I am Jinshan Youxia

"The weather is just as awful as in the Land of Wind."

Zhang Chengyi continuously released chakra to counteract the falling rock rain. Because of the long-term exposure to the rock rain, the ground beneath his feet had been eroded by the rock rain, forming a unique rocky landscape. If too much force was applied, the hollow ground inside would easily collapse.

Chiyo had become somewhat numb to his behavior of frantically releasing chakra over trivial matters. Hearing this, she asked, "Since the goal is the Land of Lightning, why go through the Land of Earth?"

To travel from the Land of Wind in the southwest corner to the Land of Lightning in the northeast corner, one must cross the diagonal of the ninja world. Currently, the most common route in the ninja world is to pass through the chaotic but not closed Land of Rivers, then through the border of the Land of Fire, and then through the three relatively peaceful countries of Hot Springs, Frost, and Forests, before finally arriving at the Land of Lightning.

The other path, which is the route they are currently taking, is more complicated.

Head north from the Land of Wind, passing through one of the four small countries of flowers, beasts, stones, and birds, and arrive at the Land of Earth. From the Land of Earth, head northeast and take a boat into the Land of Iron, or pass through the territory of Takigakure Village to enter the Land of Iron. After resting briefly in the Land of Iron, take a boat to the Land of Lightning.

The problem is that the Land of Earth doesn't really welcome outside ninjas. Most of the people there are quite stubborn and xenophobic, and they are especially wary of visitors from the Land of Wind. Normally, you can actually travel directly from the Land of Earth to the Land of Lightning by boat.

However, the two countries have been in constant friction since the end of the last war, so no ships can navigate normally. Even merchants between the two countries have to transit through the Iron Country by ship, entering the other country under the banner of the Iron Country.

The samurai of the Land of Iron have a good reputation internationally, and are even qualified to host the Five Kage Summit. However, the number of samurai is small, and their average strength is somewhat lower than that of the ninjas. Their control over the country is also weak, and many organizations that fly the flag of the Land of Iron waver between Taki and Tsukushi.

In particular, the Hidden Grass Village and the Hidden Sound Village, which has gained some fame in recent years for attacking the Hidden Leaf Village, surround the Hidden Waterfall Village. From time to time, they cross the boundary and transform into samurai or ninja from the Land of Iron, traveling between earth and lightning.

The same unspoken understanding applies to wind and fire; the intelligence agencies of Sunagakure and Konoha also use this route to send spies into earth and lightning.

Compared to the Land of Rain, which was devastated in the last war, and the Land of River, which has yet to be unified, the Land of Iron should perhaps feel fortunate to exist in the ninja world with such a unique position.

However, the Iron Nation, which upholds loyalty, integrity, trustworthiness, and righteousness, actually exports the most spies to the high-ranking officials of various countries. How to define its place in history is probably left to future generations to judge.

In short, the second route is not only more chaotic than the routes through the four countries of fire, water, frost, and forest, but it is also easier to expose intelligence. The places it passes through are notoriously mixed with all sorts of people, especially since the Hidden Sound Village was defeated in the Konoha Crush plan and has been in chaos recently, resulting in a number of S-rank missions involving state secrets.

Anyone with even a slight awareness of the ninja world can tell how chaotic it is.

Zhang Chengyi turned his head and glanced at the old lady sitting on Might Guy's shoulders. He was first surprised, then suddenly realized: "I forgot to tell you, Sasori is on the border of the Land of Earth and is preparing to enter the territory of Takigakure Village."

Chiyo paused for a moment, then said nothing more.

Zhang Chengyi, carrying the still unconscious Gaara, continued, "Their mission is to enter the location of Takigakure and help Iwagakure kill the rogue ninja. Hmm, our Akatsuki and Iwagakure are very close!"

