Chapter 23 What is Konoha?

The Art of Ephemeral Flies is a unique ninjutsu. It is difficult to define which type of ninjutsu this belongs to.

Because once this technique is activated, one can freely travel through the earth, plants, and even underground rivers. In total, it involves earth, wood, and water. In essence, it is an extremely high-end infiltration technique.

Moreover, when White Zetsu is activated, it is silent and motionless. There is no need to make hand seals like ordinary ninjas. It is almost an instinct or a bloodline limit.

As such, it was almost impossible to restrain this technique from a property perspective. Therefore, the only option was to use an unexpected move.

Even if it is unexpected, it is not an easy thing to do.

You know, although most of the White Zetsu are not very powerful, there are still many of them. Among the 100,000 White Zetsu, there are always quite a few who are very powerful.

And those who monitor Konoha can't be ordinary people. Qingye is considering that the other party should at least have the strength of a jonin.

At the same time, White Zetsu has another powerful characteristic. Its vitality is extremely strong. It is difficult to kill it by conventional means.

These things are actually no longer human. Their essence is actually closer to plants. And plants cannot be killed by a single sword.

Therefore, if he wants to launch a sneak attack and subdue this thing as soon as possible, he still has to return to Qingye’s current learning progress, the sealing technique.

Aoba needs to develop a convenient sealing technique to block all of White Zetsu's chakra and mobility as soon as possible.

How to answer this question? It's difficult. After studying it for a few days, he still had no clue.

It's not that there are no similar sealing techniques, but these sealing techniques are basically not fast enough and are slower than ordinary ninjutsu.

This thing is usually used after the enemy is subdued. To ensure that the enemy will not recover chakra and escape, or counterattack. In short, there is no sealing technique in the ninja world that can instantly block all the enemy's chakra as Aoba expected.

If there really is such a sealing technique, it would be more powerful than 99% of ninjutsu.

But one day when he was having dinner with Kakashi, he casually mentioned this idea. As a result, Kakashi gave him an unexpected response.

"You mean the shackles of the torture squad?"

Aoba realized that he had made an empiricist mistake.

When he was studying the technique of sealing life force, he developed it little by little from scratch. When he came to the technique of sealing chakra, he subconsciously wanted to do the same.

But I forgot that this is a world of chakra. There are countless sealing techniques for chakra. Although using these techniques directly is not practical, they can be used in conjunction with props.

The torture squad has more than one set of this special device. Once the prisoner is locked up, no matter how powerful the enemy is, they will not be able to use any chakra. It can even make the locked person paralyzed and powerless. It is a tool specifically designed for ninjas.

This thing is not very effective in actual combat. Because in actual combat, you are facing a person. The time you can lock the opponent with shackles is enough to stab him three times. Besides, the thing is not very useful. The shape is not suitable for combat.

But what Aoba had to face was White Zetsu, a creature that was extremely difficult to kill. This thing was the typical one that couldn't be killed even if you stabbed it three times, and it had to be controlled by restraints.

"Kakashi, are you familiar with Ibiki?"

"It's okay. We used to deal with each other a lot when we were in the Anbu."

"Then I have something to trouble you. Can you lend me a set of shackles from the torture squad so I can study them?"

The tools used in the interrogation class are the only ones that are not in Orochimaru's files. I guess Orochimaru didn't expect Aoba to have such a weird request.

In fact, using Orochimaru's data, it should be enough to deduce a similar technique. But since there is a ready-made one, Aoba decided to use it directly. There are too many things to study and not enough time.

"What do you want that for?"

"I've been researching a special kind of kunai recently. The kind that can limit the enemy's chakra after it hits."

"Restricting chakra is obviously a thankless idea. If you want to increase the lethality of kunai, you can directly apply poison. The Aburame family sells similar poisons, or you can go to the jungle and extract some snake venom yourself."

"......" This is why it's so troublesome to discuss this kind of problem with such a professional. You can't fool around.

Qingye sighed helplessly.

"Well, it's about a special piece of research I do. A very special one."

Kakashi knew it was something that was not convenient to talk about in public. But he did not continue to ask. The main reason was that the shackles of the torture class were very troublesome.

Because this thing is made of special chakra metal. It is expensive and the quantity is limited.

The reason why it is not troublesome is that even the people in the interrogation class rarely pay attention to the number of these things.

Because only powerful and valuable captives would use this thing. Under normal circumstances, the members of these torture classes can completely disable a ninja with just a few conventional means. There is no need to use such expensive props.

Kakashi said after thinking for a while.

"Aoba, I can help you with this. I don't need to ask why. But I need you to promise me that your research will not harm Konoha."

Qingye did not answer directly, but asked in return.

"Kakashi, why do you think I would hurt Konoha? I have never done anything to let Konoha down."

"But you think in your heart, Aoba. I can see that you have resentment in your heart towards Konoha for marginalizing you back then. No, it's not just resentment, you resent them."

This was the first time that Aoba realized that not only did he understand Kakashi, but Kakashi also understood him. He thought he had concealed it very well, but Kakashi, one of his few friends in Konoha, actually saw through something he had hidden.

Although, it is not very accurate. Because Aoba does not resent the top leaders of Konoha, but hates them. Being marginalized is actually a deliberate operation by himself. But the disgust for the top leaders of Konoha is real.

This hidden emotion was interpreted by Kakashi as his hatred for Konoha.

"I have to say, Kakashi. Your cold appearance always makes people overlook your delicate heart. However, before answering this question, I need to ask you a question in return. If you can answer me, then I will answer you."

"...Okay, go ahead and ask."

"Very good, Kakashi. Tell me, what exactly is Konoha?"

After Aoba finished speaking, he didn't wait for Kakashi to respond, but got up, paid the bill and left.

"Think about it carefully before answering."