After their battle with Minato Namikaze, the squad members realized their own shortcomings. After recuperating, they intensified their training, dedicating all their rest time to training in addition to their regular missions.
That day, as Asuka finished training, he heard the notification from Suikazan Fuguki to assemble for a meeting.
Asuka arrived at the main tent and saw that the captains of all the border patrol squads were already present. Seeing Asuka enter, Suikazan Fuguki, seated at the head, said,
"It seems everyone is here. This meeting can begin. Jōnin Terumi Kenshi, please lead it."
Terumi Kenshi cleared his throat.
"Then I will preside over this meeting. The purpose of gathering everyone here is to relay the latest intelligence from the front lines."
Hearing this, the captains straightened up and listened intently.
"After the Land of Lightning declared war on the Land of Wind, dozens of battles—both large and small—have occurred between Kumogakure and Sunagakure. The collapse of Sunagakure that we anticipated did not happen. Instead, Kumogakure hasn't gained much advantage in these battles."
"And Sunagakure's ability to achieve such results is inseparable from one person—Rasa."
Terumi Kenshi slapped a photo onto the table.
"This man inherited the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release, allowing him to control Gold Dust, and he also possesses exceptional leadership. Because of him, Sunagakure has repeatedly turned defeat into victory and repelled Kumogakure's attacks. Even the Third Raikage highly acknowledges his strength."
Hearing the seriousness in Terumi Kenshi's voice, everyone's regard for Rasa steadily increased.
When Asuka saw the photo, he immediately recognized the man as the future Fourth Kazekage and Gaara's father. His mastery of Gold Dust was extraordinary, and his strength was truly formidable. He had single-handedly suppressed the rampages of Shukaku, the One-Tail, multiple times. In terms of large-scale destructive power, he was even more threatening than Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage.
Terumi Kenshi continued:
"Currently, Kumogakure's advantage on the main battlefield is not obvious. In fact, there is even a trend of retreat. Because of this, the current situation in the ninja world is unclear, and the war between these two nations is drawing the attention of every country."
Everyone exchanged glances. None of them had expected Sunagakure, after losing the Third Kazekage, to still possess such strength.
At this moment, Suikazan Fuguki, seated at the head, spoke:
"The purpose of this meeting is to remind everyone that the situation in the ninja world is uncertain. No one knows if those madmen from Kumogakure will escalate the war. Therefore, all of you must remain vigilant."
Everyone responded in unison.
---
After the meeting, Asuka and Terumi Kenshi walked through the camp while chatting.
"Kenshi-kun, which side do you think will win the battle between Kumogakure and Sunagakure?"
"That's hard to say," Terumi Kenshi replied. "Although Kumogakure hasn't achieved the results they expected on the battlefield, their foundation is still strong. Moreover, the Third Raikage hasn't personally entered the battlefield yet."
"It seems Kenshi-kun has more confidence in Kumogakure."
"After all, the Third Raikage's strength ranks among the very best in the ninja world. While Rasa has mastered Magnet Release, whether he can directly confront the Third Raikage is still unknown. So I believe Kumogakure still has a high chance of victory."
"Kenshi-kun's analysis makes sense," Asuka said with a smile. "But I believe Sunagakure has a greater chance of winning."
"Oh? You seem very confident in Sunagakure. Do you have any basis for that?"
"Haha, what basis could I have? Just intuition."
Of course, Asuka's belief was not based on intuition but on knowledge from his previous life. In that war, Sunagakure, led by Rasa, successfully repelled Kumogakure, which was led by the Third Raikage. Because of that achievement, Rasa eventually became the Fourth Kazekage.
"Kenshi-kun, do you think our Hidden Mist Village should join this war?"
"If you ask me, this war is destined not to end quickly," Terumi Kenshi replied. "Our Hidden Mist should enter the battlefield as soon as possible to secure valuable resources."
"Kenshi-kun, your thoughts align with mine," Asuka said. "I also believe Hidden Mist should participate sooner rather than later. But I wonder what the Mizukage-sama thinks."
At the mention of the Third Mizukage, Terumi Kenshi couldn't help but feel a surge of resentment. As a member of a ninja clan, he was extremely dissatisfied with the Third Mizukage's policy—refusing to join the war for resources while instead suppressing the major ninja clans and reducing the number of graduates from the Ninja Academy.
"Who knows what the Mizukage-sama is thinking?" Terumi Kenshi said with frustration. "At such a critical time, he still refuses to unite against external enemies."
After following Terumi Kenshi to his tent, the two discussed the current situation in the ninja world for a while before Asuka headed back to the training ground.
Faced with the current situation, Asuka was eager to participate in major events. However, the Third Mizukage's policies clearly indicated no intention of entering the war early, which greatly troubled him.
For now, Asuka could only place his hopes on the mutant gene bank, hoping to awaken some form of mental manipulation ability.
He injected Chakra into the gene sequence, and soon a new ability awakened.
Perhaps the universe had heard his wish—this ability was indeed related to mental manipulation.
The Mutant Silver Fox ability was Contact Hypnosis, which allowed him to give psychological suggestions to others through physical contact. The longer the contact lasted, the deeper the hypnosis would become. With prolonged exposure, he could even influence a person's subconscious mind—essentially a weaker version of Kotoamatsukami.
Although the ability didn't fully meet Asuka's expectations, it was still quite useful.
"Too bad I didn't awaken the abilities of the White Queen or Professor X," Asuka muttered.
Of course, he was only joking. If he had truly awakened Professor X's abilities, Asuka would have rebelled immediately without hesitation.
After all, Professor X's powers were absurd. Even if his body died, he could transfer his consciousness into his comatose brother's body.
In other words, if Professor X wished, he could take over anyone at any time. With the help of Cerebro, he could monitor the entire world and even cause instantaneous brain death to every human on Earth.
In the ninja world, such an ability would leave most ninja completely defenseless—except perhaps those highly skilled in genjutsu or those with powerful dōjutsu.
If Madara Uchiha had possessed such power, why would he need the Eye of the Moon Plan? He could have simply hypnotized the entire ninja world to create the peace he desired.
Shaking off those fantasies, Asuka focused on analyzing the Silver Fox ability he had just obtained.
In some ways, the ability was both useful and useless.
It was limited because it required physical contact, and only prolonged contact could allow him to control someone.
However, the advantage was that if Asuka could manipulate someone's emotions first, then subtly establish contact, he could implant psychological suggestions that would guide their decisions later.
At critical moments, such influence could cause events to unfold exactly as Asuka wanted.
If this ability were in the hands of a skilled psychologist, it could be extremely powerful.
After fully understanding the Silver Fox ability, Asuka couldn't help but think:
"It seems I need to find an opportunity to get close to the old leaders of the various ninja clans…"