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

Chapter 329 Madara Uchiha: I'll hold off 30,000 Konoha ninjas

The first sign of the explosion was a flash of light, a massive pillar of light that stretched from the sky like a cross.

In that instant, although it wasn't as dazzling as when Xia Zuo eliminated the Sky Ninja, the sky was still made to look like it was at dawn or dusk.

Then----

Then there is no more.

The pillar of light disappeared, the sky brightened again, and even the boiling earth returned to calm, as the magma created by Xia Zuo cooled completely.

The only trace left by Deidara's self-destruction was a circular crater 30 meters in diameter on the ground. The shallow crater was filled with fish-scale patterns, which were traces of intense light radiation.

There was no trace of anything else.

Whether it was the Third Tsuchikage who had flown not far away, or the ten battalions of Iwagakure ninjas who had been bombarded by the air ninjas nearby, they were all staring blankly in the direction of the bright light, not understanding what had happened.

Even Xia Zuo, the instigator, was somewhat stunned at this moment.

He never expected that the Dark Release technique he developed, [Dark Release: Cold Silence], would be so effective at absorbing chakra.

It not only directly absorbed Deidara's life's worth of chakra, but also the [Nuclear Release: Sunspot] he had previously used.

The released chakra was completely absorbed.

Xia Zuo looked at his hands and murmured, "It's a pity that [Nether Release: Cold Silence] can only absorb released chakra, but cannot forcibly plunder the chakra within an enemy's body."

"Well, there's another major drawback: it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe. It can only be used to negate the enemy's ultimate attack. Otherwise, this would be the first divine spell I've developed."

With Deidara defeated, the boiling magma cooled down, and the obstacle in front of the Allied Shinobi Forces disappeared.

The rescue operation for the crashed Konoha spaceship has been completed, and the rescue and medical teams are retreating to the rear with the wounded and the bodies of the dead.

Xia Zuo also noted that more than a dozen medical teams had arrived to rescue the Iwagakure ninja who had been bombed a few kilometers away.

After confirming that there was nothing he needed to worry about, Xia Zuo once again transformed into a golden meteor and sped off towards Konoha Village.

Surprisingly, when they saw Xia Zuo's golden aura disappear as he flew away, the Iwagakure ninja who had been bombarded by Deidara actually cheered in front of the Third Tsuchikage.

The Third Tsuchikage, who was suspended in the air, suddenly felt a pain in his chest instead of the usual back pain after hearing the cheers of the Iwagakure ninja.

The hearts of the people, the hearts of the Iwagakure ninja, have gone astray.

Can we blame those Iwagakure ninja?

The rogue ninja from Iwagakure brought Sky Ninja to bombard them. Their respected Third Tsuchikage had already arrived, but he was entangled with the enemy and hesitated to use his ultimate move to defeat him.

As a result, the Iwagakure ninjas were once again bombarded by the Sky Ninjas, who used Deidara's unique dive-bombing tactics, causing them to suffer even greater casualties.

The final result was that the Fifth Hokage descended suddenly like the sun, and in a moment, he turned all the Sky Ninjas into dust, just like the sun falling. Then he killed the rogue ninja who attacked the Iwagakure ninjas.

The Iwagakure ninjas would naturally be grateful to the Fifth Hokage and cheer for his growth.

Third generation Tsuchikage?

What kind of creature is the Tsuchikage who refuses to protect the village and the Iwagakure ninja?

Onoki clearly had the ability to protect the Iwagakure ninja, but he failed to act due to his personal feelings, allowing everyone to get injured or even die.

HE——tui——！！

"Deidara is dead," Black Zetsu said. "While he was leading the Sky Ninja to bombard the Iwagakure Ninja, the Fifth Hokage suddenly appeared."

That drove him to the point of self-destruction.

Uchiha Itachi nodded and said, "I saw a white light tearing through the sky and felt the earth tremble. It was an amazing explosion."

Zetsu shook his head repeatedly: "No, Deidara's self-destruction was absorbed by the Fifth Hokage using an unknown forbidden technique."

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He looked at Itachi Uchiha and added, "The light you saw and the earthquake you felt were caused by the air blast created when the Fifth Hokage killed the air ninja."

The meeting room erupted in chaos, with even Nagato abruptly standing up.

He asked in surprise, "You're saying the Fifth Hokage absorbed Deidara's self-destruction? How did he do that?"

The leader of the Sky Ninja, Shennong, was filled with shock and anger, and anxiously roared, "How are we Sky Ninja?"

Zetsu seemed completely unaffected and answered Nagato's question first: "The Fifth Hokage did indeed use ninjutsu to absorb Deidara's explosion, and he only made his move after the fireball and flash of the explosion had already appeared."

