Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura swept his gaze across the gathered senior shinobi. In the end, his eyes locked onto the Yuki clan's new clan leader.
"Hotaru, the Yuki clan has not only changed its clan leader, it has also completely changed its tactics. I'll leave intelligence reconnaissance to you."
The Yuki clan leader, Hotaru, stood and bowed, respectfully answering, "Yes. This time, I will personally lead my clan and devote everything to completing the mission."
Yagura was very satisfied with Hotaru's attitude. Out of concern for his strength, he added, "Be extremely careful. Watch out for enemy decapitation strikes."
"Thank you for your concern. I will be careful."
Hotaru was an oddity among the Yuki clan, one who advocated collectivism and loyalty to the greater Kirigakure Village.
To put it plainly, he was the Yuki clan's version of a weasel.
During the Third Mizukage's era, Hotaru had already become one of Karatachi Yagura's subordinates. He had received strong support and help from him, and had built up a fair amount of influence within the Yuki clan.
Unfortunately, Hotaru's personal strength had always been somewhat lacking. Within the clan, he could not even rank in the top five, and was far from the clan leader's seat. He could only lie low and silently develop.
During Kirigakure's civil war, he followed Karatachi Yagura's order and backstabbed the Yuki clan at the critical moment, wiping out all the higher-ups in one stroke and making an enormous contribution to the Fourth Mizukage's rise.
But after such a disaster, the Yuki clan could be said to have lost all of its elites. Although the newly reborn Yuki clan had some methods of its own, even its new clan leader only had the strength of an elite jonin.
The Fourth Mizukage was somewhat conflicted.
Hotaru was an excellent subordinate. He did not have Kaguya Yoshi's petty schemes, nor did he have Hozuki Oborozuki's unruly arrogance.
But if Hotaru was sent to fight Konoha shinobi, it was honestly worrying.
Sure enough, one could not have both fish and bear's paw.
After the meeting ended, Karatachi Yagura had everyone else leave, leaving only Genji and Terumi Jonin behind.
He looked at Genji and asked, "How is the research on the Tailed Beast sealing technique progressing?"
Genji's face was full of smiles as he happily said, "The progress is far better than we imagined. The sealing technique design is already complete. We are only waiting for experimentation."
Karatachi Yagura said in delighted surprise, "That is wonderful news. Then experiment. Begin the experiment immediately."
"The sooner we obtain a practical jinchuriki, the sooner the pressure on my heart can ease a little."
"Very well." Genji agreed without any hesitation. Then he said, "The sealing experiment is laborious work. I am old, and my strength has declined too much. It is better to entrust it to Terumi Jonin. His Lava Release is very suitable for suppressing the Three-Tails."
Karatachi Yagura nodded. "Then we will follow Genji-sama's opinion. Terumi Jonin, everything is in your hands."
Terumi Jonin respectfully answered, "Yes. I will devote myself fully."
…
Miwa Masayo slept for three whole days before finally waking up.
She seemed to have changed greatly, yet also seemed unchanged.
Every day, Miwa Masayo still absorbed the purple qi of heaven and earth with Uchiha Yoru, watched the sunrise, and then disappeared for several hours.
Lunch was something the tabby cat would never miss. In the afternoon, she would quietly calm her mind and nourish her spirit together with her shit-scooper. At night, the two of them continued discussing every problem related to cultivation.
Yoru discovered that Miwa Masayo's efficiency in calming her mind had become much faster, and the effect of nourishing her spirit had also greatly improved. When discussing cultivation problems, she could keep up with the rhythm much better.
Although she still could not understand those so-called words of the Great Dao, nor could she understand the principles Yoru spoke of, unknowingly, they were pushing her overall path closer to Yoru's immortal cultivation road.
And she had drawn much closer.
This subtle, imperceptible approach did not change the tabby cat's appearance, but her temperament had undergone a rather intense transformation.
Miwa Masayo had become gentler, her personality more tranquil. To sum it up, she had become more immortal-like.
This made the difference between her and ordinary ninja cats no longer merely obvious.
It was already completely different.
She was even completely different from the second cat sage, Neko Yu.
Yoru knew that this was a very normal change between Dao companions.
