Chapter 151: Something's Off About Their Fighting Style

Night fell, and Mizuki routinely sensed for natural energy before turning his focus to studying the records of Sunagakure and Iwagakure ninja entrusted to him by Kakashi on Tsunade's behalf.

Setting aside all the minor details, a few names caught Mizuki's attention.

From Iwagakure, two individuals stood out—Akatsuchi, a true elite jonin, and Kurotsuchi, who would become the Fourth Tsuchikage over a decade later.

"Wow, there sure are a lot of female Kage in this new generation..."

Having three female leaders among the Five Great Ninja Villages was quite unusual for the ninja world, which valued strength above all else. Although Kurotsuchi would eventually rise to be Tsuchikage more than ten years from now, she was still very young at present, and her abilities remained uncertain. At just around fifteen years old, physical limitations made it hard for her to show her full potential. Not everyone possessed Itachi Uchiha's rare talent or the Sharingan—the hereditary power passed down through his bloodline. Taking down Orochimaru at the peak of his power while still so young? That wasn't something just anyone could pull off.

Iwagakure's team setup seemed fairly standard. With Deidara involved, and this mission being especially important, bringing along an elite ninja like Akatsuchi for appearances made sense, paired with the promising newcomer Kurotsuchi. This arrangement wasn't surprising. Konoha's own lineup looked pretty similar—Mizuki, a rising star among jonin, teamed up with the skilled special jonin Aoba Yamashiro to lead two promising young talents, Shino Aburame and Neji Hyuga. The purpose was twofold: completing the mission while thoroughly training these gifted recruits. The ninja world had no place for delicate blossoms—only those who endured brutal trials could truly gain recognition.

However, Sunagakure's list raised eyebrows. Staring at the names on the paper, Mizuki couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"It's actually Baki? Maki, the kunoichi specializing in sealing techniques, and Yura? Three jonin?"

Originally, this matter had little connection to Sunagakure, yet ultimately, as allies, they had joined in forming a joint force consisting of three ninja villages to escort Deidara. The route chosen also seemed strange—it wasn't even the closest path. For ninja, roads mainly served to indicate direction. With their mobility, unless facing exceptionally treacherous terrain, travel usually posed little obstacle. Ostensibly, this detour supposedly aimed to first safely return the One-Tail Jinchuriki to the village before heading toward the Land of Earth.

But come on, that kind of crap would only fool total outsiders. Hidden villages wouldn't easily agree to cooperate without substantial reasons. The idea of Sunagakure setting aside past grievances to collaborate with Iwagakure was nearly unthinkable without special justification.

Glancing through the personnel list, he reviewed the dossiers of Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara—all currently stranded in Konoha after being ambushed by Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sand of the Desert.

"If I stop viewing Gaara simply as someone needing protection and instead see him as a major combat asset, then considering how much strength Sunagakure has invested, their imagined opponent can't possibly be ordinary... Could it actually be Sasori of the Red Sand of the Desert?"

So it should be like this.

This mission, to put it bluntly, was ostensibly a human shield transfer and escort operation. Both Konoha and Iwagakure had similar needs, so they readily agreed on cooperation. In contrast, Deidara became somewhat of bait—an expendable lure used to draw out dangerous unsavory elements hiding in shadows, thus purging internal threats. Deidara, an important figure for Iwagakure despite being a rogue ninja, still held considerable value. However, since he'd defected at such a young age, Onoki hadn't done much against him either. This also shows that handing over Deidara was more about saving face. Successfully bringing back such an important rogue ninja to Iwagakure was naturally crucial; but if he happened to die along the way, while there might be some sadness, for the tightly united and fiercely confident Iwagakure, a traitor like Deidara dying would hardly matter. It would be fine as long as he didn't cause trouble for the village.

As for Konoha's side, they were even less concerned—only slightly regretting losing partial intelligence about Akatsuki stored within Deidara's mind. Though Ibiki Morino did conduct interrogation, nothing significantly valuable emerged.

