In this one battle at the Land of Whirlpools, Li Anshi had used the lives of over six hundred ninjas to tell the entire world that his strength had not yet reached its peak; he could still become stronger.
In the hands of an ordinary ninja, it could take dozens, or even hundreds, of thrown kunai, shuriken, or senbon to kill a ninja of the same level.
But in Li Anshi's hands, that three-and-seven-tenths-of-an-inch-long dagger, as thin as a cicada's wing, never missed its mark. It could even achieve two, or even three, kills with a single throw.
All previous assessments of Li Anshi by the ninja world had been overturned.
In particular, the preparations made by the intelligence units of the various villages that were targeting him had become useless.
Previously, they had predicted that killing Li Anshi would require sacrificing three hundred ninjas to exhaust all the daggers on his body.
In this battle at the Land of Whirlpools, Li Anshi had powerfully slaughtered over six hundred ninjas, and they still had not figured out just how many daggers he had left.
According to the ninjas who collected the bodies, among the over six hundred corpses, they had only found a little over two hundred daggers.
The number of deaths had exceeded their estimates by more than double, yet the number of daggers Li Anshi had used was actually less.
What's more, Li Anshi had even told the Cloud commander that his "Blade Hiding Technique" had improved, increasing the number of daggers he could conceal.
Three hundred daggers was no longer his limit.
According to analysis by experts, to exhaust the daggers on Li Anshi's body now would require the lives of over fifteen hundred ninjas.
And even then, they could not guarantee the accuracy of this data.
Because this year, Li Anshi was only eighteen years old.
Before he reached the age of twenty-five, no one could be certain how much more he could improve.
In fact, even after Li Anshi passed his peak period of rapid growth at twenty-five, no one could guarantee that he couldn't break through again in the future.
For an ordinary ninja, their body reached its peak development after twenty-five. The ten years between twenty-five and thirty-five were when a ninja had the most chakra and was in their prime.
After thirty-five, a ninja's physical condition would begin to decline, and both the quantity and quality of the chakra they refined would start to drop.
But for Li Anshi, a physical decline would at most decrease his stamina; it wouldn't have much of an effect on the power of his "Little Li's Flying Dagger."
Perhaps, a decline in his physical state could even lead to another qualitative leap in his dagger skills.
At that time, what price would they have to pay to deal with him?
The lives of two thousand ninjas, or three thousand?
These were not just ordinary numbers on an intelligence report.
Behind every number was a life lost.
The deaths of so many ninjas would surely cause turmoil in a village.
At that point, even if Li Anshi didn't retaliate by slaughtering them at their own gates, the other ninja villages would not pass up the opportunity to attack a wounded tiger.
It wasn't worth it!
After calculating the price required to deal with Li Anshi, the great ninja villages all abandoned the idea of making a move.
From now on, if they encountered him, they would just run!
According to the latest intelligence on his activities, Li Anshi's travel speed was slightly faster than an ordinary Jonin's, but not as fast as an Elite Jonin's.
This was calculated from the time it took him to leave Konoha and arrive at the Land of Whirlpools battlefield.
This meant that the Elite Jonin of the great villages still had a high chance of escaping, as long as they were outside his hundred-meter range.
As for how credible this intelligence was, no one could be sure.
But in any case, it aligned with everyone's general assessment of him.
Li Anshi's strength lay in his secret dagger technique.
Without it, his strength might be greater than an ordinary Jonin's, but he had not yet reached the level of an Elite Jonin.
This piece of information made the ninjas of the four great villages sigh with unwilling resignation.
Even without his secret dagger technique, Li Anshi's performance was in no way unworthy of the name "powerhouse."
An eighteen-year-old Jonin was a pillar of support in any of the great villages.
In the future, he would surely become an Elite Jonin, and possibly a new Kage-level powerhouse.
How has the destiny of the ninja world been so kind to Konoha?
Could it be that Konoha is truly favored by fate?
…
"Welcome back, Anshi."
When Li Anshi returned to the door of his shop, Tsunade was there, her hands crossed over her lower abdomen, giving him a slight bow.
"Ah, I'm back."
