Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 361 Kidnapping People in the Land of Grass

Upon hearing this, Aokiji lowered his head and fell completely silent.

At the same time, he also extinguished the soul fire around him.

After a long silence, Aokiji raised his face and said, "Fine, I'll do anything you ask, as long as you can revive Tsunade."

Tsurugi Fubuki's eyes widened: "Lord Aokiji..."

Aokiji said without any politeness, "Shut up."

Crane Wing Snow shut her mouth, looking somewhat aggrieved.

A pleased expression appeared on Obito's face, which was hidden beneath his mask.

Aokiji said in a deep voice, "But the condition is that you help me revive Tsunade first."

Obito looked troubled: "You're putting me in a difficult position."

What if Aokiji reneges on his promise to revive Tsunade?

Besides, he doesn't have that ability.

"So, we should just give up on it then?"

Aokiji, who had been rather sullen just a moment ago, suddenly erupted.

Spirit fire

Aokiji's chakra materialized into blue flames, which surged upwards and coalesced into a blue giant that stood before Obito.

With a leap, Aokiji stood atop the Soul Flame, his gaze sweeping down with a disdainful, cold light.

"etc……"

Obito was taken aback and quickly called out.

Aokiji didn't want to hear any explanations and, without saying a word, immediately ordered his Soul Flame to launch an attack.

This time it's not a test; both speed and power have changed significantly compared to before.

A punch landed.

"Boom!"

With a loud bang, as the smoke from the melting ground dissipated, a huge crater was revealed, and Obito's figure had long since disappeared.

Aokiji looked around and found no trace of Obito, so it seemed he had already left.

The flames of the soul dissipated like mist, and the blue pheasant slowly fell to the ground.

Crane Wing Fubuki ran over and asked, "Where is that guy?"

Aokiji replied calmly, "They ran away..."

◎

On the treetop, a green figure slowly emerged from near Obito's footsteps, then, like a pitcher plant being torn in two, it revealed a humanoid creature with its body divided in the middle, half white and half black.

He said to Obito, "It looks like we've failed."

Obito did not immediately respond to Zetsu's question.

The original plan was to lure Aokiji to Pain's side, use the power of the Rinnegan to subdue Aokiji, and then slowly deceive him, but the other party turned on them without warning.

Clearly, the other party never believed in him from the very beginning.

In this way, there is no need to continue the entanglement.

White Zetsu asked, "What's the next step?"

After pondering for a moment, Obito said in a deep voice, "Let's wait and see."

With Aokiji around, it's much harder for him to interfere with the Uchiha clan as recklessly as he used to.

He originally planned to take advantage of this coup to collect Sharingan eyes and then use them to activate forbidden techniques, just in case.

It seems unlikely now.

"Uchiha Aokiji is a troublesome guy." White Zetsu boosted the enemy's morale while diminishing his own.

"This guy is a variable..."

Black Zetsu glanced at Obito, his voice low and menacing. These words were not only directed at Obito, but also at himself.

Others may not know Aokiji's origins, but he knows them better than anyone else.

Madara probably never imagined that the pawn he personally nurtured would become the biggest variable on his road to success...

At this moment, White Zetsu, being rather talkative, said, "Should we take that eye back?"

Obito narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

White Zetsu's suggestion is unreasonable; only one pair of Sharingan can unleash its true power.

His right eye's ability to blur his vision makes him virtually invincible, but that's about it.

One Mangekyou Sharingan is ultimately too much of a strain to deal with two Mangekyou Sharingan.

He originally didn't want to retrieve his eye for two reasons: firstly, it would alert Konoha, and secondly, the power of one left eye was sufficient.

But now that Aokiji has forcefully intervened, both reasons no longer hold water.

To put it even worse, Obito was unaware of Aokiji's attitude towards Kakashi's eye.

After all, Kakashi wasn't a member of the clan, so it was understandable that Aokiji wanted to take him back.

If Aokiji were to retrieve Kakashi's eyes later, or even discover their secrets, he would undoubtedly find himself in a very passive situation.

"Let's observe for a while longer," Obito said in a deep voice. "If it really doesn't work, I'll take the eyes back."

…………

After forcing Obito to retreat, Aokiji acted as if nothing had happened and continued talking about what happened before: "By the way, where were we?"

Tsurugi Fubuki said with some concern, "Lord Aokiji, that guy who claimed to be Uchiha Madara just now..."

"This is not something you should be concerned about..."

"..."