Iwagakure was indeed Akatsuki's biggest financial backer. The Land of Earth, with its barren land, rocky terrain, and low vegetation coverage, naturally had more mineral resources. It was the country that produced the most precious metals. Apart from the most prosperous Land of Fire, the Land of Earth was a super-rich country. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to provide so many ninjas for the Raikage to slaughter back then.

Incidentally, the Land of Lightning has a unique geographical location with many wonders, including towering mountains and thunderous canyons. Its long and warm coastline attracts many powerful yet gentle sea monsters. It is also very wealthy, as evidenced by its frequent attacks on other countries.

As an island nation, the Land of Water was once rich in marine products, possessed unique ninjutsu, and was highly skilled in navigation (though these industries were destroyed due to national turmoil). It also had a large number of bloodline limits (most of which have been lost). Economically, it was not much different from the Lightning and Earth nations. Now, it is a bit poor, its Kage are dead, its Jinchuriki are gone, and its Tailed Beasts are missing. However, it is in dire need of rebuilding and has a very promising future.

The Kingdom of Wind is the only truly impoverished country, having been poor from the past to the present, and it seems unlikely to have any future prospects of making money.

When the Five Kage Summit began, everyone else was selling minerals, developing technologies, and monopolizing intellectual property rights. Only the Kazekage was either sifting gold with his bare hands or personally developing and selling ninjutsu. Even the Daimyo of the Land of Wind didn't really want the title of one of the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages. What good was a large territory when it was poor and barren? It would be much better to follow the Land of Fire. Beset by internal and external troubles, the Kazekage was arguably the most miserable Kage among the Five Great Nations.

Back then, Hanzo of the Salamander from Amegakure fought against wind, earth, and fire ninjas to protect the Land of Rain during the war. He constantly maneuvered and paid various prices to finally secure an opportunity for peace talks. Then, an organization called Akatsuki emerged, loudly proclaiming that peace should not be achieved through force, which gained the support of many ninjas within Amegakure.

The Land of Earth secretly supported Akatsuki back then because of this incident. As a result, Hanzo ruthlessly colluded with the dark side of the ninja world to destroy Akatsuki. The Hidden Stone Village thought Akatsuki was gone, but unexpectedly, Akatsuki has become active again in recent years.

Because of the Land of Rain's isolation, Iwagakure was unaware that Hanzo had long since lost control of Amegakure, and that Akatsuki was no longer the young people who wanted to achieve peace without resorting to force. They thought they could continue to exploit this to divide the Land of Rain and go back to the past by assigning missions to support Akatsuki...

All I can say is that Obito's face was splitting with laughter.

Zhang Chengyi was also quite happy. Since the Akatsuki's missions generally revolved in the north, along the line from earth to lightning, he could almost see all the Akatsuki members by following this line.

Let's meet up offline, guys!

Chapter 451

Half a day later, at night, at a post station on the border between the Land of Earth and Takigakure Village.

"Whoo~"

Deidara lay in the hot spring, took a sip of sake, looked up at the night sky, and had a very pleasant expression on his face.

These past few days in the Land of Earth, because Brother Sasori absolutely refused to throw away the ring, citing ridiculous reasons like the troublesome newcomer being involved in eternal art, he also got harassed.

For some reason, the newcomers stopped bothering them today, and since they were about to leave the Land of Earth, they decided to find a rocky inn with hot springs to rest.

"Hey there, I've found you!"

The newcomer's annoying voice rang out from the wall not far away, but Deidara was too lazy to argue with him anymore and pretended not to hear anything.

Wait, something's not right with the chakra feeling!

He suddenly turned his head to look, and what should have been just an illusion created by the Illusionary Body Technique had actually turned into a real figure, with the Leaf Village Blue Beast and an old woman standing next to him, holding Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, in their hands...

"You actually came!" Deidara's voice was filled with intense resentment as he jumped out of the hot spring with a splash.

Even though he had put on the yukata very quickly, Zhang Chengyi still managed to catch the key point with his Mangekyou Sharingan, pointing at him and laughing loudly: "Haha, so small."

