Although the rank of a ninjutsu only depends on its learning difficulty, this measure isn't absolute.
Understanding, learning, and being able to use—there's no necessary connection between these three.
High-level ninjutsu, if you can't learn it, you can't learn it. But even ordinary ninjutsu have considerable floating space.
For example, Tobirama Senju could optimize the B-rank Water Dragon Bullet Technique from forty-four hand seals down to three—but that doesn't mean others can use it with three seals.
In fact, most of the techniques "optimized" by Tobirama Senju actually increased in learning difficulty rather than decreasing. This was because they were essentially improvements based on his own abilities, not considering the technique's universality.
The same applied to most clan secret techniques. These techniques, created based on a clan's bloodline, characteristics, and abilities, had completely different learning difficulties for clan members versus outsiders. A considerable portion couldn't be learned at all by non-clan members.
In such cases, the rank of a secret technique meant nothing to outsiders. And among this category of secret techniques were the Uzumaki Clan's barrier techniques and sealing techniques.
The former were manageable, but the latter were like Hashirama Senju's Wood Release or the tailed beasts' natural special attributes—full of black boxes.
For instance, the "Adamantine Sealing Chains"—which could whip tailed beasts around like spinning tops—its specific description was something like: "First you do this, then you do that, and then whoosh you can swing it out."
It sounded like the technique just grew out of the ground.
Who can understand that kind of talk?.
If not for historical records of outsiders learning Uzumaki sealing techniques, classifying them as physical constitution-type kekkei genkai would probably face little opposition.
And it was precisely because of this power, combined with their status as Konoha's allies, that brought overwhelming catastrophe upon the Uzumaki Clan and the entire Country of Whirlpools.
The timing was just too perfect.
After Tobirama Senju's death, although Konoha didn't ostensibly experience violent turmoil, the exchange of interests among senior officials entangled too many troubles. Just dealing with this mess had Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others bogged down.
Two years after the founder and top leader's death, Konoha's intelligence agency finally hit a plateau.
Coinciding with Suna and Iwa declaring war on Konoha, and then dragging the battlefield to the Country of Rain, further consuming Konoha's intelligence agency's energy making it difficult for them to maintain sensitivity against external threats while dealing with Suna, Iwa, and Rain.
Although there was some spur-of-the-moment aspect, the other four great villages reached a consensus at this time, each dispatching forces to raid the Country of Whirlpools, directly annihilating the Uzumaki Clan.
Dead men tell no tales. Even if Konoha knew it was them, what could they do?
Without conclusive evidence, it wasn't them.
Of course, Suna and Iwa—already at war with Konoha—would definitely face a surge in pressure. When distributing the Uzumaki inheritance, they used this reason to forcefully claim a larger share.
Iwa took a lot of cultivation essentials for Yang Release. Techniques that could be widely applied to improve collective quality were extremely important to Iwa, which had always lacked decisive genius ninja.
Although Kumogakure only took various dangerous creatures sealed by the Uzumaki, who would believe they didn't hide something else?
Kiri symbolically took some belongings and medical materials. For them, losing the Country of Whirlpools meant the continent was now open to them—that itself was the greatest value. Normally, the other three would probably demand payment from Kiri.
And what Suna seized were, of course, the core information on sealing techniques.
Everyone knew Suna's sealing techniques were garbage. Whether they could learn this stuff or not, if you fought them for it now, Suna would really fight you to the death.
As for other fragments and property, the four villages split them fifty-fifty. The process was very quick and enjoyable.
They'd only had the opportunity to destroy the Uzumaki Clan because Konoha hadn't reacted in time. If they wasted time bickering over the spoils and got caught red-handed, it would be hard to explain to both Konoha and their own Daimyō.
After all, villages couldn't privately engage in things like "massacring cities" or "annihilating nations."
"So you kept this from me for over two months, and in the end, you still gave it to me?"
