Rasa's Changes

In the Land of Wind, in the Sunagakure, Rasa finally confirmed the movements of several powerful members of the Mist ninja after sacrificing several intelligence ninja.

The Three Kage-level from Kirigakure — Mizukage Kisame, Mei Terumi, and Hozuki Mangetsu— none of them left Kirigakure, and all three have made public appearances in the village.

Only Yuki Koru, for some unknown reason, hasn't appeared in public for a long time.

Therefore, Rasa concluded that the Sand Ninja who used the Sunagakure as practice targets for his disciple during the sneak attack on Rōran was Yuki Koru.

The clues match up; the coldness mentioned by the Dragon Vein should refer to the Ice Release Chakra of Yuki Koru.

This conclusion both angered and relieved Rasa.

Instead of seeking help from others, Yuki Koru chose to cross the entire Ninja World and cause trouble in the Land of Land of Wind. Clearly, she had her eye on the fact that the Sunagakure was in decline, making it a perfect opportunity to train her disciples.

Therefore, Rasa felt extremely humiliated. How dare a mere Yuki Koru come to the Land of Wind alone to cause trouble? She simply didn't take him seriously.

However, on the other hand, since this was done by the Mist ninja, Yichen might not know about it yet.

Rasa's biggest fear now is that Yichen will interfere with his revival plan.

The Sunagakure is now weaker than ever before.

Whether it's a direct threat of war, economic suppression, or any other form of targeting, Yichen is something the current Sunagakure cannot withstand.

Unfortunately, what Rasa didn't know was that the person causing trouble in Rōran was none other than Yichen.

However, after initial communication with the Dragon Vein, Yichen felt that the Dragon Vein's level was ridiculously high, and Yichen dared not rashly make a move on Dragon Vein.

The reason why Yuki Koru hasn't made a public appearance is simply because he needs to practice controlling the Tailed Beast within him, as it's not safe for him to stay in the village.

Like many Yuki Koru, Kirigakure Jinchuriki, only secretly returning during High-Level Meeting.

Rasa dispatched skilled Puppet Technique from his village to Rōran to create immortal puppets with the help of the Queen of Roran.

Meanwhile, he began to consider whether he could annex the smaller countries further south of the Land of Wind.

Rasa is actually very guilty right now, and he desperately needs a lot of money to restore the strength of Sunagakure.

The Sunagakure is now so impoverished that they haven't even completed the construction of a new ninja village yet.

The Sunagakure's buildings are now complete on the surface, but in places that are not visible, there's a lack of funds to set up various protective barriers.

Even the rewards for ninja missions in Sunagakure have been reduced significantly. The rewards for Sunagakure missions are estimated to be only slightly better than those for Konoha ninja now.

The two ways Rasa could think of to alleviate the financial burden were mining and annexing small countries like Rōran.

However, since Rōran was completely surrounded by the Land of Wind, Rasa felt that attacking Rōran would allow him to conceal the information.

However, the small countries to the south of the Land of Wind are different; if they were to be annexed, the Iwagakure would have an excuse to intervene.

In that case, the Sunagakure might actually lose more than they gain, and even extend the influence of the Iwagakure to the southern part of the Land of Wind.

"We're still too weak. The village is probably just an ant that the Tsuchikage can easily crush. Perhaps in the Tsuchikage's eyes, I'm no different from that Queen of Roran." Thinking of this, Rasa took some time to go home.

He didn't want to spend time with his family; he wanted to see how his youngest son Gaara, was getting along with Shukaku, the One-Tails Shukaku.

Upon arriving home, Rasa saw his brother-in -Yashamaru, cooking, while Temari nervously called Gaara to eat.

Kankuro wasn't home; he had just left Sunagakure with a group of Puppet Master and gone to Rōran.

Kankuro is the strongest Puppet Technique genius in Sunagakure after Sasori of the Red Sands and Ryosuke. Kankuro has been studying Puppet Technique under Ryosuke for several years.

Although he was young, he was the Puppet Master in the team heading to Rōran who was the one on whom everyone placed the most hope.

Rasa stood at the doorway, watching Gaara emerge from the room with dark circles under his eyes and looking unwell, his brows furrowed deeply.

