Nawaki's Strength

Zhixin was not at all surprised that Nawaki had deduced his inner calculations in just a few short sentences. He had long known that this young clan head possessed an intellect even sharper than his own, so he smiled humbly and said, "Naturally, such petty thoughts of this subordinate could not escape the notice of the Clan Head. I have made a fool of myself!"

"Since you still retain a certain level of prestige and authority among these rogue ninjas, it should be easy for you to summon them one by one under the guise of needing reinforcements, right?" Nawaki turned his head to look at the flowers and plants in the courtyard, speaking with feigned indifference.

Zhixin smiled, "Does the Clan Head intend to lure them into a trap and then defeat them one by one?"

"It is always easy to talk to a smart man. Correct. I will carve Cursed Seals into these rogue ninjas to make them join the branch family of my Senju Clan and become your subordinates. At that time, I will need you, Zhixin, to help 'persuade' them to abandon darkness for the light."

"I imagine the situation of these rogue ninjas is similar to yours. After training in The Consortium for so many years, their chakra levels and physical fitness should already be above that of an average Chunin, right?"

"Although not everyone possesses talent like yours, Zhixin, their strength should improve after acquiring the appropriate ninjutsu, shouldn't it? My Senju Clan is proficient in all five elemental ninjutsu and should be able to satisfy everyone's requirements."

"Oh! Right! This is the high-level Wind Release ninjutsu you need, Zhixin. My sensory secret technique detected that you also possess Fire attribute chakra in your body? That must be the second attribute you cultivated yourself? I will give you this Fire Release ninjutsu scroll as well!" Nawaki had stored a large number of ninjutsu scrolls in his Tree Seed Space for emergencies, and now was the perfect time to take them out to buy people's hearts.

Judging by Zhixin's reaction, the effect was excellent. He knelt on one knee and raised his hands to receive the ninjutsu scrolls he had dreamed of, his expression agitated as he said, "Thank you for your generous gift, Clan Head! This subordinate will certainly 'persuade' the other rogue ninjas of The Consortium one by one, making them willingly accept the 'mark' of the Senju Clan's branch family!"

Zhixin had not expected to obtain the ninjutsu scrolls he had sought in vain so easily. In his excitement, he took the initiative to offer to personally capture and force his former subordinates to defect. With the demonstration Nawaki had just provided, he felt he could easily complete the task; it was merely a matter of spending a little more time.

Ding, Zhixin is sincerely loyal to the host. Relationship with the host has become die-hard. Provides 10 points of Wish Power to the host daily!

The system notification sounded simultaneously. This was the third person to establish a "bond" with Nawaki, aside from Tsunade and Mito, which was equivalent to adding an extra 10 points of reputation for Nawaki. It was a pity that such people were very rare. Nawaki had been constantly using his "Talk-no-Jutsu" for years, yet no one had ever established a bond with him. He had not expected to succeed today on a patient with Stockholm syndrome! It seemed this method was worth promoting!

Nawaki patted Zhixin on the shoulder and helped him up, "Since you want to prove your loyalty, Zhixin, I will leave this matter to you. I believe that with your talent, you will not disappoint me!"

"Thank you for your trust, Clan Head. This subordinate swears to complete the mission!" Zhixin stood up accordingly and bowed his head in assurance.

Seeing his reaction, Nawaki nodded with satisfaction and asked, "By the way, the civilians you captured should be sent to the headquarters, right?"

"Yes, Clan Head. Baran is responsible for periodically escorting these civilians to The Consortium headquarters, where they are trained and then sold as slaves to the nobles of various countries!"

"When is Baran coming?"

"At the latest, Baran will arrive in two days to lead people to escort all the civilians captured from the various mountain strongholds of The Consortium to the headquarters! Since the stronghold where this subordinate is stationed is the outpost for the entire Consortium, Baran will come here first to gather intelligence before escorting the civilians to other strongholds to reduce risk!" Zhixin said with a serious expression; clearly, he still held some fear of Baran. A ninja who could participate in that coup that shocked the Shinobi World and escape unscathed was certainly no simple character!

