Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

Uchiha Yan cut to the chase, saying, "The information you requested has already been obtained from the craftsmen we brought back."

Shen Er quietly awaits the next installment.

"They are a group of foreigners who will appear in the Land of Iron and the Land of Craftsmen, secretly seeking out master craftsmen to sell chakra metals in exchange for the technology to forge ninja tools and armor. The metal in the hands of Kirigakure came from these foreign merchants."

"The appearance of foreign merchants is not fixed; they come once every five years or as often as ten years. Only two years have passed since the last transaction."

I've been scammed...

The timing of the appearance of foreign merchants is not fixed.

Uchiha Yan seemed to have guessed what he was thinking and added, "Because this channel is not stable, as punishment, I used genjutsu to turn him into a puppet."

He didn't care about the life or death of a craftsman; his attention was on the alien race mentioned in the intelligence report.

The inhabitants of the ninja world's mainland, along with those of island nations like the Land of Water and the Land of Whirlpools, are all considered mainland residents. Only those not marked on maps and residing in distant ocean-bound lands are referred to as foreigners.

Those countries are too far away from the Ninja World Continent; only people from nearby island nations have contact with them.

Over time, they were excluded from the mainstream narrative of the ninja world.

There are even clear records that the power of "chakra" was passed down from the ninja world during the early Warring States period. Those alien races who obtained the power of chakra later established a vast ancient empire.

The origin of chakra and ninjas in the ninja world is the legend of the "Sage of Six Paths," while the origin of chakra for other races is the ninjas of the continent. The difference between these two is quite evident.

Chakra metal, which is extremely rare in the ninja world, actually comes from a foreign race.

This inevitably caused Shen Er some trouble.

His intelligence network doesn't extend overseas; without precise coordinates, even a divine teleportation technique wouldn't work. Even if he could get there, returning would take an extremely long time.

Uchiha Yan plays an irreplaceable role in the ninja world; sending him overseas is not an option.

"Expand Xiao's intelligence network overseas and send a team to the open sea to collect relevant clues."

Creating puppets is a long-term process, so there's no need to rush to control the raw materials.

The batch of chakra metal we just acquired is enough to sustain Konoha for a long time.

When will you resell this batch of goods to Konoha?

"Wait another month, until things calm down."

The two lost contact.

...

Hidden Cloud Village.

As the second largest ninja village in the ninja world after Konoha, the village has experienced a decline in strength, reputation and economy after the defeat three years ago.

Although the village has had three years of recuperation, the war reparations and post-war expenses have left it struggling to breathe, and it is still in debt to this day.

However, it's not entirely without good news.

Significant progress has been made in the development of the chakra cannon. Although there are still many details that can be optimized, it is now ready for use. Even in emergencies such as the Jinchuriki losing their combat ability or the Raikage being away from the village, Kumogakure has enough power to protect its homeland.

In addition, the Cloud Village also extracted the Nine-Tails' chakra from the Gold and Silver Brothers' bodies.

In order to quell the conflict between the white-skinned and black-skinned ninja clans in the village, this precious Nine-Tails chakra was sealed into the body of a white-skinned elite Jonin, making him a pseudo-Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

These two newly added trump cards gave Raikage Illaoi confidence that the tragedy of three years ago would never be repeated.

The Gold and Silver Brothers, having lost the power of the Nine-Tails, were sent to Hozuki Castle prison, where the Hidden Grass Village was tasked with inflicting unbearable torture on them until the end of their lives.

The combination of these favorable conditions has solidified the Cloud Village's position as the second-largest ninja in the world.

However, it happened today.

Kumogakure also received intelligence about the attack on Kirigakure. At this moment, Illaoi was sitting in her office with a worried expression.

He was considering something

Should we exchange intelligence with the other four major ninja villages and take the initiative to become whistleblowers in the ninja world?

Two names he loathed appeared in the Hidden Mist Village's public intelligence: Uchiha Yan and Diavolo. Others might not know this, but Illaoi knew it all too well: these two were the instigators of the invasion of the Hidden Cloud Village that led to the tragedy.

The intelligence report did not record the specific details of their invasion of Kirigakure, but Illaoi's intuition told him that Uchiha Yan and Diavolo most likely used the Heavenly Delivery Technique.

Although Kirigakure's overall strength is second to last among the five great ninja villages, their enormous flying ninja beast shouldn't have escaped their notice, preventing them from being able to infiltrate their territory and escape.

Why were these two people able to withstand the side effects of the Heavenly Gift Technique?

Russia was completely baffled.

Among the Cloud Concealment Secret Techniques they stole was the Thunder God Armor, but to learn that technique, the prerequisite is a special physique from the Raikage lineage; outsiders cannot master it.

The logic has fallen into a vicious cycle.

But one thing is certain: if these two really do possess the Heavenly Delivery Technique, it will be a disaster for the ninja world order maintained by the five great ninja villages.

In the past, the conflicts between ninja villages were ultimately a game of interests among the five great nations, with bottom lines and rules to follow.

However, Uchiha Yan was a rogue ninja, not bound by any village rules, and even Konoha was within his reach. They represented absolute disorder and chaos, and were the common enemy of all orthodox ninja villages.

