In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 440 The Truth Behind the Jinchuriki's Encounter with Malice
After interacting with the villagers at the village entrance, it was already noon.

As the future Kazekage, he still needs to show a friendly and approachable side to the public.

After completing the handover of some matters with Ebizo, as well as the resettlement of the wounded and the compensation for the families of the fallen, Shimizu planned to go home first.

He decided to put things like tailed beasts aside for now and take a good rest this afternoon before getting back to work tomorrow.

Ebizo is now taking care of the other post-war matters.

only……

"Why don't you come in and have a seat at my place?"

Shimizu looked at Yekura, who had followed her to the door, and took out the key and asked.

"Your home?"

Yecang gave Shimizu a mischievous smile and took another key out of his pocket.

"I'm just going home."

"This isn't my house key."

Shimizu compared the two keys and wondered.

We're not living together yet, are we?
However, cohabitation is not out of the question now. If you feel swollen and uncomfortable every morning, you can ask Dr. Yekura for help.

"This is the key to the house next door."

Ye Cang smiled faintly, turned her head and walked towards a house next to her, her high ponytail swinging behind her, exuding youthful energy.

"Oh, so you bought the house next door too? Now we're neighbors. How about I come up for a bit? Neighbor sister."

Shimizu chuckled and moved closer to Yekura, watching Yekura open the door.

"Didn't you prepare a gift for your neighbor?"

Yecang opened the door, turned around and smiled at Shimizu.

"A gift... I don't have it with me right now. Why don't you come to my house with me? My puppet can do somersaults."

"Never mind, come in first. You can make it up later. I also have a gift for you to see. Come here."

Ye Cang jumped excitedly into the house, stretched out her fair finger and beckoned to Qing Shui, then winked.

"A gift? For me?"

Shimizu followed Yekura into the bedroom.

"Huh? This whole wardrobe..."

"I bought them all. How about this purple one? Didn't you say last time that purple is the most charming color?"

"Okay, but I want to play the game where the attending physician teaches the nurse how to give an injection!"

Soon enough, Nurse Yecang changed into a slit nurse's uniform, put on a short skirt and white stockings, and wore a cross cap, and began to learn how to give injections.

The next day, morning.

Outside the window, it was drizzling, but inside, spring sunshine was just beginning to appear.

"You were up for so long last night? You still want more this morning?!"

"Ahem, I'm a bit hot-tempered, so I'll need your help to calm me down."

Shimizu looked at the disheveled beauty in front of him, whose clothes were slightly disheveled and revealed a few patches of snow-white skin, and reached out to help her put her hair up.

After washing up and having breakfast together, the two went out together to the training ground for training.

Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun came out; otherwise, we would have had to find a sheltered place to move around.

In the past, Sunagakure was a place where it was rare to see rain even a few times a year. However, after the canal was dug, Sunagakure dug a lake not far from the village, built a dam to store water, transplanted and planted plants on the riverbank and lakeside, and had earth-style ninjas who had mastered nature transformation clean the salt in the soil to prevent the land from becoming saline.

In just two or three years, an artificial oasis has sprung up around Sunagakure, with large areas of shrubs appearing around it, showing a trend of transformation from desert to grassland.

Rainfall has also increased with abundant water resources and increasingly dense vegetation. Since last year, light rain has been falling from time to time during the rainy season.

If the transformation continues, with the ninjas' ability to influence the environment and the help of scientific knowledge, perhaps in a few years, this place can also be transformed into a lush oasis.

After finishing their morning exercise, the two went to the Fengying Building together.

After accepting a B-rank mission that could be completed in one day, Yekura set off, while Shimizu went up to the Kazekage's office on the second floor.

Ebizo was sitting in the corner of the room, organizing documents.

"You brought back two tailed beasts this time, which has added a lot of work for this old man."

Hearing the sound of clear water, Ebizo looked at the table, writing something, without looking up.

"Hey, it's just two tailed beasts, it's not a big deal."

Shimizu plopped down opposite Ebizo and, as if they were old friends, poured himself a cup of tea.

