Forcibly Breaking the Caged Bird

Among the Uzumaki Clan, only Uzumaki Riori was still confused about what had happened, staring blankly at everyone, not understanding why they had cut their own fingers.

They still didn't understand why Chiga had eaten their blood.

While Chiga was fusing blood, Yichen beckoned to Uzumaki Riori and said, "Riori, come here."

When Uzumaki Riori heard Yichen call her, she quickly got up and happily took two steps toward Yichen. But then she seemed to remember something and suddenly stopped.

Why does this scene seem so familiar? Why do I have this feeling that something bad is about to happen? Uzumaki Riori her head, beginning to think.

Yichen was surprised to see this. What was going on? Had Riori become smarter? Did Riori even know how to think?

Uzumaki Riori did recall the unpleasant times she had been dominated by Yichen.

Seeing this, Yichen said gently, "Riori, I heard you became Elite Jonin?"

Uzumaki Riori nodded, her foot involuntarily taking a step back.

"That tone, that smile, there's no doubt, Teacher Yichen is going to get me into trouble again!" Uzumaki Riori thought to herself.

Her guard immediately went up, and she didn't answer Yichen's question. Her limited mind started thinking of a way to escape.

However, she forgot that this was her clan's ancestral land, and the people around her were all her elders.

Seeing that Uzumaki Riori hadn't answered the Tsuchikage's question, a middle-aged ninja immediately said, "Riori, the Lord Tsuchikage is asking you a question, why are you backing away?"

"Yes, Riori, the Lord Tsuchikage is your teacher. Your teacher cares about your training, so why are you hiding?" another elder said.

After listening to her elders' words, Uzumaki Riori felt a little wronged, as it was clearly Teacher Yichen who was bullying her.

But with so many elders urging her, she could only look at Yichen said, "Yes, Teacher Yichen, I only recently became Elite Jonin."

Yichen thought for a moment and said, "Very good. Come, come, let me give you a gift."

As he spoke, Yichen took out a scroll and handed it to Uzumaki Riori.

Uzumaki Riori immediately realized that the scroll must contain Ninjutsu. Teacher Yichen was going to force her to learn the Ninjutsu she least wanted to learn.

She didn't want to accept it, she wanted to run away, but when she turned around she found that all her tribesmen were giving her encouraging looks.

Uzumaki Yumi's father urged her to take it quickly.

Uzumaki Riori had no choice but to slowly and reluctantly move to Yichen's Yichen, taking the scroll from his hands.

Yichen patted her on the shoulder and said, "Riori, good luck! This contains two A-rank Fire Style Ninjutsu, which are very rare. You must study them carefully."

Uzumaki Riori's eyes immediately filled with tears; she felt so wronged!

But her people all looked on with envy.

These members of the Uzumaki Clan were not originally ninjas in the Land of Whirlpools; they did not know Ninjutsu. They learned Ninjutsu in the Iwagakure.

Although the Iwagakure takes special care of them, they still have to contribute to exchange for Ninjutsu.

They couldn't afford even one A-rank Ninjutsu, yet Yichen gave Uzumaki Riori two at once. How could they not be envious?

Just as Uzumaki Riori was about to find someone to hug and cry her heart out, Chiga finally opened her eyes.

She said, "Alright, I've located the positions of all the Uzumaki clan members."

"Most of them are in villages, but many are scattered throughout the Ninja World."

"Let me sort this out first. These should be the location of the Land of Bears Branch, and these should be the Land of the Falls Branch."

Chiga's words immediately drew the attention of everyone except Uzumaki Riori.

After hearing Chiga reveal the location of the Uzumaki Clan members on their mission, all nine of them became extremely excited.

Finally Chiga said, "It's confirmed. There are about twenty members of the Uzumaki Clan who are stranded outside."

"One of them is in Konoha! The others are not in the Land of Fire."

Yichen said, "That one from Konoha is the orphan of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki."

Uzumaki Yumi's father asked instinctively, "The Fourth Hokage of Konoha has a son? I've never heard of him."

Yichen said, "The couple died because the Nine-Tails was released while they were giving birth. Their son is Konoha's new Jinchuriki."

"Born during the Nine-Tails' Rampage, so that child is a year younger than Karin," said Uzumaki Yumi's father.

Yichen glanced at him and said, "Yes. But that's not important. We have no chance to save that child."

"Our goal is to bring back the other members of the Uzumaki Clan, so that your clansmen who have been scattered abroad no longer have to live in fear."

"No need to hide your identity anymore, to be secretive and afraid of being discovered."

