Back to Konoha

Meanwhile.

Elsewhere.

Kazan was already leading the wounded home.

They moved slowly. Some of the wounded still could not walk.

Even so, Kazan could see the longing in their eyes.

They could not wait to get home.

Kazan walked at the front of the group. Wasting no time, he opened a copied scroll of Rock Shinobi ninjutsu and began studying.

He had given the original to Orochimaru. That scroll of secret techniques would give Konoha the upper hand in negotiations.

Earth Release: Added-Weight Rock Technique and Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique.

Both secret techniques were extremely difficult to master.

Their difficulty lay in manipulating matter. Through Earth Release, they altered a target's density and composition, including the user's own.

Once Kazan had memorized how to practice both techniques, he began training in one of them.

The two techniques worked in opposite ways: one increased an object's weight, while the other reduced it.

But both came down to controlling weight.

Mastering one would make the other much easier to learn.

That was not Kazan's guess. The Rock Shinobi scroll said so explicitly.

Poof!

Dozens of Shadow Clones appeared out of thin air. Under the astonished gazes of the Konoha troops, they found places to sit and began training on the spot.

Kazan himself did not train. He spread his Observation Haki across a ten-mile radius and kept watch.

He looked calm and unhurried, but the other Konoha Ninja stared.

No one had ever trained in such an overwhelming way.

For one thing, no one had that much chakra. For another, no one had a will strong enough to bear it.

Then again, Kazan could blow apart a mountain with one casual punch, and his will was strong enough to take physical form. Maybe it made sense?

Kakashi saw what he was