Because he had previously collaborated with the Fourth Raikage, Rasa had inquired about how to train Jinchuriki.

Although the Fourth Raikage did not directly tell Rasa the secrets of the Cloud ninja, he did give some general directions.

Rasa knew that the relationship between Jinchuriki and Tailed Beast couldn't be one of constant suppression; it required communication and love.

Therefore, Rasa did not have Yashamaru deliberately Gaara as in the original story. Instead, he had Yashamaru show more concern for Gaara.

Rasa also hoped that Yashamaru, Temari, Kankuro could use their familial bond to influence Gaara.

However, Rasa felt that it didn't seem to have any effect. Gaara's personality was much better than in the original work, but unfortunately, Rasa hadn't read the original work.

His comparisons were with Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B of the Cloud ninja, and Two-Tails Jinchuriki Yugito who had already died in battle.

Compared to those two cheerful and lively Jinchuriki, Gaara seems utterly inadequate.

After watching for a while at the door, Rasa left somewhat disappointed. He didn't go home; Gaara wasn't worth his time to visit.

He'd be better off going mining.

Unbeknownst to Rasa, after he left, Gaara turned his gaze toward the doorway.

Gaara stared blankly at the empty doorway, even more disappointed than Rasa.

He did feel warmth from his uncle Yashamaru, his sister Temari, and his brother Kankuro, but he longed even more for his father to give him some love as well.

Whenever Gaara thinks of his cold-hearted father, the warmth he has finally found in the hearts of the three of them grows colder.

Meanwhile, One-Tails Shukaku within him, wouldn't be idle either, constantly attacking Gaara verbally, taking advantage of Rasa's attitude towards him.

This Gaara so much that his condition not only didn't improve, but actually worsened Tenten.

Just then, Yashamaru's voice rang in Gaara's ears. "Gaara, time to eat."

Gaara's dull eyes lit up slightly. He responded in a voice only he could hear, then turned away from the doorway, lowered his head, and went to eat.

In Iwagakure, Yichen has recently found himself with some free time again.

Of the three disciples in Team Seven, Yichen has already arranged the training content for Kamizuru Tsuruhime for a long time to come.

She had to process the harvest that the Little Bee had obtained from the Dragon Vein.

I need to carefully cultivate the twenty kinds of insects from the Aburame Clan that I obtained from Danzo, and further enhance the Little Bee's abilities.

Fujii Kusaka was assigned by Yichen to the Yamanaka Clan's Mental Power Secret Technique research group, and didn't have time to do any missions.

Therefore, Team Seven can't get together at all right now.

Therefore, Yichen decided to disband Team Seven ahead of schedule.

Yichen directly assigned Bai to the Anbu, sending him to carry out missions.

A Training Ground in the village.

Buzzing, buzzing.

Yichen watched the Little Bee constantly flying Kamizuru Tsuruhime and waited patiently by his side.

After a long time, Kamizuru Tsuruhime finally finished testing all the performance of the Little Bee.

Yichen asked, "How are the Little Bee's performance?"

Kamizuru Tsuruhime's face flushed red as she excitedly exclaimed, "Teacher Yichen, my Little Bee are now worlds apart from what they used to be!"

"The performance of the Little Bee has been greatly improved in all aspects. One Little Bee now can easily defeat ten honeybees from before."

"More importantly, the Little Bee's strength improvement seems to be very comprehensive, with no weaknesses."

"The effect of this Dragon Vein on the Little Bee is far greater than the efforts of our Kamizuru Clan over the past few decades."

As she spoke, the little girl couldn't help but shed tears. She was clearly thinking about the tragic situation of the Kamizuru Clan over the past few decades.

Although Kamizuru Tsuruhime hasn't experienced much, she carries the weight of the family's hopes for revival, which puts her under immense pressure.

Now that I finally saw a glimmer of hope, I couldn't control my emotions and burst into tears on the spot.

Seeing this, Yichen patted her head and laughed, "Alright, your Kamizuru Clan can finally see hope for a rise."

"Work hard, and you'll be able to revitalize the family sooner or later. Now, focus on training those twenty insects."

"When I made the deal with the Hokage this time, I mentioned that he needed these insects to cultivate some special ability in the Little Bee."

