Mission Complete

After dispelling the shadow clone, Touma took another Chakra Pill. This gave Shinku-sensei quite a fright. He thought Touma had swallowed seven Military Ration Pills in such a short time!

Fortunately, after Touma explained everything, Shinku-sensei understood that taking Chakra Pills refined from one's own chakra wouldn't affect the body at all. The only possible problem was that too much chakra could build up inside and strain the chakra pathways.

Actually, Military Ration Pills came in different qualities. The refined pills sold at Sanwuzhai, which was jointly run by the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans, were excellent. Not only were their effects gentle and the process of extracting chakra smooth, they even had a slight nourishing effect on the body.

Ordinary Military Ration Pills, by contrast, tasted awful, and the process of extracting chakra was extremely harsh. Anyone in less than perfect health could easily suffer hidden injuries after taking several.

But quality came at a price. A box of three refined Military Ration Pills from Sanwuzhai cost 1,500 ryō, and a single pill sold for as much as 600 ryō. Even on sale, a box never cost less than 1,500 ryō, making them considerably more expensive than Explosive Tags.

Ordinary Military Ration Pills, on the other hand, cost just 150 ryō for a bag of twelve. They were always in stock and available to anyone, unlike the pills from Sanwuzhai, which could only be purchased by using the number on the back of a ninja's Forehead Protector. Each number allowed its owner to buy them just three times a month, with no exceptions even during peak mission periods.

After all, these refined Military Ration Pills were difficult and time-consuming to make, and production was very limited. The Ino-Shika-Cho Clans' own ninja also used quite a lot of them, so of course they would prioritize their own people.

The Ino-Shika-Cho Clans had probably only raised the monthly purchase limit to three as a gesture of support for the Sarutobi Clan's Hokage. Even one pill per person per month would have been a painful sacrifice for the three clans!

Of course, Touma's Chakra Pill refining technique could very well upend the Military Ration Pill industry. However, he had no plans to share it with anyone. It involved a number of Orochimaru's studies, and until Orochimaru gave his approval, the technique had to remain within a small circle.

With the Buddha Statue Puppet dealt with, Onizuka Kenichi and "Yomotsu" Ota Yokokawa could no longer hide in the underground shelter. They had no choice but to find a way to escape.

Unfortunately for them, one Earth Release jōnin controlled by the Yellow Springs Puppet Technique and one ordinary man who was practically crippled stood no chance against a Konoha genjutsu jōnin and a Genin with near-jōnin combat strength. They'd have had to be ghosts to get away.

They had only traveled a short distance underground using the Earth Dragon Hiding Technique when Shinku Yuhi sensed them and dragged them out of the earth with Earth Excavation Rise.

Although Ota Yokokawa still had a jōnin's combat ability, the Yellow Springs Puppet Technique left him full of openings in taijutsu. It took Shinku Yuhi only a few moves to suppress him.

Touma showed no mercy against Onizuka Kenichi, either. Kenichi's abilities were simply too bizarre. Even without being able to use chakra, Touma couldn't be sure he could withstand that strange mental power.

So he focused his attacks on Onizuka Kenichi's head, putting his full strength into every blow. After a few exchanges, Touma's fists had left dents all over Kenichi's armor, and Kenichi was dazed before finally passing out.

They couldn't kill the two men. That was not only a requirement laid down when the mission was agreed upon, but also because killing them on the Land of Fire's soil would bring a great deal of trouble.

As for Onizuka Kenichi, there was no need to explain. Even after losing the political struggle and fleeing abroad, he had retained his status as a general of the Land of Demons.

Otherwise, how could he have summoned a group of loyal followers from the Land of Demons to serve him? It was because if he really managed to depose the current daimyo, he would have a good chance of taking the throne himself.

If he disappeared in the Land of Fire, the Land of Demons would surely find an opportunity to join forces with other great nations and cause trouble for the Land of Fire. The Land of Demons was very close to the Land of Lightning, and the latter wouldn't mind creating more trouble for the Land of Fire.

As for Yomi Sect member Yomotsu—also known as Ota Yokokawa, the suspected Iwagakure spy—his identity was already questionable. If Ōnoki had given him a secret mission and Konoha Ninja killed him in the Land of Fire, Iwagakure could use that as an excuse to start a war early.

For now, border skirmishes were concentrated between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. Even if the Land of Earth was itching to make a move, Ōnoki wouldn't dare order a war without a letter from the daimyo.

Therefore, to ease the pressure on the front lines, the Land of Fire absolutely couldn't give the Land of Earth any excuse. In fact, once the Yuan Clan finished interrogating Ota Yokokawa, the Land of Fire could use the matter as a pretext to cause trouble for the Land of Earth.

Your Iwagakure, in the Land of Earth, had a ninja involved in a plot to overthrow the government of the Land of Fire. Don't you owe the Land of Fire an explanation?

If Iwagakure dared to set its sights on the position of daimyo in the Land of Fire, might it have designs on the position of daimyo in its own country as well?

Once that claim was spread, even if it wasn't true, there would be no way to deny it. The Iwamoto Clan, the daimyo's family in the Land of Earth, would never pass up this chance to undermine the Tsuchikage's authority.

The political position of the daimyo in the Land of Earth was far weaker than that of the other great nations. After all, the resources controlled by the Iwamoto Clan weren't indispensable. They were less important than the Land of Wind's water, the Land of Fire's farmland, the Land of Lightning's pastures, and the Land of Water's fishing grounds.

The mineral resources controlled by the Iwamoto Clan could all be bought from other countries. The daimyo family had only managed to maintain its prestige because it had pegged the Land of Earth's currency to the volume of its mineral extraction.

If the other great nations were ruthless enough to join forces and smuggle large quantities of cheap minerals into the Land of Earth, the country's fragile economy would collapse in an instant.

Had the Iwamoto Clan failed to notice this hidden danger? Of course not. But the Iwamoto Clan wasn't wealthy enough to foster other ninja forces in their own country like the Yuan Clan had. Even Iwagakure alone was already enough to strain their resources.

So when a letter bearing the Yuan Clan crest appeared on the desk of Iwamoto Rekiichiro, head of the Iwamoto Clan, the clan began to take action.

As for the Land of Demons, Onizuka Kenichi had tampered with the seal on the monster Moryo, directly violating the Onizuka Clan's ancestral precepts. The current daimyo, Onizuka Orezou, immediately declared that Kenichi had been expelled from the family.

Of course, expelling Onizuka Kenichi didn't mean leaving him in the Land of Fire. To compensate the Land of Fire for its losses and secure Kenichi's return to the Land of Demons, the two countries signed a series of unequal commercial treaties. The Land of Demons also agreed to open all mission contracts to Konoha. This was no small concession; it was practically a surrender of part of its sovereignty to the Land of Fire.

Even if signing these treaties brought retaliation from the Land of Lightning, the Land of Demons could only grit its teeth and accept it. After all, if word got out at home that someone from the daimyo family had gone to another country to take part in a political struggle, it would inevitably hurt the family's standing with the people.

For small countries like theirs, caught between great powers, public support was everything. Without it, the daimyo family couldn't reap any benefits from the people, and the family would naturally be unable to maintain its size.