"You bastard!" Deidara exclaimed, instantly entering a state of extreme heat.

However, as a qualified ninja, he did not lose his mind completely because of anger. On the contrary, he became extremely calm under the drive of anger and killing intent. He knew that he had no chance of winning against someone who had the same Mangekyou Sharingan as Uchiha Itachi. So he simply released Earth Release: Earth Dragon Concealment Technique and burrowed underground.

In a short while, Sasori, who lived in the next room, also came out wearing a scarlet hat and looked at Chiyo, saying, "You've actually mixed up with the newbies, Grandma Chiyo..."

“I was the one who was taken away,” Chiyo said with a smile. “I only didn’t resist because I heard I would see my dear grandson.”

“Let’s leave this friendly conversation between grandfather and grandson here for now.” Zhang Chengyi ruthlessly interrupted their seemingly estranged reminiscence, saying, “Scorpion, come with me.”

"I really need Chiyo to help me develop ninjutsu, and you are an indispensable hostage."

He felt no sympathy whatsoever for a guy with blood on his hands. No matter how tragic his past was, or how the comic book portrayed how the grandmother was treated leniently, it had nothing to do with him.

Ultimately, this puppeteer is a ruthless villain who kills without hesitation and transforms humans into puppets. In the plot, he is a bloodless and heartless monster who conquers a country and is completely unworthy of sympathy.

If it weren't for Chiyo's lingering hopes and expectations for her grandson, he wouldn't have said anything more to Sasori; he would have just killed him.

"I see." Sasori's voice came from Hiruko, becoming deep and hoarse. The puppet's eyes were unusually bright. "You wanted to capture me just for ninjutsu?"

"You can give it a try."

Even with the Mangekyou Sharingan, it's a bit too arrogant and overconfident to boast about capturing him.

Currently, only Obito and a few ninjas from Konoha know about his Mangekyou Sharingan abilities. According to intelligence from various countries, he is still a taijutsu-type ninja who relies on strong taijutsu. Even with two more Mangekyou Sharingan, he wouldn't be considered particularly powerful. After all, it's a well-known fact that non-Uchiha bloodlines would have very poor application of the Sharingan and consume a lot of chakra.

Even if you add Might Guy, the Blue Beast of Konoha, to the side, Sasori can still be countered by Deidara.

As for Chiyo, she's too old; relying solely on puppets is no threat at all.

After a thorough analysis of the strength of both sides, Scorpion concluded: "If you were the one who initiated the attack, even if I turned you into a puppet, the leader probably wouldn't say anything."

"tsk"

Zhang Chengyi smiled, and the special chakra (ocular power) of his Mangekyou Sharingan emitted intense fluctuations.

[This technique?!]

Sasori noticed the problem and saw that the outer shell of Hiruko was distorted. He determined that it was a space-time ninjutsu and discarded Hiruko without hesitation.

"Crack!"

The puppet, harder than steel, was torn into several pieces by Kamui and completely collapsed.

"A space-time ninjutsu belonging to the Mangekyou Sharingan, is this all you rely on?"

Sasori's main puppet stood on the roof, with countless chakra threads emerging from his robes, connecting to a large group of puppets floating in mid-air.

A hint of longing appeared in his eyes. The Mangekyou Sharingan, just like Itachi Uchiha's, is truly an important collectible.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" A swarm of puppets rushed forward.

Chiyo finally snapped out of her shock at seeing her grandson's unchanged face and said in a weary voice, "I don't think you need an old woman to help you."

In her perception, the two people next to her were absolute monsters, emanating a chakra even larger than that of a tailed beast. If it weren't for their inferior quality and the lack of any special feeling, she would have even suspected that these two were Jinchūriki.

"Ah Kai," Zhang Chengyi ordered, "Don't kill him, just capture him."

