Konoha's Hextech Ninja

However, Yagami Yoruichi was always worried that Shimura Danzo was up to something behind the scenes.

When Guo Ying takes action, he appears incredibly weak to outsiders, but is extremely ruthless and cruel to his own people.

You never know where you might be digging a huge hole for someone.

“I know what I'm doing.” Sakumo Hatake nodded.

He didn't really understand the Konoha spy system, but he did have years of mission experience.

If Yagami Yoruichi could notice the problem, then Hatake Sakumo certainly couldn't have been completely unaware of it.

But even if there are problems with the mission, given his personality, he would still prioritize the mission before the problems surface.

The meeting ended, and the four parted ways.

Sakumo Hatake and Kosuke Maruboshi each used their own methods to replace a member of the caravan, infiltrate the caravan, and set off with it to Iwagakure Village.

Yagami Yoruichi and Kōdō Kōdō stayed in the town for two days to make sure that no one was watching or following Hatake Sakumo and his group before quietly leaving the town and heading towards the outer perimeter of Iwagakure Village.

Before setting off, Yagami Yoruichi created a shadow clone, and then immediately dispelled it.

This utilizes the properties of shadow clones to notify the shadow clone remaining next to Kaori Uzumaki.

"The scheduled rendezvous time is still three days away. That means, if everything goes smoothly, the team leader and the others will come out with the mission objective in three or four days."

Kōdō Mokume said to Yōichi Yagami, "We have three days to scout out the evacuation route, formulate an evacuation plan, and ensure that we do not attract the attention of Iwagakure Village during the operation."

Chapter 143 The Cro-horned Dragon, [Attribute Forging Tool]

In a town in the Land of Grass.

"I should leave now."

Yagami Yoruichi's shadow clone said to Uzumaki Kaori, "My main body has to carry out a mission and can no longer maintain this shadow clone."

The characteristic of shadow clones is that once a shadow clone is created, the original body's chakra will be permanently reduced by a certain percentage until the shadow clone returns, and it will not be able to recover to its full value.

Normal recovery will only occur when the shadow clones dissipate and return.

The upcoming mission is very difficult and dangerous. Even though Yagami Yoruichi has a huge amount of chakra, she dares not let this shadow clone 'occupy' too much chakra and must take it back.

“Yoruichi-sama…” Kaori Uzumaki looked worried upon hearing that Yoruichi Yagami was leaving: “Then I…”

"You have already mastered the method of chakra refinement. During the time I am away, you can focus on your training."

Yagami Yoruichi took out the money left by Uzumaki Takuto. After spending it over this period of time, only a few hundred thousand taels remained.

The biggest expense is renting this place, which costs as much as 30,000 taels per month, and you have to pay six months' rent upfront.

"Keep this money safe. Aside from buying necessities, try not to go out." Yagami Yoruichi pointed to Uzumaki Kaori's hair and said, "If you absolutely must go out, remember to change your hair color using the method I taught you. The Uzumaki clan's red hair is too conspicuous. Although you don't know many people, it will be troublesome if you are recognized."

In the ninja world, red hair is actually not uncommon.

However, the red hair of the Uzumaki clan is significantly different from that of other ordinary red hair, and anyone with a little knowledge can tell at a glance.

The reason why Uzumaki Kaori and the other Uzumaki orphans were exposed before was because some Grass Ninja recognized their origins and wanted to plunder the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan, which led to a conflict. Now, only Uzumaki Kaori is left as the sole survivor.

However, changing her hair color was not difficult. Yagami Yoruichi taught Uzumaki Kaori a simple hair dyeing technique that would allow her to live normally in the town.

There shouldn't be any problems, at least in the short term.

"I understand, Yoruichi-sama." Kaori Uzumaki took the money, carefully put it away, and looked up at Yoruichi Yagami, her eyes filled with expectation: "Yoruichi-sama will come back, won't she?"

"I'll come find you after I finish my mission," Yagami Yoruichi comforted her. "You should train hard. I'm waiting for you to improve your strength so you can work for me."

In the past few days, Yagami Yoruichi also took the opportunity to inspect Uzumaki Kaori.

While Yagami Yoruichi wasn't very knowledgeable about bloodline limits, her basic medical ninjutsu skills were sufficient to handle a routine physical examination.

According to Yoruichi Yagami's examination, Kaori Uzumaki's vitality is extremely strong, far exceeding that of a normal ninja.

Especially in terms of chakra reserves and Yang Release talent, he is outstanding.

As long as one's chakra control is up to par, becoming a top-tier medical ninja is definitely achievable.

Furthermore, Karin Uzumaki's special constitution in the original work is most likely inherited from Kaori Uzumaki, meaning that Kaori Uzumaki may also be able to awaken chakra with natural 'healing' properties, allowing people to quickly recover from injuries by taking a bite.

