Light Release Begins to Merge

The Ninja World returned to peace, Six Great Ninja Villages went about their own business behind closed doors.

The pitiful Sunagakure Village residents found a place in the southern part of the Land of Wind and established a new ninja village.

After the establishment of the new ninja village, the Sunagakure remained very well-behaved and never ventured out of the southern half of the Land of Wind again.

They spent most of their time rebuilding their homes, and it is said that the reconstruction work in Sunagakure was often halted due to a lack of funds.

The Konoha ninja didn't leave the Land of Fire. Since signing the peace treaty with the Iwa ninja, Konoha withdrew its ninja from the Land of Hot Water and focused on various internal reforms.

The Sixth Hokage Danzō, immediately replaced all of Tsunade's confidants with his own people.

Fortunately, since Tsunade had already left Konoha, these people no longer posed a threat to Danzo, so Danzo did not pursue and kill them all.

Danzo then introduced a large number of new policies, many of which were particularly harsh and targeted at powerful families.

However, Danzo had just Danzo office and carried the hopes of the entire village, so none of the clan leaders wanted to be the first to take the lead.

Whether it was the Hyuga Clan, the most prestigious family, or the Ino-Shika-Cho, Inuzuka, and Aburame clans, or even the Sarutobi Clan, which had produced Hokage, all the clans obediently chose to cooperate.

In a short time, a large number of members from powerful clans appeared in Konoha Anbu and Root, along with many Jonin and Chunin from these clans leading their Squad Leader Jonin.

In addition, Danzo forcibly seized all the properties that originally belonged to the Uchiha Clan from the various families. Danzo then directly transferred these properties to the village.

For a time, the Genin of Konoha were full of praise for Danzo.

Especially those Genin who were assigned to the Jonin or Chunin of these powerful clans felt more grateful to Danzo than to their own Jonin or Chunin Squad Leader Jonin.

After the news spread, the Konoha felt that the powerful Danzo was giving Konoha, drastic medicine, and expressed their support for Lord Danzō's reforms.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, after witnessing Danzo's suppressive effect on the major clans, began to doubt his own usefulness.

Decades of scheming and intrigue are not as fruitful as Danzo's achievements in a few days.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi also saw the huge Danzo danger that Danzo's actions had created for the village.

Those powerful families aren't so easily subdued; they're currently biding their time, waiting for Danzo to make a mistake.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that Danzo, had a much lower tolerance for error than Tsunade.

After Tsunade, Konoha's situation worsened, leading to their defeat in the Ninja World War and a continuous decline in their status within the Ninja World.

However, she remained Hokage for a long time, and her Hokage position became more and more secure, and the power she wielded grew greater and greater.

If it weren't for Tsunade taking the initiative to step down and resign in order to protect Kakashi, she would still Hokage, her position as secure as ever.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that Danzo would not receive such treatment. He thought that if Danzo made a serious mistake, his Hokage position would be immediately impeached by many powerful clans.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi is currently just a peripheral figure far removed from the power center of Konoha, and has no way to interfere with Danzo.

The powerful Danzo achieved more than that; he also obtained more military funding from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire than any of the previous Hokage.

With great power in his hands and a large sum of money in his pocket, Danzo began to expand his army.

Danzo increased the enrollment size of the Ninja Academy and forcibly required all clan members to enroll in the Ninja Academy.

The most outstanding students of each graduating class have the great honor of becoming members of Root during their time at the Ninja Academy. Their Lord Hokage personally plants the Cursed Tongue Eradication Jutsu, which represents the Will of Fire.

Danzo also undertook many other bizarre revival measures. In short, under Danzo's management, Konoha was placed under a semi-military state of administration.

Life continued as usual for all civilians, but the workload for all ninjas increased significantly, while their rewards decreased drastically.

According to Danzo, it's good enough if they get paid at all; Root member are never paid. Root member are punished if they fail on a mission, but success is expected.

Compared to Danzo's dramatic and sensational actions, the Cloud ninja appeared exceptionally mysterious.

The Kumogakure had the fewest intelligence ninjas from other ninja villages, and after the Fourth Raikage began to develop his skills in seclusion, even less intelligence was transmitted from the Kumogakure.

