Uchiha Akaishi Tour

Chapter 151 War-Level Ninjutsu

In the education at the Konoha Ninja Academy, any mission must avoid harming civilians as much as possible, let alone taking the initiative to attack. However, other ninja villages are not so particular about these things, and at most they may have some burdens regarding their own civilians.

As for those small ninja villages, they probably never had the idea that "ninja battles cannot harm ordinary people."

After all, in the Warring States period, the average lifespan of a ninja was only a dozen years. They themselves didn't live long, so who would care about the life or death of ordinary people?

The establishment of Konoha was due to the shared desire of Hashirama and Madara to protect children, while the establishment of other ninja villages was essentially a consequence of the establishment of Konoha.

Seeing that only four children remained in the village at that moment still weighed heavily on Akashi's heart.

Akaishi searched several rooms and came out to find the four children breathing steadily, indicating that the "antidote" had worked.

"How was it?" Jiraiya asked, with a hint of testing in his voice.

"The villagers all died from poisoning, and most of them were outside, not in a concentrated area, and there were no signs of external injury. The few bodies inside the houses were also hidden away. Many families still had half-eaten food in their homes."

"Given the stiffness of the corpses, it seems that the poisonous fog suddenly drifted into the village around dinner time last night. However, although the fog was deadly, it was not swift, and the villagers still had time to get out."

"In addition, the rice bins and vegetable cellars of every household were looted. It is speculated that the ninja who released the poison mist killed people in order to obtain supplies." Akaishi reported his search results.

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, saying, "That's right, and there's another point—so many villagers, some living near the valley entrance, some far away, yet they all collapsed in the village; this suggests that there might have been a ninjutsu like the 'Hidden Mist Technique' used in conjunction with it, or perhaps it was some kind of poisonous mist that prevented the villagers from escaping."

Akaishi seemed to want to ask something, but hesitated for a moment and didn't speak immediately, as if he wanted to think about it first.

However, Jiraiya then took the initiative to say, "This mission is nominally about transporting supplies, but in reality it's no different from fighting a war, and even more dangerous. If you have any questions, don't hold back."

"Jiraiya-sensei, I remember in the foreign ninja general knowledge class at the ninja academy, we learned that the ninjas of the Land of Rain have a culture and bloodline that are closer to those of the Land of Warriors, and they are more skilled in Earth Release techniques—" Akaishi said, somewhat puzzled.

This thing is poisonous and foggy; it looks more like a Mist Ninja!

Jiraiya and Orochimaru were taken aback upon hearing this. Orochimaru then said, "It seems that Konoha has been at peace for too long. The textbooks are still the same ones we used back then."

It's one thing to leave other basic knowledge out of the question, but the fact that such a time-sensitive course hasn't been updated at all is quite sluggish.

"Amegakure is good at Earth Release—well, that's not wrong, but that was ten years ago—no, twenty years ago." Orochimaru said, shaking his head.

When I become Hokage, I'll make sure the Ninja Academy's textbooks are updated in real time, forget about being friendly or not!

When Lanwu and Minato also came over, they looked at Jiraiya-sensei and Captain Orochimaru with a blank expression—Orochimaru simply walked away.

"You scoundrel—you think you can be a teacher—" Jiraiya muttered to himself.

Although Orochimaru coveted Minato, he was too lazy to say much when it came to actually asking him to teach him anything.

Jiraiya glanced at his three students, who clearly knew little about Amegakure. This was due to an information gap; the three of them assumed they knew about Amegakure and the Land of Rain, having learned about them in textbooks. Jiraiya and Orochimaru, seeing that they hadn't asked, genuinely believed they knew.

It turns out that what they knew was Amegakure from many versions of the textbook!

As for Yakushi Nonou, she was still taking care of the four children she had rescued.

and--

Although Shimura Danzo's Root organization doesn't usually teach even the Will of Fire, its curriculum on "enemy countries" is far superior to the ninja academy's teaching materials!

