Yōkō returned to the village using Reverse Summoning.
He went to the front shop of the izakaya, took a bottle of liquor in the dark, and drank by himself.
In the darkness, Yōkō contemplated his method of strength growth.
Improving his chakra reserves now faced a problem: there were too few Elite Jonin, and not enough suitable Elite Jonin to use.
Elite Jonin, similar to Kakashi from the original story when he first started leading a team, were very few in the ninja world.
Ideally, he would farm chakra reserves from a specific Elite Jonin, then kill that Elite Jonin after reviving, thus permanently eliminating the threat and avoiding permanent death from dying twice by the same person.
Konoha's Elite Jonin currently numbered no more than 10. The range of choices suitable for farming chakra reserves and ensuring they could be killed immediately afterward was very narrow.
His strength improvement needed careful planning; it couldn't stagnate.
Tomorrow, after going to the Anbu, he would make a list of Elite Jonin: those within Konoha Village, and those from enemy villages.
Based on this list, he would select suitable targets to farm chakra reserves.
Either they would be on his side in the future, or he could kill them immediately after farming chakra reserves, leaving no future troubles.
If neither was possible, then he could only slowly farm Jonin-level chakra reserves during each Anbu mission or Bounty Station mission.
The number of Kage-level ninja was even smaller.
Recently, he couldn't recklessly provoke Kage-level ninja.
He would farm Kage-level ninja's chakra reserves after he himself reached Kage-level.
He needed to be mentally prepared that once he became Kage-level and Super Kage-level, he would have to slowly accumulate chakra reserves from lower-level ninja.
Without suitable Elite Jonin or Kage-level ninja, his chakra reserve improvement would become very slow in a few years.
This was a problem many ninja encountered: after the period of rapid strength growth came a long period of stagnation.
The next morning, Yōkō went to the Anbu and obtained the list of Konoha ninja.
The Anbu had the names and general intelligence of all Konoha ninja.
Thanks to his identity as an Anbu Squad Leader, he had such great authority.
Apart from the higher-ups and Kage-level ninja, the number of Elite Jonin in Konoha was very small.
Anbu: Yellow Dog, Lynx, and himself - 3 people.
Senju Clan: Senju Hanaki - 1 person.
Uchiha Clan: Uchiha Kane and Uchiha Tōka - 2 people.
Hyūga Clan: Clan Head Hyūga Tengaku - 1 person.
Sarutobi Clan: The Third Hokage's younger brothers Sarutobi Hinotama and Sarutobi Hinoyuu - 2 people.
Shimura Clan, excluding Lynx, only Shimura Kōko remained - 1 person.
The Ino–Shika–Chō trio clans and the Aburame Clan - all four clan heads were Elite Jonin - 4 people.
As for the Inuzuka Clan head, his strength wasn't at Elite Jonin level, only Jonin.
Among civilian ninja, there were 3 Elite Jonin.
In total, 16 Elite Jonin besides himself.
Who should he farm chakra reserves from in the next full moon cycle?
Which ones could he kill?
Despite the major incident of the Land of Grass Daimyō being attacked, Yōkō acted as if nothing had happened and continued his surveillance missions within the village.
He followed Uzumaki Kushina from a distance, keeping an eye on the Jinchūriki.
Uzumaki Kushina was complaining while performing a D-rank mission.
"Tsunade-nee! I'm going to be the first female Hokage, how can I keep doing these small missions finding cats and dogs?"
"Kushina! All ninja start by performing D-rank missions!" Tsunade said:
"You should feel fortunate. If it were wartime, you'd all be sent to the front lines now.
On the front lines, B-rank missions where people can die are common.
When I, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya first went to the battlefield, there were so many times we almost thought we were going to die.
Those Genin who died on the front lines within two months of graduation would surely envy you for being able to perform boring D-rank missions in the village.
And! I am your teacher now. In the team, address me as Tsunade-sensei!"
But Kushina said: "Tsunade-sensei, it's precisely because you went to the battlefield early that your strength improved quickly enough to become the Legendary Sannin now, right?"
Tsunade knocked on Kushina's head and said: "You are the last survivor of the Uzumaki clan. How could you be like us, fighting on the battlefield as a Genin?"
"Why can't I go to the battlefield? Why can't I perform dangerous missions! If I have to stay in the village because of my status, then my two teammates can't go to the battlefield either?"
Kushina's two teammates were from the Senju clan. They said:
"Kushina, you don't need to worry about us. We are both here to learn medical ninjutsu from Lady Tsunade. Staying in the village is fine too."
Kushina felt somewhat helpless.
To accommodate her, her teammates were also non-combat medical ninja. It seemed she wouldn't be able to leave Konoha Village for quite some time.
But she still wanted to investigate the truth behind the Uzumaki clan's destruction.
She had a vague feeling that there was something wrong with the Uzumaki clan's annihilation.
Yōkō crouched behind a chimney, watching the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki from afar.
Even Tsunade hadn't detected Yōkō.
Both Yōkō and Tsunade suddenly looked up at the sky.
A special layer of chakra appeared in the sky.
This chakra was like a dome, covering the area above their heads.
A barrier... Yōkō recognized it; it was a special barrier.
Not the village's protective barrier, but a smaller, second barrier.
Kika appeared near the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. Unable to find Squad Leader Fox, she revealed herself so the Fox Squad Leader could see her.
Yōkō appeared beside Kika with Body Flicker.
Kika thought to herself, the Squad Leader's strength is truly formidable. He said: "Squad Leader, Barrier Corps Head Yamanaka Inson requests your presence."
"Alright."
Yōkō had Kika take over monitoring the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki and headed to the Barrier Corps.
The Barrier Corps was located on the top floor of a tall building, monitoring Konoha Village's protective barrier.
When he entered the Barrier Corps, he saw the Third Hokage and Yellow Dog were both there.
Yamanaka Inson, the head of the Yamanaka clan and also the head of the Barrier Corps, seeing that all important figures had arrived, began to explain:
"This is the new barrier we have deployed, specifically designed for the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
The Jinchūriki's movements are restricted to an area with a radius of 3 kilometers, centered on the Senju clan grounds.
As soon as the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki leaves this area, the Barrier Corps will know immediately."
Yōkō looked at the barrier's range and thought to himself how pitiful Kushina was.
Konoha Village was a semicircular village with the Hokage Rock mountain as its diameter. Within this semicircle, there was now a small circle.
The diameter of this small circle was about one-quarter the length of the Hokage Rock mountain.
Kushina's activity area was restricted to this small circle.
Yamanaka Inson continued: "This barrier is named the Nine-Tails Barrier.
The Barrier Corps will have a rotating squad working in three shifts, specifically responsible for alerting the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
Once the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki leaves the Nine-Tails Barrier, a Yamanaka clan ninja will use a secret technique to enter Kushina's mind and warn her to return."
The Third Hokage turned and asked: "Fox, your sealing technique level is quite good. What do you think of this barrier?"
***
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(Chapter End)