Chapter 66: The Movements of Each Party
Although it is said that the rank of a Ninjutsu depends only on the difficulty of learning it, this measurement is not absolute.
There is no inevitable link between understanding, learning, and being able to use a technique.
If you can't learn a high-level Ninjutsu, you can't learn it. But for slightly more common Ninjutsu, there is actually a considerable margin for variation.
For example, just because Senju Tobirama could optimize the B-Rank Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu from forty-four hand seals down to three, it doesn't mean others can use it with just three seals.
In fact, most Ninjutsu 'optimized' by Senju Tobirama actually increased in learning difficulty. This is because his improvements were essentially tailored to his own abilities, without considering the universality of the technique.
The vast majority of clan-specific Secret Techniques (Hiden) are the same. Techniques created based on a clan's own bloodline, traits, and abilities are infinitely harder for outsiders to learn than for clan members. In fact, a significant portion of these Ninjutsu simply cannot be learned by non-clan members.
In this case, the rank of a Secret Technique has no meaning to an outsider. And this category includes the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu and Barrier Jutsu.
The latter is one thing, but the former is basically like Senju Hashirama's Wood Release or the Tailed Beasts' innate attributes—it's full of black boxes.
Take the Adamantine Sealing Chains, which can whip Tailed Beasts like tops. Describing it specifically is like saying, "You do this, then that, and then whoosh, you can whip them out."
It sounds like the jutsu just grows out of the ground.
Who could possibly understand that?
If it weren't for the fact that outsiders have historically learned Uzumaki Sealing Jutsu, classifying these techniques as a physical Kekkei Genkai probably wouldn't meet much opposition.
And it was precisely because of this power, and their identity as Konoha's ally, that the Uzumaki Clan and the entire Land of Whirlpools met their doom.
It can only be said that the timing was too perfect.
After Senju Tobirama's death, although Konoha didn't experience intense turmoil on the surface, the exchange of interests among the high-level officials brought about too many troubles.
Just dealing with these messes was enough to make Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others pull their hair out.
And with the death of the founder and supreme leader, Konoha's intelligence agency finally became rigid after two years.
Coincidentally, Sunagakure and Iwagakure declared war on Konoha at this time, and then dragged the battlefield to the Land of Rain, further exhausting Konoha's intelligence resources, making it difficult for them to maintain external vigilance while dealing with Suna, Iwa, and Ame.
Although there was an element of improvisation, in short, the four great shinobi villages other than Konoha reached a consensus at this time. Each dispatched troops to raid the Land of Whirlpools, directly annihilating the Uzumaki Clan.
Anyway, dead men tell no tales. Even if Konoha knew they did it, what could they do?
Without decisive evidence, they didn't do it.
Of course, Suna and Iwa, who were at war with Konoha, would definitely face increased pressure. For this reason, they forcefully demanded a larger share when distributing the Uzumaki legacy.
Iwa took a large amount of Yang Release training essentials. This kind of technique, which could be widely applied to improve collective quality, was extremely important to Iwa, which had always lacked decisive genius shinobi.
Although Kumo ostensibly only took various dangerous creatures sealed by the Uzumaki Clan, no one would believe they didn't pocket something else.
Kiri only took a symbolic amount of wealth and medical data. For them, the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, leaving the mainland wide open to them, was the greatest value in itself.
In normal times, the other three might have asked Kiri for money.
And what Suna seized was, of course, the core data of Sealing Jutsu.
The whole world knew Suna's Sealing Jutsu was dog shit. Whether they could learn it or not, if you fought them for this stuff right now, Suna would really fight you to the death.
As for other miscellaneous basic data and wealth, the four villages split it five ways, a very quick and happy process.
The whole point was to destroy the Uzumaki Clan while Konoha couldn't react. If they wasted time dividing the spoils and got caught red-handed, it would be hard to explain to Konoha and their own Daimyō.
After all, shinobi villages aren't supposed to privately engage in 'massacring cities' and 'destroying nations.'
"So you hid it from me for over two months, and in the end, you still gave this to me?"