Almost no one knew what the Cloud ninja were doing behind closed doors.

The Mist ninja was the most active, making a huge commotion whether it was retrieving the Six-Tails or searching for the Three-Tails, as if they were afraid others wouldn't know.

Nothing major happened in Iwagakure because Yichen was in seclusion for training.

They simply held an internal Chunin Ninja Exams, and then had the graduating students graduate early.

Then the Iwa ninja began establishing new branches in the northwest of the Land of Wind and the west of the Land of Hot Water.

By establishing two branches at once, one of which is a relatively large Land of Wind branch, Iwa ninja, though not making any major moves, still demonstrated its strength and ambition.

Meanwhile, after an initial adjustment period, a large number of newly graduated Genin were assigned to the Land of Wind and the Land of Hot Water to carry out missions to clear out wandering ninjas.

Although the Iwa ninja didn't do anything outrageous, they still caused a slight ripple in the peaceful Ninja World.

In a corner unnoticed by everyone, even Obito Uchiha was focused on training his subordinates.

His subordinates were all geniuses from prominent clans in Kirigakure, possessing exceptional talent, and under his guidance, they grew at a remarkably rapid pace.

Obito Uchiha possessed Madara Uchiha's various insights, making him more than capable of teaching his disciples.

Obito Uchiha was too busy teaching his disciples to cause trouble in the Ninja World.

As for the Akatsuki Organization, having gained access to a large new virgin territory, the three leaders of the Akatsuki Organization were busy Akatsuki Organization's ideology.

Yichen said that this was a question he posed to the Akatsuki Organization, wanting to see if they could spread their peace ideals widely through various branch bases, just like the Iwagakure he led.

Yahiko and his two companions were easily swayed by this approach, and they spent Tenten trying their best to gain the approval and acceptance of the people in the northeastern region of the Land of Wind for their ideals.

Iwagakure)

Yichen is currently in seclusion practicing Light Release. It has to be said, Chakra is truly amazing.

After a period of focused training, Yichen's Chakra finally fully adapted to the Light Release, and the Light Release finally began to integrate into Yichen's body.

This process is somewhat different from the process of Fusion Bloodline Limit.

When Yichen fuses several Kekkei Genkai, with the assistance of drugs, the transformation process is extremely rapid. It is also extremely painful; he either experiences unbearable itching or pain so intense that he wants to commit suicide.

However, the process of Yichen fusing Light Release Chakra is very slow now. But similarly, there are no strange side effects.

In the unknown future, Yichen's body will gradually adapt to the Light Release Chakra.

At the same time, this is also a process of Yichen's physical transformation. During this process, the genes in Yichen's body cells will change.

To put it simply, this is a process of elevating Life level; it is an important step for Yichen to transcend from a mortal to Sage.

Yichen's seclusion during this period was not about locking himself in a small dark room and isolating himself from the world.

Rather, it is a state of focused training where one does not handle official duties or care about the development of the Ninja World.

Yichen spends his days either cultivating or leading his three disciples on simple tasks.

Yichen only ended his secluded training state when the Light Release Chakra began to merge with his body.

This period of time was rather long. When Yichen sat back in his office chair after many days, he found that his desk was piled high with documents that he needed to review or process.

Yichen sighed deeply. At this moment, all the joy he had felt from his leap forward in cultivation was gone.

Yichen opened the first document, which contained the latest situation in the Ninja World.

These documents were clearly compiled for Yichen by the Tsuchikage Assistant Class members; they felt this was the most important and that Yichen needed to read it first.

After reading it, Yichen was somewhat surprised. He didn't care about the reactions of the other Yichen villages; what Yichen cared about was the Sunagakure.

The document states that Rasa was actually plotting against Rōran, and that during Yichen's seclusion, Rasa actually persuaded Rōran to join the Sunagakure.

"Still won't give up!" Yichen smiled at Rasa's struggle, not paying much attention to it, deciding to put it aside for now and consider how to deal with it later.

There are still many documents to review.

Yichen continued to flip through the documents, glancing over the construction progress of the two new branches and some important personnel changes within the village's various departments.

Yichen did not covet power; he would delegate any power he could to these Tsuchikage.