"What do you mean that tailed beasts aren't a big deal? With Bunpuku Monk included, we'll have a total of three Jinchuriki who need to transfer tailed beasts in the next year. Just finding the right people is a real problem."

Ebizo shook his head and continued:
"Besides Ayane Uzumaki, the village doesn't have any other truly suitable candidates. As a Jinchuriki, one needs a sufficiently large amount of chakra and a fast chakra recovery rate to maintain the seal for a long time."

They also need excellent mental resilience and chakra control. Without these qualities, if the tailed beast's chakra overflows, the jinchūriki may be corrupted by the tailed beast's will within the chakra, leading to a violent outburst.

Even if these conditions are met, the Jinchuriki must still possess sufficient chakra manipulation ability to extract and control the power of the Tailed Beast from its seal, thus growing into a qualified Jinchuriki. The Second Kazekage, in selecting the One-Tailed Jinchuriki, went through more than a dozen vessels before finally choosing the monk Bunpuku. Only in the last ten years or so had Bunpuku's Buddhist teachings become increasingly profound, allowing him to withstand the erosion of the Tailed Beast's chakra. However, his life force had been greatly diminished during several Tailed Beast rampages in his youth, rendering him unable to achieve anything further, and he could only sit in the Buddhist temple, spending his remaining years in obscurity.

Shimizu nodded slightly.

Given the Sunagakure village's past half-baked sealing techniques, it's not surprising that various unexpected events would occur.

"That's all in the past. With the strength of the Great Burial Seal, it's enough to seal the Tailed Beast's leaked chakra. As long as the Jinchuriki's chakra recovery speed can maintain the seal, the Tailed Beast won't easily go berserk."

"No, Shimizu, you haven't personally experienced the process of cultivating a Jinchuriki. There's something you haven't considered: if a Jinchuriki wants to master the power of a Tailed Beast, they inevitably have to come into contact with the Tailed Beast's chakra and be eroded. So no matter how high the level of the sealing technique is, if they don't have the potential to master the power of the Tailed Beast, they are just a vessel for the Tailed Beast and not a qualified Jinchuriki."

"Being a Jinchuriki is not something just any ninja can achieve."

Ebizo put down the documents he had just organized and solemnly addressed Shimizu.

"A massive chakra reserve, rapid recovery, excellent control, and unwavering willpower? With such qualities, there's a good chance of being trained as a Jonin even without becoming a Jinchūriki, right? By the way, I looked at some files on Jinchūriki from various villages, and it seems that both our Sunagakure and other villages have some......"

"Some people are deliberately persecuting them, making them suffer too much malice, right? Now you should understand the intentions of the village leaders in doing this, right?"

Shimizu nodded slightly.

"Yes, I understand. Using the malice from the external environment to temper one's will from a young age, from shallow to deep, so that whether the seal loosens, the tailed beast chakra leaks, or when they begin to master the tailed beast chakra, they will be able to withstand the constant erosion of malice in the tailed beast chakra because they have been accustomed to this intense malice from a young age."

Accepting malice, enduring malice, adapting to malice, and getting used to malice are indispensable steps for a Jinchuriki to master the power of a Tailed Beast.

To prevent them from developing hatred towards the village and becoming rogue ninjas seeking revenge, they must be given a way out. This involves forging extremely deep bonds with one or more key figures in the village, making these core members the reins to restrain the rampaging tailed beasts, thus serving the village's purposes.

The Jinchuriki of the Five Great Ninja Villages faced discrimination from a young age and were called monsters, which was actually done intentionally by each of the villages.

Malice and bonds are two crucial tools for these high-ranking ninja village leaders to wield the power of the tailed beasts.

The leaders of the five great ninja villages may do some foolish things due to differences in personality, vision, skill, and ability, but these are all due to limitations in their own conditions and the environment inside and outside the village. In reality, they are not that stupid.

One or two might be a little dim-witted, but it's unlikely that the entire leadership of every village would be incompetent.

This is a method that everyone is using, and has been used for several generations. It is definitely the easiest, lowest-cost, most profitable, and most suitable method for the modern era.