Perhaps realizing he had been a bit too harsh, Aokiji softened his tone slightly: "What, are you scared?"

Tsurugi Fubuki shook her head, wondering if what the enemy had said was true, and whether she would have a chance to fill the void left by Lord Aokiji.

Thinking of this, she secretly vowed to work even harder to please him: "You just said you were going to define a scope for me, where do you plan to send me?"

"From now on, you will gather intelligence in the Land of Water."

Aokiji glanced at her, giving a clear indication of the scope.

Judging by the timeline, it might not be long before Obito manipulates the Fourth Mizukage to throw Kirigakure into chaos, at which point many capable ninjas in the village will flee.

Many named ninjas from the original work, such as Haku, Zabuza, Hozuki Suigetsu, and Kimimaro, fled the village during this period.

Apart from Zabuza, who is quite old, the others are all very young. Aokiji could take this opportunity to completely absorb these inexperienced people into his most loyal followers.

Aokiji was determined to get Kimimaro, who had the same abilities as Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Someday in the future, if I have the chance to glare at him, I might just create a bankrupt version of Kaguya Otsutsuki.

After assigning the tasks, Aokiji didn't forget to make a promise: "Do your best, and if you gather any useful information, I can grant you power."

"strength……?"

"That's right."

The alluring whispers lingered in her ears, stimulating Tsurugi Fubuki's mind. She gazed at Aokiji with fascination: "Yes, I will do my best."

In fact, she preferred being by Aokiji's side to having power.

But she also knew that if she wasn't strong enough, she would soon be deemed useless and abandoned by Aokiji.

In the future, this adult will surely gather more and more powerful partners around him. She must take advantage of the fact that Aokiji currently has few people around him, highlight her role, and acquire more power so that she can stay by his side and continue to work.

Aokiji smiled slightly: "Then what are you waiting for...?"

"Yes."

Crane Wing Snow disappeared from the spot and set off for the Land of Water.

Aokiji raised his face and looked up at the sky. "So, where should I go next...?"

There's no need to specifically look for Orochimaru; with his intelligence capabilities, he'll soon find out that he's been resurrected and returned to the village.

In other words, Orochimaru will come to you on his own.

The remaining options are to retrieve money, visit the Land of Demons, and visit the Land of Grass.

After thinking it over, Aokiji decided to go to the Land of Grass first, as it was a neighboring country of the Land of Fire and quite close, so he could get there in no time.

◎

The Land of Grass.

Living between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, this small country naturally becomes a chessboard for the power struggles between the great powers. Whenever a great power is in trouble, the people of this country are the first to suffer.

Despite this, the people of this country survived by relying on their tenacious will, just like grass, hence the name "Land of Grass".

In order to survive, this country will stop at nothing, including but not limited to selling intelligence and copying ninjutsu, which are despised by other countries.

In response, the leader of the Grass Kingdom stated that the Grass Kingdom has its own unique national circumstances.

Now, the mother and daughter from the Uzumaki clan have been stranded in this country after the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools.

A careful study of the map reveals that the Land of Whirlpools is located to the lower right of the Land of Fire, while the Land of Grass is located to the upper left of Konoha.

After the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, the Uzumaki clan, who had been scattered abroad, preferred to take a long detour rather than stay in Konoha Village of the Land of Fire, a friendly nation. If there wasn't something fishy going on, Aokiji would never believe it.

Although the Land of Grass is small, finding the mother and daughter in the vast crowd is not an easy task.

But for Aokiji, who possesses the Sharingan, this was a piece of cake. To avoid causing unnecessary trouble, Aokiji strolled around a relatively prosperous city in the Land of Grass and set his sights on a Grass Village ninja who was on a mission.

Without saying a word, he beat him up and then interrogated him using his Sharingan.

Useful information was found in no time.

Others might not have such a good effect, but the Uzumaki clan is just too distinctive.

After learning the intelligence, Aokiji glanced at the disoriented Kusagakure ninja, who was no longer of any use.

Although for a ninja of this level, consuming the Soul Flame wouldn't actually enhance their abilities much.

But even a mosquito's leg is still meat, so Aokiji summoned the Soul Fire, used blue flames to freeze it into ice, and then crushed it with his bare hands, the soul floating out from the ice shards.

The Soul Fire reached out and grabbed the soul, then put it into its mouth, devouring it in a short time.

After dealing with all this, Aokiji immediately set off for Kusagakure Village, intending to abduct the two mothers and daughters.

(End of this chapter)