In Chiyo's tent, Hii Kōri—having easily laid Pakura out with dragon vehicle repetition—sat backwards on a stool, dangling his arms over the backrest, squinting as he teased his foster mother.
"Ugh... what can I say? Can't understand it, so I can't understand it."
Slurping down dampness-dispelling ginger tea, then sticking out her tongue from the heat, Chiyo smacked her lips and awkwardly looked away.
Even with her old and unrestrained nature, being called out like this made her lose face by her foster son.
At first, she'd gone to every possible
means to hide the union of three other great nations in wiping out Uzushiogakure from Hii Kōri. Yet in the end, she "eagerly" handed over the heritage carved up from the Uzumaki Clan. As if, once the rice was cooked, she could ignore his feelings.
But honestly, Chiyo hadn't meant it that way.
She'd hidden this operation from Hii Kōri solely out of concern it might burden him psychologically. But handing over the Uzumaki legacy now was a last resort choice.
With their allies attacked and annihilated, Konoha absolutely couldn't swallow their pride. Before long, pressure on the main battlefield would surge.
At this time, even a slight increase in their own high-level combat power was good.
As for the Uzumaki Clan's techniques, the basics and what could be taught to outsiders had already been crushed and compiled into textbooks by Hii Kōri. The remaining content wasn't something outsiders could master.
"Sorry..."
Feeling this was rather unscrupulous, Chiyo rarely apologized obediently.
"Well... as overall commander, you have much more to consider than usual. You were never particularly qualified parents anyway. Acting rashly like this is normal."
Hii Kōri rolled his eyes, not intending to continue "interrogate" her.
"Hey, you little brat... whatever. How are your 'big toys' coming along? They won't fail halfway, will they?"
Feeling she had no room for rebuttal on the "unqualified parent" front, Chiyo decisively changed the subject.
Although she'd seen Hii Kōri's large puppets in the underground hangar and even manipulated them a few times, without actual combat experience, she inevitably harbored some worries.
The larger the system, the more complex the organization, the easier it was for subtle problems to prevent it from functioning properly, even causing shutdown or collapse. This principle wasn't limited to human departments; it applied even more to machinery.
"Relax. I'm more worried about Hanzō than my mechanical beasts. The name 'Hanzō of the Salamander' sounds too intimidating."
In large-scale mechanical equipment, Hii Kōri's manufacturing experience was richer than all of Suna combined. Such basic mistakes were impossible for him.
Not saying things like "Absolutely," but from the start that "absolutely no problem"—in any field, this was the inevitable pursued by those with rich experience.
In comparison, Hii Kōri was more worried about Hanzō's poison.
After implanting the salamander's poison sac in his body, even Hanzō's breath could plunge those around him into intense paralysis. And his salamander summoning creature's venom spray range was terrifyingly large—enough to deliver devastating blow to entire army groups on the battlefield.
Although poison mist could be blown back with Wind Release, considering factors like effectiveness speed, reaction time, and coverage area, most Suna ninja wouldn't have the opportunity to use such countermeasures.
If Chiyo couldn't handle it, he might need to deploy large puppets early to fight that summoning creature.
Air circulation filtration system + Yang Release vs. Extra Large Cup biological toxin.
Would he win? Hii Kōri didn't know.
But him trying alone was better than everyone throwing in the towel.
"Tch! Who do you think I am? That old man with the breathing tube—I don't give a damn about his poison! He might be prestigious now, but in another ten or twenty years, he won't be able to hold up."
But Chiyo apparently had confidence in her own skills. This wasn't just empty talk—as a fellow poison expert, she must have studied their neighbor's methods.
Moreover, Hanzō had been traversing the ninja world for decades. Although he was famous across the entire ninja world, correspondingly, his methods had been mostly figured out.
Even revered as a demigod, Hanzō ultimately wasn't the true God of Shinobi or the Asura of the Ninja World. He couldn't, like them, just use spiritual pressure—ah, no—chakra to crush enemies even with his cards exposed.
