Naruto: My setting is above yours.

If this Konoha ninja squad isn't dealt with, their supply lines will definitely be completely disrupted.

The Iwa ninja, led by the Jonin, quickly sprang into action.

at the same time.

Meanwhile, Genma and the others, having escaped the encirclement of more than twenty Iwa ninja, hid in a thicket to rest.

Sakumo Hatake's appearance brought a huge sigh of relief to everyone.

After all, they had seen Sakumo Hatake being chased by a large group of Iwa ninja from afar.

"How many Iwa ninja strongholds did you destroy?"

"I asked Hatake Sakumo."

Jingyin knelt beside him and treated his injuries.

Genma took out a soldier's ration pill and handed it to his teacher, Hatake Sakumo. Yamashiro Aoba replied, "Sakumo-sensei, we've destroyed seven so far, but the Iwa ninja have realized what's happening and started setting traps instead."

After eating a soldier's ration pill, Hatake Sakumo said, "This is normal. Iwa ninja can't just sit back and take hits forever."

"Moreover, the Iwa ninja should be able to search this place soon, so we can't rest for too long."

Yamashiro Aoba said, "In that case, the Iwa ninja's forces should have gathered together. They probably already number over 100, right?"

Being surrounded by more than 100 Iwa ninja, it would be a lie to say I wasn't nervous!

Of course, thanks to the transformation technique of the Wind-Riding Horse, Yamashiro Aoba remained relatively calm despite being nervous.

At this moment, Genma couldn't help but feel that "the scale is not enough," after all, the Third Raikage was besieged by thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

This shows that even though Konoha's White Fang was known to all the major ninja villages and had a great reputation, no one would treat him like the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

Hatake Sakumo didn't think he lacked prestige and decided, "After resting for a while, we'll set off to retreat. We'll evacuate by air, head south into the Land of Grass, stay there for half a day, and then re-enter the Land of Earth."

Xuanma and the other two nodded in unison without any objection.

The plan is to retreat first, wait for the Iwa ninja forces to disperse, and then infiltrate again to continue causing destruction. It's a very reasonable plan.

Ten minutes later, Shizune completely healed Sakumo Hatake's injuries.

Ten minutes later, Xuanma used his transformation spell to turn everyone into vultures again, and then they took off one after another, flying south.

About 10 minutes later, Explosion Release: Gari, Ishio, and other Jonin from Iwagakure arrived at the bushes with over a hundred people and found the bloodstained bandages left behind by Hatake Sakumo.

"It really is a reverse spirit communication technique!"

Looking at the traces left by Genma and the others, Ishio became even more certain of his conjecture.

Oishi, who was blind in one eye, said, "This is indeed the most likely possibility. Although that brat named Yufeng Genma knows space-time ninjutsu, judging from our previous encounters, his movement distance is very limited."

Huoguang quickly surveyed the surroundings and then said, "It seems the retreat was also carried out using reverse spirit communication techniques, leaving no trace of their departure."

Explosion Release Hunter sneered: "They made a wise choice, otherwise this would have been their burial ground."

He was a little unwilling.

He originally intended to kill those guys from Konoha to avenge himself.

Ishio's gaze swept over the traces in the bushes, but he didn't completely relax: "These guys infiltrated here to sabotage our plans, and they probably won't leave so easily."

"Make the perception team more vigilant. Once an anomaly is detected, they absolutely cannot act independently as before."

Several Jonin nodded in agreement.

……

Iwagaku Village, at dusk.

Onoki received the information from Explosion Release: Hunting and his team, but after reading it, he couldn't help but frown: "They let the Konoha guys get away?"

"Reverse psychic techniques?"

Onoki was very unhappy. He had suffered such a great loss, yet the people of Konoha had escaped unharmed.

He looked up at his son, Huang Tu: "Send a message to Kari and Ishio: the people of Konoha won't end their harassment so easily."

"Make them be very vigilant!"

Huang Tu nodded and was about to turn around to deliver the message when Onoki added, "Add another 500 men, and have Higashi-no-Kami lead the team."

"500 people?"

Huang Tu was taken aback: "Even if it were Konoha's White Fang, he wouldn't need this many troops, would he?"

Onoki was adamant: "If it really is a reverse summoning technique, then we shouldn't give them the chance to use it."

If a time for reverse summoning is not agreed upon beforehand, then the summoning beast must be summoned first, then the summoning must be dispelled, and then the summoning beast will perform the reverse summoning technique on the other side.

This way, there's still a chance to take down Konoha's White Fang and his group.

If the enemy is prepared to retreat at any time, then these additional 500 people will prevent Konoha's White Fang and his group from causing as much destruction as before.

and……

Onoki's face was cold: "If the people of Konoha really withdraw, then if the Grass Village doesn't cooperate with us, we'll attack the Land of Grass first!"