After thinking for a long time, Illaoi let out a long sigh of relief.

For the sake of Yunyin, he finally decided to be selfish just this once.

The village has already been plundered once, so even if Uchiha Yan and his group attack again, the village has enough experience and defenses. Moreover, Kumogakure probably doesn't have anything else worth their coveting now.

But the Hidden Stone Village, the Hidden Sand Village, and the Hidden Leaf Village are different.

They haven't been robbed yet.

Illaoi's idea was simple: only after the other major ninja villages had suffered a loss and a heavy blow would the Cloud Village gain the greatest benefit from sharing this crucial intelligence.

Chapter 200 Uchiha Chiri Wants a Child

A month has passed.

Akatsuki Village dispatched a secret envoy to contact Konoha and begin shipping the goods.

To avoid suspicion, the chakra metal was not delivered all at once, but split into five batches, with each batch containing exactly the amount needed for one ninja sword.

He even personally finalized the deal and spent a large sum of money to complete the purchase.

The price for a single batch of metal is 35 million taels.

He wasn't bothered by the money; it was essentially just money passing from one hand to the other. Once it reached Akatsuki and passed through Kakuzu's hands, it would quickly complete the cycle of making money from money, turning into even more money.

Despite the extensive attempts to conceal it, the appearance of this batch of metal at this particular time still attracted the attention of astute individuals.

...

They arrived at the roots very early.

He first arrived at the Puppet Group, where the group leader, Nara Masato, reported on the recent situation.

"Orochimaru is a true genius." Nara Masato praised him directly. "His talent is obvious to everyone. Since the research group was established, no other researcher has ever had such amazing performance."

"Lord Hokage, you have taken on an extraordinary disciple."

Shen Er accepted all the praise with a smile.

Then, he handed the sealing scroll containing chakra metal to Nara Masato.

When Nara Masato saw the batch of metal, his expression changed. As if he had guessed something, he asked cautiously, "Hokage-sama, where did this batch of chakra metal come from?"

"The village made a secret deal with Akatsuki Village to purchase it."

Nara Masato frowned, analyzing the situation: "This amount is strange, far too much. How could Akatsuki possess so much chakra metal? If the metal mine hadn't been discovered, the attack on Kirigakure a month ago might very well have happened..."

"There's no need to worry about these things; they're not your concern."

"Regardless of where the metal in Akatsuki's hands came from, the batch in Konoha's hands was all bought with real money."

Shen Er interrupted the doubts with his authority and stated the facts: "Intelligence shows that Kirigakure has forged a ninja sword suitable for elite Jonin; Kumogakure has the Six Paths Ninja Tools inherited from ancient times; Sunagakure has puppets... while Konoha has not been able to produce a single village-protecting ninja tool to this day."

"I hope the puppet group can create village-protecting puppets."

"I guarantee I will complete the mission!" Nara Masato solemnly promised, then called out, "Orochimaru, Taisho, you two come here and perform a property test on this chakra metal."

Orochimaru, dressed in a researcher's uniform, rushed over upon hearing the news. He seemed to have completely adapted to and loved his work there.

They carried this large piece of dark blue metal and placed it under the professional instruments.

About ten minutes later...

Researcher Taisho's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement: "What an amazing discovery, Hokage-sama!"

"Through instrument testing and analysis, it can be confirmed that this metal has extremely high toughness."

He quickly tapped a few times on the instrument control panel next to him, printed out the corresponding data, and displayed it completely in front of Shen'er.

Even if he couldn't understand the dense data above, he only needed one result.

Orochimaru, however, offered a different conclusion, speaking calmly and rationally: "This piece of metal may possess self-awareness."

Nara Masato asked in bewilderment, "Metal possesses self-awareness? Orochimaru, are you awake?"

"I just tried injecting chakra into the metal, and it completely 'swallowed' the chakra—that's the most obvious feeling. To confirm my guess, I tried again, and the result was..."

As Orochimaru finished speaking, he once again channeled chakra into the metal.

"With the injection of chakra, the metal structure underwent a transformation, becoming capable of storing and converting energy to a certain extent, ultimately transforming it into energy that ninjas can absorb."

Shen Er stared at the microscopic images on the screen, a look of understanding flashing in his eyes.

When Orochimaru mentioned "swallowing," he already guessed it...

Isn't this Samehada?

Very good, the first batch of chakra metal hit Samehada precisely.

Samehada possesses the most incredible ability among the Seven Ninja Swords to devour and absorb chakra. If used properly, its power is no less than that of a tailed beast.

A great start means the road ahead will be smooth.

As the team leader, Nara Masato personally conducted the experiment and quickly confirmed Orochimaru's conjecture, muttering, "It does indeed have energy storage and conversion properties, and the capacity seems quite large. If we use it as material for puppets..."

As he spoke, his eyes lit up.

A puppet capable of absorbing chakra and possessing incredible toughness that makes it difficult to destroy—its performance is simply beyond imagination.

Legend has it that the First Hokage's Wood Release technique also possesses the ability to absorb chakra. In other words, if this technique were successfully developed, Konoha would essentially receive the First Hokage's protection once again.