Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 407 The Way of the Overlord

Because the caster's condition was unstable, the soul fire dissipated, and Orochimaru's body fell down.

In mid-air, Orochimaru's heart sank. He should have realized that since the Rinnegan had a repulsive force, then a corresponding attractive force must also exist.

As Aokiji was pulled back to the ground, the Akatsuki members on the ground unleashed their signature ninjutsu, shooting them into the air.

With a loud explosion, a huge black fist pierced through the smoke and fell from the sky.

Pain's eyes followed the black fist and saw the connected skeleton, inside which was an unharmed Aokiji.

Susanoo, is it...?

As Pain was thinking to himself, the black fist came crashing down with incredible force, even using the suction to amplify its attack.

Just as the skeletal fist was about to smash into Pain's face, a powerful repulsive force suddenly erupted, forming a strong air pressure that stopped the skeletal fist from attacking further.

Aokiji sneered inwardly.

Shinra Tensei...?

But will you stop my Susanoo from advancing further?

With further enhanced eye power, black chakra energy burst forth and coalesced into a semi-humanoid body. Furthermore, he donned the armor of a tengu, resulting in a significant increase in body size and a qualitative leap in strength.

At that moment, the power of Susanoo completely overwhelmed the repulsive force of Shinra Tensei.

Pain's eyes widened, and the flesh on his cheeks trembled violently.

Impossible! Shinra Tensei couldn't even withstand it...

After a brief struggle, the difference in strength between Shinra Tensei and Susanoo was immediately apparent. Before the fist could even land, the backlash from Shinra Tensei sent the user flying, hurtling backward and smashing through any obstacles in his path until his head crashed into the wall of a mountain and came to a stop.

"Pain—!"

Xiao Nan hurriedly turned around, followed the direction the Heavenly Path was flying in, and shouted loudly.

This was the first time she had ever seen Payne get beaten up like this in a head-on confrontation.

Having temporarily forced Pain to retreat, Aokiji manipulated Susanoo in the form of a crow tengu to save Orochimaru from being surrounded and attacked, and also casually killed a member of the Akatsuki who was slow to react.

He has an ordinary face, but a rather tall and sophisticated figure.

Aokiji didn't have much of an impression of this person; he guessed he was just a minor character before the Akatsuki officially appeared.

Orochimaru carried the dead White Zetsu toward Aokiji.

Susanoo pulled out a string of black magatama from his hand and threw them forcefully. Each magatama spun like a wheel, leaving a straight black line in the wind.

Yasakani no Magatama!

After completing the above actions, Aokiji deactivated Susanoo and reactivated the Soul Flame. The two of them then leaped onto the paper.

The Soul Flame took off again, and thanks to the previous attack from the Yasaka Yasaka Magatama, it departed gracefully without any obstruction.

Pain raised his hand, intending to use Universal Pull to pull Aokiji back, but the distance was too great, so he had to give up in frustration.

Aokiji turned around in the air, looked at the crowd below, his gaze lingering on Pain, a smug smile appearing on his lips: "I'll be your opponent again next time."

Black Zetsu on the ground watched Aokiji grab White Zetsu and leave, his head throbbing with pain. The more he looked at Aokiji, the more he felt that this guy was created by Madara Uchiha to cause him trouble.

Orochimaru's betrayal resulted in the deaths of three members of the Akatsuki organization, and all of these events were related to this man. Furthermore, the fact that he managed to escape unscathed from the Akatsuki's onslaught was nothing short of a slap in the face to the Akatsuki.

Pain's deathly face, unusually showing only anger due to the emotional resonance of the manipulator, said to Sasori, "Sasori, I remember Orochimaru had your spies around him, didn't he?"

Aokiji's strength far exceeded his expectations. To defeat him, he might have to use his true form.

If the power were distributed among the six corpses, it would be very likely that Aokiji would defeat them one by one. This is also why Pain did not call upon the other Pains during their battle.

Scorpion nodded with a gloomy expression.

……

……

On the other side, Aokiji and Orochimaru had already escaped to a safe distance, allowing the Soul Flame to land smoothly and materialize into a phantom.

Aokiji and Orochimaru landed gently on the ground.

"That's fine, this distance should be safe."

Orochimaru, carrying the White Zetsu's corpse, said with great interest, "Seriously, what is it about this guy that makes him so appealing, worth all the effort and risking your life for?"

