Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 240: The Omen

A year later, the R&D team led by Ishiro, through unremitting efforts, finally completed the development of over a hundred C-rank Lightning Release jutsu and seven B-rank Lightning Release jutsu.

On this day, Ishiro formally handed over the position of R&D team captain to Qi. After a year of transition, the current Qi was already a qualified Jonin.

Qi's role in the R&D team needed no further explanation. As early as half a year ago, Qi, as the vice-captain of the R&D team, was already leading the entire team's development process.

And Ishiro's participation in the R&D team was exactly the same as when he researched sealing jutsu; Ishiro basically just got it started. In the first month, Ishiro was still fully involved, but after that, Ishiro found that his presence made little difference.

Afterward, apart from occasionally coming over to check on the progress, Ishiro no longer participated in the specific development.

Ishiro once again shifted his training focus to long-range sealing jutsu.

At the entrance of the R&D team's laboratory, Ishiro looked back at the few people who had once again entered a busy state inside, smiled faintly, and paid them no more attention.

From now on, the R&D team would focus all its efforts on tackling a brand new A-rank Lightning Release jutsu. Ishiro had given up the captain's position precisely because he considered this a good opportunity to raise Qi's status in the R&D team and even the entire village of Iwagakure.

Ishiro himself was not lacking in qualifications for developing A-rank ninjutsu. Ishiro had even contributed S-rank ninjutsu to the village; one more or one less A-rank ninjutsu had no impact on him.

But for Qi, it was different. Contributing a brand new A-rank ninjutsu to the village, and one in Lightning Release, which the village was weakest in. One could imagine that if Qi successfully led the R&D team, his status in the village would be no lower than that of an Elite Jonin.

The people around Ishiro had also changed a lot in this past year.

His adopted sister, Natsuki, had graduated from the Ninja Academy. The little girl's grades at graduation were good due to Ishiro's strict requirements over the years, but a method to develop her talent, the origin of which was unknown, had still not been found.

Natsuki graduated, and Uchiha Sakai, now Ryōtenbin Chūkō, enrolled. As Ishiro had expected, although he was placed in the advanced class, he had always been the dead-last of the class, a spitting image of a second Obito.

Kitsuchi and Shiden got married. Ishiro remembered that when he first heard this news, his jaw almost dropped in shock.

Ishiro had spent time under both Kitsuchi and Shiden. Later, the three were colleagues in the Third Great Ninja War, but Ishiro had never noticed any secret romance between them. With Kitsuchi married, Ishiro didn't know if his wife in the original story was Shiden, and even less if Kitsuchi's future child would still be Kurotsuchi.

While attending their wedding, Ishiro discovered that his former teammates Shinohara and Tana had also gotten together. Then he thought of that shameless pair, Ikura and Uzumaki Yumi. Ishiro found that in the end, he was the only one left alone!

And just a few days ago, Ōnoki announced that he had finally completed his Sage Jutsu training.

Ōnoki, like Ishiro back then, could now complete Sage Mode within the sealing barrier. Most importantly, through his Sage Jutsu training, Ōnoki's mastery of Dust Release had entered a new level.

Before the emergence of All-Killing Ash Bones and the Bloodline Snare, the destructive power of Dust Release was at the top tier of the ninja world. The speed of Dust Release was also sufficiently fast. The combination of the two once made Ōnoki the opponent that Kage-level individuals in the ninja world least wanted to face.

But Dust Release also had a weakness: the charging process was too slow, and the caster's intense chakra fluctuation during this process was enough to alert an enemy of the same level.

Although it was difficult to dodge after Dust Release was fired, it could be predicted. For Kage-level powerhouses, as long as they could predict the direction of the Dust Release, it wasn't actually difficult to evade.

So, although Dust Release was the number one offensive ninjutsu, it had never killed a single Kage-level individual and could only be used against minions.

But now it was different. While practicing Sage Jutsu, Ōnoki had learned by analogy and improved his mastery of Dust Release, greatly shortening the casting time. It could be said that Ōnoki's combat power had instantly received a qualitative boost.

In recent days, Ishiro could even see an eager impulse in Ōnoki's eyes. If a situation like the silent confrontation between the great nations a year ago were to occur again, Ishiro felt that Ōnoki would be the one to proactively break the balance.

The current Ōnoki was in urgent need of a Kage-level life to verify the power of the Kekkei Tōta, Dust Release.

In this one year, what surprised Ishiro the most was not Ōnoki's progress, but Han's change.

Under Ishiro's guidance, Han began to communicate with the Five-Tails. Coupled with the influence of his three lively disciples, Han's mentality became better and better.

About two months ago, when Ishiro visited Han as usual, Han excitedly told him, "Advisor Ishiro, the Five-Tails told me its name! It's called Kokuō!"

Ishiro was overjoyed. Although knowing the name was not particularly useful in itself, this was a very good omen. It meant that the Five-Tails, Kokuō, was beginning to truly accept Han.

Even if Iwagakure didn't have a method to make Han a perfect Jinchuriki, Han, having gained the Five-Tails' recognition, could mobilize more of its power. Most importantly, the possibility of Han rampaging in this state would be very small.

For this reason, Ishiro persuaded Ōnoki and the others in a high-level meeting to allow Han to take his three disciples on missions outside the village.

In this one year, the biggest changes were still among Ishiro's disciples.

The three from Squad One had all become Jonin, which was nothing more to say.

