"Disgusting." With a look of disgust, Hyuga Ao washed the grime from her hands. Even though she could shake off the dirty water like a dog shaking its fur, Hyuga Ao still chose to rinse them with water.
Only washing with water made her feel clean. It was a psychological effect.
Team Nine had spent an entire month doing low-level missions like pulling weeds, farming, and catching cats.
A large part of Konoha's productivity depended on the Genin who graduated every year, especially the untalented Genin in peacetime.
Among newly graduated Genin, these missions were assigned in rotation. This time, it happened to be their turn to accept a mission to clear a river.
Then why not use Shadow Clones to do it?
As everyone knew, the moment a Shadow Clone was dispelled, it transmitted all its information back. Clearing a river was already a form of continuous damage. Once the Shadow Clone was dispelled, all the stench it had endured for so long would be sent back in one go.
Hyuga Ao had nearly been knocked unconscious by the stench on the spot, and she had looked listless for the entire day.
"Ugh." Remembering the misery from before, Hyuga Ao could not help shivering.
The more D-rank chore missions she did, the more puzzled she became. With this kind of productivity, wouldn't farming be better?
Still, if she went farming, that might be an entirely different story.
Deep beneath Konoha.
Root.
Danzo was going through intelligence concerning the Land of Rain.
After a while, he raised his head and asked a completely unrelated question.
"Are the Land of Earth spies around Mito Uzumaki's barrier still there?"
"Responded, my lord. The Land of Earth spies have long been under the close surveillance of our department."
The head of the Intelligence Department, Wu, replied.
"Good. Leak the news that Mito Uzumaki is dead to him."
With that, he rose and headed for the Hokage Building.
One month later.
Ōnoki of Both Scales studied the intelligence scroll in his hands, inevitably recalling when the Land of Earth, Land of Wind, Land of Lightning, and Land of Water had jointly divided the Land of Whirlpools.
Konoha had arrived late, and when the allied forces finally withdrew, those chains that blotted out the sky and the Tailed Beast Bombs that pierced through their formations had appeared.
Senju Hashirama had befriended the Uzumaki, and the idea of using the Uzumaki's Land of Whirlpools as a barrier to help Konoha defend against enemies from across the sea had not been wrong.
But he had overlooked one thing: once numerous shinobi clans united and established a village, their strength could no longer be compared to what it had been before.
The small and isolated Land of Whirlpools could only support the Uzumaki Clan. It could not develop into a powerful shinobi village.
Thus, when the Land of Whirlpools was secretly divided up, Konoha had not even had time to react.
Coming back to himself, Ōnoki confirmed, "Is it certain?"
After receiving a definite answer, he said, "Send people to contact Hanzō and the Sand Ninja."
Land of Rain.
Hanzō of the Salamander caught the rain of the Land of Rain in his hand. It seemed as though it would never stop, and wave after wave of irritation welled up inside him.
"One day, the Land of Rain will no longer be shrouded in endless mist and rain!"
Chiyo, Hanzō, and Ōnoki held a secret meeting within the Land of Rain.
Hanzō of the Salamander rose. "It's a deal. Once the supplies from the Land of Earth and Land of Wind are in place, I will lead my forces into the Land of Fire."
"Good. Just as expected of Half-God Hanzō—you're refreshingly decisive. Once your troops enter the field, we will follow."
With that, Ōnoki laughed heartily and exchanged a glance with Chiyo.
Everything was understood without words.
Konoha.
The Hokage Building.
Danzo slammed a stack of intelligence onto the Third Hokage's desk and shouted angrily:
"Hiruzen, how can you still not understand? Are we really going to sit here and wait for someone to attack us?"
"You're going to disgrace the previous Hokage beyond belief!"
Facing his close friend's urging, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained unhurried. He replaced the tobacco in his pipe and took a satisfied puff.
Amid the curling smoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face appeared and disappeared.
Then he said in a deep voice:
"Order the Second Division of Anbu and Root to assist with deploying defenses along the Land of Fire's border. Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya will be under Orochimaru's command, with Tsunade and Jiraiya assisting. Have them lead a thousand shinobi to form a defensive line at the border."
Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a moment before continuing:
"Have White Fang take the First Division of Anbu to the junction of the Land of Wind, Land of Rain, and Land of Fire. Station them there and provide mobile support."
"We don't want war, but we aren't afraid of war either!"
With Hiruzen Sarutobi's order, Konoha—the war machine created by Senju Hashirama and forged by Tobirama—finally began moving again today under the hands of their disciple, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The First Shinobi World War had been over for too long—so long that people had forgotten the misery of war.
Geography and culture meant that no matter how other countries developed, they could never match Konoha's natural advantages.
In particular, the rise of the Land of Rain at the junction of the three nations added fuel to the already turbulent shinobi world. The three great nations would never allow another powerful country to rise right beside them.
Thus, under a tacit understanding among the upper echelons of the various nations,
in the thirty-third year of Konoha, the Rain Ninja Village launched an attack of its own. Hanzō of the Salamander's poison was unmatched, and even after Konoha issued repeated warnings, the Rain Ninja Village continued to act as it pleased.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, brazenly declared war on the Land of Rain.
The war had begun!
"Gurgle, gurgle." Team Nine was carrying out an escort mission.
The fighting on the front line had already been underway for a month.
Strangely, however, after Hanzō of the Salamander initially tore open the Land of Fire's border defenses, he did not directly invade the heart of the Land of Fire. Instead, after opening a breach, he chose a place to station his forces, as though waiting for something.
This gave Konoha a brief window to reorganize its troops and transport supplies.
"Ao'er, what do you think Amegakure is waiting for?" Minato asked Hyuga Ao. Hyuga Hotaru also moved closer, equally eager to know why.
"I don't know. But I do know that after this escort mission, our supplies will be ready. Then we'll be stationed here and take on part of the early-warning duties."
Hyuga Ao answered absentmindedly. Her posture was especially strange at the moment. She appeared to be walking normally, but on closer inspection, there was a trace of stiffness in her movements.
This was Hyuga Ao's latest discovery. Since Shikotsumyaku could control bones, if she controlled only her bones, could she make them drive her body's movements?
The Quincy had a technique called Puppet Dance. It used threads of spiritual power to pull the user along, allowing them to continue moving until the very end of a battle.
Hyuga Ao was now basing her technique on that idea, changing the manipulation of threads into the manipulation of bones to move her body.
However, there were still many difficulties in the initial experiments. The human body was a system; moving one part affected the entire body.
Thus, Hyuga Ao was currently experimenting with how to move and how much force to use in order to produce the most natural and appropriate reactions.
Right now, she was trying to control her bones to make herself walk.
Hyuga Ao planned to name this technique Dance of the Dead Body.
By the time she needed to use this technique, she would certainly already be gravely injured, perhaps with only a trace of consciousness remaining.
Her body would be close to death. Life and death would be separated by only a single step. That was why she would call it Dance of the Dead Body.
At this thought, Hyuga Ao once again remembered the person who had astonished her back then—Kimimaro.
To be honest, Kimimaro's first appearance really had a completely different style and aura from everyone else.
White hair and green eyes, red eye shadow, two cinnabar marks above his brows, white clothes and white bones, and finally his ultimate dance—Early Wisteria Dance.
In the end, Kimimaro transformed his right hand into a bone spike and charged before Gaara. Just as the tip of the bone was about to pierce Gaara's eye, he died after exhausting his strength.
It was no wonder so many transmigrators wanted to recruit him.
Hyuga Ao controlled her Shikotsumyaku, causing a bone flower to grow from her palm. She studied it for a long while, then dispersed it.
"Kimimaro, there will be a chance."
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