Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Rasa was anxious and, disregarding the depletion of his chakra, unleashed his power in an attempt to defeat Akimichi Torifu. However, the old man proved to be even more enduring than him.

Even when their chakra was almost depleted, they still couldn't defeat it, and in the end, they could only reluctantly order a retreat.

Seeing the Sand Village ninja army retreat, the Konoha ninja army breathed a sigh of relief.

Akimichi Torifu and the others, without taking a break, gathered together to discuss matters of war.

The Sand Village ninja army cannot retreat like this. They are only going back to rest temporarily. They might come back to attack again tomorrow. They must be prepared.

Just as everyone was discussing, Minato Namikaze suddenly changed his expression and turned to look in one direction.

"Senior Torifu, the Flying Thunder God kunai I gave to Kakashi and the others has been triggered. Something might have happened over there."

He immediately stood up to report. Minato Namikaze knew the three students' personalities well; they wouldn't have triggered the Flying Thunder God Kunai to ask for his help unless they were in dire straits.

Something must have happened over there.

"Minato, go and provide support first. Tsunade, fly over there as soon as possible and make sure they are safe."

Akimichi Torifu's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly told the two of them to hurry over.

Before the words had even finished, Minato Namikaze had already used the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave, while Tsunade directly broke through the wall of the conference room, her chakra wings unfurling as she flew towards the Land of Wind.

Minato Namikaze used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport repeatedly and continuously consumed soldier pills to forcibly restore his chakra.

It was just too far away, and it took more than an hour to get there.

"It can't be used, is it sealed away?"

Upon reaching the nearest Flying Thunder God Technique formation, Minato Namikaze formed hand seals and attempted to teleport there, but failed, suspecting that a sealing technique might be interfering.

Without delay, he used the Instantaneous Movement Technique to continue moving towards the direction he sensed.

After running for half an hour, they finally arrived at a seemingly peaceful sandy area. Looking around, they found no traces, no footprints, no signs of a battle, and not even the smell of blood.

"Down there!"

After sensing again, he looked at the sand beneath his feet and confirmed that the Flying Thunder God Kunai was underground, and very deep down.

After confirming the sensation again, Minato Namikaze suppressed his unease, took a deep breath to refine his chakra, and after a while, he used a kunai to prick his finger, quickly formed hand seals, and finally slammed his hand on the ground.

"Spiritual communication!"

With a muffled thud, a giant, crimson toad appeared, a pipe dangling from its mouth and a short knife at its waist.

"Isn't it Gama Ken?"

Seeing Gamabunta at his feet, Minato Namikaze was slightly disappointed.

Am I not as good as Ken?

Gamabunta rolled his eyes at Minato Namikaze on his head, somewhat displeased.

I'm the boss of the Toad Trio, okay?

"Boss Wentai, you've misunderstood. I summoned you not for battle, but because my student has been buried under this desert, and Ken's shield is more suitable for digging."

Minato Namikaze hurriedly explained that although it wasn't Gamaken, it would do, at least it was big enough.

Unfortunately, he lacked earth-style chakra and earth-style ninjutsu, making it impossible for him to use ninjutsu to quickly dig the people up from below.

"desert?"

Gamabunta then realized he was in a desert. Looking at the soft sand beneath his feet and then at his claws and dagger, he realized he really wasn't suited for this job.

"You should bring Jian Tongling over."

Wen Tai admitted that he was not as good as Jian in this respect. This was not land, but desert. It was very difficult to dig a hole in the desert. It had to be very big.

"But I'm out of chakra, and I don't know how long Kakashi and the others can hold out down there."

Minato Namikaze smiled wryly, his heart filled with anxiety.

"What a tragedy!"

I made a comment: Gamabunta could only dig in the sand with his claws and scoop the sand out far away so it wouldn't roll back down later.

The rapid digging resulted in a large pit with a diameter of 200 meters and a depth of 100 meters within half an hour, but no one was found.

Are you sure you're down here?

Looking at the yellow sand rolling down around him again, Wen Tai wondered just how deep he was buried.

"It's down there, still very deep."

Minato Namikaze grew increasingly anxious; the longer it went on, the less likely Kakashi and the others would survive.

"Brother Bunta, jump up there, Tsunade-senpai should be here soon."

Seeing that digging down like this was not practical, they could only send Bunta up first to make a signpost to guide Tsunade-senpai over.

