Darui's Worries

The Fourth Raikage rushed to the Command Center. Seeing everyone unharmed, he first breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "What happened?"

Upon seeing the Fourth Raikage, the commander said helplessly, "Lord Raikage, all the communication devices were destroyed in an instant."

"I suspect the Tsuchikage has already seen through our communication methods, and his attack has been prepared for a long time; he's just waiting for a crucial moment."

"He might even have been eavesdropping on our conversations, and the fact that we were at a disadvantage earlier might have been a deliberate attempt to lower our guard and let us win."

The Fourth Raikage's lips twitched, and he clenched his fist again. However, since there was no desk nearby, he forcibly suppressed his impulse and sighed.

"The defeat was not undeserved. We thought we were well prepared, but we underestimated the Tsuchikage. We never expected that Sealing Jutsu could be so effective in a battle of this level," the Fourth Raikage remarked.

The Cloud ninja 'Yichen main method of attacking and limiting Yichen was the Eight-Tails' tentacles, but Yichen had already laid a backup plan with the Eight-Tails' tentacles.

Then he said to the commander, "You've had a hard day. This defeat isn't your fault. It's the Tsuchikage's too cunning."

The commander nodded, somewhat disappointed. It was one thing that Yi Chen possessed many abilities, but the key to his failure was that he hadn't taken into account Yi Chen's mastery of sealing techniques.

After a while, Darui arrived and said to the Fourth Raikage, "Lord Raikage, I've figured it out."

"The Tsuchikage's ability to destroy Defense Barrier is a Kekkei Genkai that can absorb the Chakra within the Defense Barrier and convert it into fuel to sustain Fire Release."

The commander quickly said, "This is the Kekkei Genkai Flame Release of Ogura Saki, Earth Shadow's disciple. I didn't expect the Tsuchikage to know it. Judging from Ogura Saki, she must have learned it from the Tsuchikage."

The Fourth Raikage's lips twitched. "Another Kekkei Genkai? How many bloodlines does he already have?"

Darui said sullenly, "One Kekkei Tōta, three Kekkei Genkai: Porcelain Release, Storm Release, and Flame Release."

The commander continued, "With four bloodline limits continuously enhancing his body, no wonder the Tsuchikage has so much more Chakra than the intelligence indicated."

The Fourth Raikage said, "Forget it, go and tally the casualties. I still need to go to the Land of Hot Water; things aren't over there yet. Don't worry about the Tsuchikage's matter; we'll talk about it when I get back."

Darui asked, "How are things going in the Land of Hot Water?"

The Fourth Raikage shook his head and said, "Yugito has been captured, but we obtained the Ten-Tails' body. I plan to exchange the Ten-Tails' body for Yugito."

"The Hokage Kazekaze have also agreed, and we've also reached a consensus to jointly deal with the Iwa ninja."

Upon hearing that Yugito had been captured, Darui was initially surprised, then nodded and said, "Lord Raikage, Yugito isn't here, would you like me to accompany you to the Land of Hot Water?"

He also knows Lightning Release Chakra Mode, although he's not very skilled at it, it's enough to withstand the brief period of Space Teleportation.

The Fourth Raikage looked at the ravaged village and said, "You should stay in the village. Although the chances of the Tsuchikage returning are slim, we still have to be careful."

"I'm worried about leaving Killer B alone in the village."

After saying that, the Fourth Raikage arrived at the base of the Heavenly Transfer Technique and teleported to the Land of Hot Water once again.

While remaining vigilant against Yichen's potential sudden counterattack, the Kumogakure began tallying casualties and property damage.

In fact, the Cloud ninja suffered relatively few casualties, losing only a little over a thousand ninjas in total.

Compared to the scale and intensity of this major battle, the casualties were really not that great.

There were quite a few civilian casualties, not because Yichen was deliberately targeting them, but because too many Area of Effect Ninjutsu were used tonight, and many civilians were affected.

The battle tonight started inside the Kumogakure, so the Cloud ninja had no time to evacuate the civilians.

As Daru watched the constantly updated data on civilian casualties and property damage, his heart bled.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, the village's finances will be very tight for a long time to come.

Compared to civilian casualties, the real blow to the Cloud ninja was to their confidence.

Under the watchful eyes of all the village's ninjas and civilians, the Cloud ninja set a trap for Yichen, and the Fourth Raikage, along with the Jinchuriki and all the village's ninjas, surrounded and attacked Yichen.

It failed!

This was unacceptable to the proud Cloud ninja.

Moreover, this kind of blow to morale is very persistent and cannot be reversed in a short period of time.

In the future, when Cloud ninja face Iwa ninja outside, their ability to exert themselves will be affected by this mentality.

Therefore, Darui's main task now is to calm everyone down.

We must prevent excessive negative emotions from disrupting the village's order, and we must also prevent people from passing on these emotions to each other.

As for how the village will decide on matters of war and peace, that's not something Darui needs to worry about right now.

Furthermore, Darui knew that, most likely, the Cloud ninja would not go to war with the Iwa ninja.

Based on the impression Yichen left on the Cloud ninja today, the Cloud ninja's morale would immediately collapse once Yichen appeared on the battlefield.

While Darui was worrying about Cloud ninja's future, Yichen was also feeling uneasy.

Yichen was injured. When he finally forced his Wind Release: Breakthrough the Cloud ninja's Defense Barrier, he was struck in the back by Darui's Black Lightning.

