Chapter 226

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"What exactly are you trying to do?"

Kushina's tone was initially very fierce, as she was forcibly taken away from Naruto. The anger and darkness within her heart erupted for a moment.

However, upon seeing Yoichi's gaze, Kushina's attitude and tone softened.

Facing someone powerful enough to easily kill her, Kushina instinctively felt fear, so her tone naturally couldn't remain fierce.

Especially since Kushina couldn't figure out Yoichi's intentions. Additionally, the Nine-Tails had once said that Yoichi would kill her, which made Kushina even more fearful.

After flying for several hours, Yoichi had already reached the ocean. After searching for a while, he finally confirmed the location of Turtle Island.

The Hidden Cloud Village kept Turtle Island a closely guarded secret. They believed that this sacred, secret place was unknown to anyone, and the island could even move across the sea. However, Yoichi, having dispatched the Anbu to gather specific intelligence, had found it.

After staking out within the Land of Lightning for more than ten days, he finally caught a Cloud Village jonin, who had previously been stationed at Turtle Island.

When there was no jinchūriki training, Turtle Island was merely a sanctuary for wildlife, with only a small team stationed there.

"Fortunately, the Hidden Cloud Village hasn't activated a barrier."

After observing for a while, Yoichi directly controlled Susanoo to land on Turtle Island.

When nothing important was happening, the Hidden Cloud Village wouldn't activate a barrier, as maintaining one around the entire Turtle Island would consume a considerable amount of chakra.

The team currently stationed on the island was just a communication squad, and they wouldn't waste chakra for no reason.

Wood Clone Technique!

Yoichi created a wood clone, intending for it to first subdue the Cloud ninja on the island. He then said to Kushina, "Come on, follow me."

"What are you planning to do?"

Kushina, still very wary, tugged at her collar. Seeing her behavior, Yoichi couldn't help but chuckle inwardly; if he wanted to make a move, not even ten Kushinas could escape.

Yoichi walked straight ahead, and Kushina, seeing that he remained silent in this unfamiliar place, hesitated for a moment but eventually followed.

Soon, the wood clone transmitted its memory back; the Cloud ninja squad on Turtle Island had been eliminated. The next step was to control the giant turtle, making it swim away so that the Hidden Cloud Village wouldn't be able to locate their jinchūriki training grounds.

Before long, Yoichi led Kushina to the True Waterfall. To be honest, he hadn't seen anything particularly special about this place, but it could reveal a person's inner darkness.

"Sit there. This is the True Waterfall of the Hidden Cloud Village. You should remember the jinchūriki training method I brought back for you last time. Cloud Village's jinchūriki must first confront their true selves here before they can proceed to the training grounds behind the waterfall."

Turning to Kushina, Yoichi said, "You and I have already deeply offended the Nine-Tails, so don't bother thinking about becoming a perfect jinchūriki. But you have such darkness in your heart that you even considered killing me at one point. I can't just ignore that."

"I didn't!"

Kushina immediately protested loudly upon hearing this, though she felt a bit guilty as she said it; there were indeed times when she had thought about it.

"There's no use lying to me. Only you know what you truly think in your heart. Without the chakra of Asura, even the slightest exposure to a tailed beast's negative emotions is hard to shake off, let alone the Nine-Tails, the one filled with the most hatred among them."

"Enough talk. Sit over there."

Seeing that Kushina still wanted to argue, Yoichi, uninterested in continuing the dispute, pointed to the stone in front of the waterfall.

Kushina, hearing this, had no choice but to walk over and sit down. After a moment, she became still.

Not even a minute had passed when Kushina collapsed backward, breathing heavily, though she managed to support herself with her hands. Confronting her inner self was swift since this wasn't a real battle.

After encountering her darker self at the True Waterfall, Kushina returned to a more normal state and turned to Yoichi, saying, "I... I saw my dark side, but she defeated me. Is there a way to get rid of her?"

"You'll have to figure that out on your own. No one can help you with this. But if you can't overcome it, I'm sorry, Kushina. I'll have Mina take good care of Naruto."

Yoichi's words carried a hint of intimidation. "I won't let someone with ill intent toward me live in this world, especially if she can approach my family as a friend."

Kushina was momentarily stunned and then inwardly cursed him.

However, she still let out a cold snort, turned around, and prepared to continue battling her dark side.

After leaving a wood clone to watch over Kushina, Yoichi headed toward the giant turtle's head.