In Chiyo's tent, Hiiro Rinko, who had just easily taken down Pakura with repeat combos, sat backward on a chair, his arms dangling over the backrest, squinting as he roasted his adoptive mother.
"Ugh... I couldn't help it. If I can't read it, I can't read it."
Chiyo slurped her damp-dispelling ginger tea, stuck her tongue out from the heat, clicked her tongue, and looked away awkwardly.
Even with her shameless personality, being criticized by her adopted son like this was a bit embarrassing.
She had tried everything to hide the joint operation to destroy Uzushiogakure from Rinko, only to 'impatiently' hand him the legacy they'd looted from the Uzumaki in the end. It made it seem like she thought she could ignore his feelings as long as the deed was done.
But honestly, Chiyo didn't mean it that way.
She hid the operation from Rinko only because she was worried it would cause him psychological distress. But giving him the Uzumaki legacy now was a necessity.
With their ally attacked and destroyed, Konoha would absolutely not swallow this insult. Before long, the pressure on the main battlefield would surge.
At this time, it was good for their side's high-level combat power to become even slightly stronger.
And for those Uzumaki techniques... Rinko had already broken down the basics and teachable content into textbooks. The remaining content was simply stuff outsiders couldn't master.
"Sorry..."
Aware that she hadn't handled this well, Chiyo rarely apologized honestly.
"Well... as the commander-in-chief, you have way more to think about than usual. You were never a particularly competent parent anyway, so this kind of oversight is normal."
Rinko rolled his eyes, not planning to continue the 'interrogation.'
"Hey, you brat... forget it. How are your 'big toys' coming along? They won't fail halfway, will they?"
Feeling she had no room to argue about being an 'incompetent parent,' Chiyo decisively changed the subject.
Although she had seen Rinko's large puppets in the underground hangar and even operated them a few times, they hadn't seen actual combat, so Chiyo inevitably harbored some worry.
The larger the system, the more complex the mechanism, the easier it is for small, imperceptible problems to prevent it from functioning properly or even cause a total collapse. This is true for human organizations, and even more so for machines.
"Don't worry. Compared to my clockwork beasts, I'm more worried about Hanzō. The title 'Hanzō of the Salamander' sounds a bit too intimidating."
In terms of large-scale mechanical equipment, Rinko's manufacturing experience was richer than all of Sunagakure combined. He wouldn't make such basic mistakes.
He didn't say "probably"; he started with the certainty of "absolutely no problem." In any field, this is the inevitability pursued by the experienced.
In comparison, Rinko was more worried about Hanzō's poison.
With a salamander's poison sac implanted in his body, Hanzō could paralyze those around him just by breathing. And the poison spray range of his salamander summon, Ibuse, was shockingly large, enough to deal a devastating blow to an army in the field.
Although poison mist could be blown back with Wind Release, considering the activation speed, reaction time, and coverage area, the vast majority of Suna shinobi wouldn't have the chance to use such countermeasures.
If Chiyo couldn't handle it easily, he would have to consider deploying the large puppets early to counter that summon.
Air Circulation Filtration System + Yang Release VS Super-Sized Biological Toxin.
Would he win? Rinko didn't know.
But him trying alone was better than a whole group of people getting wiped out.
"Tch! Who do you think I am? I don't put the poison of that old man with a snorkel in my eyes! Don't look at how majestic he is now; give it ten or eight years, and he won't be tough anymore."
But Chiyo was clearly confident in her own skills. This wasn't just talk; as a fellow poison expert, she had inevitably studied her neighbor's methods.
Besides, Hanzō was an old fossil who had roamed the Shinobi World for decades. Although his name was illustrious throughout the world, correspondingly, his methods had been pretty much figured out.
Even if he was called a 'Demigod,' Hanzō was ultimately not a true 'God of Shinobi' or 'Asura of the Shinobi World.' He couldn't just crush everyone with Chakra pressure—ah, no, Chakra—even if his secrets were known.