For some reason, Li Anshi's mood brightened even more.
"I'm sorry, Tsunade."
"This time, I only managed to bring back a little over thirty children of the Uzumaki clan. I couldn't bring out any of the Chunin or Genin."
Originally, according to the plan he and Hiruzen Sarutobi had made, besides the children, he was also supposed to bring a portion of the Uzumaki Chunin and Genin.
But plans could not keep up with changes.
To completely sever ties with that part of the clan, Sakurazuki Uzumaki had prepared for all the Uzumaki ninjas to die for their country.
"No, for the Land of Whirlpools and for Konoha, this is already the best outcome."
"I'm the one who should be saying thank you."
Tsunade shook her head at Li Anshi.
To go alone to the Land of Whirlpools and successfully bring over thirty children out from the encirclement of the four great villages—Tsunade could not be unaware of the danger involved.
It was precisely because she knew of the danger that she was even more moved by what he had done.
Over the years, Tsunade and Li Anshi had become increasingly familiar with each other.
Therefore, she knew what he was striving for.
Similarly, although Li Anshi had not made a move in years, Tsunade still had a deep understanding of his strength.
Especially after giving him the data on the Flying Thunder God Technique, Tsunade felt that unless Li Anshi himself wanted to die, no one in the entire ninja world could stop him.
In fact, Li Anshi's strength was far less than what Tsunade imagined.
The biggest difference was perhaps that Tsunade believed if Li Anshi could develop a secret dagger technique on his own, then her great-granduncle's Flying Thunder God Technique would not be something he couldn't learn.
For his part, Li Anshi had no intention of revealing his training progress to others.
Although in the Hokage's office, he had not yet seen the crystal ball for performing the "Telescope Technique" on Hiruzen's desk, the First Hokage had been dead for over eight years.
Madara Uchiha, having been revived by "Izanagi," might have already begun to spread "White Zetsu" throughout the ninja world, collecting intelligence.
Li Anshi did not want to expose his own information to White Zetsu.
This was not because he was particularly wary of Madara Uchiha.
It wasn't a boast, but even against the current Madara, who was still cultivating the Rinnegan and even had the Gedo Statue, Li Anshi was confident he could kill him with a single dagger.
It was just that, as a proper person from his past world, he knew to distinguish the different layers of his strength: the strength he displayed, the strength others thought he was hiding, and his true strength.
Currently, the strength Li Anshi displayed was what the outside world believed required the lives of at least fifteen hundred people just to create an opening to attack him.
And his own true strength was another two-thirds on top of that!
Tsunade also knew that Li Anshi had enough power to protect himself, which was why she wasn't worried about his safety.
"Besides, compared to the previous possibility of the complete annihilation of the Uzumaki clan, my grandmother is already very satisfied that you could bring the hope of the clan back to Konoha."
"Mm."
Li Anshi nodded.
Everything he had done was to prevent Mito Uzumaki from being caught in a difficult position between Konoha and the Land of Whirlpools.
Besides being a princess of the Uzumaki clan and the Land of Whirlpools, Mito was also the wife of Konoha's First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
Li Anshi's trip to the Land of Whirlpools had provided closure for Konoha regarding the matter, and also for Mito.
"In about ten days, those children will arrive in Konoha. You can have Lady Mito prepare a place for them to live. With Lord Ashina here, the children will also be able to adapt to their new identities quickly."
Hearing Li Anshi say this, the smile on Tsunade's face faded, replaced by a few wisps of sorrow.
"Hm? What's wrong, Tsunade?"
Sensing the change in atmosphere, Li Anshi looked down and finally noticed the sadness on Tsunade's face.
Connecting it to what he had just said, Li Anshi's heart skipped a beat.
"Tsunade, did something happen to Lord Ashina?"
"Yes."
Tsunade nodded.
"After the news of your success reached Konoha, my maternal grandfather was overjoyed. He even had a few extra drinks that night."
"The next morning, he left Konoha and went back to the Land of Whirlpools."
"My grandfather said that if he was the Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools and the leader of Uzushiogakure for one day, he would be for his entire life."
"Since the children were all prepared to die for their country, how could he not be there?"
