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[Starting as a Class 5 Mutant]
"Mina-san, could your summoning beast participate in the battlefield? If we have the assistance of your summoning beast, it could greatly reduce our casualties."
After listening to Shikaku's report, Jiraiya sought out Mina at the medical unit.
However, he had to wait for a long time, only managing to catch Mina during her break, which was nearly around noon the next day; the ninja injured last night were so numerous that the medical unit was busy until the next day, by which time all the injured had been attended to.
As for those who died on the spot, that was beyond the capabilities of the medical unit.
Mina was the most diligent in treating the injured last night. Her chakra capacity, the unique properties of her chakra, and her unparalleled medical ninjutsu skills meant she single-handedly took care of a third of all treatments.
After arranging for others to take over her duties, Mina was preparing to go rest.
But just then, she encountered Jiraiya.
After hearing Jiraiya's request, Mina immediately shook her head and said, "Jiraiya-sama, Gates is not my summoning beast. It is Yoichi-sama's summoning beast. Only Yoichi-sama can command it.
In fact, if it weren't for the Sand Ninja attempting to harm me last night, Gates wouldn't have bothered to move."
Jiraiya, not willing to give up, inquired, "Can't you persuade it?"
"Gates does not listen to me. Only Yoichi-sama can communicate with it."
Mina still shook her head, implying that while she could convey a message to Yoichi to send a message to Gates, it wasn't necessary.
She had already done enough. As a medical ninja, she had excelled in treating injuries and preventing the enemy's poison, soon to be promoted for her contributions.
There was no need to trouble Yoichi-sama for Jiraiya-sama's request.
"Perhaps, Jiraiya-sama, you might consider asking Yoichi-sama directly."
"Then, I'll give it a try," said Jiraiya, seeing that Mina wouldn't relent, and left somewhat awkwardly.
Though he mentioned giving it a try, he had no intention of actually seeking help from Yoichi.
After Jiraiya left, he decided to follow Shikaku's advice and request reinforcements from the village.
According to their intelligence, the Sand Ninjas still had at least two thousand ninjas in the River Country, while Konoha only had three hundred ninjas in Kikyo Castle.
If the Sand continued to attack twice more, they would face a significant number of casualties and might have to abandon Kikyo Castle.
The news quickly reached Konoha, but the situation in the village was also not great.
The Third Raikage's retaliation came quickly. Although Konoha was prepared, facing the aggressive Cloud Ninjas, the village atmosphere couldn't help but become somewhat tense.
With three thousand Cloud Ninjas indicating Konoha would need to prepare at least four ninja squads, two thousand Konoha ninjas to confront the Cloud Village.
Fortunately, the Third Raikage had lost an arm, significantly weakening his power.
...
In the Hokage's office, surrounded by smoke, one piece of bad news after another almost overwhelmed Hiruzen. Now, he was pondering over his pipe how to deal with the upcoming challenges.
This situation was different from the Second Shinobi World War when they proactively went to war to establish their authority after the death of the Second Hokage to prevent being underestimated by other ninja villages.
After making a plan, they aggressively attacked, severely hitting the Rain Country's morale, nearly shattering Hanzo's dream of the Sixth Great Ninja Village, and gaining an upper hand in wars against the Rock and Sand.
However, they didn't go to war with the Cloud, as the Second Hokage was killed by Gold and Silver Brothers, but the Second Raikage also died at the hands of those Cloud ninjas, giving Konoha no reason for revenge.
Suddenly, the door to the Hokage's office was forcefully opened, revealing Danzo . Sarutobi put down his pipe and asked, "Danzo, any news?"
"Somewhat. The Rock has deployed at least three hundred ninjas along the border with the Grass Country, though it seems they have no intention of invading. Besides the Grass Country, we've also found quite a few Rock ninjas in the Waterfall Country."
As Danzo reported, he placed the intelligence scroll on Sarutobi's desk.
The Waterfall Country, heading east, borders the Iron Country, which interestingly demarcated an area for ninjas to pass through on their territory. This area is somewhat desolate but perfectly allows Rock or Cloud ninjas to borrow paths from each other.