Nor could he pull out an endless stream of forbidden jutsu combos like Senju Tobirama, fighting twenty elite Jōnin and two 'demi-Jinchūriki' to a draw in his sixties.
Hanzō's choice to declare war on both Suna and Konoha so toughly probably stemmed from a desire to win more benefits and time for Ame while he could still hold the fort.
"But this raid on the Land of Whirlpools basically bankrupted Hanzō's plan in a roundabout way."
Rinko stirred the ginger tea he'd asked for from Chiyo, looking up and analyzing. "Although the final impact on the situation is similar, the difference in sequence means a completely different outcome for Ame."
As mentioned before, the four villages didn't haggle much when dividing the spoils, so the withdrawal was even faster. Chiyo's round trip of over two months was mostly spent traveling to the Land of Whirlpools.
Avoiding Konoha's reconnaissance and setting up the devices needed for a quick retreat took over two months. The meeting of the four villages took a few days. The final raid on Uzu and the total withdrawal took less than two days.
Reverse Summoning Jutsu is really useful for running away.
So, when Chiyo arrived back at the camp in the Land of Rain, Konoha had probably just received news of Uzushiogakure's destruction.
"I guess Hanzō is pretty stressed right now too. Actively escalating the war intensity to inflict heavy damage on the enemy and drive them out of the country sounds completely different from the enemy expanding the front first and being forced to counterattack."
"And it's foreseeable that Konoha will mobilize even more troops than before. Compared to our side, I'm more worried about whether the front against Konoha can hold."
Chiyo took a sip of ginger tea, waiting until the temperature was right before gulping it down. But even using this action as cover, Rinko could sense she was worried about Yūsa and Chōko, who were on the front lines against Konoha.
"That can't be helped. There are no perfect plans in this world. Since we've cut off one of Konoha's major supports, it's only natural to bear their wrath."
Besides, this war itself is also to consume excess population. Such words could not be spoken even in Chiyo's tent. It had to remain a secret for ten, twenty years after the war.
"If worrying helped, I would have worried before you adopted me. Konoha and Ame's reactions are easy to judge, but what will Iwa do?"
"Hah, that bald, sake-nosed old potato definitely plans to wash his hands clean and shrink back, then come out to loot again once we've fought enough."
Chiyo, amused by her adopted son's somewhat self-deprecating joke, slammed her cup down and delivered her verdict with a sneer.
Meanwhile, in the conference room of Iwagakure, the 'Ubisoft potato'—Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki—was slapping the table with glee.
"The war is finally officially starting! You've kept this old man waiting!"
Having also received confirmation that the Land of Whirlpools had been flattened, and anticipating Konoha's reaction, how could he not be happy?
When Ame formally declared war on Suna, Konoha, and Iwa, Ōnoki had ordered the Iwa army to pull back, maintaining only a minimum presence for reconnaissance. That was true. But did that mean he was scared?
Impossible!
He, Ōnoki, was someone who had faced that 'Ghost of the Uchiha' alongside his teacher in his youth. The idea that a mere 'Demigod' could scare him was a fantasy.
Back when Suna declared war on Konoha, his plan to sit back and reap the benefits was already prepared. Even if Konoha and Suna didn't want to, he would have Iwa actively shift the battlefield to the Land of Rain, relying on Ame to further intensify the war and weaken both Konoha and Suna.
Waiting for so long, wasn't it all for today?
As for whether this counted as betraying an ally... Ally? Who? Suna? Since when did Iwa have an ally in this war?
From the beginning, Iwa had simply declared war on Konoha. They had never signed any alliance agreement with Suna, not even verbally.
Of course, Ōnoki hadn't initially envisioned the four villages jointly destroying the Uzumaki Clan. But even with this layer of 'accomplice' relationship, none of the four villages would admit to doing it.
Ōnoki certainly wouldn't give up his plan because of such a shallow relationship. At most, he'd treat it as a bonus harvest.
They say there are only wrong names, not wrong nicknames. The name "Onoki of Both Scales," representing his shrewdness in handling village affairs and striving for Iwagakure's maximum benefit, was truly well-deserved.