Konoha Notes

Chapter 406 The Trap of Foresight

On Zaoxie Island, two small airships painted in dark gray hovered at a low altitude of more than ten meters above the ground.

Kakuzu and Hidan opened their eyes almost simultaneously.

Hidan was the first to stand up, scratching his silver-gray hair and making a dissatisfied click of his tongue.

“There’s absolutely no sense of experience, Kakuzu,” he yelled, slamming his March Scythe on the ground. “Whether it’s fighting or pain, it’s all meaningless unless you’re personally involved.”

"Stop yelling, or I'll kill you."

Kakuzu walked straight to one of the airships, and the airship's cabin door slid open.

"Huh? How dare you speak to me like that, Kakuzu?"

Hidan shouted, but still followed. As he crossed the rocky beach, he glanced at the distance—Juzo Biwa and Hiruko were still sitting cross-legged in the same spot.

The battle between the two was not over yet, and the Transformation Technique was still in effect.

Hidan pursed his lips, climbed into the cabin, and sat down by the porthole. The airship began to ascend steadily, and the rocky beach gradually shrank in the field of vision, becoming an inconspicuous gray patch on the coastline.

"This time, I must complete the sacrifice to the evil god."

"The people from Kumogakure and Kirigakure are already on their way. There's not much time for you to enjoy yourself." Kakuzu sat down opposite him, arms crossed.

"That depends on which side they choose." Hidan clung to the observation window. "Whether they come to the leader to die, or rush back to Kirigakure to put out the fire."

Through the porthole, the view of the coastline below became clear.

Twelve figures were confronting six human figures.

And among them lay the wreckage of ships scattered across the ground.
-
Jiraiya stood on the beach.

With a heavy heart, he looked at the six figures in front of him. The one in the middle, who was the leader, was one of his former disciples.

"Why, Nagato?"

"You should have already seen what the Joint Affairs Bureau is doing, the path Konoha is advancing, and the consensus on peace reached among the major ninja villages, sitting at the same table to discuss the future."

"Have you... really completely lost your past self, along with Yahiko's wishes?"

Tendou's face remained indifferent: "I saw it, Jiraiya-sensei."

"Therefore, we did not go to the Land of Forest after you extended the invitation by revealing the location of the Five-Tails."

"Instead, I chose this place."

The Heavenly Dao raised its hand and pointed at Han. Han had already entered a state of partial tailed beast transformation, his entire body enveloped in dark red chakra.

"The damage will be minimized if we resolve it here."

"To you, the Tailed Beasts have become a burden, seeds of suspicion and conflict. But in my hands..."

The Heavenly Dao's fingertips slightly tightened.

"They will become the cornerstone. The cornerstone of true and lasting peace."

"You... have you already lost your way back to the right path?" Jiraiya said in a deep voice.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I am on a path that brings me closer to the essence of things."

"What does that road look like?" Jiraiya took a step forward. "Why can't we try to solve it through communication? We already have a platform for dialogue..."

"There's no point in delaying, Jiraiya-sensei."

Heaven interrupted him, calmly stating the facts.

"Over the past month, Kumogakure and Kirigakure have been frequently moving troops at sea under the pretext of fighting against the Land of Snow, thus justifying personnel movements."

"In reality, it's to cover up your intention to set up a multi-layered emergency support network around the Forest Kingdom and this shipping route."

"All your tactical simulations and troop deployments are based on one core premise—you must prioritize ensuring that the defenses of Cloud Hidden and Mist Hidden are not compromised."

"Therefore, even if you know there might be traps on the route to support Kirigakure, you can't avoid them and have no choice but to step in anyway."

“Every optimal choice you make is simply picking the one that looks relatively less bad from a bunch of options full of concerns and compromises.”

"The relative rationality arising from being bound by one's own shackles..."

The Heavenly Path's Reincarnation Eye glowed faintly.

"They are utterly vulnerable before the power of Akatsuki and my divine power."

