Just as Itachi Uchiha had expected, Naruto and Sasuke had both returned.
This time, all of Konoha's new generation who had gone out to train had come back.
After sailing the seas for several months, Konoha's new generation of ninja had all grown considerably.
For Konoha's new generation of ninja, resources and ninjutsu were never lacking. All of Konoha's ninjutsu was now open to them.
As long as they could display their talent, whether they wanted to learn medical ninjutsu, Sealing Jutsu, or various secret techniques, it was all possible.
The advantages of ninja clans were no longer so obvious. However, after all these years, the clans had developed relatively complete systems based on their secret techniques. Even if civilian ninja began catching up, they still could not surpass them in many areas within a short time.
However, the addition of the Pirate World's training system had strengthened civilian ninja considerably. In terms of Haki and physical enhancement, the Pirate World's training system was quite outstanding.
Ninja generally had high attack and low defense; every one of them was fragile. In this regard, unless they were ability users, pirates had relatively limited offensive capabilities, but their vitality was exceptionally strong.
Unfortunately, ninja often fought rather underhandedly and did not bother with any of that nonsense—genjutsu, ninjutsu, and Sealing Jutsu.
They did not fight drawn-out battles at all, instead ending them quickly.
Of course, even with sufficiently good logistical support, many problems still arose, and some ninja were killed or injured.
Completely avoiding casualties was simply impossible. Only war could nurture true powerhouses.
In fact, according to Orochimaru's current research, powerhouses could already be mass-produced. As long as one had sufficiently high compatibility with the Ōtsutsuki Bloodline, quite a few Kage Level, or even Six Paths Level, powerhouses could be created.