Ninja Pot Shadow

Ironically, Orochimaru was the first suspect to be ruled out.

Given Orochimaru's infamous reputation, Hayate Gekko's first reaction upon seeing him was certainly not something like, "Ino, I could do that too." He was self-aware enough to know that running away and calling for his comrades would have been the normal course of action.

Ino was also excluded. She used a decent wind-style ninjutsu when fighting Neji, but that was all. Most of Hayate Gekko's wounds were caused by wind blades cutting him at close range in a short time. Ino's wind-style ninjutsu was completely different from that.

Asuma is quite a suspect... His superb Wind Release ninjutsu, skillful taijutsu, and status as the son of the Hokage mean that if he were to launch a surprise close-range attack, Hayate Gekko wouldn't have any time to defend himself.

The Third Hokage effortlessly cleared his son of suspicion with a simple statement: "Asuma has been home all night."

Several people suspected the ninjas from Sunagakure, Amegakure, and Takigakure, as some of the Jonin leading these villages knew Wind Release.

The group had all considered Shimura Danzo as a suspect, but he was even more sensitive than Asuma. Shikaku and the two advisors couldn't figure out what the Third Hokage was thinking, so they chose to avoid the topic. After a brief discussion, they decided it would be more appropriate to ask him after Gekko Hayate woke up.

……

The following day, Ino and Inoichi talked about Gekko Hayate, and it was then that she learned that Danzo had been away from the village for some time.

She asked, "Has he been gone for the past few days? The village leaders can't find Lord Danzo either?"

Inoichi had mentioned long ago that his family was part of Danzo's faction, and now that his daughter was becoming stronger, he was consciously cultivating Ino's analytical abilities.

Haiyi said, "It's hard to say. Root has secret bases in many places. It's possible that Lord Danzo is somewhere in the village, or it's possible that he has already left the village."

"Is it because of Orochimaru?" Ino asked.

The father and daughter talked privately without much reservations.

Hai nodded: "It's possible. Orochimaru worked for Root for many years. At that time, he partnered with Ryoma Aburame of the Aburame family for a period of time. Maybe he has some information that is not good for Lord Danzo. It's hard to say whether Lord Danzo wants to retaliate or has other ideas."

The father and daughter didn't come to any conclusions. After all, the Yamanaka family was still separated from the Root family, and many things could only be guessed.

Inoichi warned Ino to be careful when leaving the village, as her genius was now well-known and there were many ninjas who wanted to kill her for the bounty.

Walking down the streets of Konoha Village, Ino felt a little annoyed. The news that Danzo wasn't home came a bit late. If she had known a few days earlier, she definitely could have... done a little something.

It's getting a bit too late now.

Danzo has committed countless evil deeds, making him a perfect scapegoat.

However, because he has done so many bad things, he is not often blamed for trivial matters.

On the night of the massacre, Obito collected an entire wall of Sharingan eyes, and Danzo took the blame for gouging out all the eyes. Faced with those corpses that had lost their eyes, the Third Hokage assumed that his old friend was responsible and didn't even ask. Danzo, as always, was aloof and didn't offer any explanation. He simply kept quiet about all the Sharingan eyes and let the matter slide.

In summary, Danzo is a player who "only plays high-level games".

……

Three days after treating Hayate Gekko, Ino quietly left Konoha and took a longer route to Takigakure.

Karin had already arrived ahead of them. In addition to this orphan of the Uzumaki clan, Takigakure also had a young female ninja, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, Kaede.

"Are you the Konoha ninja who saved that idiot Shibuki? I want to be your friend, I want to be a hundred friends!" This female ninja with dark skin and short blue-green hair was extremely lively. Looking at her energetic appearance, Ino felt old.

"Is Konoha Village very big? Is it a village built on trees?"

"How many people are there in your village? Are there at least five hundred?"

"Karin kept calling out a name in her sleep last night. Was she calling you? Why was she calling your name in her sleep? And making strange noises?"

Kaede chattered incessantly. Shibuki, having just assumed the leadership role, was very busy, so Ino waited in the reception room.

She was reading the newspaper, while Feng kept nagging beside her.

She drank her tea, while Feng continued nagging.

Feng followed her to the toilet.

This Jinchūriki has incredible energy, but she rarely interacts with the outside world, which makes her extremely curious. She can ask any question until she gets to the bottom of it.

Ino has a plan to collect the tailed beast's chakra, so of course she doesn't want the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki who was delivered right to her to fly away.