When it comes to dealing with puppets, pure brute force is indeed the most effective method.

Might Guy moved, charging forward at a speed no one could see, his air-walking motion shattering the onrushing Hundred Machines Manipulation. The massive horde of puppets was instantly blasted through.

Scorpion's expression showed a slight shock. This was too fast. His clothes burst open with a hiss, revealing his densely modified body. Due to the opponent's speed, he only had time to raise his hands in front of him.

"Whoosh!" A violent burst of flames erupted.

[They actually turned themselves into puppets?]

Might Guy was somewhat surprised when he saw it from the air, but he didn't care about the sea of ​​fire coming towards him.

Since it's a puppet, then we can use a bit more force, right?

Instead of using wide-range attacks like Morning Peacock and Daytime Tiger, he turned his body and delivered a long-range spinning back kick, accompanied by a whirlwind-like air wave.

Fierce Leaf Vajra Whirlwind!

Layer upon layer of air waves swept away the sea of ​​fire with overwhelming force, smashing the entire roof and blasting Scorpion inside as well.

[As expected, I still couldn't control my strength...] Might Guy's body flashed through the sparks-filled space and disappeared into the ruins.

"Clang clang clang!" His body, enveloped in thick chakra, collided violently with the large number of senbon needles shooting out from the smoke, but he rushed in unscathed.

"Boom!" The black iron sand pierced through the entire camp, causing the ground to bulge out in pieces, and even Zhang Chengyi was swept into the battlefield.

Chapter 452 Catch one, let one escape

Iron sand is a very powerful substance.

Despite the unclear and ambiguous death of the Third Kazekage and the limited portrayal of him in the manga, the actual combat effectiveness of this chakra attachment, which possesses inherent magnetic properties, extremely strong destructive power, and the ability to gather and disperse, is terrifying.

Zhang Chengyi jumped up as soon as he noticed the spikes made of protruding iron sand on the ground, but the magnetic force of the iron sand spikes interfered with his movements. Even with his level of physical fitness, his movements became slightly distorted under the influence of the large amount of aggregated iron sand.

Escaping is certainly not a problem, but if he were to fight against a strong opponent of the same level, he would probably be dead if he made even the slightest mistake.

Moreover, this is based on the premise that the iron sand is manipulated by a puppet. If it were a living Third Kazekage, he could use a large amount of iron sand to affect the opponent's actions while using a small amount of scattered iron sand to penetrate the opponent's body. This combat logic is simple, brutal, and not brain-intensive. It combines mechanics and numerical values. The more skilled one is in taijutsu, the less able one is to fight against Magnet Release iron sand.

He truly is a monster who can hold the position of Kazekage with just one unique technique.

His death was just too inexplicable.

Zhang Chengyi carefully avoided the rapidly growing iron sand spikes in the air. These were even more troublesome than when the Third Kazekage controlled them. Scorpion had coated them with poison, and according to the setting, only Tsunade and her future disciple Sakura Haruno could remove it; even Chiyo couldn't.

In less than a second, the iron sand that had just been protruding from the ground tore apart the entire camp, forming a huge spider web covered with long, thin iron sand.

Sand and iron boundary method.

A secret technique of sand and iron that permeates the air and can move at high speed at will using magnetic force to launch large-scale attacks on the ground below.

Fortunately, there weren't many people at this hot spring inn to begin with. Before the battle even started, the innkeeper and other guests had already run away. In a world full of ninjas, knowing when to run away is a survival philosophy.

Very impressive

Zhang Chengyi commented that this thing is exceptionally powerful in both one-on-one and group battles. Its greatest strength is its ability to mow down enemies. On the battlefield, a single Iron Sand Technique can create a death zone, even controlling magnetism. Combined with the ubiquitous iron sand, it can easily crush ordinary ninjas. Even Jonin can die inside if they're not careful. The enhanced poison version is even more dangerous, requiring Kage to be wary.