Locating Turtle Island

Although the three reached a consensus, Minamoto Shizuka suddenly said, "Do you think the Hokage really appeared by chance?"

Aono Shinichi's heart skipped a beat, and he said, "You mean, it was him again?"

The three exchanged glances, all agreeing that this was the most likely explanation; otherwise, why would Kakashi from Konoha suddenly appear at this crucial moment?

After a moment of silence, Aono Shinichi said, "We still need to send troops, but let's tell Teacher Yichen about this and our speculations!"

Rion laughed and said, "That's right, let Teacher Yichen worry about this!"

Subsequently, the three dispatched a large number of ninjas into the Land of Fire to give orders to the Iwa ninja squads that were carrying out missions to assassinate Konoha ninja.

Half a day after Neji finished their battle, small teams of Iwa ninja crossed the northern and southern border of the Land of Fire and entered the south.

Although the Iwa ninja operate in separate groups, their numbers are so large that they are comparable to all the ninja in Konoha combined.

Facing a numerically superior, much stronger, and more experienced Iwa ninja, the fate of those Konoha Genin who had recently graduated and had not experienced many life-or-death battles was predictable.

After Kakashi returned to Konoha with Sasuke and Naruto, he stayed at the Konoha Hospital to await the results of their treatment.

Half a day had passed, Medical Ninja's treatment work was still not finished when news came back from the southern half of the Land of Fire that a ninja squad had been attacked by Iwa ninja.

When Kakashi received the first intelligence report, he didn't take it seriously.

But when news of Konoha ninja deaths came in like snowflakes, Kakashi realized something was wrong.

He immediately convened an emergency meeting with senior management to discuss the matter.

Genma Shiranui immediately said, "Lord Hokage, the Iwa ninja are trying to undermine our foundation. If our ninjas scattered across the southern half of the Land of Fire suffer heavy casualties, the village will be finished."

"We've already let an eight-year-old graduate early; we can't afford any more losses. Please bring them back immediately."

Mori Sarutobi added, "Yes, we need to cut our losses and send the village's elite to rescue these children; they are the future of the village."

Kakashi sighed and said, "I know, but the village can only send out a very limited number of troops right now."

"And no one is suitable to take charge of this."

"You don't know yet, Sasuke and Naruto both lost. They joined forces but were defeated by Neji Hyuga."

"What?!" The advisors, including Genma Shiranui, were all taken aback.

Anko asked, "Lord Hokage, Neji Hyuga defeated two Kage Level opponents all by himself?"

Kakashi sighed and said, "It's even more serious than that. According to Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto both unleashed power far exceeding their previous levels at the last moment."

"But they were still easily defeated by Neji Hyuga a few moves."

"If I hadn't suddenly felt a pang of panic and gone to check on them, the two unconscious people wouldn't have made it back."

"Both of them are still receiving treatment in the hospital!"

Everyone was so shocked by this information that they were speechless.

After a moment, Genma Shiranui asked, "Lord Hokage, does this mean that Neji Hyuga's strength is probably no weaker than yours and the Tsuchikage's?"

Kakashi said somewhat dejectedly, "Yes, even in a one-on-one fight, I'm not sure I could beat Neji Hyuga."

After a pause, Kakashi continued, "There's something else. While I was rescuing people, Sokai Uchiha, who had been hiding in the shadows without making a move, also appeared."

"The power he displayed in that instant was terrifying. I saw that his eyes might have evolved from the Mangekyō Sharingan to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."

Anko was taken aback. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan? What was that?

Genma Shiranui also had a stunned expression.

Only Mori Sarutobi's expression froze; he had seen similar statements in the records of the Sarutobi Clan.

He is now the highest-ranking member of the Sarutobi Clan in Konoha, and all of the Sarutobi Clan's secret documents are in his possession.

He said, "I saw a description in the family files that Madara Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan pattern had changed back then."

"Could that be the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan?"

Kakashi nodded and explained to the group the limitations of the Mangekyō Sharingan and the power of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

The group was stunned by the series of news.

