Uchiha Yoru carried out even more attempts in extreme excitement.
He discovered that the natural energy he could drive differed by type. The easiest to control was the water spirit beneath his feet, followed by the lightning spirit in the sky and the wind spirit in the air.
The fire spirit was extremely difficult. Uchiha Yoru strained for quite a while before he could squeeze out a tiny flame, roughly the size of a candle flame.
This was very easy to understand. On the sea, fire-aspected natural energy was the scarcest. After all, there were no natural fire sources such as volcanic islands around him.
But there was also a phenomenon Uchiha Yoru could not explain.
The seabed was only about forty meters beneath his feet, yet he completely could not mobilize earth-aspected natural energy. Even after diving to the bottom and stepping on the seabed, he still could not do it.
Just as he was bitterly pondering the reason and trying to design an experimental plan, Miwa Masayo found him.
When she saw that the thunderclouds gathered by lightning-aspected natural energy had begun moving, she judged that Uchiha Yoru's breakthrough had already been completed and immediately ran over.
With a meow, the white-coated tabby cat pounced onto her exclusive spot. Her appearance startled Uchiha Yoru, and he asked, "Rika-chan, what's all that white stuff on you?"
"It's salt, nya. Hurry and help me wash it off, nya. I don't know Water Release!"
Miwa Masayo meowed and begged her litter-scooper for help. From her miserable expression and the long tongue she stuck out, Uchiha Yoru guessed that this little cat had definitely licked the salt on her fur and been fiercely overwhelmed by it.
Looking at the bedraggled tabby cat, Uchiha Yoru smiled and asked, "Rika-chan, how did you make yourself this miserable? Getting this much salt on your body isn't simple."
As he spoke, he held his palm flat, palm facing upward, and gently lifted it. A ball of pure fresh water separated from the seawater and surrounded the tabby cat's body, quickly washing the salt stains from her fur.
Miwa Masayo closed her eyes and enjoyed the clear water rinsing her. She explained, "The waves today were too big, nya. They kept soaking me."
"Yoru, you know I don't like the feeling of being wet all over, nya, so I quickly dried the water every time, nya. Before I knew it, lots of salt was left on my body, and it felt awful, nya."
"I tried cleaning the salt grains with my tongue, but salt is bitter and salty. Licking it made me feel terrible, nya. And I don't know Water Release, so I could only ask you for help, nya."
"Oh right, nya. Yoru, your breakthrough succeeded, didn't it?"
Miwa Masayo's tone was a question, but her voice was extremely certain. Clearly, she had absolute confidence in Uchiha Yoru's success. Asking was only confirming the result.
Uchiha Yoru smiled and answered, "Of course it succeeded."
"That's great, nya. You became much stronger, nya?"
"Mm. My strength increased tenfold, my running speed doubled, and my reaction speed improved a lot."
"As for senjutsu, I absorbed water-aspected natural energy. Now all five spirits are complete within my body, and the natural energies are fusing again. It seems like something is being nurtured."
"In short, I've become much stronger."
Uchiha Yoru used his fingers to comb through the tangled cat fur and added, "Right, I can also control natural energy in nature now."
"Like this."
He extended his right hand and grabbed forward. The scattered wind-aspected natural energy in the air gathered, forming a tiny wind column.
Miwa Masayo had spent enough time with Uchiha Yoru. She understood very well what this meant, so her eyes were full of stars as she looked at the wind column.
The tabby cat praised from the bottom of her heart, "It's actually unity between heaven and man, nya… That's so cool."
But Uchiha Yoru denied it with a grimace. "I still can't confirm that it's unity between heaven and man, because my connection with the surroundings is constantly weakening right now, and the strength of the natural energy I can control is falling very quickly."
"I strongly suspect this is an early-experience benefit brought by the breakthrough, and it's even a limited-time trial version."
"Also, when my control was very strong, I still couldn't control earth-aspected natural energy. I have absolutely no idea why."
Uchiha Yoru spread both hands, half helpless and half carefree. "In short, I still can't be certain. Truly troublesome."
Miwa Masayo understood his pride, so she played along and said, "Although it's trouble, it's happy trouble, nya."
Hearing this, Uchiha Yoru nodded in satisfaction. He reached out and high-fived the tabby cat's little paw. Then they laughed happily together.
