At night, Mizuki sensed the natural energy for a while as usual, and then began to carefully study the ninja information of the Sand Village and the Iwagakure Village that Tsunade asked Kakashi to pass on to him.

Apart from some minor details, several people inside caught Shuimu's attention.

Among the people in the Iwagakure Village, there are two people who need special attention. One is Akatachi, a true elite jonin, and the other is Kurotsuchi, the fourth Tsuchikage who will appear more than ten years later.

"It seems like there are a lot of females in the new generation of movies..."

Three female leaders appeared in the five major ninja villages one after another. This is actually quite rare in the ninja world where strength is respected. Although Kurotsuchi can become Tsuchikage more than ten years later, she is still young after all, and it is still unknown how strong she is now. At the age of a teenager, the physical limitations have caused the problem of difficulty in exerting her strength. Not everyone has the talent and powerful bloodline limit of Uchiha Itachi - Sharingan. It is not easy to see the myth of a teenager defeating Orochimaru at his peak.

The configuration of Iwagakure is quite standard. With Deidara here, and this mission is also very important, in order to cover up the truth on the surface, it is normal to have an elite ninja like Akagi to support the scene, plus the promising newcomer Kurotsuchi. It is similar to the configuration of Konoha, with the newly promoted jounin Mizuki, plus the powerful special jounin Yamashiro Aoba, and two outstanding newcomers Aburame Shino and Hyuga Neji. First, in order to complete the mission, and second, to train these talented newcomers. The ninja world does not need flowers in a greenhouse. Only those who survive the cruel experience are convincing talents.

But the list of the Sand Village is intriguing. Looking at the list of the Sand Village in his hand, Mizuki couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"It's Maki? The female ninja Juan who is good at sealing techniques, and Yura, three jonin?"

Originally, this matter had little to do with the Sand Village, but in the end, the Sand Village, as an ally, finally joined in and formed a joint team of three ninja villages to escort Deidara. The itinerary was also a bit strange, and they chose a road that was not very close. In fact, for ninjas, roads are more used to identify directions. With the mobility of ninjas, unless it is a particularly dangerous place, it is basically unlikely to stop the actions of ninjas. This choice was ostensibly to escort the One-Tail Jinchuriki back to the village first, and then turn to the Land of Earth.

But this kind of lies can only fool outsiders. The ninja village is not so easy to talk to. It is almost impossible to make the Sand Village, which has always been narrow-minded, give up its prejudice and act together with the Rock Village without a special reason.

After looking at the list of accompanying personnel, Mizuki saw the information of Kankuro, Temari and Gaara who were stranded in Konoha due to the attack of Deidara and Sasori.

"If Gaara is not seen as a person to be protected, but as a powerful force, then the Sand Village has invested so much strength, and their imaginary enemy cannot be an ordinary person. Red Sand Scorpion? It seems that this should be the case."

To put it bluntly, this mission was, on the surface, a hostage handover and escort mission. Konoha and Iwagakure both had similar needs, so they hit it off. Deidara, on the contrary, became a dispensable bait, so that those evil spirits hiding in the dark would reveal their true colors and purge the internal operations. Deidara was an important figure in Iwagakure Village. Although he was a traitor, he was also quite valuable. However, he became a traitor at a young age, and Ohnoki didn't do anything to Deidara. This also shows that handing over Deidara was more of a face-saving issue. It was of course important to be able to bring an important traitor back to Iwagakure Village safely, but if he died, although some people might be sad, for the united and fanatically confident Iwagakure Village, a traitor like Deidara would die, and it was no big deal, as long as he didn't cause trouble to the village.

As for Konoha, it doesn't matter. The only thing is that some of the information about the Akatsuki organization in Deidara's mind is a bit regrettable. Although Morino Ibiki tortured him, there was still no valuable news.