After a while, Genma Shiranui said with some difficulty, "In that case, we need to worry not only about the children, but also about Neji and the others will directly attack the village!"

After hearing Genma Shiranui's words, Kakashi fell silent for a moment.

Genma Shiranui was right. Although Yichen didn't come, the strength shown by Neji, Sokai, and others alone surpassed that of Konoha.

With Sasuke and Naruto still seriously injured, even if Konoha includes the reanimated versions of Reanimated Body Mito Uzumaki and White Fang, they might not be able to stop their attack.

As for Yichen is causing the most headaches for all parties in the Ninja World, he has not yet shown up. Even if Kakashi asks for help from others at this time, no one will come to his aid.

Konoha seemed to have suddenly fallen into a life-or-death crisis.

After a while, Mori Sarutobi, one of the older members of the group, said, "But if the Iwa ninja have this advantage, why are they only sending people to the southern part of the Land of Fire to deal with those children?"

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this. Yes, the Konoha High-ranking officials was worried about the village being destroyed, so why didn't the Iwa ninja intend to launch a full-scale attack?

Wouldn't it be better to seize this opportunity and take over Konoha in one fell swoop?

Kakashi, reminded by Mori Sarutobi, also found it somewhat strange.

Moreover, he vaguely felt that this scene was somewhat familiar.

After thinking for a while, Kakashi remembered that Konoha had faced a crisis before, and at that time, the Iwa ninja could have either severely damaged Konoha or another Great Ninja Village.

As a result, the Iwa ninja abandoned Konoha, which was clearly an easier opponent, and went to fight another village.

At that time, only Shikaku Nara, a genius in strategy and tactics, made an accurate judgment beforehand in Konoha.

Now that the two things are combined, Kakashi also feels that something is not right.

He racked his brains but could never have imagined that a Sage was standing behind Konoha.

However, given the critical situation, Kakashi displayed the decisiveness of Hokage, stating, "Send men to bring back the ninjas on missions outside the village."

"Let the Reanimated Body Lady Mito handle this matter."

Genma Shiranui two exchanged glances. They knew Kakashi was gambling; he was betting that the Iwa ninja wouldn't launch a large-scale attack on Konoha.

Genma Shiranui nodded and quickly left the village to make arrangements.

After everyone left, Kakashi stayed alone in the Hokage's Office, his once determined gaze now replaced by a look of worry.

If they lose their gamble and Neji attack Konoha directly, Konoha will be unable to defend itself without Mito Uzumaki and a large number of ninja left to guard the village.

After spacing out for a while, Kakashi turned his head back towards the hospital.

"Naruto might be able to try communicating with the Nine-Tails too."

In this lifetime, Konoha and Cloud ninja have always been staunch allies, so Konoha also knows how Cloud ninja trains Perfect Jinchuriki.

Hinata said that Naruto managed to control the Nine-Tails with six tails for a short period of time this time.

This is already quite remarkable; we can now try to obtain the power of the Nine-Tails.

"Sasuke's eye power is almost exhausted."

After two years, Kakashi has developed a plan for transplanting the Mangekyō Sharingan.

It's time to perform surgery on Sasuke!

As it turned out, Kakashi made the right gamble this time; Neji Sokai did not attack Konoha.

The Iwa ninja are merely a future threat to Konoha, operating in the southern part of the Land of Fire.

Kakashi's order wasn't timely, but it wasn't too late either, giving the Konoha ninja some time to retreat.

Unfortunately, there were too many Konoha ninja scattered in various places.

It was two days later when all the Konoha teams returned to the village.

In the past two days, Konoha has lost at least two thousand ninjas.

Now, except for a very few who felt they could not escape back to Konoha and thus went into hiding, all the other Konoha ninja have returned to the village.

Along with the hundreds of Cloud ninja who had been taken in by Konoha, they also entered Konoha.

Upon receiving the news, Aono Shinichi wisely withdrew most of the Iwa ninja, leaving only a small number of elites to roam around the Land of Fire.

