Returning to the Village and Kekkei Genkai

In Konoha, the towering gate casts a long shadow in the afternoon spring sunlight.

Covered in dust, with bloodstains clinging to their clothes and barely concealed exhaustion, the four members of Taiichi Squad finally set foot on this familiar land.

Looking at the familiar gate, Yohei let out a long sigh, as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. His voice was hoarse as he exclaimed, "Finally—finally I'm back! Seeing this gate makes me feel like my bones are about to fall apart!"

He stretched his stiff limbs, his eyes filled with weariness from a long mission.

Saori nodded in agreement. Unlike previous missions, this mission required high-intensity vigilance from beginning to end. Although the actual combat time was not long, the constant tension was the root cause of the exhaustion.

"Yeah, it's too tense outside. The village is a place where I can catch my breath."

Kaze Wafu remained silent, gazing at the massive symbol of Konoha with a complex expression. This mission had been far more impactful for him than any previous one.

From initially struggling to keep up with the pace to later being able to barely coordinate with the team to kill enemies, this month of tempering-like training has greatly improved his strength.

But it also made him realize the huge gap between himself and these "little monsters" in front of him. The fact that he survived was truly a testament to how much these guys cared about their teammates.

Taiichi's gaze swept over his exhausted teammates, his eyes filled with relief. As the Captain, he had borne the most responsibility, but bringing his Companions back safely from such a mission was the only thing that made him feel perfect.

"Let's go, into the village!"

Passing through the heavy village gate, a bustling yet peaceful scene unfolds before you, a stark contrast to the lurking danger on the border. The calls of shopkeepers and the laughter of children proclaim the tranquility of the village.

Taiichi stopped at the first fork in the road on the main road of the village.

"Saori, Yohei, Xu." His gaze swept over each of the team members' faces. "I'll handle the mission report. You—" He paused, his tone leaving no room for argument, "Go home immediately, wash up, and rest!"

The three of them were slightly taken aback, but then they understood what Taiichi meant, and smiles bloomed on their faces as they replied in unison, "Understood, Captain!"

After a month of tension, Yohei finally relaxed. He almost immediately turned towards home, and Saori and Xu also nodded to each other before quickly leaving, their figures disappearing into the bustling crowd.

Looking in the direction his teammates had dispersed, Taiichi deep breath of the smoke-filled air. His fatigue seemed to deepen, but his eyes regained their sharpness and focus.

Reporting on the mission is the last responsibility of a team Captain.

He turned and walked with heavy steps toward the Hokage Building, the center of power in Konoha.

The Hokage's Office.

Pushing open the door, one sees Hiruzen Sarutobi buried in piles of documents. The escalating border tensions mean even the Hokage has an endless stream of paperwork to review.

This was evident from the relatively fresh air in the office; he didn't even have time to smoke.

"Taiichi, wait a moment, I'll finish approving this document." Without even looking up, Hiruzen Sarutobi the order, which showed both their close relationship and the fact that the Hokage was extremely busy.

Taiichi waited quietly, his eyes Hokage's Office. Each Hokage's office was slightly different. Perhaps because the Third Kazekage was old, there were many old photos on the walls, including those of the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, and even more photos of the Third Kazekage and his teammates, as well as the Sannin.

In this photo, Taiichi saw a picture of his teacher, Tsunade, when she was young. She was so full of youthful energy back then!

"What, you saw your master's photo? What are your thoughts?" The Third Kazekage's voice rang out, pulling Taiichi back from his thoughts.

"Teacher was so beautiful when she was young!" Taiichi said without thinking. Hearing this, the Third Kazekage barely suppressed a laugh, probably thinking of some unpleasant memories of Tsunade.

"The war is about to begin, and I wonder what Tsunade's condition is now?" Hiruzen Sarutobi looked worried, showing great concern for his disciple.

Taiichi inwardly sneered. Teacher Tsunade has been gone for so long, and you haven't even come to ask me once. Besides, Tsunade, don't you know whether Hokage is doing well or not?

He kept thinking about Hokage, but said something else entirely, "From my recent correspondence with my teacher, she should be in the Land of Demons, but she doesn't seem to have any plans to come back yet."

Upon hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened. The village was in dire need of manpower, but Tsunade of the Hokage, refused to return to the village. This was a silent blow to both Konoha and to him, the Third Hokage.

Fortunately, Tsunade's relationship with the village is still a top secret, and very few people know about it.

Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at the boy in front of him and couldn't help but sigh, "Tsunade really took on a good disciple. Not only is he a master of Medical Ninjutsu, having inherited the true teachings, but his strength is also by no means inferior."

Think of Jiraiya's disciple, Minato Namikaze. The future of Konoha rests in the hands of these young people.