Nor could he, like Tobirama Senju, pull out an endless stream of Miao Miao forbidden technique combos and go back and forth with two "semi-jinchūriki" and twenty-plus elite jōnin in his sixties.
Hanzō's previous choice to simultaneously declare war on Suna and Konoha so tough probably included factors of wanting to fight for more interests and time for Amegakure while he could still keep things under control.
"But this raid on the Country of Whirlpools has indirectly caused Hanzō's plans to fail."
Stirring the ginger tea he'd gotten from Chiyo, Hii Kōri looked up and analyzed: "Although the final impact on the situation is similar, the different order makes completely different results for Amegakure."
As mentioned earlier, the four villages didn't squabble over the spoils, so their withdrawal was faster. Chiyo's two-plus months away were mostly spent traveling to and from the Country of Whirlpools.
Avoiding Konoha's recon, setting up rapid withdrawal devices along the way—that took over two months. The four villages meeting took a few more days. The actual raid of the Country of Whirlpolls to complete withdrawal took less than two days.
Reverse Summoning Technique was really useful for escaping.
So by the time Chiyo returned to the Country of Rain camp, Konoha had probably just received news of the Country of Whirlpools' annihilation.
"I bet Hanzō is in a mess right now. Actively raising the war intensity to inflict heavy damage and drive enemies out, versus being forced to counterattack after enemies expand the front first—those sound completely different."
"And predictably, Konoha's mobilized forces will definitely be larger than before. More than our side, I'm worried about whether the Konoha front can hold."
Chiyo sipped her ginger tea, waiting until it was cool enough before drinking. But even using this action to hide it, Hii Kōri could tell she was worrying about Mataza and Shūko, stationed on the Konoha front.
"That can't be helped. There's no foolproof plan in this world. Having eliminated a major Konoha asset, bearing their fury is only natural."
Moreover, this war itself was meant to consume the surplus population—such words couldn't be spoken even in Chiyo's tent. They'd have to remain secret for ten or twenty years after the war.
"If worrying helped, I'd have worried myself sick before you adopted me. Konoha and Amegakure's reactions are easy to judge, but what will Iwa do afterward?"
"Ha, that bald, red-nosed old potato definitely plans to wash his hands clean, shrink back, then come out to make a fortune when the fighting's done."
Chuckling at her foster son's somewhat masochistic joke, Chiyo upturned her cup and concluded in a mocking tone.
Meanwhile, in Iwagakure's conference room, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki—dismissively known as "Ubisoft potato" by Chiyo—was overjoyed, slapping the table.
"Finally going to war! This old man has waited a long time!"
Having also received news of the Country of Whirlpools' flattening and anticipating Konoha's subsequent reaction, how could he not be overjoyed?
When Amegakure first declared war on Suna, Konoha, and Iwa, Ōnoki had ordered Iwa forces to converge, only maintaining minimum surveillance of the battlefield. But did that mean he was cowardly?
No way!
He, Ōnoki, had faced that "Asura of the Ninja World" with his teacher when young. Thinking some "demigod" could scare him was wishful thinking.
Ever since Suna declared war on Konoha, he'd had this plan to sit back and reap the spoils. Even if Suna and Konoha lacked the inclination, he'd have proactively moved the battlefield to the Country of Rain, using Amegakure to further intensify war intensity and weaken both Konoha and Suna.
Wasn't all this waiting for today?
As for whether this counted as betraying allies... Allies? Who? Suna? Since when did Iwa have allies in this war?
From the beginning, Iwa had simply declared war on Konoha. They'd 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 shallow "accomplice" relationship, none of the four would admit to it.
Ōnoki certainly wouldn't give up his plan over such a superficial connection. At most, he'd consider it a bonus.
They say only names are misnamed, never nicknames. The epithet "Two Scales"—representing shrewdness in handling village affairs and securing best interests for Iwa—was truly well-deserved for Ōnoki.