Yichen knew very well that in this Ninja World, only great strength could maintain his position; power was merely a byproduct of strength.

Before long, Yichen saw a report that his disciple Takuya had finally become Elite Jonin.

Yichen smiled slightly, because Takuya not only became Elite Jonin, but also provided the village with a systematic set of techniques and training methods for close-range agility and movement.

This is a great item; it can greatly enhance the combat power of the Iwagakure Taijutsu Ninja.

Yichen kept the document, planning to practice it properly when he had time.

This thing works on Yichen far better than on others, because Yichen can Banshō Ten'in.

With the help of the Banshō Ten'in, Yichen Yichen was able to perform many techniques that even Takuya himself could not accomplish. He could even easily learn some techniques that only existed in theory.

Yichen continued reading, and after a while, he came across another intelligence report.

With the help of Atsumi Akino, a ninja skilled in Space-Time Ninjutsu, Uzumaki Yumi Kawazoe Yura of the Barrier Team finally mastered the method of creating large-scale Storage Scroll.

Yichen asked an assistant, "Has there been any strange activity from Senior Mei lately?"

The assistant thought for a moment and said, "It doesn't seem to be anything special. By the way, is it strange that Lord Ming is selecting a new warehouse manager?"

Yichen laughed heartily, "It counts, of course it counts! If it's not strange, then there's nothing strange about it."

It seems that the Dark Plan's operation to use Exploding Tag to blast Konoha and other ninja villages has already begun.

Ignoring his bewildered assistant, Yichen took out the same document.

"Hmm? Uzumaki Riori has also become Elite Jonin?" Yichen flipped to another document.

"Should we send her a reward? She'd be really happy! As for what the reward should be, teaching her a few new Ninjutsu would be a good idea!"

Uzumaki Riori was the first member of Team Five to become Jonin, and now she has become Elite Jonin.

At this time, her contemporary Ishinose Kiyoshi, was just a newly promoted Jonin.

Ishinose Kiyoshi's research into the Water Release Technique of the Hozuki Clan in Kirigakure delayed his training time considerably, resulting in slower progress in his strength.

As for the last member of Team Five, Atsumi Akino, there's no need to consider her strength level at all; she's already a complete researcher.

Then Yichen saw the information about Chiga, a disciple of Team Six.

The little girl's Blood Sensation ability has finally undergone a qualitative change, but the specifics are not specified in the document, and Yichen needs to take some time to check it out.

In addition, Sasagawa Ayumi, who was in the same class as Chiga, finally became Quasi-Jonin.

Ironically, Sasagawa Ayumi originally supposed to instruct Yakumo Kurama, who was still studying at the Ninja Academy, as requested by Yichen.

As a result, when teaching Yakumo Kurama Super Beast Imitation Drawing, he learned many new uses of Super Beast Imitation Drawing from Yakumo Kurama.

Yakumo Kurama also taught Sasagawa Ayumi many new painting techniques.

Then Sasagawa Ayumi became Quasi-Jonin.

As for Yakumo Kurama, who received guidance, she also made progress; she was able to draw some animals that could be used for transportation.

Students at the Ninja Academy often saw Yakumo Kurama riding on the back of a black and white rabbit, wandering around the school.

Perhaps because she had been sitting for too long, Yakumo Kurama particularly enjoyed wandering around. She used all her Chakra to perform Super Beast Imitation Drawing.

Seeing this, Yichen shook his head, deciding to Yakumo Kurama aside for now; she was still young, and there was no rush to change her childlike nature.

Perhaps this mindset is not bad, as it naturally eliminates obsessions, which is a good thing for Yakumo Kurama.

After reviewing his disciples' situations, Yichen recalled all his disciples again, considering who still needed guidance.

There was no way around it; there were just too many disciples, Yichen couldn't even remember many of them on a regular basis.

Yichen's first thought was Kawakita, as he could sense that Yichen was Kawakita in the Tsuchikage's Office Building.

Now, people in Kawakita are gradually taking over some village affairs.

According to Mei and Saka, they would retire sooner or later, and they needed to give the younger generation more opportunities to gain experience.

So Yichen said to the assistant, "Go and invite Kawakita over."