"Doesn't the Waterfall Village have any pride as a ninja village? They even have the Seven-Tails."
Sarutobi frowned as he opened the scroll to closely examine the intelligence. Root's methods of gathering intelligence from other countries proved to be somewhat more effective than ANBU.
Root didn't shy away from using any means necessary to complete their missions. Sarutobi was aware of Root's training and mission execution methods. If he were managing Root, he might not have been able to do as Danzo did.
Yet, the village needed this darker aspect, as now, to gather specific intelligence on the Rock's troop distribution, Root's existence was essential, which is why Sarutobi tolerated and even reinstated Danzo.
"The Waterfall Village has big ambitions. They lack a leader like Hanzo but harbor his dream. They naturally want to gain benefits, so they align with a major country."
Danzo casually mocked the Waterfall Village before continuing, "While the Rock is guarding against us, they're also wary of the Cloud. Given the relationship between the Rock and Cloud, they probably despise the Cloud more. Sarutobi, what's your plan?"
"Let's discuss it with Koharu and Homura."
After some thought, Sarutobi decided to call for a meeting. He wasn't as decisive as before.
Danzo noticed this and sneered internally. If it were the Sarutobi from the Second Shinobi World War, a decision would have already been made.
Soon, Koharu and Homura arrived at the Hokage's office. They had been classmates and teammates for decades, and Sarutobi had grown accustomed to relying on them for advice.
After sharing Danzo's intelligence and the situation at Kikyo Castle with them, Koharu and Homura quickly grasped the current state of the ninja world.
Upon review, they realized the Fire Country was in a precarious position with too many potential battlefronts and not enough new ninjas.
"Sarutobi, what's your plan?"
After adding some tobacco to his pipe and lighting it, Sarutobi said, "For the Cloud front, I'm thinking of having Sakumo lead three ninja squads to hold them off, and keep Orochimaru in the village."
Given the uncertain movements of the Rock, they needed to keep some forces in reserve, especially since the Mist, although currently docile, might seize the opportunity to cause trouble.
"Sending Sakumo to deal with the situation in the Hot Water Country is a good idea, but the Cloud's aggressive stance this time means giving him too few men won't be enough."
Homura added. Once Sarutobi made a decision, he and Koharu would address any oversights.
The four of them discussed and soon decided on who to send and how many ninjas to deploy against the Cloud Village.
Danzo had hoped to take command of the eastern front, believing Sarutobi's moment of weakness was an opportunity to gain significant merits.
He set his sights on the Cloud Village, aiming to gain more prestige than Jiraiya by defeating the Cloud. With the merits of being a disciple of the Second Hokage and his war contributions, he hoped to compete for the title of the Fourth Hokage.
Danzo thought the Third Raikage's injury, combined with his advantage in Wind Release over Lightning Release, gave him significant confidence.
However, Sarutobi flatly rejected his proposal. Sakumo was also a formidable Wind Release ninja, and the Root needed Danzo for leadership and intelligence gathering.
Sarutobi, Koharu, and Homura then started to detail their plan, deciding who to send and how to manage logistics and medical support.
-----------------------
[Master of Dreams]: A partial ability of the Dream God, capable of creating anything within dreams. Actions within the dream follow the rules of reality, and the memories and sensations from the dream can transfer to the real body.
This was a new ability for Yoichi, one he found potent and believed would become even stronger with proper development.
Abilities related to gods or rules, when effectively utilized in certain aspects, could be terrifyingly powerful. The Master of Dreams was one such ability.
"Let's give it a try. Understanding how to use this ability requires experimentation, though I'm not sleepy right now."
Yoichi, after some thought, went out to the Konoha Hospital to buy some sleeping pills for forced slumber.
Upon returning home, he also summoned a small snake that could understand human speech, asking it to watch over his body while he slept.
This snake, recommended by Orochimaru from the Ryuchi Cave, held great potential. With proper training, it could reach levels similar to his own.