"and many more--"

Jiraiya wanted to say something more.

But Heaven has already given him no more chances.

"Because you all have spare capacity."

"Konoha dares not send out its entire force, and Kumogakure and Kirigakure dare even less. Deep down, you are afraid that after the elite troops are transferred out, your villages will become the next targets, and you are afraid of losing your current security." "This fear is the most fatal flaw beneath your facade of unity."

The moment the words fell, an invisible pulling force erupted from the palm of the Heavenly Dao.

Myriad phenomena guide the heavens.

Han had already prepared himself for confrontation when the hand of Heaven pointed at him.

But when that invisible force truly arrived, he realized how inadequate his preparations had been.

His body flew forward uncontrollably.

Han's five chakra tails pierced the ground, attempting to immobilize himself.

Sand and dust swirled. The furrows dug by its tail were half a meter deep, yet they still couldn't stop its body from being dragged along.

He opened his mouth, intending to unleash a Tailed Beast Ball during the process.

The Asura Path standing beside the Heavenly Path had its head open like flower petals, revealing the cannon barrel in the middle.

A blue beam of chakra struck Han's chest instantly, causing him to let out a painful groan.

The excruciating pain interrupted Han's barely condensed chakra, his defenses were torn apart, and his body was completely lifted off the ground, accelerating towards the Heavenly Dao like a kite with a broken string.

"Chinese!"

Jiraiya's voice and movements were almost synchronized. He bit his thumb, smeared the blood across his palm, and then slammed it heavily onto the ground.

Spiritual communication!

A huge iron fork was stuck in the sand between Han and Tiandao.

Han's body slammed into the crossbar of the iron fork.

"Sorry... I might be a little clumsy..."

The toad's deep voice rang out as it braced itself against the ground with its feet, taking the brunt of the impact.

The iron fork formed a barrier in front of Han.

The humans and hungry ghosts who followed were blocked on the outside. The long, black staffs in the hands of the two men came to an abrupt end when they were only half a foot away.

Han used the force of the impact to flip over and land on his feet.

The next instant, the black rods in the hands of the Human Path and the Hungry Ghost Path simultaneously pierced into the spot where he had just been standing.

The hungry ghosts drew their black staffs and turned in the direction Han was dodging, while the humans pounced on them.

On the other side, the animal realm formed a hand seal.

A giant bird, a split dog, a rhinoceros, a crab, and a centipede—five summoning beasts appeared out of thin air and pounced on Jiraiya and the ten members of the combined squad behind him who had already formed a defensive formation.

"Tsk! There's really no room for reminiscing, Nagato..." Jiraiya gritted his teeth. Without hesitation, he removed a specially made sealing scroll from his back, flicked his wrist, and the scroll unfolded in front of him.

The middle part is the Chinese character for "person".

Jiraiya placed one hand on it.

A clone of Shujiki with his eyes closed appeared on the beach.

"It's time to wake up, Shuji!" Jiraiya hissed.

The wooden clone opened its eyes.

Almost at the same instant, deep in the sea, inside the submarine, Shuji, who had already completed his transformation into a sage, also opened his eyes.

He saw where he was and sensed where his wooden clone was.

The next instant, he stood beside his clone, facing the several pairs of Rinnegan eyes opposite him.

"Is this all the preparations you've made?"

The Heavenly Dao turned its gaze to the man who had suddenly appeared.

He raised his hands and clasped them together in front of his chest.

"You made the wrong choice."

As soon as he finished speaking, a jet-black sphere appeared between his clasped hands.

The small, jet-black ball slowly detached from his palm and floated upwards.

The sphere rose in an unusually slow trajectory, yet wherever it passed, the air groaned in agony, and the ground began to tremble violently.

Fine sand, pebbles, and even slightly larger seashells and broken pieces of wood, all seemed to be awakened by an invisible force, breaking free from gravity, trembling and suspending themselves, slowly drifting towards the black sphere.

The Earth-Exploding Star appears here.

(End of this chapter)