"Some offer basic waterproofing, some offer basic electrical protection, and some provide basic detoxification; their effects vary."

"Although these insects are not particularly strong among their kind, they are sufficient for raising Little Bee."

"Work hard, and once you transfer all the abilities of these insects to your Little Bee, your Little Bee will be able to engage in actual combat with the Aburame Clan."

As Yichen spoke, he handed the insects to Kamizuru Tsuruhime.

Kamizuru Tsuruhime wiped away her tears and carefully accepted the gift.

Then she nodded emphatically to Yichen and said, "Teacher Yichen, thank you. I will definitely work hard to train the Little Bee."

Yichen nodded. Originally, Yichen hadn't held out much hope for Kamizuru Tsuruhime's Little Bee.

But things are different now. After being baptized by the Dragon Vein, the basic abilities of the Kamizuru Tsuruhime's Little Bee have even surpassed those of the Kikaichū currently used by the Aburame Clan.

Of course, basic abilities alone are not enough; the Kikaichū of the Aburame Clan also possess many special abilities.

These Eight Gates abilities can all significantly enhance combat effectiveness.

However, through spending more than a year with Kamizuru Tsuruhime, Yichen learned that improving the special abilities of insects is relatively easy, while improving their basic abilities is much more difficult.

Kamizuru Tsuruhime's Little Bee are definitely not as good as the Kikaichū of the Aburame Clan right now, and even after she has fully cultivated those twenty abilities, it will not be enough.

However, her Little Bee's potential surpassed that of the Kikaichū of the Aburame Clan.

Yichen patted the little girl's head again and said, "Take good care of Little Bee and try to complete her training before the Chunin Ninja Exams begin this year."

"Then, by passing the Chunin Ninja Exams, you will become the first Chunin of your Kamizuru Clan in recent years."

Kamizuru Tsuruhime nodded, said goodbye to Yichen, and then fell silent. She carried the insect home, as the Training Ground was not suitable for raising insects.

Watching Kamizuru Tsuruhime leave, Yichen's Team Seven was officially disbanded.

A few days later, the first ten-day period arrived, and all the ninjas who had participated in the research on the Mental Power Secret Technique came to the Tsuchikage's Office Building again.

Izumi Uchiha also arrived with Sokai. Upon seeing her, Yichen nodded and said, "Quan Luo is here too? Please sit down, don't be nervous."

"Unlike Konoha, Iwagakure doesn't have so many scruples. Here, no one will be jealous of your abilities, nor will anyone be prejudiced against your background."

"We're all on the same side, so feel free to share your thoughts and feelings. We can discuss, learn from, and improve together."

Izumi Uchiha nodded and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, I understand."

Then everyone began to speak, recounting their training process over the past ten days and raising various questions.

Then, everyone discussed the questions that could be answered or guessed.

Finally, at Yichen's request, the research team formulated the key research directions for the next ten days.

Several people stood out in this discussion, the first being Sakura.

Sakura's dual personality made her training smoother than everyone else's, and she was the only ninja who had mastered the basics in just ten days.

Sakura has not only mastered the basics, but because she has a dual personality, one personality can control her body while the other trains.

She could even attend school and train at the same time, or learn Medical Ninjutsu and train simultaneously, without neglecting either.

Yichen Chunin sigh, realizing that Sakura in the original story was ruined by Kakashi.

Kakashi only had eyes for Sasuke Uchiha; the other two were completely beneath his Kakashi.

After Sasuke Uchiha defected, Naruto was at least taught some knowledge about Nature Transformation by Kakashi.

But Kakashi never taught Sakura anything.

The key issue is that Kakashi knew Sakura had a strong Genjutsu Talent, and he himself could also use Genjutsu, yet he didn't teach Sakura anything.

Sakura's later acquisition of Medical Ninjutsu and Chakra Enhanced Strength was simply due to her powerful Yin Release's extraordinary Chakra control.

Sakura's Chakra control is a result of her dual personality.

But the effects of having a dual personality go far beyond that.

Sakura should learn Yin Release Yin Release; it's the most suitable style for her.

She can even reach the Kage Level by learning Medical Ninjutsu, so her achievements in learning Yin Release will only be even greater.