"Let that violent woman handle this."

Bunta gave up, put the pipe in his mouth, and jumped out of the pit.

After getting up there, I looked around and jumped to the top of a sand dune in the distance.

His size and color were indeed very eye-catching. Before long, Xiao Hei flew over, and the three groups of Ino-Shika-Cho ninjas immediately jumped down. Not long after, Tsunade also came over.

"They can all fly now."

Looking at Tsunade's chakra wings, Tsunade was a little confused. When did this violent woman become capable of this?

"there!"

Although surprised, Bunta didn't forget his job and pointed to the big pit with his hand.

"Tsunade-senpai, they're at the bottom of this pit; we can't dig them out."

Seeing Tsunade fly over, Minato Namikaze, who had been staying at the bottom of the pit, hurriedly spoke to guide her, and the Ino-Shika-Cho ninjas were also very anxious.

Without saying much, Tsunade landed and used Earth Release ninjutsu to quickly dive into the sand. Before long, the sand at the bottom of the pit rose up, and a huge object was slowly lifted up.

It was a toppled pyramid. Minato Namikaze was unfamiliar with it, but Tsunade was very familiar with it. She had been sealed with it by that traitor during their last duel.

They used earth magic to lift the pyramid up, and then turned it right side up.

"The mountain family, try to contact them using spiritual magic."

Suppressing her anxiety, Tsunade gestured for the three Yamanaka clan ninjas to come over.

Three mountain ninjas rushed forward to perform a secret technique, but soon frowned.

"No, there's a seal on it; our chakra can't get in."

"Boss Wentai!"

Minato Namikaze immediately sought help from Gamabunta, who had jumped over. Since they couldn't notify the people inside to break the seal, they had no choice but to forcefully break it from the outside.

"This seems to be the chakra of a tailed beast."

Gamabunta stared at the pyramid for a while, then slowly gathered his strength before drawing his short sword and slashing at the connection point of the incantation.

"Clang!"

With a loud bang, the huge short sword was sent flying, but the seal remained intact.

Over the past six months, Tamura Hao has become increasingly proficient in using the power of the four tailed beasts and has also developed it in depth. With the added enhancement of Earth Release Chakra Nature Transformation, the sealing pyramid is now much stronger than before and is not so easy to break.

On the other side, Tsunade took out the First Generation Greatsword and slowly gathered her strength. Her body turned black as she activated Steel Release, and her powerful chakra converged towards the Greatsword.

"break!"

He swung his sword down, striking the connection point of the incantation with tremendous force. The massive blade cleaved in nearly halfway, finally severing the connection point.

As the connection point was severed, the sealing runes on the pyramid slowly dissipated, and the pyramid itself began to crumble from the top, with strands of yellow sand falling down.

Not long afterward, I saw a head.

"It's Ding."

Minato Namikaze immediately recognized it as Choza and rushed over to check on him. He found that Choza still had a faint heartbeat and breathed a sigh of relief.

Then heads began to appear, followed by bodies, and the expressions on everyone's faces gradually changed.

This seal perfectly preserved the scene at that time, allowing a clear view of the general situation of the confrontation. The raiding team did indeed encounter an accident and engage in combat.

However, the people he fought were dressed in the uniforms of the Dark Division, and some even had Dark Division tattoos on their bodies.

Soon, yellow sand soaked in blood appeared, its glaring color causing everyone's expression to change drastically, and Tsunade's body trembled uncontrollably.

Minato Namikaze stared intently at the white-haired ape. He couldn't be mistaken; it was none other than the Third Hokage's summoning beast, Enma.

But why is the Ape Demon here?

Moreover, it seems they are still fighting with Hao. Could it be that the Third Generation ordered them to be intercepted and killed?

How is that possible?

There's no reason for the third generation to do this.

Despite their shock, everyone immediately stepped forward and carefully dug through the yellow sand. Tsunade was the first to come to the traitor's side and reached out to dig through the sand stained with blood.

As the pyramids collapsed completely, most of the people's bodies were exposed, each in a different posture, but none of them were in good condition. In particular, the yellow sand around Tamura Hao was stained red with blood, and there was a large hole in his chest and abdomen, which was empty inside, indicating that the internal organs of that part were gone.

Not far away, you could even see some bits of flesh mixed with bloody sand, which looked like liver.

