Seeing them scatter and flee, Ino immediately activated her new technique.
The Water Clone, initially identical to Ino, was then infused with Hydrification Chakra and Oil-Infused Chakra in sequence. With her exquisite control over ninja techniques, Ino tightly bound the Hydrification Chakra and Oil-Infused Chakra together. Even with a "Ninja Skill" of 10 points, this final step was barely completed, but fortunately, it succeeded.
Filled with Hydrification Chakra and wrapped in a layer of Oil-Infused Chakra on the outside, Ino's Water Clone appeared chubby, its entire body enlarged by two sizes.
"Hmm, not bad. Art is explosion, charge!"
Ino pulled Kawaragi, who was crouching and covering his head, and swiftly retreated. With Kurenai present, there was no need to summon a Summoning Beast. She made a hand gesture, and Kurenai's Genjutsu enveloped both her and Kawaragi, allowing the three of them to hide in the distance.
Upon receiving the command, the chubby Ino immediately charged towards Suien to explode.
Suien, who was also holding a Water Release Ninja Technique in his hand, was somewhat puzzled by the appearance of the chubby Ino. What was this? A Water Clone Technique? The round, chubby figure of the clone, coupled with its endearing face, gave it a somewhat playful and cute appearance.
Two seconds later, he no longer found it cute. The chubby Ino ran faster and faster, as if inflating, and in the blink of an eye, it grew taller and fatter by two sizes, steam emanating from its entire body.
What exactly was the effect of this ninja technique? He didn't know, but this thing was definitely not meant to be cute!
The Oil-Infused Chakra on the surface of the chubby Ino rapidly heated up due to the high-speed movement, and the Hydrification Chakra inside was vaporized. Its size continued to grow, eventually swelling to a height of five meters.
Realizing something was wrong, Suien immediately formed hand seals.
"Water Release: Water."
Before he could complete the seals, the water vapor inside the chubby Ino had reached its limit. It charged forward and exploded right in front of him! With a deafening "boom," the massive shockwave caused the land of Kirigakure Village to tremble twice. The water vapor from the explosion spread in all directions, houses collapsed, trees were uprooted, and hot oil carrying crimson flames mercilessly covered the entire explosion area.
Suien and two ninjas from Kirigakure Village were instantly blown to pieces. In less than a tenth of a second, their bodies were incinerated by the hot oil, leaving no trace behind. The process of cremation and scattering of ashes was skipped entirely.
The explosion of the Water Clone left Ino, who was hiding in the shadows, feeling weak. She focused her mind and formed hand seals again.
At this moment, as the explosion occurred, a large amount of water vapor rushed into the sky, condensed upon encountering the cold air, and then combined with the dust in the air to form hail. These hailstones still contained Ino's Chakra, and as she formed the seals, the Water Clone, now reduced in size by more than ten times, recondensed.
Then came the process of the chubby Ino running, heating up, exploding, and condensing again.
After successively killing three ninjas from Kirigakure Village, Ino discovered that the Water Clone could fly, and its flying speed was quite fast.
To test the effectiveness of this technique, she deliberately held back, and finally, after three minutes, she killed the last two ninjas from Kirigakure Village.
Seeing the immense destructive power of the explosion, Kurenai was shocked. If she encountered this technique unexpectedly, she would also be blown to pieces.
"Is this the S-rank ninja technique you obtained in Kirigakure Village?"
"Yes, I just learned it, and I'm not very proficient yet," Ino said with a smile, scratching her head. After the explosion subsided, the villagers cautiously peered over, but they didn't see Suien or any Rain Hidden Village ninja—only several craters five to six meters in diameter.
"Hahaha—sorry about that, my bad, my bad! I might have gone a bit overboard and ended up blowing them all to pieces!" Ino laughed, apologizing to Kawaragi in a way that still managed to show off.
This time, not only Kawaragi but even the ninjas from the Hidden Waterfall Village were too stunned to speak. Good heavens, was this really a Genin from the Hidden Leaf Village? It felt like Ino alone could wipe out their entire village. It suddenly made sense why Kakuzu had thrown a shuriken at the First Hokage from hundreds of miles away—that was a wise move! If even the Genin of the Hidden Leaf were this strong, how terrifying must the First Hokage have been?!
Ino didn't even need Kurenai to step in. With just two ninja techniques, she had quelled the rebellion in the Hidden Waterfall Village.
She knew full well that these two techniques—one from the Second Hokage and the other from the Second Mizukage—were among the most advanced in the Shinobi World. But the people of the Hidden Waterfall Village didn't know that. They probably thought these were just standard techniques in the Hidden Leaf. Ino didn't bother explaining. Let them think whatever they wanted.
With the rebellion in the Hidden Waterfall Village smoothly resolved, Ino wasn't particularly interested in Kawaragi's Hero Water. What she cared about was the attitude of the Hidden Waterfall Village toward her. Whether it was the Yamanaka Clan or the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation, those weren't things she could control. If she wanted to make waves in the Shinobi World, going solo wasn't the way to do it.
A ninja village like the Hidden Waterfall, which hid behind a waterfall and rarely ventured out, was a perfect candidate for building a relationship. Establishing a good rapport could lead to more cooperation in the future.
The next day, Kawaragi officially became the leader of the Hidden Waterfall Village in front of everyone. His late father had been good friends with Tsunade, and Kawaragi wanted to maintain a strong personal relationship with Ino.
The principle of early investment was something everyone understood. After some consideration, Kawaragi privately gifted Ino a B-rank Wind Release ninja technique scroll: Wind Release: Pressure Damage, said to be a powerful technique with disaster-level destructive capabilities.
In return, Ino shared some of her insights on Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet with Kawaragi.
It was still too early to say anything definitive. Building a relationship between the two sides would take time. Seeing that Kawaragi was swamped with work, Ino collected the mission completion report and returned to the Hidden Leaf with Kurenai.
Tsunade's whereabouts were unpredictable—often, even she didn't know where she was going. But the Yamanaka Clan's intelligence network was exceptionally strong. After just a quick visit to the Analysis Squad, Ino found Tsunade again in the Land of Hot Springs three days later.
This time, Tsunade wasn't disguising herself as a little girl to deceive anyone. When Ino entered, Tsunade was arm-wrestling a man with dark skin, short light-yellow hair, and an extremely muscular build.
Holy crap, Ino was startled. That's the Fourth Raikage! Two ninjas with Cloud Hidden Village forehead protectors stood in a defensive posture, while Shizune, holding her pet pig Tonton, waved at Ino, signaling her to stand by her side.
Ino quietly stood next to Shizune, watching Tsunade and the Fourth Raikage arm-wrestle.
Both of them were incredibly strong, their chakra visibly radiating outward. As they continued to exert force, it became clear that Tsunade's wrist was gradually overpowering the Fourth Raikage's. If this kept up, victory would undoubtedly be hers.
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and with a resounding "boom," the dust settled to reveal that the Fourth Raikage had managed to twist Tsunade's wrist, winning the bet.
Shizune looked on in disbelief, while Tsunade calmly explained, "This guy suddenly relaxed his strength midway, creating a gap in our hands, and then instantly accelerated, flipping my hand back. That speed was truly impressive."
She turned to the Fourth Raikage and said seriously, "Although you pulled a little trick, you did win. I accept my loss. So, tell me, where is the patient you want me to treat?"