"Yes." Upon hearing this, the assistant, who was always ready to answer Yichen's questions, quickly left.

Besides Kawakita, Yichen thought of Yoshimura Kazumasa, who was researching Hand Seals for the Ninja Cat. He wondered how his research was going and wanted to keep an eye on it.

After a while, Kawakita arrived at Yichen's office.

The moment Kawakita entered the office, Yichen's eyes lit up.

Yichen waved his hand, signaling the assistant to leave, then said to Kawakita, "Very impressive aura, sharp and ruthless. Has your swordsmanship improved?"

Kawakita nodded and said, "Yes, I have learned all of the Konoha Style Swordsmanship. This time I have gained a lot."

Seeing the subtle sharpness in Kawakita's every move and word, Yichen smiled and asked, "Very good. After I finish my official business, let's have a little sparring."

Kawakita nodded, somewhat excited. He could finally spar with his teacher. Before, he had only received guidance, but it seemed that his skills had finally been recognized by his teacher.

After Kawakita left, Yichen read through the remaining documents one last time.

Besides the changes in his own disciples, the document also recorded the changes in many other ninjas in the village, as well as any major improvements.

For example, what Yichen cares about most is Deidara.

Deidara finally succeeded in developing the Explosion Release and ingeniously created Exploding Clay.

"Yes, we also need to keep an eye on Deidara. It's been a while since I've paid attention to his mentality. This is a big deal, and we can't let our guard down," Yichen thought to himself.

After finishing processing the documents, Yichen summoned Kawakita and Deidara to the outskirts of the village.

Yichen planned to have Deidara watch the sparring match with Kawakita from the sidelines.

Although there are many geniuses in Iwagakure now, Deidara no longer has the arrogant mindset he had in the original story.

However, it's also important to help him see reality clearly, so that even if he reaches the Kage Level, he won't become arrogant.

Yichen and Kawakita stood apart, Yichen said, "Let's begin."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kawakita launched his attack. Lacking effective ranged attack methods, Kawakita could only hope to win by engaging in close combat.

Yichen wasn't being arrogant. Although Kawakita was his disciple, he was a disciple who had reached the Kage Level, not a kid like Bai who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Yichen quickly Hand Seals and unleashed a barrage of Ninjutsu of various attributes towards Kawakita.

Yichen did not use any A-rank or higher Ninjutsu; he only used conventional Five-Attribute Ninjutsu to attack.

Kawakita didn't have as many fancy skills as Yichen; his methods were very simple: just swinging his longsword.

Although the technique was simple, the longsword imbued with Kawakita's Chakra could easily slice through Yichen's Five-Attribute Ninjutsu.

For Kage Level swordsman like Kawakita, even B-rank Lightning Release technique could cut through him.

However, Kawakita frowned slightly, not for any other reason than that Yichen's speed in using Ninjutsu was too fast.

Yichen can perform C-rank Ninjutsu in less than a second on average. B-rank ninjutsu takes a little longer, but he can still easily control it within two seconds.

Kawakita's slashing speed is theoretically faster than Yichen's Ninjutsu speed.

However, breaking through a Ninjutsu is not as simple as swinging a sword once. Sometimes it requires Kawakita to swing his sword many times in succession, and sometimes it requires him to maintain the Sword Qi continuously.

As a result, Kawakita's speed in cutting through Ninjutsu couldn't keep up with Yichen's speed in using Ninjutsu. He simply couldn't withstand Yichen's attacks to close the distance between them.

Kawakita quickly changed tactics and began to dodge Yichen's attacks.

The Kawakita sometimes drifts to the left, sometimes traverses to the right, and sometimes charges forward.

Only when an attack is truly unavoidable will Kawakita use his longsword to slash it.

Within ten seconds, Kawakita had successfully reduced the distance between the two by half.

"Huh?" Yichen was somewhat surprised.

"Is this Movement Technique developed by Takuya? That makes sense; this was originally designed for close-combat ninjas."

"Kawakita is the strongest close-combat ninja in Iwagakure, so the village will definitely prioritize training him. It's normal that he knows this Movement Technique."

Yichen originally wanted to change tactics, but seeing this, he decided to see how well Kawakita had mastered this Movement Technique.