Aokiji kept everyone in suspense: "You'll find out for yourself once you get to the base."

Orochimaru smiled. "Alright, I'll save the surprise for last."

Orochimaru was well aware of the principle of having multiple burrows, and as a rogue ninja, he established corresponding strongholds in various places.

The two went to the nearest base. When the person in charge of the base saw Orochimaru arrive, he respectfully greeted him and then reported on the recent status of the experimental subjects at the base.

As Orochimaru listened, he deliberately glanced at Aokiji's reaction, since such a thing seemed illogical to outsiders.

Aokiji didn't react to this.

Orochimaru laughed and said, "You don't seem to mind me doing this kind of thing."

Aokiji countered, "If I mind, will you stop?"

Orochimaru's habit is already ingrained, and it's unrealistic to expect him to quit all at once. The only option is to guide him gradually back to the right path.

Orochimaru replied ambiguously, "If you'd like, I could consider it."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not that kind of old-fashioned person."

Aokiji shook his head: "Everything has two sides. It may seem inhumane, but this method can greatly improve medical technology and help more people. Besides, for example, in your case, there's a Hokage in our village who did something even more outrageous, yet he's still respected."

Orochimaru asked, "Who?"

Aokiji, seeing that Orochimaru was just pretending to know what he was talking about, teased, "Besides the Second Hokage, who else could have developed a ninjutsu like the Impure World Reincarnation? The activation condition is that a living sacrifice is required. You can imagine how many human experiments he did in the process. Even the way he uses Impure World Reincarnation is different from yours. He stuffs the Impure World Reincarnation with explosive tags, turning it into a human bomb."

"So much so that this insidious method of attack became known worldwide, yet he's still respected within the village?"

Orochimaru praised, "As expected, Aokiji thinks differently. If he were that naive guy now, he would probably be scoffing at me now, or even attacking me."

"You mean Jiraiya, right?"

"certainly……"

"Jiraiya is indeed quite naive. He seems to believe in some kind of prophecy and is searching for the Child of Destiny."

"That's no ordinary prophecy; it seems to be the prophecy of the toad sage of Mount Myōboku."

"If there truly is such a thing as a chosen one, then there's no need for anyone to specifically search for them; they will automatically appear in the right circumstances," Aokiji said dismissively. "Instead of believing in so-called chosen ones, it's better to think about how to be the best version of yourself."

Orochimaru asked curiously, "So... if you were this chosen one, what would you do?"

Aokiji paused for a moment, then smiled: "This is quite an interesting question and answer."

"Haven't you always had this idea?"

After a moment's thought, Aokiji gave a clear response: "A mixture of the ways of the overlord."

"What do you mean?"

"In layman's terms, it means emphasizing benevolence while wielding absolute power, and this power must uphold the rule of law, from royalty and nobility to ordinary people, enforcing the law without fail."

Aokiji explained, "However, this balance is very difficult to control. A typical example is the First Hokage, who believed too much in the possibility of people being honest with each other. But how is that possible? Even fathers and sons often fall out over certain issues, like Fugaku and Itachi. Not to mention ordinary people."

Orochimaru agreed, "That's true."

"This world is not simply black and white; it lies between the white of heaven and the black of hell. In this gray world, we can only act according to gray rules and attitudes. What people can see and use is only a gray hue in front of them. Above them is not white, and below them is not black; it is another kind of unpredictable gray."

Aokiji used his eloquence to show off, and Orochimaru felt that he was quite profound.

Aokiji held up two fingers and said slowly, "Where there are people, there will be conflict. If we compare a country to a person, then this is the same principle. So if we want there to be no conflict between countries, there are only two ways."

Orochimaru asked, "What method?"

"First, there are no countries in this world. Second, there is only one country in this world."

"So, what you chose is..."

"Isn't this obvious?"

Madara Uchiha chose to let everyone dream forever, choosing the first path, while Aokiji chose the second path:

"Perhaps many sacrifices will be made in this process, but that is just the growing pains of ushering in true peace. I will bear all the darkness. Whether it is merit or demerit, right or wrong, future generations will judge."

Aokiji's words piqued Orochimaru's interest: "I used to want to transform into the wind and turn the windmill, but now it seems that waiting for the wind to rise might be more interesting."

(End of this chapter)