Konoha: You're letting me build up my bonds, but you're offending the entire ninja world.

Like a child finding a new toy, Gengetsu Shimura was having a blast, constantly trying to fuse various attributes.

Storm Release, composed of lightning and water; Magnet Release, composed of wind and lightning.

Because he had not yet mastered the transformations of the lightning and water attributes, only reaching a level of proficiency, fusing them was much more difficult than fusion and scorching. However, thanks to his exceptional control talent, Shimura Gengetsu still succeeded.

In just one day, he mastered multiple bloodline limits.

Unfortunately, he was unable to succeed in fusing Wood Release techniques.

Although both earth and water attributes were refined at the same time, the fusion manifested as Lava Release, the kind of highly corrosive Lava Release that Mei Terumi mastered.

The country of soup.

Konoha Camp.

Inside the command post tent.

Nara Shikaku was standing in front of the sand table map, fiddling with the chess pieces, looking rather absent-minded. The other high-ranking Konoha ninjas in the room were in a similar state.

The front lines have been very calm these days. The Hidden Cloud Village has remained holed up, and the Leaf Village has launched a few symbolic attacks, but these are just for show to prevent the Hidden Cloud Village from figuring out anything. There have been no casualties.

Nara Shikaku and the others were still worried about Shimura Gengetsu, who had gone deep behind enemy lines.

Judging by the time, Shimura Gengetsu should have completed his mission more than a day ago, but there is still no news coming back.

"Misstep."

Jiraiya slapped his forehead in frustration.

"I should have made that kid sign the Summoning Contract of Mount Myōboku before he left, so that the situation could be reported back more quickly."

"Why would we be waiting like this now?"

Nara Shikaku forced a smile. "Lord Jiraiya, there's no need to worry too much. With the Flying Thunder God Technique, Gengetsu's safety is definitely not a problem. It's just unclear how much of a result he can achieve."

"if..."

Before he could finish speaking, a commotion arose outside the tent.

A Hyuga clan ninja rushed in, panting, "Lord Shikaku, Lord Jiraiya, Kumogakure, Kumogakure has withdrawn its troops!"

"what?!"

Nara Shikaku stood up in shock. "Are you sure it's a withdrawal, and not a retreat?"

"It's a withdrawal!" the Hyuga clansman hurriedly said. "They abandoned a lot of supplies, and they didn't even dismantle the tents! I chased them all the way to Yunlei Canyon and only came back to report after seeing them all leave."

“Okay, okay.” Nara Shikaku immediately understood something. “It must be the unrest in Kumogakure that forced him to retreat.”

"Send out more Byakugan ninjas to monitor Cloud Thunder Canyon. Let's hold back for now, in case it's a trap."

Jiraiya and the others agreed with Shikaku's prudent approach, which put their minds at ease.

As evening fell, a ninja hawk carrying intelligence flew into the Konoha camp.

When Shikaku saw the contents of the scroll, his expression changed, and he stared at it intently, as if he had seen something unbelievable.

"What happened, Shikaku? Say something!" Jiraiya asked anxiously.

It took Lu Jiu a few seconds to come to his senses. He repeatedly checked the scroll's seal and the coded message, then took a breath and said:

"Xuan Yue... destroyed Yunyin Village."

The tent was completely silent.

"What did you say?" Jiraiya looked incredulous, walked over, picked up the scroll, looked at it carefully again, and then fell silent like Shikaku.

Gengetsu Shimura... what exactly did he do?

The next morning, Xuan Yue returned to the Konoha camp carrying the scroll.

Uzuki Yugao and Yuhi Kurenai stood like two statues waiting for their husbands at the camp entrance, rushing over the moment they spotted him.

Kurenai grabbed Xuan Yue in a tight embrace, so strong that she knocked the scrolls behind him away.

"Hey! Hey! The local specialties I brought back!" Shimura Gengetsu hurriedly called out as he watched the scroll roll far away.

"What local specialties! Are you crazy! Going to Kumogakure alone, do you really think you're the Sage of Six Paths?"

Kurenai roughly pinched Shimura Gengetsu's face, her chest heaving with anger. This time, even Uzuki Yugao, who usually doted on him, didn't feel sorry for him. Instead, she said with a serious expression:

“Lord Xuan Yue, could you please inform us before making such a decision in the future?”

