Chapter 426: Spirit Transformation Technique
The next day, Ishiro summoned the members of the advisory council to a training ground.
However, besides the high-ranking advisors, there was one other person: Neji, who had come with Kitsuchi.
Kitsuchi led Neji forward and introduced him to the council. In truth, his introduction was completely unnecessary; Neji's pair of Byakugan was proof enough of his identity.
Ishiro asked Neji, "You have already begun your training?"
Neji nodded. "Yes, Lord Tsuchikage. Senior Kitsuchi has been personally instructing us in our training." The "us" he referred to were Kurotsuchi, Haku, and Sōkai before his graduation from the academy.
Originally, Ishiro had wanted to arrange for Haruno Sakura to be with Kitsuchi's group as well, but Sakura had her parents, and he couldn't just break up a family. Besides, letting her grow up normally for now was also a good thing.
Ishiro looked at Neji's determined eyes. "Senior Kitsuchi is a very good teacher. I was once his subordinate and learned many things from him."
In truth, Ishiro hadn't learned anything too amazing from him; Kitsuchi had taught him almost exclusively the fundamentals. But for Ishiro to say this now clearly let Neji feel the importance the village placed on him. To have the Tsuchikage's own teacher personally guide his training—this was a treatment that, in Konoha, not even the main house of the Hyuga would receive, let alone a branch family member like him.
"To break the Caged Bird Seal, you will still need to work hard yourself. In addition to your normal training, you will have to learn some other knowledge."
"For example, sealing jutsu, and also training in the spiritual domain, Yin Release. The Caged Bird Seal encompasses these fields. If you want to break free from the cage, you cannot fall behind in any single aspect."
"The difficulty of training these things is very high and requires a very rich theoretical knowledge as a foundation."
"You cannot be lax in this regard. If you need anything, you can tell Senior Kitsuchi."
Neji nodded thoughtfully.
Ishiro did not directly tell Neji about his deal with Orochimaru. Doing so would make him feel dependent, fostering a sense of wishful thinking.
Then, he said, "I have called you here today because I have obtained a legendary divine weapon. This item is related to the soul, and it is a defensive one."
"I am not sure if it will be of any help to you, who is afflicted with the Caged Bird Seal, but I still plan to give it to you, as a psychological comfort if nothing else."
Neji's mouth opened. He very much wanted to refuse, but bearing the Caged Bird Seal, he truly, desperately needed such an item. So, his mouth remained open for a long time, but nothing came out.
Ishiro rubbed his head. "Accept it with peace of mind. You need this thing more than anyone else."
The other advisors were not fools either. They all spoke up to comfort him, telling him not to overthink it. They told him to stay in Iwagakure and treat the village as his own home, that the high command would do their best to help him solve the problem of the seal.
Neji was very moved.
In Konoha, the entire branch family's nature was suppressed by the Caged Bird Seal. Even between relatives, there was not the same warmth as in other families. In his memory, his father was often on missions, and in his spare time, he was often melancholy because of the seal. So, the care Neji had received in Konoha was very little.
But in Iwagakure, it was completely different.
Ōnoki had given them, these outsiders, excellent care, choosing nannies who were especially gentle and considerate. Moreover, Ōnoki, Kitsuchi, and Shiden had all shown them great care. In addition to them, Kurotsuchi, Haku, and Sōkai had all made Neji feel a sense of bonds.
Oh, right, and there was also a gentle and considerate older sister: Riori Uzumaki.
And now, he heard that Ishiro was going to give him a legendary divine weapon. The advisors were all so understanding; not a single one objected, and they all comforted him.
At this moment, from the depths of his heart, Neji finally recognized Iwagakure, truly regarding it as his own home. He was even thinking that if one day he helped the other members of his clan solve the Caged Bird Seal, he would bring them to settle in Iwagakure.
Iwagakure was a truly warm, big family. It was not like Konoha, which was so cold it made others fearful.
Seeing this, Ishiro smiled inwardly. Although Neji's disposition was far beyond his peers, he was, after all, still a child. How could he withstand the collective brainwashing of these dirty high-ranking officials? It was probably the same for Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha when they were children. Sōkai had also slowly changed his attitude towards Iwagakure under this kind of sugar-coated cannonball attack.
After Neji had experienced the meticulous care of the Will of Stone under the solicitous inquiries of Bella and the others, Ishiro got down to business.
"Alright, I'm going to perform the Spirit Transformation Technique," he said.
After training for so long, Ishiro, who had already reached the third stage of Yin Release, had finally completed his training of the technique. Today would be the first time he would perform this S-rank Yin Release ninjutsu.
Everyone quickly turned their attention back to him.
He formed hand seals and let out a low shout: "Spirit Transformation Technique!"
Then, everyone saw his body go limp, as if it had lost all life, and collapse.
And Ishiro himself felt as if he had suddenly escaped from a swamp. He felt all restraints vanish in an instant, and his entire body became light and ethereal. He floated a few meters above his own body, looked at his spiritual form, then down at his physical body, and found it magical.
He was not using the Light/Heavy Boulder Technique at this time, but his spiritual body was floating in mid-air as if it had no weight. However, as someone sensitive to gravity, he knew that he was not truly free from its control. It was just that his soul was too light, with very little weight, which was why it was temporarily floating and had not fallen down.