This special physique may not necessarily make one particularly strong in combat, but it makes one an extremely excellent support ninja.

Such a 'subordinate' was naturally not someone that Yagami Yoruichi would miss.

Yagami Yoruichi observed Kaori Uzumaki's expression and, seeing that she had indeed developed a certain dependence on him, smiled inwardly and said, "My mission back home is quite troublesome, so you may have to wait a while. If all goes well, I'll be here within a month. If something unexpected happens, it might take longer. But no matter what, as long as I'm alive, I will definitely come to find you within three months."

Three months is enough time for Kaori Uzumaki to master the basic knowledge related to ninjas.

This can be considered a 'test'.

If Kaori Uzumaki doesn't work hard enough and her progress is too slow while Yoruichi Yagami is away, Yoruichi should seriously consider whether she should focus on nurturing her in the future.

"You must study the knowledge I'm leaving you carefully, because there will be a test when I come next time."

Yagami Yoruichi left behind a message and formed the 'Ren' seal.

With a bang, the shadow clone vanished into a cloud of smoke.

Kaori Uzumaki stood there in a daze for a long time before accepting the fact that Yoruichi Yagami had already left.

After a moment of bewilderment, she quickly pulled herself out of her jumbled thoughts and focused her attention on the basic ninja knowledge left behind by Yagami Yoruichi.

"I must study hard and become stronger, so as not to disappoint Yoruichi-sama!" Kaori Uzumaki muttered to herself, encouraging herself, "As long as I demonstrate enough value, Yoruichi-sama will definitely avenge me!"

As she spoke, Kaori Uzumaki picked up a scroll titled "The Foundation of Chakra" and struggled to decipher the scrawled handwriting of Yoruichi Yagami.

Yoruichi Yagami certainly wouldn't carry a bunch of books with her for this kind of basic knowledge; her shadow clones copied it down bit by bit from her memory over the past few days.

As for the handwriting...

Anyway, as long as it takes a little effort to understand it, that's fine.

……

The Land of Earth.

Yanyin Village.

After Yagami Yoruichi dispelled the shadow clones left beside Uzumaki Kaori, she quickly restored her stamina and chakra to their peak state with the help of the Soldier Pills.

After Hatake Sakumo and Maruboshi Kosuke's group left, Yagami Yoruichi and Kōtō Kōtō stayed in the town for two days to keep watch and make sure that their group had not attracted the attention of the Iwa ninja.

This is good news.

When the time was right, Yagami Yoruichi and Kime Kouta disguised themselves as ronin samurai and left the town to survey the terrain and investigate the defenses and patrols of Iwagakure Village in the Land of Earth.

And at key locations along the planned evacuation route, prepare in advance to set up traps and ambushes.

It's not about setting up the traps immediately, but about doing the preliminary preparations first.

Once you've retreated to a nearby area, you can set up traps to ambush the enemy, which will save a lot of time.

During this process, they inevitably encountered ninjas from Iwagakure.

Especially the closer you get to Iwagakure, the greater the chance of encountering Iwagakure ninja. Sometimes you can't even completely avoid them and have to kill them to cover it up.

[Participate in the kill of an enemy hero to earn 100 gold.]

['Soul Devouring' triggered...]

System notifications would pop up from time to time.

Although Yagami Yoruichi and Kōdō did not prioritize killing and instead tried to avoid Iwagakure ninja as much as possible, there were simply too many Iwagakure ninja in the area near Iwagakure Village, making it impossible to completely avoid them.

In just a few days of exploration, the number of Iwa ninja who died at the hands of the two men reached double digits.

With the help of the [Shrinking Engine] buff, Yagami Yoruichi's [Shrinking Engine] level reached over twenty levels.

However, the overall strength of the Iwagakure ninja is not particularly high.

Generally speaking, their skill level is between Genin and Chunin, and the [Soul Devouring] Hextech didn't grant Yoruichi Yagami much in terms of spiritual attributes.

Killing more than a dozen people only increased Yagami Yoruichi's [Spirit] attribute by less than 500 points, which on average was even less than the grass ninja she encountered in the Land of Grass.

Of course, that group of Grass Ninja must have been the elite of Grass Ninja Village.

In terms of overall skill level, while the Iwagakure ninjas are not as good as those of Konoha, they are still much stronger than those of Kusagakure.

In terms of the number of ninjas, the number of ninjas from Iwagakure, who rely on sheer numbers, is unparalleled in the entire ninja world, far exceeding that of Konoha.

Although the vast majority of them are either genin or barely reach the chunin level, just based on their numbers alone, once a war breaks out, Iwagakure's fighting power will definitely be a headache for any of the five great ninja villages.