He intended to control the turtle with genjutsu and move it toward the waters of the Land of Fire, so he could later use the Flying Thunder God Technique to shuttle back and forth, conserving more chakra than Susanoo.

After finding the giant turtle's head, Yoichi used his Mangekyō Sharingan to control it, then commanded it to swim toward the waters of the Land of Fire.

This was the northernmost sea of the Land of Lightning, and it would take about ten days to reach the Land of Fire's waters. However, the Cloud ninja wouldn't have time to react. By the time the next rotation of ninja squads arrived, the giant turtle would have already left the Land of Lightning's territory.

After leaving a clone at the turtle's head, Yoichi returned to the True Waterfall.

When he arrived, it was just as Kushina was failing for the tenth time in her battle against her dark self. Although this wasn't a real fight, continuously challenging her dark self was mentally exhausting, so Kushina was soon out of breath.

"This... this is so hard! She uses the same ninjutsu as me, and her fighting habits are identical. I can't beat her. Yoichi-kun, is there any trick to it?"

Seeing Yoichi return, Kushina quickly asked for his advice. The things her dark self had said earlier were terrifying—killing friends and loved ones—things she absolutely didn't want to do.

Facing her dark side made Kushina acknowledge the reality that she had indeed had such thoughts. But now, she wanted to sever ties with her dark self and eliminate it completely.

"I don't have any advice. Either you destroy it completely, or you accept it. There's no third option. And this is your issue. You're a mature ninja, so stop relying on others."

Yoichi spoke coldly. "I'm an advisor to the village now, so I don't have much time to stay here with you. You'd better resolve this quickly, or I'll have to initiate a backup plan."

Kushina's heart tightened at his words, and she grumbled with dissatisfaction, "If it were you, you wouldn't be able to defeat your dark self either. And who knows what kind of darkness you have..."

Yoichi snorted coldly at her words and walked toward her. Seeing this, Kushina froze, quickly got up, and moved aside.

Once Kushina made way, Yoichi sat down, closed his eyes, and prepared to face his dark side.

However, after a while, he opened his eyes again and looked at his hand—there was no reaction at all.

Kushina, seeing this, quickly asked, "Did you succeed?"

"No, the True Waterfall has no effect on me."

"Why is that?"

"Maybe it's because I never hide my desires. Anyone who pays a little attention knows I want to kill Danzo. But now that he's as good as dead, I've let him go. Darkness, or whatever, is just a manifestation of unfulfilled desires. My desires have been well satisfied, so why would I have a dark side?"

After speaking, Yoichi glanced at Kushina and continued, "If I were to kill the members of the Akatsuki in front of you, avenging your greatest grievances, or if Minato were resurrected, the Nine-Tails no longer troubled you, and your childhood dreams were gradually fulfilled, would you still have a dark side?"

Kushina lowered her head. Everything Yoichi mentioned was what she most desired in her heart. If all of that came true, she couldn't imagine how happy she would be.

"You obviously have the ability..."

"There it is again. Just because I have the ability, does that mean I must help you? Why don't you work hard to improve your strength, destroy the Akatsuki, and resurrect Minato yourself?"

Yoichi sneered, "I can tell you how. Chiyo of the Hidden Sand Village developed a forbidden technique called Reanimation that allows one to sacrifice their life to resurrect someone. If you want to learn it, I can arrange for the village to obtain it for you.

Once you've mastered this forbidden technique, combined with the Impure World Reincarnation Technique, you can resurrect Minato. I've given you the method, so now it's up to you to make the effort."

Kushina fell silent, biting her lip, unable to say anything for a long time.

It wasn't that she was afraid of sacrificing her life, but she was worried that Minato wouldn't accept being resurrected in this way. Minato would never agree to her trading her life to bring him back, and Kushina was also concerned about Naruto.

"The village is already gathering intelligence on the Akatsuki. As soon as we have information, I'll take action to eliminate them. But you'd better resolve your issues quickly."

After speaking, Yoichi tossed a sealing scroll to Kushina, which contained various supplies, including items for outdoor camping.

"Stay here for now, and don't worry about Naruto."

With that, Yoichi turned and left. There was nothing important going on in the village; if there were, his clones could notify him in time. Now, he needed to continue his training.

After Yoichi left, Kushina hung her head in silence for a while before heading back to the True Waterfall.

