bookbashuk Chapter 105 Bottleneck
Chapter 105 Bottleneck
Chapter 105 Bottleneck
Ninjas are such a fragile profession; they possess extraordinary power, but their own defense is quite poor.
Whether it's ninjutsu, swords, or even a shuriken, it can take a ninja's life.
This fight really taught Taiichi a good lesson. In a head-on confrontation, no matter what methods Nagano Katsu used, he couldn't even scratch Taiichi's skin.
However, due to a moment of carelessness, he was successfully ambushed, and a short sword almost took Taiyi's life.
So how can we improve our own defense?
Currently, the Third Raikage possesses the strongest defense in the ninja world. Both his lightning-attribute chakra armor and his perfectly honed physique provide him with unparalleled protection.
It is said that the Third Raikage was able to fight the Eight-Tails in one-on-one with just his body, which gives you an idea of just how strong his defense was.
With the Third Raikage as a reference, Taiichi also had some ideas on improving his own defense.
First and foremost is the physical body. Taiyi believes that as his physical skills level continues to improve and his body is constantly tempered, his physical defense will definitely continue to increase. Moreover, judging from the nature of the stats, there are basic physical skills before, advanced physical skills now, and who knows, there might even be master physical skills in the future.
In short, he is very confident in his ability to work with the panel.
The only drawback is that it requires a long period of training and cannot be effective in the short term.
Another idea is ninjutsu, and there are quite a few ninjutsu in the ninja world that can provide extra defense to the body. The common five-element ninjutsu include Lightning Release Armor, Earth Release Hardening Technique, Steel Release Steel Body, and Earth Release Sand Clothing.
Even more powerful are Susanoo, Tailed Beast Cloak, and Six Paths Mode.
Taiichi's favorite is Gaara's Sand Armor from the future. It looks no different from an ordinary person, but its defensive power can easily withstand Lee's high-speed kick after opening the door.
This level of defense is more than enough to deal with ordinary sneak attacks. As for stronger attacks, that's beyond what sneak attacks can do, and Taiyi is not afraid to face the enemy head-on.
Looking at the series of ninjutsu he had recorded from his memories, Taiichi had a headache. He had the ninjutsu he liked, but he didn't know how to practice it. After thinking it over, Taiichi finally decided to develop a suitable ninjutsu on his own.
Thinking it over, Taiyi pulled out all the ninjutsu materials that Tsunade had left him. It contained all five elemental ninjutsu. After searching through it, he found some ninjutsu with similar effects, but none of them suited his taste.
However, since the decision has been made to develop it independently, these ninjutsu techniques are only meant to provide some reference value.
Thinking it over, Taiyi picked up a scroll and began to study it, while also jotting down his thoughts and insights with a pen.
At the same time, in the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his large desk, the wisps of smoke rising from his pipe obscuring his deep gaze. Homura Mitokado stood to one side, the two listening to the reports from Koharu Utatane and Seisuke Yamaguchi.
After the report was finished, Xiaochun from the dormitory took out the draft for 7 million taels and handed it over.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took the draft, slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, and tapped his fingers lightly on the table: "7 million ryo, that's almost half more than expected. You did a great job this time."
"That's great. The village's financial situation has finally been alleviated. The previous purchase of war supplies had almost emptied the village's reserves." Mitomon En also breathed a sigh of relief.
"But the Daimyo's attitude—" Koharu Utatane frowned, "He not only used samurai to test the Konoha ninjas, but also sent officials to secretly win over the genin during the banquet. Especially towards Taichi, he repeatedly mentioned his orphan status, thinking we hadn't discovered it. His intentions are too obvious."
"Oh?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze sharpened, and he sat bolt upright, his expression becoming much more serious. "It seems the daimyo is no longer satisfied with the power he holds?"
"I just don't know if he just wants to expand his own power, or if he has ideas about the 'one country, one village' framework," Koharu Utatane continued.