Sakura was undoubtedly the most eye-catching of them all, followed by Izumi Uchiha.

Because she wanted to gain everyone's approval, Izumi Uchiha trained the most diligently among all the people for the past ten days.

The Mangekyo Uchiha's Yin Release level can be considered as the third level, which falls into the Kage Level category.

Although Izumi Uchiha's understanding of Yin Release was insufficient, her level was high enough. Among all the researchers, only Sokai's Yin Release level could compare with hers.

However, the intelligence of those Sokai is hard to describe in a few words.

Therefore, Izumi Uchiha is playing the role that originally belonged to Yichen in this discussion.

She adopted a humble approach and put forward many advanced theories.

Yichen didn't steal the spotlight from Izumi Uchiha; on the contrary, he gave Izumi Uchiha.

Finally, Katsuya performed well; he was the most skilled ninja from Iwagakure (Katsuya Iwagakure) in researching Yin Release.

Although he was limited by his own level, his vision was not as far-reaching as Izumi Uchiha's, and his talent was not as good as Sakura, Shion, Natsuki, etc., he had the advantage of a solid foundation, and he was the one who found ways to verify many of his ideas.

At the same time, Katsuya was also considered the captain of this research team. He arranged the research progress and the tasks of each person on behalf of Yichen.

Yichen was very satisfied with the first discussion. Although only Sakura was able to practice this Mind Secret Technique, everyone saw hope in fully deciphering the scroll.

With his research on Mental Power Secret Technique on track, Yichen stopped paying attention to it and started studying the Uchiha Gunbai that had been stored in the warehouse for a long time.

However, as soon as Yichen returned to his office, Sokai and Izumi Uchiha followed him in.

Yichen sat down and looked at the two of them curiously.

Before Yichen could ask, Izumi Uchiha said first, "Lord Tsuchikage, I want to join Iwagakure, to officially join, the kind of joining that integrates me into the Iwagakure ninja system."

Yichen smiled slightly and said, "Alright, alright, Izumi Uchiha, welcome to Iwagakure."

"Wait a moment, I will now summon the High-ranking officials to formally announce this matter."

Izumi Uchiha and Sokai both nodded with delight.

Sokai added, "Sister Izumi, I knew it! Teacher Yichen would definitely welcome you to join the village."

Yichen smiled and glanced at the fool, then summoned the high-ranking members of Iwagakure and formally introduced Izumi Uchiha to them.

At the High-Level Meeting, everyone welcomed Izumi Uchiha. Then, Yichen officially issued Izumi Uchiha's Ninja ID, Forehead Protector, and Ninja Uniform.

In addition, Yichen also specially allocated a house near the center of the village to Izumi Uchiha as a subsidy for introducing special talents.

After the meeting, Yichen said to Izumi Uchiha and Sokai, "I happen to have something to discuss with you."

With that, Yichen led the two to the room in Iwagakure where important items such as the Scroll of Seals were kept.

Yichen took the Uchiha Gunbai out of the room and said to the two of them, "This is the sacred weapon of your Uchiha Clan, the Uchiha Gunbai."

"Your Uchiha Clan crest is based on this."

"This Gunbai possesses a magical ability: it can absorb an enemy's Ninjutsu and reflect it back completely."

Izumi Uchiha the Gunbai from Yichen's hand, examined it carefully for a while, and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, I've heard the clan head Fugaku Uchiha mention this Gunbai before."

"I heard it was originally the weapon of our Madara Uchiha, but it disappeared after Madara Uchiha's departure."

"Lord Tsuchikage, where did you get this from?"

Yichen said, "I got it from Obito Uchiha, but that's not important. Let's get straight to the point."

"I recently visited Rōran, where there is an Rōran Dragon Vein beneath the earth."

"This Dragon Vein has the ability to absorb Fujii Kusaka's flames. I personally witnessed the Dragon Vein decompose the flames and then reassemble them."

"At that time, I using Mind's Eye observed the entire process up close."

"I gained considerable insights from the process of decomposing and recombining the Dragon Vein. However, lacking other examples, I am unable to transform these insights into actual strength."

"I hope you can quickly master how to use this Gunbai, and then help me to understand it again."

Beside them, Sokai interjected, "Teacher Yichen, why won't you let me try?"

