Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 78 The Third Generation's Ultimate Technique

Huff... After a while, the Third Hokage took a deep breath, suppressed the anger on his face, and asked Danzo calmly.

"Speak, why didn't you listen to me and kill Li Yao?"

They agreed that they would kill Li Yao no matter what a year later, but Danzo didn't listen, otherwise this wouldn't have happened.

However, the Third Generation also understood his good friend. There must have been something about Li Yao that interested him, which was why he disobeyed his orders and let Li Yao live.

What is it?

The art of immortality?

Or is it a special ability to be immune to illusions?

Despite his anger, the Third Hokage was also very curious about what Danzo had discovered about Li Yao.

"Um... cough cough."

Danzo's eyes darted around, somewhat reluctant to discuss Wood Release. However, recalling the Third Hokage's murderous gaze earlier, and considering Li Yao's escape—who might have displayed Wood Release abilities—and knowing he'd still need the Third Hokage's power to capture Li Yao, he decided to stop hiding it. He coughed a few times and whispered:

"Um... I transplanted the original Wood Release cells of the First Hokage into Li Yao."

"What?!" The Third Hokage's eyes widened instantly, staring at Danzo with disbelief. Then his expression changed, and he said, "Could it be...?"

"That's right."

Meeting the Third Hokage's gaze, Danzo shrugged and said, "Li Yao withstood the First Hokage's Wood Release cell essence."

Upon hearing this, the Third Hokage's brain instantly went blank, his body swayed, and then he suddenly stared intently into Danzo's eyes with a blank expression.

Danzo immediately felt guilty, his eyes darting around, and he weakly explained, "I originally planned to kill Li Yao as soon as I extracted the new cells from his body after they were fused with Wood Release cells."

"Who knew the war would come so quickly? That's why we didn't pay attention to Li Yao, and he managed to escape now."

"Shut up, you bastard!" the Third Hokage cursed. At this point, Danzo's explanation was irrelevant.

Li Yao was already quite troublesome because he possessed a sealing technique comparable to the Vajra Sealing Technique.

He even obtained the First Hokage's Wood Release from Danzo.

That was the Wood Release granted by the original cell fluid of the First Generation.

It's the Wood Release technique that would give Li Yao strength comparable to the First Hokage!

As a ninja who lived through the era when the God of Shinobi's power dominated the entire ninja world, the Third Hokage knew better than anyone the strength of the First Hokage's Wood Release.

That's a terrifying ninjutsu that can handle the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball like a ball.

In the hands of the First Hokage's Wood Release, the Nine-Tails was as powerless as a domesticated kitten.

It could even be said that even if all the tailed beasts were combined, they would still be easily defeated by the First Hokage's Wood Release.

The First Hokage was able to force the daimyo of various ninja countries to acknowledge the system of one ninja village per country by relying on his godlike and unbeatable Wood Release technique.

It's important to understand that the "one country, one ninja village" system essentially entrusts the defense of a country entirely to the ninja village, while the daimyo is responsible for allocating funds to Konoha to maintain the operation of the ninja village.

In name only, it seems that the daimyo has become the superior of the ninja village.

But in reality, this is just a disguised form of protection money.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire pays protection money to Konoha, and in return, Konoha is responsible for protecting the Land of Fire from military invasion by other countries.

Essentially, this is still an employment relationship from the Warring States period.

The only difference is that the first generation made this employment relationship mandatory.

Regardless of whether there are missions or not, every year, the Daimyo's office in the Land of Fire needs to allocate a large sum of money to Konoha in order to maintain the operation of the ninja village.

This forced employment relationship was resisted by daimyo from various countries from the very beginning.

After all, no daimyo wants a huge military group to grow in their country, but this military group insists on supporting them and is not under their control. Who can stand that?

But what can you do if you can't stand it?

The battle between the God of Shinobi and the Asura of Shinobi at the very beginning of Konoha Village's founding terrified all the daimyo of the country.

The destructive power of such arbitrary map alterations is simply beyond human resistance.

If the original hero wanted to, he could kill everyone in the world by himself.

