chsdbacks Chapter 110 Cremation Technique
Chapter 110 Cremation Technique
Chapter 110 Cremation Technique
The next morning, Taiyi and the other two arrived at Daming Prefecture early to wait.
As expected, having achieved his goal, the daimyo had no intention of making things difficult for the three of them. The mission document was promptly stamped and confirmed, marking the successful completion of Taiichi's team's mission.
The three of them originally wanted to have some more fun in Daimyo Prefecture, but after what happened with Yangping last night, Taiichi lost that mood and immediately suggested returning to Konoha.
Saori had already visited the night market last night and didn't want to go out anymore, but she was worried that Yohei's playful nature might upset her.
When she looked at Yang Ping, she found that he was silent and did not object to Taiyi's opinion at all. This made her suspicious. Could it be that something happened last night that she did not know about?
Seeing Saori's gaze sweeping over him, Yohei felt a chill run down his spine.
He was caught red-handed by Taiyi yesterday, so how could he dare to voice any objections now!
Seeing Saori's curious expression, Yohei could only bite the bullet and explain, "I played all night last night, and I've done everything I wanted to do. Now it's time to go home and train!"
Taiyi curled his lip, ignoring their undercurrent of conflict, and announced directly, "Let's go!"
It took nine days to get there, but only two days to return.
Looking at the open gates of Konoha, although they weren't as grand and imposing as the gates of Kyoto, a sense of security welled up inside me; this was probably what home felt like.
Taiyi and the other two submitted their mission credentials and successfully entered Konoha. "Yohei, Saori, I'll go submit the mission. Let's go back and rest today. We'll meet at Training Ground 3 tomorrow morning."
"Okay!" *2
Outside the Hokage's office.
After three knocks on the door, Taiyi stood quietly at the entrance and waited.
A moment later, a voice came from inside the office: "Hiruzen, you'll regret this."
Well, it seems Danzo has suffered some kind of loss at the hands of the Hokage again.
With a "whoosh," the office door was suddenly flung open, and Danzo, his face grim, walked out of the room.
When Danzo saw that it was Taiichi standing at the door, he was also taken aback, and then he revealed a meaningful smile.
With a loud "bang," the door slammed shut, and Danzo walked down the building.
Seriously, it's not like you own the door. You don't have to pay for it if you break it, Taiichi thought to himself.
Before Taiyi could finish his rant, another voice came from inside the office, "Come in!"
Tai carefully pushed open the door, first poked his head in, looked around to make sure no one was there, then squeezed his whole body inside, and carefully closed the door.
Seeing Taichi's cautious and silly appearance, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but laugh and said, "You little brat, who are you trying to fool with that act? Come in and stand properly." He put on a serious face, and the atmosphere from before was completely gone.
Taiichi knew when to stop, so he immediately stood up respectfully, took out the mission scroll from his ninja tool pouch, and handed it to the Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took the scroll, glanced at it casually, and set it aside. This was just a regular C-rank escort mission; nothing special. The fact that Taiichi was standing here meant he had completed it perfectly.
"How's that mission going?"
"It can only be considered that we have initially gained the daimyo's trust." Taiichi was being rather conservative, since he had no way of knowing the daimyo's true attitude.
"During the escort mission, Noda Mune repeatedly tested my attitude towards the Daimyo and Konoha," Taiichi recounted the details of the mission.
"After arriving at the Daimyo's residence, the Daimyo summoned me privately that very night—" As he spoke, Taiichi took out a storage scroll from his ninja tool bag. "Here is the 3000 million ryo promised by the Daimyo and some ninjutsu manuals I have selected."
"Oh, the daimyo is really generous!" Hiruzen Sarutobi took the scroll, but he didn't check the contents. He simply handed it back to Taichi after passing it on. "Keep this for yourself. After all, you risked your life to get it."
"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Taichi was very happy to get the scroll back.
Although he believed the Hokage wouldn't withhold this small amount of money, he was just in case. Now that the Hokage had given it back to Taichi, he could legitimately say it was a reward from the Hokage if anyone asked about it later.
"So, the Daimyo's intention is for you to gather information on Konoha's outstanding ninjas." Hiruzen Sarutobi looked as if he had known all along, as if he had already guessed the Daimyo's intentions.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. As for the other missions, we'll contact you when the time comes."
"Hmm." Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a moment. It seemed that the daimyo only wanted to win over the ninjas of Konoha in the short term. However, the daimyo underestimated the ninjas. After all, nobles and ninjas were two different classes of beings.
"I will provide you with a reliable list of personnel later, which you can disclose to the daimyo as appropriate." Hiruzen Sarutobi made the final arrangements.
"Yes!" Taiichi answered without hesitation, demonstrating his strong ability to execute the Hokage's orders.
After waiting a moment and seeing that the Hokage had given no further instructions, Taichi was about to take his leave. However, at that moment, Danzo's meaningful smile suddenly flashed through his mind, and a sense of unease crept into his heart.
"Grandpa Hokage, this counts as a mission, right? Does it have a level? And a mission log?" Taiichi, his previous seriousness gone, became all smiles. "I'm taking the Chunin Exams next year, I need to add more mission experience to my resume!"