Yichen glanced at him but didn't say anything. It was one thing to be stupid, but he didn't even realize it.

Yichen said to Sokai, "With your talent, do you think you have a chance to master the Gunbai?"

Sokai:...

Sokai glanced awkwardly at Izumi Uchiha, thinking, "Teacher Yichen, you don't even give me any face in front of Sister Izumi."

Yichen said, "Quan Luo, try it on first and see if this Gunbai suits you."

Izumi Uchiha nodded, and then the three of them went to a Training Ground.

Izumi Uchiha first used Chakra to communicate with the Gunbai, then she Yichen said with some doubt, "Lord Tsuchikage, why don't you try a low-level Ninjutsu?"

Yichen was taken aback. Could it be that the Izumi Uchiha had mastered the use of the Gunbai so quickly? Yichen didn't ask any more questions. He raised his hand and formed a hand seal, and then a stream of water shot towards Izumi Uchiha.

Izumi Uchiha was startled by the speed at which Yichen used his Ninjutsu and instinctively used his Gunbai to block it.

Then the water stream was absorbed by the Gunbai, and immediately afterward, an identical water stream shot out from the Gunbai.

Yichen's eyes flashed; it had indeed worked.

He appeared casual just now, but his Mind's Eye was actually focused on the Gunbai the whole time.

In that brief moment, Yichen vaguely sensed the change in the waterline, but it was too fast for Yichen to grasp the details.

Before Izumi Uchiha even react, Yichen had already shot another stream of water towards her.

This time, Izumi Uchiha handled the situation much more calmly. With a gentle wave of her Gunbai, she deflected the water stream.

Then, Yichen launched repeated attacks on Izumi Uchiha using C-rank Ninjutsu.

Next came B-rank Ninjutsu, followed by A-rank Ninjutsu.

As his Ninjutsu level increased, Izumi Uchiha deflect attacks with his Gunbai became slower and slower.

Then, Yichen's perception became clearer and clearer using Mind's Eye.

For the next month, Izumi Uchiha helped Yichen perceive the detailed process of the Gunbai's rebound every day.

A month later, Yichen told Izumi Uchiha that the experiment was over.

Yichen directly gifted the Uchiha Gunbai to Izumi Uchiha.

He himself went to the Little White Ball Research Laboratory alone.

Yichen found Ikura, who was in charge of the research, and asked, "Ikura, how is this project progressing?"

These days, Ikura has been troubled by the data from the Little White Ball research every day. When he saw Yichen, he sighed and said, "Don't even mention it, that Little White Ball you got is terrifying."

"The relationships between five of the attributes are so complex that it took us a very long time to collect data on just one part of the structure."

"Moreover, even if we collect the data, we won't be able to analyze it because the internal structure is too intricate for us to understand."

At this point, Ikura suddenly changed the subject, saying, "But this thing really is useful; my Five-Attribute have all improved significantly during this period."

"If it weren't for this discovery, I would have discussed with you about stopping this research."

Then, Ikura led Yichen to a database, pointed to the scrolls filling an entire room, and Yichen said, "With so much data, how long do you think we'll have to process it?"

Yichen said, "Give me a detailed introduction first. I'm here to resolve some issues. Perhaps we don't need to worry about data processing anymore."

"If I'm not mistaken, I can handle this data all by myself."

Ikura was taken aback, then pointed to the room full of scrolls and said, "So many scrolls, how long do you plan to finish them all by yourself?"

Yichen casually picked up a scroll, flipping through it as he said, "If my guess is correct, I can spend a whole year specifically dealing with this matter."

Ikura looked intently at Yichen and asked, "Have you found the path after the Kekkei Tōta?"

Yichen said, "It's hard to say right now, but there's a possibility."

Ikura thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll start by analyzing the data from the very beginning."

Yichen nodded.

The two then went to the innermost part of the warehouse, where Yichen began to carefully analyze the data under Ikura's guidance.

The more Yichen analyzed, the brighter his eyes became.

Half a day later, Yichen raised his head and said to Ikura with trembling hands, "Ikura, continue to increase the manpower of the Little White Ball research team."

"In addition, I will build a separate laboratory to conduct balance exercises for the five attributes."