The Land of River occupied a buffer zone. If it were to be swallowed up bit by bit, Sunagakure's threat against the Land of Wind would grow significantly. No matter how you looked at it, Konoha couldn't afford to let Sunagakure enter the Land of River.
If they truly sent their full forces, then they'd have no choice but to deploy Shukaku to distract them and relieve pressure elsewhere.
Akaba pondered deeply, feeling there wasn't a good solution here—especially since Danzō and the Anbu had all gone to the Land of Whirlpools. Only Hiruzen Sarutobi and a few other jōnin and chūnin were left behind in Konoha.
With such a force, opening another battlefield was simply not viable anymore.
"Oh right, your manga has started spreading in the Land of Lightning and Land of Earth."
The Third pulled out another scroll, smiling faintly.
In addition to those heading toward the Land of Whirlpools, many Anbu shinobi had infiltrated other great nations, keeping close surveillance on their every move.
This information obviously came from these hidden ninja agents.
However, Akaba himself knew perfectly well that he hadn't sent any caravans into those two countries.
What's going on?
Curious, he picked it up and deciphered the code.
Immediately, his expression turned awkward.
"The Kaihime Mūzan series is extremely popular in both the Land of Lightning and Land of Earth. People are desperate for copies."
That's right.
Not even One Piece or Naruto—people are going wild over Kaihime Mūzan.
Akaba felt slightly annoyed after reading through. Putting the scroll down, he stubbornly said, "It's drawn by an author named Nobusuke. Nothing to do with me."
"Sure."
The Third chuckled softly, tucking away all the scrolls containing transmitted messages.
The Third had his own reasons for bringing this up with Akaba.
Inside Konoha, the strongest sealing techniques belonged to Mito Uzumaki. Aside from her, some jōnin might know bits and pieces, but none mastered it thoroughly.
Originally, the Third wouldn't have considered involving Akaba, but since the Uzumaki Clan had given him one of their sealing technique scrolls, theoretically speaking, Akaba had the potential to learn all kinds of advanced sealing arts.
Moreover, recently, Uzumaki Kyoyuki had been studying sealing techniques intensively.
If things got desperate, he might end up asking either Akaba or Uzumaki Kyoyuki to join a covert squad entering Sunagakure Village and remove the seal binding Shukaku within the jinchūriki.
Akaba fully understood this intention.
When it came to major issues like war and village matters, the Third never approached things casually.
As he stepped out of the office building, his mood weighed heavily.
War always meant sacrifice, but when it hit personally, the feelings changed entirely.
"I hope Sunagakure won't be stupid enough to push things, and I need to start earning some points."
Akaba admitted he was lazy and risk-averse. But if it came down to sending Uzumaki Kyoyuki, he'd rather go himself—he had at least a 60–70% chance of surviving and escaping.
As he exited Hokage Tower, a crowd had gathered around the bulletin board area—three layers deep inside, three outside.
Many grumbled about how young he was to already be serving as an instructor, but Akaba's rank spoke for itself. Even with the "special" prefix, he was still officially a jōnin!
Despite the large gathering, order remained intact overall.
Besides, everyone was filled with curiosity and excitement.
After all, everyone had many questions about the replacement of the Jonin-led system with the Preparatory Division and was eager to get answers, fearing it might affect their children's future prospects.
The shadow clone patiently answered all inquiries, explaining matters regarding the Preparatory Division while also clarifying details about the job fair. It could truly be described as diligent and conscientious.
Akaba listened for a while and mentally gave his clone a thumbs-up.
Soon after, he left.
With one clone handling the Q&A session, there was one less person to help out with the daily manga illustrations. Thus, Akaba could only return to the manga shop to shoulder the hard work of drawing.
Before that, though, he needed to inform these kids about the exact time of the job fair first.
Walk or find transportation?
He pondered for a long time before thinking of Zhimeng.
It had been quite a while since he last summoned it. He wondered how its training was going—had it mastered the Yumekuma clan's secret technique yet?
He bit his finger and performed the Summoning Jutsu!
The sealing formula activated, smoke filled the air, and soon the familiar little Yumekuma appeared before him.
Whoaaa, Lord Akaba! I've missed you guys so much!
As soon as Zhimeng was summoned and sensed its surroundings, it darted out of the private chamber like crazy and dove straight into the pile of manga.
In this moment, it looked like it had run into a mountain of treasure, its eyes sparkling with fascination.
Big brother Yunlang, hello! Quick, give me those manga I haven't read before—the long-awaited updates! I'm dying here!
Akaba chased after it.
The little Yumekuma bounced along, lively and agile.
Whether or not it had gotten better at skills was unclear, but one thing was certain—it had definitely leveled up physically.
That's progress!
He felt a sense of relief; at least this wait hadn't been in vain.
Umm, young master, is this...
Just pick an entire set and let it choose by itself.
Akaba smiled gently.
Yunlang Sakuma had no choice but to bring out a complete set of Naruto, One Piece, and even Jiraiya's Make-Out Tactics series.
The little Yumekuma treated them like priceless treasures and grabbed them all at once.
You're taking everything?
Of course! Many in my clan want to read them too. Lord Akaba never summoned me for such a long time—it caused my clan members to blame me, thinking I was slacking off instead of training properly. Waaahhh!