Looking at Taichi's sudden change in attitude, Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn't angry at all; instead, he showed a hint of closeness: "What's wrong with you? Don't you trust me?"
"How could that be!" Taiyi protested verbally, but inwardly he was furious. He really didn't trust it; a written agreement was always safer. Otherwise, if someone falsely accused him of being a spy, he would be left with no way to defend himself.
"Ninjas must be meticulous in their work. A mission is a mission, and there is no room for carelessness." This was taught by Teacher Yamada at the Ninja Academy.
"Alright, alright, it's just a mission statement, I'll write it down for you. You don't need to bring up your teacher Yamada." Hiruzen Sarutobi said, picking up the scroll and quickly writing down the mission.
Taiyi, without any hesitation, stepped forward and pointed to the end of the scroll, "This, and this, it only becomes effective after being stamped and signed."
Hiruzen Sarutobi rolled his eyes at Taiichi, then picked up the seal, stamped it, and signed his name.
"Satisfied now!" With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi tossed the completed mission scroll to Taichi, laughing and scolding, "Take it and get out of here!"
"Yes, yes, I'll leave now." With that, Taiichi grabbed the mission scroll, turned around, and fled the Hokage's office.
Outside, Taiyi stared at the mission scroll in his hand for a moment, lost in thought. He wondered if his uneasy premonition was because of this, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He should get this so that no one could use it against him later.
Thinking it over, Tai carefully put the scroll away. Next, he went to the mission hall to collect the reward for this escort mission, which he would give to Yangping and Saori tomorrow.
Days passed by, and almost a month had gone by since the last spy mission to Daming Prefecture.
And so, Taiyi's team spent more than a month without a captain.
During this period, Taiyi and the others could only accept some C-level missions, such as transporting supplies, escorting targets, and protecting the village.
Perhaps they were just too lucky; all their missions went smoothly without a single battle.
If this happened to other ninjas, they might be overjoyed, but when it happened to Taiichi and his group, it left them speechless.
Ultimately, the purpose of Taiyi and his two companions' mission was to gain sufficient real-world combat experience in order to further improve their strength. If there were no battles at all, then the mission would be of little significance.
So later on, Taiyi and the other two gradually stopped carrying out missions. Apart from their daily self-cultivation, they mostly improved their combat experience through internal team battles.
After a month of hard work, not to mention other progress, his abilities in fire-attribute nature transformation and chakra control have indeed improved significantly.
[Fire Attribute Transformation Lv9 (262/1600)]
Chakra Mastery Lv9 (16/1600)
Currently, the level of Taiyi's fire attribute transformation is one level ahead of the wind and water attributes, and it is much higher than other attributes.
Just like the technique he used to demonstrate to Yangping and the others, where his entire arm was enveloped in flames, Taiyi is now able to do the same with his entire upper body covered in flames.
This requires not only improved fire-attribute transformations, but also superb chakra control.
Of course, this is just a trick for now. Taiyi's goal is to be able to transform his entire body into flames, just like the Water Transformation Technique, in order to avoid some sudden attacks.
Especially on the battlefield in the future, with swords and kunai flying everywhere, a stray arrow could come from anywhere and kill you for no reason.
At the same time, just like the Water Transformation Technique, Taiyi also believed that the "Fire Transformation Technique" he developed would definitely have more uses in the future, such as enhancing the power of Fire Release.
Taiyi now has a clue about the "cremation technique," which is the book "On the Transformation of Chakra Matter and Energy" that he brought back from the Daimyo Prefecture.
The book speculates on and verifies the transformation of chakra into fire, earth, wind, water, and lightning, especially the transformation of earth attribute, which involves changes in matter and energy.
This might be hard to understand in the ninja world, since it's common sense, just like we consider 1+1=2. And that might be why this book has been shelved.
But for Taiyi, this transformation of matter and energy reminded him of the mass-energy equivalence equation from his previous life. Although they were not exactly the same thing, the underlying concepts were similar.
Energy and matter can be transformed into each other under certain conditions, and in the ninja world, the medium for this transformation is chakra.
Thus, Taiichi's ninjutsu development has finally taken a crucial step, transforming from 0 to 1.
While Taiichi was busy studying ninjutsu during his free time, a ninja covered in blood, with nearly half of his right waist missing, collapsed in front of Konoha's gate.
Such a sudden situation naturally attracted the attention of the guard. He carefully stepped forward, lifted the face of the fallen ninja, and was immediately shocked. He recognized the man; he was none other than Yamaguchi Seisuke, an elite Jonin of Konoha.
"Quickly, someone, help get him to Konoha Hospital." The guard immediately ordered his subordinates to bring a stretcher. Several people worked together to carefully move Yamaguchi Seisuke onto the stretcher. Before leaving, he didn't forget to instruct, "Send another person to the mission hall to check whether the mission carried out by Jonin Yamaguchi needs to be reported to the Hokage."
Before he could finish speaking, he had already left, rushing in front of the stretcher to clear a path for the wounded.
