The Mist-Filled Forest

Cloud Release: Flowing Cloud Bird Technique.

Torifu spat a stream of cloud vapor from his mouth, which slowly condensed into dozens of small white cloud birds that circled and danced above his head.

He reached out to touch one of the birds; it felt slightly cool to the touch, which was quite nice.

Torifu then pulled out an equal number of upgraded Crystal Seeds and threw them with precision into the bodies of the cloud birds.

Following that, he manipulated the cloud birds to fly off in all directions.

Once each cloud bird reached its designated position, it would dive downward, deposit the Crystal Seed into the soil, and then its mission would be complete, causing it to dissipate into nothingness.

After releasing the cloud bird ninjutsu several times in succession, Crystal Flowers had bloomed across half of the forest.

To avoid being discovered, Torifu had specifically chosen relatively secluded locations; this way, if they weren't destroyed, they could still be used in the future.

As the flowers exhaled cloud mist, Torifu could sense everyone within that mist, effectively setting up a protective barrier for the village outside its borders.

By this time, an hour had passed since Torifu left the village, and at this rate, another hour would be enough to plant seeds throughout the entire forest surrounding Konoha.

Fortunately, Torifu had the habit of preparing plenty of seeds in advance; otherwise, his chakra really wouldn't have been enough for such continuous use of ninjutsu.

After nearly another hour, the entire forest was finally planted with seeds!

Torifu then released a ninjutsu to stimulate the growth of the seeds and used the Crystal Connection Technique to link all the Crystal Flowers together.

Having finished all of this, Torifu could finally relax a little.

Torifu was quite confident in his own ninjutsu; as soon as his chakra recovered a bit, he could release the Cloud Mist Sensing Technique, allowing the mist to permeate the entire forest!

Even Madara Uchiha would certainly be unable to avoid the sensing of the mist, after all, Madara's chakra was so immense!

Moreover, given Madara Uchiha's personality, he wouldn't choose to hide his own chakra to launch a sneak attack; as long as his location was known immediately, things would be easy to handle.

Torifu wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead and let out a soft sigh: "This Konoha village would be finished sooner or later without me."

Cloud Release: Cloud Mist Sensing Technique.

In an instant, a massive amount of chakra within his body was consumed, and his mind grew weary, his eyelids feeling somewhat heavy.

Torifu's breathing became a bit rapid; clearly, this ninjutsu, which surrounded the entire perimeter of Konoha, had drained him significantly.

Fortunately, this was just ordinary cloud mist, so it didn't drain Torifu's chakra dry in an instant.

Coupled with the thin mist already present in the forest at dawn, Torifu was able to boldly release a ninjutsu with such a wide range.

The so-called Cloud Mist Sensing Technique was actually just ordinary cloud mist; Torifu had only given it that name to make it sound a bit more stylish.

The Crystal Flowers began to exhale thick cloud vapor, which instantly assimilated with the morning mist upon contact.

Before long, the cloud mist permeated the forest; if anyone were to wander in here, they would likely have a hard time finding their way out.

However, there was no need to worry, as Torifu was constantly sensing everything, so such a situation would not occur.

Watching the mist grow thicker, Torifu stretched his back and planned to return to the village to tell his master or Lord Tobirama about this.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be good if it were mistaken for an enemy attack.

After Torifu returned to Konoha, the ninjas in the village had indeed already noticed the abnormal cloud mist in the forest outside.

They were all filled with vigilance, but after Torifu explained it to them, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Yet, some still didn't understand why he had gone to such great lengths to do this; did he really think someone would dare to invade Konoha?

Torifu just smiled but didn't speak, because he was truly afraid of scaring them, or being treated as a mental patient.

After all, who would believe that Madara Uchiha would attack Konoha today?

Even Hashirama, upon hearing that Madara Uchiha had appeared at the village, would react with joy first, rather than thinking about Madara Uchiha attacking the village.

Without engaging in too much idle chatter with the other ninjas, Torifu headed straight for the Hokage office.

At this time, even if his master hadn't woken up and was still sleeping in, Lord Tobirama would certainly be up; both were about the same, and it didn't matter who he spoke to.

After all, in the hearts of the ninjas in the village, the Second Hokage was undoubtedly Senju Tobirama.

Torifu was fast, and before long, he arrived at the door of the Hokage office, knocked lightly a few times, and a voice from inside told Torifu to enter.

"Master, Lord Tobirama, I have something to report." Torifu bowed to the two lords and explained his intentions.

"Oh? What's the matter so early in the morning? Let's hear it." Tobirama asked with interest.

Because Torifu could often come up with strange and bizarre ideas and develop many ninjutsu he hadn't thought of, Tobirama was very fond of Torifu.

He believed that a genius ninja like Torifu was wasting his talent by following his big brother to learn taijutsu every day, so he had been trying to find a way to snatch this disciple from his brother's hands!

"It's like this, early this morning in the forest outside the village..."

Torifu gave a detailed report to Hashirama and Tobirama about what he had done after leaving the forest this morning, but he didn't mention that it was to deal with Madara Uchiha.

He only said it was to strengthen the village's defensive construction, so that if any foreign ninjas arrived, he would be able to sense them instantly.

Cloud mist was different from other techniques; in the forest, the mist did not dissipate easily, so the Cloud Mist Formation that Torifu had laid out could be considered a long-lasting one.

When Hashirama and Tobirama heard Torifu explain the ins and outs like this, they understood everything.

"Good lad, I was just telling my big brother that the commotion outside must have been you tinkering with a new technique again, and I really guessed right."

Tobirama looked at Torifu with increasing satisfaction, while his own group of disciples, although each had good talent and strength, and their team coordination was also very tacit...

However, they were just a bit lacking when it came to developing ninjutsu; among these few, only Hiruzen Sarutobi had some talent for it.

The rest of them were completely hopeless, and Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't even compare to Torifu when it came to developing techniques.

That kid could develop seven or eight new techniques a year, while Hiruzen Sarutobi could only manage one or two.

Tobirama now had only one feeling: I could have endured the darkness, had I not seen the light!

Before discovering Torifu, Tobirama often said to Hiruzen, "Monkey, you are the student I have the highest hopes for; do not let me down!"

But now, the phrase Tobirama said most often to Hiruzen Sarutobi was, "Look at Torifu, then look at yourself! He develops so many ninjutsu in a year! You can't even squeeze out a single one in half a year!"

In short, Tobirama was now dissatisfied with everything Hiruzen did, while he treated Torifu like a precious treasure, always thinking about how to snatch him away from his older brother.

"Torifu, you did very well on this; because of this, Konoha will become much safer. You must be exhausted today, right?"

Hashirama looked at his student with gratification. To be able to unleash such a large-scale ninjutsu at such a young age—he was truly a Genius!