But now, I think I can hold on for a few more years and give these young people a proper vetting.

Taiichi had no idea what the Hokage was thinking, otherwise he would have been making up all sorts of stories about Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He took out a prepared report scroll and handed it to the Hokage, while simultaneously reporting the mission's achievements.

Although he already knew about Taiichi Squad's achievements through the Anbu, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still slightly surprised to hear Taiichi's personal report again.

In one month, there were thirteen encounters, resulting in the elimination of four Jonin and twenty-six Chunin.

This record can be said to be Konoha's best performance since the beginning of the year, especially considering the four Jonin of the village. Losing four of them at once is a Sunagakure blow to Sunagakure.

Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi had thought, when the escaped Sunagakure Jonin returned to the rear base, his experience immediately attracted the attention of the Sunagakure's higher-ups.

The elite squad that was specially formed was specifically to hunt down those cleansing squads behind Konoha, but they ended up being killed instead of hunting them down. It's really ironic.

This is why Taiichi Squad's later clearing and scrambling efforts were so ineffective; everyone knew a formidable opponent had arrived and was deliberately avoiding them.

"Thank you for your hard work, Taiichi. Your team did a great job this time. With your kills, the border towards the Land of Wind is much more stable, and the village can redeploy its surplus forces to other areas."

"Thank you for the praise, Hokage-sama. It's all thanks to the bravery of my Companions."

That's true. Given that the war hasn't officially started yet, Sunagakure can't commit any more manpower to Konoha. The remaining infiltration can be handled by the Anbu and the frontline outposts.

Moreover, if that elite squad had truly been allowed to wreak havoc behind Konoha's lines, the consequences would have been unimaginable. Fortunately, they encountered Taiichi Squad as soon as they appeared. And that is where Taiichi and his team's true merit lies.

After pondering for a moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally made a decision. "Your mission this time was completed exceptionally well, and the village cannot leave without a reward. How about this, the reward for this mission will be calculated as one S-rank mission plus four A-rank Mission."

"There are S-rank ones too? Thank you, Hokage-sama!" Taiichi eyebrow and smiled sincerely.

One S-rank Mission and four A-rank missions—even if the four members of a team split the money equally, each person would still receive two to three million taels of silver, which is no small sum.

Moreover, the reward is only superficial; the mission record is the most important thing. With this S-rank mission record, many A-rank missions in the village...

Once you reach the highest level of Ninjutsu, you'll have the authority to exchange for it.

After finishing his mission report and leaving the Hokage's Office, Taiichi looked exhausted.

He was exhausted. Missions were tiring, and facing the Hokage was exhausting. Ever since the White Fang incident, Taiichi felt that the bond he had with Hiruzen Sarutobi, which had been built up because of Tsunade, had become almost nonexistent.

Only by experiencing things firsthand can one truly understand the dangers involved. The Third Kazekage's reckless actions during the White Fang incident made Taiichi realize that Konoha's future is definitely not in the hands of the current leadership.

No wonder Teacher Tsunade didn't want to come back no matter how much he tried to persuade her.

Associating with these "insects" won't bring peace to Konoha; the only one you can truly rely on is yourself. But you're still in your developmental stage, so you must patiently wait for your own era to arrive.

As Taichi walked down from the Hokage Building and turned a corner, Taiichi ran into two unexpected people.

"Jiraiya- sensei, Lord Orochimaru!" The two, dressed in ninja combat uniforms, walked towards him. Taiichi's gaze swept over Orochimaru before finally settling on Jiraiya.

Orochimaru nodded slightly in acknowledgment, while Jiraiya greeted him with a "hahaha".

"Hey, Taiichi, you're back from a mission!"

"Yes, teacher, I just finished reporting my mission to the Hokage-sama and am about to go back to rest. What's going on with you?"

Taiichi asked, puzzled, "Judging from Jiraiya and Orochimaru's outfits, are they going out?"

Jiraiya, without any hesitation, patted Taiichi on the shoulder and said frankly, "Come and say hello to the old man, we're heading to the front lines."

"The situation has come to this point!" Taiichi sighed, wondering how many more people would die in this war. But he quickly put these negative emotions aside and his face was filled with smiles again.

"Then congratulations to you, Master and Lord Orochimaru, on your good fortune in battle! You two are going to be the Commander- in-chief on the front lines now!"

"Haha, you sure know how to talk!" Jiraiya laughed three times with his hands on his hips, looking particularly smug.

Orochimaru also wore a confident smile.

Being the frontline Commander is the best way to accumulate experience and prestige. At this time, Orochimaru still had a strong desire for the Hokage Position and wanted to compete with Jiraiya for it.

Taiichi knew the ending, but he could only mourn for them in his heart. Hiruzen Sarutobi was not someone who would relinquish power so easily, and there would be more trouble to come.