"We sacrificed hundreds of White Zetsu to witness the Fifth Hokage absorbing the explosive force, confirming that he used the Dark Release technique to forcibly plunder all the chakra, which caused Deidara's self-destruction to suddenly fail."

Nagato's eyes were filled with caution. The [Hungry Ghost Path: Chakra Absorption] he had used was a Dark Release secret technique, and its efficiency in absorbing chakra was the same as what the Fifth Hokage had achieved today.

Furthermore, the Fifth Hokage was known for his numerous bloodline limits and bloodline elimination techniques, but there was no mention of him possessing the rare Dark Release bloodline limit, which was clearly something he had developed himself.

But the problem is that this is too strong. It's unbelievable that a mere bloodline limit can achieve the same power as a technique of the Rinnegan.

Dark Release is not like Wood Release, Swift Release, or Magnet Release; it can forcibly increase its power using one's own chakra.

When the two fought back then, Nagato wasn't defeated by his bloodline limit, but rather by the unimaginable amount of chakra that Xia Zuo possessed.

Therefore, although Nagato always acknowledged that the Fifth Hokage, Sasuke, was the strongest in the ninja world, he also believed that once he recovered his health and no longer had to bear the burden of the Gedo Mazo's drain, he would be able to defeat the Fifth Hokage.

But today, he discovered that his chakra-absorbing technique was actually quite powerful, and this technique, which was unrelated to the amount of chakra, proved that even without the burden of the Gedo Mazo, he still could not defeat Xia Zuo.

This was a fatal blow to Nagato.

As a teenager, Nagato was a shy and introverted child with a rather fragile mental state.

After being betrayed by Hanzo, the destruction of the Akatsuki, and the death of his best friend, Nagato was able to pull himself together thanks to the power of the Rinnegan, which led to a drastic change in his personality.

This logical sequence dictates that the Rinnegan is Nagato's current mental support, and there's no need to lose it. The mere fact that he's no longer the strongest in the ninja world is enough to shake Nagato's resolve.

Previously, he could explain himself by saying that he was not healthy enough and that he had to bear the burden of the demon statue of the heretic, but today he obviously could no longer deceive himself.

While Changmen was lost in thought, Shennong was already on the verge of collapse.

He thought Zetsu turned to him and said, "None of the Sky Ninja who were attacked by the Fifth Hokage survived."

"The other two air ninja groups were intercepted by Konoha's airships, and both suffered more than half of their personnel killed or wounded."

Shennong was completely dumbfounded. This was the wealth he had painstakingly accumulated over 40 years.

Every ninja in the air is like a child he raised, and every flying ninja tool is made by hand from materials he painstakingly earned.

As a result, after only a few hours of participating in the war, more than half of them were lost, which was unacceptable to Shennong.

He roared, "Impossible! My Sky Ninja couldn't have been destroyed so easily! I'm going to prove you wrong with my own eyes!"

Perhaps Shennong also knew that Jue's words were true, which is why he ran out crying.

Seeing everyone's spirits dampened, Obito Uchiha asked, "Zetsu, how's the Impure World Reincarnation of Kinkaku and Ginkaku progressing?"

Zetsu replied, "Yakushi Kabuto is still working. He said he'll finish in two days at most."

Obito Uchiha said, "Two days. That means if we hold out for just two more days, the Gedo Mazo will be fully activated. Then we can use the power of the gods to destroy the Allied Shinobi Forces."

"Gentlemen, it's time to unleash our full power and buy time for our victory."

Admiral Mifune was the first to stand up: "The samurai of the Land of Iron have completed their assembly, and we will fight to the death to stop the Allied Shinobi Forces' attack."

Uchiha Itachi suddenly asked with a cold expression, "Just how many samurai have you gathered?"

Mifune sighed, "The Land of Iron has lost half of its land, and only 3400 samurai can still be mustered."

Obito Uchiha: "Never mind, the samurai aren't the main force anyway."

He looked at Nagato and Konan and said, "All 100,000 White Zetsu have been awakened and are ready to launch a counterattack at any time."

Konan knew that Obito wanted them to use the Edo Tensei army as the backbone to fill the White Zetsu army.

Because Sasori of the Red Sand was one of her people, and Kabuto Yakushi was one of Sasori's people, Kabuto handed over control of the Edo Tensei army to Konan.

After exchanging glances with Nagato, Konan said, "The summoning jutsu for the Edo Tensei ninjas' coffins is complete. I can go to the front lines at any time to summon them to participate in the battle."

Obito Uchiha asked again, "And that one?"

Nagato laughed and countered, "You mean Uchiha Madara, whom you've been impersonating for over a decade?"

