Ninja Pot Shadow

You should know that Kakashi used to just play rock-paper-scissors to appease Might Guy, and he would never do such an exaggerated and heated competition on the street.

His mindset is clearly different from before.

The person who was happiest about this was not Ino and the other bystanders, but the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage didn't think he could live to the same age as the Master. He had experienced so many bitter and deadly battles in his youth, and as he got older, his physical functions declined drastically. His strength, speed, and chakra all decreased significantly.

He had been looking for a successor for a long time, and Kakashi was the most outstanding among them, perhaps even the most outstanding.

Seeing Kakashi slowly emerge from his inner darkness and become more cheerful made him the happiest.

He didn't have the ability to predict the future. He didn't know that his old buddy Danzo would make a contribution to the sealing of the bridge in the future, nor did he know that those two old geezers, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, would live all the way to Boruto. Even if those two old geezers were on their last breath, they would absolutely not move, and would rather die in their advisory positions. In his view, the four of them would just pass away one after the other. After he breathed his last, how many more years could they live?

The Third Hokage immediately began testing his three old comrades, and this time even Shikaku was excluded.

Actually, Shikaku was qualified to inherit the Hokage position. Kakashi from the original timeline had tested Shikaku, whether genuinely or subtly, hoping that he would become Hokage. Shikaku declined, citing his advanced age and impending retirement.

The Third Hokage personally valued Shikaku highly, but he didn't want the position of Hokage to fall to the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. The power of their alliance was too great. If they were to gain legitimate control of the village and take control of the Anbu and medical ninjas, other ninja clans and commoners would have no chance to rise in the future.

The three families, relying on their internal alliance, could easily play a game of musical chairs behind closed doors, with one becoming the Hokage and the other the advisor, and vice versa.

If you play like this, how can anyone else possibly succeed?

The Third Hokage tentatively brought up the matter of giving Kakashi more responsibility. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu closed their eyes and remained silent. The two old fogies knew perfectly well that at this moment, someone was even more anxious than they were.

Chapter 106 Searching for Tsunade

As expected, Danzo immediately objected: "Hiruzen, I don't remember Kakashi ever doing anything for the village. Besides being the Fourth Hokage's disciple, what other commendable achievements does he have?"

The implication was that I, an old man, have performed many merits, and you should make me Hokage!

The Third Hokage patiently explained to him, "Kakashi became a Chunin at age 6 and a Jonin at age 12. To date, he has completed 414 B-rank missions, 298 A-rank missions, and 42 S-rank missions. Isn't that enough?"

Danzo's single eye gleamed with a fierce light: "Not enough! Far from enough! Which ninja who has reached this level hasn't completed some missions for the village? Can they all become Hokage?"

Seemingly knowing what the Third Hokage was about to say, he interrupted, "I know you are the Hokage, but regarding Kakashi succeeding as the Fifth Hokage, I want to make it clear that I disagree! His achievements don't warrant him being Hokage at all!"

Mitokado and Koharu Utatane neither objected nor supported the proposal.

The Third Hokage's attempt was unsuccessful.

Ultimately, it's because Kakashi's reputation and achievements are somewhat lacking. If he were like Minato Namikaze or one of the Legendary Sannin, Danzo wouldn't have had any reason to oppose him.

The next day, right after the Jonin class meeting ended, the Third Hokage called Kakashi to his office and gave him the Flying Thunder God scroll and some study notes left by the Fourth Hokage.

"Lord Hokage, what is this...?" Kakashi looked at the large "four" label on the scroll and asked hesitantly.

The Third Hokage sighed softly: "You must think this is a special reward from an old man like me? Actually, no. Many years ago, when the Fourth Hokage had just taken over as Hokage, he prepared this gift for you. He hoped that you could go further, even further than he had. He had high expectations for you. Kakashi, don't let him down... I've been keeping this with me. I think you're ready now. Take it."

The scroll contains not only the Flying Thunder God Technique, but also two sealing ninjutsu from the Uzumaki clan.

With deep respect for his mentor, Kakashi began training after obtaining the Flying Thunder God Scroll.

Difficult! Extremely difficult! Even with mental preparation, the difficulty of the Flying Thunder God Technique still exceeded his expectations.

Because Kakashi's Sharingan cannot be shut down, he can draw on far less chakra than other Jonin of the same rank, and the Flying Thunder God Technique consumes more chakra than expected.

Chakra is one aspect, but after teleportation, his body's reaction speed can't keep up with the speed of the technique, which is another aspect.

Often, the brain knows what to do, but the body doesn't; the body can't react in time.

I used it twice when competing against Matt Kai, and found it didn't work.