The purpose of the Sand Village is not simple. Maki, a big man who can help Gaara to the position of Kazekage, is also very powerful. In the original work, he can kill the flustered Gekkou Gale in one move. This kind of person who is similar to a military advisor, the brain of the organization, and a fierce general who charges into battle, will never do a small thing every time he goes out. The last time Maki showed up, he was the leader of the Sand Ninja in the Konoha collapse plan. And this time, he came here easily, of course, it can be said that it is related to the One-Tail Jinchuriki and his own disciples. However, with a female ninja Juan who is good at sealing techniques, and a capable jonin Yura, if the Sand Ninja's Genin team is brought along, this kind of strength is barely enough to overthrow a small ninja village. It would be strange if they forcibly joined the joint action of Konoha and the Iwagakure Village without asking for anything.

"It seems that the goal of Konoha and Iwagakure is to carry out an anti-traitor operation, and the target of Sandgakure is the Red Sand Scorpion?"

The Sand Village, whose strength has been greatly weakened, may have taken a fancy to the puppetry of Scorpion and the human puppet of the Third Kazekage who appeared in the last mission. If they can gain something, it will be very helpful for the Sand Village to overcome the difficulties. Moreover, the grandson who had been missing for many years finally appeared, and Chiyo couldn't help but be tempted.

"So what is my position, or purpose?"

Since this mission is a cover, then in this escort mission, Mizuki only needs to save his own life and bring Aburame Shino and Hyuga Neji back safely. In addition to the above main purpose, the second goal is to kill Deidara without anyone noticing, and it would be best if someone could take the blame. The third is Mizuki's selfishness. If someone really comes to rescue Deidara this time, and there are the immortal duo among them, it would be best to get some cell samples of Hidan to see if we can find out what the evil god who can give Hidan such a terrible immortal characteristic is. This kind of existence beyond the specification is really worrying. In the original work, even until Kaguya Otsutsuki was re-sealed, it was not finally revealed what the evil god and Hidan were. The first stage of the mission is an easy acting task, and the second stage may be the last official action against the "Akatsuki" organization in recent times.

The matter with Akatsuki should have come to an end, but there was a small episode with Deidara at the end. Sometimes, Mizuki wondered if things would have been much easier if Might Guy hadn't caught Deidara a few days ago. However, Mizuki couldn't ask others to let go of the prisoners they had captured after fighting so hard. Moreover, this might be a good thing. Every action of Akatsuki would expose more information, and the more its strength was known, the more fearful other ninja villages would be of it, which might add a lot of trouble to Akatsuki's future actions.

After figuring out the situation and thinking through some temporary measures, Shuimu no longer worried about these things.

Recently, the cultivation of Sage Mode has been going smoothly, but there are some situations that make me very embarrassed. The biggest difficulty in cultivating Sage Mode is the induction of natural energy. Shuimu avoided this level by taking shortcuts. It should be said that all humans who cultivate Sage Mode are trying to avoid this problem in various ways.

Since Mizuki initially extracted the senjutsu chakra, his sensitivity to natural energy has become more and more sensitive as his practice progressed. Injecting less chakra from the one-tailed beast, Shukaku, he can also accurately sense natural energy. In theory, as the perception of natural energy increases, he should be able to sense it without the tailed beast chakra, but the effect is much worse. But the weird thing is that as long as there is no tailed beast energy, Mizuki can't sense any natural energy at all, and this incremental process from nothing to something disappears directly. In other words, the amount of tailed beast chakra is related to the effect of practicing chakra, but as long as there is no tailed beast chakra, Mizuki can't sense natural energy at all.

This situation made Shuimu feel helpless. He didn't know if it was his own problem or if it was the same for other people who practiced the Sage Mode. If it was true, it would be troublesome. Power that could not be completely controlled by oneself was always a hidden danger.

"Is there something else I haven't thought of?"

Mizuki had always held a rejection attitude towards the magic of Myoboku Mountain and Ryuchi Cave, but now it seems that in addition to various traps, there are also some very useful means mixed in. It seems that I have to find time to study it carefully. If I have time, I will see if I can talk to Jiraiya. It is not a good thing to work in isolation. A person's energy is always limited.