Upon hearing this, the nine people immediately Yichen said, "Thank you Lord Tsuchikage, for thinking of our Uzumaki Clan."

One of them said, "Lord Tsuchikage, please tell us the location of those clansmen. We request permission to bring them back immediately."

Yichen waved his hand and said, "Send two representatives, one man and one woman, plus Riori, that's enough for three people."

"I'm fast. I'll personally take you there and bring your people back."

Upon hearing that Yichen, the Tsuchikage, was going to personally carry out the mission, the nine people were deeply moved.

One by one, they immediately knelt before Yichen, swearing oaths. "We swear to be loyal to Lord Tsuchikage and to Iwagakure until death."

Yichen was very satisfied. His main purpose in coming here was to increase the Uzumaki Clan's sense of belonging to Iwagakure.

Yichen stepped forward and helped the nine people who had been bowing deeply to their feet, saying, "Back then, it was I who suggested to the Third Lord that we rescue you from the hands of the Cloud ninja, Mist ninja, and Sunagakure."

"I know you may have had some misunderstandings about us when you first arrived. Some people may have thought that the village would use you as vessels for the Tailed Beast."

"These things can't be explained away. So many years have passed, and I'm sure you can all feel how the village has treated you."

"Iwagakure is like one big family. Although we are not related by blood, we share common ideals and firmly believe in the Will of Stone. We are one family."

"The High-ranking officials and I understand how you feel about being dependent on others. I just want to use this incident to tell you that the village has always considered you one of our own."

"But we know that sometimes words are pale and powerless, so I have never said anything to you about treating the village as my home."

"What I want to say is that the village has always known what you care about, and the High-ranking officials empathize with your concerns."

"The village has been trying its best to find your clansmen for years. Now that we have a definite solution, I came to the Uzumaki Clan immediately."

Some of these statements are true. For example, Yichen didn't know that Uzumaki Karin was in the village, so he searched the entire Ninja World for members of the Uzumaki Clan.

Yumi's father also knew about this.

But most of what he said was brainwashing rhetoric from Yichen, the Tsuchikage, to promote the Will of Stone. Yichen never thought about the Uzumaki Clan, so how could he possibly empathize with them?

After saying that, Yichen didn't wait for the nine people to react before saying, "Alright, quickly choose two people and then come with me to find someone."

After saying that, Yichen led Chiga and Uzumaki Riori, who was still recovering from the grievances she had suffered, out of the living room.

Outside, many members of the Uzumaki Clan were waiting. When they saw Yichen and his companions come out, they all bowed to them.

Yichen nodded to them without saying anything, but instead created a Porcelain Platform, and then stood on the platform with Chiga and Uzumaki Riori.

After a while, the nine people in the living room also came out, and two of them walked onto Yichen's Porcelain Platform under the expectant gazes of the other seven.

One of these two people is Uzumaki Yumi's father, who has a special identity and is the only person besides Uzumaki Riori who has connections with the High-ranking officials. The other person is a middle-aged woman, who is also a Jonin.

Yichen didn't care how the remaining seven would explain today's events to the other members of the Uzumaki Clan.

Following Chiga's guidance, Yichen began searching for the scattered Uzumaki clan members throughout the Ninja World.

The process went smoothly. Yichen simply dropped Riori and the other two off at their destination; they could bring the people back themselves.

Those members of the Uzumaki clan members said. Especially when the silly Uzumaki Riori joined in and persuaded everyone to go to Iwagakure, almost no one could refuse.

In just two days, Yichen and his group found all the Uzumaki clan members in the entire Ninja World.

Yichen looked at the twenty or so members of the Uzumaki Clan sitting on the platform and their families, and was quite satisfied.

These people included both old and young, men and women. But none of them were ninjas, and in fact, the place they lived had little to do with ninjas.

Regardless of which country they had previously been hiding in, they all chose those very remote mountainous areas without prior agreement.

They chose places where ninjas wouldn't go, and perhaps that's why they were able to survive.

Yichen said to Uzumaki Yumi's father, "There are still three people stranded outside."

"One is Kushina Uzumaki's son, another is Nagato, one of the three leaders of Akatsuki Organization, and the last one, judging from the location, should be in Orochimaru's hands."

"If I can't get the first one back, I won't want the second one back either."

"Thirdly, I will find an opportunity to negotiate with Orochimaru."

Uzumaki Yumi's father nodded and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, thank you so much. We are already very grateful for your help."

Yichen didn't say anything, and led everyone directly back to the Iwagakure Uzumaki Clan.

The next day, several staff members arranged by Yichen went to the territory of the Uzumaki Clan to register the newly rescued people and assign them accommodations.