Huang Tu's expression turned serious upon hearing this, and he nodded, saying, "Yes, I understand!"

Now is indeed not a good time to start a war with Konoha, but Huang Tu has no objection to attacking Kusagakure.

However, he didn't think the Grass Ninja Village would refuse to cooperate.

Now that Amegakure has taken over the Land of Rivers, and with the support of Konoha, they are ambitious. How could Kusagakure not be afraid of Amegakure attacking the Land of Grass?

Chapter 72

The Land of Grass.

At the dimly lit cave entrance, Xuanma sat cross-legged, his eyes lowered, and electric currents occasionally emanated from his body.

Since he had nothing better to do than stand guard at night, he used his lightning chakra to activate and train his cells.

Anyway, he also had his clone turn into an owl to monitor the surroundings.

This training process is actually a continuous improvement of the body's cells' ability to withstand the intensity of Lightning Release chakra.

The stronger the tolerance, the stronger the activation will be, and the explosive power, speed, and reaction speed will also be improved.

Another side effect is that the physical body will gradually become stronger through such training.

"If we hadn't been so eager to use Hanzo to cause trouble last time, directly enhancing physical strength would have been the best option, rather than directly modifying Lightning Release: Body Flicker."

Feeling the tingling sensation in his body, Genma couldn't help but have a thought.

Having modified his physique and physical strength, and already mastered Lightning Release: Body Flicker Technique, mastering Lightning Release: Chakra Mode would obviously be relatively easy for him.

Now, if we reverse the process, it will probably be even more difficult.

Of course, this is a matter of weighing the immediate and the long-term.

"My current strength isn't bad; at least it's enough to protect myself in war. Whether it's lightning release or illusion techniques, developing them myself is just a matter of time. Perhaps I should transfer the modifications from the settings to myself, such as my physique or my spirit and soul—areas that are difficult to cultivate..."

A thought arose in Xuanma's mind.

In the beginning, prioritizing the improvement of strength and self-defense capabilities is certainly not wrong; it is a necessary trade-off.

But now, shouldn't we consider changing our approach?

Even if we don't say that all the settings should be used to modify physique and soul, at least most of them should be spent on those.

Perhaps we really should think about this carefully.

Xuanma thought to himself.

……

As night deepened, the chirping of insects outside began to subside.

Inside the cave, Hatake Sakumo opened his eyes, got up, and went to his disciple's side: "Go and rest, leave the rest to me."

Xuanma opened his eyes, nodded, got up and lay down next to Jingyin, who was already fast asleep in the cave, and quickly hypnotized himself to enter a deep sleep.

However, he still did not recall the clones he had set up outside.

Nothing happened that night. The next morning, after the clone was dispelled, the memories returned, waking Genma from his sleep.

After a quick wash in the nearby stream, the team set off for the Land of Earth.

They still used transformation magic to enter the country from the air.

Given our current intelligence advantage, this is undoubtedly the best way to infiltrate and infiltrate.

If the enemy obtains this intelligence, the open terrain of the Land of Earth, lacking vegetation, is actually unsuitable for aerial infiltration, as it would be too easy to be monitored.

In a deserted valley, the four members of the Sakumo Squad landed.

Xuanma immediately chose to enter Sage Mode to gain superhuman perception.

"Ok?"

Genma raised an eyebrow slightly, and under the gaze of Hatake Sakumo and the other two, he explained, "Something's not right. Iwagakure has a lot more people in this area than yesterday."

Sakumo Hatake frowned: "It seems Iwagakure has reinforced its troops overnight."

Yamashiro Aoba asked in surprise and doubt, "Could it be because of us?"

Sakumo Hatake said, "Let's not make assumptions for now."

Meanwhile, Xuanma was still expanding his range of perception.

In non-immortal mode, his perception ability can maintain accuracy within 10 kilometers, but the accuracy will drop rapidly as the distance increases.

Of course, this is also related to the chakra strength of the object being perceived.

A chakra as powerful as Madara Uchiha's could be sensed even across several countries during a battle.

In Sage Mode, one can perceive things by utilizing the omnipresent natural energy, and even while maintaining accuracy, the range of perception can be increased to a terrifying 100 times.

Therefore, even though the Iwa ninjas were not gathered together, Genma was able to easily detect that something was wrong as he spread out his sensory abilities.

"Teacher, compared to yesterday, the Iwa ninja's forces have increased by at least 400, possibly more."

Genma estimated for a moment and continued, "If we are discovered by the Iwa ninja, it will probably only take half an hour at most for us to be surrounded by hundreds of Iwa ninja."

Shizune was stunned: "This...this is too outrageous!"