But at least, the Sage Mode was used, and the activation speed was acceptable, which was much slower than Uzumaki Naruto's Sage Mode that activated in the blink of an eye. But it was much better than Namikaze Mizuki's crappy Sage Technique that had no practical application at all. The degree of completion of Mizuki's Sage Mode was probably not far from Jiraiya's, but in terms of combat power, it might be much worse. Without Jiraiya's powerful Sage Technique, and without the cooperation and help of Shima and Fukasaku, the only advantage was that since he could sense natural energy by himself, coupled with his excellent chakra control, he was much more flexible than Jiraiya, and it was no problem for him to move and perform Sage Techniques. However, Mizuki, who had no Summoning Beast to pass on Sage Techniques, had no idea what Sage Technique he should use. So he had to design a set of Sage Mode combat methods by himself.

At this time, Shuimu had to worry about his popular fire attribute again. The Sage Mode improves the quality of ninjas in an all-round way, which is a direct help to combat effectiveness. In addition, as the perception of natural energy becomes stronger and stronger, the natural energy around the body can be effectively utilized, just like Uzumaki Naruto's tailed beast transformation, the powerful and flexible tailed beast chakra forms a huge claw, which directly attacks the enemy, and its power is also amazing. In fact, natural energy can also do this. Controlling the natural energy within the perception range is a good choice, whether it is to directly help participate in the battle or to greatly improve the power of ordinary ninjutsu.

"I originally just wanted to be an elegant, intelligent, ninjutsu-type ninja who controls seals and barriers to assist in combat, but I didn't expect the reality to be so different. In the past, I was not strong enough and always had to fight in close combat. I didn't expect that now I have a sage mode, and my attack methods have been upgraded. I didn't expect that I would eventually develop into a "dual cultivation of magic and martial arts". It seems that I still need to think of something. I have to study violent and direct methods in the future, such as the fire escape technique that has never hit anyone in the entire Naruto original work - the Great Fireball Technique..."

Although the Sage Mode has slightly deviated from the direction of Mizuki's fighting style, Mizuki feels that the biggest benefit is actually the improvement of his physical condition. With the practice of the Sage Mode, Mizuki's physical condition has gradually improved. Although it cannot directly increase the vitality of cells, the Sage Chakra is very effective in repairing the body and clearing hidden dangers. This effect is actually similar to Tsunade's Yin Seal. Neither can directly increase vitality, but it can reduce consumption and appropriately prolong life. Although the problem has not been completely solved, at least it has given him a lot of time to solve the problem. Being able to do this, Mizuki is temporarily very satisfied.

…

Time passed in Shuimu's regular training rhythm. After another week, the mission notification was finally issued. Shuimu, who was well prepared, set off with great confidence. In the past, he was always trembling with fear, afraid of encountering some big shots that he couldn't deal with and couldn't escape. Now Shuimu is not afraid anymore, at least once the Sage Mode is activated, there are only a few people alive in the entire ninja world who can stop him from escaping. His luck shouldn't be so bad that he always encounters some big shots that he can't deal with.

Mizuki, walking with Yamashiro Aoba, led Hyuga Neji and Aburame Shino, and walked out of the gate of Konoha with a team that was too large for ninjas. After a few days, Mizuki might have to fight with those strong opponents who only existed in his memory before. This time, he had many teammates. Although they all had ulterior motives, at least they were strong. Anyway, he was not their target, so it was best to act according to the situation.

"I didn't expect that after a few months, you would be the captain now." Yamashiro Aoba said to Mizuki with a smile, "When I first heard the mission arrangement, I felt a little bit unbelievable, but when I think about it, it's you, it's actually quite convincing."

"Well, after the character comes back this time, you can't delay the treat you mentioned any longer." Moonlight Gale should be waking up in a few days, but it's hard to say whether he will be able to move freely.

"You haven't forgotten this yet." Yamashiro Aoba said with a wry smile.

"Don't worry, I won't forget."

"Okay, Mizuki." Yamashiro Aoba nodded, then changed the subject, "Is there something wrong with the Sand Ninja team? They seem too strong."

Hearing Moonlight Gale's question, Shuimu made a gesture to silence him, and then said, "Don't say anything more. I will explain it in detail later. There are important arrangements. Now is not the time."

After hearing Mizuki's solemn instructions, Hyuga Neji and Aburame Shino behind him also nodded to show that they understood.