The Iwagakure also provided them with the supplies they needed for normal living and told them that they could rest for a while and that the village would arrange work for them after they recovered physically and mentally.

Yichen mentally reviewed his handling of the Uzumaki Clan and found no problems.

Having served Tsuchikage for so many years, Yichen has become very adept at promoting the Will of Stone.

The next step is to find the whereabouts of the Uchiha Clan.

However, Chiga's ability can only last for ten days. She can only sense new ones after the Uzumaki Clan members disappear from her Blood Sense space after ten days.

As for these ten days, Yichen plans to meet Orochimaru.

For the past year or so, Yichen has been working with Orochimaru to study the Caged Bird Cursed Seal on Neji's head.

Although it hasn't been successfully cracked yet, Orochimaru's description suggests that they've made some progress.

However, Yichen was unwilling to conduct the most crucial experiments on Neji.

Yichen had high hopes for Neji; even if Orochimaru's key experiments succeeded, they would still affect the soul.

Even though Neji possessed the Yata Mirror, Yichen was still worried that Neji would suffer irreparable harm.

However, without conducting experiments, there is no way to truly crack the Caged Bird.

Therefore, Yichen decided to take Hyuga Branch Family members who were still in Konoha.

Orochimaru's previous actions had already alerted Hyuga Hiashi, making it impossible to capture him for experiments.

In that case, let's just conduct the experiments directly in the Land of Fire, or even near Konoha.

Konoha is now under Danzo's leadership. At Danzo's request, many clan ninjas have joined the Anbu and Root, or become instructors.

Therefore, there are still quite a few Hyuga Clan ninjas on missions outside Konoha.

So Yichen took Chiga with him and went to the Snake Pit Village in the Land of Land of Whirlpools.

Orochimaru was somewhat surprised and wary of Yichen's personal arrival.

Yichen's Ninja World and strength have grown over the years, and Orochimaru is still quite wary of him.

In particular, Yichen's style of doing things is not much different from Danzo's; he is the kind of person who can cooperate with you while secretly plotting against you.

What Orochimaru found most concerning was that Yichen, after his underhanded tactics failed and he was discovered, calmly stated. "If you can't even handle this much, you're not worthy of cooperating with me."

He's got the makings of a major villain!

However, Orochimaru also has his Trump Card. Last time in Konoha, he suffered a great loss at the hands of Fugaku Uchiha.

After returning, he focused on studying several Forbidden Techniques, and now Orochimaru felt that he could quickly defeat Fugaku Uchiha if they faced each other again.

Yichen Gate of Opening point, saying, "Thank you very much Orochimaru, for providing the Hyuga Clan's Hematopoietic Stem Cells a few days ago."

"With these cells, I will be able to locate all members of the Hyuga Clan within a ten-kilometer radius of me within five days."

Yichen didn't say the rest, but he believed Orochimaru would understand.

Sure enough, Orochimaru excitedly licked his lips upon hearing this and said, "The Tsuchikage is going to the Land of Fire to directly attack the Hyuga Branch Family members who are on a mission abroad?"

"Can you guarantee capturing a large number of Hyuga Branch Family members one go?"

This is very important. If one or two people could get the result, Orochimaru would have gone himself. Why wait for Yichen?

Yichen nodded and said, "Orochimaru- senpai really understands me. Time is limited, so how about we head to Konoha now?"

Orochimaru's eyes flashed, and he said, "Lord Tsuchikage, please go first. I'll arrange some village affairs and then I'll be there."

He didn't want the village to be wiped out by Yichen's men after he left.

Although he didn't value Snake Pit Village much, there was still a lot of secret information in the village that needed to be transferred first.

Yichen readily agreed, saying, "Then I'll wait for Orochimaru outside Konoha."

"However, I've heard that Orochimaru has a member of the Uzumaki Clan under his command. I wonder if we could part with him?"

Orochimaru's eyes flashed, countless thoughts racing through his mind: How did Yichen know about this?

However, Orochimaru didn't show it on his face. He said calmly, "There is a child with mediocre talent, Lord Tsuchikage is also interested in?"

Yichen said, "The Uzumaki Clan has joined Iwagakure. I have the right to bring Uzumaki Clan who have been living elsewhere back to the village."

Yichen's words were somewhat domineering, which displeased Orochimaru. The Uzumaki Clan's unique physique was also one of Orochimaru's important areas of research, and he didn't want to give up on it easily.

Seeing that Orochimaru remained silent, Yichen didn't want to press him too hard, so he smiled and said, "I can make an exchange. I wonder if there's anything Orochimaru- senpai needs?"

