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Chapter 120: A New S-Rank Family Mission!
🕑 Added 2025-08-09 15:17:18 +0000 UTCChapter 120: A New S-Rank Family Mission!
"Nara, do you know what you're saying right now?"
Tsunade's pupils contracted slightly, her tone becoming much heavier. "You are, in the capacity of a Konoha ninja, questioning one of the Sannin, questioning the supreme commander of the Iwagakure front!"
"First, the Sannin, in my eyes, are not some high and mighty, inviolable figures." Keisuke's light retort directly blocked all of Tsunade's dissatisfaction. "Second, this is the actual situation, is it not?"
If the real situation in the front-line infirmary was not as Keisuke had reported, then he could be accused of slandering a superior and disturbing the morale of the army during wartime. But who could argue when it was the truth?
Tsunade thought to herself that even she, sitting in the rear, could sense that something was wrong from Keisuke's report. Then how could Orochimaru, who was personally on the front lines, possibly ignore what was happening right under his nose?
In that case, there were only two possibilities. First, Orochimaru had indeed discovered the strange situation in the infirmary but, for some reason, had not publicized it. Second, Orochimaru had already informed the village of the situation, but Keisuke, due to his position, had not had access to the relevant intelligence.
But the latter guess didn't make any sense at all! If it was a place Keisuke couldn't access, could it be that Tsunade also couldn't access it? She wasn't the head of the Medical Department for nothing!
"Hah!" Tsunade closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Regarding this matter, I will first go to the seriously wounded ninja who have returned from the Iwagakure front to gather intelligence. If this matter is really related to Orochimaru, I will... I will..."
Her tone was strained. In the end, she couldn't say what she would do.
Konoha's external war situation was not optimistic right now. Even if Orochimaru really was up to some tricks on the front lines, Tsunade had no way of doing anything to him for the time being. There was simply no one in Konoha at the moment who could replace him and hold the line on the Iwagakure front! Tsunade could only hope that he had not participated in any truly forbidden experiments. Otherwise... she really didn't know how to handle this matter.
"I understand," Keisuke spoke up at this time. "If there really is a problem with Orochimaru, I will go and confront him in your name."
Keisuke's relaying of the situation to Tsunade had no other purpose. It was just that he had discovered this abnormal situation and couldn't completely ignore it. He might as well use it as a simple counter-attack for Orochimaru's "tattling" from before. His target was still Orochimaru. As for whether Orochimaru was related to the strange situation in the infirmary... Keisuke couldn't be sure. But one thing he could be sure of was that the current Orochimaru had absolutely already begun conducting human experiments!
From the Iburi clan before, to the Iwagakure Explosion Corps later on, and that Explosion Release ninja. Keisuke could be certain that Orochimaru was also scheming for those rare and precious Kekkei Genkai abilities in the ninja world. It was just that the reason driving him to conduct this research... Keisuke was not yet very clear.
Considering that he would still need to "ask for" the research data on Explosion Release from Orochimaru in the future, Keisuke decided to ask for a suitable pretext from Tsunade. Solving problems for a superior while seeking benefits for oneself—wasn't that a very normal operation?
"You, Nara?" Hearing Keisuke speak up, Tsunade put away her complicated thoughts and deliberately used a joking tone to ease the atmosphere. "If there really is no other way, then I'll have to ask you to go and teach that guy Orochimaru a lesson for me!"
The problem of the infirmary at the Iwagakure war zone was too serious. Tsunade did not stay long at the medical research institute, but went directly to the hospital in Kikyo Castle, intending to gather first-hand intelligence from those seriously wounded ninja.
Nara Keisuke also left the institute. According to his established plan, he went to meet the old clan head.
"Keisuke, it's been a while!" Nara Shikano, who was playing shogi against himself, saw his junior arrive, removed one of his doppelgangers, and beckoned to him. "Care for a game of..."
"No thank you, Clan Head. I don't have any talent for shogi." Keisuke glanced at the board. Playing against himself, the old clan head really knows how to enjoy life.
"Alright then..." The old clan head sighed with some regret. "You came today for that Suna kunoichi?"
"Uh, not for Pakura." Keisuke shook his head, took out three scrolls from his ninja tool pouch, and laid them out on the shogi board.
Seeing this vaguely familiar scene, Nara Shikano's eyelid twitched subconsciously. "Clan Head, you should know about my old man's research plan, right?"
"You mean Shūsuke's research on 'the combination of shadow secret techniques and the nervous system'?" Shikano stroked his beard, instantly recalling the matter. "Of course. The clan elders basically all know about it and have been waiting for him to produce results. But we also know the limitations of our own secret techniques. The union of Yin Release and the human nervous system is just too difficul—Hmm? Wait! You suddenly brought this up, could it be that..."
"For some special reasons before, I took over this research project from my father," Keisuke said, pointing to the three scrolls on the board. "These are my research results."
"...Ouch!" The force with which Nara Shikano was stroking his beard involuntarily increased. He accidentally pulled out a few strands, and the pain made him cry out. But disregarding the pain from his chin, the old clan head looked at the three scrolls, his eyes wide. "These three scrolls, are they all ninjutsu you researched?"
"To be precise, it's a whole set of ninjutsu," Keisuke explained. "From low-level to high-level, there is a complete upgrade path."
