Matatabi, the Two-Tails

Yichen has been feeling quite relaxed lately. He's happy that his younger sister Natsuki has advanced in her level, and he's also pleased with the progress Sakura and Karin's Medical Ninjutsu has made.

After staying in Iwagakure for a while, Shinno took his leave, passing on his Medical Ninjutsu skills to the two of them.

Next, Shinno will go to prepare for Danzo's Konoha Collapse Plan.

Considering that Shinno was very well-behaved in Iwagakure, Yichen did not make things difficult for him and gave Shinno a master-apprentice fee as agreed.

In addition, Yichen also provided Shinno with a large number of Exploding Tag.

The apprenticeship fee wasn't much, and Shinno didn't mind. After all, the two sides weren't on the same path, and they hadn't even formed a formal alliance. Yichen had long expected Shinno to be a bit stingy.

However, when he counted the number of Exploding Tag that Yichen had given him, even though he considered himself knowledgeable, he was momentarily stunned.

When Shinno asked for the reason, Yichen's answer was simple: it makes no difference whether these Exploding Tag are in the hands of the Sky Ninja or the Iwa ninja.

Since we're going to lose it to Konoha anyway, it doesn't matter who loses it to.

Shinno accepted the offer in a daze, Sky Ninja it difficult to refuse this windfall.

After leaving Iwagakure, Shinno carefully examined the batch of Exploding Tag, but found nothing.

After Shinno left, Yichen tested Sakura and Karin on the skills they had learned from Shinno. Yichen was very satisfied with the results; both of them had learned quite well.

Yichen said to the two, "First, teach the Medical Ninjutsu that Shinno taught you to Nakata Hajime and the others."

"Then let's learn the Medical Ninjutsu on this scroll."

As he spoke, Yichen handed the two of them a scroll inscribed with Dark Medical Ninjutsu.

The two hesitated after receiving the scroll. Karin said, "Teacher Yichen, Teacher Shinno told us to keep it a secret and not to pass on his medical skills to others."

Yichen waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, your Shinno teacher won't live long. He'll most likely die in Konoha soon."

"Even if he doesn't die this time, he might become our enemy in the future, so we shouldn't take his words seriously."

Sakura and Karin looked at each other, but still agreed.

One is a family member and a teacher of many years, while the other is a temporary teacher whom they have only been apprenticed to for a few days. They don't need to think too much about whose advice to take.

Sakura's life returned to normal after that.

However, she had many training tasks. On one hand, she had to learn Medical Ninjutsu, and on the other hand, she had to learn Yin Release with Shion and Yakumo Kurama.

Every day, Outer Sakura and Inner Sakura are too tired to speak.

Yichen plans to have Sakura, Shion, and Yakumo Kurama graduate a year early, just like Neji, by the end of this semester.

Anyway, even the two least serious trainees, Shion and Yakumo Kurama, have finally gotten on the right track.

All three of them were in a period of rapid improvement in their skills, so there was no point in staying at the Ninja Academy any longer.

As for Neji, Kurotsuchi, Karin, there's no need for Yichen to worry about them too much.

After Neji experienced his first fetal movement, he also became Quasi-Jonin. As his strength increased rapidly, he also officially began to explore the Byakugan Secret Technique he had been searching for.

Kurotsuchi has the worst time, having to follow the energetic Uzumaki Riori on various missions every day.

There was nothing she could do. Although she was talented, she wasn't a special kind of genius. She had promised Yichen that she would use her Contribution Points to learn new Ninjutsu in the future.

Uzumaki Riori doesn't understand the concept of gradual progress; she often takes Kurotsuchi out of the village to carry out C-level or even B-rank Mission.

If Yichen hadn't given orders forbidding her from accepting A-rank mission, she probably would have already led Kurotsuchi to the Land of Fire or the Land of Lightning.

After a series of close calls, Kurotsuchi two of them gradually matured.

Being immature wouldn't do; while carrying out her mission, she also had to teach her teacher, Uzumaki Riori, bearing pressures that shouldn't be borne by someone her age.

When the two were on missions, even their schedules and night watch arrangements were made by Kurotsuchi.

Neji occasionally joins the missions, as the development of his Hyuga Clan's secret techniques requires real combat experience.