Ogura Saki from Squad Two had completed her transformation during the Chunin Exams more than a year ago, and in this one year, Shinya Matsutani had actually also crossed this threshold.

But the reason for it left Ishiro at a loss for whether to laugh or cry.

Shinya Matsutani had previously adopted a ninja cat with Himeki Suda. Because the cat was black and white, Shinya Matsutani casually named the little kitten "Kohana" (Little Flower). Shinya Matsutani's attitude towards raising the cat was a world of difference from Himeki Suda's meticulous methods.

Shinya Matsutani had managed to raise Kohana to have the same lazy personality as himself.

If he were still in Ishiro's squad, Ishiro would have corrected him long ago. But who was there to manage Shinya Matsutani now? He himself was the captain of a Genin squad.

However, Ishiro hadn't expected that his lazy personality would actually align with the original nature of a ninja cat, and his Kohana actually had a fortuitous encounter. Although its physical constitution was worse than Himeki Suda's Little Fūka due to a lack of exercise, its compatibility with nature was much higher.

So, one evening some time ago, Kohana, like her mother Dango, unintentionally completed her first absorption of natural energy. Shinya Matsutani was Kohana's master, and coupled with his own relatively close affinity with natural energy, he discovered this matter immediately.

That wasn't the most important part. The most important part was that Shinya Matsutani seemed to have seen a path to "winning by lying down" in this matter, and completed his transformation in an instant.

When Shinya Matsutani found Ishiro to explain his situation, Ishiro opened his mouth several times but couldn't utter a single word. Ishiro truly didn't know whether to criticize him or praise him.

After a moment of silence, Ishiro directly shooed Shinya Matsutani away, "Don't corrupt my new disciples here."

After Shinya Matsutani left, Ishiro told the six disciples who were training that Shinya Matsutani, after arduous training, was finally about to become a Jonin, just like Senior Chiko Tomoe whom they were familiar with.

After hearing this, the six disciples were immediately filled with motivation and trained even more diligently. Ishiro nodded in satisfaction.

But this way, among Ishiro's three disciples from Squad Two, only Takumi remained at the Chunin level, having not yet transformed for a long time.

But Ishiro had no good solution for this matter. Takumi excelled in speed and was not inherently compatible with Ishiro. Ishiro's guidance for Takumi was mainly on the basics.

In the two years he was in Ishiro's team, besides learning the three basic academy jutsu, Takumi had only solidified his foundation. But Takumi's talent for ninjutsu was too poor; he had only barely learned the Body Flicker Technique that Ishiro required in the past year.

However, although Takumi had learned the Body Flicker Technique, he was still far from being able to apply it in actual combat. As for Ishiro's higher expectation for Takumi, the Lightning Release Stimulation Method, Takumi hadn't even touched the doorway. Takumi couldn't even master the Lightning Release nature transformation.

Not only did Ishiro have no solution for guiding Takumi, but almost the entire village of Iwagakure had no solution either. Because Iwagakure's main fighting style was primarily based on being heavy and grand. No senior in Iwagakure had experience in the light, agile, and swift style that Takumi pursued.

Originally, Ishiro had planned to give up. But when he looked at the six disciples before him, each with their own unique characteristics and almost all of whom had no precedent to follow, he suddenly understood that perhaps he had been too concerned with the original story all along.

Ishiro had always hoped to make Takumi a speed-type ninja like Minato Namikaze, Shisui Uchiha, or the Fourth Raikage. But at this moment, Ishiro felt that perhaps he could help Takumi find a brand new path.

That evening, Ishiro notified the personnel responsible for defense and patrol in the village, then put on a Konoha Anbu uniform and went to find trouble with Takumi.

This was the only method Ishiro could think of to stimulate Takumi. If this move still didn't work, Ishiro could only give up.

Takumi was currently performing missions in the Iwa Anbu, but today he was not out; he had taken leave. He was not in a good mood because he had already heard the news about Shinya Matsutani. Fearing that a bad mentality would affect his mission, he decided to rest in the village for a few days.

As Ishiro's disciple, he also knew that his attributes were not compatible with Ishiro's, and the guidance he received was the least in Squad Two.

Although he knew he shouldn't ask for too much, he still felt some unwillingness, especially after Ogura Saki and Shinya Matsutani, two disciples who were originally inferior to him, had now surpassed him. Takumi's heart felt even worse.

So, Takumi, who was walking home after finishing a day of training, had a somewhat dazed expression.

Suddenly, walking on an empty street, Takumi felt a jolt. Subconsciously, his body lunged forward. Although he didn't turn his head, he clearly felt a murderous intent locked onto him from behind, and a slash of blade energy had passed right where he had just been standing.

This was a strong enemy! There was no time to think about how the enemy had entered Iwagakure or why they had targeted him for no reason. Because the enemy behind him moved again, and that almost tangible killing intent washed over him like a wave once more.

Takumi had no chance to turn around and could only charge forward with all his might. But the killing intent from behind followed him like a shadow. Takumi found that his full-speed burst had not created any distance at all. On the contrary, the feeling of thorns on his back told him that the enemy was faster than him.

Being crushed in the area he was best at, Takumi began to panic. But his year in the Anbu had tempered his mind to a certain extent. He did not give up. Since his straight-line speed couldn't match the opponent's, he would turn, using agility to create distance.

Takumi, charging forward with all his might on the street, suddenly pushed forcefully to the right with his right foot, and then his entire body shot towards the left-front at a speed not inferior to his straight-line sprint.

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