Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 152 We, the Village of Konoha, are the Strongest; We Can Do What We Want (Updated, 2/3)

Xia Zuo retreated with the Konoha ninja and two toads.

Once they were a safe distance away, making sure the Akatsuki wouldn't hear them, Shima Sage finally spoke, asking, "Fifth Hokage, you clearly had the upper hand in your battle against the Akatsuki leader, so why did you voluntarily stop fighting?"

Upon hearing that the toad seemed to be questioning the Hokage, Jiraiya felt embarrassed, Kakashi Hatake frowned, and Shisui Uchiha's eyes instantly turned red.

In the battle just now, the power and bizarre skills displayed by the Six Paths of Pain filled them with deep fear.

In particular, the repulsive and attractive forces of the Heavenly Dao are so powerful that they can completely erode a person's confidence to resist.

However, the Fifth Hokage easily held off six such powerful enemies and an S-rank rogue ninja from Kirigakure.

Not only can they easily deal with all kinds of powerful and bizarre ninjutsu, but they can also suppress and force the Akatsuki organization to give up the fight.

The Fifth Hokage is so reliable. How many years has it been since the Konoha ninjas have experienced being protected by the Hokage?

Even Jiraiya, who had been brainwashed by Mount Myōboku, underwent a huge change in attitude after witnessing the Fifth Hokage's power and experiencing the feeling of being protected by the Hokage.

Kakashi Hata, who already admired Xia Zuo, and Uchiha Shionaga, who was Xia Zuo's mortal enemy, will be shocked.

Without a doubt, Kakashi had developed a cult of worship for Shaza, while Shisui went straight to becoming a fanatical follower of Shaza.

If Xia Zuo hadn't indicated that everything was alright, Uchiha Shisui might have used a genjutsu on Shima Sage to teach him that he had to respect the Fifth Hokage.

Xia Zuo chuckled: "I have my reasons for pausing the battle, but it involves the secrets of Konoha Village, so it's not convenient to tell Mount Myōboku."

"Master Shima, surely Mount Myōboku won't hold a grudge against Konoha or me over such a small matter?"

When Shima and Fukasaku were stared at by Natsusa's clear and kind eyes, they felt a chill run through their bodies, even more terrified than when they were stared at by the malevolent eyes of the giant serpent in Ryuchi Cave.

The two toads had no idea why they felt this way, but that didn't stop them from offering explanations in unison.

"No, no! That's impossible!"

"How could such a trivial matter affect the relationship between Konoha and Mount Myōboku?"

"You're right, aren't you, old man!"

"Yes, yes, yes, the old woman is absolutely right."

"Mount Myoboku also has its own secrets; how could we possibly become enemies because of this?"

The two toad sages grew increasingly flustered as they talked, and hastily made an excuse to end the communication and return to Mount Myōboku.

As soon as they returned to Mount Myōboku, they rushed to the cave shrine and woke up the Great Toad Sage.

"Great Immortal, something terrible has happened!"

Leaving aside whether the Great Toad Sage, after hearing about Xia Zuo's Wood Release and the specific details of Pain's Rinnegan, and feeling its unparalleled power, might have seen a drastically changed future in his dreams.

After the two toad sages left, Xia Zuo, with great trust in Jiraiya, began to explain his reasons for choosing to cease hostilities.

Of course, he was using an excuse, not a real reason: "The reason I chose to stop when I had the upper hand was because the opponent's eldest son still had cards up his sleeve, and if we continued, we would lose control of the intensity."

Jiraiya, deeply concerned, eagerly asked, "Hokage-sama, what other trump cards does Nagato have up his sleeve?"

Xia Zuo continued to fabricate, "I don't know the specifics, but it was the power that could severely injure Shimura Danzo and Hanzo, and wipe out the entire Root ninja and Amegakure ninja, when Nagato was young and seriously injured."

"It was also a few years ago that the power silently crushed the demigod Hanzo into dust."

"Lord Jiraiya, you were once defeated by Hanzo. Do you think you can defeat him now?"

Jiraiya recalled for a while, and then thought for a few more minutes before answering, "Compared to the Second Shinobi World War, I am now ten times stronger, and I believe I can defeat Hanzo from back then."

"If it were a few years ago, when Hanzo had aged considerably, then we would be even more confident."

Xia Zuo asked again, "Are you confident you can kill him?"

Jiraiya shook his head: "Hanzo is a ninja who came from a small village like Amegakure. In the process of rising to prominence, he encountered far more battles than we Konoha ninjas."

"His ability to survive is something I can't match at all. I can defeat him, but I can't kill him unless he chooses to fight me head-on."