"Teacher, I'll head back now so as not to keep you from meeting the Hokage." Taiichi looked tired and took his leave from Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go back and rest early!"

Watching Taiichi's figure disappear into the distance, Orochimaru finally spoke for the first time, his voice hoarse. "Jiraiya, when did you take Taichi Matsushita as your disciple again? Aren't you afraid Tsunade will come back to cause you trouble?"

"Haha, weren't you there when Tsunade handed him over to me?" Jiraiya said with a smug look on his face, showing no trace of the pathetic look he had when he was forced into it.

Orochimaru, however, didn't care. As a longtime friend, he naturally knew what kind of Jiraiya. Watching Taiichi leave, Orochimaru muttered, "His strength has improved so much. Just now, when he was next to me, I actually felt a slight threat."

Jiraiya was taken aback by these words, something he hadn't noticed before. But then he let out a hearty laugh that even the Hokage upstairs could hear. "As expected of my disciple, you haven't disgraced your master!"

Stepping into his long-lost home, shutting out all the noise from the outside world, Taiichi went straight to the bathroom.

After a month of enduring wind and rain, and bloodshed, even the Resupply from the outposts were just a drop in the ocean. At this moment, only warm water could soothe their body and mind.

Taiichi skillfully filled a tub with hot water, took off his clothes which were covered in dust and dark red bloodstains, and slowly immersed his tired body into the water.

"Hiss----whoosh----"

A burning, comfortable sensation instantly enveloped my entire body; the tense muscles relaxed under the soothing heat, and every pore seemed to be emitting a satisfied sigh.

Taiichi closed his eyes, resting his head on the warm towel, letting the warmth envelop him—a luxury of absolute security unlike anything he had ever experienced at the border.

Taiichi's tense nerves finally relaxed, and his thoughts slowly returned. With his eyes closed, he focused his attention on the panel and began to sort out the gains of the past month.

[Congratulations, your Chunin class level has been upgraded to Lv5]

[Attribute Points +1, Skill Points +1]

After a month of missions, Taiichi killed many enemies and leveled up. However, his biggest gain during this time was that Taiichi finally managed to grind the skills he had already learned to level 10.

[Fire Dragon Flame Bullet Lv10 (Max Level), Fire Nature Transformation Experience +1000]

[Water Formation Wall Lv10 (Max Level), Water Nature Transformation Experience +1000]

[Mystical Palm Technique Lv10 (Max Level), Yang Release Nature Transformation Experience +1000, Chakra Control Experience +1000]

Following the Fire Nature Transformation, Taiichi's Chakra Control has finally become the second basic skill to break through Lv10, and it has now reached Lv11 (1243/3000).

After reaching the Lv11 level of Chakra Control, Taiichi could clearly feel that he could save at least 10% of the Chakra consumed when using Ninjutsu, while the power of his ninjutsu increased by 10%.

This increase and decrease further enhanced Taiichi's combat power and endurance.

But that's not the most important thing. At this moment, Taiichi had a vague feeling that he could finally start trying out the Kekkei Genkai that he had been longing for but had no clue about before.

That sense of complete control over Chakra made Taiichi feel that fusing two types of Chakra was not a difficult task.

Of course, there are many examples where the mind thinks it's possible, but the hands are powerless to do it, but having this feeling at least gave Taiichi a direction to act.

Thinking of this, Taiichi could no longer soak in the water. He quickly washed up, got dressed, and went to the Training Ground. Kekkei Genkai! The Kekkei Genkai he had longed for for so long—he finally had the chance to touch its power.

On the Training Ground, Taiichi activated a protective Barrier, mainly to prevent outsiders from spying on them.

With eyes closed, I stared at the panel, where all my current basic skills were laid out before me.

Fire Nature Transformation Lv12 (323/4000)

Wind Release Nature Transformation level 10 (1312/2000)

Water Nature Transformation Lv10 (123/2000)

Earth Style Nature Transformation Lv6 (403/1000)

Lightning Nature Transformation level 6 (258/1000)

Yang Release Nature Transformation Lv9 (856/1600)

Yin Release Nature Transformation Lv7 (131/1000)

Excluding the lower-level Earth, Lightning, Yang Release, and Yin Release, what remains is the highest-level Fire attribute, and the next highest-level Wind and Water attributes.

The Fire-Wind combination is Scorch Release, the Fire-Water combination is Boil Release, and the Wind-Water combination is Ice Release.

Scorch Release and Boil Release —these are two high-attack Kekkei Genkai, Taiichi believed his Fire Style were absolutely no less powerful than them. Furthermore, combining attack...

Ice Release, which combines defense and functionality, is one of the Kekkei Genkai that Taiichi desires most.