I just returned to Konoha and found that my entire clan was gone.

"Enemy attack!" Maki heard an explosion suddenly erupt in the village and saw a fire in the distance. That location... Oh no, the enemy has come to break into the prison! The rampant Akatsuki organization!

This is blatant disregard for Sunagakure. Maki immediately led his team to the cell where Deidara was being held.

When Maki arrived at the prison, he saw that many places were already on fire, and several ninjas guarding Deidara were lying on the ground. Then he saw a man wearing a whirlpool mask carrying Deidara and greeting Maki and the others.

"Hello everyone! I'm about to evacuate!" A comical voice rang out from the man.

"Don't run!" Maki roared. He didn't believe that the other party could escape from the heavy encirclement of Sunagakure. But the next second left him dumbfounded. The man in front of him seemed to have been thrown into a blender. His body began to twist and turn. In an instant, he and Deidara disappeared from everyone's sight.

Maki had never seen such ninjutsu before, and he couldn't find any trace of the man no matter how he looked around.

"Scorpion-senpai, I've brought Deidara-senpai!" Scorpion, who was hiding in the cave, heard Obito's voice and saw him carrying Deidara on his shoulder as he walked in.

"The intern did a good job. You should be able to get a permanent position." Sasori said in a low voice, looking at Obito's mask. Even if he wanted to rescue Deidara, it would take him a lot of effort, but he didn't expect that this intern would bring Deidara back unharmed.

"Haha, you flatter me, senior. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now." Obito laughed in Tobi's comical voice, then tossed the unconscious Deidara next to Sasori and left.

Before Obito made his move, he deliberately used genjutsu to make Deidara unconscious, because he didn't want Deidara to know his trump card.

Sasori did not stop him, and after a while, Deidara finally woke up.

"Hmm, Brother Sasori, you saved me?" Deidara woke up to find himself no longer in the Sand Village's prison. He breathed a sigh of relief, as being imprisoned was not a pleasant experience.

"It wasn't me, it was an intern named Afei." Sasori didn't take the blame for saving Deidara. "And your severed hand is with me, it's not far from here, let's go and reattach it quickly."

A ninja without arms cannot perform hand seals unless he can perform hand seals with one hand or perform ninjutsu without hand seals. Otherwise, his strength will be reduced by more than half. Deidara realized that he owed Deidara a great favor for this.

"Thank you very much, Brother Sasori." Deidara was relieved to know that his arm could be reattached. He rested with Sasori for a while and then left the cave.

Several days passed after Ye Lan left, and Maki's already grim expression darkened further. He'd been racking his brains trying to figure out how to explain things to Ye Lan. Deidara, whom they'd finally captured, had escaped. He'd had everyone search the area around the cell but couldn't find him, leaving no trace—he'd simply vanished. And this time it was just a kidnapping of an accomplice; what if the other side used the same method against Gaara next? What would Sunagakure do then? The thought gave Maki a major headache.

"Lord Maki, the Konoha Jonin Yoran, Kurenai, and Maki Jonin have returned." A Sunagakure Chunin came to Maki's office to report.

Upon hearing this, Maki's face lit up with joy. Hearing this report, he was certain that Tsunade had healed Kurenai and Maki.

Ye Lan looked at the still somewhat tired Kurenai beside her without saying much. After Tsunade finished treating her, Kurenai only rested for one day before rushing back to Sunagakure with Ye Lan. Tsunade had advised her to rest for a few more days and that the affairs of Sunagakure could be left to others, but Kurenai said that her students were there and that it was her mission to complete. So she and Ye Lan rushed back to Sunagakure. On the way back, they didn't use the Summoning Blade, as it was better to walk on foot for such a non-urgent journey.

After learning that she had been rescued by the people of Konoha, the female ninja from Sunagakure expressed her gratitude to Yelan and Tsunade, and returned to Sunagakure with them.

Seeing Maki's less-than-ideal expression, Ye Lan had some questions. Maki's next words left him feeling helpless: he hadn't expected Deidara to be kidnapped, and no one in Sunagakure could stop him. The kidnapper had simply vanished right before his eyes.