When mortal husband and wife lived together for a long time, their temperaments would become similar. This was commonly called a married couple's resemblance.
As intimate Dao companions, when Yoru's progress was greater and his power stronger, especially when his path was clearer, Miwa Masayo, as the relatively weaker Dao companion, would unconsciously move closer to him.
At the current stage, this was a good thing.
Miwa Masayo's immortal path was still within the scope of the Three Great Sacred Lands of the shinobi world. The foundation of her immortal path was senjutsu chakra, formed by combining natural energy and chakra. She walked the path of chakra.
Yoru's immortal path, however, clearly separated natural energy and chakra. Natural energy was the core, while chakra was used externally. He walked the path of natural energy.
As Miwa Masayo drew closer to Yoru's direction, the common ground between them would greatly increase, and their value as references for each other would become much greater.
If, in the future, Yoru charged ahead too quickly while Miwa Masayo still could not keep up, this convergence would intensify.
In the end, it would become Yoru crossing the river by feeling the stones in front, while Miwa Masayo followed behind by feeling Yoru. Their Dao companion relationship would transform into a master-disciple relationship.
Thinking of this, Yoru laughed.
No.
Miwa Masayo would not always be chasing behind him.
It was even more impossible for her to remain unable to catch up for a long time.
As a transmigrator, Yoru was an old monster who had lived nearly sixty years.
As a cat sage, Miwa Masayo was only four years old, and she had only awakened wisdom for three years.
There was a gap of dozens of times between their experiences.
The fact that the tabby cat could rapidly absorb knowledge and follow behind Yoru without abandoning him showed just how intelligent she truly was.
After lunch, the tabby cat napped in the shade, while Yoru dug a pit by hand in the courtyard.
He was preparing to make a small pond, plant some ornamental aquatic plants, and raise a few fish for fun.
For him, who controlled earth-spirit natural energy, digging a pit was far too simple.
He pointed with the index finger of his right hand, using the motion to focus his will as earth-spirit natural energy soaked into the ground.
Suddenly, the ground began sinking according to Yoru's will. After completing its shaping, it quickly became smooth. The excess mud automatically gathered into pebbles of various sizes, then rapidly hardened.
Next, according to the feedback from the earth-spirit natural energy, two hidden channels formed underground, directly connecting to a nearby underground river. Soon, clear spring water flowed in through the channels.
After the spring water filled the small pond, it flowed back into the underground river through another hidden channel, maintaining the pond's stable water level while also ensuring the water stayed clean.
After finishing all this, Yoru regretted it.
Such clear spring water could be used as drinking water. It should not be directly connected to a fishpond.
So the water-supplying channel was moved away from the pond, and an additional reservoir was added beside it. After filling up, the water would overflow into the small pond. This way, there was no need to worry that the fish would pollute the drinking water.
He stood up and admired his masterpiece with satisfaction.
Before the pride in his heart could rise, he saw a leaf drift over from somewhere and fall right into the reservoir.
"Tsk. Looks like I still need to add a cover."
Yoru planned to build a small pavilion, so he left the courtyard with his hands behind his back and went to look for suitable wood.
Cutting trees?
Of course he would not cut trees.
Freshly felled wood would deform during the drying process. Whether one was building a ship or a house, it would collapse within a month or two.
However, he had long ago led the Uchiha to cut down a large amount of timber and piled it halfway up the mountain to naturally air-dry. Although most of it had been turned into houses for the Uchiha, there was still no small amount left.
Now he only needed to go over and select suitable materials.
As the physical reinforcement training ended, and with the arrival of summer, the scorching afternoon had become the Tiger Unit's rest time. This was currently everyone's free activity period.
Therefore, on Yoru's way to the timber pile, he encountered groups of Uchiha. They were taking advantage of the afternoon break to climb the mountain together for fun.
Sure enough, one morning of training was not enough to exhaust these youths' stamina.
When the Uchiha saw Yoru, they were all startled. They subconsciously remembered the past physical training, and everyone felt fearful. They hurriedly stood straight, greeted him, and then slipped away as fast as possible.