It was clearly a killing technique, but he used it as a suicide move, which is fatal.

Kakashi didn't want to give up the Sharingan Obito had given him, but his physical speed and chakra reserves were insufficient. What could he do? He was already an extremely skilled ninja, and he could find a solution on his own. He picked up the Eight Gates technique, which he hadn't practiced much, and started training his body again.

Opening the Eight Gates can effectively increase chakra and greatly improve physical reaction speed.

He usually leads Class 7 on D-rank missions, occasionally has meals and goes shopping with Ali, and spends the rest of his time training in physical skills with Might Guy. His life has suddenly become very colorful.

The Third Hokage's preferred candidate for the Fifth Hokage was Kakashi, and his advisors to assist the Fifth Hokage were naturally his son Asuma and his future daughter-in-law Kurenai Yuhi.

Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi were all classmates, and they looked very much like him, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu back then.

As for Danzo's position, he hasn't decided who will replace him yet, but he has confidence in Kakashi and Asuma. They're not children, and with the three of them working together, along with the support of many ninja clans, they can completely suppress Danzo.

He would naturally not mistreat his son and future daughter-in-law if he entrusted the Flying Thunder God Technique to Kakashi.

Both of them also need some reinforcement.

The Third Hokage's own ninjutsu was not suitable for the two of them, so he selected ninjutsu from the Scroll of Seals.

Finally, he gave the "Mutual Explosion Tag" to Asuma and the "Dark Travel Technique" to Kurenai, letting them practice on their own to strengthen their individual abilities.

……

Since Asuma started practicing "Multi-Explosive Tags," he has become increasingly poor. The cigarettes he usually smokes have dropped two grades, and when he goes to the flower shop in the mountains to buy flowers, no matter how much Ino says, he doesn't dare to buy those most expensive flowers.

We're so poor! We're really, really poor!

Kakashi's Flying Thunder God Technique is deadly, but his Multiplicative Explosive Tags technique costs money.

Theoretically, the Multiplying Explosive Tags technique is a ninjutsu that summons an infinite number of explosive tags for continuous explosions. However, these explosive tags cannot be summoned from a shop. If the Second Hokage could develop such an overpowered ninjutsu, even without Kinkaku and Ginkaku, the owners of ninja tool shops would have to sell off their stock and hire powerful ninjas to kill him...

Only explosive tags imbued with special spells can be summoned, and Asuma had to buy a large number of explosive tags in order to practice this spell.

Their quality of life has seriously declined, and not only is Hong dissatisfied, but even the tenth class, who have always been freeloading, have expressed their dissatisfaction!

Asuma borrowed money from his old friend Jiroku and, following Ino's advice, rented out the vacant houses in the Sarutobi family's residence. He tried every possible way to raise the money.

……

Ino completed the hydration part of the steam explosion, but the oiling part was very difficult.

In the technique described by the man with the mustache, oiling only serves to heat the chakra. The specific process of turning chakra into oil is not as detailed as when he described watering, which he explained very simply.

Ino also had a response to this.

These days, besides the Second Mizukage, is there anyone else who uses oil? Of course there is, and that person is Jiraiya, who has the word "oil" on his forehead as a headband!

Jiraiya's oil transformation technique is mostly different from that of the Second Mizukage, but there is a lot of knowledge to learn from it, which can later be applied to Steam Blast.

Just then, Kakashi mentioned that he had formally recommended Ino to Jiraiya. Jiraiya had mentioned this to Tsunade, but Ino herself needed to discuss Tsunade's specific meaning.

Ino has completed all eight missions for the Chunin Exams, while Shikamaru and the others are still missing one mission. Asuma is currently preoccupied with money, money, money. All three of them are very busy.

She used the excuse of finding Tsunade and learning medical ninjutsu to leave Konoha and go to a small town on the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Waterfall to find Jiraiya.

Jiraiya, that pervert, often stalks Tsunade, and you can often find him wherever Tsunade is.

Ino's reasoning is sound, and besides, there's nothing underhanded involved; it's all aboveboard, and no one can find fault with it.

Chapter 107 Summoning Beast

The Land of Fire is the world's leading superpower. Between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth lies the Land of Waterfalls, a country composed of numerous waterfalls. Due to its geographical location, many ninjas perished in battle, and the country declined. However, the Land of Waterfalls did have a relatively glorious history, and the Hidden Takigakure village has always possessed a tailed beast. It can be considered a medium-sized country below the superpower. Below the medium-sized countries, there are naturally smaller countries.

The Land of Fillings is the kind of small country that would tremble at the sight of the Land of Waterfalls.