Hearing this news, Ye Lan was helpless. He wasn't in Sunagakure at the time, but even if he had been there, he wouldn't have been able to do anything about Obito, who was determined to leave.

Hinata and the others breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Kurenai again. Kurenai then discussed the details of the alliance with the high-ranking officials of Sunagakure and signed it. On this basis, the two sides added a clause to share information about Akatsuki. After these events, both sides realized that Akatsuki was a difficult organization to deal with, and its target was the Jinchuriki of their respective ninja villages. It was necessary to share information to gain a more detailed understanding of this organization.

Ye Lan, who didn't care much about such things, wandered around Sunagakure Village. However, to his surprise, someone unexpectedly stopped him.

Chapter 37 Gaara

"What's the matter?" Ye Lan asked Gaara, who was blocking her way.

"Gaara!" Before Gaara could speak, Temari, who had been following him, rushed forward, not understanding why Gaara was stopping Yelan.

"Temari, I'm fine. I just have some questions I'd like to ask Mr. Yelan." Gaara didn't resort to his usual harsh words, but instead comforted Temari.

Ye Lan: "So, what's the matter?"

Temari had been calmed down by Gaara, and he looked at Yelan and said, "Mr. Yelan, since you saw Shukaku last time, it has become much quieter and no longer makes a fuss. However, no matter what I ask it, it won't respond to me. Do you have any good ideas?"

Temari looked at Gaara in surprise. He had been much quieter since his rampage last time. She had thought that Gaara had figured something out, but it turned out to be because of Ye Lan. But would the One-Tailed Beast be afraid of Ye Lan?

"Actually, I don't have any good advice on this. I'm not a Jinchūriki, and I don't have any Jinchūriki friends." Ye Lan didn't hide anything too much. Apart from knowing that the Sharingan was relatively effective against Tailed Beasts, he really didn't know how Jinchūriki interacted with Tailed Beasts.

"Is that so... I'm sorry to bother you." Gaara's eyes dimmed slightly. Actually, he wanted to resolve Shukaku's problem better, in case Shukaku threw another tantrum someday, he would also be affected.

Seeing Gaara's somewhat disappointed look, Ye Lan thought for a moment and said, "When I was on a mission in the Land of Water, I heard that the Fourth Mizukage was a perfect Jinchuriki, able to completely control the power of the Tailed Beasts. I think that to achieve this, one needs not only great strength but also the ability to connect with the Tailed Beasts. If you really don't know what to do, then hurry up and train yourself. You need strength to do anything."

Gaara, who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks after hearing Ye Lan's words. "Perfect Jinchuriki..." This was the first time Gaara had heard this term. From Ye Lan's explanation, he knew it was a very powerful force. Ye Lan was right; he needed more training.

"Thank you, Mr. Ye Lan." Gaara bowed after hearing this. Temari hadn't expected Gaara to become so polite. Although she didn't know what Ye Lan had said, she also bowed to Ye Lan, just like Gaara, to express her gratitude for Gaara's change.

“That child looks a bit like Naruto…” Ye Lan turned around and found that Kurenai had come up behind her.

"Are you done with your work, Red Jonin?" Ye Lan asked.

Hong waved her hand and said, "No need to be so polite. You saved my life. Just call me by my name. Everything is done. We can go back to Konoha anytime. This mission is finally coming to an end."

"Then I shall respectfully comply, Hong."

"You are indeed very polite, just as Hongdou said. You don't seem like a fifteen-year-old at all." Hongdou and Hongdou are very good friends. They often go shopping and drink together.

"Have they confirmed the next Kazekage of Sunagakure?" Ye Lan didn't want to continue this topic and asked about other things. Kurenai, who had signed the contract with Sunagakure, might know some of their next decisions.

"No, I heard from the higher-ups in Sunagakure that they haven't decided on the next Kazekage yet." Kurenai shook her head. Sunagakure is even weaker than Konoha right now, and they can't even choose a Kazekage.

“I see. If it’s not confirmed after a while, Gaara might become the Kazekage…” Ye Lan said, stroking his chin.

