Purchasing Jutsu

Not long after all sides withdrew their troops, intelligence shinobi from every faction sent back news of Kumogakure's Eight-Tails rampage.

Who knew whether Hiruzen Sarutobi regretted it.

The Shinobi World was in turmoil. The Second Shinobi World War had only just ended, yet the Third Shinobi World War had nearly broken out.

Fortunately, the Third Raikage and the Third Hokage both valued peace and chose to withdraw their forces. Otherwise, the Third Shinobi World War would have begun by now.

That was right. This was Kumogakure and Konoha's unified public statement.

But Chiba Shun told the Ninja Academy students something else.

"This time, Lord Raikage led the army to victory after victory, including squad-level battles like ours."

"In the end, Lord Raikage forced Konoha to sign an unequal treaty." That part was true.

This was the first unequal treaty since Kumogakure's founding that benefited Kumogakure and disadvantaged Konoha!

Kumogakure had obtained a great number of new jutsu!

Kumogakure was about to rise, while Konoha was declining!

The Will of Lightning was right, and Lord Raikage's leadership was right!

Then Chiba Shun gave a detailed account of his battle against the Konoha shinobi.

"We encountered an elite squad led by a genius from Konoha's Hyuga Clan."

"But neither I nor Lord Raikage's son, Senior Yozuki A, backed down. The four of us charged head-on into their formation of eight."

"In the end, only that Hyuga Clan member escaped our pursuit."

"The other seven all died by our hands!"

"Hehe, your teacher here killed another two Konoha shinobi!"

"Grow quickly, inheritors of the Will of Lightning! The village needs you!"

"The village has too few shinobi. Konoha only has the advantage because they have more people."

"If the village had more shinobi, Lord Raikage could lead us into the Land of Fire, occupy Konoha, and save all the civilians of the Land of Fire from Konoha's evil rule."

Spurred on by the frontline army's victories, the Ninja Academy students were all fired up. They wished they could graduate immediately and take part in the magnificent war.

After promoting the Will of Lightning, Chiba Shun glanced toward Aoki Yuyi's office.

Normally, whenever he conducted such large-scale Will of Lightning education at the Ninja Academy, Aoki Yuyi would come over to take a look.

But this time, Aoki Yuyi never left his office from beginning to end.

Chiba Shun shook his head, sighed inwardly, and headed back to his residence.

Having been mobilized by the Third Raikage to visit the battlefield this time, Chiba Shun had not participated in any actual war, but quite a lot had still happened to him. He needed to sort it all out.

First were his Earth Release jutsu.

The A-Rank Earth Release Technique, Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique, counted as beginner-level now, but it was still far from usable in real combat. He needed a great deal more practice and had to reduce the number of hand seals.

What made Chiba Shun happiest was that successfully casting Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique had raised his chakra level, bringing a qualitative improvement to his chakra control as well.

Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!

Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!

Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!

Still using Earth-Style Wall, the jutsu he knew best, as a reference, Chiba Shun discovered after casting it several times that his hand seal speed had improved noticeably.

It had risen from four seals per second to four and a half. This progress left Chiba Shun extremely excited.

This was the improvement brought by his increased chakra level.

Aside from hand seal speed, he also had a feeling that his understanding of Earth Release had improved significantly. Chakra really could help shinobi learn.

Next, as long as he spent time diligently practicing jutsu like Earth-Style Wall, Underground Movement, and the Heartless Decapitation Technique, the number of hand seals for these jutsu could be reduced somewhat.

But Chiba Shun was not satisfied with that. Before beginning his training, he went to the mission office and exchanged for every Earth Release jutsu that the Third Raikage had extorted from Hiruzen Sarutobi this time.

As a transmigrator, Chiba Shun naturally knew that to simplify hand seals, it was best to possess a vast amount of jutsu knowledge.

And where did jutsu knowledge come from?

Naturally, from learning as many different jutsu as possible!

C-rank Jutsu: Earth Release: Earth Clone.

C-rank Jutsu: Earth Release: Earth Substitute.

C-rank Jutsu: Earth Release: Earth Spear.

B-rank Jutsu: Earth Release: Earth Wave Technique.

B-rank Jutsu: Earth Release: Stoneification.

B-rank Jutsu: Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique.

Exchanging jutsu at the mission office was not cheap either. C-rank Jutsu averaged thirty thousand ryo each, while B-rank Jutsu averaged one hundred thousand ryo each.

Chiba Shun gritted his teeth. While cursing the village for being obsessed with money, he exchanged for three B-rank Jutsu and eleven C-rank Jutsu in one go, spending a total of six hundred and thirty thousand ryo.

The female Chunin at the mission office was startled by Chiba Shun's lavish spending.

She had never seen anyone exchange for so many jutsu at once.

Ordinary people exchanged for one jutsu at a time. Only after learning it and becoming proficient in it would they exchange for the next one.

Furthermore, the jutsu one exchanged for had to suit one's tactical style. It was not true that the more jutsu one knew, the stronger one became.

Who would exchange for every jutsu of a single nature for no reason?

But Chiba Shun had money, so she did not interfere.

In addition, exchanging for jutsu required completing a certain number of missions of a certain rank.