Orochimaru pondered for a moment, then said, "Including the Hematopoietic Stem Cells from the Hyuga Clan, I need partial genetic material from three deceased Kage Level."

Yichen's smile froze. Orochimaru was already researching the Impure World Reincarnation?

In the past, Yichen would never have made this kind of deal with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was essentially an unofficial member of Konoha; helping him quickly increase his strength was tantamount to aiding the enemy. It wasn't worth it for a child from the Uzumaki Clan whose talent was unknown.

But things are different now. The feud between Danzo and Orochimaru is probably no less intense than that between Yichen and Obito Uchiha.

Orochimaru would never work for Danzo.

So Yichen said, "Okay, I'll give you the things after we get back to the village. Three Kage Level: Chiyo, Pakura, and Hanzo."

Orochimaru nodded and said, "Deal."

Then Orochimaru sank directly into the ground.

Looking at Orochimaru, who was constantly sinking into the ground in his own ninja village, Yichen was speechless.

Did Orochimaru build an Underground Ninja Village?

After a while, Orochimaru emerged from underground, accompanied by a red-haired boy of about five years old, coiled around him by a giant snake.

Yichen used Porcelain Release to catch the little boy, said nothing, and directly led Chiga and the little boy away from Snake Pit Village.

In Konoha, Lord Danzō, the newly appointed official who had overpowered all the major clans, encountered a troubling matter.

The source of this trouble was a blond-haired boy standing in front of him.

That's right, it's Naruto.

First, the moment Danzo took over as Hokage, he used his power to take over Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Furthermore, Danzo immediately used the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on Naruto himself.

However, after some time had passed and Danzo had finished his urgent Danzo, when he saw Naruto again, he discovered that the Cursed Seal on Naruto's body had disappeared.

This greatly surprised Danzo, as this had never happened before.

The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal is considered the foundation of Danzo, and this must not be allowed to go wrong.

Danzo quickly checked the Cursed Seal on the others and, finding no problems, breathed a sigh of relief.

Danzo then investigated the Root member were monitoring Naruto 24/7. He found, of course, that there was nothing wrong with them; they were completely loyal to him.

Then Danzo once again placed the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on Naruto, and this time Danzo took Naruto with him.

However, a few days later, Danzo discovered that his Cursed Seal was weakening every day until it disappeared completely.

"Could it be because of the Nine-Tails?" Danzo, somewhat uncertain.

After all, Danzo never Jinchuriki Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on a Jinchuriki. The only time he did so was by first applying the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal before becoming the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki's ninja.

To Danzo's surprise, the past few days Naruto, under the pretense of teaching Naruto, had allowed Naruto to stay by his side and become quite familiar with him.

At that moment, Naruto shouted from a short distance away, "Grandpa Hokage, why can't I still learn the Clone Technique?"

Danzo's face darkened further upon hearing Naruto's question.

Naruto's demonstrated Ninjutsu talent was so poor that Naruto felt helpless.

If it were any ordinary Root member, he would have already abandoned them as cannon fodder.

But this is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, a strategic weapon of the village.

However, Danzo had clearly lost all patience with Naruto.

Actually, if it weren't for the need to observe the Cursed Seal, Danzo would have already handed Naruto over to someone else.

At this point, Danzo could no longer hold back and said, "Naruto, go back to the Ninja Academy."

After saying Danzo turned and left, completely giving up on applying the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal to Naruto.

After Danzo, a Root ninja suddenly appeared, picked up Naruto, and took him to the Ninja Academy.

However, the oblivious Naruto didn't notice Danzo's impatience. After school at the Ninja Academy, he loudly appeared in the Hokage's Office again.

"Grandpa Hokage, quickly teach me the Clone Technique! I feel like I'm just a little bit away from it!" Naruto shouted at Danzo.

"Grandpa Hokage, I'm hungry. I want to eat Ichiraku Ramen."

"Grandpa Hokage, why do you only have one eye?"

"Grandpa Hokage, why are you using crutches? Are your legs alright?"

"Grandpa Hokage, I will defeat you and become the Seventh Hokage!"

The next day, Danzo did not go to the Hokage Building; instead, he worked directly at Root.

However, on this day, although Naruto did not bother Danzo, an Anbu came to inform him of some information about the ring.

"Lord Hokage, the Tokuma Hyuga squad and the Fire Gate Hyuga squad have both gone missing."

Danzo frowned and asked, "How long ago was this?"

The Anbu replied, "Tokuma Hyuga's team left the village yesterday. He was on a mission with three Genin, and they should have returned to the village long ago."