He then turned his gaze to Bella and the other advisors and found that they were also looking at him.
"Uh, no, they seem to be looking at the Yata Mirror in my hand." Ishiro turned his gaze to the small divine weapon in his hand.
He could see their mouths opening and closing, but he could not hear any sound. It seemed they couldn't see his spiritual form but could clearly see the Yata Mirror.
What a magical treasure.
He tried to manipulate the Yata Mirror. Sure enough, as he infused his spiritual power into it, its size also changed. He really didn't know what this thing was made of.
However, he did not regret wanting to give it to Neji. To trade a divine weapon for the loyalty of a future Kage-level shinobi was a bargain.
He lowered his altitude and deliberately floated past the crowd so they could get a clear look at the Yata Mirror. Then, he changed it back to its original size, floated over to Neji, and drilled into him from the top of his head.
The next moment, Ishiro's soul had arrived inside Neji's body.
His soul was in an intangible state. Compared to the highly materialized Mōryō, it was completely transparent. But when he saw Neji's soul, he found that his own was already very condensed. Neji's soul, even in his own spiritual eyes, was so ethereal it was almost transparent. And unlike his own soul, which he could control at will, Neji's seemed unable to see anything and was not under control.
No wonder the Spirit Transformation Technique is so simple for killing. Unless the opponent's Yin Release level is like my own, they have no ability to resist.
He cautiously approached Neji.
Sure enough, on the forehead of Neji's spiritual form, there was also the symbol of the Caged Bird Seal.
He gently covered the seal with the Yata Mirror, then controlled its size and shape. In the end, it turned into the appearance of an Iwagakure forehead protector and was worn on Neji's forehead.
Looking at his masterpiece, Ishiro was very satisfied. This fit his persona as the Kage of a village very well.
I don't know if it will be useful, if it can defend against the Caged Bird Seal.
After finishing his business, he left Neji's body and returned directly to his own.
When he returned to his body, the extremely quiet world suddenly became noisy. The voices of Bella and the others seemed much louder than usual. At the same time, he once again felt the feeling of being firmly bound by this world. And unlike before he had left his body, having enjoyed the feeling of freedom, he now found this restraint a bit unbearable.
It felt as if he had also been placed under a Caged Bird Seal. It was uncomfortable.
After a long while, he finally recovered from the discomfort.
When he opened his eyes again, he found that he was already surrounded by Bella and the others.
He took a deep breath, then stood up.
Ikura hurriedly asked, "How do you feel? Are there any side effects?"
The others also looked at him nervously. Just now, they had clearly felt his body move, but he had been slow to wake up.
Ishiro shook his head. "I'm fine. It's just that the feeling of the Spirit Transformation Technique is too peculiar. After I returned to my body, I couldn't get used to it."
Phew~
Ikura breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as you're okay. Is it done?"
Although they didn't know what exactly he had done inside Neji, he had taken the Yata Mirror in but had not brought it out, so they judged that he should have succeeded.
Neji was staring at him with even more nervousness.
Ishiro smiled and rubbed his head. "Don't worry, I've already put it in. It's just that I can't say for sure what the final effect will be."
"But no matter what, don't feel too much pressure. The village is a big family. We are all partners who can give our lives for each other."
"Everyone will help you think of a way together."
Neji's eyes were a little red. He forcefully held back the tears that were about to fall and nodded hard.
Seeing this, Ishiro was very satisfied and silently gave himself a thumbs-up.
The group discussed his experience with the Spirit Transformation Technique and various speculations about the magical performance of the Yata Mirror for a while. Then, Ishiro arranged for someone to send Neji back.
After Neji left, Saka said, "Ishiro, you said that our main opponent has now become Kumogakure. Should we deploy some forces along the coastline to defend against their invasion?"
Ishiro thought for a moment. "Deploying a large number of conventional forces is actually not very useful. It can only serve as a warning."
"Just like this time, when the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, invaded, the ninja on the border almost all became his battle record."
"Moreover, we are now the strong, proactive party. What we need to do is not defend against our opponents, but suppress them."
"It's not that Kumo is going to invade, but that Kumo has to defend against our invasion."
"Instead of arranging manpower to wait fruitlessly on the border, it's better to send people to harass the Land of Lightning from time to time, so that they have no mind or energy to come to the Land of Earth."
"We are now the hegemon of the ninja world. We are the ones who should be the fearsome, trembling evil invaders. Adjust your mentality quickly."
"Think about it. This time, we took the initiative to occupy the Land of Waterfalls and even disbanded all the Taki-nin. Who made a peep?"
"There will be more of this in the future. Everyone has to get used to it."
"Offense is the best defense. We must aggressively expand our own territory and compress our opponents' living space."
Hearing his words, everyone was stunned.
Saka was still not quite used to the change in status that Ishiro spoke of. "Is this really okay? Won't there be problems?"
Ishiro said, "Didn't Konoha do this in its early years? They continuously strengthened themselves by absorbing the nutrients of other hidden villages. Who objected?"
"All the opposing forces have disappeared. I remember, there used to be a Sky Village. Wasn't it destroyed by Konoha?"
Although the group was a little apprehensive about Ishiro's radical mentality, considering his past grasp of the situation, they still nodded.
(End of Chapter)
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