This strength terrified all the famous nobles of the time.

It was this deterrent power that allowed the system of one ninja village per country to be established and maintained.

This demonstrates the power of the First Hokage's Wood Release technique.

It was precisely because he knew how powerful it was that the third generation felt powerless.

That's not... um... wait a minute!

The third generation suddenly straightened up, his eyes showing a thoughtful expression, as if he had overlooked something.

"Could it be... that Li Yao didn't acquire Wood Release?"

"No, it should be that it hasn't fully fused with the First Hokage's Wood Release cells yet."

"Yes, that should be it."

"That's why Li Yaocai couldn't bear to abandon Kimura Yao's body and leave."

The more he pondered, the brighter his eyes became, convinced that his guess must be correct.

He knew about Li Yao's physical condition.

Even if he survived, his physical lifespan would be on the verge of collapse, making it impossible for him to unleash that level of strength, let alone unleash that terrifying amount of chakra.

It was the First Hokage cell essence implanted by Danzo that allowed Li Yao to live a longer life and even unleash a chakra quantity comparable to opening all eight gates when fighting Mito.

All of this was the benefit that Li Yao gained from initially fusing with the Wood Release cells after resisting the original cell solution.

Similarly, Li Yao did not fully integrate the First Hokage's cell essence to obtain the First Hokage's powerful Wood Release and terrifying chakra reserves comparable to those of tailed beasts.

That's why he didn't use Wood Release when he escaped Konoha, because he didn't know how.

However, as time goes by, Li Yao will one day completely integrate with the First Hokage's cell essence and obtain powerful Wood Release ninjutsu that is close to the First Hokage's.

It was because he was certain that he would possess the Wood Release technique of the First Hokage in the future that Li Yao was reluctant to part with Kimura Yao's body.

After all, no one can withstand the First Hokage's Wood Release ninjutsu.

Otherwise, after escaping the battle in Konoha, Kimura Yao's body, with all his acupoints destroyed, would have no room for further development, and Li Yao should have been able to possess him again.

But Li Yao did not.

Moreover, his body did not experience any major problems, which was clearly a benefit of the initial fusion with the First Hokage's Wood Release cells.

In this way, there is no need to worry about Li Yao leaving Kimura Yao's body for the time being.

However... we can't delay too long; we must seal him before Li Yao fully adapts to and gains Wood Release by fusing with the First Hokage's cells.

"Danzo, how is the spiritification technique for that child, Kato Dan, progressing?" the Third Hokage suddenly asked.

Danzo, who was thinking about how to capture Li Yao, immediately understood what the Third Hokage was planning when he heard the Third Hokage mention Kato Dan.

Danzo couldn't help but smile and said, "Not bad. That kid's Spirit Transformation Technique has reached a high level. On the battlefield between the Land of Rain and the Sand Village, the Sand Village's puppeteer troops had no chance to resist under his Spirit Transformation Technique attacks. He is already a powerful ninja that the Sand Village puppeteers fear."

At this point, Danzo's tone changed, and he sighed, "However, the best use of spiritualization techniques is for intelligence gathering and assassination; the battlefield is not its most perfect stage."

"Hiruzen".

Danzo looked at the Third Hokage with a burning gaze and said, "Let me take that kid to Root. He will become Root's strongest intelligence assassin, playing a role more important than killing a hundred puppeteers on the battlefield."

Very good... Hearing that Kato Dan's spiritification technique had been perfected, the Third Hokage smiled with satisfaction. As for Danzo's request, or rather his purpose, how could he not know it? How could he possibly allow Danzo to continue interfering in Li Yao's affairs?

The third generation decisively refused, saying, "I have a great use for that child."

Danzo grew anxious and said, "Hiruzen, you're wasting that child's talent."

The Third Hokage laughed and said, "I'm the Hokage, so I call the shots."

"..." Danzo was immediately paralyzed with fear.

"Alright, don't even think about interfering in Li Yao's affairs."

The Third Hokage gave Danzo a cold smile.

Danzo chuckled awkwardly, feeling somewhat embarrassed that his purpose in demanding Kato Dan had been exposed.