"The ninja guarding the village entrance noticed something was wrong today, and after investigating, they discovered that Fire Gate Hyuga's team had also gone missing."

Danzo didn't seem to care much about the lives of the two Hyuga Branch Family members and the six Genin.

His first thought was whether there was a conspiracy involved, or whether someone was deliberately trying to cause him trouble.

These two Hyuga Branch Family ninjas were stolen from the Hyuga Clan by myself.

Is someone trying to use this incident to target my new policies, or even to directly oppose me?

Danzo did not act rashly, but instead ordered his men to monitor the movements of the various families.

The next day, the Anbu reported again, "Lord Hokage, two more teams have gone missing. Both teams are Hyuga Clan ninjas."

This forced Danzo to take the matter seriously. He asked one of his subordinates, "Have any unusual movements been observed from those powerful ninja clans?"

The subordinate replied, "No, they are all well-behaved. Aside from regular duties, no one has left the village."

Danzo thought to himself, "Is someone targeting the Hyuga Clan? Could it be Orochimaru? Is he still researching the Caged Bird?"

What secrets did Orochimaru discover about the Byakugan?

After thinking for a moment, Danzo said, "Tell the Hyuga Clan ninjas not to leave the village for the time being, and recall all those currently on missions outside."

The Hyuga Clan ninjas in Konoha don't leave the village, Yichen and Orochimaru can't do anything about it for the time being. But for the Hyuga members outside the village who want to return to Konoha, that's just a pipe dream.

With the combined effects of Chiga's Blood Sense ability and Yichen's Mind's Eye, all the Hyuga Clan squads outside suffered.

In a valley in the Land of Fire, Orochimaru was conducting experiments on a newly captured Hyuga Branch Family members, while another unconscious Hyuga Branch Family members lay nearby.

Not far away lay the corpses of a large group of Hyuga Branch Family members.

The experiments these past few days have yielded tremendous progress. Orochimaru stated that he now has a deep understanding of the Caged Bird.

In the past few days, seventeen or eighteen Hyuga Branch Family members have died at Orochimaru's hands.

Fearing that Hyuga Hiashi obtain intelligence and launch another long-range attack, Orochimaru always conducted his experiments very quickly, without any regard for the potential harm to his research subjects.

Through these high-frequency experiments, Orochimaru obtained a wealth of data. In particular, these were all extremely dangerous experiments, high-risk, and yielded more comprehensive data.

Yichen listened to Orochimaru's explanation, he gradually came to understand the complexity and terror of the Caged Bird.

However, the deeper Yichen learned, the more profound a thought became in his mind.

When Orochimaru finally killed the ninja, Yichen could no longer hold back.

Yichen asked, "Senior Orochimaru, according to you, even if the Caged Bird is broken, is the person also an idiot?"

Orochimaru chuckled coldly and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, I'm only responsible for breaking the Caged Bird. Whether the people are stupid or not is none of my concern."

Yichen:...

Even if you hunt geese all day long, you'll still get pecked by them.

At this moment, Orochimaru said, "Lord Tsuchikage, watch closely, I'm about to break the Caged Bird."

After saying that, Orochimaru laid out a large number of runes on the ground, and then placed the last member of the Hyuga Clan, Iroha Hyuga, at the center of the runes.

Then Orochimaru formed hundreds of hand seals. Afterward, he pointed a finger at Iroha Hyuga's forehead.

Yichen could sense that a large amount of Yin Release Chakra from Orochimaru's body entered Iroha Hyuga's forehead through that finger, and at the same time, the surrounding runes also rapidly surged into the Caged Bird.

The next moment, the Caged Bird on Iroha Hyuga's forehead suddenly began to twist violently, as if it were fighting against Orochimaru.

Meanwhile, Iroha Hyuga unconscious, suddenly began to struggle violently, his eyes rolled back, and a large amount of saliva dripped from his mouth.

This process lasted for quite some time. Finally, Yichen, who was quite skilled in Yin Release techniques, seemed to hear a cracking sound.

With that sound, the ugly Caged Bird marker suddenly shattered and slowly disappeared before the naked eye.

Only when Iroha Hyuga's forehead became completely smooth did everything return to calm.

After the decryption process was completed, Orochimaru let out a very eerie and joyful laugh.

Then Orochimaru Yichen said, "This Iroha Hyuga is a gift for the Lord Tsuchikage."

"We were able to capture so many Hyuga Branch Family members in one go, thanks to the Lord Tsuchikage. Consider this our reward."

After saying that, Orochimaru left the valley.