To put it more grandly, only those who had contributed enough to the village could learn jutsu.

Although Chiba Shun had not spent much time advancing from Chunin to Jonin, his mission record was astonishing.

He had three S-rank Mission Records alone, and he had completed every one of them by himself.

Therefore, purchasing a few B-rank Jutsu and C-rank Jutsu from the village was not a problem at all.

Six hundred and thirty thousand ryo. Even after spending all the three hundred thousand ryo Chiba Shun had saved before, it was still not enough.

He had no choice but to exchange the S-rank Mission he had received for suppressing the Eight-Tails for cash.

The reward for that S-rank Mission was also at the lowest tier: one million ryo.

As for the S-rank Mission where he had tricked White Fang to death, he had already exchanged it for A-rank Jutsu exchange privileges. He had kept them, intending to try Illusion Technique after completing his Earth Release training.

With the Earth Release jutsu exchanged from the mission office, plus all the Earth Release jutsu he had obtained from Danzo, Chiba Shun finally felt that his jutsu arsenal was no longer as limited as before.

Oh, right. The two A-Rank Earth Release Techniques he had obtained from Danzo were both Earth Release jutsu. One was Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique, which Chiba Shun had already grasped at a basic level.

The other was Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld.

However, Chiba Shun had not practiced Swamp of the Underworld yet.

Every day, he practiced Earth Release jutsu. When he was tired or his head felt muddled, he would brainwash his students to relax.

Days with such a routine always passed quickly.

Three months flew by.

Chiba Shun learned every Earth Release jutsu except Swamp of the Underworld.

However, aside from several jutsu he considered more commonly useful, the others were only at the beginner level and required a great many hand seals.

The jutsu he used often had all been simplified.

For example, Earth-Style Wall had finally been reduced from five seals to three.

This was mainly thanks to the dozens of Earth Release jutsu he had now mastered.

Possessing a vast amount of jutsu knowledge was immensely helpful for simplifying hand seals.

Underground Movement had been reduced directly from twenty-five seals to eleven.

Chiba Shun felt that this jutsu was extremely useful, so he had put a great deal of effort into studying it.

The Heartless Decapitation Technique, on the other hand, had barely been simplified.

In Chiba Shun's view, he could slowly form hand seals underground when using the Heartless Decapitation Technique. There was no need to rush.

He did not have much time now, so there was no need to hurry to simplify the Heartless Decapitation Technique.

Then there was the most important one, Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique. As Chiba Shun's strongest offensive method at present, it had also been simplified somewhat, from the initial thirty-nine seals to twenty-seven.

But Chiba Shun was still dissatisfied with that. Twenty-seven seals still could not be used in real combat.

With that many hand seals, he still had to form them in advance or rely on a companion's cover to cast it.

Unfortunately, the jutsu Danzo had given him did not record how to simplify hand seals.

While Chiba Shun was pondering how to further reduce the hand seals for Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique, Yozuki A came looking for him.

Upon seeing Chiba Shun, Yozuki A said directly, "Shun, two months ago, that Hyuga Clan Jonin we let go really did go to the Land of Moon."

Chiba Shun froze, only then remembering that he had once impulsively tried to deceive someone from the Hyuga Branch House.

He hurriedly asked, "He agreed? That quickly? Two months ago, Konoha's war had only just ended, right?"

"Has someone gotten pregnant after two months?"

That was right. Kumogakure had ended its standoff with Konoha first, but Konoha still had to haggle with the Suna Shinobi and Kirigakure shinobi, so it exited its state of war much later.

Chiba Shun had thought that even if Akira Hyuga intended to come, he would have waited at least half a year or a year.

He had not expected him to make his choice so quickly.

It seemed he had rushed to the Land of Moon as soon as the war ended.

Yozuki A smiled. "That man named Akira Hyuga led a squad made entirely of Genin to Sunshine Town in the Land of Moon and spent a night at that tavern while pretending to be inconspicuous."

"Three female shinobi spent the night with Akira Hyuga."

"The medical shinobi carefully confirmed it. One of them is pregnant!"

Kumogakure's Medical Ninjutsu was not particularly impressive, but checking whether someone was pregnant was easy enough.

Chiba Shun took a deep breath and said, "That's some efficiency. Will he come again?"

Yozuki A nodded. "He will. When he left, he did not know whether any of the three were pregnant."

Chiba Shun thought for a moment and said, "When he comes next time, tell him about it. Mm, let the pregnant female shinobi meet him."

"Then tell him that if he does not want this to be made public, he should tell the other Branch House members of the Hyuga Clan who hate the Main House."

"Have those Branch House members make a trip to the Land of Moon as well!"

"Mm, there's no need to rush this. Do it one at a time. Don't tell too many people at once, or it won't be worth it if we get exposed."

Yozuki A's eyes lit up. Father was right. Shun really was better at this sort of scheming.

That was precisely why the Third Raikage had told Yozuki A to inform Chiba Shun of this news immediately.

Chiba Shun caught Yozuki A's expression and asked, "Senior A, what is it?"

Yozuki A quickly shook his head. "Nothing, nothing. Oh, right, you don't need to call me Senior anymore. You're a Jonin now too, so just call me by my name."