It was forcibly pulled out and then crushed.

Judging from the ape demon's bloodstained hand, it's quite obvious who did it.

Seeing her disciple's miserable state, Tsunade's face turned ashen, and two lines of tears streamed down her face.

Why?

Why is it like this again?

Why!

Although the nine Ino-Shika-Cho ninjas were furious, they still rushed forward to check immediately, and the results were relatively pleasing.

"Lady Tsunade, Xiao Hao's spirit is still fluctuating; he is not dead yet."

A mountain ninja exclaimed in surprise, his success in casting a spell on Hao proved that the spiritual space was still intact, a sign that he was still alive.

The dead have no spiritual space.

"let me!"

Upon hearing that the traitor was still alive, Tsunade abruptly raised her head, quickly examined him, and used medical ninjutsu to seal the blood vessels in the wound.

He even reached his palm directly into the hole, pierced the diaphragm, grabbed the heart and squeezed it, making the blood inside flow again.

He also performed artificial respiration from time to time, and it took quite a while for his heartbeat and breathing to barely recover.

Seeing that Tamura Hiroshi's breathing had returned to normal, Namikaze Minato, who was standing nearby, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although we don't know what happened here, the fact that Tamura Hiroshi survived means there's still a chance for things to turn around; otherwise, things would really be in trouble.

"Take everyone with you on the Ninja Hawk and return as soon as possible."

Seeing that the traitor's breathing and heartbeat had barely returned, Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief and immediately gave the order.

"Lady Tsunade, this girl is still experiencing mental fluctuations, and there is a strong life force within her body sustaining her life."

At that moment, a mountain ninja shouted, and over there was Nohara Rin, a disciple whom Namikaze Minato did not want to face.

I felt disheartened when I saw the disciple's condition after he was cut in half at the waist; there was no way he could have survived such an injury.

But upon hearing that the disciple still had a chance of survival, he was both surprised and delighted.

"Lin!"

He rushed over and carried the disciple to Tsunade.

"Lady Tsunade, please save Rin!"

"Bring over the other half of her body."

After checking the girl's physical condition, Tsunade glared at the unconscious traitor and finally understood why the brat had almost collapsed.

Logically, with its vitality, it should have been able to survive, but it almost died, its breathing and heartbeat stopped.

Now she understood; it was clearly this brat who had infused everyone with his own life force to prolong their lives, which was why so many people had managed to hold on until now.

However, this also put the kid in a dangerous situation, and he almost died.

Minato Namikaze hurriedly dug Rin Nohara's other half out of the sand and brought it to her, anxiously awaiting Tsunade's judgment.

"Fortunately, the girl's body is being nourished by life force, and her cells are still very fresh. She can be reattached, but her spinal cord nerves are difficult to recover from, and she may be paralyzed from the waist down."

Upon examining the girl's other half, they discovered a rich life force sustaining her vitality, suggesting a possibility of reconnecting her to her original body.

"As long as I can stay alive, that's all that matters."

Minato Namikaze breathed a sigh of relief; he had been genuinely worried that the student might die.

"Lady Tsunade, we have already learned from our young clan leader's memories that only these people came out of the Sand Village camp; everyone else has perished."

A mountain ninja came over and said that these were all the people left. After glancing at Minato Namikaze, he said angrily, "It was the Third Hokage's son, Shinnosuke Sarutobi, who intercepted the young clan leader and his group. They first pretended to deceive and approached them, and then suddenly attacked. The two who grabbed Xiao Hao's hands were traitors they had arranged beforehand. They joined forces to severely injure Xiao Hao."

Xiao Hao unleashed the power of his One-Tailed Beast at the last moment to seal everyone away, which is how he managed to hold on until now.

Unfortunately, they couldn't seal Sarutobi Shinnosuke away. In the end, it was probably him who used Earth Release ninjutsu to sink Xiao Hao and the others deep into the desert.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi!"

Tsunade gritted her teeth in hatred as her chakra erupted violently.

It really is that old codger!

Minato Namikaze's face was also grim. It wasn't just the Third Hokage's son who did this, but also his own two disciples.

Judging from that posture, it must have been Rin who pushed Kakashi away at the last moment; otherwise, Kakashi would have been cut in half at the waist as well.

Is it because of what happened with Shiroya-senpai?

"Take them back for treatment first."