Nawaki nodded with a relaxed expression, "Rest assured, I have my own ways of dealing with that Baran. You, however, need to speed up the persuasion work on your end—the sooner, the better!"

Zhixin's expression turned solemn: "Yes! This subordinate will send word to summon them and 'persuade' them one by one!"

"No need to rush. First, recover your chakra and make full preparations. Furthermore, my main body and four teammates are still outside the stronghold. Find a way to lead us into the stronghold later! My team leader is a Jonin named Torifu Akimichi; you should have heard of him!" Unlike Nawaki, whose genius reputation was limited to major ninja villages due to Konoha's intentional blockade of information, Torifu Akimichi was a long-established Konoha Jonin whose name was known even to rogue ninjas like Zhixin.

Zhixin said in shock, "Torifu Akimichi? That disciple of the Second Hokage? I never expected this mission to attract such a big shot! But what is even more surprising is that you, Clan Head, actually subdued this subordinate with a shadow clone! Even now, I haven't noticed it. Your strength is even more unfathomable!"

"You flatter me! You don't need to belittle yourself, Zhixin. If it weren't for the fact that you were distracted by the flowers and plants, and that my Wood Release is somewhat unique, defeating you would not have been so easy. There are too many accidental factors in a ninja's battle; one moment of carelessness and you could be doomed! Sometimes, the mind is more important than power. It is common for highly skilled ninjas to die at the hands of weaker enemies due to a moment of negligence. The Nara Clan of my Konoha village stands in the Shinobi World by their wits, winning against the strong despite being weak. This is also why I think highly of you, Zhixin." Nawaki shook his head with a sigh.

Itachi had a point: every ninjutsu and power has its weaknesses; the key lies in the ninja using it! In the original work, Danzo went to great lengths to transplant Wood Release cells and the Sharingan, yet he was still killed by Sasuke in the end. Aside from Izanagi, he failed to exert the power that the Sharingan and Wood Release should have had, instead fighting with the Wind Release he was proficient in. Therefore, a ninja's application and coordination of ninjutsu are very important; otherwise, they cannot exert their proper strength. Danzo may have been in a high position for a long time and rarely fought, so he lacked experience in using these two bloodline powers, leading to an easy defeat. In the end, he couldn't even escape and had to commit suicide with the Reverse Four-Symbols Sealing. He could be considered the "Hokage" with the lowest combat effectiveness.

As for the current Nawaki, although his chakra level had reached the Jonin level, the ninjutsu he was proficient in also consumed a huge amount of chakra. For example, in terms of Wood Release, he could not even perform Deep Forest Emergence yet, which was the foundation for a series of later Wood Release ultimate moves!

His Rasenshuriken also only had the power for a single strike; if the enemy didn't die after he used it, then he would be the one to die. If there was no one around to protect him, he would almost never use it.

In terms of Taijutsu, although he had mastered the Six Powers, because he was too young, his physical strength and stamina had not reached their peak, so he could not use the Six Powers for sustained combat and could only use them as a trump card at critical moments. The same logic applied to the Strength of a Hundred Fist passed down to him. These high-level Taijutsu consumed a huge amount of stamina. Even with the Asura Bloodline, the stamina of a 5-year-old Nawaki was equivalent to that of Naruto at eight or nine years old, and this was the result of his years of desperate training.

As for Genjutsu, Nawaki had only dabbled in it, and his Genjutsu could only be used to bully children.

Nawaki's conventional combat methods now were ninjutsu of various attributes. Although he had many trump cards and comprehensive abilities, and could erupt with the strength of an elite Jonin for a short time if he played all his cards, his lack of endurance meant his conventional strength was equivalent to that of an ordinary Jonin. Added to the fact that his practical combat experience was far inferior to that of an average Jonin or even a Chunin, his true stable combat power was at the level of a Special Jonin, which was quite consistent with his position.