Karin rarely went along, because Sakura's Medical Ninjutsu talent was too strong, and she had started earlier than her, so she dared not relax at all.

The two were fiercely competing against each other.

Sakura is good at bandaging, so Karin practices bandaging diligently, hoping to tie a bow when she finishes bandaging.

Karin has excellent wound-suturing skills, so Sakura will try to sew the wound into a flower shape.

In short, we cannot afford to lose at any detail.

However, Karin also has an advantage: her Sensory Ninjutsu training is faster than Sakura's Yin Release training.

She can spend more time on Medical Ninjutsu.

If Karin weren't occasionally dragged off on missions by Uzumaki Riori Kurotsuchi, her Medical Ninjutsu might have caught up with Sakura's.

As for Aono Shinichi, Minamoto Shizuka, and Rion from Team Yichen's Team 8, although Yichen didn't see them often, Yichen Danzo the three of them were also growing.

At least by following Danzo, their character was greatly improved.

Yichen could sense that the three of them, whose wildly imaginative ideas had recently become much more grounded.

"In a little while, we'll be able to bring the three of them back," Yichen thought to himself.

Aside from these children, everything else in Iwagakure is going very smoothly.

The Moon Immigration Plan is nearing completion. With the help of the Iwa ninja, colonization of the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, the Land of Snow, the Land of Demons, and the Land of Bears has been completed.

Immigrant groups from the more distant Land of the Falls, Land of Hot Water, and Land of the Moon have also begun their journeys through the Space-Time Tunnel to the Land of Snow.

It won't be long before these people complete their immigration process.

Because many countries participated in the immigration, each country allocated a considerable amount of military funds to Iwagakure in order to gain Iwagakure's support in the distribution of benefits.

At the same time, the costs of the immigration process are borne by these countries themselves.

All the Iwa ninja need to do is protect their safety along the way and successfully deliver them to the moon after reaching the Space-Time Tunnel.

Besides immigration, the outpost established by Iwagakure at the Space-Time Tunnel in the Land of Snow has been completed, and Iwa ninja have moved in. Although there are not many ninjas stationed there, they are all elites.

The stronghold is fully equipped with all kinds of barriers, including all the necessary defenses and Teleportation Array.

Meanwhile, in the Land of the Moon, the original ninja villages have been disbanded, and new branch locations have been determined.

Kawakita chose a lake, Iwa ninja dug a new lake near the original lake, emptying the water from the original lake and using the hard rock beneath the original lake as a base to establish a new branch.

Of course, the branch is still under construction, but everything is on track.

Construction on the moon is slower; site selection has only just been completed, and construction has not yet begun.

The ninjas who were to be stationed at the Moon branch were also protecting the large immigrant caravan and helping those who had already immigrated to the Moon to quickly establish their homes.

Inside Iwagakure, the newly elected leadership has completed its adjustment period, and the six official advisors— Ikura, Tomoko, Kawakita, Kitsuchi, Han, and Deidara— have finally assigned their roles.

Apart from Kawakita, who is on a mission to establish Land of the Moon Branch, and whose duties are temporarily being taken over by Tomoko, everyone else has started working at a normal pace.

Yichen, who had been somewhat busy during the handover, finally had some free time again.

While waiting for Neji's second fetal movement, which might occur at any time, Yichen prepared to calmly begin his practice of Five Elements Fusion.

During his previous seclusion, Yichen had been researching theories, and the practice of Five Elements Fusion had not yet begun.

After emerging from seclusion, aside from being busy with various affairs, Yichen's main focus of cultivation was actually on adapting to the changes brought about by the complete fusion of the Light Release into his body.

However, before Yichen could officially begin his cultivation, he received a secret intelligence report.

The source of the information was A-Tu, White Zetsu clone.

Ever since Yichen had Sokai use the Kotoamatsukami technique on A-Tu has not transmitted any information to Yichen.

Yichen only contacted A-Tu once, and secretly completed a plan.

After that, Yichen never contacted A-Tu again.

This wasn't A-Tu betrayed him, but A-Tu felt there was no truly important intelligence worth the risk.

The intelligence that Yichen has received is one that A-Tu considers worth the risk.

