Chapter 474: Kirigakure's Choice
Ishiro watched from the courtyard entrance for a moment before stepping inside. "Riori, are you mentoring your little brothers and sisters?"
"Teacher Ishiro!" all the Riori clones shouted in unison. "Yeah, yeah! I'm teaching them how to fight! They don't know how to line up in rows to use the Great Fireball Technique. I'm teaching them how to queue!"
Ishiro: ...
He looked at the five children. "Are you learning how to queue up to use the Great Fireball Technique?"
Sōkai nodded earnestly.
Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes.
Haku smiled gently.
Neji didn't dare roll his eyes like Kurotsuchi, so he just nodded like Sōkai.
Karin, who wasn't familiar with Ishiro and hadn't even realized he was the Tsuchikage, was still peeking at Neji. She unconsciously nodded a few times, matching Neji's rhythm.
Ishiro rubbed his temples and said to Riori, "Riori, as an older sister, there are many things you need to teach them."
"They can't just learn how to line up for the Great Fireball. They need to learn other things, like chakra shape transformation."
Riori asked with a curious expression, "What's chakra shape transformation?"
Sōkai also turned his head, ready to listen intently.
Kurotsuchi covered her face. She had heard that Lord Tsuchikage liked to tease Riori, and it was true. She already knew what Ishiro was about to do.
Haku's smile froze for a second but quickly returned to normal.
Neji quickly looked down to hide his own smile, lest his "good sister" get back at him later.
Karin finally turned her attention to Ishiro, thinking: So this is Sister Riori's teacher, the Tsuchikage?
Ishiro patted the head of the completely oblivious Riori, who had walked right into his trap. "Chakra shape transformation is changing your Great Fireball into other shapes."
Riori instinctively felt something was off but still asked, "How do I change it?"
Ishiro smiled like the big bad wolf. "Like this."
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Ishiro deliberately slowed down his hand seals and cast a small-scale version of the jutsu. A fiery dragon formed, circled in the air, and then dissipated under his control.
Riori was already sensing danger. She said nothing, trying to figure out what was wrong.
Ishiro said, "Or like this."
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
He slowly formed the seals and spewed numerous small fireballs from his mouth. Under his control, the fireballs followed different trajectories into the air, finally colliding at the same time.
Riori pulled her gaze away from the firework-like display and looked at Ishiro with a wary expression.
Ishiro took two scrolls from his ninja pouch, stuffed them into Riori's hands, and said dotingly, "Little Riori, train hard, okay? After you learn chakra shape transformation, you can teach your little brothers and sisters."
With that, Ishiro beckoned to Deidara, turned, and left, leaving a stunned Riori staring at the scrolls in her hands, and five little kids with various expressions on their faces.
As Ishiro and Deidara were leaving Kitsuchi's house, they ran into Captain Shiden, who was coming in with a basket of fruit. After exchanging a few words with her, they left. As they walked away, Ishiro could faintly hear Riori's heartbroken wails.
Shiden also heard it. She glanced at Ishiro, who was suppressing a smile, then hurried toward the courtyard where the children were.
After leaving Kitsuchi's, Ishiro took Deidara to a training ground.
With the war and everything else, he hadn't had time to think about Deidara. Now that he saw him, Ishiro decided to offer some guidance on developing his Explosion Release.
When it came to developing a Kekkei Genkai, Ishiro was undoubtedly number one in the entire shinobi world.
So Deidara was thrilled to receive his guidance.
As Deidara listed the problems he was encountering, Ishiro nodded in satisfaction.
What Ishiro approved of was Deidara's down-to-earth approach. The Deidara of this world lacked the madness and arrogance of his original counterpart; his personality was much calmer. It seemed that traveling with Ōnoki and his time in the Anbu had both tempered his character.
Ishiro was very confident in this version of Deidara. He explained in detail the insights he had gained from developing his own three Kekkei Genkai. He also demonstrated the various Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu he had mastered.
It had to be said, Deidara was a true genius.
Teaching a genius like him was not very rewarding; often, Ishiro would just start a sentence, and Deidara would already know where he was going with it.
But regardless of his feelings, the results were obvious.
Under Ishiro's somewhat motherly explanation, Deidara gained a clear understanding of how to develop his Explosion Release. He even came up with the idea of explosive clay.
Ishiro didn't object to Deidara developing in this direction. In the original story, the explosive clay was very powerful. It allowed him to fly, and its attack methods were diverse and unpredictable.
Thanks to Deidara's talent, the guidance didn't take long.
Afterward, Ishiro went to check on Akino Atsumi. He hadn't yet seen the effects of her reinforced space-time ninjutsu.
But to his disappointment, Akino was so engrossed in her research that she didn't even notice him arrive.
Ishiro watched for a bit, then left without disturbing her.
Kirigakure. The Mizukage's office was also in a meeting.
Present were the Mizukage Hoshigaki Kisame, Elder Genshi, Mei Terumī, Mangetsu Hōzuki, Ning Mizunashi, and several other high-ranking officials.
This meeting was also to discuss Kirigakure's future direction.
Elder Genshi spoke first: "I'm sure everyone is aware of the new situation in the shinobi world. Our next choice is crucial."
"Do we continue to follow Iwagakure, or do we join Konoha, Kumo, and Suna to oppose them?"
Ning Mizunashi said, "Elder Genshi, please analyze the pros and cons of both options for us."
The Mizunashi clan, like the other bloodline clans, had been nearly wiped out. Ning's mental state had been poor recently, and she couldn't think clearly.
Elder Genshi chuckled. "The biggest advantage of cooperating with Iwagakure is that we are useful to them."
"One thing is undeniable: since we started cooperating with Iwa, we have never been at a disadvantage."
"Even though we suffered heavy losses in the last two battles, the post-war benefits we received far exceeded our losses."
