Yomi's Trail

In his letter to the High-ranking officials, Yichen not only shared his understanding and speculations about Yin Release, but Katsuya assigned Natsuki and Sheng You, who were researching Yin Release, a task: to try to develop a method for improving Yin Release skills that could be popularized throughout the village.

Yin Release can increase Chakra control. If the improvement of Yin Release becomes widespread, then the strength of all ninjas in Iwagakure will be enhanced.

This is equivalent to giving the entire village of ninjas a cheat code. Yichen urged Ikura and the others to fully support Katsuya and Natsuki's research.

While Yichen was excited about the changes brought about by the improvement of Yin Release, the Anbu sent out to Rogue Ninja Extermination discovered something strange.

The Anbu Squad discovered the strange thing was none other than Uzumaki Riori's squad.

Uzumaki Riori's Anbu Squad Leader, Shironeko, and her teammate Suda Himezuki, both have a Ninja Cat, making the squad's reconnaissance capabilities quite strong.

Ninja Cat Dango Kazekaze sensed something unusual.

Then, when the four-person team and two cats followed the aura to their destination, they discovered several monsters that were neither human nor inhuman.

They are called monsters because these people are indestructible; no matter how severe their injuries, they can recover completely.

These monsters were the Terracotta Warrior army that Yomi originally intended to create using the power of Moryo.

The ritual for Yomi was only halfway through when it was forced to stop due to violent fluctuations in the power of the Moryo within him.

Yomi didn't know was that although he didn't continue the ritual, he still managed to create several Terracotta Warrior Puppet when the power of the Moryo within him fluctuated violently.

After Yomi left, these Terracotta Warrior Puppet Hon left the underground and wandered aimlessly in the vicinity. They were eventually discovered by the White Cat Squad.

After a series of probing exchanges, the White Cat Squad captured the Terracotta Warrior Puppet.

Uzumaki Riori really liked these Terracotta Warrior Puppet because they were indestructible and she could repeatedly use them as fighting partners.

Fortunately, the Shironeko was knowledgeable enough to know that such immortal beings were extraordinary. She had Uzumaki Riori create Shadow Clone and bring the Terracotta Warrior back to the branch.

A day later, while Yichen was still practicing Ninjutsu with his three disciples, the White Cat Squad arrived with four Terracotta Warriors.

From afar, Uzumaki Riori excitedly called out to Yichen, "Teacher Yichen, I found some indestructible toys! I'll never have to worry about not having anyone to play with again!"

When Yichen saw the four Terracotta Warrior warriors being carried over by a group of Uzumaki Riori, he was speechless. Who in their right mind would think of these as toys?

Yichen ignored Uzumaki Riori's silly words and looked at the Shironeko instead.

The Shironeko said, "Lord Tsuchikage, while we were searching for missing-nin in the Yamanaka to the west, Dango Kazekaze discovered traces of these monsters."

"At first I thought they were enemies, but after observing them, I realized they were just puppets, and ownerless ones at that. So I tried to subdue them, but during the fight I discovered that these puppets were immortal."

"No matter how much we attack and destroy them, these puppets can always recover. On the way back, these puppets were destroyed countless times by Riori's clones, but they are still perfectly fine now."

"However, they are not very strong; each puppet is roughly equivalent to a slightly stronger Genin in combat. But they are all quite powerful."

Yichen nodded and said, "Just these four? Are there any others?"

The Shironeko shook its head and said, "Just these four. I've thoroughly checked the area around that mountain, and there are only these four. There's no trace of any other puppets."

Yichen found it strange; the Terracotta Warrior army in the original novel was enormous. Such a large-scale Terracotta Warrior army could not possibly conceal the traces of its movements.

Where did the entire Terracotta Warrior army go? Why are there only four Terracotta Warrior Puppet left?

Unable to figure out the reason, Yichen said to the Shironeko, "Take me to that place."

"Yes," the Shironeko replied, then pointed to the four Terracotta Warrior Puppet being held captive by Uzumaki Riori's numerous Shadow Clones and asked, "What should we do with these four puppets?"

Uzumaki Riori was somewhat wary. Although she wasn't very bright, upon hearing the Shironeko's words, Hon felt that someone was after her toys.

Yichen glanced at Uzumaki Riori, who was looking at him suspiciously, rolled his eyes, and said, "Can you hold these puppets around for 24 hours a day? Aren't you going to sleep? What if they run away while you're asleep?"

Uzumaki Riori looked conflicted. She wanted to say she wouldn't sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to say it; sleeping was a wonderful thing.

"Alright, I'll seal you away for now. Once you've learned Fire Style Ninjutsu, I promise I'll give you four more toys," Yichen said.

Uzumaki Riori's eyes lit up, and she said, "Teacher Yichen, can you give these toys back to me after I learn the Great Fireball Jutsu?"

Yichen nodded.

Upon hearing this, Uzumaki Riori readily allowed Yichen to seal the four Terracotta Warrior Puppet. She now couldn't wait to start practicing Fire Release.