Aside from a few truly awkward questions, Ino is generally very responsive to all questions.

Feng was overjoyed, like a happy little bird, telling everyone she met that she had made new friends, and that she only needed to find ninety-nine more friends.

Ino sighed, "Jinchūriki all have a tough life. What they crave most is the recognition of others. Naruto is like that, and so is Kaede."

Since they had just met, it would be inappropriate to say something like "I want to possess your body" at this point, so Ino planned to slowly cultivate their relationship.

Ino and Kaede chatted for almost an hour before Shibuki finally finished his business. He was also happy that Kaede had made a new friend.

Ino explained her purpose for coming: she wanted to do business with Takigakure Village, specifically in the building materials business.

Just like there are Squibs in the Harry Potter world, there are also descendants of ninjas who cannot use chakra. These people are actually worse off than Rock Lee and Might Guy. Rock Lee can say that "even if you don't know ninjutsu or genjutsu, you can still become a first-class ninja." These people who cannot even refine chakra are completely cut off from the ninja profession.

These people cannot be abandoned. During the Warring States period, they could only do some logistical work for the ninja clans. When the ninja village era came, the environment was relatively peaceful, so they left their respective families, abandoned their original surnames, became commoners, and continued to serve the ninja village.

When Ino visited last time, she noticed that there were many commoners in Takigakure Village. The village environment was too humid to be suitable for farming, so going out to work was a good option.

Like Roger in One Piece tricking Rayleigh, starting with "Let's go do something big"? That requires extremely strong personal charisma, which Ino doesn't have. Her idea is to start by cooperating on small things, and gradually build a foundation of mutual trust between the two sides.

Even if Shibuki becomes the leader, he is still essentially that timid and cowardly big boy, and he doesn't dare to do anything big.

After patiently listening to her explanation, he tried to summarize: "So, Miss Yamanaka wants to establish a construction team in the name of Takigakure? Why would you do that? You come from a prominent family in Konoha, don't you?"

Chapter 141 The Seven-Tailed Jinchūrifeng

After becoming the leader, he had heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. With the rebellion successfully quelled, he felt no pressure and his intelligence returned to normal.

After all, he was raised as a leader from a young age, and he was terrified at the time, but he gradually figured things out afterward.

Chunin from major ninja villages are indeed different from those from minor ninja villages, and Jonin are different too. Ino killed Mizuki as easily as killing a chicken, which means that Konoha's Genin are in a league of their own? That's impossible! Being stronger is to be expected, but not by that much.

If all the genin in Konoha were as skilled as Ino, would there have been any need for three Shinobi World Wars? They would have unified the Shinobi world long ago!

Shibuki used his teacher Suien's strength to judge Ino, estimating that Ino should have the strength of a Jonin, but because she was young, her ninja rank was not high.

Generally, ninjas with powerful ninjutsu, strong will, and a strong sense of purpose are from great ninja clans.

Since both parties are discussing cooperation, they should naturally clarify their roles and responsibilities.

Friendship is friendship, and interests are interests. If their statuses are not equal, Ino has no right to discuss cooperation.

Ino nodded: "I am indeed from a ninja clan, but the situation in Konoha Village... well, your father was on good terms with Tsunade, so he should know a little about Tsunade's past, right? The reason why she hasn't returned to the village all these years is because the situation there is quite complicated."

Thinking of his own experience, Shibuki nodded: "It seems that even the great ninja villages aren't paradises."

There are undercurrents within Konoha Village, and at this time, it is not advisable for the Yamanaka family, or even the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, to do anything that would attract attention.

Collecting rent and running a curry shop is pretty much the limit for Ino and her peers. Going any further would definitely involve other interests, and given their sensitive identities, people could easily make a big fuss over anything.

However, Ino now needs to stir up even greater interests to create more trouble, and this trouble must be controllable. The simplest way is to hire Akatsuki Kakuzu and then shift the blame to the Akatsuki organization. A more complicated way is to use the conflict between the Daimyo and the ninja village to cause trouble. No matter which method she chooses, she needs financial support.

Money isn't the deciding factor, but if you don't have it? Absolutely not! You need money to hire any characters. If you want to get something for free, forget about Pain with his Rinnegan. Even if the Sage of Six Paths crawled out of the underworld, it wouldn't help.

Many powerful figures in the Land of Fire and the Land of Water also need to be bribed with money; you can't do without it.

After the Chunin Exams, Konoha Village entered a state of "deep water and scorching heat". Even Tazuna from the Land of Waves could bring his grandson and the village carpenters all the way to Konoha Village to take on jobs. Why can't Ino do it?