"Sigh..."
Li Anshi patted Tsunade's shoulder.
He held a certain respect for these Kage-level powerhouses who had come to understand their own "ninja way."
Only by truly walking this path could one know how difficult it was to practice one's "ninja way" for a lifetime.
To put it in simpler terms, the "ninja way" was the "artistic conception" of the martial arts world of his past life.
In the martial arts world, those who had comprehended "artistic conception" were undoubtedly powerful figures in their own right.
And it was even more so in the ninja world.
Under the influence of a supernatural power like chakra, the amplification that "artistic conception" provided to one's strength surpassed that of the martial arts world.
This made Kage-level powerhouses in the ninja world much stronger than Jonin.
An ordinary Jonin would be killed in an instant before a Kage-level powerhouse.
Only an Elite Jonin had a slight chance of resistance.
Every Kage-level powerhouse had something they held onto.
For Ashina Uzumaki, his "ninja way" was probably to lead the Uzumaki clan to continue on.
Therefore, when the Uzumaki clan could not coexist with the Uchiha in Konoha, he had resolutely led them away.
Now that the Land of Whirlpools was facing a crisis of destruction, he was also willing to live and die with the Uzumaki clan.
In any case, the hope of the Uzumaki clan had returned to Konoha. He had no more regrets in his life.
Of course, while he had no regrets, those who cared about him would feel sorrow at his passing.
If Li Anshi had taken the Uzumaki children directly through the forests, mountains, and rivers, he might have encountered Ashina along the way.
At that time, for Tsunade's sake, he might have forcibly brought him back.
Unfortunately, to save time and effort, Li Anshi had chosen to take the main road to a town, and thus had missed him.
By now, under the combined forces of the four great ninja villages, the Land of Whirlpools had probably already been destroyed, right?
After staying at Li Anshi's place for a while, Tsunade left.
She had to tell her grandmother the news of his return.
Those Uzumaki children were the legacy of her grandfather's will.
With them, she believed her grandmother would soon emerge from the sorrow of losing her grandfather.
Watching Tsunade leave, Li Anshi thought for a moment and ultimately gave up the idea of going to the Hokage's office.
He had wanted to learn about the situation in the Land of Whirlpools after he left, and any subsequent news about Ashina Uzumaki.
However, after careful consideration, Li Anshi felt it was best to let the matter rest.
Although he had killed over six hundred of the allied forces of the four great ninja villages, they still had at least six thousand ninjas surrounding the Land of Whirlpools.
With such a huge disparity in strength, the ninjas of the Land of Whirlpools could not withstand more than a few attacks.
Especially after the sealing jutsus around the country were completely destroyed, the Uzumaki ninjas were powerless before the forces of the four great ninja villages.
Even if Ashina Uzumaki had rushed back before the country's destruction, he couldn't have changed anything.
Even a Kage-level powerhouse, when faced with the human sea tactic of several thousand ninjas, could only fall if they didn't escape.
The Third Raikage in Li Anshi's memory had died in such a way.
In the future, the Third Raikage, who held the titles of the "strongest spear" and the "strongest shield," was surrounded by ten thousand Stone ninjas. After fighting fiercely for three days and three nights, he died of chakra exhaustion.
That's right. In three days of fighting, those ten thousand Stone ninjas had not been able to leave a single wound on the Third Raikage's body, but they had indeed used their overwhelming numbers to give him no time to rest, forcing him to maintain a constant state of combat, and in the end, had simply worn him down to death.
In Li Anshi's memory, the only one who could ignore the human sea tactic was probably the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
His Wood Release was a weapon for large-scale battles.
With one Deep Forest Emergence, he could clear out all ninjas within a radius of several hundred meters.
With the Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, all ninjas within the range of the pollen's spread would be poisoned by it.
Of course, more importantly, the First Hokage possessed an amount of chakra even greater than that of the Nine-Tails.
The Nine-Tails was a lifeform created by the Sage of Six Paths using Yin-Yang Release after separating the largest portion of chakra from the Ten-Tails.
In the ninja world, the Nine-Tails held the title of "infinite chakra."