Along the way, despite Elder Ryūga's efforts to hold off the pursuing Senju forces, the main Hagoromo army continued to suffer attacks.
These attacks included not only small Senju ninja units but also members of the Sarutobi and Shimura clans.
Among them, two young men left a particularly deep impression on him.
One of them, resembling a monkey, was named Sarutobi Sasuke, and was highly skilled in Fire and Earth Release techniques.
If he remembered correctly, this guy was the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen's father.
The other was rather handsome, named Shimura Keizo, though it was unclear if he was Danzo's father.
Anyway, this guy was quite cunning. It was he who ambushed Kazuki, injuring his left arm.
At that time, he fought two opponents alone, using his Frost Domain to suppress them.
However, Shimura Keizo's intelligence gathering skills were excellent. He noticed that Ice Leap had a one-second cooldown.
This guy was ruthless—he used Sarutobi Sasuke as bait to ambush him.
Luckily, Kazuki was cautious and wary of Shimura Keizo.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have just bled. He might have had his entire left arm sliced off by that Wind Release technique.
The main force returned to the clan's territory, where they were greeted by two elite jonin of the Hagoromo clan.
At this time, the Grand Elder was seriously injured and recuperating. Most clan affairs were discussed and decided by a clan council composed of elite jonin.
The clan leaders, Sarutobi and Shimura, were also dealt with by a group of elite jonin working together.
After several days, these elite jonin had not only had to deal with powerful clan leaders but also handle clan affairs. They were utterly exhausted.
Now, seeing their own leaders return, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"How's the situation?"
Reiryū inquired about the current state while arranging for his clansmen to enter their territory.
An elite jonin shook his head. "Not good. The Sarutobi and Shimura launched a sudden attack, and the Grand Elder was caught off guard and seriously injured."
"These past few days, it's been a group of elite jonin working together to deal with their clan leaders. Due to the significant difference in strength, everyone has been injured to some extent."
Another elite jonin added, "However, because most of us went to deal with the Sarutobi and Shimura clan leaders, some of their elite jonin have had to be handled by our own. If it weren't for our terrain advantage, the clan territory might..."
The elite jonin didn't finish his sentence, but Reiryū understood what he meant.
Without the terrain advantage, the Hagoromo clan's territory would likely have already been breached.
"Damn it!"
Reiryū clenched his fists, his eyes filled with rage.
When did second-rate ninja clans like Sarutobi and Shimura dare to act so arrogantly toward Hagoromo?!
"Damn Sarutobi! Damn Shimura! After dealing with the Senju, I'll wipe them out sooner or later!"
Filled with rage, he kicked the tree at the entrance of the clan's council hall.
The tree trunk snapped in two and fell to the ground.
Having vented his anger, Reiryū took a deep breath. "Summon the clan's elite jonin for a meeting!"
Only elite jonin were qualified to attend the clan meeting.
Because in the Warring States period, everything depended on strength.
Want to attend the meeting, to have power? Prove it. Otherwise, even if you're the clan head's eldest son, it's not enough.
Therefore, upon hearing that Reiryū was calling a meeting, Kazuki greeted him and turned to leave.
Following the memories of his predecessor, he arrived at the gate of a courtyard.
This was the clan head's residence.
Since he wasn't yet an adult, he naturally lived with his father.
Pushing open the door, he went inside.
In the courtyard, a servant was cleaning.
On the west side of the courtyard was a training ground, where two children were practicing shuriken throwing at targets.
Upon seeing him, the two children paused for a moment, then ran over excitedly. "Big brother!"
Hearing this address, he paused for a moment, then reached out his right hand and ruffled the two children's hair, saying with a mischievous grin. "My silly little brothers, have you been practicing your ninjutsu diligently?"
To be honest, coming to the Naruto world, especially the Warring States period, it really felt strange not to have a few brothers.
Like Uchiha Madara, he also had five brothers originally.
However, three of them had already died, all at the hands of the Senju clan.
Now only these two remained. Because they were still young and had never performed any missions, they had survived.
The two children nodded earnestly. "Yes, yes, we've been training diligently! But big brother, is your arm injured?"
They looked at his left arm with concern.
He smiled and rubbed their heads. "It's just a small injury, nothing serious. You two go practice your ninjutsu. I'll go back to my room first."
After saying that, he turned and walked toward his room.
The two children wanted their big brother to teach them ninjutsu, but seeing his injured left arm, they could only give up the idea, watching his retreating figure with worried expressions.
Closing the door, he went to the window in his room.
Just as he sat down, the system's voice rang out.
[Congratulations, host, for completing the mission and returning alive to the Hagoromo clan's territory. As a reward, the host receives one point of talent value (technique), and one point of subordinate talent value (limit).]
Hearing this, he quickly had the system use the talent value.
A second or two later, he felt his chakra rapidly increasing, quickly reaching the level of a jonin.
[Ding~ Congratulations, host, your Bloodline Limit Technique: Frost Domain has been upgraded!]
[The user can consume a quarter of their current chakra to create a frost domain with a radius of fifty meters. Within the domain, the user can consume a small amount of chakra to perform ice leaps. The cooldown time for ice leaps is one second.]
Hearing the system's voice, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.
A hundred-meter diameter frost domain! If I run into that Senju elder again, I'll beat the crap out of him!
Now, his chakra had reached the jonin level, and his frost domain had a range of one hundred meters.
With this ability, he could hold his own against an elite jonin for a while.
If he could master some more A-rank ninjutsu, or techniques capable of threatening the lives of elite jonin at close range, he might be able to achieve a kill against a higher-ranking opponent.
After all, ninjas were generally high-attack, low-defense beings. If he didn't master a one-hit-kill ninjutsu, relying solely on weapons like short swords and kunai, he might not be able to ambush and kill an elite jonin using Ice Leap.
However, once he mastered a one-hit-kill technique, if he encountered an elite jonin who was careless, he could use Ice Leap to forcibly eliminate them.
"So, in the coming period, I need to master some ninjutsu that will determine the outcome of battle."
After planning his learning schedule for the near future, he focused his attention on the subordinate talent value mentioned by the system.