Zhimeng sobbed pitifully, clearly feeling wronged as the elders were upset over not being able to continue reading and unfairly blaming him—utterly unreasonable indeed.
Akaba showed no sympathy whatsoever, and actually wanted to give the elders of the Yumekuma clan a thumbs-up.
But suddenly, thoughts of Sage Katsuyu's disdain toward the Yumekuma surfaced in his mind, so he hesitated slightly before asking, Do you know about the Three Sacred Lands?
Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest?
While flipping through the manga, Zhimeng casually responded as soon as the question came up.
Come, come in and talk.
Akaba carried it along with the manga into the private chamber, placing it on the table in front of him.
Startled by the sudden change, the little Yumekuma forgot about the manga and sniffed cautiously, asking warily, What are you planning now?
You lot seem capable of pulling people into [Dream]. Since your dream isn't just a regular dream, why don't you go back and tell your clan to help promote my manga—change the dream experience into showing anime episodes instead?
Akaba grinned mischievously.
"Comic Dreams?"
Little Yumekuma was a bit confused at first, struggling to understand.
"That's right, like this."
Akaba quickly drew several pages and immediately activated a genjutsu, pulling Zhi Meng into the illusion.
Inside the illusion, the storyline of the comic characters clearly unfolded, with a newly drawn manga book lying in front of Zhi Meng.
It clearly stated:
Naruto: Konoha's Ninja Chronicles. Author: Sakuma Akaba.
Zhi Meng flipped through the pages and found it nearly indistinguishable from a real manga book. "This actually works?" it blurted out in disbelief. "But what's the point of sharing these comics with frogs and snakes?"
"Hehehe, you don't share all of it. Like this."
The illusion continued under Akaba's control, showing the Nine-Tails wreaking havoc on Konoha just as depicted in the comic.
However—
The very next second, when Naruto was born and the scene shifted to Naruto graffitiing the Hokage Monument, both the comic and the illusion froze mid-scene.
"That's it?"
Little Yumekuma hesitated for a moment before quickly figuring it out.
By deliberately cutting off the story midway, those who were curious would definitely want to collect the rest of the comics to find out what happened next. If the Yumekuma Clan acted even more annoyingly—releasing chapters intermittently—then even indifferent summoning beasts would go crazy, and so would those who were interested.
What a menace!
A chill ran down Little Yumekuma's spine as it muttered inwardly—when it came to scheming, humans really were in a league of their own.
"What do you think?"
Akaba grinned slyly.
"But doing this will affect our clan's reputation..."
Little Yumekuma felt conflicted. The method was solid—the stronger the emotional fluctuations in the target, the more Spirit Points they could steal—but wouldn't that generate too much hatred?
Akaba snickered coldly. He had only signed a contract with a Yumekuma, yet he was already despised so much by Sage Katsuyu. Did the Yumekuma Clan really have a good reputation among summoning beasts anyway?
Even beasts should know their limits!
Little Yumekuma clearly understood this too. To break the tension, it gave a light cough and said, "I'll mention this to the elders and see what they decide."
"Just deliver the message."
Akaba didn't mind either way.
After all, regardless of the outcome, the impact on the Yumekuma Clan wouldn't be significant. They probably would agree.
Then, after letting Zhi Meng finish reading one volume, he finally asked, "How has your cultivation been lately?"
"I've learned quite a few secret techniques. This time, I won't embarrass myself again!"
Zhi Meng spoke confidently.
Its spirit points hadn't improved much, but after learning that secret technique, it could borrow spiritual energy from its contractor.
From Akaba, it sensed an extremely powerful flow of spiritual energy—more than enough to sustain various jutsus.
"Your ability can work over long distances, right?"
"As long as I can sense them."
Little Yumekuma added cautiously to prevent Akaba from overestimating its abilities.
"Perfect. I'll handle the sensing, you make the connection."
With a slap of its two hooves, Little Yumekuma seemed to release some secret technique.
[Summoning Link Activated!]
Then—
Akaba felt his consciousness link with it, and the images he perceived were simultaneously shared with Little Yumekuma.
"Who is the target?"
Little Yumekuma asked confidently.
Akaba focused his mind, marking all the people he needed to contact.
"No problem!"
Little Yumekuma channeled her chakra and began weaving a dream.
Not long after, the dream started to form. However, Akaba immediately felt his chakra rapidly depleting—nearly twenty percent vanished in an instant.
He quickly shouted, "Save energy! I'm just testing them; no need to go all out on the visuals."
"Oooops," Little Yumekuma hurriedly changed tactics.
Only then did Akaba feel the drain lessen significantly. In the end, about two and a half tenths of his chakra was consumed to complete the dream's construction. At the same time, he himself appeared within the dream.
To conserve chakra, the dream world remained totally blank.
Everyone appeared one by one. Seeing the scene before them, they all paused in confusion.
"There's nothing to fear. This is inside my summoning beast's dream. As I mentioned earlier, the Genin Council is an internal organization under the Preparatory Division. Tomorrow morning, our Preparatory Division's job fair will be held at Jiegengcheng. If you have time, please come support us there."
Akaba hurried through his explanation—since he'd already prepped them, this was just a refresher with time and place details.
"We understand!"
Once everyone answered together, Akaba immediately ordered Little Yumekuma to cut the link.
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