Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 242: Jiraiya's Whereabouts

Recently, Ishiro had been in a very good mood. Whether it was Ōnoki's changes or the progress of Shinya Matsutani and Takumi, they were all joyous occasions for Ishiro.

And after completely shaking off the Lightning Release R&D task, Ishiro now had basically no other official duties besides leading his disciples.

The intermittent Lightning Release research and training over the past year had already elevated Ishiro's proficiency in Lightning Release to a new height. It wasn't much different from his original expectations; now, Ishiro's proficiency in Lightning Release was no less than his Water Release.

It was time to begin the development of his second Kekkei Genkai. He had decided: he would choose Storm Release, the combination of water and lightning.

But the good mood didn't last long, and the development of the Storm Release Kekkei Genkai couldn't begin immediately because Ōnoki had sent an Anbu to notify him of a meeting.

When the ninja world was at peace, high-level meetings were rarely held. A meeting had just been held when Ōnoki successfully trained in Sage Jutsu. Ishiro couldn't guess what the content of this meeting would be, but his intuition told him that this meeting was not simple.

Sure enough, when Ishiro entered the Tsuchikage's office, he immediately saw a trace of excitement in Ōnoki's eyes.

Ōnoki wasn't even sitting at his desk but was floating in the air using the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu.

Seeing this, Ishiro became even more curious. He cast an inquisitive glance at Ikura, who had arrived a step ahead of him, but Ikura just shook his head at Ishiro with the same confused look.

Soon, all the participants of the meeting had arrived. As soon as everyone was seated, Ōnoki immediately said, "The Anbu have discovered Jiraiya's whereabouts. He has been in the Land of Hot Water during this time."

Ishiro was stunned. Jiraiya? Could it be?

As expected, Ōnoki continued, "I have already sent someone to pass the news to the Cloud ninjas. I believe the Cloud ninjas will make a move soon. However, we discussed last time that with Mount Myoboku as his ally, Jiraiya is very difficult to kill."

"So this time, I will personally go to the Land of Hot Water. After the Cloud ninjas make their move and attract Jiraiya's attention, I will use Dust Release to launch a sneak attack on Jiraiya."

Hearing this, Ishiro was shocked. This method was actually quite good. The toads of Mount Myoboku couldn't control the situation from a distance and use Reverse Summoning to take Jiraiya away the moment he encountered danger.

If they could use Dust Release in a sneak attack before Jiraiya himself sent a distress signal to Mount Myoboku, the chances of success were not low.

Most importantly, with the Cloud ninjas acting as a target in front to draw Jiraiya's fire, Ōnoki would only be attacking secretly. Even if it failed, Iwagakure wouldn't lose much.

With Hiruzen Sarutobi's courage and resolution, he wouldn't start a Great Ninja War over a single Jiraiya.

After analyzing it in his mind, Ishiro was also tempted. Having transmigrated for over ten years, Ishiro was no longer the otaku who had only seen the original story. If he could kill Jiraiya, Ishiro certainly wouldn't hesitate in the slightest.

This had nothing to do with whether Jiraiya was a positive character or not. Ishiro wanted to kill Jiraiya simply because their stances were different. After Orochimaru's defection, Jiraiya was practically Konoha's most important combat power on the surface, bar none.

So after hearing Ōnoki's words, Ishiro was the first to speak, "Lord Tsuchikage, I will go with you."

Ōnoki nodded and said, "Alright. We can fly over together using the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu."

Ikura, Saka, and Mei exchanged a glance. Although the three of them didn't hold much hope for Ōnoki's trip, they had no objections.

Because there weren't many Kage-level individuals in the ninja world with the ability to fly. Besides Ōnoki and Ishiro, there was only the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.

If Ōnoki went alone, they might still be a little worried about his safety. But with the addition of Ishiro, a newly promoted Kage-level, they had nothing to worry about.

Ikura and the others discussed the village's defense issues during Ōnoki's absence for a few more sentences, and the meeting ended.

This high-level meeting was extremely efficient. In less than a minute, the higher-ups had reached a unanimous decision.

After the meeting was dismissed, Ishiro stayed behind in Ōnoki's office. Ōnoki needed to delegate village affairs before he could depart.

However, while waiting, Ishiro suddenly thought of something and said to Ōnoki, "Lord Tsuchikage, why don't we enter Sage Mode first and fight in Sage Mode?"

Ōnoki was delegating work to Kitsuchi and his two assistants. He was also stunned by Ishiro's words.

Neither Ōnoki's nor Ishiro's Sage Jutsu was ready for practical combat yet because the preparations required for them to enter Sage Mode were many, and the time it took was also very long.

And ninja battles were often sudden, so Ōnoki had subconsciously not counted Sage Mode as part of his combat power.

After thinking for a moment, Ōnoki said, "I'll pass. I've only just learned Sage Jutsu. After entering Sage Mode, I still can't control the fluctuations of my Sage Chakra, so it's easy to be exposed. But you can go and prepare for Sage Mode first. Coincidentally, your perception will also be enhanced in Sage Mode. Entering Sage Mode can increase your sensory abilities."

Ishiro nodded and immediately went to prepare for Sage Mode.

Ever since learning Sage Jutsu, as long as Ishiro was in the village, he would enter Sage Mode once a day. And under normal circumstances, he would maintain Sage Mode without using Sage Chakra.