However... Li Yao possesses the secret of Wood Release, which he neither wants nor can afford to miss.

"You!"

The Third Hokage looked at Danzo, who still didn't want to give up, and shook his head, saying, "You have no idea how terrifying Li Yao is now."

Then the Third Hokage recounted the entire process of Li Yao's escape from Konoha, including the secret of Li Yao's ability to perform the Spirit Transformation Technique, which grants immortality.

"Ah..." Danzo's eyes widened in shock after hearing this, not because he was shocked that Li Yao knew a sealing technique comparable to Mito-sama, but because he was shocked that the Third Hokage did not trust him.

When the Third Hokage entrusted Li Yao to him, he didn't say that. He only said that Li Yao had a special body and the ability to be immune to the genjutsu of the three-tomoe Sharingan.

If he had known that Li Yao possessed a spiritual transformation technique that could grant immortality, how could he have allowed Li Yao to escape? He would have definitely taken appropriate measures.

So today, it's all Hiruzen's fault for not telling him the truth.

Danzo thought to himself, but said righteously, "Then I should personally go and capture Li Yao and bring him back."

"I will handle Li Yao's matter."

The Third Hokage refused Danzo again, and before Danzo could say anything, he continued, "It's good that you're back now, so you don't need to go to the front lines anymore. Quickly restore the Root organization, and the Uchiha hunting plan can continue."

The Uchiha have truly crossed the line this time, and the Third Hokage has decided to stop allowing them to continue their arrogance.

"Why so suddenly?"

Danzo was puzzled. He had wanted to continue before, but the Third Hokage disagreed, refusing on the grounds that Konoha needed unity and stability during the war. Now that the war was not over, why did he want to continue?

There's no such thing as a sudden attack when dealing with the Uchiha... The Third Hokage thought to himself, too lazy to explain the Uchiha's overstepping of boundaries this time, and directly said to Danzo seriously: "This is your next task."

"Or..." The Third Hokage looked at the nonchalant Danzo and suddenly threatened, "You want me to remove you from your position as commander of the Root Division."

Danzo once again mentally numbed himself: "..."

"You're using the Hokage to pressure me again," Danzo muttered speechlessly. He had no choice between taking on the Hokage and dealing with the Uchiha. He nodded and said, "Fine, I'll stay and deal with the Uchiha. You can handle Li Yao's matter, but you can't hide the Wood Release from me."

"That's settled then."

The third generation was too lazy to say more, waved his hand, turned around and left the Root Base.

Soon, an order was issued, instructing Kato Dan to return to Konoha immediately upon receiving the order, without fail.

"We cannot kill Li Yao; we can only seal him away."

The third generation understood this principle from the very beginning and made the corresponding preparations from the start.

Six years ago, after capturing Li Yao, the third generation secretly arranged for a group of exceptionally talented children to learn the art of spirit transformation.

Kato Dan was the only child in that group who possessed the talent for spiritification.

The third generation clearly understood that it was very difficult to distinguish someone who possessed a body once they took it over, especially if it happened in infancy.

However, as long as someone in Konoha knows the Spirit Transformation Technique, and uses the unique soul perception ability of the Spirit Transformation Technique, Li Yao will not be able to possess anyone from Konoha again.

Even just appearing near Konoha would be detected by the user of the Spirit Transformation Technique.

The soul perception range of the Spirit Transformation Technique is almost comparable to the center of a barrier, or even larger, with a perception range of thousands of kilometers. Li Yao would have nowhere to hide as long as he appeared.

This was a method that the third generation had left for Li Yao long ago.

This tactic has now become the final piece of the ultimate weapon.

The sealing technique to seal Li Yao has also been prepared by the Third Generation.

Now all that's missing is Kato Dan, that kid.

Once that child learns the Reaper Death Seal, coupled with the unique soul perception ability of the Spirit Transformation Technique, even if Li Yao possesses someone else, he will absolutely not be able to escape; his only fate will be to be sealed inside the stomach of the Grim Reaper.

(End of this chapter)