Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

Therefore, the key to solving the problem still lies with Jiraiya. Without being noticed, we need to extract the spatial coordinates of Mount Myōboku from Jiraiya.

With this in mind, he first approached Nakime and asked her about her understanding of summoning jutsu.

Summoning Jutsu and Heavenly Delivery Jutsu are both space-time ninjutsu, so perhaps we can find a way to counter them by analogy.

After listening to Shen'er's detailed explanation, Ming'er pondered carefully and gave her reply after a moment:

“I can sense spatial fluctuations to a certain extent. If the other party frequently uses reverse spirit communication to travel between the two places, and accumulates enough times, I can roughly pinpoint the destination of the spirit communication.”

Even a vague range is enough.

If Uchiha Yan arrives at the target area ahead of time, he can use the Heavenly Delivery Technique to teleport directly there and complete the blitzkrieg.

"how long it takes?"

“I haven’t actually tested it.” Nakime gave a cautious estimate, “but the spatial fluctuations are too scattered, and it will take me about seven or eight years to complete the process, requiring repeated corrections and route determination.”

"So long?"

He even blurted it out.

He hadn't expected that it would take so long to deduce the coordinates from the spirit medium.

Reverse Summoning Technique is an advanced application of Summoning Technique. Apart from the ninja beasts of the Three Sacred Lands, other ninja beasts, even the intelligent Cat Granny clan, cannot use it.

Otherwise, there would be no need to use the Reverse Summoning Technique; it would be much more convenient to leave a summoning beast in Konoha.

Naruto felt no pressure and simply instructed, "I'm leaving this to you. Don't feel pressured, just take your time and get a feel for it. You have plenty of time."

"Yes, Lord Shen!"

The assassination of the Toad Sage cannot be rushed; the more hasty the action, the more likely it is to lead to unexpected situations.

So he chose to let time solve the problem.

At the same time, in order to avoid being observed by the Heavenly Eye, he ordered Uchiha Yan to control the Two-Tails Jinchuriki to "act normally" so as not to reveal that he was being imprisoned.

Shen Er had done his best in counter-surveillance. If he was still noticed by the Toad Sage, he could only sigh, "It's fate."

...

The things the Toad Sage saw in his precognitive dreams were fragmented; he could not see the future in detail.

Besides these, there is another possibility: nightmares.

After waking up, you won't remember anything, only a cold sweat, proving that the dream was not a good one.

The Toad Sage only encountered this situation when Kaguya Otsutsuki descended. After Kaguya was sealed away, the nightmare disappeared.

But lately, similar nightmares have become more and more frequent.

Sometimes, a single deep sleep can lead to dreams that last for weeks or even months. Upon waking, all that remains is a pounding heart.

This is definitely not a good thing.

Based on the information gathered from his conversation with Hagoromo, a massive catastrophe was likely brewing somewhere. The Toad Sage, no longer waiting to see how things would unfold, actively refined his Sage Chakra and used the Sage Telescope Technique to observe the ninja world.

What appears to be a vibrant and thriving scene, where a calamity foreshadows destruction, lies lurking?

The magic of the telescope.

Unlike the pirated telescopes developed by Tobirama and requiring installation in Konoha.

The Toad Sage's Telescope Technique uses a crystal ball as a medium, allowing him to locate targets and record images regardless of location. The prerequisite is knowing the nature of the target's chakra.

As long as this condition is met, the crystal ball can lock onto the target location no matter how far apart they are.

Chakra characteristics are the only requirement for this technique.

Because he was an old friend of Hagoromo and had left him a prophecy that "the blue-eyed boy calls out the names of the nine beasts with a smile," the Toad Sage was very clear about the tailed beast chakra.

Thinking that the nightmare omen was most likely related to Kaguya, it used the unique chakra of the tailed beasts as a reference to set up a telescope and check the current state of each of the nine tailed beasts.

The One-Tailed Beast, sealed within a ninja of the Land of Water, is in a docile state.

The Two-Tails is sealed inside a ninja in the Land of Rice Fields; everything is normal.

【…】

The Four-Tails, sealed within the body of a ninja from the Land of Fire, appears to be content with its seal.

After checking around, the Toad Sage couldn't find the problem, which put him at ease.

The long-term reliance on prophecies leads to a subconscious belief that one's past prophecies were correct.

If it were more quick-witted and paid more attention to the situation in the ninja world, it could have immediately sensed something was wrong by asking any ninja about the tailed beasts' condition...

One-Tail is violent and could not possibly be so docile; Two-Tail should not be in the Land of Rice Fields; and Four-Tail should not be sealed inside a ninja in the Land of Fire.

The senile toad immortal overlooked all the flaws.

The Toad Sage slumped in his chair, took a deep drag of his cigarette, and uneasily adjusted his posture. He was tormented by the impending disaster, yet unable to pinpoint its source.

...

July, Konoha Year 33.

Time flies, and almost seven years have passed since Black Zetsu was sealed inside Danzo.

Hokage Building.

The passage of time seemed to leave no trace on Zenjiro; this was his twelfth year as Hokage. His term had already surpassed that of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and was only one year away from Hashirama's thirteen-year reign.

Ninja Academy, Gospel Hospital, Shadow Spirit Hall, Police Department, Ichiraku Ramen Shop... If you pay a little attention, you can see traces of Shen'er everywhere.