"In the early days of the Ninja Village Era, Amegakure was just an unknown small ninja village. However, the country of Amegakure was relatively wealthy for a small country, and its various civilian technologies were very advanced. In the early days of the Ninja Village Era, it was repeatedly bullied by Takigakure."

"At that time, the Land of Rain could not compete with it on its own Amegakure village alone, so it often hired ninjas from Iwagakure village and our Konoha village, and was especially diligent in learning earth-style ninjutsu from Iwagakure village—" Jiraiya began.

The Amegakure at this time is the same Amegakure mentioned in the Ninja Academy textbooks!

"Twenty years ago, when the First Hokage distributed the Tailed Beasts, he gave the Seven-Tails to Takigakure. This was not only because of its strength, which was second only to the Five Great Shinobi Villages at the time, but also because, as a deal, Takigakure promised not to attack other small countries, including the Land of Rain," Jiraiya continued.

Takigakure Village might not be that trustworthy.

But it doesn't matter anymore.

Because he quickly became arrogant and attempted to assassinate the First Hokage, he was pressured by Tobirama Senju and his own family suffered internal strife, which caused him to fall into decline and lose the strength to continue to oppress the Land of Rain.

"Amegakure had been constantly suppressed by Takigakure, so of course they also sought to become stronger. In fact, before that, Amegakure did one thing—"

"Near Amegakure, there is also a habitat for a ninja beast called the Black Salamander. Because it is highly poisonous and therefore very dangerous, it has always been an unusable liability for Amegakure."

"Under pressure from Takigakure, Amegakure paid a heavy price, obtaining the venom sac of a powerful black salamander after its death, and then transplanting it into the abdomen of a child in order to utilize its power—"

Upon hearing Jiraiya's words, Akaishi couldn't help but touch his lower right abdomen.

Yeah, I kind of empathize with that.

It's obvious this thing is much stronger than gauze—

"It actually worked! That child gained the power of the salamander!" Jiraiya said somewhat abruptly.

"Huh? How is that possible?" Lan Wu was the first to question. "I am a medical ninja, Jiraiya-sensei, don't try to fool me."

Shouldn't the most likely outcome of transplanting a venom sac be death?

"This—" Jiraiya wasn't entirely clear on the matter either.

Orochimaru, who had already walked to the side, spoke up at this moment: "Miss Lanwu, the human body is a very strange thing. If you do it only once, the most likely result is a dead person. However, if you do it a hundred times, you may get a successful product."

And ninety-nine dead people.

Although Orochimaru didn't say the second half of the sentence, the three of them still felt a chill run down their spines.

"Orochimaru!" Jiraiya frowned and glanced at him.

Orochimaru simply smiled at Jiraiya's complaints, showing no concern.

"The child who succeeded is the current Hanzo—I call him a child, but that's only in the context of the time when neither Orochimaru nor I were born."

"Later, as Hanzo grew up, the poison sac became one with him. This not only gave him the power of the salamander's poison, but also allowed him to sign a summoning contract with the salamander clan, turning a major scourge of Amegakure into a powerful ally for Amegakure!"

"It started about ten years ago when Hanzo, at the peak of his life and in his prime, became the leader of Amegakure. Since then, Amegakure's group battle style has also begun to change to a style of covert attacks using poisonous fog."

It is not uncommon for one person to change the fighting style of an entire village.

Leaving aside the distant past, even without mentioning the "forbidden techniques" that ordinary people cannot learn—from the "Shadow Clone Technique" to various seemingly basic "ninjutsu"—the fighting style of the current Konoha ninjas is completely different from that of the ninjas in the Warring States period.

During the era of ninja villages, ninjutsu exploded, and Konoha undoubtedly developed the most ninjutsu.

During the Warring States period, when battles broke out, people wore armor, clashed with swords, and occasionally used ninjutsu to gain an advantage before resuming the sword fight.

The average ninja in Konoha nowadays mainly rely on "agile taijutsu for close combat and probing" combined with "finding an opportunity to finish off the opponent with ninjutsu".

The fighting style.

Even more obvious is Sunagakure (Hidden Sand Village).

