Holy Land Training Camp

"No, kid, how exactly did you get in here?"

"This is a serious matter; you must tell me the truth!"

Jiraiya suddenly furrowed his brows tightly and asked with a stern expression.

Touma didn't look troubled by this question; he pointed his right finger toward the ventilation hole in the northeast corner of the underground secret chamber. "Well, I just came in through there, that's how I got in..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Touma quickly entered the "Sky Dance of the Heavens" state. His lower body began to undergo elemental transformation, turning into a swirl of wind, and he slowly drifted up toward the ceiling of the chamber.

"This... this is elementalization... you've completed it?"

Seeing this scene, Jiraiya even wondered if he had fallen under a genjutsu.

One had to realize that the kid in front of him was only 12 years old, yet he had already achieved a cultivation goal that other genius ninjas might never reach in their entire lives.

To date, the only ninjas in Konoha's records who had completed elementalization cultivation were the brothers Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama; Senju Hashirama could perform Wood Release elementalization, while Senju Tobirama could perform Fire Release elementalization.

Even his teacher, Sarutobi Hiruzen, known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," had not even come close to completing elementalization cultivation for his most proficient Fire Release nature transformation.

This was because, according to the universally accepted facts of the ninja world, cultivating elementalization for chakra with a physical substance was much simpler than for chakra without one.

Yet, this "familiar kid" before him had actually completed a cultivation process at 12 that others might never finish in a lifetime; talent alone could no longer fully explain such an achievement.

However, after the initial shock, Jiraiya instantly suppressed his desire to investigate further.

He knew that the other ninjas in the secret chamber likely hadn't even been exposed to the concept of chakra elementalization. At most, they would treat this ability as a Kekkei Genkai and would likely forget about it shortly after seeing it.

However, if his excessive shock were revealed and other factions learned about this "familiar kid," the boy would undoubtedly face endless trouble.

Being able to perform chakra elementalization did not mean his combat power had undergone a fundamental change; combat experience, battle IQ, and intelligence-level confrontations were the true deciding factors in victory.

Not to mention, no matter how strong the "familiar kid's" talent was, there was still a gap in physical foundation and chakra reserves compared to adult ninjas, and it would take quite some time to bridge that gap.

Therefore, Jiraiya could only force down the shock in his heart and say with a breezy, nonchalant tone: "Tch, what's so impressive about that? Isn't it just exploiting a defensive loophole..."

"You'd better take a look at how I handled all those ninjas in the city first!"

Although his tone didn't fluctuate, Touma had already seen Jiraiya giving him a forceful wink.

At this moment, Touma also realized he had been a bit too flashy; it seemed Jiraiya didn't trust his subordinates as much as he let on.

In fact, the infiltration of command posts wasn't limited to Sunny City; the command post at Kikyo City had been infiltrated even more severely than this one.

After Orochimaru took over as acting commander, he had already conducted three purges and even successfully had Hozuki Mitsuki replace Kamikawa Ryuhei, infiltrating the team that was rotating back to the village.

To put it bluntly, this kind of infiltration was impossible to fully prevent unless everyone had the Root's identification curse seal branded on them, which was the only way to guarantee absolute loyalty.

However, if the Hokage really dared to brand all ninjas with identification curse seals, he wouldn't be able to remain Hokage; such a display of distrust would instantly destroy the fragile prestige he had maintained in the village for so long.

Perhaps Shimura Danzō was just waiting for Sarutobi Hiruzen to make a mistake, at which point he could rightfully overthrow Sarutobi Hiruzen and take the seat of the Hokage.

Honestly, in Touma's eyes, the position of Hokage wasn't really worth fighting over. Shimura Danzō's obsession didn't stem from a genuine desire to be Hokage, but from his stubborn belief that he wasn't appointed by his teacher in his youth simply because he had been one step slower than Sarutobi Hiruzen in sacrificing himself.

Little did he know, Senju Tobirama had long since judged the personalities of his students, and the only ones suitable to succeed as Hokage were Sarutobi Hiruzen and Kagami Uchiha.

It was just that Kagami Uchiha came from the Uchiha clan and couldn't fully detach himself, inevitably being influenced by the clan; therefore, Sarutobi Hiruzen was his only choice, and the other four were never considered from the start.

Moreover, after Sarutobi Hiruzen became Hokage, the frequency of his cultivation and research into developing ninjutsu had slowed down significantly. Although it might not have been obvious, his actual combat power had indeed declined.

This was also why, after the start of the Second Great Ninja War, Sarutobi Hiruzen hadn't stepped up to become a primary combatant like he did during the First War, appearing only for pre-battle speeches at the front lines—he was afraid of opponents noticing the change in his strength.

One must realize that the Second War had been going on for a month, and currently, no Jinchuriki or Kage-level powerhouses had appeared on the battlefield; even battles between Jonin were rare, with the main combat force still consisting of Genin and Chunin.

For instance, Hanzo of the Rain had never appeared on the battlefield, and there were no records of his salamander summoning beast appearing either; clearly, he was limiting the use of strategic deterrents.

Once one side deployed a Kage-level powerhouse or a summoning beast of comparable strength, the scale of the war would instantly expand, and the casualties would far exceed the current level.

Just like how Jiraiya had used the "Four Flower Tree Formation" to ambush all the ninjas currently in the city; among them were many Jonin from various small ninja villages, but Jiraiya never had any intention of killing them.

Taking them as prisoners to extract war reparations from those small villages was far more valuable than killing them outright. Furthermore, if any of these ninjas were sensible, he could even try to flip them to serve Konoha.

This was why Shimura Danzō's repeated requests to become the front-line commander had been flatly rejected by Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and the two Hokage advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.

As companions of Shimura Danzō for so many years, they knew all too well how ruthless he was. If Shimura Danzō had been given the opportunity Jiraiya faced, it was likely that no one in Sunny City would have survived, and even civilians would have been wiped out as "collateral damage."

Some might ask, could Orochimaru also refrain from killing prisoners? Of course he could!

The Orochimaru of today was not the Orochimaru from the original Shippuden era. In particular, Nawaki, who should have graduated and become his student, hadn't been assigned to the front lines; instead, under Touma's interference and encouragement, he had been sent by Tsunade to Shikkotsu Forest to learn Sage Mode.

This had been directly approved by the Hokage. After all, after Shibi demonstrated the power of "Insect Sage Mode," every ninja clan member with a bit of influence wanted to see if they had a chance to master Sage Mode.

For example, Hideaki Uchiha, through Uchiha connections, had obtained a chance to enter the sacred land of the Ninja Cat clan, "Hollow City," and Sarutobi Hiruzen's eldest son, Kyo Sarutobi, had also been taken by Enma to the Ninja Ape clan's sacred land, "Flower Fruit Mountain," to cultivate Sage Mode.

Furthermore, clans like the Hyuga, Inuzuka, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio had all found their respective sacred lands for beast-style Sage Mode cultivation and had sent their most promising disciples away.

Therefore, the enemy nations' genius assassination plan against Konoha had essentially failed. By the time these geniuses returned having mastered Sage Mode, they would no longer be vulnerable to such assassination tactics!