In the Hokage's Office, Kakashi didn't hold High-Level Meeting, but instead summoned Shikaku Nara.

After Shikaku Nara arrived, Kakashi remained silent for a few seconds before expressing his doubts.

"Shikaku, the Iwa ninja clearly had a chance to directly attack the village this time, so why didn't they seize the opportunity?"

"I remember there was a similar situation before, and you made an accurate judgment back then."

"I always have this feeling that in the eyes of the Iwa ninja, our Konoha is special!"

"They were able to seize opportunities and conquer Sunagakure and Kumogakure without hesitation, but they never sent a large army to attack our Konoha!"

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Shikaku Nara took the detailed information about this recent event, looked at it carefully, and then said, "Lord Hokage."

"First of all, I agree with your point of view. It seems that the Iwa ninja have never included attacking our Konoha in their plans."

"Even if they destroy our village, it's only by using other people's hands."

"I suspect that the Iwa ninja are wary of us."

"Moreover, this strategy of the Iwa ninja only came about after Yichen took over, perhaps because he was worried about something."

Kakashi lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, "But I can't understand what the village has that he'd be worried about."

"Over the years, the Iwa ninja have had many opportunities to attack us. And during these years, we have experienced many changes."

"I can't find a single thing that Iwa ninja can constantly worry about."

Shikaku Nara said, "After eliminating all the impossibilities, the remaining guess, no matter how outlandish, is correct."

"Perhaps the Iwa ninja are indeed wary of us, but we don't know where our strength lies."

Shikaku Nara and Kakashi are intelligent, but no matter how they guess and analyze, they can't get the right answer.

All their speculations were refuted by themselves.

Because they are not like Orochimaru, who knows the stories of mythical figures like the Orochimaru of Sage of Six Paths.

Orochimaru also had a crucial clue: Itachi Uchiha's strange behavior back then.

However, Shikaku Nara and Kakashi hadn't anticipated this, and since neither of them knew anything about the Sage of Six Paths, they couldn't guess the outcome.

Shikaku Nara left, and he felt somewhat regretful that he hadn't been able to demonstrate his worth to Kakashi, which also meant that he couldn't return to the decision-making level.

After processing a few documents, Kakashi went to the hospital.

When Kakashi entered the ward, the first thing he saw was Sasuke lying lifelessly on the bed with his eyes open.

Sasuke's injuries were less severe than Naruto's; he had already recovered, but after this injury, he didn't stubbornly get up to train.

He lay there, stiff and straight, on the bed.

Kakashi quickly guessed what Sasuke was thinking. He was probably discouraged by Neji, and coupled with the depletion of his eye power and declining eyesight, he felt that he had no hope of defeating Neji in this lifetime.

Kakashi then looked at Naruto. Naruto's external injuries had almost healed, but the internal injuries Neji had caused him were not yet fully healed.

He's lying restlessly in bed right now, whimpering and muttering to himself, I don't know what he's saying.

Kakashi first said to Sasuke, "Sasuke, get ready. I'll arrange for someone to perform surgery on you in a bit."

Sasuke didn't react.

Kakashi continued, "After the surgery is successful, you will gain power many times greater than you have now."

Upon hearing Sasuke's body trembled, and he suddenly looked at Kakashi.

His eyesight had deteriorated to the point of near blindness, so he couldn't see anything.

So he barely managed to awaken the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Seeing this, Kakashi explained without waiting for him to ask, "Your brother gave me his Mangekyō Sharingan."

"By fusing his eyes with your own, you can awaken the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, whose power will never run dry and which will never cause blindness!"

"The power of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan is several times that of the ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan. With these eyes, you can challenge Neji again."

Sasuke's eyes lit up; at that moment, he no longer cared whether those eyes belonged to Itachi Uchiha.

He just wanted to gain power quickly so he could crush Neji under his feet.

Naruto had been whining, stopped and shouted, "Kakashi-sensei, you're being unfair!"