Perhaps it was because he arrived in Konoha that his mind suddenly relaxed, and Yamaguchi Masasuke completely lost consciousness. Without his own intentional suppression, the huge wound reopened, and blood dripped continuously from the gap, leaving a shocking bloodstain on the road to the hospital.
The message was reported by the guard to the mission hall, then the clerk checked the mission and reported it to the director, who then confirmed the mission's urgency and reported it directly to the Hokage's office. By the time the message reached the Hokage, half an hour had already passed.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi learned that Yamaguchi Seisuke was seriously injured and in critical condition, he was devastated. He knew that Yamaguchi Seisuke's mission was to investigate the recent unusual activity on the border between Sunagakure and Iwagakure, and whether the two sides had formed an alliance.
At this moment, Yamaguchi Seisuke rushed back despite being seriously injured, which must mean he had obtained some important information.
Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't sit still any longer and got up to go to Konoha Hospital.
Outside the operating room at Konoha Hospital.
When Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived, the red light outside the operating room was still on. As if knowing the Hokage was coming, Dean Biwako was also waiting outside the operating room.
"Biwako, how are you? Is everyone alright?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.
"This is terrible!" Dean Biwako shook his head, his face grave. "His entire right waist has been destroyed, and his right kidney and part of his intestines are missing. It's a miracle he even made it back to Konoha alive."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened, and just as he was about to continue questioning, footsteps echoed from afar in the corridor.
Soon after, Shimura Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu also arrived at the operating room door. The three of them were also insiders about Yamaguchi Seisuke's mission. Now that he has returned to Konoha in such a state, he must have obtained important information.
"Hiruzen, did you get the intelligence?" Clearly, Danzo was more concerned about intelligence than people.
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, not answering directly: "Let's wait a bit."
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's attitude, the three could only suppress their anxiety and wait outside the operating room.
Before long, the operating room door was opened from the inside, and a doctor walked out.
Upon seeing this, Biwako was the first to step forward, "Director Fujita, what's the situation inside?"
Fujita Sana glanced at the group of people standing at the door—the Hokage, the elders, and the advisors—and knew the seriousness of the situation. She then cut to the chase: "He's still being resuscitated. He's still unconscious. We're just barely managing to maintain his vital signs."
As he spoke, Director Fujita handed over another scroll. "This is what he's been holding, but it's sealed with a spell that we can't break."
A cat-faced member of the Dark Guard stepped forward, took the scroll, and, after obtaining permission, attempted to break the seal within.
But after only two or three attempts, the cat-faced ANBU member shook his head, picked up the scroll, and reported, "Lord Hokage, this is the highest level of password seal. We must know the corresponding solution to safely remove it."
"Can't we force it open?" Danzo asked impatiently, his biggest concern at the moment being the information in the scroll.
"Giving us enough time is fine; otherwise, brute-force attacks will cause the reel to self-destruct."
"How long will it take?" Danzo asked expectantly, staring at the cat-faced ANBU.
"Uh... at least a month." The cat-faced shaman also felt embarrassed; this time was indeed a bit long.
Danzo was speechless, his murderous gaze fixed on the cat-faced ANBU, as if to say: Are you playing me for a fool?
The others also shook their heads. This was a highly time-sensitive intelligence scroll. If so much time had passed, the intelligence would be meaningless.
"Hiruzen, let the Yamanaka clan ninjas go in and try to extract the memories from their brains," Danzo suggested.
"Elder Danzo, I must remind you, the patient is already on the verge of death. Forcibly extracting memories during this kind of surgery carries a very high risk of failure," Director Fujita interjected, his disapproval evident.
"That's right! Danzo, Konoha hasn't fallen so low as to sacrifice comrades to obtain information," Koharu Utatane said at this moment.
It wasn't that she was particularly kind; it was just that there were too many people here, and if word got out, everyone would be in danger—not killed by the enemy, but by their own people's intelligence gathering.
This would be a clear political mistake in any ninja village.
"Sigh, you don't need to argue about this anymore." Mitokado Homura sighed. "Seisuke received his mission from me. Before leaving, I placed a sealing spell in his mind to ensure secrecy. Unless he says it himself, no outsider can get the information from his mind."
A deathly silence fell over the scene, even Danzo, who had originally planned to make his move quietly, fell silent.
"So that means we can only wait until he wakes up!" Hiruzen Sarutobi muttered to himself, then turned to Sana Fujita: "Is there anyone there for me?"
"It's difficult. His physical injuries are too severe, and his mental state is also affected. To bring him back to consciousness, we must first treat his physical condition." With the composure and calmness typical of medical staff, Director Fujita analyzed the difficulties for everyone.
"Then hurry up and treat him!" Danzo ordered without any politeness.
Clearly, having arrived too late, he was unaware of the severity of Yamaguchi Seisuke's injuries.
Director Fujita ignored him and continued, "For injuries like this with multiple organ loss, the only current treatment is regeneration."
But as you all know, Konoha's missions have surged recently, and many medical ninjas have gone out on missions with the teams. Currently, there aren't enough ninjas in the hospital who are proficient in using the Regeneration Technique.
The crowd's expressions darkened again. The workload they used to be so proud of now seemed to have become the last straw that broke the camel's back. Was there really no other way?
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