Uchiha Yoru had successfully advanced one step, which meant the path everyone had chosen was correct. Their future was vast. It was worth celebrating.
As for whether he obtained power after the breakthrough, that was not important. If he did, it was naturally delightful. If he did not, it would not delay anything.
After laughing for a while, Miwa Masayo asked, "Yoru, what do we do next, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru turned his head and looked into the distance. There was a kunai engraved with "The Dao follows nature" that Miwa Masayo had helped him nail down.
There was also the Three-Tails, Isobu.
He smiled and said softly, "We go back. Let's go see the result of the Three-Tails' self-harming strike."
After completing his breakthrough, Uchiha Yoru had greater confidence. He also had a sufficient understanding of the Three-Tails' strength, so naturally he wanted to go back and take another look at the Three-Tails.
Not for anything else.
There were still benefits on the Three-Tails' body that he could try harvesting.
He licked his lips and said to Miwa Masayo, "If there's a chance, I want to taste the Three-Tails' left eye too. I still haven't experienced the essence of wind-aspected natural energy."
Miwa Masayo also disappointingly began drooling and stated her demand. "This time, you have to give me a share, nya."
Uchiha Yoru said as if it were only natural, "Don't worry, don't worry. Before, it was for my breakthrough, so I had no choice but to eat all of it. Next, I only want to taste it. The main portion will be yours, Rika-chan. After all, it's the essence of wind-aspected natural energy."
After obtaining his promise, the tabby cat began worrying about a new problem. "Yoru, my digestion ability is far worse than yours. Can I really eat it, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru answered with great confidence, "How could there be something you can't eat? Even if you can't eat it directly, I can process it into something you can eat. Something delicious."
"Didn't I grind the octopus pearl into powder and process it into cat biscuits you could eat? Have you forgotten the taste?"
"Meow, I remember, nya. I trust Yoru the most, nya."
As the Flying Thunder God Technique activated, Uchiha Yoru and Miwa Masayo disappeared.
…
Although the battlefield was the sea, after a great battle, it was still a complete mess.
Ice-crystal spikes from the Three-Tails floated everywhere on the sea surface, and there was even a lot of still-active Tailed Beast flesh and blood.
Uchiha Yoru stood on the sea, holding the special kunai he had retrieved from the seabed. He looked around in every direction but found nothing.
He then calmed his mind and sensed carefully, but he still did not detect the Three-Tails' distinctive chakra.
After a long while, Uchiha Yoru said regretfully, "Looks like we won't have that blessing today. The Three-Tails, Isobu, has already run far away."
Miwa Masayo nodded with equal disappointment, but she still looked around unwillingly and asked, "Could the things floating here be useful, nya?"
"Not much hope. These are all scraps shaken off the Three-Tails when the Tailed Beast Ball exploded. They're like our nails and hair. They won't be very useful."
"That's such a pity, nya."
Uchiha Yoru stroked Miwa Masayo's head, trying to comfort her wounded heart.
Who knew the tabby cat would suddenly stand up, then jump onto Uchiha Yoru's head? She stretched out a paw and pointed forward, asking, "What's that, nya? Fish, nya?"
Following Miwa Masayo's direction, Uchiha Yoru focused his gaze and immediately saw two high, arched dorsal fins.
They were two strange fish covered in sharp scales, swimming rapidly through the sea.
In this sea area, remnants fallen from the Three-Tails floated everywhere, and a large amount of Tailed Beast blood had dissolved into the seawater. Because of that, the seawater was full of the Three-Tails' chakra, which had an extremely powerful repelling effect on ordinary creatures.
Thus, when Uchiha Yoru returned with Miwa Masayo, this sea area was silent, showing no signs of life at all.
These two strange fish completely ignored the Tailed Beast's chakra. They definitely had a special relationship with Tailed Beasts.
"Let's go. We'll see if we can catch those two fish."
"Okay, nya. If we can't eat the Three-Tails' wind-aspected natural energy essence, let's see if these two fish can be eaten, nya."
Uchiha Yoru could not help laughing. He was very satisfied with Miwa Masayo's personality of defaulting a creature she saw for the first time into food, then considering whether it tasted good or not.
This is what a Dao companion in tune with me should look like.
But they were still disappointed.
The two strange fish were extremely vigilant and utterly timid. After discovering them approaching, they immediately dove into the seabed and fled thousands of miles away without the slightest hesitation.