"Gaara? No way, isn't he a Jinchūriki?" He was somewhat surprised to hear Ye Lan's analysis.

“His eyes no longer hold hatred, and he's become more normal. Moreover, his teacher is Maki, a highly respected figure in Sunagakure, who will help him. Also, the Fourth Mizukage was a Jinchūriki, so there are precedents for this.”

After listening to Ye Lan's analysis, Hong also sensed this possibility, but she didn't expect Ye Lan to see so far ahead.

"Has Sand Village found any trace of Deidara's escape or Sasori's whereabouts?" Ye Lan asked again about Akatsuki. He had seen many Sand Village ninjas running out of the village these past few days, even though they didn't have many missions to complete right now.

Kurenai sighed and said, "No, we searched the entire village but couldn't find any trace of Deidara when he escaped. Chiyo went to the site of our battle herself but didn't find anything either."

"It seems there shouldn't be any more risks on the way back. Their people have probably already left the Land of Wind." Ye Lan was also helpless. He had finally managed to capture Deidara, only to let him escape like this. He had originally thought he could still get some information out of Deidara.

Rain Country

This country experiences frequent rainfall and has a consistently humid climate, making it unsuitable for growing any crops. Consequently, it requires a significant amount of money each year to purchase food.

In the very center of Amegakure, a tall tower stood, and people began to enter. If Ye Lan were here, he would recognize several familiar faces. Not only Itachi and Kisame, but also Deidara, whose arm had been reattached, and Sasori had all arrived. It was unexpected that Akatsuki's headquarters were located in Amegakure.

"What does the leader want with us? How long has it been since we were all together? I still have to go on a bounty mission," Kakuzu with green eyes said with an unfriendly expression.

"The leader summoned us here to announce something important, please wait a moment." Hei Baijue then emerged to calm the somewhat agitated crowd.

Itachi and Kisame sat quietly to the side; neither of them were talkative. When everyone had arrived, a man and a woman finally arrived.

They were all wearing Akatsuki uniforms. The man had a yellow spiky hairstyle and some unidentifiable ornaments on his face. What was most striking was his eyes, which were exactly like the legendary Rinnegan. The woman had short blue hair, a slender figure, and wore a paper flower in her hair; she was a rare beauty.

"Is everyone here..." Pain looked around, but no one made eye contact with him; the pressure from the Rinnegan was too great.

"The organization will temporarily suspend the tailed beast capture plan..." Pain announced the organization's next decision, which surprised everyone. Hidan, in particular, said it casually.

"Why is it tentative? Is it because Itachi and Sasori's groups both failed? We can't let all our efforts go to waste, Boss!" Good heavens, one sentence angered all four of them. Kisame even drew his Samehada sword, unable to resist the urge to slash him.

Pain was also troubled by the prospect of his members about to engage in a major fight. The members were indeed formidable, all rogue ninja from various villages who hadn't yet captured their leaders, and each possessed a peculiar temperament. Pain had considered having more people working together to increase their combat strength, but in this situation, if there were too many people, they would likely turn on each other before even engaging the enemy. Two people per team was already the limit. Therefore, he avoided gathering in groups whenever possible, conducting meetings through Pain's Illusionary Body Technique.

Seeing the group about to make their move, Pain shouted, "Quiet!" An unimaginable pressure enveloped the entire area. As the leader of Akatsuki, Pain's power was undeniable, and the members instantly became obedient.

"The Three-Tails Jinchuriki of Kirigakure has encountered a problem and died unexpectedly. Even if we capture all the other Tailed Beasts, we'll have to wait three years, which will put us at a disadvantage. So, for these three years, we need to keep the other villages away from us and wait until the Three-Tails is about to revive before we take action." Hearing Pain's words, everyone understood. Capturing Tailed Beasts would naturally provoke the wrath of the ninja villages. Generally, it's necessary to capture them quickly before the other villages can react. Once those villages have their eyes on us, they might join forces against Akatsuki, making the plan impossible to implement.