But Sunagakure's intentions weren't purely straightforward. Baki, a major figure who helped elevate Gaara to Kazekage, was indeed formidable. His capabilities were apparent from his ability to instantly kill an unprepared Hayate Gekko in the original storyline. A person like him, functioning both as a strategist and brain behind the scenes, yet capable of charging into battle like a valiant general, never made appearances without significance. Last time Baki surfaced, he led the Suna ninjas during Konoha's destruction plan. Now showing up here easily must relate directly to the One-Tail Jinchuriki and his own disciple. Yet with Maki—an adept kunoichi skilled in sealing techniques—and a capable jonin named Yura, not forgetting a squad of genin from Suna, such strength could barely suffice to topple a small ninja village. Inserting themselves forcefully into the joint operation between Konoha and Iwagakure without any personal motives would itself be strange.

So Konoha and Iwagakure are just here to clean up loose ends, and Sunagakure's after Red Sand of the Desert?

Weakened significantly, Sunagakure probably set its eyes on the Puppet Technique of Red Sand of the Desert and the human puppet of the Third Kazekage seen in the previous mission. Gaining something from this could greatly assist Sunagakure through its crisis. Moreover, after missing for years, her grandson finally reappeared, leaving no chance for Chiyo to remain unmoved.

Then what is my role—or objective?

Since this mission was just a facade, Mizuki's real task was simple—stay alive and ensure Shino Aburame and Neji Hyuga made it back safely. Beyond these primary objectives, his second goal was to silently kill off Deidara, preferably finding a scapegoat to bear the blame.

Then there was Mizuki's own motive. If during this rescue mission for Deidara someone from the Immortal Duo showed up, he'd prefer to get a sample of Hidan's cells to study the source of his horrifying immortality granted by Jashin—something so far beyond logic left him on edge. Even by the point when Kaguya otsutsuki was resealed in the original story, this mystery remained unsolved.

Phase one was just a simple act, while phase two would probably require handling Akatsuki's latest official operation.

The whole Akatsuki matter should've been settled by now. Unexpectedly, Deidara turned out to be a small twist. Sometimes, Mizuki wondered whether things would've gone more smoothly if Might Guy hadn't captured Deidara several days ago. However, he couldn't possibly ask others to release prisoners they had fought hard to capture. Besides, this might actually turn out beneficial—each time Akatsuki moved, they exposed more about themselves, and the more others learned about their growing strength, the more fearful the other ninja villages became, which could potentially cause significant problems for Akatsuki's future operations.

After clarifying the situation and figuring out some temporary countermeasures, Mizuki stopped dwelling on these issues.

Recently, training in Sage Mode had gone relatively well, though certain aspects puzzled him. The biggest hurdle in learning Sage Mode lay in sensing natural energy. Mizuki had cleverly bypassed this difficulty, or perhaps all humans who pursued Sage Mode found ways around it somehow.

Ever since Mizuki initially extracted Sage Chakra, his sensitivity to natural energy improved steadily as he trained. Even with less chakra from One-Tail Shukaku, he could accurately sense natural energy. In theory, once his perception improved, he should've been able to sense it without tailed beast chakra at all—at least to some extent. Strangely enough, without any tailed beast energy, Mizuki sensed absolutely nothing at all—completely cutting off the gradual build-up process needed to generate Sage Chakra. In other words, the amount of tailed beast chakra directly affected Sage Chakra efficiency, but without it, he couldn't sense natural energy at all.

This situation left Mizuki helpless—he wasn't sure whether the problem originated from himself or if all Sage Mode users faced the same dilemma. If that were truly the case, things would become problematic indeed. Any power not completely under one's control inevitably became a potential threat.

"Is there still something I'm missing?"

Mizuki had always maintained skepticism toward Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave's sage techniques. However, looking back now, aside from various traps, those methods also contained valuable secrets worth exploring. He really needed to find time to dig deeper into those techniques. If possible, consulting Jiraiya wouldn't hurt either. Cutting yourself off from others helped no one. After all, one person's abilities were always limited.

Nevertheless, he successfully activated Sage Mode eventually. While its initiation speed wasn't terrible, it still lagged noticeably behind Naruto Uzumaki's ability to shift into Sage Mode within the blink of an eye.