Mitokado Homura, standing to the side, sneered, "Since the First Hokage established this system, the Daimyo's domain and Konoha have always kept to themselves. Now he's secretly recruiting samurai and coveting our ninjas. Does he intend to abandon Konoha?"
"That's not all," Yamaguchi Seisuke added. "During that time, the Daimyo inquired about Konoha's manpower situation, hoping to regularly send Jonin squads to Kyoto. I suspect they wanted to use the guise of protection to infiltrate and recruit them."
The office fell silent for a moment, and the rustling of leaves outside the window seemed particularly irritating at that moment.
"Hiruzen, give us an answer!" Koharu Utatane lowered her voice. "If the daimyo really has such thoughts, what should we do about the village?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes and pondered, the image of Danzo unconsciously flashing through his mind. If Danzo were here, he might be able to offer some useful advice. However, thinking of the cold look in Danzo's eyes when he received the Root list not long ago, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but give up the idea of finding him in the short term.
After a long pause, he opened his eyes, his tone grave: "First, strengthen intelligence gathering. Send the secret service to monitor the movements of Daming Prefecture and see if they make any unusual moves. Without substantial evidence, there's nothing we can do right now."
""
"Hiruzen, it's better to let Danzo have him—"
Mitomon Homura had barely opened his mouth when Sarutobi Hiruzen interrupted him without hesitation.
"That's enough, En. The Anbu can do this kind of thing too. Let Root keep an eye on the other ninja villages."
The office fell even quieter, everyone remained silent, none of them having expected why Hiruzen Sarutobi was so angry.
After a long silence, Yamaguchi Seisuke cautiously broke it: "What about Taiichi and the others—"
"Let's hold back for now." Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his cigarette ash. "Since the daimyo is interested in Taiichi, there will most likely be more to come. We might as well turn the tables and let Taiichi bring back more information."
"You mean—a spy!"
Time flies, and several days have passed in the blink of an eye. Just as the Konoha leadership had guessed, the Daimyo sent his envoy to Konoha, requesting that they dispatch guards.
The number of people doesn't need to be large, just three Jonin squads. This number isn't too many, because it won't affect Kyoto's defense; but it's not too few either, because it's more than enough to protect the Daimyo.
This is undoubtedly a provocative act for the already sensitive nerves of Konoha's leadership.
Unfortunately, the Daimyo's office acted in accordance with normal mission assignments, and all procedures were legal and compliant. As the only ninja village in the Land of Fire, Konoha had no reason to refuse.
Otherwise, who would bother coming to Konoha to make requests? They'd only accept easy missions and refuse the difficult ones. What would become of the Daimyo's funding? If other ninja villages knew about this, they'd just laugh at Konoha's weakness—they couldn't even take on missions from their own country.
Therefore, the Hokage could only select his trusted subordinates, explain the key points to them, and then assign them to carry out this guard mission.
The Hokage himself knew that in this kind of situation, one could only be a thief for a thousand days, not a thief for a thousand days. In time, there would always be a few ninjas who couldn't resist the temptation and accepted the Daimyo's offer of recruitment.
It seems we still have to let Danzo handle this; he's the only one who excels at this kind of thing.
Ignoring the infighting among Konoha's higher-ups, Taiichi was engrossed in writing at his desk, his study littered with discarded manuscripts.
Taiyi has been in this state for the past few days. If he didn't know how to create shadow clones for training, he would probably be completely possessed. Even so, his eyes are bloodshot, his hair is a mess like a bird's nest, and his clothes are covered with ink stains and food scraps.
Developing ninjutsu is no easy task. Taiichi's previous creations, such as Water Release: Wild Water Dance, Chakra Perception, and Super Strength Version of Body Flicker, were all inspired by chance and gradually completed after finding the initial clues.
However, Taiichi was completely clueless about developing ninjutsu this time. His mind was blank, and he had no idea where to begin. It's a mystery how the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, could think of such a thing, with so many A-rank ninjas in Konoha...
