The Stone Ninja were naturally not weak at all.
But compared to Sarutobi Asuma, they were far inferior.
Especially someone like him, who had mastered extraordinary Sage Mode, possessed chakra far exceeding ordinary people, and was a ninja who wielded one of the four fundamental natures.
If we followed the habits of those Naruto fans from his past life, Sarutobi Asuma could be considered a Kage-level threat at this point.
After capturing over a thousand Stone Ninja prisoners, Konoha quickly retreated.
They moved swiftly, almost as if each Konoha ninja was carrying one or two prisoners.
When the Stone Ninja within the Land of Earth noticed and rushed to the scene, they only saw a battlefield in disarray.
"These traces were all caused by Lightning Style, and extremely powerful Lightning Style at that!"
"It must be Konoha's Purple Flash. Besides him, the only other person in Konoha skilled at Lightning Style is Konoha's White Fang, but Konoha's White Fang's style isn't like this."
A seasoned Stone Ninja Jonin frowned as he examined the traces on the battlefield.
"Captain Tsuchi!"
A call came from the Stone Ninja not far away.
Tsuchi immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to rush over. Upon seeing the Iron Sand and Gold Dust on the ground, his pupils constricted: "This is..."
"It's Sand Ninja, no, it's the secret Magnetic Release technique mastered only by the Third Kazekage and Fourth Kazekage!"
Tsuchi's expression turned serious: "This is big trouble!"
"This matter must be reported to the Third Tsuchikage immediately!"
...
Iwagakure.
Around 8 PM, Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, was preparing to go home for dinner when he was delayed by intelligence from the front lines.
However, after reading the intelligence, Onoki froze. He looked up and asked Tsuchi, who delivered the information, "Is this intelligence accurate?"
Tsuchi quickly replied, "Third Tsuchikage-sama, I led the team to investigate personally, and it is absolutely accurate!"
Onoki's expression turned very grim upon hearing this.
Because the intelligence stated that the forces in the Land of Rain, apart from a few dozen bodies, had all disappeared.
And the most prevalent traces left on the battlefield were from Lightning Style.
Furthermore, there were also traces of Sand Village's Magnetic Release.
Sand Ninja are allied with Konoha again?
As soon as this thought crossed Onoki's mind, he immediately dismissed it.
This was impossible!
Or rather, if the Sand Ninja had deployed troops again, he would not have been unaware.
After all, in the Land of Rain, besides the forces directly confronting Konoha, there were other intelligence departments and Anbu ninja.
It was impossible for the Sand Ninja to deploy troops without a sound.
Unless it was the Fourth Kazekage alone.
Onoki fell into thought. After a moment, he said, "It seems that Sarutobi Asuma has also mastered Magnetic Release!"
Tsuchi was shocked to hear this: "Do you mean he has developed the Magnet Release Bloodline Limit as well?"
"Since Sarutobi Asuma could develop the Scorch Release Bloodline Limit, it's not impossible for him to develop Magnetic Release."
Onoki said gravely, "Moreover, according to the intelligence, he once captured the One-Tails Jinchuriki of Sand Village alive."
"The Magnetic Release of Sand Village was obtained from the One-Tail!"
Tsuchi exclaimed, "That guy is only thirteen years old, this kind of talent is too terrifying!"
"Also, without the Kazekage, how could Konoha have resolved the battle in such a short time?"
"And with over a thousand people, not a single body was seen!"
Onoki put down the intelligence and flew into the air, saying solemnly, "Although it's hard to believe, they were very likely captured by Konoha!"
Tsuchi couldn't help but widen his eyes and open his mouth.
Captured?
Over a thousand people?
What a joke!
This... this was even harder to accomplish than killing those thousand ninja!
It sounded like a fairy tale.
Onoki also felt it was far-fetched; at least he couldn't do it.
He could kill them, though.
"It seems I'll have to go there myself!"
Onoki's expression turned solemn.
He had already understood Konoha's objective; after all, Konoha had previously mentioned their intention to end the war through peace talks.
However, there was no consensus within Iwagakure.
Moreover, even he felt a sense of unwillingness!
But now, if his speculation was correct, Konoha had new leverage.
...
Land of Rain.
Training grounds.
Sarutobi Asuma was continuing to develop the Electromagnetic Cannon technique.
Meanwhile.