But it was still far superior to Mizuki Namikaze's clumsy [Sage Art] techniques that had absolutely no practical combat value. The completion level of Mizuki Namikaze's Sage Mode was probably close to Jiraiya's, yet in terms of battle effectiveness, it might fall far behind. Without powerful [Sage Art] ninjutsu like Jiraiya's or Elder Shima and Elder Fukasaku assisting him, Mizuki Namikaze's only advantage came from personally sensing natural energy combined with excellent chakra manipulation skills, making his mobility much better than Jiraiya's. He could easily move around and cast [Sage Art] techniques, but he had no idea what specific [Sage Art] techniques to use—after all, without inherited summoning beast [Sage Art] knowledge, Mizuki Namikaze lacked any guidance.

So, he'd need to develop an entirely new combat methodology for Sage Mode all on his own.

At this point, Mizuki once again found himself frustrated over his rather common Fire Attribute. Sage Mode's comprehensive enhancement of a ninja's abilities directly boosted combat effectiveness. Moreover, as his sensitivity toward natural energy gradually increased, he started being able to effectively utilize the surrounding natural energy. Just like Naruto Uzumaki's tailed-beast transformation, where massive claws formed from tailed-beast chakra attacked enemies powerfully and flexibly, natural energy could achieve similar effects too. By controlling natural energy within his perception range, he could either directly assist in combat or significantly enhance regular ninjutsu techniques—both were solid choices.

"I'd always imagined myself as this elegant, brainy ninja specializing in control techniques, sealing arts, and barrier-supported ninjutsu—but reality sure had other plans. Back when my strength wasn't enough, getting into close-range melee fights was understandable. But now that I've made progress in Sage Mode and upgraded my attack methods, I unexpectedly seem to be heading down the path of 'balanced physical and magical training.' Guess I really should start thinking about developing some straightforward, brute-force tactics—like that infamous [Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu] that somehow never actually hit anyone in the whole original Ninja storyline."

While Sage Mode did shift Mizuki away from his preferred fighting style somewhat, he considered its biggest advantage to be the enhancement of his physical conditioning. As he trained in Sage Mode, his body condition gradually improved. Although it couldn't directly boost cellular vitality, Sage Chakra effectively repaired his body and cleared lingering damage. These effects were quite similar to Tsunade's Yin Seal technique—neither could directly increase life force, but both prolonged life by minimizing energy expenditure. Although it didn't completely solve the problem, at least it gave him more time to find a solution. Achieving this alone already made Mizuki feel quite satisfied.

...

Time flowed steadily as Mizuki adhered to his scheduled training regimen. Another week passed, and finally, notification about the mission arrived. Fully prepared, Mizuki set off confidently. Previously, he'd always feel anxious, dreading confrontations with influential figures beyond his capabilities—with no way to flee.

Mizuki wasn't scared anymore. With Sage Mode on, only a few living people in the entire ninja world could actually stop his escape. His luck probably wouldn't be that bad—constantly running into powerful figures he couldn't handle.

Walking alongside Aoba Yamashiro, Mizuki led Neji Hyuga and Shino Aburame out of Konoha's gates with an unusually large group of ninja. After just a few days, Mizuki would likely face off against those strong opponents again—the ones who had only existed in his memories until now. This time, though, he had plenty of teammates. Sure, they all had their own agendas, but at least they were strong. And hey, he wasn't their real target anyway. Just go with the flow for now.

"Never thought that after just a few months, it's your turn to lead now," Aoba Yamashiro said with a smile. "When I first heard about the mission assignment, I was kind of hard to believe at first. But thinking back, considering it's you, it actually makes sense."

"Yeah, once we're back from the mission, you can't back out of that meal you promised me anymore," Mizuki replied. Though how soon Hayate will be up and about is anyone's guess.

"You still remember that, huh?" Aoba Yamashiro said with a bitter smile.

"Don't worry, I won't forget."

"All right then, Mizuki." Yamashiro nodded, then suddenly changed the subject. "The Suna squad seems suspicious. They feel unusually strong."

Interrupting Hayate's train of thought, Mizuki raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Not now—wait until I explain everything properly later. Important things are on the line."

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