After a while, Tsunade finally suppressed the resentment and killing intent in her heart, picked up her disciple, and leaped onto the back of the ninja hawk beside her.

Everyone led their men up and searched the sand thoroughly, taking everything they could, even the sand stained with blood.

The ninja world is full of strange and wonderful ninjutsu and secret techniques. You absolutely cannot leave anything behind, otherwise who knows if someone will use it against you.

The Ninja Hawk took flight, and Tsunade created numerous shadow clones to maintain everyone's physical condition, especially those who were seriously injured.

The main body was responsible for taking care of that traitor, while also nurturing the collected liver fragments with Yang Release chakra.

The traitor's liver had already been completely removed and crushed. Transplanting it from someone else was not safe enough, as it could easily cause rejection. The best approach was to use the original liver cells to cultivate a new liver.

However, once these liver fragments are removed from the body, they lose the nourishment of life force, and the cells on the outside have already died.

Now we can only pray that the cells at the core of these fragments are still alive, otherwise it will be troublesome.

Xiao Hei was very fast. After flying back to Kikyo Castle, Tsunade and the others went to the laboratory, which was also Tsunade's medical room, as soon as possible. It had the most complete equipment and medicines.

Upon receiving the notification, Akimichi Torifu arrived immediately, listened to what had happened, and then fell silent.

He didn't know if those little guys were involved in the scheme, but his old friend's son was definitely up to the task, and his old friend's spirit beast was also involved.

The nature of the matter has changed. Even if the old man himself was unaware, it still represented the will of the Sarutobi family, and there was no difference between the two.

"I'm sorry, Senior Qu Feng, I inquired about Xiao Hao's secret technique before."

Minato Namikaze said apologetically, "Judging from the fighting stance before, it's clear that Xiao Hao was the opponent's main target."

Perhaps it was Xiao Hao's immense potential that made those people uneasy, which led them to take such drastic measures.

If it weren't for the Flying Thunder God Kunai's ability to sense their location beforehand, these people would probably all be dead.

"It's not really your business. There are traitors within our Ino-Shika-Cho team too."

Akimichi Torifu shook his head slightly, then looked up at the young man in front of him.

He sighed and said, "We old folks should apologize. We created the darkness in the village, and now that darkness is getting out of control, it's too difficult to change. You'll definitely face a lot of pressure in the future."

Go back and think carefully about how you would change the village's current situation if you became Hokage, and prevent this from happening again.

"Come find me when you've made up your mind. I will guide the Pig, Deer, and Butterfly clans to fully support you, but you must hurry, while I'm still alive. Otherwise, without me to keep things under control, the resentment of those people in the clans will become uncontrollable."

In the end, there was a hint of determination in his voice. Akimichi Torifu was truly enraged this time, and he was determined to do whatever it took to straighten out the village, otherwise he would have no face to meet his two teachers after he died.

As for his support for Minato Namikaze, he was serious, but he didn't think Minato could come up with a way to change the village, or that he couldn't, because it was a dead end.

After a year of getting to know him, he could tell that this young man was a good kid, very respectful of his teachers, and with his relationship with Jiraiya, it was impossible for him to lay a hand on Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.

If you can't bring yourself to kill, the village's problems will remain unresolved.

They'll have to handle it then.

"Thank you for your support, Senior Tokifumi. I will think about it carefully."

Minato Namikaze was deeply moved, seeing the sincerity and determination in his senior; he truly wanted to support him.

However, they needed to come up with a way to solve the darkness within the village, and just thinking about it gave Minato Namikaze a headache.

"Presume those two children are dead."

Akimichi Torifu spoke of Minato Namikaze's two disciples, saying they were both excellent, especially Kakashi Hatake, who was no less talented than White Fang back then, and perhaps even more so.

He was even thinking about finding a good girl from the mountains or the Nara family to settle down with, so that the boy could marry into the family.

As for why they didn't search within the Akimichi clan, that would be quite difficult.

"I'll be entrusting Rin and Kakashi to your care from now on."

Minato Namikaze's grateful thanks are understandable.

Lin is already partially disabled and will likely spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

Kakashi already had some mental issues because of what happened with White Fang back then. Now that he's faced this situation again, regardless of his own mental state, those people's murderous intent towards him will inevitably be even stronger.

Sending the two back to the village is not a good idea; staying here is the best option.

(End of this chapter)