Yichen didn't have a special Soul Seal, but these four puppets, who were only at the Genin level, were too weak. A Five Elements Sealing Jutsu, which was nothing in front of the Moryo's main body, was enough to trap them tightly.

After finishing, Yichen planned to go and see that mountainous area himself.

Having just mastered the Hand Seal-less Porcelain Release, he wanted to show it off in front of his disciples.

With just a glance from Yichen, a spacious Porcelain Platform quickly materialized in front of him.

Yichen calmly walked onto the platform with his hands behind his back, and then said indifferently, "Come on up, everyone."

Yichen turned his back to the crowd, waiting for their praise.

Unfortunately, there was no exclamation or surprise; everyone had become accustomed to Yichen's ability to fly using the Porcelain Release. These ignorant fools hadn't noticed that Yichen used to need to form Hand Seals to use the Porcelain Release, but now he didn't.

Then, the White Cat Squad, Sokai and his two companions, along with the messenger Anbu Squad, all walked onto the platform amidst Yichen's awkwardness.

The Land of Demons was not large, and the Porcelain Release technique allowed for extremely fast flight. Yichen quickly led everyone to the mountainous area where the four Terracotta Warriors had been discovered earlier.

After flying around the area, just as the Shironeko had said, nothing unusual was found.

Then Yichen entered Sage Mode and used his Sensory Ninjutsu.

"Hey, there's a cave a hundred meters underground, and there seems to be something inside," Yichen said.

The Shironeko's eyes lit up, and it said, "Lord Tsuchikage, shall we go down and take a look? Unfortunately, I don't know Earth Release technique that allows one to use earth-based techniques)."

Yichen waved his hand dismissively and said, "I'll definitely take a look, but there's no need to go down."

After finishing speaking, Yichen, who was in Sage Mode, Hand Seals with lightning speed and then slammed his hand on the ground.

Earth Release: Earth Style: Rising Earth Technique.

Yichen used a wide-range Senjutsu to raise the cavity a hundred meters underground.

Everyone was stunned.

Yichen was secretly delighted. "Hmph, you were all dumbfounded by my showing off."

Despite expending considerable energy, Yichen casually stood up, clapped his hands, and said, "Let's go in and take a look."

The group walked into the Terracotta Warrior area in front of them.

Soon, the two Ninja Cat discovered some bloodstains and a rune-like area resembling a seal directly in front of the Terracotta Warrior.

Yichen examined the completed but unused ritual and, after a moment's thought, understood the cause and effect. "Yomi must have completed half of the ritual to control the Terracotta Warrior and then abandoned it. This blood was probably deliberately added during the ritual to control the Terracotta Warrior."

Yichen didn't explain to the others, but carefully collected the blood left by Yomi under their strange gazes.

Then Yichen said to Uzumaki Riori, "Riori, send out Shadow Clone to check if four toys are missing."

"Okay," Uzumaki Riori readily agreed.

With many hands making light work, Uzumaki Riori quickly confirmed that four terracotta warriors were indeed missing from the massive Terracotta Warrior army.

Yichen said to everyone, "It's alright, let's go back. Let's leave this to the Daimyo of the Land of Demons."

After saying this, Yichen sealed four more Terracotta Warrior and took them away. No one found it strange; everyone knew that Yichen liked to conduct strange and unusual research, and no one found it hard to accept.

After Yichen and the others returned to the Porcelain Platform, they did not go directly back to the branch. Instead, they asked Chiga, "Chiga, can you find out where its owner is based on these bloodstains?"

Chiga's eyes lit up. She didn't feel disgusted at all; on the contrary, she was excited because her abilities might come in handy.

She quickly replied, "I can try."

After saying that, Chiga ate the blood that Yichen had collected.

She closed her eyes and sensed carefully for a while, then pointed south and said, "Teacher Yichen, it seems to be in that direction, but it's quite far away, so my senses aren't very accurate. I just vaguely sense that there's something there."

Apart from Yichen, no one here knew about Chiga's ability. They all looked at Chiga curiously, wondering how she had done it.

Sokai was most eager to find out the reason. If Chiga hadn't been busy with important matters, he would have already gone up to ask him for an explanation.

Yichen looked in the direction Chiga was pointing, nodded, and said, "Sit down."

Then, the Porcelain Platform carried everyone rapidly away into the distance.

After a while, Chiga excitedly said, "Teacher Yichen, it's working! We're getting closer!"

Yichen breathed a sigh of relief, worried that the bloodstains would lose their effectiveness over time.

After flying for a while, Yichen adjusted his direction several times under Chiga's guidance. Finally, the Porcelain Platform brought everyone to a stop above a small village.

Before Yichen and the others could go down to investigate, Chiga said, "He went underground; he escaped."

Yichen glanced at the village and said, "Let him run for a while."

"Shironeko, your team go check down there. I'm going to chase after them and will come back here to meet you."

Yichen's Mind's Eye has already checked; there are no ninjas with Chakra in this village.

Shironeko nodded, and after Yichen descended to a lower altitude, she led her team to jump off the Porcelain Platform.

Following Chiga's directions, Yichen pursued Yomi in the direction he had fled.