The Three-Tails will need another three years to revive. Akatsuki's current strategy is to reduce attention, develop stealthily, and wait until other ninja villages are no longer concerned before making their move.

"So, what do we do now?" asked the oldest of the group, Kakuzu.

Hidden in the room, Nagato sighed as he thought about the hardships of life in Amegakure. He then manipulated Pain and said, "Make money."

Chapter 38 Natural Energy

After completing their mission, Ye Lan and the others returned to Konoha. That day, Ye Lan arrived at the Naka Shrine that Sasuke had mentioned. This was a secret place known only to members of the Uchiha clan. They came to the stone tablet that Sasuke had mentioned, which was engraved with some intricate patterns. When Ye Lan activated his Sharingan, he was indeed able to understand the contents recorded on it.

The stone tablet first introduced the ancestors of the Uchiha and Senju clans, Indra and Ashura, as well as their father, the Sage of Six Paths, which seemed somewhat like a mythological legend. Then it described how the Uchiha could awaken the Sharingan. When Ye Lan had read about a third of it, she could no longer understand the rest. At this moment, the three tomoe in Ye Lan's eyes slowly rotated and then transformed into the Mangekyou Sharingan. The information on the stone tablet became clearer again. It showed that the Mangekyou Sharingan was not the ultimate power of the Uchiha clan, and that the Mangekyou Sharingan could evolve once more.

If, after activating the kaleidoscope, a close relative's kaleidoscope is transplanted into one's own eyes, the kaleidoscope will become an eternal kaleidoscope that will never go out, and the pupil's power will be greatly enhanced.

Seeing this, Ye Lan wasn't too surprised. As expected, this Mangekyou Sharingan with its side effects wasn't the end goal for the Uchiha clan. However, to find a close relative's Mangekyou Sharingan, the only way was to transplant Shisui's eyes. Shisui was already dead, and Shisui's eyes were most likely in Itachi's body. This was not only the legacy left by his brother, but also the key to Ye Lan's evolution into the Eternal Eye. However, getting Itachi to hand it over wouldn't be so easy.

Moreover, even after activating the Kaleidoscope Stone Tablet, only two-thirds of the contents could be seen. To know the rest, only the Eternal Kaleidoscope could be used. Ye Lan read the contents several more times before leaving the shrine.

Ye Lan had some doubts about the contents of the stone tablet. It wasn't that she doubted the method for unlocking the Sharingan; those methods were probably real. She just wondered how such a thing could have been left behind. Could it really have been left by Indra, as it was said? If Indra really existed, then was the Sage of Six Paths also real? Did gods really exist in this world? This was the first time Ye Lan felt so unfamiliar with this world. As someone who had received nine years of education, thinking had become an instinct, and in the absence of certainty, everything was worth questioning.

Arriving at an open space far from the village, Ye Lan didn't hesitate and immediately summoned Po Jun. After a puff of smoke, Po Jun's massive body appeared before him.

"Ye Lan, what is it now?" After being summoned by spirit, Po Jun found that there were no enemies and wondered why Ye Lan had called him.

"Po Jun, teach me how to use natural abilities. My progress in cultivating natural energy is too slow." The Eternal Eye is not a concern for now. Learning natural energy can alleviate the decline in eye power, but Ye Lan's cultivation has been stagnant, so she sought Po Jun's guidance during this spiritual connection.

"Kid, you've finally gotten back on the right path. Alright, let me see your perception of natural energy." Po Jun hadn't expected Ye Lan to call him for this reason, and nodded in satisfaction.

Ye Lan then closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and sensed the natural energy in the air, wanting to absorb it all into his body. However, after a while, Po Jun tapped Ye Lan on the head, and he looked at Po Jun with some confusion.

“Ye Lan, you’re doing something wrong.” Po Jun’s bird-like face actually put on a serious expression. “Although the natural energy here is very little and it’s not easy for your cultivation to go berserk, you still can’t do it like this.”

Ye Lan stopped cultivating and looked at Po Jun.