Small countries with few people and scarce resources faced great difficulties in survival. A single large-scale ninja attack from either side in a war could wipe out a country. Over time, those small countries located at strategic crossroads disappeared, leaving only some countries built in remote corners.

Ino consulted the Yamanaka family's records and found a legend about a haunted mountain near the Land of Nectar. Combining this with some even older rumors, she estimated that she was about 50-60% sure, so she came to visit.

Before Kaguya Otsutsuki descended, this world beneath our feet was a night parade of a hundred demons. After she arrived, she swept away all the demons and monsters, literally meaning that 99% of the "demons" and "gods" were dealt with by her. Only the toads, snakes, slugs, death gods, the underworld kings, and evil gods of the three holy lands have survived to this day. The old friend of the Yamanaka family, the Flower God, tried to survive for more than ten years, but she couldn't.

Most of the remaining strange beasts are descendants of those "ghosts and gods" from back then. Those with spiritual abilities can become spirit beasts, while those with only killing instincts have become materials for various weapons.

Because the Steam Explosion technique involves the separation of a large amount of chakra, there is a period of weakness after its use, which is unavoidable. The Second Mizukage used genjutsu to conceal his presence.

Although Ino could learn some illusion techniques by taking advantage of Kurenai and Asuma's relationship, she really didn't have the time or the desire to invest too much energy in them. Her solution was to find a large summoning beast that could use illusion abilities, and eventually, a series of clues led her to the Land of Hollows.

A ninja is not limited to a single summoning beast, and a summoning beast is not limited to a single ninja.

After Sasuke signed a summoning contract with Ryuchi Cave, he was still able to summon a ninja hawk named Garda. No matter how you look at it, Shikkotsu Forest can't be more domineering than Ryuchi Cave, right?

……

The Land of Fillings is located among mountains.

The people here will never leave their country in their entire lives; they are born here and die here, never having any contact with Konoha Village.

Even so, Ino was still worried about revealing her whereabouts, so she disguised herself as Kakashi, found an inn, and asked the kind-looking owner.

"Grandpa, do you know how to get to Shouqi Ridge?"

The old man first examined Kakashi's ninja headband before cautiously asking, "...Master Ninja, are you looking for Kusaki Pass? Is that the capital of the Kingdom of Kusaki from fifty years ago?"

Despite being warned that there were evil spirits eating people at Shuzaki Ridge, Ino still took a mountain path at night to the ruins called Shuzaki Ridge.

It is said that this ghostly place only appears at night. Ino practices Yin Release every day, but she doesn't think there is anything wrong with traveling at night. After checking her ninja tools, she followed the directions given by the innkeeper and headed deeper into the mountains.

Ino has already defeated the future Seventh Hokage and Sixth Mizukage, and may even fight the Fifth Kazekage in a few days. She is full of confidence at this moment.

After walking for two hours, just as she sat down to drink water, she suddenly saw a rather quaint Japanese-style castle at the foot of the mountain to the side.

The castle has three stories and is about ten meters high. Inside the castle, there is a faint flickering candlelight, and a voice is calling to her, urging her to enter the castle.

"Perception!"

Using her senses, Ino searched the foot of the mountain patiently for about five minutes before she heard a very faint heartbeat.

This invisibility ability is really impressive; she was quite excited.

She walked towards the castle and arrived at the gate. The two wooden doors seemed to sense her presence and slowly opened.

She couldn't possibly be foolish enough to walk in; that would be too stupid.

"I think we can be friends!" Her fingers quickly formed hand seals, leaving behind a series of afterimages. Just like with the mustache, her hands were aimed at the castle gate.

"Ninja Art: Mind Disruption Technique!"

The castle is a living entity with its own physical form and spiritual energy. In terms of life level alone, it is far more advanced than the remnants of the Second Mizukage's chakra.

However, this strange life form seemed to have fallen into some kind of dormant state, with a slow heartbeat and a sluggish consciousness. Ino's technique entered the other's mind world without much effort and then made minor alterations.

Regardless of what happened before, we're friends now!

After Ino confirmed that there was some mutual affection between them, she cautiously entered the castle. Not long after, she found what she wanted on the third floor of the castle, which was originally the lord's room: the spirit scroll.

This spirit scroll is ancient and has had many owners. Its most recent owner is named Kusaki Gossa, who should be the lord of Kusaki Ridge.

Before Gosaku Shuzaki, there was another person named Saifumi, but she didn't look at him closely.

Before his death, Gosaku Kusaki gave some unknown order, and the summoned beast stayed in the ruins of Kusaki Ridge for fifty years.