[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-grind-is-my-ninja-way":3,"chapter-grind-is-my-ninja-way-grind-is-my-ninja-way-chapter-974":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Grind is My Ninja Way",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1481995,1929,"Chapter 974 - 969: Completion and Return","grind-is-my-ninja-way-chapter-974",974,"\u003Cp>\"Who's there?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A low shout echoed through the underground base.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's me!\" Seimei quickly replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recognizing Seimei's voice, the shadow clone lowered its guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A moment later, a fireball flared to life, banishing the surrounding darkness and illuminating the underground space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seimei glanced at the shadow clone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was clear the clone had been dormant in the dark, only to be startled by his sudden teleportation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the shadow clone was somewhat prepared, so no mishaps occurred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without much chit-chat, they exchanged a quick greeting, and Seimei dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instantly, the clone's memories flooded into Seimei's mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike the shadow clone stationed in the Hidden Mist Village, this one had to take a more active role since there were fewer informants in the Hidden Cloud Village. As a result, its memories were a bit more substantial.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It took Seimei a full hour to sort through them all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the end, he had a solid grasp of what was happening in the Hidden Cloud Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Overall, like the Hidden Mist, the Hidden Cloud was relatively calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, while the Hidden Mist focused on internal issues, the Fourth Raikage's position was secure, allowing him to direct more attention outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, tensions along the border with the Leaf Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's right—even now, the two villages hadn't signed a peace treaty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, small-scale skirmishes would occasionally erupt along the border.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But according to the latest intel, voices opposing the war were growing louder within the Hidden Cloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And why wouldn't they? You can skip a fight, but you can't skip a meal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Land of Lightning was full of mountains, with limited arable land. At least a third of their food supply had to be imported annually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Land of Fire, with its fertile lands, produced the most grain in the ninja world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During peacetime, the Land of Lightning relied heavily on the Land of Fire to cover that shortfall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, with no truce in place, the Leaf Village naturally blocked grain exports to the Land of Lightning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pressure on the Land of Lightning was obvious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under these circumstances, it was no surprise that anti-war sentiment was rising in the Hidden Cloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It's easy to imagine that, without the Nine-Tails incident weakening the Leaf Village and giving the Hidden Cloud an opportunity, they would've signed a peace treaty much sooner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That way, the Hyuga clan wouldn't have had to sacrifice Hinata's life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, that was a story from another timeline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Seimei had decided to intervene in the Nine-Tails incident, he wouldn't let those events unfold. The ninja world was better off with some stability, after all!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pulling his thoughts back, Seimei shifted his focus from these matters and began searching for other valuable intel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, he found something noteworthy in the shadow clone's memories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii, had started training with the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, to learn how to control her tailed beast's power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This intel came from the memories of a Hidden Cloud Anbu informant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, that Anbu didn't know where they were training.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, the shadow clone didn't know either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Seimei had to guess, he'd bet they were on Turtle Island.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Turtle Island was a secret Hidden Cloud base—a massive, ancient turtle that had lived for who-knows-how-long, drifting across the sea with its own unique ecosystem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On that island was a mysterious place the Hidden Cloud called the Waterfall of Truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Waterfall of Truth could reflect a person's inner darkness. By overcoming it, one could break through their limitations and become purer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made it easier to master a tailed beast's power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That's why Seimei suspected Yugito and Killer B were there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, as a sacred training ground for the Hidden Cloud, Turtle Island's importance was obvious, and the village guarded its secrets tightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They'd also set up numerous barriers to hide and protect it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On top of that, the Fourth Raikage, A, would periodically issue orders to change the island's location.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With these three layers of secrecy, hardly anyone could know Turtle Island's current position or status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, if Seimei went all out to investigate, he could probably find it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that would definitely alert the Hidden Cloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That clashed with his low-profile strategy, so he naturally wouldn't do it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another key factor in his decision was that he currently had enough chakra and didn't need to stir up trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dismissing those thoughts, Seimei moved on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like in the Hidden Mist, he formed hand seals and used Wood Clone Technique to create a wood clone, replacing the shadow clone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, he used All-Encompassing Forest Seal again, storing a million points of chakra in the clone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seimei instructed it to spend the next month developing more informants in the Hidden Cloud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wood clone nodded in acknowledgment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, Seimei didn't linger. He used Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport back to the spot outside the Hidden Cloud Village where he'd been earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, he activated Wind Release: Wings of Wind and Chakra Cloak, followed by Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique to reduce his weight, and took off toward the Land of Earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Land of Earth bordered the Land of Lightning on one side and faced it across the sea on the other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid trouble, Seimei didn't take the eastern land route.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving the Hidden Cloud, he flew west, crossing the sea and bypassing the Land of Iron to enter the Land of Earth from the other side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected, this route didn't draw any attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Afterward, Seimei locked onto the Hidden Stone Village's location and flew straight there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon reaching the outskirts, he activated his Byakugan to examine the sensory barrier enveloping the entire village, then used Ama no Miya to slip through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the Hidden Stone, he didn't immediately use Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to the underground space where his shadow clone was, as he had in the Hidden Mist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the Hidden Stone didn't have a separate barrier for detecting spatial fluctuations, last month's intel from the shadow clone revealed they'd recently set up one to detect chakra fluctuations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Apparently, this was a direct order from Onoki.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seimei didn't know why Onoki had suddenly issued such a command, but he wasn't about to take the risk, so he opted to travel on foot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thankfully, with Ama no Miya, he could easily avoid the Hidden Stone's patrols.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The journey was uneventful, and he soon reached the underground space where his shadow clone was waiting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With practiced ease, he dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique, and its memories synced with his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He quickly sorted through them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the other two shadow clones, this one had far fewer memories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason was simple: that new chakra-sensing barrier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unsure of Onoki's intentions or what he was planning, Seimei had instructed the shadow clone to stay dormant during their last rendezvous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, it had accumulated very little over the past month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Consequently, his understanding of the Hidden Stone was still stuck at last month's level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, he didn't plan to have the wood clone do much moving forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right now, aside from the Four-Tails and Dust Release, there wasn't much in the Hidden Stone that interested him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the Four-Tails… well, he didn't need extra chakra at the moment, so it wasn't a priority.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Dust Release… once he developed Storm Release, he might try to steal its training methods to further master the fusion of three chakra natures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for now, there was no rush!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, whatever Onoki was up to, Seimei could afford to sit back and observe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no need for the wood clone to take action either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shifting his gaze from the wood clone, Seimei didn't waste any more time. He used Earth Release: Earth Vein Dragon Technique to leave the underground space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, he carefully slipped out of the Hidden Stone Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing at a high vantage point, he gazed at the silent Hidden Stone, his eyes flickering with unspoken thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whoosh~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sudden breeze snapped him out of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without wasting another moment, he activated Wind Release: Wings of Wind and Chakra Cloak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, he used Earth Release: Ultra-Lightweight Rock Technique to reduce his weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the cover of night, he glided like a bat, silently flying toward the Leaf Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(Chapter End)\u003C\u002Fp>",1393,"2026-06-06T03:31:03.429Z",1,"novelbin.me","5167fa8d9ec5dbe2b892a8e097d5eea2e63cc0daedc8bb1a589de50e4aa9813c","grind-is-my-ninja-way-chapter-975","grind-is-my-ninja-way-chapter-973",1097,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fgrind-is-my-ninja-way-cover.jpg"]