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid you'd worry."

Gengetsu Shimura struggled to break free from Kurenai's embrace. "You all know how powerful the Flying Thunder God Technique is. This time, it's no different from carrying out an ordinary mission for me."

Uzuki Yugao's pretty face remained serious. "Every ninjutsu has a way to be countered; no technique is invincible."

"I know."

Gengetsu Shimura nodded. "So I was very sensible. I played around in Kumogakure for a while, took some local specialties, and left."

"You lied to me again?" Uzuki Yugao was angry now.

"I didn't," Shimura Gengetsu felt utterly wronged.

"The intelligence reports say that you wreaked havoc in Kumogakure, destroying half the village before leaving triumphantly."

"Huh?" Countless question marks popped up above Shimura Gengetsu's head, and he instantly felt that there seemed to be some discrepancy between the information between the two parties.

Seeing Nara Shikaku and the others emerge from the camp, Shimura Gengetsu ran over and picked up the scroll again.

"Explaining them one by one is too troublesome. Let's go back to the main camp and talk about it."

Inside the command tent, the tent was now packed with Konoha's Jonin. Almost all the Jonin in the camp had come. Kurenai and Yugao were only able to get in because of Shimura Gengetsu, and they even had a good spot to watch the show.

0Request flowers

Shimura Gengetsu recounted the entire process, and finally picked up the bamboo tube next to him, took a big gulp of water, and sighed contentedly.

“I see… It was the Eight-Tails that destroyed the village itself.” Jiraiya stroked his chin.

"I thought you had mastered some kind of super-large forbidden technique. But since it's a Tailed Beast Ball, it's not surprising."

“That’s right.” Shimura Gengetsu said helplessly, “It’s clearly their own fault, why are they putting the blame on me?”

Shimura Gengetsu suddenly remembered the old man in the village.

Code.

Will he inherit the Shimura family's tendency to suck up food?

"But it is indeed related to you."

Nara Shikaku exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to have even mastered the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique, the third stage—Flying Thunder God Guided Lightning."

The Jonin were also full of amazement.

Many of them were survivors of the Nine-Tails' rampage, and they still vividly remember the Tailed Beast Ball that could destroy everything.

Fortunately, the Fourth Hokage arrived in time and teleported away the Tailed Beast Ball, causing it to explode in the forest; otherwise, Konoha's losses would have been even greater.

In an instant, all the Jonin felt a strong sense of security.

With a powerful individual on our side capable of transferring Tailed Beast Balls, we finally have someone to rely on if another Tailed Beast rampage occurs in the future.

"Our intelligence personnel did not find out the specific battle situation, which led to the misunderstanding."

Nara Shikaku understood what was going on and looked at the boy who was eating an apple. "Xuan Yue, we are so grateful for your plan this time. Otherwise, if Killer Bee had gone to the front line, the battle would have been deadlocked again."

“Yes,” Hiashi Hyuga agreed, “The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki deliberately hides himself, making it difficult to detect even with the Byakugan.”

"The Fourth Raikage has withdrawn?" Xuan Yue asked.

"Ah."

Nara Shikaku nodded. "I led the main force to withdraw yesterday. The war is basically over. Next, we should start peace talks."

A fierce glint flashed in the strategist's eyes.

Fight whenever you want, leave whenever you want? Do you really think Konoha has such a good temper?

"Kid, what's in that scroll of yours?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"Oh, these are local specialties I brought back from Kumogakure."

With that, Shimura Gengetsu opened the scroll and broke the seal.

Bang~!

As the smoke cleared, the unconscious Samui appeared before everyone.

Jiraiya's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "Local...local specialty?"

"So, the local specialty of Kumogakure is beautiful women?!"

In an instant, Jiraiya's heart surged with heroic ambition, "Shikaku! Let's charge in! Let's take over Kumogakure!"

“Lord Jiraiya…” Nara Shikaku was speechless.

Uzuki Yugao and Yuhi Kurenai didn't look too good.

How come she went out and brought back a blonde with big waves?

It's so big... Damn, it must be fake, right?

Must be fake!