The situation in the ninja world remained largely stable, avoiding any discussion of hot war and continuing the consistent Cold War approach. It transitioned into a Cold War era of limited economic and cultural exchange.

Shen Er sat at his desk, reviewing the intelligence gathered by the secret service.

Kirigakure has become a village of blood and mist, with almost all communication with the outside world cut off. The entire Land of Water has adopted a policy of isolation, intending to cultivate high-quality ninjas through a brutal, competitive system akin to breeding poison.

Such policies have indeed played a certain role.

At least the secrecy was in place; all of Konoha and Akatsuki's intelligence sources within Kirigakure had been eliminated. Based on scattered intelligence, it can be inferred that Kirigakure has not abandoned its plan to forge ninja swords.

However, chakra metal is an extremely scarce resource across the entire ninja world.

Without the appearance of the foreign merchant, even after so many years, it would be almost impossible to restore the glory of the Seven Ninja Swords.

Sunagakure also successfully completed the power transition between the second and third Kazekage.

The Second Kazekage, Shamon, voluntarily stepped down and retired to the background, and was succeeded by Shimi, who was skilled in Magnet Release, to become the Third Kazekage.

Over the course of seven years, Loulan, a kingdom within a kingdom nestled in the desert, was buried by sandstorms. According to reports from the secret service, the Sand Village has sealed off the entire Loulan ruins with an extremely high level of secrecy, leaving the outside world with no way of knowing what is happening inside.

Thanks to the existence of the Three-Tails, numerous oases have sprung up in the deserts of the Land of Wind.

With sufficient water resources, the local living environment has improved significantly, and the fiscal revenue of Sunagakure has steadily increased. The embarrassing situation of the Kazekage personally venturing into the desert for metallurgy has not recurred.

There's nothing particularly noteworthy about Iwagakure or Kumogakure.

Furthermore, let's talk about the layout of the Konoha Hokage Building.

The Hokage Building is now completely under the control of the Senju couple. The former Hokage's assistant, Senju Takayuki, has been promoted to Daimyo's assistant and left Konoha.

Behind this lies another poignant story.

Konoha is thirty years old, and Nawaki is five.

A tragic incident occurred in Daimyo's residence: the young, promising, and ambitious Second Daimyo of the Land of Fire, from the Shinobi Village, accidentally fell into the pond in the inner courtyard of his residence and drowned.

The entire Land of Fire was left leaderless.

A power struggle comparable to the struggle for succession among the nine princes erupted within Daming Prefecture.

Seeing the capital in chaos and on the verge of internal strife.

The Third Hokage, Zenji, was unwilling to see the Land of Fire crumble, so he overruled all objections and nominated Senju Nawaki to succeed him as the Third Daimyo.

This is not in accordance with etiquette.

After all, Rope Tree's bloodline was not pure; he was neither a legitimate son nor a son born out of wedlock.

How could a child from another family who had never returned to the capital, a child who called the second-generation daimyo's uncle, be qualified to become a daimyo? In terms of both sentiment and reason, he had no right to inherit the position of daimyo.

The chief of the Guardian Ninjas, Kazuya, even pointed out that this was a conspiracy by the Hokage.

The Third Hokage harbored rebellious intentions and wanted to seize the position of Daimyo.

However, no one stood by Kazuya's side.

The situation has taken a turn for the worse.

When the Third Hokage announced that he would support Senju Nawaki as the daimyo, a large number of officials from the Land of Fire sided with him.

Kazuya could only glare resentfully at the group of defecting ministers: "You! Have you forgotten the daimyo's kindness?"

He never expected that the ministers who should have stood on the same side would all side with the Hokage.

The Zen temple was not surprised.

How much ninja power can the Twelve Guardian Ninjas withstand? Can they protect the capital? The Hokage has personally spoken out, choosing his successor. Who dares to object? How much is their monthly salary? Are they out of their minds?

Over the years, Shen Er even dispatched a squad of secret agents to gather intelligence on ministers in the capital. He tried a strategy of diplomacy first, then force; those who refused bribes only received a report of incriminating information from the secret agents. Even so, those who still refused to support Nawaki had their fates obvious.

All of these factors proved effective in this crucial decision of which side to take.

Ultimately, Nawaki successfully succeeded to the position, becoming the new daimyo of the Land of Fire.

Although the succession process sparked discussion, the voices were not harsh.

Nawaki ultimately inherited the bloodline of the daimyo, only the lineage was relatively distant. It didn't constitute a major taboo of usurping power, and everyone could accept it out of politeness.

Nawaki was still young and inexperienced in state affairs. After ascending the throne, the princess and Senju Takayuki went to the capital to assist in governing the country. The princess and Takayuki were also ignorant of state affairs, but they stood on the side of Konoha and knew that to protect Konoha's interests, it was better to entrust state affairs to "experts" for guidance.

In this way, Shen Er successfully cultivated a highly malleable, flexible, easy-going, indecisive, opinionated, and unsharp-thinking individual who lacked the ability to change the status quo, was easily manipulated, knew how to be guided, and could leave important national affairs to experts.

He naturally became the de facto ruler of the Land of Fire.

As for Tsunade...

With her family all gone to the capital, she, as a full-time ninja, could only temporarily set aside the bonds of family and devote herself wholeheartedly to her ninja career.

"Teacher, we're here."

Upon hearing that familiar voice, one immediately knew who had arrived.