Chapter 213: Caught Red-Handed by Shizune—Gojo's Space Agency Plan

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Gradually, Tsunade's stamina began to wane. Her delicate face flushed a deep crimson, like someone intoxicated, and she was dragged backward, her body pressed against the clean floor.

The pristine floor was marred only by ten thin streaks left by her fingernails and three large, suggestive… sweat stains.

Just then…

From around the corner of the hallway, Shizune's voice called out, "Tsunade-sama~! Your fragrant afternoon tea is ready~! Would you like to have it now? It's very fresh~"

"Eek! Shizune, don't come over here!"

However, Tsunade's warning came too late.

Shizune had already rounded the corner. She saw—

A pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, tears of happiness and pain flowing from their corners, gazing helplessly at her. And behind the Mangekyo Sharingan was…

"....."

Clatter—

The wooden tray holding the afternoon tea, along with Shizune's respect and admiration for Tsunade, crashed to the floor.

On this day, Shizune's worldview was… very shaken.

——

——

Hokage Tower, War Room.

Gojo Kaigetsu took out the prepared intelligence reports and distributed them to everyone present.

The ninja world map was spread out on the conference table. The Land of Hot Water, a recurring topic, was circled in black ink by Gojo Kaigetsu.

After explaining the situation, discussions broke out:

"Who would have thought that the remnants of the Sky Ninja still exist, and so close to our Land of Fire."

"The remnants of the Sky Ninja are hiding in the Land of Hot Water? And they registered a cross-border company as a cover? Unbelievable…"

"'Ancor Vantian'? The remnants of the Sky Ninja still possess such power?"

Before the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, took office, Konoha had never initiated a war.

Most of the time, they were passively defending and then launching counterattacks. There were many small ninja villages that, like Sunagakure, dared to launch attacks on Konoha during the Shinobi Wars. Those villages were simply swept into the dustbin of ninja history.

The Sky Ninja Village was one of them.

Led by the legendary ninja, Konoha White Fang, who was at the peak of his power at that time, Konoha directly destroyed the Sky Ninja's elite. Since then, the Sky Ninja have disappeared.

Because too much time had passed, many of the younger Konoha ninja had never heard of the name Sky Ninja.

Now, the vanished Sky Ninja Village was brought back to the table of the Hokage Tower, naturally attracting heated discussions.

Some older representatives of ninja clans showed reminiscence, obviously having participated in the battle against the Sky Ninja: "That was a truly memorable battle."

"The Sky Ninja used those strange flying tools to attack the positions of our Konoha ninja. The battle started like that. White Fang Sakumo-senpai led us to shuttle directly through the Konoha forest, chasing the Sky Ninja in the air. Finally, we found their base camp and killed all the Sky Ninja inside."

"Unfortunately, in the end, the leader of the Sky Ninja activated the self-destruct program. We failed to bring back the Sky Ninja's tools."

"If we could obtain the Sky Ninja Village's flying tools, it would be a huge improvement to the overall strength of our Konoha!"

The footprints of ninja covered mountains, rivers, forests, plains, and oceans… But the footsteps of ninja had always been unable to set foot in the realm of the sky!

The principle by which ninja can stand on the surface of water is to use chakra to gather the surrounding water molecules together to form a continuous surface. This surface can support the weight of a ninja like a solid, enabling the ninja to stand on the water.

If you have something to step on, a ninja can stand on the surface of the water. In the same way, climbing trees is the same principle. The force of chakra allows ninjas to defy physics and walk on tree trunks as if on flat ground.

But the sky is different…

Ninja have no way to step on their left foot with their right foot to ascend to the sky.

In this regard, the Creator was fair and did not give any of the Five Great Nations the ability to ascend to the sky. Although the conventional organization of ninja troops included an "airborne ninja unit," it had never been fully staffed, and sometimes even appeared empty.

Apart from Ōnoki of Iwagakure, there were also ninja who had learned Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique. Taking advantage of their ability to fly, they caused a lot of trouble for the major villages in intelligence warfare.

Konoha had "Ink Ninjutsu," using ink to draw a ninja bird that could barely maintain flight. It is said that during the Second Kazekage period, Kazekage Shamon once wanted to gather the puppeteer talents and funds of the entire village to create flying puppets, but due to Sunagakure's limited economic strength and the war, this idea was unfortunately shelved.

The above was the imagination of the ninja villages in the ninja world about the sky.

The sky, from beginning to end, was a realm belonging to a very small number of ninja.

Now—Konoha had conquered the ocean with Kirigakure, conquered the desert with Sunagakure, and finally, it was time to turn their attention to the distant sky?!

"The sky is destined for us—Konoha!"

Gojo Kaigetsu began to speak.

Gin—the gold-medal reporter from [Konoha News], invited to attend this special combat meeting, was like a shark that smelled blood. He subconsciously took out his pen and prepared to record this important moment.

Of course, what Advisor Gojo actually said was not important. What was important was what he recorded next.

No matter what Advisor Gojo said or didn't say, he was definitely going to record Advisor's speech beautifully, and then add artistic elements with a high degree of processing. Under the support of this sense of mission, there were even situations where he had already written the news content before Advisor Gojo had even spoken:

[Advisor Gojo gave important guidance on the "Konoha's Space Agency Plan"]

"The ninja world, for the time being, has no victims of smog or light pollution. When I look up at the night sky, it feels as if the sky has been cast with a gorgeous illusion. Countless stars form a ribbon across the night sky, instantly conquering my heart."

"There must be a reason that can make you wake up in the morning and make you want to live wonderfully, otherwise what is the meaning of life?"

Advisor Gojo's words still echoed in my ears, and his speech continued:

[Since the beginning of our known existence, people living in the ninja world have never stopped a seemingly irrelevant behavior—stargazing. The earliest stargazing activity can be traced back to the era of the Ancestral Country, when people observed a meteorite falling from the sky…]

[Every time we continue to observe the vast starry river visible to the naked eye, and for the pursuit of endless Exploration, we constantly exhaust chakra to invent ninjutsu and science, to discover some so-called laws or name stars and celestial phenomena, this so-called stargazing seems to have real 'meaning.' If we never look up, never observe, the stars that have never been absent, and look the same and average—would they still have meaning for humans??]

"My gaze has never been limited to a small ninja world." Advisor Gojo pulled out his own kunai and pointed to the brightest star in the night sky: "My gaze has always been looking up at the galaxy above our heads."

"My will is the stars and beyond!"

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"Why does Konoha invest tens of millions of ryō in cash to implement the sky and space exploration plan when many children are still facing the threat of war and hunger?" Inside the Hokage Tower, a foreign guest participating in the meeting asked this question.

Advisor Gojo answered this way:

[—I completely don't mind paying more taxes each year to help children suffering from war, no matter where they are. And I have indeed put it into action. I have donated my salary to more than half of the orphanages in Konoha, and Konoha also has a large number of standby foods for children. I believe that all Konoha villagers have the same attitude.]

[—However, we will not stop the exploration of the sky because of the implementation of such assistance projects. Our eyes are always on the stars. The Shinobi world is limited, but the starry sky is unlimited… I even think that by implementing the space exploration plan, we can make greater contributions to solving the serious problems of famine, poverty, and Shinobi wars in the ninja world, and ultimately help find solutions to these problems…]

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