The shape of these two fish was extremely strange. Their bodies were covered in dense, sharp spikes. Their fins were short, yet their underwater speed was unbelievably fast.
Uchiha Yoru did not even get a chance to approach before this pair of strange fish vanished without a trace.
Miwa Masayo asked, "What kind of strange fish are those? They look so weird."
Uchiha Yoru carefully observed the piece of Three-Tails flesh that had been bitten by the strange fish. Recalling the appearance of the strange fish, he developed a guess he was not too certain about.
He rubbed his chin and said to Miwa Masayo, "Those two strange fish seem to have specifically come to eat the Three-Tails' flesh and blood. They're very special. Judging by their appearance, I think they might be Samehada."
Miwa Masayo asked in confusion, "Samehada? What kind of fish is Samehada, nya?"
Uchiha Yoru emphasized his tone and said again, "The greatsword Samehada. One of Kirigakure's great blades. It's said that the raw material is a special fish called Samehada, capable of devouring a shinobi's flesh, blood, and chakra."
Miwa Masayo was shocked. "I didn't know that. But that ability sounds really powerful, nya. Like that Star-Absorbing Great Art you talked about, nya."
Uchiha Yoru said, "Devouring the enemy's chakra is indeed very powerful. But what's even more powerful is Kirigakure. I really want to know how they turn living creatures into living weapons."
"What a pity. We couldn't catch Samehada."
"Otherwise, we could have studied it properly. Maybe these traits are simply the fish's own traits and have nothing to do with Kirigakure's ninja sword forging techniques."
Miwa Masayo guessed, "Yoru, what you said makes sense, nya. I think Kirigakure's impressive technique might be their fishing skill, nya."
Uchiha Yoru agreed, "Rika-chan, your guess is very possible. Kirigakure has occupied the sea for decades. Their understanding of the sea and their fishing ability must be very strong."
"Ah."
"What's wrong, nya?"
"Orochimaru is here."
"Meow."
…
Orochimaru's aura was somewhat weakened, but his appearance was much better than Uchiha Yoru's. His hair was only slightly messy, and there were two tears in his clothes. Overall, he still looked very neat.
This made Uchiha Yoru quite curious.
In the battle between Orochimaru and Yagura Karatachi, had he won or lost?
Orochimaru looked at the appearance of this sea area and took a deep breath, distinguishing the scent in the air. He sighed with emotion and said, "Uchiha Yoru, it seems I'll have to use honorifics with you in the future. You actually drove off the Three-Tails."
"I didn't. I have no idea. Don't talk nonsense!"
Uchiha Yoru subconsciously blurted out the three denials. Although he had dug out one of the Three-Tails' eyes, he had not repelled the Three-Tails.
He tried to explain—or rather, quibble. "Lord Orochimaru, look at my condition. Do I look like someone who can repel a Tailed Beast?"
"Clearly, I was beaten violently by the Three-Tails."
Orochimaru smiled as he looked at Uchiha Yoru and said, "Then that's strange. If it wasn't you, who did it?"
"This place is full of the Three-Tails' scent, and its body materials are floating everywhere on the sea surface. Judging from the range of their distribution, the Three-Tails was not lightly injured."
Uchiha Yoru repeatedly shook his head and denied it. "I lasted for a while under the Three-Tails' attacks, but later I was still forced to retreat. I really don't know who drove off the Three-Tails. Anyway, it wasn't me."
I'm not lying. First, I truly don't have the ability to drive off the Three-Tails. Second, Isobu wanted to leave from the very beginning.
"What you said makes a lot of sense."
Orochimaru seemed to accept Uchiha Yoru's explanation. He chuckled and stopped speaking.
But Uchiha Yoru clearly saw that the light in Orochimaru's eyes was extremely deep. Perhaps he suspected someone else, but his suspicion toward Uchiha Yoru had absolutely not decreased in the slightest.
This guy Orochimaru really is suspicious.
Uchiha Yoru asked in return, "Lord Orochimaru, you should have caught up with the Fourth Mizukage. Did you take him down?"
When Orochimaru heard this question, the smile on his face instantly disappeared. Without even looking, he answered, "I caught up, but I couldn't take him down."
"Tch. Water Mirror Jutsu is too annoying."
"Ah, also, Manda died too early. Otherwise, my chances would have been greater."
