Analyzing the Ninja World Starting from Konoha

Chapter 175 Still lacking experience, needs more training

"The competition is over!"

Minato's voice rang out at the right moment, and he leaped down from the stone pillar, followed closely by Kushina and Maruboshi Kosuke.

As Minato announced this, Aoba casually waved his hand, dispelling the ninjutsu.

Obito, who was hanging in mid-air, fell to the ground with a "ouch" and grimaced.

At the same time, the giant psychic lizard also deactivated its camouflage, opened its mouth, and spat out the unharmed Nohara Rin.

"Lin! Are you alright?"

Upon seeing Rin, whom he had been longing for, Obito ignored his sore bottom and rushed over to her, showering her with concern.

"I—I'm fine, Obito."

Lin shook her head, her face still somewhat pale.

But she felt mostly disappointed, as she hadn't been of any help at all from beginning to end.

Kakashi silently sheathed his White Fang short sword, walked to the group, lowered his head, and remained silent.

Lost.

Moreover, it was a crushing defeat in which they had no chance to fight back.

Although he had expected to lose, the fact that he lost so thoroughly and decisively still dealt him a heavy blow.

Throughout the entire process, Aoba didn't even use his full strength.

He didn't even use his most proficient sand control technique, only ordinary earth-escape and taijutsu. He felt like a child being played by an adult, every step of his life was meticulously planned.

He's clearly trying his best, so why is the gap getting bigger and bigger?

"You're very unwilling to accept this?"

Seeing Kakashi's deeply shocked expression, Aoba bluntly said, "Kakashi, you've gone mad."

Kakashi suddenly raised his head and stared straight at him.

"You're too focused on the power of techniques, and you've neglected the most basic things."

Aoba looked at him calmly. "Chidori is a good technique, but its flaws are equally fatal. As the caster, you should know this better than I do."

"But you still stubbornly use it. A technique that you cannot fully control is very dangerous. It will not only hurt the enemy, but it is even more likely to hurt yourself, and even—your companions."

Aoba's words struck Kakashi's heart like a heavy hammer.

He was certainly aware of the weaknesses of Chidori, and Minato-sensei had reminded him more than once to use this ninjutsu with caution.

But after his father's death, he became obsessed with the idea that the mission was above all else, and that any cost was acceptable as long as the mission could be completed and the enemy killed.

Ignoring the silent Kakashi, Aoba turned his gaze to the resentful Obito.

"And you, Obito, impulsive, reckless, and utterly lacking in tactical coordination. A little bait is all it takes to make you lose your mind completely, charging in like a brute to your death."

"Is your proud Uchiha name just for mindlessly feeding kills?"

Obito's face turned red from the scolding. He opened his mouth to retort, but couldn't utter a single word.

Finally, Aoba's gaze fell on Rin.

"As for Lin—"

Aoba sighed. "As a medical ninja, you're qualified. But as a combatant, your skills are too poor. Once the enemy gets close, you don't even have the most basic ability to protect yourself."

"On the battlefield, medical ninjas are always the enemy's primary target. If you can't even protect yourself, how can you save your teammates?"

At this point, Aoba turned his gaze to Minato Namikaze, who was walking over.

"I admit that the plan to include medical ninjas in combat teams was well-intentioned, but the mistake was that you selected the wrong people."

"Medical ninjas are the enemy's primary target on the battlefield. The reason why Lady Tsunade was able to propose this idea is because she herself possesses terrifying strength and superb survival ability, so she doesn't need her teammates to be distracted by protecting her."

"But judging from Rin's situation, she doesn't have the ability to protect herself. If she encounters a strong enemy, Rin will become the team's Achilles' heel. Just like now, I only captured Rin, and Obito collapsed, and Kakashi's tactics were also disrupted. Not everyone is Lady Tsunade, and not everyone is me."

After hearing Aoba's words, Minato fell into deep thought.

Aoba stopped there and didn't say anything more.

He believed that with Shuimen's intelligence, he would naturally understand the stakes involved.

As for him, he has said what he needed to say and done what he needed to do.

He originally intended to arrange an accident to see if he could awaken Obito's Sharingan ahead of time.

I never expected that Obito, that simp, would find Rin so quickly.

However, it must be said that this guy's aptitude for opening his eyes is really good. He almost opened his eyes just by swallowing Lin into the lizard's mouth.

Madara Uchiha was quite accurate in judging people.

Back in her courtyard that evening, Aoba took out a syringe.

It contains Obito's blood.

While Obito was being hoisted up, Aoba, who was in stealth mode, took the opportunity to pull out a tube.

Because he discovered that White Zetsu was constantly watching Obito, it wouldn't be easy to obtain Obito's blood without anyone noticing.

After further analysis, Aoba discovered that the cells with soil attached had a high compatibility with the interstitial cells.

