A few days later
Katabami Gold Mine Area
Hundreds of people stood densely packed together, lined up in neat rows, with several smaller teams standing at the front.
Ninety percent of them were originally from the southern part of the Land of Rivers, and under the "gentle persuasion" of several small teams of the Thirteen Nuclear Guardian Pillars, they all submitted.
The Yellow Iron Clan of Windblown Sand Valley were collectively paralyzed by Rock Lee's " Thunderstorm Unrivaled," and then Temari and Kankuro, reinforcements from the Land of Wind, arrived, causing them to surrender immediately.
Needless to say, the Green Brazing Rod Clan Tōhachi when he asked, "Reincarnate or surrender?" Half of them were killed instantly. They eventually surrendered, and as expected, they got lost on their way back. They encountered Kyōai and her group who came to reinforce them, and only then were they able to return to the Gold Mine Mountain safely.
Kyōai divided the miners into three groups. The main group of one hundred people, along with Kashirō, Raiga, and Ranmaru, went to Golden Shovel Beach to mine sea stone using the Mining Type One.
Another group of fifty people, led by Takuden and Shikin Shinma, were mining the Zijin mine.
The third group of twenty people, led by Ujin who was still in a state of self-isolation, went to mine pyrite.
All miners were equipped with the Mining Type One transported from the Land of Spring. After a brief training period, they were able to use it proficiently and put it into mining operations.
Watching the three mining teams depart, Kyōai gestured for Choji, Temari, and Sōretsu to enter the council chamber that the Hongshi had constructed using Earth Release.
Naruto, carrying his pack, seemed reluctant to leave. " Hongshi-kun! Lee! I'm going back to Konoha!"
Hongshi picked his nose. "Why are you being so sentimental? My original body is still over there."
"That's true..."
Rock Lee suddenly noticed that Naruto didn't seem to be in good spirits. " Naruto-kun, why are your dark circles so bad! Didn't you sleep well? You know, only with enough sleep can you be full of enthusiasm for training the next day!"
Naruto sighed, "Sigh, I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I always dream about two people when I sleep!"
"Two people?"
Naruto's eyes widened, seemingly terrified. "A man and a woman. I feel like I've seen the man somewhere before, but I don't recognize the woman at all! They keep saying she's my dad and my mom, especially the woman, she has a terrible temper, Immobility yelling at me!"
Hongshi rolled her eyes. "Was that guy blond?"
"Yes! How did you know!"
Hongshi had no intention of telling Naruto the truth, "I'm just guessing. Why don't you go back and ask Danzo? He knows a lot!"
Naruto scratched his face and frowned, "But that red-haired woman is sometimes very gentle. They even taught me how to use the Adamantine Sealing Chains and the Flying Thunder God Technique."
Rock Lee: "Oh! So it seems they really are your parents!"
"Ugh, it's so long-winded, it's kept me up all night! I need to take Granny Tsunade to check on me when I get back, see if she's sick. I'm off! That Pervy Sage promised to take me on a training trip!"
Hongshi nodded. "That's right, Naruto-kun, you'd better try your best! Whether you can get Sasuke together depends on how hard you work!"
"Bound? Sasuke? Hehehe()"
Shino: " Naruto, what kind of weird stuff are you thinking about?"
Hongshi exclaimed in surprise, " Shino! When did you get here? I didn't even sense you! Are you one of the Aburame Clan's invisibility worms?"
Shino remained as cold as ever. " Hongshi-kun, there's no such insect. While what you're saying is annoying, the most important thing for a ninja is to conceal their presence. The fact that you couldn't sense me proves I'm a very good ninja. Yes, that's right, that must be it, hehe."
Hongshi: "Σ() Why are you so long-winded? It doesn't suit your cool appearance at all!"
Shino Immobility: "My coldness stems from my composure. The most important quality of an excellent ninja is composure. Only by calmly analyzing the battle situation can one devise the best countermeasures when at a disadvantage. I'm not talkative; it's just that the transmission of tactics and intelligence requires communication. Only through detailed communication can tactics and intelligence be conveyed more accurately. Yes, that's right, that must be it, hehe."