He didn't need Obito's answer and said directly, "I have great respect for a strong person like Uchiha Madara, so I accepted Kabuto's suggestion and did not impose any restrictions on Uchiha Madara."

"He is free; whether or not to join the war is up to him."

Obito Uchiha was stunned: "What do you mean by that?"

"Nagato means that I will decide for myself whether I want to fight, and how I will fight." Madara Uchiha walked in from the cave entrance.

His slightly hoarse voice, filled with boundless authority and pride, said: "You gloomy brat, you can't understand our pride, so don't spout nonsense."

Then Madara Uchiha sat down opposite Nagato, instantly silencing the entire room.

After looking around at everyone, he said in a commanding tone, "Let's talk about how to fight the next battle."

"Zetsu, show us the situation map of the Allied Shinobi Forces."

Zetsu glanced at Obito Uchiha, who was lowering his head and gritting his teeth, and then at Nagato, who was frowning and trying his best to remain calm. He knew that Madara Uchiha had taken control of the entire situation.

He began recounting the intelligence on the Allied Shinobi Forces without much emotion: "The Allied Shinobi Forces are divided into five parts, and along five roads, they are rapidly attacking and occupying the Land of Iron."

Zetsu formed hand seals and cast a genjutsu, displaying the formation of the Allied Shinobi Forces on the central table.

"Although it is called the Allied Shinobi Forces, the Fifth Hokage did not accept the small ninja villages to join, nor did he mix and reorganize the ninjas from the five major ninja villages into functional units."

"The five attack teams of the Allied Shinobi Forces are mainly composed of ninjas from the five great ninja villages, with Konoha supplementing the other four villages with recruited Konoha ninjas, so that the total number of ninjas in each direction exceeds 30,000, and there are no fatal weaknesses."

Madara Uchiha snorted coldly: "A very wise method. The five great ninja villages fought three ninja world wars, killing each other for decades, accumulating countless blood feuds."

"The ninjas from different villages were on high alert. When they were really mixed together, the ninjas from each village felt that they were at a complete disadvantage because they had to face the hostility of four ninja villages."

"At that time, all ninjas will be worried that someone will stab them in the back, and they will be unable to fight at all."

"However, what's with this troop allocation without any distinction of importance? Shouldn't we differentiate between primary and secondary forces?"

Nagato sneered, "The Fifth Hokage is relying on his superior strength to treat every direction as his main attack direction."

Madara Uchiha chuckled, speechless. "So, he's really that arrogant?"

"That makes sense. Since the five great ninja villages already have 17 ninjas, why let the smaller ninja villages join and lower the average quality level?"

"Leaving 20,000 ninjas as reserves, and preparing 30,000 ninjas in each of the five directions, ensured sufficient attack power, forcing us to intercept from every direction."

"That Fifth Hokage is a truly formidable character, far stronger than me and even Hashirama."

Upon hearing Madara Uchiha praise Sasuke, Nagato snorted in dissatisfaction: "Yes, the Fifth Hokage is indeed very strong, which is why we were forced to join forces against him."

Madara Uchiha laughed: "You're not bad either, kid. You're able to see reality clearly and don't refuse to join forces with me just because you're afraid of losing face."

"Let's divide up the forces and assign tasks to each person."

Nagato nodded: "Okay."

In the ninja world, strength is paramount. After Madara Uchiha appeared, only he and Nagato spoke, and everyone else consciously kept quiet.

The two quickly decided to divide the White Zetsu into three legions, each with 30,000 White Zetsu, to work with the Edo Tensei ninja from the corresponding villages to deal with the ninja from Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Sunagakure.

The last 10,000 White Zetsu, along with 3400 samurai from the Land of Iron, the remaining ninjas from the Sky Village, and the reanimated ninjas from the Hidden Stone Village, fought against the ninjas from the Hidden Stone Village.

Nagato asked, "Then what about the Konoha ninja?"

"Although both sides have 30,000 ninjas, Konoha Village has a standing army of ninjas, whose strength far surpasses that of the other four directions, making them the most difficult to deal with."

Madara Uchiha said, "Leave the Konoha ninjas to me, I'll deal with them."

Nagato asked in surprise, "You really think you can hold them off all by yourself?"

Madara Uchiha pointed to a spot on the map and said, "This is the Stone Forest of the Land of Iron. The terrain is narrow and the roads are difficult to travel, making it the perfect place to fight against overwhelming odds."

"If that Third Raikage can hold off tens of thousands of Iwagakure ninja by himself, then I can certainly hold off thirty thousand Konoha ninja."

"The most important thing is that I'm already dead, so even if I die from exhaustion again, it doesn't matter."

Nagato stared intently at Madara Uchiha, seemingly trying to see through his thoughts.

After a long pause, Nagato said, "Then it's settled."