So Yichen stopped standing still and began to retreat quickly while increasing the speed at which he executed his Ninjutsu.

Sometimes Yichen would simultaneously Hand Seals with both hands to perform different Ninjutsu, and sometimes he could even suddenly spit out Seal-less Ninjutsu from his mouth.

Seeing this, Kawakita quickened his pace, pushing his Movement Technique to its limit.

At this moment, Yichen was also distracted by using Mind's Eye to sense Kawakita's Chakra and to perceive the detailed process of Kawakita's movement Movement Technique.

The two chased each other for quite a while, until Kawakita finally closed the distance between them.

Seeing this, Yichen had no choice but to change his tactics.

Then, the three Kekkei Genkai limits— Storm Release, Flame Release, and Porcelain Release —were used in turn.

This put more pressure on Kawakita. Although his attack method remained the same, each strike required Chakra and lasted longer.

Especially Porcelain Release. Yichen's Porcelain Release is not a normal Ninjutsu. It consists of countless Kunai, one strike of which is equivalent to countless strikes.

Kawakita knew that if he didn't change his tactics, the distance would widen again. So he gritted his teeth, shouted, and poured a large amount of Chakra into his longsword before swinging it at Yichen.

Instantly, a shockwave visible to the naked eye blasted towards Yichen.

Yichen recognized it; these must be some attack techniques that Kawakita learned from that S-rank Ninjutsu.

However, this attack technique was too crude, covering a large area and dispersing its power, which is a major taboo in swordsmanship.

No wonder Kawakita said he hadn't mastered that S-rank Ninjutsu; he really is still far from it.

Besides lacking precision in its attacks, the attack range is also short, and the power decays too quickly.

When the attack reached Yichen neutralized it with a single C-rank Water Style Jutsu.

However, this tactic is very effective in dealing with Yichen's overwhelming attacks.

In the blink of an eye, all the Ninjutsu and Porcelain Mud between the two were cleared away.

Yichen nodded slightly and said, "That's right."

After saying that, Yichen stretched out a hand and pointed it at Kawakita, shouting, "Shinra Tensei!"

Kawakita had just taken a few steps during the opening, was hit by Shinra Tensei and was sent flying after enduring the attack for two seconds.

The two did not continue fighting, and the contest ended.

When Kawakita returned, Yichen asked him, "What are your plans for cultivation next?"

Kawakita thought for a moment and said, "I plan to thoroughly review the Konoha Style Swordsmanship and see if I can learn that S-rank Sword Technique."

"At the same time, I plan to develop an S-rank Sword Technique myself."

The swordsmanship that Kawakita mentioned is the ninjutsu that Iwagakure keeps, which may have been derived from the Tenseigan eye technique.

One technique involves using Chakra or Sword Qi to create a forty-meter-long cleaver, which is then used to attack the enemy.

Kawakita never learned it, and not only did he not learn it, he actually had no clue what to do with it.

This kind of knife skill is something Kawakita couldn't possibly imagine, no matter how hard he tried.

In the end, he just pulled off the same awkward and incongruous move as before.

Yichen said, "I do have a suggestion. Have you noticed that whatever you do these days has a sharp, piercing edge to it?"

Kawakita nodded and said, "I know, I learned this from the Konoha Style Swordsmanship."

"This thing is hard to explain, but it has been a great help to my swordsmanship practice."

Yichen nodded. It would be strange if a ninja with only an elementary school education could explain such mysterious things clearly.

Yichen said, "I suggest you hide this edge."

"Hide? How do you hide?" Kawakita was a little confused.

Yichen smiled and said, "You'll have to figure that out yourself. Think about how to make it impossible for anyone to detect your presence."

"If you reach that level, your swordsmanship will be comparable to that of true masters like White Fang, Mifune, and Hanzo."

"I estimate that's the level of Sword Master."

Kawakita seemed lost in thought, recalling how neither Mifune nor Hanzo, whom he had met before, possessed the same sharp edge he had.

Yichen patted Kawakita on the shoulder and said, "Alright, go back to your training. I'm going to chat with Deidara for a bit."

"Yes." Kawakita nodded to Deidara and left.