He developed all the S-rank forbidden techniques by himself.
Thinking back to the original story, it took Minato three years to develop just one Rasengan. He was extremely lucky to have successfully developed the other ninjutsu before.
Just as Taiichi was becoming increasingly obsessed with developing ninjutsu, a sudden knocking sound came from the door.
Taiyi was slightly taken aback by the sound, wondering who would come looking for him at this time.
The moment the door opened, the dazzling sunlight blinded Taiyi, making everything in his eyes appear white. Taiyi instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes, but this was due to his long-term exposure to darkness and the sudden bright light.
"Taiichi, how long has it been since you went out? What happened to you?" Yohei's exclamation came from beside him. Saori also gasped in surprise.
At this moment, Taiyi's eyes gradually adjusted to the sunlight and he could see the two people in front of him clearly: "Yangping,
"Saori, what brings you here?"
"Have you gone mad from staying home all the time? Have you forgotten what day it is today?" Yang Ping looked like he'd seen a ghost. This was the first time he'd ever seen Taiyi like this. Taiyi used to always be so confident and self-assured. Unlike now, he was a complete couch potato.
Tai led the two into the house, muttering, "What day is it today?" His dazed mind was like a rusty gear, clicking and unable to turn.
"Today is the day we agreed to train together!" Saori gently reminded Taichi when she saw that he couldn't remember. "We waited for you at the training ground for a long time but didn't see you, so we came to your house to look for you."
"Ah! Damn it, I completely forgot about that." Taiichi looked guilty and apologized repeatedly to Yohei and Saori.
"Hey Taiichi, what are you doing at home? It's such a mess!" Yangping asked, pointing to the piles of draft papers all over the room.
Looking in the direction Yangping was pointing, Taiyi, who had just regained some spirit, slumped down again, like a snake whose bones had been removed.
"Ugh, I'm trying to develop ninjutsu, but I'm completely clueless. I'm so frustrated I feel like my head is about to explode." Taiichi sat weakly in his chair, irritably grabbing his hair, which had become a bird's nest. He told Yohei and Saori about his experience of trying to develop defensive ninjutsu over the past few days.
"No way, no way, Taiichi, have you been thinking about this all this time?!" Yangping looked incredulous, as if he were meeting Taiichi for the first time.
Saori had the same expression, looking at Taichi as if he were an alien.
Now it was Taiyi's turn to be confused. He asked, bewildered, "What? Is there a problem?"
Yangping and Saori looked at each other, and finally Saori spoke up to explain: "Taiyi, although I have never developed ninjutsu, I have heard my father say that the development of ninjutsu is a very long process, and it is not something that can be done overnight. Very few people say that they can develop ninjutsu today and complete it tomorrow."
Saori's words struck Taichi like a thunderclap.
Yes, I was really getting stuck on this. The Second Hokage spent his whole life developing ninjutsu, and I'm still so young; Minato spent three years developing the Rasengan, and I knew that all along, yet I still thought I could develop it in a short time.
They were really blinded by their previous successes.
Having figured everything out, Taiichi suddenly felt a sense of relief. "Thank you so much, Saori, Yohei! If you hadn't come today, I don't know how much longer I would have remained lost in this obsession!"
"Haha, Saori, how about it? I'm so glad I insisted on coming!" Yangping boasted to Saori, then turned to Taiichi, "Aren't you going to get ready? We're not training today, let's go out and relax. A balance between work and rest is the right thing to do!"
Hearing Yangping's arrangements, Taiichi was deeply moved. To help him, Yangping and Saori had given up their original training plans just to help him relax. Taiichi felt their sincerity.
"Wait a moment!"
Taiichi quickly walked into the inner room, and soon the sound of running water could be heard. A dozen minutes later, when Taiichi reappeared in front of Yohei and Saori after tidying himself up, apart from looking a little tired, he had regained his usual confidence.
"Come on, to thank everyone, I'll treat you to barbecue today!" Taiyi called to the two of them, and they all walked outside together to begin their day of relaxation.