As for Orochimaru shifting blame, Uchiha Yoru treated it as farting and did not take it to heart at all. He continued asking, "Lord Orochimaru, you seem to be in a good mood. You must have obtained something from the Fourth Mizukage, right?"
"Hehehe. As expected of Uchiha Yoru, your guess is very accurate."
"I forced the Fourth Mizukage to promise that within two years, Kirigakure absolutely will not start any battles."
"Lord Orochimaru, you're joking again."
"Haha, you saw through me. Yagura Karatachi did not say those words to me, but I killed more than half the Kirigakure shinobi he brought. I specifically selected my targets before attacking."
"All the small shinobi clans without kekkei genkai, as well as the civilian shinobi, were killed by me to the last."
"I deliberately let the Hozuki clan and Kaguya clan shinobi escape, then killed more than half of the Yuki clan shinobi. The Fourth Mizukage should understand my painstaking effort."
Uchiha Yoru immediately sucked in a cold breath.
Orochimaru's move was truly ruthless.
Among the Kirigakure shinobi brought by the Fourth Mizukage, one third were kekkei genkai shinobi clans, one third were small shinobi clans, and one third were civilian shinobi without even surnames.
Orochimaru had been unable to take down Yagura Karatachi, but he should have held the upper hand in battle and possessed great initiative. Thus, he went to slaughter the retreating Kirigakure shinobi.
If Orochimaru was not lying, then according to his killing method, civilian shinobi and small shinobi clans had suffered devastating blows, and kekkei genkai shinobi clans had once again become the powerful force within Kirigakure.
In order to avoid the Fourth Mizukage choosing compromise, Orochimaru had even deliberately weakened the Yuki clan, creating an obvious weak point among the three great shinobi clans and tempting the Fourth Mizukage to attack.
Too sinister.
His calculations were far too thorough.
As long as Yagura Karatachi still had even a little ambition to be the master of his own house, he could only follow Orochimaru's design and ignite Kirigakure's internal conflict.
One had to know that Kirigakure had just experienced four months of internal fighting. Only after everyone had exhausted themselves from fighting and finally chosen the Fourth Mizukage as victor had things calmed down.
If Kirigakure began internal fighting again, new grudges and old hatred would stack together, and the cruelty would be pulled directly to the maximum.
Adding to that, defeat had destroyed Yagura Karatachi's prestige. Kirigakure no longer had authority to restrain them.
This new round of internal conflict absolutely would not be pacified in four months. It would probably take at least one or two years of killing, exterminating dozens of shinobi clans large and small, before the participants finally became too exhausted from bloodshed and slowly calmed down.
In this way, without needing the Fourth Mizukage to swear anything, he would actively withdraw all Kirigakure shinobi and close the door to resolve internal problems. Within two years, he definitely would have no time or energy to stir up trouble externally.
Uchiha Yoru raised his thumb, expressing his admiration.
Seeing that Uchiha Yoru could understand all of his calculations, Orochimaru immediately felt as though he had found a kindred spirit and laughed proudly.
He even directly changed how he addressed him. "Yoru-kun, it's truly wonderful that you can understand my plan."
…
The Fourth Mizukage returned to Kirigakure with his defeated remnants.
The atmosphere of the entire village immediately became oppressive. As the shinobi of the three great clans each returned home, Kirigakure was soon covered by thick mist created by the Hidden Mist Jutsu.
Killing intent brewed within the dense fog, becoming stronger and stronger. Shinobi and villagers seemed to smell blood, to the point that some villagers began fleeing Kirigakure.
The Fourth Mizukage stood inside his office. Divine light constantly shifted in his eyes. Clearly, he was undergoing intense psychological struggle.
He was considering whether to restart the "Bloody Mist" policy, even if it meant abandoning the kekkei genkai clans, in order to protect his own power in Kirigakure and fight for a greater opportunity for Kirigakure's future.
Continuous intense battles had already left Yagura Karatachi exhausted. The tense thinking further consumed a large amount of his mental strength, and his spirit gradually became dispirited.
"That brat Orochimaru did well. He created a perfect opportunity for me."
"Who's there!"
Yagura Karatachi shouted explosively, reaching out to grab the coral staff leaning beside the desk.
But halfway through, his hand stopped.
His entire body froze like a statue.
His eyes had turned into three-tomoe Sharingan.
He had been controlled by Sharingan genjutsu.
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