Yagami Yoruichi glanced at the remaining gold coins; they were just over a thousand.

Not all of the ninja they killed along the way were killed by Yagami Yoruichi.

In fact, Kōdō made the move more often. Most of the time, Yōichi Yagami only used sensory ninjutsu to locate the target, and then used some simple functional ninjutsu to assist.

Even when they do need to take action, they mostly use kunai, shuriken, and taijutsu to defeat their enemies, rather than offensive ninjutsu.

After all, it was near the Hidden Rock Village, so even if they had no choice but to kill someone to cover their tracks, they couldn't make too much noise.

After quickly cleaning up the battlefield, Yagami Yoruichi opened the system shop and bought an [Attribute Forging Tool].

750 gold coins were deducted, and three option cards popped up.

[Skill Haste Shard: +11 Skill Haste.]

[Life Fragment: +110 Constitution attribute.]

[Spell Resistance Shard: +14 Spell Resistance.]

"Another Silver-tier item..." Yagami Yoruichi felt a slight disappointment. He glanced at the item and selected [Skill Speed ​​Shard].

110 points of Constitution are barely enough for Yoruichi Yagami. Even with the additional growth from attribute cyclic stacking, the final increase in total attribute is not high compared to Yoruichi Yagami's base attribute. It would be better to add some points to Skill Speed ​​to speed up chakra refining and casting, allowing for faster release of ninjutsu.

Given Yagami Yoruichi's current stats, unless it's a Prismatic tier item, the bonuses from ordinary Silver and Gold tier attribute forging tools are too small to be considered significant.

Even forges that randomly reach the Prism level must have a percentage bonus option in the settings to provide a significant improvement.

The 15% HP bonus is especially needed by Yoruichi Yagami.

Unfortunately, during this mission, I killed so many ninjas and used all the gold coins I accumulated to buy [Attribute Forging Tools], all of which were gold and silver grade; I didn't get a single prismatic grade one.

"No rush. We just bought four forging tools, so it's normal that they don't come out in color."

"Statistically speaking, it takes an average of twenty forging machines to produce one colored one, so it's still far from that."

"At least the combined attributes of [Soul Devouring] and [Shrinking Engine] have significantly boosted my strength."

Yagami Yoruichi comforted himself, looked up at the slowly rising moon, and said to Kōdō Kōdō not far away, "The agreed time is tonight, right?"

Chapter 144 Something's happened! An unexpected turn of events!

"If nothing unexpected happens, the captain will send us a message tonight."

Mokume Kōdō spoke up, "Hopefully it won't drag on too long. Although we were careful enough when we silenced them, and we never targeted patrolling ninjas, only small teams on missions, the disappearance of so many ninjas will eventually make Iwagakure realize what's going on..."

In order to avoid attracting the attention of Iwagakure Village, the two of them were very careful along the way.

Even when faced with Iwagakure ninjas in all directions, forcing them to choose a direction to 'break out' and eliminate the Iwagakure ninjas in that direction, they would try to avoid fixed sentry posts or ninjas that appeared to be patrolling the area, and instead target ninja squads that were clearly out on missions.

Moreover, when taking action, they would try to keep quiet and end the battle quickly, and afterwards thoroughly clean up the scene, even storing the enemy's corpses and belongings in sealing scrolls.

But with so many ninjas missing, the Hidden Village would eventually realize what was happening, unless they were a bunch of idiots.

Even if a small team is out on a mission with strict time constraints, the village will be suspicious if they are gone for a few hours at night.

If they arrive a day or two late, the village will definitely send someone to investigate.

That could lead to the exposure of Yagami Yoruichi and Kōtō Kō's whereabouts.

This is why the two of them arrived just before the deadline to survey and plan the evacuation route and confirm the exact location to meet up with Sakumo Hatake and the others.

As the two were talking, Yagami Yoruichi suddenly sensed a familiar chakra approaching. She immediately sent a signal to Mokume Kōtō, carefully hid, and looked in the direction of the chakra.

In the distance, a dog was sneakily leaping through the treetops, approaching the two people.

It was none other than Hatake Sakumo's summon beast, 'Bisk'.

It was a puppy, very small, only twenty centimeters long. Under the cover of the jungle and the night, it was very inconspicuous and easily overlooked.

Neither Yoruichi Yagami nor Kōtō Kō appeared until they saw Bisque make a 'safe' gesture with his claws, at which point they emerged from their hiding places and joined Bisque.

"Lord Sakumo asked me to tell you that the rendezvous was successful, but due to the curfew, we cannot evacuate smoothly tonight."

Bisque quickly relayed Hatake Sakumo's orders: "Lord Sakumo will be leaving with a caravan early tomorrow morning. You will follow and provide cover. Here is the basic information about the caravan."