By simply making the Jinchūriki suffer a miserable first half of their lives, and then comforting them after they grow up, we can gain a top-tier fighter who can serve the village for decades.

No high-ranking member of any ninja village could fail to calculate such a lucrative business.

"However, if we do this, the risk of the Jinchuriki losing their bond or being unable to withstand the malice is still too great. In my opinion, it is still too uncontrollable and unreliable."

Ebizo knew from Shimizu's expression that he had other ideas.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Yes, the reason we can control chakra smoothly is because there is our own spiritual energy in chakra. When facing the erosion of external chakra, as long as the quality of our own spiritual energy is higher, or even if we directly master the application of spiritual energy, we can gain the upper hand in this battle of will and mind. Then the Jinchuriki can not only defend against this malice, but also master the power of the Tailed Beast more quickly."

"Everyone knows the reason behind this."

Ebizo shook his head.

"Fenfu cultivates Buddhism, and Lao Zi also becomes a monk in order to seek spiritual practice and tempering through religion, so as to better suppress the malice in the tailed beast chakra. Other Jinchuriki who have achieved success in their training also have some faith and hobbies as a spiritual sustenance, in order to resist and tolerate the will of the tailed beast in the tailed beast chakra."

It seems that Killer Bee's love for singing, dancing, and rapping, and Yutaka's love for blowing bubbles, are the same reasons.

"So, Master Ebizo, if I were to grasp some techniques and methods of spiritual practice that could effectively strengthen my spirit and will, would I no longer need to use this extremely risky method?"

The clear water faces the sea.

The avatar in the Marvel universe wields four Infinity Stones, among which the Mind Stone has been studied the longest. With the assistance of Loki, a master of manipulating minds, Shimizu has summarized quite a few techniques that can be used to cultivate the mind.

It may not directly grant someone mastery of mind-related magic, but it can at least enhance mental strength, providing high resistance to any related attacks, including the corruption of tailed beasts, illusions, and hypnosis.

At the very least, Shimizu could cast mind-protecting magic on these Jinchūriki, or create some small magical artifacts specifically for mind defense.

These special magical artifacts are difficult to forge. Even with the Divine Refinement Technique, Shimizu can only produce them in small batches. However, supplying a few Jinchuriki should not be a problem. Any extras can be distributed to the village's higher-ups or to certain ninjas who deserve attention.

It can provide mental defense and resist mental attacks, so it can also be effective against illusions.

Shimizu dared not say that his magical artifacts could definitely block the endless stream of strange and bizarre illusion-type Mangekyou Sharingan eye techniques such as Tsukuyomi, Kotoamatsukami, and Yachimokuhou, but they could at least weaken them to some extent.

As for those ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan, Shimizu was quite confident that his success rate in resisting them should be quite high.

Ebizo finished processing another document, tossed it into the drawer, and lifted his eyelids slightly.

“If someone else said this, I might not believe it, but it’s you. Since you’re confident, then go for it. By the end of the year, you’ll be the fourth generation. You can continue to ask us experienced and knowledgeable old guys for our opinions on this kind of thing, but the final decision is still yours.”

"Then I'll go find the remaining two suitable candidates for Jinchūriki."

Shimizu understood that this meant he was now in charge of the entire matter, and from now on, he would be in charge of making all such important decisions.

Ebizo has already begun laying the groundwork and making preparations for the upcoming transfer of power.

"Oh, right, there's one more thing. Don't rush off yet."

Suddenly, Ebizo seemed to remember something, reached out and called to Shimizu who was about to leave through the door, then pulled out a large stack of documents from under the table.

"Now that they're all going to be Kazekage, it's a good time for them to learn how to handle the various affairs that are the Kazekage's responsibility. With the Third Hokage gone, I've been managing them for him for the past year. This stack is what's been piling up recently, and there's even more on the computer. I feel like I can't finish dealing with it all."

"Fortunately, although the Third Hokage hasn't returned yet, you, the Fourth Hokage, have. So, I'll leave all this to you!"

Shimizu: ...

He suspected that Ebizo knew he was coming back, so he deliberately slacked off, reduced his workload, and piled up some less urgent tasks for him.

(End of this chapter)