Even thirty-two-year-old Uchiha Takayuki instinctively trembled when he saw Yoru. After shouting, "Good afternoon, Big Brother Yoru," he ran away without a trace.
Without a doubt, repeated enhanced physical training had left a deep impression on everyone. Now, they were all afraid of being caught by Yoru and forced through another round of physical reinforcement training.
Yoru was very satisfied with everyone's reaction, because no one projected a fearful gaze toward him.
This meant the first execution for disobeying orders had not affected his position.
Sure enough, the rabbit's method was right. As long as the reasoning was explained clearly, even if it was a public execution, Uchiha shinobi would not develop psychological trauma.
As for the physical training they feared, they were overthinking it.
Yoru had dared to drag the Tiger Unit through several days of harsh training because, through Kaguya Noboru, he had left Kirigakure Village with a huge mystery. No matter what, they would be confused for a few days.
Now six days had passed. The threat of Kirigakure shinobi was rapidly increasing. He did not dare use high-intensity training to squeeze the Tiger Unit youths dry anymore.
Arriving at the timber pile, Yoru selected six arm-thick logs, tied them into a bundle, and carried them back.
His state was completely that of someone living a normal life. There was not the slightest trace of wartime tension.
In truth, this was very normal.
Wars in the shinobi world were not battles and killing every day.
According to the nature of shinobi combat, life and death would be decided in just a few exchanges. If intense battles happened every day, at least hundreds of thousands of shinobi would die in a year.
In the shinobi world's wars, the probability of battle happening was actually very small.
Taking Yoru as an example, he had been on the battlefield for more than half a year and had only experienced four battles in total. One of them had even been against Root shinobi.
The usual state of war in the shinobi world could be described with one word:
Idle.
As long as the difference in strength between two ninja armies was not enormous, they would inevitably form a standoff.
The commanders of both sides would manipulate their ninja armies, continuously squeezing the other side's control area through infiltration and raids, destroying the other side's logistics lines, and fighting over key battlefield nodes.
This standoff process would continue for several months, until one side's situation collapsed and they had no choice but to retreat. Then, the confrontation line between both sides would move hundreds of li and continue the standoff.
Unless the side whose situation had collapsed refused to retreat anymore, a true decisive battle would not erupt.
During these periods of confrontation, most shinobi's daily lives consisted of eating, sleeping, patrolling, and training. The combined number of battles would not exceed two hundred.
Among several thousand shinobi, only three or four hundred might participate in a battle. Before a major decisive engagement, the vast majority of shinobi would not see any enemy shinobi at all.
The things they did most during war were patrols, marches, and guard duties so numbingly dull they could drive people insane.
However, according to Uchiha Takayuki, this form of war had to do with the styles of the commanders on both sides.
Wars commanded by Orochimaru-sama were always about slowly and steadily forcing the enemy into a dead end, then methodically defeating them. Naturally, the pace of war was slow like this.
But some commanders were not like this.
The most typical example was Shimura Danzo.
During the previous war, Uchiha Takayuki had unfortunately served under Shimura Danzo.
Danzo's command style was simple and crude. From beginning to end, there was only one order:
Attack!
As long as you were a Konoha shinobi, as long as you still had one breath left, then attack. Charge. Keep attacking, and victory would come!
As if.
Uchiha Takayuki smiled bitterly and said, "Under Danzo's command, our casualties quickly exceeded half. We only barely maintained the front because the village continuously sent reinforcements."
"At that time, we fought enemies every day. In that damned place, the Land of Rain, we fought Iwagakure shinobi in the morning, Sunagakure puppeteers in the afternoon, and at night, we still had to raid Amegakure strongholds."
"It was miserable. Every day, teammates died. Sometimes, my teammates changed twice in a single day."
"That time, Konoha Village was badly damaged. Even the students from the Ninja Academy graduated early and were thrown onto the battlefield in one wave."
"The Ninja Academy was still a four-year system back then. Graduates had only just turned ten. With early graduation, a group of eight- or nine-year-old children were waving ninja blades taller than themselves and desperately fighting on the battlefield."
"They were too young. How could they possibly beat the enemy? Their only value on the battlefield was to consume the enemy's ninja tools and stamina."
