Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 152 Attention from Many Parties

As soon as Xiang Jianan began to float into the air, he immediately attracted the attention of many people present. They silently noted the direction he was heading and quickly returned to their respective organizations or factions to report the situation.

Due to the distance and the presence of numerous samurai from the Land of Iron guarding the area, the intelligence agents, unable to reveal their identities and unaware of the Byakugan's power, remained completely unaware of the other's true identity. However, upon obtaining this crucial intelligence, the ninjas at the liaison points established by various ninja villages sprang into action. They employed a variety of unique skills and methods to closely follow Hyuga Kanan's departing trail.

With Wood Release reappearing, regardless of whether it was cast by the person before us, the first step is to track their movements to confirm their identity. As for whether to adopt a strategy of appeasement or carry out a capture operation, we will have to wait for new instructions from the village before making a decision.

These intelligence gatherers may not be individually top-tier in skill, but they possess exceptional expertise in tracking and concealing their movements, employing a wide variety of methods. Even when faced with relatively difficult situations like Hyuga Kanan's high-altitude flight, they are still able to find effective ways to accurately pinpoint the route and continue tracking.

Surprisingly, Mifune and his samurai, who were closest to him, immediately noticed Hyuga Kanan's unusually striking white eyes, thus learning that he was a ninja from the Hyuga clan of Konoha. Therefore, the problem could be resolved by negotiating with the Hokage of Konoha later. The most urgent matter was to ascertain which village the other group belonged to and demand a reasonable explanation.

Kumogakure wasted little time. After a brief rest to recover from his injuries, the Raikage hurriedly led his ninja out to confirm Hyuga Kanan's location with the intelligence personnel remaining outside. He urgently needed to order the Kumogakure's reinforcements to intercept the enemy. However, just as the Raikage and his men appeared, they were shocked to find countless samurai already drawing their swords and quickly spreading out, tightly surrounding their entire force. This scene enraged the Raikage! Having just suffered a crushing defeat at Hyuga Kanan's hands, and now desperately trying to track his escape route, these samurai were blocking his way—a blatant act of provocation!

As one of the most powerful and domineering ninja villages in the ninja world, how could they tolerate these lowly samurai trying to stop them? Just as the Raikage was about to give the order for the Cloud Ninja to force their way through, he caught a glimpse of the leader of the Land of Iron—Mifune—approaching them rapidly. Instantly, the impulse that had just surged within him vanished without a trace, and his initial thought of ordering his subordinates to attack also disappeared.

After all, he was currently severely injured, which would undoubtedly have a significant impact on his strength. Therefore, if a fight were to break out, he might not be able to defeat the man known as the "strongest samurai." Moreover, they were currently in the other party's territory, and if he acted rashly, he would likely attract an attack from countless samurai. However, these were not major problems for the Cloud Village, which was accustomed to a tough stance. What truly worried the Raikage was that this would inevitably waste a lot of precious time, causing them to miss the perfect opportunity to encircle and annihilate Hyuga Kanan.

Time is of the essence, and there is no time to waste! Since we cannot choose to resolve the issue by force, we must start negotiations with the other side as soon as possible and persuade them to withdraw from this place quickly so that we can continue to track down the clues left by the enemy. This will provide the correct direction for the subsequent support troops.

Seeing the tense and fierce standoff between the two sides, Mifune, as the commander-in-chief, knew that he had to step in immediately to ease the suffocating atmosphere. After all, he had not come here merely to engage in a life-or-death struggle; his real purpose was to negotiate and force the other side to provide a reasonable explanation.

However, if negotiations break down, a battle will inevitably erupt. As his gaze swept over the group of ninja from Kumogakure, Mifune, with his years of experience, had already keenly discerned the reason they had provoked this trouble. The distinctive white eyes of the man who had just left were undoubtedly the most obvious clue. It was common knowledge that those with such features belonged to the Hyuga clan. Faced with Kumogakure's bandit-like and unreasonable behavior, how could those who had discovered the Hyuga clan easily let them go?

As they closed the distance, Mifune was astonished to discover that the leader of the opposing group was none other than the Raikage of Kumogakure! This fact surprised him greatly. The presence of a Kage-level ninja from one of the Five Great Nations of the ninja world meant there must be some hidden story that even he was unaware of. However, these matters were of little concern to the Land of Iron. As a nation that always maintained neutrality, its most important task at this moment was to clearly and unequivocally state its position and attitude.