The streets of Konoha were as bustling and lively as ever, and the crowds of people brought Taiichi back to the human world. Taking a deep breath, Taiichi felt the long-lost fresh air, and the pent-up frustration of the past few days seemed to be exhaled with that breath.
"Hey, Taiichi, what are you daydreaming about!" Yohei grabbed Taiichi's shoulder and pointed to a newly opened dessert shop ahead: "Look, their three-color dumplings are pretty good, buy one and try it, sweets can make people happy!"
Saori walked beside the two, but her gaze was drawn to the price tags on the doors of the general store on the street.
"That's strange," she muttered to herself. "Does the price of rice change every day? It wasn't this high a couple of days ago."
"What?" Taiichi followed Saori's gaze and saw a label that read, "New rice arrived, 120 per jin."
"Two taels." He remembered that when he bought rice a few days ago, it cost 100 taels. "The price had been rising recently, but not as much as it has today."
Yang Ping ignored the three-colored meatballs and came over as well, his brows furrowing involuntarily: "It's not just rice, look over there at the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, the prices have all gone up."
The three of them simultaneously recalled the 7 million ryo military funds they had brought back from the daimyo a few days ago. Taiichi lowered his voice: "It seems the village has already started purchasing basic supplies—"
Merchants are often more astute and quicker to react than anyone else. They can always detect slight fluctuations in prices and changes in the types of goods traded immediately and make corresponding adjustments.
With prices rising so dramatically, the village must know it can't be kept secret any longer and has started to increase its purchasing efforts.
The streets were still bustling with pedestrians, and the shouts of vendors rose and fell, but the three of them felt much heavier at this moment.
"Is this going to be another war?" Saori asked incredulously. "We've only had peace for a few years!"
A silence fell over them. Suddenly, Yang Ping patted the two on the back, deliberately raising his voice an octave: "Hey, we came out today to relax, we even stopped cultivating for it, and now you're thinking about war? That's something for the village leaders to worry about. Let's just have fun today!"
Taiyi was startled awake by the tap, and seeing Yangping's winking and grimacing, he couldn't help but chuckle: "You're right, even if the sky falls, the Hokage will hold it up!"
"Come on, let's go eat at each restaurant one by one today and try all the good food. It's on me!" Taiyi called out to everyone.
The worry in Saori's eyes gradually faded, and a faint smile appeared on her lips: "You said it yourself, so don't complain that I eat too much later."
"Haha, Taiyi's going to be spending a fortune today!" Yangping waved his arms exaggeratedly. "Let's go, let's go! First, we'll eat three-colored dumplings, then go to the fruit shop, and then have barbecue for lunch!"
The three regained their energy and strolled along the street, eating, drinking, and playing around until noon. They then sat down at a barbecue restaurant, chatting while waiting for the meat to cook.
Saori sipped her drink and suddenly said, "Actually, I don't think you need to rush to develop new ninjutsu, Taichi. You're already very strong."
"Yeah." Yangping watched the meat slices slowly cook, then grabbed several pieces and stuffed them into his mouth, mumbling incoherently, "Even the two of us combined couldn't beat you. Your strength is now comparable to a Jonin!"
Taiichi paused, his hand holding the chopsticks pausing, a warm feeling welling up inside him once again. He looked up at the concerned eyes of his two companions and suddenly felt that the problems that had been troubling him were not so important anymore.
"Thank you," he said softly. "However, we will continue to develop the ninjutsu that needs to be developed, but we won't get bogged down in the details anymore."
"That's more like it!" Yangping raised his glass of juice. "Come on, cheers! To our friendship, and to the successful development of Taiichi's ninjutsu."
"Cheers!"*3
The three cups clinked together in the air, making a crisp sound.
Tai took a sip of his juice, watching it swirl around in the glass, and fell into deep thought. "What do you think is the principle behind the Hozuki clan's water transformation technique?"