"That Tsuchikage is very skilled. When it's time to be generous, he never hesitates."
"So, in the short term, following Iwagakure is beneficial for us."
"As for opposing them, there are no benefits. Konoha can offer us nothing."
"However, by siding with Konoha and the others, we can curb Iwagakure's rise, just as we used to curb Konoha's."
"This would prevent any single village from becoming strong enough to unify the world by force."
Ning Mizunashi summarized, "So, Elder Genshi, you mean: siding with Iwa offers short-term benefits, but we risk being annexed by them in the future?"
Elder Genshi nodded.
Ning Mizunashi asked, "Then, Elder Genshi, do you mean we should side with Konoha to curb Iwa?"
To a normal person, giving up long-term security for short-term gain was unthinkable.
"Hehehehehe." But Elder Genshi just laughed. "No. I support siding with Iwagakure."
Huh?
Everyone looked at the Elder in surprise.
Kisame said, "Elder Genshi, can you explain why?"
Kisame was pro-Iwagakure. He had originally thought the Elder would be against them. Even Kisame himself felt that if they continued to follow Iwa, Iwa might truly become strong enough to unify the world.
Elder Genshi said, "Unifying the world? It's not that easy. Whenever a crisis arises, a genius is born in Konoha."
"Iwagakure is still a long way from completely replacing Konoha. Iwagakure's rise is built on the foundation of Konoha's internal strife."
"Even now, Konoha's Kage-level fighters are not that much fewer than Iwa's. Even after losing three pieces of territory, the Land of Fire is still the wealthiest nation in the world."
"The legacy left by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha is not something Iwagakure can erase with just a few wars."
"At its peak, Konoha could suppress all four other great villages. Does the current Iwagakure have that kind of strength? No."
"Iwagakure is merely taking advantage of Konoha's infighting, when most of their strength is tied down, to achieve victory after victory."
"If we want to target Iwagakure, we should wait until they can fight one against four—or rather, one against five now. When Iwagakure can fight one against five, then we can consider forming an alliance to oppose them."
"For now, let Iwagakure expend its energy suppressing Konoha, Suna, and Kumo. What we need to do is use this opportunity to strengthen ourselves."
"Riding Iwagakure's coattails can quickly strengthen our village. Why wouldn't we?"
"As for Iwagakure's ambition that you've all seen... hehe, which of the original Five Great Villages didn't have ambition? Who didn't want to unify the world?"
Kisame thought for a moment. "Elder Genshi, I understand."
Mei Terumī and Mangetsu Hōzuki also nodded.
Elder Genshi smiled. "For example, right now, there is a matter where we need Iwagakure's support."
Everyone looked at him curiously.
Elder Genshi said, "That Uchiha who controlled the Fourth Mizukage came back. This time, he not only wiped out our village's bloodline clans, he also abducted a large number of children."
"We alone cannot deal with that mysterious Uchiha. We can't even find him."
"But the Tsuchikage knows more about him than we do. It seems that Uchiha once suffered a loss at the Tsuchikage's hands. The Tsuchikage might have a way to help us find those children."
Ning Mizunashi, Mangetsu Hōzuki, and Mei Terumī's eyes all lit up. The younger generations of their own clans were in Obito Uchiha's hands.
Elder Genshi said, "Ning Mizunashi, you've had dealings with the Tsuchikage before. Make a trip to Iwagakure."
"When you go, take thirty students from the Ninja Academy. Didn't the Tsuchikage propose an exchange student program between our villages? This is the perfect opportunity to use that program to show our stance."
Ning Mizunashi's eyes brightened. That was an excellent reason. He could even use the excuse of looking after the students to stay in Iwagakure for a longer period.
After the meeting, Ning Mizunashi packed his things, selected thirty students from the Academy, and set off for Iwagakure.
Land of Whirlpools. A Konoha Anbu squad was rapidly approaching Orochimaru's new village.
After rounding a small mountain, the four squad members suddenly stopped, staring in shock at what was in front of them.
Before them lay a massive battlefield.
Although there were no bodies, the sheer scale of the destruction made it easy to imagine how fierce the battle had been.
The Anbu squad acted professionally. The four of them carefully inspected the area, conferred, and then the leader gave his analysis: "From the tracks, the battle here took place around the same time the war broke out."
"From the signs of battle, there were three people. One was Orochimaru. The ground is covered in the tracks of snakes, large and small. Only Orochimaru could have done this."
"Of the other two, one was a puppet master. From the number of scattered puppet parts and the density of the puppet projectiles, we can tell this puppet master was extremely skilled. The projectiles were also coated with an unknown, potent poison. There are many dead animals within tens of meters of the projectiles, showing how strong the poison is. At the time of this battle, Suna's Ryosuke and Ebizō were in Kirigakure. Therefore, the puppet master who fought Orochimaru here must be the Suna missing-nin, Sasori of the Red Sand."
"The last person was skilled in all five natures. There are traces of many combination jutsu at the scene. From his position and attack vectors, this ninja was with Sasori. They were ganging up on Orochimaru."
"If I'm not mistaken, this person must be the S-rank missing-nin from Takigakure, Kakuzu. Both Kakuzu and Sasori are now members of the Akatsuki Organization, so it's reasonable they would come together."
After the analysis, a squad member asked, "Captain, should we still go look for Orochimaru?"
The captain shook his head. "Our objective has been achieved. We're returning to report."
"Yes, sir!" The other members replied cheerfully, relieved.
Regardless of what deals the high command had made with Orochimaru, it didn't change the fact that he was an S-rank missing-nin. They were very nervous about having to contact him.
Seeing this, the Anbu captain smiled to himself. He understood their feelings because he was nervous too. It was fortunate they could complete their mission without having to deal with Orochimaru directly.
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