Naruto looked at Shino and swallowed hard. "Is Shino really this talkative?"
Shino turned his head and stared at Naruto: " Naruto-kun, I told you... yes, that's right, that's exactly it, yes, it must be like that, hehe."
Shino talked for a full forty minutes before finally stopping. The air seemed to freeze. Naruto wiped the sweat from his head, which mixed with Shino's saliva to form a sticky liquid. Finally, he made up his mind to run away and threw a Kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God Formula towards Konoha with all his might.
" Hongshi-kun! Lee! I'm back in Konoha! You guys... you guys continue chatting! Flying Thunder God!"
"Call out!"
Naruto used the Flying Thunder God to leave the area.
Shino slowly turned his head, staring at Hongshi and Rock Lee without saying a word.
Rock Lee swallowed hard. "Oh! Hongshi-kun, you two chat, I need to go cultivate too! Before I start, I'll have a bowl of Granny Sansho's Life Curry Rice!"
Hongshi grabbed Rock Lee, pleading, " Lee-kun! Don't leave me! Granny Sansho is over at Golden Shovel Beach!"
" Hongshi-kun! Let me go! I need to go to Golden Shovel Beach! Let me go! Seventh Gate of Wonder - Open!"
Rock Lee opened his Gate of Wonder" directly, tearing off a large piece of his clothes, but he also broke free from Hongshi's large hand. Using his aerial footwork, he quickly left by stepping on the air.
"No! Rock Lee!"
Shino slowly approached and placed one hand on Hongshi's shoulder. " Hongshi-kun, you haven't spoken to me since the Chunin Ninja Exams. Let's have a good talk."
Hongshi swallowed helplessly. "Chatting is fine, but could you please control yourself and keep your conversation a little shorter?"
Shino withdrew his right hand. "Alright, then let's start with Hinata's Gentle Fist: Gentle Step Twin Dragon Fist. When are you going to invent a new technique for me?"
Hongshi often played with Shino when they were young, but the secret techniques of the Aburame Clan were kept secret in Konoha, so the two had the fewest interactions among the Konoha 12.
The Aburame Clan's Insect Jar technique was initially developed to counter the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan, and Tobirama specifically invited Konoha to use it.
However, this clan is too low-key, and no one has ever known their true strength, but Hongshi does.
The Aburame Clan can implant a certain insect into their eyes. Once successful, they can activate the Insect Eye, becoming immune to all visual Genjutsu.
The Lord God: "Hey! You've been reading too much Hokage fanfiction!"
"I say it exists, so it exists! What's it to you!"
Seeing that Shino had finally returned to speaking normally, Hongshi breathed a sigh of relief, "It's just a new technique, right? I really can't do anything about your insect technique, but there's a ninja from the Nuclear Ninja Village here named Kendon, who loves studying biology. Recently, he's been researching a kind of creature that can evolve. Why don't we go find him? Just imagine, if the insect inside you could evolve into an insect that can use Ninjutsu through some means, wouldn't that be amazing?"
When Shino and Kyōai came to the Land of Rivers, they had already learned about Kendon from Kyōai: "Yes, Kyōai told me about him, but I don't know where he is now."
Hongshi chuckled and pointed to the entrance of the Gold Mine Mountain: "Hehehe, he's inside. Let's go find him."
Shino nodded. "Okay."
Hongshi murmured, "Using only Insect Technique might not be enough to easily defeat Sasuke. Shino, your Chakra nature is earth and fire, right?"
"Yes."
"Do you know about Lava Release? I'll show you something good later."
"What good stuff?"
"(°°) Anyway, it's a really good product."
"That's weird, I don't know what you're talking about."
The two walked side by side into the dark mine entrance.
The deepest part of the Gold Mine Mountain shaft
Kendon, who was conducting tests on the orc sealed in the ice ball in the darkness, suddenly felt a chill. "Hmm? I have a bad feeling about this."