Chapter 435: Kumogakure
Contrary to Ishiro's expectations, Darui, who was in charge of Kumogakure, did not panic and put the entire village on lockdown. Instead, he maintained the village's calm as if nothing had happened.
Descriptions of Kumogakure in the original story were few, but Iwagakure had planted many intelligence ninja there. While they couldn't obtain important secrets, they still had basic information. The archives in Iwagakure had records of which institutions did what and where they were located. Ishiro had long since memorized all of this.
After enjoying a good meal at an izakaya, Ishiro headed straight for his destination.
Originally, he had thought that if Kumo was searching for the White Zetsu clones, he could clear his own suspicions by eating and drinking in public. Now, it seemed that all this effort had been wasted.
Ishiro's target was a tall building on the relative outskirts of Kumogakure.
The style of this tall building was out of place with the other architecture, having a rather modern feel from his previous life. That's right, this was Kumo's "Tech Pavilion." In this building, they had been conducting research on modern technology.
In Ishiro's impression from his past life, the ninja of Kumogakure were all brutes and muscleheads. This was the impression left by the Third Raikage, the Fourth Raikage, Killer Bee, Darui, and the Gold and Silver Brothers.
But the reality was that Kumogakure was the most technologically advanced place in the entire ninja world. Mechanical technologies common in the ninja world, such as cameras and televisions, were all researched and developed by them. Although this research lab did not bring much combat power to Kumo, the wealth it brought was unimaginable.
And Ishiro knew that in the future, this laboratory would also research a high-tech weapon: the Chakra Diffusion Cannon.
This technology was his target.
Although Ishiro was very envious of the economic benefits this laboratory brought to Kumo, he also knew that even if he obtained these things, they wouldn't be of much use. As long as Iwagakure could not replicate and surpass Kumo's technology in a short period of time, they could not compete with them in the market for mechanical products. Of course, if they really did figure it out and became self-sufficient, they could also save some costs and make Kumo earn less money.
So, his main target was not the technology for these products; what he needed was Kumogakure's understanding of Lightning Release.
Of course, if he could obtain their Scroll of Seals and get the training method for the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, that would be best. But Ishiro knew that this was definitely a top secret, perhaps even personally held by Darui right now.
To forcibly steal it would be a declaration of war. It would force Kumogakure to immediately go to war with him. Ishiro did not want to needlessly make enemies; war would shake Iwagakure's position as hegemon. He did not want Iwagakure to follow Konoha's path, losing the top spot after repeated wars.
Unless he could get the Lightning Release Chakra Mode without revealing his identity—for example, without showing his face and without using his signature ninjutsu—otherwise, he would not take it by force.
This was what he had done in Konoha. Konoha clearly knew it was him who had infiltrated their village and was stirring up trouble, but they had no proof.
But this time, he couldn't do it. Darui was clearly on guard. If he were to use force, it would be impossible not to be exposed.
So, Ishiro settled for the next best thing and chose their research on the Chakra Diffusion Cannon.
Ishiro sized up the building with the eyes of a modern person, then revealed a brilliant smile.
In truth, the defensive strength of this building was also much higher than usual. But Ishiro didn't care.
He first entered Sage Mode, then waited for night to fall. With the help of his Chameleon Jutsu, he arrived near the building.
With his understanding of sealing jutsu, he could naturally tell that the entire building was enveloped in a defensive barrier. The only place in the entire barrier where other chakra could enter without immediately attracting attention was the main entrance. And that place was guarded by two jonin. It would be very difficult to sneak in silently from there.
Ishiro did not go to the main entrance. His method was very direct.
A defensive barrier could block conventional sensory ninjutsu, but it could not completely block his Super S-rank sensory ninjutsu, the Mind's Eye, when it was enhanced by Sage Mode. Through the Mind's Eye, he had already roughly grasped the structure of the building.
Then, Ishiro used a body flicker, rushed through the barrier, and arrived directly at the building's outer wall.
Without the slightest hesitation, he slammed his right hand, which had long since gathered a large amount of Storm Release chakra, onto the outer wall. Then, he controlled the Storm Release to rush towards the sensed target location at an extremely fast speed.
The main material of the building was metal, so his Storm Release was conducted very smoothly. Even if there were a few places that were not metal, it didn't matter; it just delayed him for a little while.
Soon, the Storm Release had passed through half the building and struck two ninja in a room on the second floor. These two were precisely the sensory ninja: one chunin and one jonin.
The two had detected the anomaly the moment Ishiro had entered the barrier. But they had not immediately sounded the alarm; they had subconsciously tried to see which direction the disturbance was coming from and what the specific situation was. And in that one moment of delay, Ishiro's Storm Release hit them.
The chunin died on the spot. The jonin's consciousness held on for two more seconds. But in those two seconds, he could only feel more and more of the Storm Release chakra spreading through his body, but he was unable to make any movement, including opening his mouth to call for help, due to the total paralysis.