"Natural energy cannot be used as crudely and directly as your body's chakra. Natural energy is more like a conscious existence. You need to learn to adapt to natural energy rather than control it. Natural energy represents heaven and earth and all things. Everything in the world with life actually has natural energy, just more or less. It represents a natural law. Do you think you can control the natural law?" Po Jun explained.

Ye Lan shook his head. He hadn't expected natural energy to be like this. He had never spoken to Po Jun before, and this was the first time he had known that natural energy was such a power, like a kind of will.

"You must learn to go with it and let the natural energy come to you on its own, so that it will not harm you and can help you."

After listening to Po Jun's explanation, Ye Lan started to sense again. Instead of absorbing the natural energy in the air roughly, he began to observe it. Every blade of grass and every tree in the air, the rabbits foraging not far away, the fish blowing bubbles in the river... every kind of life had a trace of natural energy. When Ye Lan sensed them, they seemed to have noticed him as well, and they involuntarily moved closer to him.

Po Jun nodded in approval upon seeing Ye Lan's condition; it seemed he had already grasped the basics.

Ye Lan opened her eyes again and observed her body. She found that some of her hidden injuries were being slowly repaired by natural energy. Her eyesight, which had become somewhat nearsighted due to the kaleidoscope, was also improving. She clenched her fists and found that her strength had also increased.

“You do have some talent, after all, you learned it later in life, and you’ve now entered the basics. However, the natural energy here is too scarce to significantly improve your body; it can only help repair it,” Po Jun said.

Feeling the changes brought about by the natural energy, Ye Lan was somewhat delighted. The improvement brought about by just entering the realm of natural energy was so great. Although his combat power had not increased significantly, it was able to repair the side effects of his Kaleidoscope.

"Don't overuse your eyes. If you use too much, even your level of natural energy can't repair it," Po Jun reminded Ye Lan, seeing through her thoughts.

As Ye Lan's natural energy was gradually depleted, he couldn't help but look at Po Jun and say, "Although natural energy is difficult to learn, the power it can enhance is much greater than that of chakra. Why are there no people who specialize in cultivating natural energy?"

Po Jun was silent for a while before saying, "The cultivation of natural energy relies more on talent, and there is a risk of losing control without guidance, unlike chakra, which even ordinary people can master after a period of training."

“Cultivating natural energy is more like a kind of inheritance. A long time ago, there were still some people with natural energy. They all called themselves immortals. Because of chakra, there are very few now. I haven’t seen one since I was born. You might be the first immortal I’ve ever seen,” Po Jun explained.

After listening to Po Jun's words, Ye Lan seemed to have discovered something and couldn't help but ask, "Because of chakra? Did you not have chakra before?"

The existence of ninjas is attributed to chakra. If, according to Po Jun's explanation, the sudden appearance of chakra is what made the ninja profession flourish, then how did chakra come about?

"According to our ancestors, chakra suddenly appeared a thousand years ago. At that time, there were only a handful of sages, and most people were ordinary. There weren't many powerful people among them, but the spread of chakra was very rapid, which meant that very few people knew how to cultivate and learn the difficult natural energy. And some people who had already learned the natural energy also began to learn how to use chakra, so the cultivation of natural energy gradually lost its lineage. Our clan had no choice but to move our clan's territory and live in seclusion on a small island."

That's right. If Ye Lan hadn't come to this island by accident, the Swift Falcon clan would never have appeared in front of the world. This kind of training would probably have been abandoned slowly. Even the current Po Jun doesn't just train in natural energy; it also trains in some chakra abilities.

"If what you're saying is true, then chakra belongs to outsiders, and natural energy is our original power..." Ye Lan felt as if he had discovered a great secret. He somewhat believed that the Sage of Six Paths, Indra, and Ashura were real people back then. However, he had too many questions about what roles they played and what happened in between, which aroused Ye Lan's curiosity.

"What's the point of thinking so much, kid? I used to be curious too, but I don't think about it anymore. I feel that our clan is living quite well on that island. Signing the contract with you was just to see more of the outside world. I never cared whether others cultivated chakra or natural energy. Thinking too much will only tire you out." Po Jun laughed when he saw Ye Lan's conflicted and thoughtful expression.