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

Chapter 227 Uchiha Itachi, Protected by the Ninja World

The burning through its stomach caused the giant toad Iwajuku immense pain. The intense agony caused it to voluntarily discontinue its spiritual communication and return its stomach to Mount Myōboku ahead of schedule.

Jiraiya was genuinely shocked to see that the giant toad's stomach had been burned through.

He then realized that he had been careless. Seeing how easily the little girl Uchiha Izumi dealt with the black fire, he thought that he could handle everything by summoning the giant rock toad.

Luckily, the giant toad took the hit for him, otherwise he could have really died.

As for the injury of the giant toad, Jiraiya was not worried at all.

The hole burned through by the black fire was only 2 to 3 meters in size. For a toad with a body as large as a mountain, this wound was not even a fraction of the size of the stomach ulcer it had caused by its own overeating and drinking.

Moreover, although it appears to be burned through, the giant toad's stomach that Jiraiya summoned was not just a small part, but also only a small part in thickness.

In other words, the stomach wall of the giant toad was burned through, but it was only one-twentieth of the total thickness; at most, it was just gastric mucosal damage.

Jiraiya scratched his head: "Oh dear, this kid is so strong, he's not easy to deal with."

He said to Uchiha Izumi, "Little girl, there are too many people here. Many of my ninjutsu are not suitable for use here. I can only join forces with you to fight him."

9

Uchiha Izumi nodded heavily. She wasn't that idiot Uchiha Sasuke. Being able to team up with Jiraiya to kill Uchiha Itachi would only make her feel happy.

If Xia Zuo hadn't wanted to use Uchiha Itachi as a whetstone for her, Uchiha Izumi would definitely have dragged her fiancé along to kill Uchiha Itachi.

In fact, Xia Zuo also wanted to die with his wife, Uchiha Itachi, but after several attempts, he realized that Uchiha Ryo probably wouldn't die by his hand.

Five years ago, Xia Zuo's strength was not strong enough to be 100% certain that he would still be able to see Uchiha Itachi's appearance when he crushed him.

He realized something was wrong then. His attacks, which he had clearly aimed at, would deviate due to various unexpected events, and he could not kill Uchiha Itachi no matter what.

Finally, Xia Zuo unleashed his ultimate move, sparing no expense and consuming a hundred times the chakra, to wrap Uchiha Itachi in layers of tree roots and then slowly strangle him.

In this seemingly inescapable situation, only Itachi Uchiha's left hand remained intact.

Xia Zuo still can't understand how Uchiha Itachi escaped from that airtight wooden ball. Surely he didn't sacrifice his left hand to save his life?

After Xia Zuo completed his bloodline limit ring and his strength surged to above the Kage level, and he began to touch the Six Paths level tail, he could no longer see Uchiha Itachi's whereabouts.

For two whole years, tens of thousands of ninjas in the entire Hidden Leaf Village could not get a single piece of news about Itachi Uchiha, as if he had evaporated from the ninja world.

At this point, Xia Zuo had figured it out a bit. Uchiha Itachi's attitude was definitely that of a favorite son of the Heavenly Dao.

Aside from Sasuke Uchiha, who was destined to die at the hands of the man he wanted to die, no one could possibly kill Itachi Uchiha.

Anyone whose strength is comparable to Itachi Uchiha's will be crushed by his unreasonable fighting talent.

Anyone slightly stronger than him will be crushed by the trump card bestowed upon him by Heaven.

Anyone much stronger than him will encounter various unexpected events that lead to failure.

With a powerful being like Xia Zuo who could absolutely crush Uchiha Itachi, there's no way you'd see Uchiha Itachi's shadow.

Having figured this out, Xia Zuo had no choice but to give up.

There was nothing he could do; he couldn't even touch a feather of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, let alone the lofty Heavenly Dao.

No matter how ambitious he is, or how powerful his skills are, he can't defy fate now.

Didn't you see how well the Heavenly Tribulation Xia Zuo was manipulated by the Heavenly Dao? He had clearly cultivated the Path of Ruthlessness, yet the Heavenly Dao tricked him into undergoing tribulation in the mortal world using the strongest succubus in China, and he did it willingly.

Well, such a calamity was actually a great opportunity. Not only did Xia Zuo enjoy it, but his overall condition also improved visibly, and he completely got rid of the negative effects of the Path of Ruthlessness.

Actually, as the Hokage, Natsuki also wanted to meet the old man.

In short, he is now certain that he cannot see Itachi Uchiha, and can only give up the idea of ​​killing him with his own hands.