——————————————

Using clones for extended periods is truly exhausting. If not for the mental secret techniques Yoichi had practiced, it would be hard to keep up.

His current state was similar to Orochimaru's when managing three different research projects simultaneously. Training, village affairs, and more—Yoichi used many clones, and it took a long time to digest the training experience alone.

The True Waterfall hadn't revealed his dark side. Aside from his desires being largely fulfilled, it might also be related to the mental secret techniques Yoichi practiced.

If this had been ten years ago, during the time he was persecuted by Danzo, Yoichi's dark self might have been harder to eliminate than anyone else's.

Now that his strength had gradually increased to the pinnacle of the ninja world, his next enemies were the Ōtsutsuki clan. Even when facing the Ōtsutsuki, Yoichi didn't feel much fear.

One reason was knowing he had a long buffer period, and the other was that Yoichi had confidence in surpassing the Ōtsutsuki.

His clones trained in gene energy, which enhanced his physical body while his true self practiced the Thunder Extinguishing Mode, making his body stronger and allowing his life level to evolve continuously.

This was how Yoichi enhanced his strength without the Ten-Tails.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Water...

The Anbu sent to gather information on the Fourth Mizukage found themselves in difficulty. Even with the help of Uchiha ninja, they made little progress.

Other than learning that the Fourth Mizukage had reinstated the Bloody Mist policy after taking office, they knew almost nothing else.

After all, he was the leader of one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Even though the strength of the Mist Village had declined, gathering intelligence on the village's leader was no easy task.

However, just from the reinstatement of the Bloody Mist policy, the Konoha Anbu had already determined that there was something wrong with the Fourth Mizukage.

Leading the Mist ninja in overthrowing the Third Mizukage's Bloody Mist policy, only to reimpose an even stricter policy after coming to power—was the Third Mizukage's policy not extreme enough?

"Captain, Mist ninja are approaching us. There are twenty of them, including sensory ninja. They've already locked onto our position."

An Anbu member suddenly spoke. Sensory ninja could detect each other's presence using sensory techniques, unless one party stopped using the technique and concealed themselves, but their position had already been exposed.

The Anbu squad leader immediately ordered, "Prepare for battle. We'll focus on retreating when the time comes."

Upon hearing the command, everyone quickly prepared. They had set up numerous traps in the surrounding area, intending to counterattack the enemy, inflict casualties, and then retreat.

After a while, the Mist ninja suddenly appeared, but they stopped in front of the trap area, causing the Anbu squad leader to frown.

"They've noticed. That person is Ao from the Mist. The Byakugan that went missing from the Hyuga clan a year ago should be in his possession."

Shinji whispered to the squad leader. His Sharingan had seen that Ao's eye was the same as the Hyuga's Byakugan, indicating that the enemy could definitely see their traps.

No matter how well-hidden the traps were, they were useless against the Byakugan.

"You must be Konoha ninja. Could one of you come out and talk with us? We're not here to fight."

Just as the squad leader was about to order a retreat, he suddenly heard the Mist ninja's call, which made him a bit puzzled.

It could be a delaying tactic. They were in the Land of Water, and he wasn't sure if the enemy would call for reinforcements, especially since they were currently outnumbered.

"Use shadow clones to stall them. The rest of you, retreat immediately."

The squad leader ordered, then created several shadow clones. After making some modifications to the clones, he sent them out to deal with the Mist ninja.

"What are you planning?"

"Konoha ninja, you've been quite active lately, boldly entering the Land of Water to gather information on the Fourth Mizukage."

The leader, Mei, spoke. Though young, she possessed two kekkei genkai, making her one of the more prominent ninja in the Mist Village and already a jonin.

"Thanks to you, we've discovered some shocking information. But how did you find out?"

That their Mizukage was being controlled by genjutsu was something even the Konoha ninja noticed. If they hadn't accidentally discovered that Konoha ninja were investigating the Mizukage, they would still be in the dark.

But even knowing that their Mizukage was being controlled, it was difficult to prove or take action against him. Especially since the Fourth Mizukage held power, many ninja in the village followed his orders.

It would be hard to convince others with just Ao's Byakugan as evidence.

"You think we'd share our intel with the enemy?"

"Konoha is a victim too. Because of the Fourth Mizukage's orders, minor conflicts have been ongoing. And this is the Land of Water. Only by cooperating with us can this be resolved."

"Otherwise, do you intend to let the conflict continue?"