Xia Zuo said, "I am confident that I can kill Hanzo with Wood Release, but Wood Release must be extended to a range of several thousand kilometers to trap Hanzo in the forest and guarantee his death."

"But when Nagato killed Hanzo, he completely controlled the intelligence, so he must not have caused too much of a stir."

"Therefore, Nagato must be holding a powerful trump card that exceeds my current ability to deal with it."

"Perhaps it's not a fatal attack for me, but what about for you? What about for Konoha Village?"

"I am the Fifth Hokage of Konoha. My responsibility is to protect the ninja of Konoha and the village, not to fight for my own reputation."

"Judging from the battle just now, Nagato couldn't stop me from destroying Amegakure, and I couldn't stop Nagato from destroying Konoha. We've reached a balance of power, so there's no question of victory or defeat."

"Konoha Village is in the ninja world, in the Land of Fire, unlike Mount Myōboku which is hidden in a sacred place that no one can reach. I cannot pursue victory without any scruples like the Toad Sage."

Kakashi Hatake took a deep breath: "You did the right thing, Hokage-sama!"

"Your choice is the choice the Hokage should make; those who oppose you will inevitably become enemies of the Leaf Village!"

Jiraiya nodded along with Uchiha Shisui, indicating that he agreed with Kakashi's words.

Xia Zuo smiled with satisfaction; he had achieved his biggest goal for this trip.

Since changing his mind about sending Jiraiya to his death, Xia Zuo's purpose in exploring Amegakure has changed.

He wanted to create an enemy for Konoha Village.

He wanted to make the Konoha ninja feel the pressure of a terrifying enemy, forcing them to unite closely around him.

He intends to use the threat of the enemy to successfully purge the Sarutobi, Mitomon, and Utatane clans and complete the integration of the village.

He wants to rebuild the long-divided Konoha Village into a unified whole, just like during the Second Hokage's era.

In this process, everything Xia Zuo does is a redistribution of interests. Inevitably, some people will suffer losses, while others will gain considerable benefits.

As the old saying goes, cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

Those ninjas whose interests were harmed were bound to harbor resentment and want to cause trouble, and would become hostile towards the Hokage and those who benefited from the situation.

This is the new rift in Konoha Village, a psychological rift based on self-interest.

If left unchecked, this hostility will spread and grow, constantly widening the rift in people's hearts, and one day Konoha Village will inevitably erupt into civil war.

The best way to eliminate psychological division is to find a powerful and terrifying enemy, avoid conflicting interests, stand back to back, and deal with the imminent crisis.

Uchiha Shisui naturally couldn't think that far ahead. At this moment, all he could think about was Uchiha Itachi. He couldn't help but blame himself, saying, "It's all my fault. I told Uchiha Itachi about the divine artifacts, which led him to find those two artifacts."

"If it weren't for the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror, I would definitely have been able to defeat Uchiha Itachi today."

"If the Totsuka Blade were in my hands, I could work with the Hokage to seal Nagato directly, and then I wouldn't have to worry about anything."

"The Hokage doesn't need to force himself to let the enemy go; Kakashi-senpai could have delivered the final blow."

Xia Zuo was speechless at Uchiha Shisui's self-delusion. To prevent the kid from going too far with his self-delusion, he could only advise, "Shisui, this is not your fault."

"When you told Itachi about Uchiha, he wasn't yet a rogue ninja of Konoha and the Uchiha clan."

"And who would have thought that, despite the fact that no Uchiha ninja from previous generations could find it, and that information about the divine weapon was only considered a legend, it was found by Itachi Uchiha in just three years."

Uchiha Shisui sighed again: "Yes, I never expected this."

"I didn't expect his strength to improve so quickly, and I couldn't have imagined that Itachi Uchiha would master so many secret techniques and forbidden techniques. Many of them I had never seen before, but they are definitely secret techniques lost by the Uchiha clan."

Xia Zuo said, "This means that there is another Uchiha behind Uchiha Itachi, perhaps the one-eyed Mangekyou Sharingan who appeared in the village on the night of the Nine-Tails' attack and the night of the massacre."

"And this Mangekyou Sharingan Uchiha may be related to the previous Uchiha clan leader, Uchiha Madara, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to obtain so many of the Uchiha clan's lost secret techniques."

Uchiha Shisui pondered, "The Hokage is right, that's very likely it!"

"That makes it even more of a pity. If I could capture Itachi today, I could not only deal with this rogue ninja, but also retrieve the clan's secret technique—killing two birds with one stone!"

Seeing Shisui's frustrated expression, Xia Zuo comforted him, "Don't regret it so much, Shisui. Itachi Uchiha's time to die hasn't come yet."