The day after Xia Zuo chose to give up, a report about Itachi Uchiha's whereabouts appeared before him, which made him so angry that he left his body in a rage.

Heaven's justice is too cruel!

However, Xia Zuo dared not change his mind, lest Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Izumi be affected and he would not be able to see Uchiha Itachi.

If we can see it, we'll find a way.

Using the pretext of training Uchiha Izumi, Xia Zuo relentlessly trained Izumi and Sasuke, doing everything he could to improve their strength.

He even risked having Izumi Uchiha challenge the Fourth Kazekage alone to increase her confidence and experience.

Xia Zuo wants to try to bypass the blessing of the Heavenly Path and kill Uchiha Itachi through Uchiha Izumi's hands. If that still doesn't work, then he can only place his hopes on Uchiha Sasuke.

When Izumi Uchiha and Jiraiya joined forces to attack Itachi Uchiha, the situation in the battle was completely reversed, and Itachi was soon in grave danger.

Xia Zuo also focused all his attention on this, even ignoring the fact that his clone was being tortured by Orochimaru and the Fourth Kazekage.

Itachi Uchiha was very strong, and he had great confidence in himself.

But everything has its limits. When he faced two Kage-level ninjas, Uchiha Izumi and Jiraiya, he had no way to resist anymore.

Jiraiya is 50 years old this year. Because he has mastered Sage Mode, he has a longer lifespan than normal ninjas. He is currently at the peak of his strength, with no flaws in either chakra reserves or combat experience.

Even if he were to fight Itachi Uchiha alone, his victory would be a foregone conclusion.

Even if Itachi Uchiha activated Susanoo and took out divine weapons such as the Totsuka Blade, he was still no match for the Toad Sage. His best result was that he died in the siege of the four toads while listening to the song of "Toad's Song".

Of course, given Uchiha Chu's temperament, he would never fight Jiraiya to the bitter end; he would definitely choose to retreat when the situation turned unfavorable.

Jiraiya's strength was very comprehensive and balanced, which also meant that his tracking and control were not outstanding enough, so he was unable to restrain Uchiha Itachi or kill him on the spot.

Fortunately, with the assistance of Uchiha Izumi, the girl, in her Swift Release state, moved with ghostly speed, intercepting whatever Uchiha Itachi did.

Uchiha Itachi finally frowned. He smelled a strong scent of death, which jolted his drowsy mind awake.

[Damn it, I already knew it was a trap, why did I fight Uchiha Izumi for so long?]

Once he regained his senses, Itachi Uchiha chose to run away without hesitation.

He's no match for that bastard who calls himself Uchiha Madara. That guy can just open the Spiral Gate and slip into the Kamui dimension on the other side, and nobody can do anything about him.

On the contrary, Itachi Uchiha himself, faced with such an unfavorable situation, could only rely on his own two legs to escape.

This is Konoha Village, with over 20,000 Konoha ninja. Itachi Uchiha was absolutely certain that he could not escape Konoha Village.

Itachi Uchiha's transformation was too sudden.

Just a second ago, he was fighting Jiraiya with red eyes, tears streaming down his face, and activated Susanoo to repel Jiraiya and trap Uchiha Izumi in her Swift Release state.

The next second, Itachi Uchiha turned and ran away without hesitation or looking back.

Jiraiya and Izumi Uchiha were both stunned, staring blankly as Itachi Uchiha disappeared before their eyes.

Xia Zuo frowned deeply. Uchiha Itachi was indeed the child of heaven. He had only slightly relaxed his control over his thoughts, and the thought of killing Itachi had just crossed his mind, yet Itachi had acted in a way that was completely inconsistent with his own personality.

It's perfectly normal for him to get emotional upon seeing Uchiha Izumi and be unable to control his urge to defeat her.

The Uchiha clan massacre five years ago was Itachi Uchiha's biggest regret, especially since he killed his own parents and murdered high-ranking Uchiha members and Jonin in the security headquarters building, yet failed to complete the Uchiha clan's cleansing plan.

Of the Uchiha who died, nine out of ten were his closest blood relatives.

Those Uchiha who didn't die were all acquaintances of his, and many didn't even know him.

For Itachi Uchiha, who believed that the Uchiha clan had been corrupted and needed to be thoroughly cleansed except for Sasuke, this was completely the opposite.

The ones who deserved to die didn't, but all the "collateral" losses that had to be paid resulted in their deaths.

It's impossible that Itachi Uchiha didn't go insane.

All of this became Itachi Uchiha's obsession, and his obsession with killing the entire Uchiha clan was then focused on Izumi Uchiha, the girl he thought he loved most.