The Yamanaka family is good at intelligence work; they can receive news immediately about flash floods and earthquakes.

Takigakure is very isolated and has no intelligence network whatsoever. If they leave Ino, they will be completely in the dark and unable to do anything.

Ino also needs the reputation and manpower of Takigakure.

There is a basis for cooperation between the two sides.

Takigakure is the only village among the Five Great Ninja Villages that possesses a Tailed Beast. Although it has declined, its reputation remains. What's wrong with using its name to do some business in construction and building materials?

Ino explained the plan for their collaboration, and Shibuki lowered his head to think for a while before agreeing.

It's not a big deal, and it's good to give the villagers a little more income.

The "Cross Guild" was quietly established in Takigakure Village.

Ino instructed Karin to select villagers who were skilled in carpentry and bricklaying.

Karin often seems particularly absent-minded, but she can execute tasks very well once given one.

Ino was fairly confident in her abilities.

Kaede, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, also wanted to go out and play, but Shibuki, who always treated Kaede like a younger sister, immediately objected. It was too dangerous for a Jinchuriki to leave the village. Kaede herself would be fine, but the tailed beast inside her might not be. If the tailed beast went berserk, it would be a walking natural disaster.

"Brother Shemu, I'm just going out to play for three days, no, one day, is that okay?" Feng held up three fingers, but seeing that Shemu was unmoved, he quickly withdrew two fingers.

Shibuki smiled gently and shook his head in refusal, much to Kaede's delighted surprise.

Kaede pestered Shibuki for most of the day without getting permission, and then came to Ino for help.

According to her, Ino is her number one friend, and friends should help each other. Now that she is in such a bad mood, how can her friend just sit idly by?

Ino did indeed want to trick her into leaving, as Karin's strength was still somewhat weak.

Orochimaru can teach her, and so can Ino. Karin possesses both water and earth ninjutsu, and Ino has both. Without a doubt, first she'll climb trees, then walk on water, then develop her water chakra, learn Hidden Mist Technique and Water Prison Technique, and then, depending on her abilities, see if she can learn medical ninjutsu. Ino's training plan for Karin is practically identical to Sakura's…

After three years of study, you'll be able to stand on your own two feet, but how should you spend those three years?

Ino set her sights on Kaede, her good friend.

Kaede is not as good as Naruto, and the Seven-Tails is not as good as the Nine-Tails, but she is, after all, a Jinchuriki, and is much stronger than an ordinary ninja in every aspect.

When facing the Akatsuki, Kaede was captured by Kakuzu and Hidan, seemingly vulnerable. However, the immortal duo is actually very strong. If one didn't know their background, even someone like Killer Bee could have been captured.

"I see... I don't have any good ideas either. I'll go and talk to them for you." Ino thought for a moment. She was no longer the naive girl she was at the beginning of her transmigration. Now she had a variety of methods, and they were all very advanced. If it was just a matter of being afraid of the tailed beasts going berserk, her Five Elements Seal could be used here.

However, this sealing technique is not suitable for Ino. Kaede is the Jinchūriki of Takigakure, and it is impossible for her, an outsider, to arbitrarily seal the Jinchūriki of her own village. It cannot even be mentioned.

Ino's pleading on Kaede's behalf is just a formality; convincing Kaede is a long-term task, and it's a bit premature to let her go out and wander around now.

Ino failed to persuade Shibuki to change his mind, and Kaede, who had been sulking for most of the day, quickly returned to his original state.

When they saw him off at the village entrance, there was no trace of his previous dejection.

"What a lively girl!"

After leaving Takigakure Village, Ino went to find Buggy and Touka, the former bandit leaders who were serving hard labor. If nothing unexpected happened, the "Cross Guild" would soon need these two former bandits who were very knowledgeable about architecture to take charge of the project.

In the past, rescuing someone so directly would have required smoothing things over with numerous connections. However, given that a ninja possesses extraordinary power, and Ino herself is a ninja, it wouldn't be so complicated.

Falsifying the deaths of two prisoners in jail is something even young students at the ninja academy can do. Giving them new identities afterwards would be a little more troublesome, but with the Yamanaka family's strength, they could easily accomplish it.

Chapter 142 Mountain Bandit Buggy

Buggy is known as a strategist among the mountain bandits, but unlike Shikaku, his reputation is limited to a small area of ​​ten miles around; outside of that area, people don't recognize him.