Not Bad, Not Bad

Qingcheng further commented, "This Kumo-ma is quite impressive. He has already mastered the Lightning Armor to this level. At most, it will take another year for him to break through to an A+ level Ninjutsu. If he trains for another two and a half years, he will definitely be close to S-rank Ninjutsu."

Qingcheng glanced at Shouhon Yihan again, watching the blue figure standing in the lightning, gritting her teeth and enduring the blue lightning strikes, even Shouhon Yihan's glasses were charred by the exploding lightning.

Qingcheng discovered that Shouhon Yihan was also close to awakening the Sage Body, although it was only at the initial Sage Body. However, for those commoner ninjas, it was already an insurmountable gap.

Qingcheng recalled the past, when he had just become the head of the Police Force. He had neither connections nor subordinates. Uchiha Yamafuku a spy for Root and had even betrayed his information to Shimura Danzō, making his path to coup much more difficult. Shouhon Yihan was the third person to defect to him, or rather, the first to actively defect, and he became his second-generation crony.

Qingcheng thought to himself, "If it weren't for my quick Hokage, rushing to Konoha and killing Tsunade in the Land of Waves to obtain the Sage Body reward, I probably wouldn't dare to launch a coup now."

Qingcheng thought to himself, "There's another possibility: I'll continue to pull in and out of the game with Hiruzen Sarutobi, then I'll play the Uchiha Yongcheng and directly attack the Sarutobi Clan, wiping them out and leaving Hiruzen Sarutobi as a lone commander. Then I'll engage him in a one-on-one battle."

Shouhon Yihan also chose the right ally and side. Originally an ordinary member of the Police Force, proficient in only one type of Chakra —a water-style ninja—after joining Qingcheng, she not only became the head of the Police Force but also rose from an ordinary Chunin to Kage-level Expert, achieving a leap in rank.

Although Shouhon Yihan had a terrible reputation in Konoha, his reputation in the Shinobi World was even worse. Just for using a wire to strangle the Fourth Raikage, using a wire to fly Ōnoki like a kite, carrying out the Fat Water Plan in Hidden Cloud Village, stealing so many of Hidden Cloud Village's family Ninjutsu, including some Kekkei Genkai Ninjutsu, and even abducting a female ninja from the Charlotte Clan...

So Shouhon Yihan's reputation is definitely terrible, but it's not necessarily worse than Hayakumo Sōma's! For example, Hidden Cloud Village gave Shouhon Yihan a nickname, "Konoha's Tiger of Greed," and Hayakumo Sōma was nicknamed "Konoha's Fat Water Tiger." Therefore, their battle records are truly unique and explosive in the Shinobi World.

Because Hayakumo Sōma, leading the Fat Water Squad, had seized most of the capital of the Land of Lightning earlier that morning, leaving only a pittance for the daimyo of the Land of Lightning, it gave Hidden Cloud Village an opportunity to make matters worse.

Qingcheng watched as Shouhon Yihan practiced her Lightning Armor with impressive skill. Meanwhile, Shouhon Yihan was also training in Purple Electricity Ninjutsu, mastering Purple Electricity Lightning Spear, Purple Electricity Lightning Slash, Purple Electricity Lightning Blade, and Purple Electricity Senbon. She had already perfected these moves to a high level, able to unleash several Purple Electricity Ninjutsu at once.

Qingcheng activated his Lightning God Armor, his entire body crackling with azure lightning. Like a lightning bolt, he walked directly to the foot of the Lightning Tower, then grunted a few times.

Kakashi, seeing that Qingcheng's true form had arrived, smiled and said, "Hokage- sama, what brings you here? Do you want to test our strength?"

Qingcheng shook his head and said seriously, "This is the base of the Lightning Tower. We can't fight here, or we'll collapse the Lightning Tower. This tower costs 1.2 billion Ryo. Wouldn't that just give the village an opportunity to make matters worse?"

Konoha is now very wealthy. Qingcheng has placed the village's water and electricity utilities under the village's Ministry of Finance, with Mitokado Homura overseeing the collection of water and electricity fees from various ninja clans and Konoha each month.

Water and electricity are inexpensive in Konoha, but Konoha population is huge! After years of incorporation, the village population has reached over 700,000, and it's increasing daily. People from surrounding villages have gradually moved to Konoha to settle down.

The village's Ministry of Finance, a member of the Nara Clan named Nara Asuka, was an extremely intelligent ninja. He was diligent and conscientious, meticulously documenting every penny of Konoha's finances. Any allocation exceeding 500 million yen had to be approved by the Hokage.

Upon hearing this, Kakashi nodded immediately and said seriously, "Hokage -sama, this morning, a rumor inexplicably spread in the village that you brought Might Guy back to life. Many villagers went to the Uchiha Clan hoping you would treat them as well. A large portion of them are former Konoha Ninja were injured in the Third Shinobi World War and retired; they want to continue being ninjas and serving Konoha."

Kakashi heard even more Kakashi rumors, the most unbearable of which was that the Fifth Hokage had simply created humans from clay and resurrected the deceased Might Guy.

Kakashi was instantly shocked by the rumor, his scalp tingling. He thought to himself, "So, comminuted fractures in both legs mean Might Guy is dead? If I hadn't been there, I almost would have believed it."

Upon hearing Kakashi's words, Qingcheng nodded directly and said with a serious expression, "For someone like Might Guy, losing his legs is practically the same as dying, isn't it? I restored his legs, so isn't that like reviving him? How can this be called a rumor? This is the truth."

Upon hearing this, Kakashi's face instantly darkened, his eyes turning into dead fish eyes. He then said with a look of horror, "Hokage -sama, you're absolutely right! I don't even know how to refute those words!"

Qingcheng then looked at Kakashi's group of clones, each training in their own way, and some were even practicing Storm Release Ninjutsu, their hands emitting blue light.

Qingcheng then said with a serious expression, "Brother Xiao, besides you, is there anyone else here who has awakened Wood Release Ninjutsu? If so, please give their names so we can send them to help! Yamato's work, the Ministry of Agriculture is building a power plant in Konoha, and they need more people to assist the Konoha Ministry of Agriculture."

Upon hearing this, Kakashi immediately shook his head and said awkwardly, "Hokage -sama, I haven't learned Wood Release Ninjutsu. As for the others, I don't know, but I definitely don't have that talent. The Wood Release Kekkei Genkai is just too difficult. If I had even one ten-thousandth of the Hokage- sama's talent, I wouldn't just be an ordinary Kage Level- level player."

After saying that, Kakashi gave an awkward smile.