Uchiha Shisui snorted coldly: "I will find a way to seal the divine artifact. Next time I encounter Uchiha Itachi, I will definitely not let him get away."

Xia Zuo and the Konoha ninja had the upper hand in the battle, so they were able to relax and happily exchange various questions and opinions after they left.

But the Akatsuki ninjas couldn't do that.

The Akatsuki ninjas breathed a sigh of relief after returning to their boss's back.

Pain Deva Path was able to destroy a forest of giant trees within a radius of 1300 meters with his Super Shinra Tensei, but other ninjas could not do the same. They were all trapped in the forest and suffered from the harassment of tree trunks, branches, and roots.

For example, Kisame Hoshigaki, who had just broken free from the ice, was using [Water Release: Great Explosive Water Wave].

At that moment, he was ambushed by tree roots and dragged into the floodwaters, whereupon he was completely frozen beneath the ice field created by his ice escape technique.

While Itachi Uchiha did not lose on the field, the pressure he endured far exceeded that of Shisui, resulting in severe damage to his eyesight once again.

It was because Susanoo was in a wood-elemental forest that countless giant trees, like spears, constantly pierced the lower half of the red Susanoo's body.

Not only did it distract Itachi Uchiha, but it also rapidly depleted Itachi's chakra and eye power.

Kakuzu didn't suffer a major loss in the Wood Release forest. His two hearts were destroyed by a lightning storm when he first met Kakashi, and then Kakashi targeted and pierced through his other two hearts. He was almost killed by Kakashi.

The Akatsuki members all thought they were very strong, but they were thoroughly bullied by the Fifth Hokage, and were naturally overwhelmed by frustration and defeat.

They were all depressed and didn't want to talk.

Only Konan didn't take it seriously. However, the final conversation between Xia Zuo and Tendou Pain made Konan realize something was amiss.

After the Konoha ninjas left, Konan immediately took flight and headed towards the secret room where Nagato was hiding.

When she saw the door to the secret room open, her heart skipped a beat, and she almost cried out in surprise.

Fortunately, Nagato was unharmed, which put Konan's mind at ease.

Back in Amegakure, Konan finally spoke, asking, "Nagato, our final weapon plan has been leaked. Should we continue?"

Nagato replied, "The plan will continue!"

"Neither Orochimaru nor Jiraiya knew the full extent of our plans, so Konoha Village also didn't know what we were up to."

"For now, we'll just go around Konoha Village."

Konan shook her head and said, "Nagato, the Nine-Tails is in Konoha Village. The Final Weapon Project needs to collect the Tailed Beasts, so it can't bypass Konoha Village."

Nagato said, "If we can't get around it, then let's make the Nine-Tails of Konoha our last target. We'll gather all the Akatsuki's forces and launch a surprise attack on Konoha."

"Attack quickly, advance quickly, and retreat rapidly, without giving the Fifth Hokage a chance to stop us."

"Once the final weapon is completed, no one in the ninja world will be able to defy the trend of peace, and the Fifth Hokage will have to bow down to our Akatsuki organization."

Shortly after Xia Zuo returned to Konoha, Orochimaru also returned from Kirigakure in the Land of Water.

Besides intelligence, he also brought back a beautiful little girl.

Tsunade liked the pretty child very much and asked Orochimaru where he had been kidnapped from.

Orochimaru replied, "Yukimaru is not a girl; he is a descendant of the Yuki clan of Kirigakure."

"The boy from this ninja clan has a naturally feminine appearance and is more beautiful than most girls."

"What's even more interesting is that the more handsome a boy is, the more likely he is to awaken the Ice Release bloodline limit. After I discovered Yukimaru, I thought that I could add a new bloodline limit to Konoha Village, so I brought him back."

He looked at Xia Zuo and asked, "Fifth Hokage, won't this cause dissatisfaction in Kirigakure?"

Xia Zuo didn't care about this and said boldly, "Don't worry about what Kirigakure thinks. Konoha is the strongest. We can do whatever we want. Even if the Mizukage is unhappy, he has to keep quiet."

"Yukimaru has joined Konoha Village. His specific food, lodging and living arrangements will be handled by Lord Orochimaru."

Orochimaru nodded in satisfaction, indicating that there were no problems.

Xia Zuo asked, "What's the situation in Kirigakure? How are the Fourth Mizukage and Master Yuan doing?"

Orochimaru replied, "The Hidden Mist Village is in even greater chaos now, and the Fourth Mizukage has completely gone mad."

"Who would have thought that he would actually launch a 'hunt for bloodline limits' operation, deliberately eliminating the bloodline limit inheritors of Kirigakure and the Land of Water?"

"This is going to completely destroy Kirigakure."

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