So, can we speculate that the closer one's bloodline is to Indra's, the easier it is to open one's eyes, and the stronger one's adaptation to Hashirama's cells will be?

However, this is only a preliminary speculation and requires further verification with more Uchiha blood samples.

The details of this training exercise, which took place on the edge of the village, were quickly transported to a dark underground base, just like a gust of wind.

In the dark and damp basement, a masked Root ninja knelt on one knee, reporting the battle that had just ended to a figure in the shadows.

"—That concludes the entire process of the training battle between Yamashiro Aoba and Minato's team."

A Root ninja wearing an animal mask knelt on one knee and respectfully reported to his superior.

"Hmph, what a boring game of make-believe."

He was not at all surprised that Aoba easily defeated Minato's team.

He was more concerned about something else.

"How is the investigation progressing?"

Danzo asked in a hoarse voice.

"Reporting to Lord Danzo, based on the intelligence we gathered at the medical team in the Land of Grass, as well as our infiltration and investigation of Konoha Hospital, we speculate that Yamashiro Aoba possesses some kind of special medicine containing immense life force."

The Root ninja respectfully reported, "However, due to his extremely deep concealment and the long time span, we have not yet obtained a physical sample of that drug."

"A potion brimming with immense life force —"

A glint of greed flashed in Danzo's eyes.

He almost instinctively thought of that thing, Hashirama cells!

Aside from the Wood Release cells of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, which were nothing short of miraculous, he couldn't think of anything else that could possess such powerful vitality!

Although the Third Hokage had stopped and sealed off the Wood Release experiments, he did not stop in private and continued to conduct Wood Release experiments in secret. However, the rejection reaction was extremely violent, and all the test subjects exploded and died without exception.

"Yamashiro Aoba—perhaps he has already obtained Hashirama cells!"

Danzo's expression immediately became even more gloomy.

Given Yamashiro Aoba's terrifying talent in medical ninjutsu, it seems not impossible for him to unravel the mystery of Hashirama's cells!

Thinking of this, Danzo became even more certain that this evil Yamashiro Aoba was definitely carrying out some kind of ulterior motive behind Konoha's back!

"How is the experiment progressing?"

Danzo asked in a deep voice.

"This—progress is extremely slow. Due to the long time interval and the fact that the medicine has completely integrated into the bodies of those ninjas, we have not yet extracted the specific components."

Cold sweat beaded on the foreheads of the Root ninjas.

"The experiment is progressing slowly? What a bunch of useless people!"

Danzo cursed angrily, stood up abruptly, and walked straight toward the core laboratory deep inside the base.

After passing through numerous iron gates, Danzo arrived at a room filled with the smell of formaldehyde.

In the cold laboratory, three operating tables were placed side by side.

On the operating table, three pale corpses lay silently.

If Aoba were here, he would definitely recognize that these three corpses were actually Konoha ninjas who had been seriously injured on the front lines and had been personally treated by him, and who had been secretly injected with a small amount of "water of life"!

They all died "accidentally" while carrying out some covert missions shortly after recovering from their injuries, and their bodies quietly appeared in the Root's laboratory.

Danzo stared at the corpse on the operating table, his eyes flashing with madness.

"Speed ​​up the extraction process! No matter what method you use, you must extract the components of that drug!"

Danzo coldly issued the order, "If that's not enough, bring back more people!"

Two days later, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, finally returned from reporting for duty at the Daimyo Castle.

Although the process was somewhat tortuous and took some time, the result was ultimately good.

He has already reached a secret agreement with the Daimyo that after the Third Shinobi World War is completely over, he will voluntarily abdicate and take full responsibility for the strategic mistakes made during the war.

As for the next Hokage, he recommended Minato Namikaze to the Daimyo, and the Daimyo readily agreed.

During this process, the daimyo actually made a special mention of Yamashiro Aoba, one of the "Konoha Twins" who shone brightly in the Battle of Kikyo Mountain.

However, the Third Hokage quietly suppressed Aoba's application, citing his "young age, lack of experience, and insufficient experience in overall command."

On the day he returned to the village, the Third Generation immediately summoned Minato Namikaze.

A gentle breeze swept across the empty Fire Shadow Rock.

The Third Hokage, smoking his pipe, looked down at the bustling Konoha Village below and explained in detail that he was about to step down as Hokage and recommended Minato as his successor.

Upon hearing this, Minato's face showed undisguised surprise.

He wasn't surprised that the Third Hokage would abdicate, after all, the responsibility for this Sunagakure invasion was too great.

He was surprised that the Third Hokage recommended him instead of his teacher, Jiraiya.

"Hokage-sama, why me? Jiraiya-sensei—"

Minato couldn't help but ask.

The Third Hokage sighed and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke: "I've actually talked to Jiraiya many times. That idiot, using his habit of being idle as an excuse, can't stand the constraints of being Hokage and refuses to take on this important responsibility. Besides, he's the one who strongly recommended you to me."