Therefore, the moment Itachi saw Izumi Uchiha, his mind was consumed by obsession, and he engaged in a fierce battle with Izumi despite falling into a trap.

Even with Jiraiya joining the battle and attacking alongside Izumi Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha did not back down.

After all, he still had so many trump cards up his sleeve, and he was even trying to retaliate when Uchiha Izumi was about to kill him.

But as soon as Xia Zuo had a thought, Uchiha Itachi regained his senses, even to the point of being overly clear-headed, and made no plans or devised any tactics.

Ignoring the danger of his deteriorating eyesight, he activated Susanoo, seized the initiative in the most brutal way, and then ran away without looking back.

This is completely unlike Itachi Uchiha's style.

Xia Zuo murmured, "Why is the Heavenly Dao so sensitive?"

"What exactly is Uchiha Itachi related to? He clearly didn't have long to live, yet the Heavenly Dao was willing to pay a huge price to keep him alive."

Xia Zuo suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with a sinister undertone: "How interesting—"

"Alright, everything that needed to be pulled out has been pulled out, there's no need to continue this charade."

"First Generation, Second Generation, would you like to come with me to settle this matter?"

Tobirama Senju was somewhat tempted, but Hashirama Senju reached out and stopped him, laughing, "Fifth Hokage, you can go by yourself."

"We're both dead after all. Konoha isn't in any danger right now, so let's not let dead people like us stand up for ourselves."

"I always felt that doing this would have serious consequences."

Xia Zuo gave a thumbs up and praised, "As expected of the First Hokage who ended the Warring States period and ushered in the era of ninja villages, your intuition is truly accurate."

"When I was born, the Third Hokage had already been Hokage for more than ten years. When I was just old enough to remember things, the Third Hokage had a good reputation, and the Sarutobi clan had not become corrupted."

"But when I grew up, the Third Hokage had been Hokage for 20 years, and everything changed without me realizing it. Even Hiruzen Sarutobi himself became timid, afraid of enemies from other villages, afraid of war, and afraid of the Uchiha clan."

"He can spend money to avoid war, even sacrificing the interests of the Land of Fire. He can avoid enemies from other villages, but the Uchiha clan lives in Konoha, right in front of the Hokage Building, so he has no way to avoid them."

"And that's how the Uchiha clan was massacred."

"The Hokage of Konoha Village is like the cells in the human body. When the time comes, he has to be replaced. Otherwise, his brain will become too old and confused, and in the end, he will drag the whole village down with him."

"Correspondingly, the dead Hokage should not return, so that Konoha can move forward with its head held high and not be dragged down by the heavy burden of the past."

Tobirama Senju frowned and asked, "You make a lot of sense, so why did you let Orochimaru resurrect us using the Impure World Reincarnation technique?"

Xia Zuo explained, "Well, the ninja world is unstable, so every bit of power we can use must be used to have enough strength to deal with the great dangers to come."

Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju nodded, agreeing with Xia Zuo's explanation.

Prior to this, Xia Zuo had already found the Uchiha clan's stone tablet, the traces of Madara Uchiha's survival in the Valley of the End, and

The story of Nagato's Rinnegan, the Akatsuki organization in Amegakure, and Obito Uchiha's secret infiltration of the Akatsuki was told to the two former Hokage.

As heroes who had conquered the Warring States period, they readily accepted the conclusions drawn by Xia Zuo's "analysis".

Although the conclusion that Madara Uchiha was simply brain-dead, his resurrection plan sounded like something someone with a ten-year brain thrombosis could come up with, it was utterly absurd and ridiculous.

There are too many potential problems in Madara Uchiha's resurrection plan. Even if all the executors are loyal, it still requires the perfect cooperation of the five great ninja villages to complete.

At the time, Tobirama Senju commented, "This isn't a plan at all; it's a pre-written storybook!"

Xia Zuo sneered, "It is indeed a script. Although Uchiha Madara is incredibly strong, he is not very smart. He is just a pawn being played around."

"We do not know what the person who wrote the storybook, the person who used Madara Uchiha as a pawn, wanted to gain from Madara Uchiha's resurrection."

"The problem is, since he wrote down such a document, he will definitely move the pieces and let the story develop."

"To revive Madara Uchiha, it seems that we need to gather all the Tailed Beasts. Today, the Tailed Beasts are the symbol of the status of the Five Great Shinobi Villages and are the bottom line that can trigger a Shinobi World War."

"In other words, this storyteller is confident that he can turn the entire ninja world upside down."

"This is such powerful energy, how can I not strive to gather every last bit of it?"

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