"I want surgery too! I want to become stronger!"

Kakashi turned to Naruto and said slowly, his tone complex, "I will also arrange for you to go to a secret place, where you may be able to truly obtain the power of the Nine-Tails."

Upon hearing this, Naruto stopped shouting, but wondered what the true power of the Nine-Tails was.

He has limited intelligence; he can't understand.

Kakashi didn't explain, and turned to leave the ward.

Looking at the already dark sky, Kakashi didn't go back to the Hokage's Office, but instead returned home.

When Kakashi returned home, he saw Hinata practicing Gentle Fist in the yard.

Kakashi glanced at it and was about to leave, but the next moment, his gaze sharpened, and he looked over again.

Hinata's aura was quite different from when she returned from the front lines just two days prior.

"Quasi-Kage level?" Kakashi felt a mix of emotions, and for the first time, he had the feeling that he might be getting old.

Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata all possess Kage-level Combatant, but that's due to their unique abilities.

They either have special eyes and possess special Dōjutsu, or they have Tailed Beast inside them as a cheat code.

However, none of the three truly reached the Quasi-Kage level.

But now Hinata has entered this field first, a twelve-year-old near-Kage?!

What a genius! How exactly did Hyuga Hiashi raise his daughter? He turned such a genius into a cowardly, submissive good-for-nothing!

At that moment, Kakashi suddenly thought, "It's Hyuga Hiashi died! If he hadn't died, Konoha would have lost a genius."

After practicing for a while, Hinata stopped her movements and turned to look at Kakashi.

Kakashi was startled and instinctively wanted to back away, but he managed to hold back.

Those eyes seem to have gotten even stronger!

Just then, a little girl ran out of the room. "Sister, dinner's ready! Oh, Lord Hokage, you're back too? I only made enough for two."

The visitor was none other than Hanabi Hyuga, who cooked in her room while Hinata was training.

Kakashi has been busy these past few days and hasn't been home, so Hanabi Hyuga didn't make his share.

Kakashi said, "It's okay, I've already eaten."

After glancing at Hanabi Hyuga and saying "Oh," Kakashi pulled Hinata into the house. He stood in the yard for a while before turning back to the Hokage's Office.

The three disciples' talent exceeded his expectations. If all three of them can greatly improve their strength this time, then there is still hope for Konoha's future!

I can't slack off now; there are still many things to deal with.

Although all the ninjas stationed outside have been recalled, this is not a long-term solution; the Konoha ninja cannot remain in the village forever.

Konoha cannot go without accepting missions for an extended period; mission rewards are one of the village's most important sources of income, and no village can exist without this source.

More importantly, over time, Konoha's prestige will vanish, and Konoha will become unnecessary.

We must come up with a solution as soon as possible.

After that First Shinobi War, Neji originally intended to stay in the Land of Fire, but a few days later they were suddenly called back by Yichen.

After returning to Iwagakure, Neji, Haku, Shion went to the Hokage's Office to give Yichen a detailed report on the First Shinobi War.

Kurotsuchi also wanted to go, but the Anbu sent by Yichen didn't mention her name.

In the Tsuchikage's Office, Izumi Uchiha, and Chiga, who had returned Sokai, were all there.

In addition, Ōnoki, who was originally on duty in the Land of Snow, was also there.

Besides Ōnoki, there are also Kage-level experts such as Natsuki, Ikura, and Han.

After the three finished recounting their First Shinobi War in the Land of Fire, Yichen mentally organized his thoughts and then said, "Kakashi's Flying Thunder God can finally be performed without hand seals!"

Yichen now knew how Kakashi practiced the Flying Thunder God Technique; it must be related to Kamui.

As long as he continues to practice Kamui, the miraculous Chakra will help him train and improve his mastery of Space-Time Ninjutsu.

In contrast, Atsumi Akino possesses even greater talent in Space-Time Ninjutsu, has not yet reached the point of being Flying Thunder God without a hand seal.

