As for what the Village Hidden in the Cloud, especially the third Raikage himself, thought about all this, outsiders had no way of knowing.
However, even if the third Raikage truly had some thoughts, now was obviously not the time to act on them.
At this moment, the Village Hidden in the Cloud was being driven to distraction by the Village Hidden in the Stones' fierce offensive on the northern battlefield.
Where would they find the spare energy to stir up additional trouble?
The Land of Iron was a permanently neutral nation recognized by the entire Shinobi World.
You could hardly mobilize forces and demand accountability simply because one of their samurai independently figured out Lightning Style Nintaijutsu.
Everyone possesses chakra.
If the Village Hidden in the Cloud could create it, naturally, others could as well.
Unless the Village Hidden in the Cloud could produce concrete evidence proving that Isshin had secretly learned the Yotsuki Clan's Lightning Style Nintaijutsu, otherwise, they could only grit their teeth and accept it.
Accept it, they might, but within the Village Hidden in the Cloud's intelligence network, the importance level assigned to this Isshin of Ashina Style quietly rose by several grades.
As for the other ninja villages, their thoughts were even simpler. Although the news of Lightning Style Nintaijutsu had genuinely shocked them at first, after thinking it over, what did it have to do with them?
It wasn't their Hidden Jutsu that had leaked out.
After the initial shock, everyone simply returned to their own business.
In fact, in the eyes of some village leaders, this was actually a good thing.
For example, the third Tsuchikage, Onoki.
Although he always claimed to trust the wisdom of future generations, deep down he was also greatly concerned by Shinichi Higashino's terrifying talent.
If there were someone in the future who could stand on equal footing with Shinichi Higashino, that would be a good thing.
Even if that person did not belong to the Village Hidden in the Stones, he likewise did not belong to any other ninja village.
Instead, he belonged to the permanently neutral Land of Iron.
As long as such a person existed, the fully matured Shinichi Higashino would at least have someone he had to be wary of and would not be able to act completely without restraint.
That alone was good news for everyone.
After all, having only one Hashirama Senju or one Madara Uchiha was a terrifying prospect.
But if two such figures existed simultaneously, especially if they opposed each other, then the room for maneuver available to everyone else became far greater.
That was much better than facing a single supreme powerhouse that dominated the entire world.
Of course, the best outcome would be for neither to exist!
But if they had to exist, then there should be two, or even more, and they should oppose one another!
Thus, after Isshin publicly displayed Lightning Style Nintaijutsu on the first day of the National Swordsmanship Tournament, every major force in the Shinobi World simultaneously increased its attention toward this samurai from the Land of Iron.
And this was exactly the result Shinichi wanted.
Through character marketing, forced association, and a series of similar methods, he had artificially elevated Isshin's fame to a level far beyond his actual achievements.
As a result, what should have been nothing more than an ordinary martial competition within the Land of Iron's samurai circles became the most-watched tournament in many years.
During the next three days, under the overt and covert scrutiny of all major forces, Isshin's performance became increasingly unrestrained.
While utilizing Lightning Style Nintaijutsu, he successively revealed his swordsmanship, polearm techniques, archery, and even firearms, as if this national tournament was not a competition at all, but a grand stage for displaying the full scope of Ashina Style.
In the end, he crushed every opponent in his path and advanced all the way to the finals.
Meanwhile, throughout those three days, the situation in the Shinobi World remained turbulent.
Especially in the southeastern region of the Shinobi World, where the fighting between Konoha and the Village Hidden in the Mist became increasingly intense.
This time, however, the roles of attacker and defender had reversed.
Village Hidden in the Mist sought to use Rinkai City as a base from which to continually expand outward.
Konoha, meanwhile, repeatedly launched counterattacks using small elite units. Every time the Village Hidden in the Mist established a new foothold on the front line, a strike from Konoha would arrive with precision from another direction.
The two sides repeatedly struggled and tore at one another across countless tactical points.
During these three days, Shinichi's main body had not been idle either.
He personally led teams that destroyed multiple outer strongholds of the Village Hidden in the Mist.
At this moment, at the edge of a forest, Shinichi was leading his squad back after completing another raid.
At this moment, his squad members were still quietly reviewing the battle they had just fought, while Shinichi walked at the front of the squad with a blank expression on his face, but he quietly summoned his system panel in his mind.
Yet within his mind, he quietly summoned his status panel.
[Name: Shinichi Higashino]
[Occupation: Jonin, Master swordsman]
[Talents: Pinnacle of Ninjutsu Level 1 (Purple), Master of Lightning Style (Blue), Master of Firearms (Blue), Proficient in Archery (Green)...]
Compared to three days earlier, the changes to Shinichi's system panel were quite significant.
First, Proficient in Lightning Style had upgraded into Master of Lightning Style.
[Master of Lightning Style (Blue): Omitted... (Similar to the others.)]
This upgrade was expected.
The National Swordsmanship Tournament was the Land of Iron's once-every-three-years grand event, attracting nationwide attention.
Furthermore, through all sorts of outrageous maneuvers, Shinichi had thrown out the trump card of Lightning Style Nintaijutsu in public on the very first day, drawing a tremendous amount of attention from across the Shinobi World.
Even though the cognitive feedback from the clone operated at only fifty percent efficiency, it was still enough to promote the trait.
By the same logic, Master of Firearms (Blue) and Proficient in Archery (Green) had also either upgraded or been generated through this opportunity.
[Master of Firearms (Blue): Your understanding of firearms has surpassed simple usage, forming an almost instinctive insight into and mastery over them. Not only can you grasp their principles, maintenance, and modification at a speed far beyond ordinary people, but you can also cross-reference and organically integrate the design philosophies of different firearms, modifying or developing exclusive firearms that exceed conventional performance. In actual combat, your prediction of bullet trajectories and your grasp of firing timing and angles are exceptionally precise, significantly improving your overall capabilities in suppressive fire, precision strikes, and sustained combat.]
[Proficient in Archery (Green): You have surpassed the basics and stepped into the hall of archery. Not only do you learn and master various shooting techniques and arrow skills more quickly, but you can also accurately predict a target's movement trajectory in real combat, seizing fatal openings in an instant.]
The firearms talent had already been green level before and had accumulated considerable recognition. Using this tournament to upgrade it was only natural.
Archery, on the other hand, had been displayed before the public for the first time.
Since there had been no previous accumulation of related recognition, and since its performance had not been as astonishing as some of his other abilities, combined with the short amount of time available, it had only reached the green level.
Shinichi's gaze stopped on the Master of Firearms (Blue).
Although his main body had no intention of using firearms himself, nor of publicly displaying his talent in that field, this talent, combined with the future forging talent he planned to create, was crucial to his long-term strategy, enhancing the combat power of lower-level ninja.
Even arming the ordinary soldiers of the entire Land of Fire.
Turning these non-ninjas into elite armed forces capable of posing a real threat to ninjas even at the Jonin level…
This was a path he would inevitably walk.