"Too many died. Too many. It was from that time onward that I stopped believing in the Will of Fire."
Yoru shook his head and said, "The Will of Fire means burning yourself to protect your family. There is nothing wrong with that."
"The strange phenomenon Uchiha Takayuki saw was nothing more than someone causing trouble."
"Someone burned the tender sprouts that should have been protected and protected the shriveled old leaves that should have burned, all so that he himself would never wither."
As shinobi, no one wanted to encounter that kind of commander. If they did encounter one, they could only pray for themselves.
Of course, Shimura Danzo's perverse actions could not have no consequences. He completely lost the qualifications to command a ninja army and became nothing more than the Third Hokage's black glove.
Forcing eight- or nine-year-old children to graduate early, then having them almost all die on the battlefield, severely damaged the Third Hokage's authority and even shook his basic support among civilian shinobi.
Because those forced graduates were all children of ordinary villagers and civilian shinobi. Children of ninja clans had already graduated early on their own.
To recover his image and stabilize his foundation, Sarutobi Hiruzen did a great deal of work, including extending the Ninja Academy's school system to six years and promising never again to force early graduation.
Yoru was one of the many beneficiaries. He properly attended school until graduating at twelve, completely avoiding the Second Shinobi World War.
If it had still been graduation at ten, he would have caught the climax of the previous war, as well as several of the battles where Konoha shinobi suffered the heaviest deaths.
If that had happened, Yoru's fate would have undergone a huge change.
He would not be Konoha Village's newly risen jonin, but a Konoha S-rank missing-nin famous throughout the shinobi world.
Perhaps Uchiha Shisui's daily chant would become:
"For the honor of the clan, I must grow up quickly and eliminate Uchiha Yoru, that traitor!"
It was also possible that he would have become Uchiha Madara's successor, spending every day scheming against that handsome old ancestor, pondering how to avoid being controlled by Madara, and how to kill Madara before inheriting all his legacy.
He might even have become the third member of the Akatsuki, seizing leadership of the organization and preparing to stir up a tide of shinobi revolution in the shinobi world.
In short, he would have lived a precarious but magnificent fugitive life, not this comfortable and peaceful immortal-cultivation life.
Of course, Yoru preferred his current life, because it was truly much more comfortable than a fugitive life of sleeping in the wind and eating in the open. Moreover, he had far greater freedom of choice.
After erecting pillars and beams, Yoru quickly built the small wooden pavilion. With this, the little courtyard with its gurgling water became even quieter and more serene.
Just as he and the awakened Miwa Masayo were discussing what kind of fish to raise, the Tiger Unit shinobi on duty delivered intelligence of a Kirigakure attack.
Yoru was even stunned for a moment before laughing.
"I've only rested for three days, and I almost forgot we're still in wartime."
Miwa Masayo also scratched her ear and mocked her shit-scooper.
"That's because you're a hands-off leader. Of course it's more comfortable than being a foot soldier, meow."
"But when the critical moment comes, you should still shoulder your responsibility, meow."
Yoru smiled and said, "Haha, you're right."
"I can push most of the daily work onto Shigenobu, but only the responsibility of leading the Tiger Unit to victory cannot be pushed away. Otherwise, I won't have the qualifications to be this leader."
Yoru stood up, stretched deeply, and said, "Let's go, Rika-chan."
"To continue enjoying the comfortable life of a hands-off leader, let us go kill these blind enemies."
But Miwa Masayo did not give her shit-scooper any face. She comfortably lay down on her side, swaying her tail as she said,
"Go by yourself, meow. I'm not going to attend your meetings. Every time I listen, my head hurts, meow."
"Once you decide how to fight, summon me, meow."
Yoru looked at the tabby cat lazing on the floor and could only say dotingly, "Fine, fine. I'll summon you when the time comes."
Yoru soon arrived at the newly built operations command room.
The moment he walked in, the previously noisy arguments stopped abruptly.
All the shinobi loudly shouted, "Good afternoon, Big Brother Yoru!"
These shinobi, who served as squadron leaders, division leaders, and intelligence officers, were all smiling brightly at this moment.
The worries and uncertainties from earlier vanished the moment they saw Yoru.
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