After taking the sleeping pills, Yoichi quickly fell asleep.
Upon falling asleep, he felt his consciousness flicker and suddenly found himself in a blank space.
"It's too bright."
He instinctively said, causing the space to dim to a comfortable level of brightness.
"Under my control? The Master of Dreams truly lives up to its name. And it mentioned that memories and sensations from the dream would transfer to my real body, similar to the Shadow Clone Technique. Does this mean I can train in my dream and wake up with the same gains?"
"Forty-eight hours, is this the time I have in this dream? It seems short. But let's see how my real body reacts after I leave."
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Creating a shadow clone felt just like using a technique in reality, as if part of his chakra had indeed split off.
"You practice the Flying Thunder God Technique. I'll work on something else."
Yoichi had his clone practice the Flying Thunder God Technique, still not quite mastered, while he planned to work on the Reanimation Jutsu.
"A sacrifice, the flesh I collected earlier, and a scroll!"
As he spoke, these three items appeared before him, surprising Yoichi.
He examined them closely. The sacrifice was an unconscious stranger, ready to be used for the Reanimation Jutsu; the flesh was indeed from Mabumu, and the markings on the storage scroll were made by him personally.
"Let's see."
He then began practicing the Reanimation Jutsu.
Capable of summoning the dead back from the pure land, this forbidden jutsu was originally developed by the Second Hokage to complement another forbidden jutsu, the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.
Only the infinitely regenerating reanimated bodies could fully exploit the potential of the explosive tags.
The enhancement of the reanimated bodies to regain their original power was the work of Orochimaru and Kabuto.
How exactly they modified it, Yoichi wasn't sure, but he knew the quality of the sacrifice directly affected the reanimated body's power, with the best sacrifice being White Zetsu cells containing Hashirama's DNA.
"Modified Summoning Jutsu, connecting to the underworld, using the chakra contained in the flesh for summoning... the Second Hokage was a genius to be able to modify it like this."
In his first attempt, Yoichi merely followed the procedure without considering enhancing power. Getting the reanimation to work was the first sign of success.
The dream even provided a living person for the sacrifice, so connecting to the underworld for reanimation shouldn't be an issue, as his actions were governed by the laws of reality.
The first reanimation attempt failed, only summoning debris that adhered to the sacrifice, who then died.
"It seems I got the summoning formula wrong. Another sacrifice, please."
The second attempt at reanimation also failed.
The third, fourth, fifth... After attempting once every half hour, Yoichi had tried over seventy times, visibly frustrated.
"This time it must work!"
Having made almost every conceivable mistake and taking notes to remind himself, Yoichi aimed to avoid the errors made in the previous seventy-plus attempts.
"Reanimation Jutsu!"
The summoning formula activated, and debris began to gather on the sacrifice, quickly taking Mabumu's form.
"It worked!"
Yoichi was elated as the reanimated body did not disintegrate, indicating the critical step of the Reanimation Jutsu was successful.
Next, he inserted a control talisman into the reanimated body's head.
Having prepared the control talisman in advance, he was finally able to use it after more than seventy attempts.
After inserting the talisman, Yoichi awakened Mabumu's consciousness.
"How am I here?"
"Silence!"
Commanded Yoichi , and Mabumu immediately fell silent, though still glaring angrily.
"Use the Shadow Clone Technique at full strength."
Following the command, Mabumu executed the Shadow Clone Technique, managing only three clones.
"Only three clones at full strength... His chakra is less than that of a Chunin!"
Yoichi's disappointment was evident. This reanimated body's quality was the lowest tier, but at least the reanimation was a success.
"For improvements... The strength is related to the sacrifice, so increasing the reanimated body's control is necessary. Orochimaru and Kabuto must have modified the control talisman. Otherwise, Kabuto controlling dozens of reanimations would be too taxing."
Yoichi pondered, realizing that controlling a single reanimated body already required a bit of effort, and managing two would consume all his focus.
The experimentation continued.
(End of Chapter)