So, after more than a year, Ishiro's body's adaptability to Sage Chakra had greatly improved. Now, the sage markings on Ishiro's face after entering Sage Mode were almost only about half of what they were at the beginning.

However, Ishiro still couldn't enter Sage Mode outside the natural energy seal. But he could still sense the sparse natural energy in the outside world.

In addition, Ishiro was still unable to enter Sage Mode directly without the liquid natural energy. But now, when Ishiro practiced Sage Jutsu, he no longer needed Ikura to stand guard with a black rod.

Ishiro quickly arrived at the natural energy experimental area. It was no longer empty and deserted like at the beginning; the village had long since built a sealed building here.

The entire building was divided into two parts: one was the experimental area, and the other was the natural energy sealing area. The experimental area produced liquid natural energy, and the sealing area was for absorbing natural energy.

Since Ishiro and Ōnoki had to conduct Sage Jutsu training once every day, the village had built this place into a military base.

Considering that the research of natural energy was the village's top secret, the defense here was handled by the Anbu.

Even a regular visitor like Ishiro had to verify his identity to enter.

After exchanging the secret code with the guarding Anbu, Ishiro directly entered the experimental area.

Today, the one on duty in the experimental area happened to be Uzumaki Yumi. Seeing Ishiro arrive, Uzumaki Yumi greeted him, then took her disciple, Dai Shimoyama, to prepare the liquid natural energy for Ishiro.

Seeing this, Ishiro didn't linger here and went directly to the natural energy seal next door. After finding a spot and sitting down cross-legged, Ishiro began to adjust his state.

Although with Ishiro's current proficiency in Sage Jutsu, it would be fine even if he wasn't so serious, Ishiro still prepared very carefully.

After a while, Ishiro felt a cool sensation on the back of his hand, and then a large amount of natural energy quickly poured in from that spot.

Completely different from the fumbling of his early years, Ishiro easily controlled the natural energy entering his body and completed the fusion with his own physical and spiritual energy.

Basically, as much natural energy as entered, that much was fused, until he reached the limit his body could bear. Ishiro naturally stopped absorbing natural energy.

After a while, Ishiro slowly opened his eyes. At this time, some sage markings had appeared on his face. However, the coverage of the sage markings was half of what it was the first time.

Beside him, Dai Shimoyama, who had just dropped the liquid natural energy on Ishiro, put away the black rod she was holding.

Ishiro nodded at her, passed through the experimental area again to the outside. Just then, Ōnoki, having finished his official business, also arrived.

Seeing Ishiro enter Sage Mode so quickly, Ōnoki was not surprised. He was very clear about the progress of Ishiro's Sage Mode training.

Without lingering at the experimental entrance for too long, Ishiro and Ōnoki together used the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu and Camouflage Jutsu and flew into the high sky.

Then the two flew towards the Land of Hot Water while chatting.

"Try out the sensory range in Sage Mode," Ōnoki said to Ishiro. This was very important, as it would largely determine where the two would hide later.

Ishiro nodded. Although he was actually already clear about the enhancement effect of Sage Chakra, he still closed his eyes and focused all his attention on the S-rank jutsu, Mind's Eye, and then cast a sensory ninjutsu in the air.

After a good while, Ishiro said, "The boost from natural energy to Mind's Eye is huge. In my normal state, the effective range I can scout with Mind's Eye is about three hundred meters. But in Sage Mode, it almost reaches three thousand meters."

"However, the boost from Sage Jutsu to sensory ninjutsu is smaller. In my normal state, casting sensory ninjutsu in the air, I can sense over 500 meters. With the enhancement of Sage Chakra, it only reached 2000 meters."

"But sensory ninjutsu is more effective on the ground. My normal sensory range on the ground is about 4000 meters. If enhanced by Sage Chakra, it should be able to reach 10,000 meters."

Ōnoki nodded. He was very clear about the sensory ninjutsu Ishiro mentioned; he knew it too, just not as well as Ishiro.

He just hadn't expected the boost from Sage Jutsu to the S-rank jutsu Mind's Eye to reach ten times. This was ten times the distance, not ten times the intensity. Any ninjutsu would certainly become more difficult with greater distance, and the difficulty would surely increase geometrically with distance.

After thinking for a moment, Ōnoki still asked, "Do you know why the boost from Sage Jutsu to Mind's Eye is so great?"

Ishiro had also considered this question before, so his answer was very clear: "Although I don't know the principle of Mind's Eye, the reason I could successfully train it was because I accidentally absorbed natural energy that one time."

"Furthermore, I suspect that the effect of Mind's Eye cannot be improved after training. After I mastered Mind's Eye, my perception distance has always been around 200 meters, without any increase. Even though my spiritual and physical strength have been increasing, the ability of Mind's Eye has not changed at all."

"But Sage Jutsu should be able to slowly improve the effect of Mind's Eye. Ever since I mastered Sage Mode, the perception distance of my Mind's Eye has begun to slowly increase."

Ōnoki nodded. He knew about the miraculous nature of natural energy. Although he couldn't understand it, he wasn't very surprised either.

"What is the most powerful Sage Jutsu you can cast right now?" After a while, Ōnoki asked again.

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