Chapter 231: A Little Secret
Previously, the Third Hokage had already laid some groundwork. The Water Prison Technique, originally from the Mist Village, and the Great Fireball Technique, belonging to the Uchiha clan, were removed from the list. Only the Wind Release: Gale Palm and Earth Release: Inner Decapitation Technique touched upon the interests of ninja clans. Ino privately conducted some communication, smoothing things over with a few minor ninja clans who had planned to pass down these techniques as 'family heirlooms.' The matter was more or less glossed over.
For Taijutsu, Might Guy's self-created technique, the Leaf Hurricane, rated as D-rank by the village, was chosen. Don't underestimate this move; this kick was fast and powerful. A ninja's body is quite fragile; if they couldn't react in time, they could genuinely be kicked to death. This move also had enhanced versions later: Leaf Great Hurricane and Leaf Strong Whirlwind. Kakashi went to persuade Might Guy; actually, he didn't need to do much convincing. He basically just said hello, and Guy readily agreed.
Genjutsu involved more profound knowledge, and the ninja clans did not want civilian ninjas to master this information. Medical Ninjutsu and Sealing Jutsu had specialized classes that Chunin could join to learn related techniques if they met the conditions, so they didn't need to worry about those.
After three days of selection and Ino's coordination, four ninjutsu and one taijutsu were chosen to be submitted to the village. The rest was Jiraiya's job. Some ninjas might simply prefer to rely on kunai in a direct confrontation. Some ninjas, like Rock Lee, couldn't develop chakra nature transformation even if you killed them, so just let them continue training in taijutsu. There was no compulsion; the village was merely offering choices as rewards for Chunin who performed meritoriously. Whether you chose one, and which one you picked, was a personal matter.
As soon as Ino completed the mission of selecting ninjutsu, she immediately sent someone to investigate the background of Etsuri Ramen. Upon deeper investigation, she discovered that this fellow had quite solid connections. The Ramen family was a branch family of the Mitokado family. In fact, Etsuri Ramen was related to Konoha Elder Homura Mitokado; their kinship was within five degrees of relation.
A few days later, when Etsuri Ramen personally came to call, hoping to buy the Yamanaka Tram Company, Ino agreed immediately. She priced the land, the technical blueprints obtained from the Land of Snow, and the company (which existed only on paper) at thirty million ryo and sold them to Etsuri Ramen.
Leaving the Yamanaka Flower Shop, Etsuri Ramen was quite pleased, feeling he had discovered a huge gold mine where he could just lie back and collect money in the future. But after returning home, the more he thought about it, the more scared he became... That was the Yamanaka clan! They wouldn't find some excuse to get rid of him, would they? He quickly went to his powerful backer, Village Elder Homura Mitokado, for help. Homura Mitokado thoroughly chewed him out. Don't you understand the principle of leaving a margin?Without any provocation, I wouldn't willingly offend the Yamanaka clan, and you have the audacity!
Etsuri Ramen quickly returned to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, shamelessly and persistently insisting on giving Ino a ten percent share of the company without investment and giving her the title of Technical Consultant, the kind that received a salary without doing anything. Seeing Etsuri Ramen begin hiring people to build the plant on the land and start tram research and development, Ino felt this was quite good. Let this guy test the waters under the banner of Homura Mitokado first. In three years, when the harvest comes, she might even be able to buy it back at the bottom price...
Blueprints worth two million, land worth three million, and in a single transaction, it turned into thirty million. This thirty million was going to be incredibly useful to her. She had originally planned to save up slowly, but now it was much simpler.
As the successor of the Yamanaka clan, she would continue to be responsible for Konoha's intelligence work in the future. Ino needed to learn a vast amount of knowledge and acquire extensive information. Where did intelligence come from? It was painstakingly analyzed and summarized from all sorts of documents and records, like extracting silk from cocoons. Extracting important intelligence from a vast sea of information, then handing it over to the advisors, who would formulate plans for the Hokage's reference. The Hokage only needed to be strong, have some political ability, or even lack political ability; being a powerful leader was enough.
The auxiliary work, however, was extremely tedious. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had assisted the Hokage for so many years precisely because they had done a tremendous amount of learning in areas outsiders couldn't see. Shikamaru's schedule was packed with all sorts of learning tasks every day. Choji, under Choza's urging, was also undergoing various training and studies; charging into battle was unavoidable for him in the future.
Finding the information she needed from existing intelligence, Ino secretly went to find Karin.
"How does it look?" Karin had secretly sewn her an Akatsuki cloak with a black base and red clouds, based on her description.
The Transformation Jutsu was easily seen through. If you only changed your appearance but not your clothes, the chance of being detected would be greatly reduced. If that appearance was that of a notorious missing-nin, like Itachi Uchiha, who had the Sharingan, the chance of being detected would drop to the absolute minimum. After all, no one wanted to fall under a genjutsu. If you knew the other person had the Sharingan, would you still look at their face? Are you stupid?
Ino had prepared this beforehand, not expecting to use it so soon. Holding the Akatsuki cloak, she looked it over from front to back. She had to admit, this cloak was quite stylish. She wondered who had designed it. She rearranged her hair; the bangs that normally covered her right eye now covered her left.
The Yamanaka clan had wanted posters of Deidara, and Ino, without even needing makeup, already bore a slight resemblance to him. Although her left eye was covered, she still put on a monocle. Deidara's was a miniature telescope, a trump card against Itachi Uchiha that turned out to be utterly useless. She didn't need to set it up that way. Wearing a monocle was just for effect. With her hair covering it, how could an average person clearly see what specific item she was wearing anyway?
She drew black eyeliner, put a ring on her left index finger, and slipped on the Akatsuki black-based, red-clouded robe Karin had made for her. Ino examined herself in the mirror for a moment, clapped her hands together, realizing something was missing – a forehead protector.
Her reputation was well-known now, and she had faced attacks from many ninjas. However, the Five Great Shinobi Villages were relatively restrained in this regard; the attackers usually came from minor villages. She selected a ninja forehead protector from a minor village, wiped away the original symbol, drew the Stone Village's pattern, and with a kunai, fiercely scratched a line through the center of the protector. Ino felt she had represented her classmate Deidara in betraying the Stone Village one more time. Perfect!
Having changed into her outfit, donned the missing-nin forehead protector and the straw hat, she looked at herself from all angles. This Akatsuki robe was truly good. Besides looking great, it wasn't slim-fit, so wearing it made it impossible to tell her gender.
"Art is an explosion!" she postured in the mirror. She had to say, her appearance in this disguise was very similar to Deidara's.
She took off the makeup and folded the clothes, then said to Karin, "Your craftsmanship is really good. This outfit helped me a lot."
Karin liked her praise very much, her little face turning slightly red, just giggling foolishly.
Ino lowered her voice: "Thank you. Don't tell anyone about this. It's our little secret..."
"Mhm mhm!" Karin quickly nodded.
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