A-Tu's information was concise: the Cloud ninja had found traces of the Two-Tails Matatabi on the border between the Land of Iron and the Land of the Moon.

The Cloud ninja are preparing to retrieve the Two-Tails.

After seeing this information, Yichen began to consider whether or not to intervene.

Yichen is currently mainly looking forward to Danzo's Konoha Collapse Plan.

I don't want to cause trouble for this plan and introduce variables into this plan on which I have placed high hopes.

It would be bad if I interfered with the Cloud ninja to retrieve the Two-Tails, causing turmoil in the Ninja World and ruining Danzo's Konoha Collapse Plan destroy Konoha.

However, Yichen didn't want to watch the Cloud ninja grow stronger, as that would also be detrimental to his future plans.

After all, the Cloud ninja is the ninja village most skilled at training Jinchuriki in the Ninja World.

Yichen wasn't sure if the Two-Tails could be transformed into top-tier combat power in a very short time after returning to the Cloud ninja.

After much deliberation, Yichen decided to intervene.

Before taking action, we need to create a fake intelligence source to avoid causing trouble for A-Tu.

A-Tu is Yichen's only pawn infiltrated into Orochimaru and Black Zetsu's ranks, and cannot be easily exposed.

They couldn't even entertain the slightest doubt.

A few days later, under Yichen's direction, an intelligence leak occurred in the Kumogakure.

Because of this intelligence, several veteran intelligence ninjas from Iwagakure who had been infiltrating Kumogakure for over a decade were at risk of exposure and had to retreat back to Iwagakure.

The incident caused quite a stir, reaching even Great Ninja Village like Konoha, and the outside world was speculating about what information the Iwa ninja had obtained from the Cloud ninja.

Some say the Iwa ninja stole the latest technology from the Cloud ninja, others say the Cloud ninja's method for training their Lightning Armor was stolen, and still others claim that the Iwa ninja are digging up the remains of powerful Cloud ninja who have already died, in order to perform the Impure World Reincarnation.

Anyway, they know everything they should and shouldn't know, and Konoha and Mist ninja, as allies, even took the initiative to send letters to inquire about the inside story.

Even Cloud ninja himself was unaware of this until much later.

If the Iwa ninja hadn't deliberately leaked this information, the Cloud ninja wouldn't have known that their village was missing so many Iwa ninja intelligence agents.

The Fifth Raikage, Darui, convened High-Level Meeting specifically to discuss this matter.

At the meeting, Darui asked a high-ranking official in charge of intelligence, who replied with great shame that he still hadn't figured out what intelligence the Iwa ninja had obtained.

Another high-ranking official said, "Is it possible that the methods for cultivating Senjutsu have been leaked?"

The high-ranking official in charge of researching Senjutsu shook his head and said, "I investigated after the news spread, but there's no way anyone could have leaked the information."

"Besides, the Iwa ninja themselves possess Senjutsu. Even if they wanted to steal information, they might as well do what's rumored and steal the Lightning Armor."

Darui nodded; he couldn't figure it out either.

Just then, the person who had asked the question asked again, "Could it be the Two-Tails' side?"

He didn't elaborate, but everyone understood, so upon hearing this, the group spontaneously began to conduct an internal investigation.

"I haven't told anyone about this."

"Me too. It's a top secret in the village. I haven't mentioned it to anyone else who isn't involved in the mission."

After a moment, the group ruled out the possibility that the information about the Two-Tails Beast had been leaked from higher-ups.

Then the same person asked again, "Could it be that there's a problem with the Anbu that carried out the mission?"

Darui shook his head and said, "First of all, the Anbu who carried out this mission are all very reliable."

"Secondly, I've checked, and there's nothing unusual over there. Besides, even if something were wrong over there, why Iwa ninja come to our village to investigate?"

"They don't need to expose so many intelligence elites for no reason."

"I have a feeling that the Iwa ninja are deliberately exposing them."

Everyone was puzzled, unable to understand why the Iwa ninja would willingly expose so many intelligence ninjas who had been lying in wait for years.

With so many intelligence ninjas exposed at once, the Iwa ninja's intelligence network within the Kumogakure may have been paralyzed.

Cloud ninja couldn't find out where the leak occurred, so the matter had to be dropped.