Atsumi Akino's research focuses primarily on Space Teleportation and Space Seal.

Yichen didn't expect her to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to ambush the enemy.

Yichen continued, "Although none of those targets were killed this time."

"But you still managed to complete the village's strategic plan, which is excellent."

"Konoha suffered heavy losses in the subsequent small-scale battles. The Konoha High-ranking officials reacted more slowly than we expected, and the results were better than we anticipated."

"I called you back not to hold you accountable, but because we have a new mission. Rest for a while; we'll be leaving soon!"

Neji two exchanged glances, then looked around, all wondering what kind of mission they were going to carry out this time that had gathered so many powerful people from the village together.

Shion was the most excited, as this was her first time participating in such a major event. In the past, she had only seen descriptions of large- Kage Level battles between two sides in school textbooks or newspapers.

Yichen glanced at Shion and said, "Shion, don't get excited. You have a very important task this time. Take a rest."

Upon hearing this, Shion's eyes lit up, and she became even more excited!

Although Yichen said they would act soon, everyone waited in the Tsuchikage's Office for a whole day and night.

It wasn't until noon the next day that Chiga, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke up, "Teacher Yichen, he's left!"

Yichen nodded and said, "Okay, let's go. Let's head to the Teleportation Array first."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Ikura refused to leave; he wanted to stay and guard the house. He Yichen said, "Be careful, don't let anything go wrong."

Yichen nodded slightly.

The group left the Tsuchikage's Office and quickly went to the location of the Anbu Teleportation Array, then used the Teleportation Array to travel directly to the Land of Land of Lightning's branch.

The Land of Lightning was originally divided into two parts by the Iwa ninja. The southern part was assigned to the Land of Earth, and the Iwa ninja established a branch in this region.

The northern half still belongs to the Land of Lightning, Iwa ninja also established a branch there.

This time, Yichen and his group came to the northern branch.

Upon arriving at the branch, the group did not linger but boarded Yichen's Porcelain Platform and flew rapidly northward.

Chiga didn't keep up; she wasn't suited to participate in the upcoming battle. She simply described the target's location in detail to Yichen.

Before long, the group left the Land of Land of Lightning and arrived at the sea.

Shion then asked, "Lord Tsuchikage, where are we going?"

Yichen said, "There is a very large ninja turtle in the Kumogakure. When this ninja turtle moves on the sea, its body is so large that it is like an island, and the Cloud ninja calls it Turtle Island."

"Before the Kumogakure was destroyed, some people escaped to Turtle Island, but Turtle Island is mobile, making it difficult to find their exact location."

"We've finally been located by Chiga. Our mission this time is to go to Turtle Island and wipe out the remaining Cloud ninja."

Shion nodded, imagining in her mind, how big would a turtle the size of an island be?

Neji asked curiously, "Teacher Yichen, how did Chiga Senga locate Turtle Island? Did she obtain the blood of the Cloud ninja on Turtle Island?"

Yichen glanced at Neji and explained, "Ever since two years ago, when our army bypassed the Land of Lightning and launched a Mist Ninja Army..."

"The fact that we possess a special method to locate the enemy has become known to other ninja villages."

"The Cloud ninja been extremely cautious these past two years. They seem to have never allowed any other Cloud ninja to go to Turtle Island, so even with the Cloud ninja's blood, I still can't find Turtle Island."

"We discovered Turtle Island this time because we were monitoring Naruto Uzumaki's movements."

Neji was taken aback, and asked as if to confirm, "Naruto Uzumaki? The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from Konoha?"

Yichen nodded and continued, "Naruto Uzumaki possesses the Nine-Tails within him. The best way to gain the Nine-Tails' approval is to go to Turtle Island."

"There are many things on Turtle Island that can help Jinchuriki improve their strength."

As he spoke, Yichen glanced at Han and said, "Senior Han became a Quasi-Shadow on Turtle Island and gained Kokuō's approval."

Seeing that Neji and the others were looking over, Han smiled and nodded.