Before, it was only one jutsu... Now he can give three at once...
Having a super genius in the family was a blessing, but also a source of trouble. Nara Shikano rubbed his chin and sighed in his heart. 'I'm just a retired old man. Why must I always bear the heavy responsibilities that my age should not have to bear?'
But while sighing internally, his body honestly stood up and beckoned to his junior. "Keisuke, I know you wouldn't lie about this kind of thing. Come, let me see the effects of these three new ninjutsu you've researched."
Keisuke nodded lightly. The [Lacquer Eye] technique activated directly. A shadow, like a whip, shot out from beneath him and instantly drew close to the old clan head's shadow. "This is the first ninjutsu, the C-rank technique [Shadow Imitation Technique]."
Shikano was listening to his explanation when he suddenly saw the other spread his hands, and he himself couldn't help but spread his own. "Huh?" The old clan head blinked, instantly discerning the effect of this jutsu. "Making the enemy maintain the same actions as yourself?"
"It also has the control effect of the [Shadow Paralysis Jutsu]," Keisuke explained, then lowered his arms.
The old clan head had thought he would continue to maintain the same action as the other. But Keisuke merely moved his fingers lightly from a distance, and his body, like a stringed puppet, began to move on the spot.
"This is the second ninjutsu, the A-rank technique [Shadow Body Manipulation Technique]," Keisuke explained. "Its specific use is somewhat like the Suna Puppet Brigade. They control puppets with chakra strings; I can control others' bodies with the shadow threads of this jutsu, without needing to make any movements myself. It's just that this technique has a relatively high requirement for chakra control precision."
But its effect is already explosive!
"The first is C-rank, the second is A-rank..." The astonished Nara Shikano asked, "Then the third ninjutsu... it wouldn't be an S-rank ultimate technique, would it?"
"No, the third is actually B-rank." Keisuke dispelled the [Shadow Body Manipulation Technique], quickly walked to the old clan head's side, and his entire person dissolved into the latter's shadow like a pool of water. As the shadow moved, the old clan head's body also moved along with it.
"This is the B-rank technique [Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique]." Keisuke's figure emerged from the shadows, standing beside the old clan head. "It's a B-rank secret technique jointly developed from the [Shadow Imitation Technique] and the [Flat Shadow Technique]. You can hide in another person's shadow and then control their body's movements."
[B-rank Technique: Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique]
[Technique Description: Turn the body into thin paper, attach to a shadow to manipulate the other party.]
[Technique Effect: The user infuses chakra into their own shadow, making their body very thin and merging with the opponent's shadow; through the overlap of shadows, connect and penetrate the target's nervous system with Yin Release chakra, causing the target's every move to perfectly coincide with one's own.]
[Technique Evaluation: I don't move, the enemy doesn't move!]
The C-rank [Shadow Imitation Technique], the B-rank [Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique], and the A-rank [Shadow Body Manipulation Technique]. These three were the fruits of Keisuke's research! Of course, besides these, there was also another A-rank technique, [Shadow Body Derangement Technique]... But considering the great overlap between it and Tsunade's personal secret technique, [Body Pathway Derangement], Keisuke did not take it out as well.
But even so, this achievement system of jutsu had already given Nara Shikano a huge surprise! Although the [Lacquer Eye] and [Shadow Beast Scroll] had set a high bar, making these three seem somewhat "low-level," the great utility of the former was directly proportional to their extremely high learning difficulty!
To this day, the only ones in the entire Nara clan who had truly learned the [Shadow Beast Scroll] were just the father and son pair of Shikano and Shikaku. The two clan heads hadn't even completely mastered the [Lacquer Eye] yet. As for the other Nara clan ninja, they were still in the process of learning the [Shadow Beast Scroll]. When all was said and done, the learning difficulty of A-rank and B-rank ninjutsu was really high.
But the [Shadow Imitation Technique] was different. This was a C-rank secret technique! And even the [Flat Shadow Manipulation Technique] was just a combination of two C-rank ninjutsu. Their learning difficulty was not high. At the very least, they should be able to be quickly popularized throughout the clan to increase the strength of the clansmen!
Shikano's gaze shifted to the final A-rank technique, [Shadow Body Manipulation Technique]. The ability to just move a finger and control people like puppets—he really liked it. A pity... A-rank ninjutsu were really so hard!
"Alright, alright, I understand," Nara Shikano said, patting his forehead and looking at Keisuke with great emotion. "Keisuke, just like before, the family will designate this as an S-rank mission for these three secret techniques. This mission's name... let's just call it [Shadow Imitation Technique]!"
A new mission prompt popped up on the panel at this time.
[S-rank Ninja Commissioned Mission Detected!]
[S-rank Mission: Shadow Imitation Technique]
[Mission Content: Develop the Shadow Imitation Technique and its related supporting ninjutsu for the Nara clan.]
[Mission Reward: One S-rank Shinobi Secret Scroll]
"But, Keisuke, you know," Nara Shikano said, rubbing his head and revealing a pained expression. "You are just too capable. For the last S-rank mission, the Chakra Crystal you asked for still has no results. Now another S-rank mission... How about I have Shikaku give you the position of Clan Head?"
(End of Chapter)
