Chapter 111: Target: Land of Sound
The synthesis was temporarily put on hold because Kael no longer had any synthesis formulas with a success rate over 80%.
Moreover, his chakra was severely depleted and needed time to recover.
To be honest, chakra capacity was one of Kael's shortcomings.
Without the amplification from the Ruyi Worm and Tabby Cat, his chakra reserves were likely slightly below that of an average Jonin.
This amount was only enough for him to cast a single Summoning Jutsu at the start of a battle; after that, he couldn't afford to use ninjutsu recklessly.
Fortunately, over the years, although he had mastered quite a few Wind and Fire Style jutsus, he rarely had the chance to use them because they were useless!
The main reason was that his opponents were getting stronger and stronger.
Chakra was something that depended almost entirely on talent. Generally, ninja with Kekkei Genkai had far more chakra than average ninja. Even talented commoner ninja were limited in their chakra capacity.
But chakra wasn't entirely unchangeable.
Kael knew there were several artifacts in the Shinobi World capable of boosting a ninja's chakra.
The most obvious and immediate solution was to become a Jinchuriki. The chakra of a Tailed Beast was practically limitless. If one could coexist with the Tailed Beast like Naruto and Kurama, becoming a perfect Jinchuriki, they could perfectly utilize the Tailed Beast's power in battle, potentially leaping to the pinnacle of the ninja world.
But Tailed Beasts were "weapons of war" controlled by the Five Great Nations!
They absolutely would not allow outsiders to get their hands on them. Furthermore, as far as Kael knew, even if the future Akatsuki didn't turn evil, Black Zetsu and Madara Uchiha would still target the Tailed Beasts, as they were indispensable for becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
So Kael had no intention of touching them.
Whether it was the Five Great Nations or Madara Uchiha, their power was too great for the current Kael to handle.
So even though he knew the Hidden Waterfall Village, outside the Five Great Nations, possessed a Tailed Beast, he had never considered becoming a Jinchuriki himself.
The remaining methods to boost chakra either had severe side effects or were too difficult to obtain, often accompanied by great risk.
Like the "Hero Water" or the "Power of the Dragon Vein."
Shaking his head slightly, Kael decided to focus on the tasks at hand.
"The village expansion doesn't need my attention anymore. So next, I should take advantage of the Third Great Shinobi War to secretly expand the Hidden Hot Water's territory..."
Thinking of this, Kael looked at the map of the Shinobi World hanging on his room wall.
The Land of Hot Water, where the Hidden Hot Water Village was located, was tightly surrounded by the Land of Sound, the Land of Frost, and the Land of Fire. Except for the sea on two sides, there were no gaps.
Relatively speaking, this geographical environment was certainly unfavorable for expansion.
But what comforted Kael somewhat was that the Land of Sound to the west was a country without even a hidden village, which was very conducive to the Hidden Hot Water's secret expansion.
He muttered to himself, "Sorry, Uncle Snake!"
Then, his gaze shifted to the east of the Land of Hot Water, and his brow furrowed deeply as he tried to recall something.
"I remember the Land of Frost has a ninja village, right? What was it called... Hidden Frost Village? Although it had zero presence in the original story, it's still a ninja village. I'll go check it out myself. I'll leave the task of secretly establishing a ninja village in the Land of Sound to Tanabe and Toneri..."
Having made up his mind, Kael called out to his front door.
"Tanabe!"
"Huh?"
An honest-looking head immediately popped in from outside, looking at him in confusion.
Kael's mouth twitched, but he waved him in.
He still wasn't comfortable letting Tanabe do this alone—not that he didn't trust Tanabe's intelligence, of course.
Tanabe was impeccable as a bodyguard, staying by Kael's side 24/7. But when it came to secretly establishing a ninja village and expanding influence, this guy's brain was a bit lacking.
So Kael pressed the button on the bat mark on his chest.
"Dog Seven, Dog Seven! Calling Dog Seven, calling Dog Seven! Please respond if you copy."
Tanabe, who had just walked in, looked even more confused. If he remembered correctly, "Dog Seven" seemed to be his communication code...
Just as this thought flashed through his mind, the bat mark on his chest flashed red, and a clear voice came from it.
"Dog Seven, Dog Seven! Calling Dog Seven, calling Dog Seven! Please respond if you copy."
"Dog Seven is right here. Just say what you need to say; no need to beat around the bush and repeat it twice!"
Tanabe walked up to Kael expressionlessly.
Kael: "..."
Tanabe widened his small eyes, trying hard to understand Kael's actions but failing.
Is he messing with me?
"Ahem..."
Kael coughed awkwardly twice, avoiding Tanabe's gaze, which looked at him like he was an idiot. He offered a faint explanation.
"Remembered wrong..."
"Alright! No need to explain! Lord Leader's explanation is even more hurtful than silence!"
Tanabe waved his hand heavily, cutting off whatever Kael was about to say next.
"Damn it! Are you addicted to role-playing now?"
Kael kicked him in the butt irritably, but Tanabe just chuckled.
"Go get Toneri. I have something to tell you two..."
Kael then smiled at Tanabe.
As the Second Leader of the Hidden Hot Water Village and the first Minister of ANBU, he wasn't going to tell Tanabe that he had forgotten Toneri's ANBU communication code!
Land of Frost.
Although it was named the Land of Frost, it wasn't frosty all year round.
At least now, approaching summer, Kael found the climate here no different from the Land of Hot Water—quite warm.
"However, it seems the Land of Frost is devoid of people..."
Flying high in the sky on the Thunder-Wind Eagle, Kael muttered to himself.
In his view, whether passing over villages or towns, he saw absolutely no one.
It was as if it were the dead of winter, and everyone just wanted to stay comfortably under their blankets.
Kael found it strange. Although small countries had small populations, it shouldn't be this sparse!
After thinking about it, there was only one explanation.
"Is it because the ninja war has broken out again? Afraid of being caught in the crossfire of ninja battles, the ordinary people are panicked and don't dare to go out..."