Since the Second Kazekage, Shamon, developed the "Puppet Manipulation Technique" and the "Sand Control Technique," the fighting style of the Sand Ninja has been inherited from this, and it is completely different from that of twenty or thirty years ago.

However, Akaishi and the others already knew this—

According to Jiraiya, Akaishi, Ranma, and Minato also understood that this "leader of Amegakure" was, in the eyes of Amegakure, the Second Kazekage and the Second Hokage!

As Jiraiya spoke, he emphasized, "Especially when Hanzo personally led the battle—amidst Hanzo's poison gas, these Rain Ninja, skilled in coordinated attacks, were virtually invincible. Hanzo's poison techniques can therefore be considered war-level ninjutsu!"

"War-level ninjutsu? Does that mean a very strong ninjutsu?" Lan Wu asked with some doubt, and Minato also looked puzzled.

"Akaishi, you know this saying, right?" Jiraiya looked at Akaishi.

Akashi nodded and said, "The so-called war-level ninjutsu does not refer to the size of the ninjutsu or how many people it can kill at once, but rather to its ability to change the course of a war. Generally speaking, it is like Hanzo's poison technique, as Jiraiya-sensei mentioned—the Rain Ninja can use this as the core to develop tactics and change the battlefield situation."

This is also why a "sixth-ranking" member of the Rain Country can act so arrogantly now.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the five great ninja villages have more and stronger ninjas than him. When they really set up their forces, it's like "the Rain Village with Hanzo fighting on a large battlefield," and everyone will have a headache.

"This is the first time I've ever heard of this—" Lan Wu muttered.

Akashi's lips twitched as he said, "Actually, the closest war-level ninjutsu to our Konoha is the one used by the Senju clan to develop tactics around Wood Release at the end of the Warring States period."

"Huh? Is that so?" Lan Wu looked at Chi Shi in surprise.

Even she didn't know such an obscure thing, yet Akaishi knew it?

"Back then, the Senju clan fought by coordinating their attacks within the Wood Release techniques of their leader, Hashirama, and repeatedly suppressed the Uchiha clan members who were individually stronger," Akaishi said, spreading his hands.

"I see—I've never heard anyone mention that before." Lan Wu understood, but still asked疑惑地, "Why isn't it mentioned in the books?"

While the Konoha Ninja Academy curriculum downplays the history of the Warring States period, it does cover the history of the ninja village after its founding.

"Because—before the ninja village was established, Lord Hashirama was able to suppress Madara Uchiha without the cooperation of his clansmen!" Akaishi said quietly.

When the Uchiha clan reminisces about the past, they always say that back then, Madara Uchiha was a stronger ninja than Hashirama Senju.

However, this situation changed some time before the establishment of the ninja village—

In summary, the battle between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha was initially characterized by Madara being stronger individually, while Hashirama Senju was stronger when he joined forces with his clansmen. However, gradually, Hashirama Senju began to surpass Madara Uchiha individually as well.

As for why a Wood Release technique could be so powerful, the Uchiha clan didn't understand. In fact, they didn't understand why Madara Uchiha was so strong!

It is precisely because of this unparalleled power that the Senju clan, unlike the Uchiha clan, did not harbor the same resentment and frequently reminisce with their juniors about the past.

Jiraiya, having overheard the two discussing this topic, glanced at Akaishi Hajime with some concern, as many Uchiha were rather averse to this subject.

"I wish I could also use Wood Release," Lan Wu said, her blood boiling with excitement.

"If only I were stronger than that Uchiha Madara!" Akaishi said defiantly.

Jiraiya smiled at this. He was greatly pleased to see that when Akaishi mentioned the First Hokage's victory over Madara, he only felt "unwillingness to accept the defeat of the Uchiha bloodline" and did not harbor any deep resentment.

Of course, this is also because Jiraiya didn't know that Akaishi and Ranma were attacked by a mysterious person "highly suspected to be Uchiha Madara" during the Chunin Exams, which is why he had this concern. Otherwise, he would have known that Akaishi couldn't possibly have any good feelings towards Uchiha Madara as an individual.