Everything happened in a flash. This operation seemed simple, but in reality, no one else in the ninja world could have done it. First, to be able to perceive the layout within a barrier from the outside required a super-strong sensory ninjutsu. There were very few in the entire ninja world who met this condition.
Then there was the Storm Release Kekkei Genkai. Those two sensory ninja were both Kumo-nin who could use lightning-nature transformation and had a certain resistance to it. A simple Lightning Release jutsu would not have had such an obvious effect. There were also very few ninja in the world who possessed a lightning-related Kekkei Genkai.
Finally, there was chakra control. To control the Storm Release to accurately strike an enemy through so many buildings without letting the jutsu disperse to other places and affect others... The number of people who could do this was also in the single digits.
Combining all three, only Ishiro in the entire ninja world could do it.
It wasn't that Kumo's defenses were too weak; it was that the enemy was too strong!
After taking care of the sensory ninja, Ishiro wasted no more time. He drew his longsword, dug a large hole in a non-metal part of the outer wall, and then, with a flash, disappeared inside.
After entering the building, he moved at top speed towards the target he had scouted with his Mind's Eye. His target was on the third floor. With his "global view," he avoided the passing ninja and easily arrived there.
His target was the third-floor data room. It was just around one more corner. There was also a full Anbu squad guarding it. Four of them: one jonin, three chunin. A standard configuration. The jonin captain and one subordinate were in the dark; the remaining two were in the open, standing directly at the data room door.
Ishiro formed a hand seal and created four shadow clones.
One stayed by his main body's side, while the other three simultaneously rushed out from the corner, pouncing on their respective chosen opponents. Three shadow clones against three chunin were an easy capture, without any noise.
Ishiro's main body, meanwhile, used the Spirit Transformation Technique to deal with the jonin. After entering the captain's body, he obliterated his soul with no difficulty. The entire process was silent, without a trace of disturbance.
His soul returned to his body. Ishiro stepped forward, quickly opened the data room door, and then his main body and four clones entered one after another, splitting up to start packing the data.
They moved very quickly, and in a short while, they had finished the job. Subsequently, Ishiro sealed the data into scrolls one by one.
After doing all this, he smiled faintly. Today's goal was accomplished.
He refocused his attention on his Mind's Eye. Mm, the two at the barrier haven't moved. It seems no one has entered.
He expanded his senses to the entire village. Mm, a picture of peace. It almost makes me feel bad to destroy it.
Ishiro stepped out of the data room, just about to leave. Suddenly, in the direction of the Raikage's tower, a violent chakra fluctuation erupted.
"Was I discovered?" Ishiro was alarmed.
But he soon realized something was wrong. That chakra was not approaching him. On the contrary, it gradually calmed down.
That's... the Fourth Raikage? Is that the Heavenly Transfer Technique?
I didn't expect him to have such a trick up his sleeve.
Hm?
The next moment, Ishiro clearly felt a new barrier suddenly rise around the outer perimeter of Kumogakure.
Is this... a defensive barrier? And it's facing inwards?
"I'm trapped?" Ishiro was stunned.
What a Raikage! And here I thought my "Lure the Tiger Away from the Mountain" tactic had worked.
Who knew that this was the Raikage turning the tables on me, setting a trap?
It seems I've gotten a bit arrogant recently. First, I fell for Obito's trap, and now I've fallen for the Raikage's.
I remember neither of these two were known for their scheming.
While Ishiro was lost in his thoughts, dozens of flying craft suddenly took to the sky. He clearly sensed that on each craft, there were at least three jonin.
Their methods are really thorough. They've even prepared for my Light/Heavy Boulder Technique.
All these measures are aimed at me. Kumo must have had a contingency plan for my invasion, and even practiced it.
It seems getting out will be difficult.
Taking advantage of the fact that the enemy still didn't know his exact location, Ishiro began to analyze the current situation.
Originally, there was only Darui, a Quasi-Kage, in the village, though he might have Kage-level combat power now.
Later, Darui called back Killer Bee, but I didn't pay attention to that before.
And now the Fourth Raikage is back too.
That's three Kage-level combatants alone.
Phew~
Ishiro let out a long breath and quickly left the tech building. This time, he walked out the front door.
His movements quickly attracted the attention of the two guards. They were shocked to see him come from inside. Just as they were about to move, his porcelain attack arrived.
The Raikage had already laid out such a formation; it was impossible to leave without revealing his identity. So, Ishiro no longer bothered to hide. He directly reverted to his original appearance and used his signature ninjutsu.
The strength of the two guards was quite good among jonin. Although they were turned into sieves by his porcelain kunai, they still managed to send out the signal.
Soon, the Raikage, Killer Bee, and Darui arrived.
(End of Chapter)
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