Meanwhile, Yichen had already arrived at the border between the Land of Iron and the Land of the Moon.

This is a mountainous area, and this continuous mountain range separates the Land of Iron from the Land of the Moon.

Yichen landed on a high mountain in this mountain range. He had tracked down the Cloud ninja, but had not found the Two-Tails.

Judging from the actions of the Cloud ninja, they have not yet found any concrete information about the Two-Tails.

In other words, both sides are now on equal footing in their search for the Two-Tails.

The Cloud ninja might have some clues about the Two-Tails, but those clues are no longer of any real help.

Yichen was confident that, with his sensory abilities, he could find the Two-Tails before the Cloud ninja.

So Yichen stopped paying attention to Cloud ninja and began flying back and forth over the mountains using the Light-Weight Rock Technique and the Camouflage Jutsu.

Yichen was fast and had a wide range of perception, so he searched the entire mountain range in less than half a day.

But the result left Yichen bewildered; he found nothing. Unwilling to give up, Yichen began searching a second and a third time.

But the result was the same; nothing was found.

Yichen not only failed to find the Two- Two-Tails, but also failed to detect any trace of its activity.

That's strange. With the Tailed Beast's enormous body, it would be almost impossible for it to evade Yichen's senses.

Even if the Two-Tails creature evaded Yichen's senses, the traces left by that enormous creature were still very obvious.

Does the Two-Tails have a habit of erasing its own footprints? Yichen wondered.

However, they didn't find the Two-Tails, but they did find quite a few White Zetsu clone. There were a lot of them; Yichen estimated there were over a hundred.

These White Zetsu clone were mostly surrounding the Cloud ninja, carefully searching for the Two-Tails' whereabouts.

The other scattered White Zetsu clone were also busy, keeping watch around to ensure that no one would notice if the Two-Tails escaped.

Meanwhile, they also searched for the Two-Tails creature's whereabouts on the outer perimeter.

Judging from the White Zetsu clone's posture, it seems it intends to find the Two-Tails before the Cloud ninja.

I wonder what they plan to do after finding the Two-Tails.

Helpless, Yichen had no choice but to return to the Cloud ninja search team's side, waiting for the Cloud ninja and White Zetsu clone to find the search results, preparing to stalk the cicada while unaware of the oriole behind.

Originally, Yichen intended to seal the Two-Tails before the Cloud ninja found it.

In this way, even the White Zetsu clone wouldn't notice, A-Tu would be even less likely to be suspected.

After a long while, Yichen clearly sensed that White Zetsu clone was making unusual movements; they began to move rapidly in a specific direction.

Almost as slow as the White Zetsu clone, the Cloud ninja also moved. They too quickly stealthily moved in that direction.

Yichen blinked. What was going on? His Mind's Eye's eye had just scanned that area, and there was no Two-Tails there.

Yichen was starting to wonder if he was under Genjutsu.

However, Yichen was soon dumbfounded, because with a clear direction, Yichen finally locked onto the Two-Tails Matatabi.

"This... this works?" Yichen, flying in the air, was dumbfounded.

The Two-Tails below were about the size of a normal cat, and were lazily lying on an open space, basking in the sun and taking a nap.

Yichen rubbed his temples, realizing he had forgotten that Tailed Beast could actually change their form.

The Tailed Beast don't get along well with humans, so they rarely shrink their bodies intentionally, as that would make them seem too intimidating.

Tailed Beast are usually depicted with enormous bodies, giving people a suffocating sense of oppression.

So even Yichen subconsciously didn't think in that direction, and as a result, he flew back and forth several times but still couldn't find the Two-Tails.

But now that we've discovered the Two-Tails creature, things are much easier.

Just as Yichen was about to make a move, he suddenly changed his mind and stopped his hands from using the Light Release.

According to Yichen's perception, all of the hundreds of White Zetsu clone had gathered underground in the area where the Two-Tails was located.

Yichen stroked his chin, thinking, "Why don't we wipe them all out? The village's White Zetsu clone are actually consuming quite a bit of resources; they haven't been replenished in a long time."

"Since it's impossible to get rid of the Two-Tails quietly anyway, it doesn't matter if we make a big fuss."

