On March 1, Year 34 of Konoha, tensions along the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind had not yet escalated. But the Land of Rain, wedged between the Lands of Fire, Wind, and Earth, had made a move that shocked the entire Shinobi World.
Hanzo of the Rain, daimyo of the Land of Rain and current leader of Amegakure, publicly announced that he would no longer tolerate the exploitation of the Three Great Nations and was preparing to mobilize the entire country for war against them.
This "national mobilization" was no small matter. It meant Amegakure would directly recruit large numbers of bounty hunters and wandering ninja operating in and around the Land of Rain, offering them high-paying missions and access to Amegakure's secret ninjutsu techniques.
Though the Rain Ninja could not match the shinobi villages of the Five Great Nations in strength, they had survived since the Warring States period and possessed unique ninjutsu traditions. These were incredibly attractive to bounty hunters and wandering ninja at the bottom of the Shinobi World.
Yet on the very day the mobilization order was issued, the sensory unit in Kikyo City, Land of Fire, detected several hundred chakra signatures suspected to belong to ninja entering the Land of Rain from the side nearest the Land of Fire's border.
The border between the Lands of Wind and Rain, and between the Lands of Rivers and Rain, was far longer than the Fire-Rain border. It was likely that even more bounty hunters and wandering ninja would enter the Land of Rain through those routes, possibly alongside a large number of ninja from smaller villages.
In villages such as Kagerou Village in the Land of Rivers, Suomae Village in the Land of Keys, Hoshigakure in the Land of Bears, and Kusagakure in the Land of Grass, lower-ranked ninja had already abandoned their villages of their own accord to join Amegakure.
But that was not the worst of it. Bounty hunters and wandering ninja operating within the Lands of Fire, Wind, and Earth were even trying to sneak across the borders into the Land of Rain.
The situation in Konoha, in the Land of Fire, was not yet so noticeable. By contrast, more than ten ninja defections had already taken place in just three days at Shin-Gaku Village and Kairan Village, two villages that received little attention.
The Shinku team that Touma belonged to had just received a mission to pursue a rogue ninja from Kairan Village.
This time, the Shinku team's contact was Umino Sadami, the jonin they had worked with previously on a mission in the capital.
The Umino name belonged to a great clan in the Land of Fire during the Warring States period. However, the clan had split into branches long ago, and ninja of the Umino Clan could be found in Konoha, Shin-Gaku Village, and Kairan Village.
For example, Umino Ikkaku, the father of Umino Iruka, was one of the few Konoha jonin to advance through the ranks by mastering Barrier Ninjutsu and Sealing Jutsu. If one were to trace the family connection, Umino Sadami would be Umino Ikkaku's clan uncle.
Umino Sadami was a typical Water Release ninja from Kairan Village. It was said that she had also contracted a special whale summon, allowing her to summon parts of the whale's body and perform Water Release on a scale comparable to the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
Last time, the team had been unable to witness Umino Sadami's so-called "Sea Release" Water Release techniques because of the limitations of the capital's environment. This pursuit mission, however, had truly opened their eyes.
First, it was important to clarify that Senju Tobirama's reputation for having "contracted the sea" did not mean he had actually contracted the sea. Rather, the Senju Clan's physique naturally gave him a vast amount of chakra, allowing him to form large-scale Water Release techniques entirely from chakra even in places without water.
That did not mean other people could not use Water Release in places without water. Any ninja who had trained deeply enough in Water Release could do the same. The only limitation was the amount of chakra they possessed, which capped the scale of their techniques.
Umino Sadami's physique was quite ordinary. Her ability to perform Water Release on the same scale was entirely thanks to her giant whale summon, Senkawa-maru.
According to intelligence gathered by Konoha, Senkawa-maru was over fifty meters long and weighed an astonishing three hundred tons, making him several times larger than the blue whale, the largest animal in the ocean.
A body that enormous could provide an equally incredible amount of chakra. Compared with Shukaku, the One-Tail—the most extensively studied Tailed Beast—Senkawa-maru had roughly three to five times as much chakra.
Of course, having an enormous amount of chakra did not mean he replenished it the way a Tailed Beast did. Senkawa-maru's chakra was still a combination of spiritual and physical energy. He could not rapidly restore lost chakra by converting Natural Energy the way a Tailed Beast could.
Whenever Senkawa-maru wanted to build up enough chakra, he had to spend five to seven days hunting in the sea. That was why Umino Sadami did not use summoning parts of Senkawa-maru as one of her regular techniques.
The targets of this pursuit mission were two Chunin teams. One team's leader was Shiba Shinichi, a Special Jōnin; the other was Shiba Kuro, an elite jonin.
Their names made it clear that the two leaders, Shiba Kuro and Shiba Shinichi, were related by blood, and that was indeed the case. Shiba Shinichi was Shiba Kuro's nephew, and his only relative in Kairan Village.
As for the other six Chunin, one of them, Chunin Xiao Gui, had clearly refused the two leaders' offer but had been taken away by force. The other five had believed the benefits promised by the leaders and, after some hesitation, defected alongside them.
To be honest, although living standards in Kairan Village could not compare with those in a top-tier village like Konoha, they were certainly much better than in Amegakure.
Amegakure had issued its mobilization and recruitment orders to attract Special Jōnin and elite jonin who could make an immediate difference on the battlefield. Chunin and Genin who went there would still be treated as cannon fodder.
Besides, the two Chunin teams led by the Shiba uncle and nephew had only recently been formed and had no teamwork to speak of. Even if Amegakure accepted them, they would be broken up and reassigned to different duties. In that case, the promises made by the Shiba pair would amount to nothing but "flowers in a mirror, the moon in water."
Because the Shiba pair's joint defection had such serious repercussions, the first pursuit team showed no mercy once they had tracked down the two teams' escape route.
Unexpectedly, the Shiba pair used traps to kill every ninja in the first pursuit team. With no other choice, Kairan Village appealed to Konoha for help and sent Umino Sadami, who had already risen to a senior position within the village, to assist in killing the Shiba pair.
Shinku and Umino Sadami would each handle one of the Shiba pair. After excluding Xiao Gui, the Chunin who had been kidnapped, the remaining five would be dealt with by Touma, Shibi, and Zhao.
Ever since the mission in the capital had ended, Shibi and Zhao had both asked Teacher Shinku to train them.
Shibi focused on increasing the capacity and quality of his Kikaichū. With Teacher Shinku's help, he also greatly improved his insects' resistance to genjutsu.
After all, during their previous mission in the capital, Shibi's Kikaichū had repeatedly slipped out of his control when they faced members of the Yomi Sect, affected by the power of the demon Moryo. They had nearly triggered a revolt in the hive inside his body. So the first problem he needed to solve was his insects' resistance to genjutsu.
As for Haruno Kizashi, because of his excellent chakra control, Teacher Shinku taught him a visual genjutsu that could be combined with Taijutsu: Demonic Illusion: Falling Cherry Blossoms.
It allowed him to conceal himself completely within an illusion filled with drifting cherry blossom petals, making it impossible for enemies to tell from which direction he would attack.
The two of them could train together perfectly to meet their respective needs: one could get used to his new genjutsu, while the other trained his resistance to it. Their progress over just half a month had been rapid. According to Teacher Shinku, they were now more than ready to take the Chunin Ninja Exams.
However, the entire village was currently mobilizing for war. Aside from automatic promotions based on mission quotas, all other exams had been suspended. Otherwise, Teacher Shinku really would have saved today's recommendation slots for the three of them.
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