensed soul form, seemed to be reversing the process of Yin Release cultivation. This suddenly made many of the unanswered questions about Yin Release clear to Yichen and the others.

So this is how Yin Release is practiced, and so this is how the soul is refined.

As the tentacles of the Moryo disintegrated and disappeared one by one, the Iwagakure's understanding of souls and Yin Release continued to improve.

Yichen himself was the biggest beneficiary. In terms of quantity, Yichen's spiritual power had long reached the standard of the Kage Level, but because he had not practiced Yin Release, the quality was not up to standard.

However, after this period of research, Yichen's mastery of Yin Release finally took a crucial step forward.

At this point, Yichen officially entered the third stage of Yin Release. Although Yichen's soul is not yet able to leave his body to attack enemies like Dan Katō, who learned the Spirit Transformation Jutsu in the original work.

However, Yichen only lacks the skill in this area; in essence, Yichen is already at the same level as Dan Katō. Similarly, soul attacks of the level of Spirit Transformation Jutsu are no longer fatal to Yichen.

Although some time was wasted, Yichen made up for his weakness in Genjutsu Resistance, so it wasn't a huge waste.

After all the tentacles of the Moryo vanished, Yichen prepared to disband the temporary research group. Based on their findings during this period, the group compiled a detailed theory of Yin Release. This theory was collected by Yichen as A-rank Secret Scroll and added to the village's archives.

Then Yichen calculated some mission records for the researchers and also gave them a few B-rank Genjutsu, all of which were offensive Genjutsu obtained from Konoha.

Only after the research group was disbanded did Yichen have time to learn about the progress of the annexation of the Land of Demons.

Instead of convening a meeting of high-ranking officials, Yichen listened to Ikura recount some detailed intelligence.

The annexation of the Land of Demons is not in doubt. The branch within the Land of Demons has already begun selecting a location.

However, the turmoil caused by Iwagakure's Rogue Ninja Extermination in an attempt to divert attention is not yet over.

The Sunagakure and Cloud ninja were unwilling to retreat so easily, so they shamelessly occupied those towns and refused to return them.

The various parties are still engaged in a war of words.

Yichen nodded, satisfied with the result. The Iwa ninja were the ones who benefited anyway, and as long as the war didn't break out immediately, it was highly unlikely that a fight would occur.

Although the annexation of the Land of Demons by the Iwagakure was an act of expansion, it was a mutually agreeable transaction between the two parties.

The actions of the Sunagakure and Cloud ninja were blatant invasion. Although those smaller countries dared not openly confront the Great Ninja Village, they had already sent envoys to contact other major powers and request mediation.

For example, Iwagakure received mission requests from some small countries, hoping that the Iwa ninja could drive the Sunagakure out of their borders.

Yichen naturally wouldn't accept such a task; the longer the Sunagakure occupied the towns of the Land of Bears, the worse their image became. This was a good thing for the Iwagakure.

As a rising power, it will be difficult for Iwagakure to become the new hegemon. They need to consider both appearances and substance. Without real benefits, Iwa ninja cannot rise to prominence; without a positive image, they are easily subject to collective resistance.

The real benefit comes from annexing the Land of Demons; the Hidden Iwagakure will gain tangible advantages. Condoning the Sunagakure, on the other hand, is about appearances; the Sunagakure Village's actions will highlight the Iwa ninja's image.

Yichen actually knew what the Sunagakure were thinking. The Sunagakure weren't really at a loss. Taking advantage of the momentum the Iwa ninja had made, they occupied those towns, robbed some money, and increased the village's income.

In any case, whether it's the Land of Bears or the Land of Birds, no matter how loudly they shout, it's all just empty talk and won't harm the Sunagakure in the slightest. If it really comes down to war, they won't dare to.

The current Sunagakure are like the Iwa ninja during the Third Shinobi War; they prioritize tangible benefits and don't care much about saving face.

At the time, the Iwa ninja were willing to admit that Konoha was the victor in order to gain some benefits from Konoha; that was their thinking.

The Sunagakure only started a little later than the Iwa ninja; they are following the path that the Iwa ninja has taken and succeeded on.