After Mei finished speaking, not only did the Anbu squad leader hesitate, but even those around Mei were taken aback. They hadn't expected her to propose cooperation with Konoha ninja.

A Mist jonin whispered, "Mei, what are you thinking, suggesting cooperation with Konoha ninja?"

"Do you have any way to deal with the Fourth Mizukage and whoever is controlling him?"

Mei's words silenced the Mist ninja. That was the Fourth Mizukage they were talking about. If someone could control the Mizukage, how powerful must the person behind it be?

As everyone around her fell silent, Mei continued, "So, what's your decision?"

"...We'll discuss cooperation later. If you're interested, meet us here."

The Anbu squad leader threw a scroll to Mei and the Mist ninja, then said, "Don't follow us."

With that, they remained in place.

Meanwhile, the real squad members had already left.

A while later, the Anbu squad leader dispelled his shadow clones, scattering explosive tags around the area. Seeing that the Mist ninja hadn't pursued them, he chose not to activate the traps.

Once the clones disappeared, Mei signaled to Ao, who carefully inspected the area with his Byakugan. After confirming it was safe, he used a water clone to retrieve and open the scroll.

There were no traps inside, only a location.

"The Land of Waves... It seems they want to discuss this in a neutral small country. Mei, should we go?"

After thinking for a moment, Mei decided, "Of course, we'll go. But before that, I need to report this to Master. The Konoha ninja likely know who's controlling the Fourth Mizukage. We must get that information from them. Let's head back first."

They had just discovered that the Fourth Mizukage was under genjutsu control and had only informed those they trusted. They hadn't spread the word widely.

Otherwise, if the Fourth Mizukage found out, they might be the ones who end up dead.

————————————

"Huff, huff..."

In front of the True Waterfall, Kushina was panting heavily. She had tried everything but hadn't been able to eliminate her dark self. On the contrary, she had almost lost control of her body to her dark self.

If her dark self had gained control, she might have released the Nine-Tails, carrying out those dark thoughts she had mentioned earlier.

Kushina stood up and began walking away. After wandering around Turtle Island for a while, she heard the crackling sound of lightning.

Following the sound, Kushina found Yoichi in the midst of his training. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, with thick bolts of lightning crackling around him, leaving scorch marks on the ground.

Even from a distance, the sheer power was intimidating.

Soon, the lightning subsided, and Yoichi, noticing Kushina's presence, stopped his training, stood up, and asked, "Did you succeed?"

"No..."

Kushina replied, then quickly added, "But I'm close. My dark self is almost at its limit."

"Oh, well, keep at it. So, why did you come to see me? Are you out of supplies? Or are you worried about Naruto?"

Yoichi checked his goodwill gauge and saw that it had returned to its previous level. It seemed that the True Waterfall had some effect; at least, separating from her dark side had normalized her a lot.

"No, I have plenty of supplies—enough for a month. As for Naruto... Mina will take good care of him. She loves children. Although I miss Naruto, I'm not fit to see him while I'm filled with darkness."

Kushina hugged her knees, leaning against a tree. Naruto's innocent smile made her feel that her dark self wasn't worthy of holding him.

"Then why did you come to see me?"

"..."

Kushina was silent for a while before slowly asking, "Yoichi-kun, I wanted to ask... what is the cost of reviving Minato?"

"Are you still hung up on that? Didn't I already tell you how to do it?"

Yoichi clicked his tongue and said, "Fine. I'll help you get the Reanimation and Impure World Reincarnation techniques. After that, it's up to you whether you want to revive him or not."

"...I'm not afraid to die!"

Kushina shouted. She didn't want Yoichi to think she was someone who feared death and therefore didn't want to revive Minato.

"I know him. If Minato knew I used my life to revive him, he definitely wouldn't accept it. It's very likely..."

'Very likely, he wouldn't accept such a resurrection. If that happened, everything would be in vain.'

"Yoichi-kun, can you tell me what the cost was for reviving Nawaki? I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make it up to you. I'll even help you absorb the Nine-Tails' chakra every day if that's what it takes..."

Reviving Minato might have become her obsession, especially after seeing Nawaki, who had been dead for over ten years, appear before her. Although she knew that Yoichi had paid a great price at the time, she wanted to know the details.

Her dark self had said that if she couldn't accept the truth, she would never be able to destroy her. After battling her dark self so many times, Kushina knew that her dark self wasn't lying.

So Kushina wanted to know the truth.

(End of Chapter)