Fortunately, Yichen was still in Sage Mode at the time, and due to the Sage Mode's resistance to attacks, the injuries were not fatal.

However, Sage Mode was also dispelled by that attack.

After leaving Kumogakure, Yichen increased his flight altitude, flying at full speed from a height far above the cloud layer of the Land of Lightning, and left the Land of Land of Lightning.

"Phew, I was too reckless, too reckless. Why can't I learn my lesson? I just learned my lesson from Obito, how could I forget it again?" Yichen cursed himself as he flew.

The Kumogakure is too dangerous; it's not like the Kumogakure Konoha Village.

In Konoha, Yichen had two factions of his own: the Uchiha Clan and Danzo.

But the Cloud ninja were too united.

Great Ninja Village that goes all out without its own people holding it back is terrifying.

Next time, even if I'm going to have fun, I'll go to Konoha.

Yichen made up his mind to repent and start anew!

With this determination, Yichen returned to Iwagakure as quickly as possible.

Yichen's injury couldn't be kept secret from the Advisor Group, and they arrived shortly after he entered the Iwagakure Medical Department.

Ming and the others knew that Yichen was going to the Kumogakure. This was a routine matter for Yichen; they were used to it.

In their minds, they had already been to Konoha several times, so going to Kumogakure shouldn't be a problem.

Besides, wasn't it said that the Fourth Raikage wasn't in the village?

With the Fourth Raikage absent, given Yichen's cunning—no, I mean, his Yichen wit—he shouldn't be in any big trouble.

After waiting a while, until Nakata Hajime finished treating Yichen's injuries and left, Ikura frowned and looked at Yichen, asking, "What exactly happened?"

Yichen really didn't want to tell the truth, because if he did, it would be even harder for him to leave the village in the future.

Under the expressionless gaze of all the consultants, Yichen, lying on the hospital bed, had no choice but to honestly recount the whole process.

"The Fourth Raikage did indeed go to the Land of Hot Water, but he returned using the Heavenly Transfer Technique."

"The Cloud ninja had a plan in place for my infiltration; they trapped me inside Defense Barrier."

"Then, the Fourth Raikage, Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B), Darui, and all the ninjas of the Kumogakure attacked me together."

"But in the end, I escaped unharmed."

"But after this First Shinobi War, my information is no longer a secret. This time in Kumogakure, I used almost every ability I knew."

Upon hearing Yichen's description, everyone gasped in shock as the entire village mobilized to attack one person.

You're getting more and more adventurous with yourself these days.

No one spoke; everyone stared intently at Yichen.

Yichen felt awkward, so he took a scroll from beside the hospital bed, handed it to them, and said, "This is information I obtained from the Cloud Ninja Technology Museum."

"With proper research, we should be able to manufacture some simple mechanical devices, saving us some expenses."

No one took the scroll, no one uttered a sound, Yichen's attempt to change the subject immediately failed.

"Hehe, haha." Yichen laughed awkwardly.

In the end, Yichen still faced unanimous criticism from all the advisors. Even Yichen's disciple Tomoko, stood firmly against Yichen on this matter.

After being nagged for a long time by Saka, Mei, Ikura, Tomoko, and Kitsuchi, Yichen finally managed to escape his misery.

Yichen looked rather listless, lying on the hospital bed, not wanting to move much.

Seeing this, Saka said, "Information has come from the Land of Hot Water that the Cloud ninja has joined forces with the Konoha and the Sunagakure this time."

"It's not a good thing for us to have all three parties together. If they take this opportunity to form an alliance and target us, then our situation will be dire."

"Who knows, the Mist ninja might also get involved. Let's think of a way to defuse this."

Yichen said weakly, "Did Konoha and Sunagakure go from Tsunade and Rasa?"

Saka nodded helplessly and said, "You were in a hurry to get to Kumogakure at the time and didn't check the follow-up information."

"Our ninjas spotted the Katsuyu from a great distance, along with a massive amount of gold dust. Tsunade and Rasa must have gone there themselves."

Hearing that Tsunade was also there, Yichen startled, as he knew that Tsunade could also withstand the Heavenly Transfer Technique.

If Tsunade had gone to Kumogakure with the Fourth Raikage, then Yichen might never have returned.

However, upon closer reflection, Yichen realized he was overthinking things.

If Tsunade really cooperates with the Raikage to kill her, then she will be the next one to be killed.

The Raikage wouldn't give up such a good opportunity because of any promise.

After thinking for a moment, Yichen said, "Since it's three Shadows gathered together, their alliance must have been established from the top down. It's almost impossible for us to sow discord."

"There are only two things we can do: first, make them too busy to pay attention to us; to put it bluntly, create trouble for them."

"Secondly, let's appear equally powerful, for example, by strengthening our alliance with Kirigakure."

"Don't we still have some unused Ninja Blade? Let's use them as bait to get the Mist ninja Blade actively deepen their relationship with us."

Mei was somewhat unhappy and said, "Are we just going to return the Ninja Blade to Kirigakure for nothing?"

Yichen shook his head and said, "Of course we can't give it away for free. We're not exchanging Ninja Blade for favors. We're exchanging the opportunity to trade Ninja Blade for favors."

"We're simply giving Kirigakure a chance to exchange for Ninja Blade. How much they're willing to pay to redeem Ninja Blade is another matter."

Ming listened and nodded in satisfaction.