"Lord Raikage, it's rather hard to justify that you led the Cloud Village ninja forces into our territory so quietly and engaged in such a fierce battle!" Mifune, as the leader of the Land of Iron, immediately challenged the other party, clearly stating the Land of Iron's firm stance and tough attitude.

After all, as the leader of a country, one must never appear too weak when dealing with foreign powers. One must make it clear to the other side that this place is not a vassal territory that their Land of Thunder can manipulate at will.

However, the Raikage of Kumogakure, who was always accustomed to presenting himself as a strongman, would never care about Mifune's attitude. At this moment, the most important thing for him was to find out where Hyuga Kanan had gone, and he had no time to waste his precious time on such meaningless diplomatic rhetoric.

"Lord Mifune, please forgive me for not having time for leisurely negotiations with you right now. Later, my Hidden Cloud Village will naturally send a special envoy to have in-depth communication and exchanges with your country. For now, please quickly order the crowd to disperse and not obstruct our actions, so as not to delay our opportunity," the Raikage replied bluntly.

Hearing such arrogant and rude words, Mifune felt a surge of anger, but as the leader of the Land of Iron, he knew he needed to remain calm and rational. After all, the Hidden Cloud Village of the Land of Lightning was now one of the most powerful and prosperous ninja villages among the Five Great Nations, far beyond the reach of their small Land of Iron.

Moreover, it's common knowledge that their domineering and arrogant style of doing things has spread throughout the entire ninja world. If the Land of Iron doesn't want to get involved in the conflict with the Land of Lightning, it seems they have no other choice but to watch them leave to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Suppressing his anger, Mifune calmly replied, "Very well, then let the Land of Iron await the ninjas sent by your village to negotiate!" With that, he turned to face his subordinates, nodded slightly, and ordered them to make way for the group to leave.

Meanwhile, Hyuga Kanan was flying in the sky in another direction, heading towards his training grounds. However, at this moment, his powerful spiritual sense had already detected ninjas from multiple directions quietly tracking him, trying to determine their whereabouts.

In truth, Hyuga Kanan knew perfectly well that his battle with the Cloud Ninja would inevitably attract the attention of various factions, exposing him to the scrutiny of the entire ninja world. He only regretted his arrogance and overconfidence at the time, his mind solely focused on verifying the power of his newly acquired Wood Release techniques, completely forgetting what Wood Release meant to the entire ninja world.

Hyuga Kanan is now filled with regret. If he could turn back time, he would never have acted so impulsively. He knew that defeating the Raikage of Kumogakure wouldn't have been difficult; there were many methods available. But at the time, he was merely driven by pure curiosity to test the effectiveness of using the Wood Element to fight an enemy.

"It seems I must devise a strategy to shake off these stalking ninjas. If I fail, my hidden training ground will be completely exposed to the entire ninja world! This could attract the attention of not only those hidden enemies, but even the mastermind behind everything will turn their gaze here. Even with the help of the world's will, which can shield me from their detection, this would still increase the risk of my own exposure!"

However, at this moment, Hyuga Kanan was completely unaware. He had no idea that simply by using Wood Release, he had already attracted the attention of the mastermind behind the scenes. Although this person did not come to investigate in person, many of his White Zetsu had already been ordered to move out and were rushing towards the direction Hyuga Kanan was heading.

Meanwhile, after learning the direction Hyuga Kanan had gone, the Raikage had roughly deduced his route. As expected, Hyuga Kanan was indeed heading towards the Land of Fire. Therefore, the Raikage immediately issued an order: the Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village) support forces should immediately move into the Land of Iron and advance towards the border between the two countries. They must intercept the target within the Land of Iron's borders and not give him any opportunity to rendezvous with the Konoha (Hidden Leaf Village) border guards!

While Hyuga Kanan was still thinking about how to shake off the ninjas who were tracking him, other ninja villages had already dispatched ninja forces toward the border between the Land of Iron and the Land of Fire. Even Konoha had arranged for ninjas to enter the Land of Iron.

When Hyuga Kanan left, he was heading towards the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Iron. His training ground was located in the Land of Iron near the border of the Land of Fire. Other ninja villages mistakenly assumed that he was a member of the Konoha, since Wood Release only exists in Konoha.

All the attention drawn by Hyuga Kanan's Wood Release technique was rushing towards this place.