With that thought in mind, Yichen quietly landed on the ground and then used the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Yichen created two Shadow Clones.

Then one of the Shadow Clone quickly Hand Seals and unleashed Sage Art: Earth Release: Earth Style: Earth Eruption Technique in front of it, targeting a large area.

Immediately, the hundreds of Bai Jue clones under the ground were pushed out by Yichen, the earth escaper.

Meanwhile, the other Shadow Clone used a Water Release. This Water Release was not intended to kill the White Zetsu clone.

Rather, it was to temporarily separate the White Zetsu clone from the ground.

Meanwhile, Yichen's main body took advantage of this gap to quickly use Porcelain Release to capture and seal all the White Zetsu clone.

White Zetsu is nothing but trash. Of the hundreds of White Zetsu clone, not one escaped; they were all sealed and packaged by Yichen.

Of course, Yichen's actions took quite some time, during which the Cloud ninja and the Two-Tails noticed the commotion.

The Cloud ninja recognized Yichen's identity after seeing his Porcelain Release. They turned and ran, only to encounter the shameless Tsuchikage. Their mission to track down the Two-Tails was doomed to fail.

The most important thing now is to escape back and report back to the village that Yichen disregarded his status to steal their Tailed Beast.

The Two-Tails' reaction was even faster than that of the Cloud ninja.

Originally, it was lazily sunbathing, but when it sensed the first immortal technique of Yichen Shadow Clone - Earth Release - Earth Style: Earth Eruption Technique, its whole body tensed up, and it arched its back like an ordinary house cat.

The next moment, it shot off like an arrow.

The Two-Tails was very fast, and it instantly escaped the range of Yichen's Earth Release and Water Release techniques.

However, Yichen didn't care. Those two Ninjutsu weren't even aimed at it. No matter how fast it ran, could it escape the range of his Mind's Mind's Eye perception?

Yichen carefully sealed and packed all the White Zetsu clone, then located the Two-Tails' position, placed the White Zetsu clone on the Zi-Fen platform, and chased after them.

As for those Cloud ninja, Yichen ignored them.

The Two-Tails creature did not escape in a straight line; it used the cover of trees and rocks in the mountains to quickly move away.

Judging from its direction of travel, it is not heading to the Land of the Moon, nor to the Land of Iron, but to the Land of Fire.

Yichen thought to himself, "Quite clever, knowing that the Land of Fire has many trees, making it a good place to hide."

However, Yichen was not in a hurry at all, and followed at a leisurely pace.

Yichen even had time to create Shadow Clone to find the Iwa ninja on a nearby mission, and have them contact the village to send someone to retrieve the packaged White Zetsu clone.

The village acted quickly. Yichen had Atsumi Akino's Flying Thunder God Coordinates on him, so Atsumi Akino flew over directly.

Yichen handed the White Zetsu clone to Atsumi Akino and watched her teleport back to Iwagakure before continuing to linger behind the Two-Tails and slowly venturing deeper into the Land of Fire.

Yichen originally intended to kill the Two-Tails once it stopped, but as he chased it, Yichen changed his mind.

Yichen understood his own Ninjutsu; when he used Porcelain Release to fly, the fluctuation of his Chakra was very obvious and usually could not be hidden from others.

However, when he flies using the Light-Weight Rock Technique, his Chakra fluctuations are minimal, allowing him to deceive most ninjas.

However, if Yichen were to run on the ground, Yichen believed he would make a great commotion.

Even if it were Iwagakure from Kawakita, Yichen knew that he wouldn't be able to control his Chakra fluctuations while running at full speed.

Not to mention that even someone of Kage Level like himself couldn't detect it using Mind's Eye.

However, the Two-Tails did it; even when it was running at full speed, not a single Chakra fluctuation leaked out. Its movements were completely silent.

Several times, the Two-Tails ran past some ninjas from dozens of meters away, and those ninjas didn't even notice.

Yichen's expression was solemn. He was now wondering if he could catch up with the Two-Tails Beast again if it suddenly disappeared from his Mind's Eye for a few seconds.

Then, recalling the scene when he was searching for the Two-Tails, Yichen was surprised to find that he not only failed to detect the Two-Tails' enormous body, but he also failed to detect its Two-Tails Tailed Beast- level Chakra.