At the Konoha ninja army's main camp, Sarutobi Asuma's Shadow Clones were continuously using Mind Reading to become more proficient and even make improvements.
This was also a way to gain experience.
Not only the application of Lightning Style, but also Lightning Style and Scorch Release, Sarutobi Asuma had not neglected them. Shadow Clones were still training to further level up each ninjutsu.
This not only allowed him to gain experience points but also enabled him to master the application of Chakra Nature Transformation, even achieving further improvements through its use.
Seven years had passed, and he was already stronger than 99% of ninjas, but Sarutobi Asuma still hadn't relaxed.
Because he knew.
He could still become even stronger!
Today, the Land of Rain had rare good weather, with a sky full of stars.
Under the night sky, on the mountaintop, Sarutobi Asuma looked at the mountains that had been partially destroyed by his Electromagnetic Cannon and thought to himself, "I'm already quite skilled with the basic launch of the Electromagnetic Cannon, and I can control the speed flexibly. The next step should be to consider the projectile material."
The material for the projectile naturally needed to have a high melting point and high hardness. Otherwise, with a long distance and high speed, the projectile would melt directly.
To deal with ordinary ninjas, there was no need to consider so much; he could simply use Lightning Style to grab iron sand from the ground to make iron bullets.
However, when facing someone like Onoki, Uchiha Madara, or even beings at the Six Paths level, he had to consider it.
Especially when facing Susanoo or Truth-Seeking Balls!
"Ninjutsu is useless?"
"With sufficient power, I'll blast you into nothingness!"
Recalling his scattered thoughts, Sarutobi Asuma thought, "To deal with ordinary ninjas, I can use ordinary iron cannonballs."
"To deal with stronger Kage, like the Third Raikage or Fourth Raikage, I can use metals with high melting points, such as tungsten!"
Sarutobi Asuma remembered that in his previous life, space-based weapons would drop a tungsten rod from outer space.
Tungsten also had the highest melting point among metals.
With his abilities, he could easily refine pure tungsten.
"Finally, I'll have to create a powerful substance myself as a projectile!"
Sarutobi Asuma's expression couldn't help but become serious.
Having reached level 10, or even surpassed level 10, in all seven Chakra Nature Transformations, creating substances using Yin-Yang Release was not difficult for him.
Synthesizing Truth-Seeking Balls was also not a problem.
For example, the black rods that Nagato used to conduct chakra or for combat were created through the Rinnegan.
Obito's were the same.
However, their hardness didn't seem to be that great.
At least Hinata could break them.
But that was clearly made by Nagato specifically for conducting chakra, perhaps without requirements for hardness or melting point.
"The theoretical power of the Electromagnetic Cannon is infinite. As long as the electromagnetic acceleration is fast enough, and the projectile can withstand such speed without melting or disintegrating."
"Yin-Yang Release can create all things, providing the foundation to create a substance with extremely high melting point and hardness!"
In fact, Sarutobi Asuma knew that Truth-Seeking Balls were very suitable as projectiles.
After all, it was a substance that could only be shattered by the power of Might Guy opening the Eight Gates and distorting space.
However, Truth-Seeking Balls had distance limitations.
This would greatly limit the attack range of the Electromagnetic Cannon.
"But Onoki should be coming tomorrow..."
Sarutobi Asuma thought for a moment and felt that he couldn't be careless.
Or rather, he should give Onoki a show of force.
The power of Dust Release was very strong, definitely stronger than his current Electromagnetic Cannon's attack power.
But no ninjutsu is perfect, especially since ninjutsu is so closely tied to the person.
Sarutobi Asuma wasn't particularly wary of Onoki's Dust Release.
This was because his own speed was sufficient, and he was confident he could avoid being hit by Onoki.
Even if Onoki went all out and unleashed a large-scale Dust Release ninjutsu, like the kind that destroyed 25 of Uchiha Madara's Susanoo in one go, it wouldn't be unmanageable.
"Well then, let's create some Truth-Seeking Balls to play with first!"
Sarutobi Asuma made his decision.
Although doing so would make him a thorn in the side of Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara.
But with the abilities he had currently displayed, he could already be considered Konoha's most troublesome individual, so a little more wouldn't matter.
With Uchiha Madara's personality, he wouldn't postpone the Moon Eye Plan out of fear of me!
Thinking this, Sarutobi Asuma brought his hands together with a clap.
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