He's in the Marvel universe, and his first step is marrying Scarlet Witch.

Chapter 292 The Suspicious Rain Village (Second Update)

After the Third Hokage returned from the Land of Fire, Danzo, unwilling to accept defeat, used all his means and resources to launch another political attack against him.

It's unclear what method he used, but he managed to change the tune of the other two advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, ultimately forcing the Third Hokage to step down and reconsider electing a new Hokage.

However, the selection of a new Hokage is usually made by the former Hokage.

Therefore, although the Third Hokage was forced to abdicate, he still had the right to decide who would be the next Hokage.

Entering the Hokage's office, Li Chuan saw Danzo, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, Kurenai, and Asuma, in addition to the Third Hokage.

"teacher."

Li Chuan greeted the third generation and then nodded to the others.

His status is rather special. In addition to being the fourth disciple of the Third Generation, he is also a prince of the Land of Fire. Therefore, apart from the Third Generation, no one else has a higher status than him, and a nod is enough in terms of etiquette.

"I'm glad you're alright. Tell me what happened next."

The third generation smiled kindly and then spoke.

Everyone's attention immediately turned to Li Chuan.

Li Chuan nodded and recounted the general situation of his encounter with Itachi and Kisame after they left, but he concealed the subsequent deal and cooperation with Itachi.

The fight between him and Itachi became evenly matched. Later, because Itachi's Susanoo was too much of a burden on his body, he escaped with the heavily injured Kisame.

He was also unable to continue the pursuit due to excessive chakra depletion.

"Kisame Hoshigaki is an S-rank rogue ninja of the Kirigakure. During the last Shinobi World War, he escaped from a large number of elite troops led by Ibiki on several occasions. He is extremely powerful."

Besides, there's Uchiha Itachi. With your strength, can you really do that?

As soon as Li Chuan finished speaking, Danzo raised a question.

As a member of Konoha's Root, he actually possessed a lot of unknown information, which he did not share with the Third Hokage. Naturally, he had some understanding of Kisame and Itachi's strength.

Both of them definitely have Kage-level strength, but in his eyes, Li Chuan is at most an elite Jonin, whose specialty is medical ninjutsu.

"Lord Danzo, I have recently come to understand a method to improve my strength, so my strength has improved a little."

Faced with Danzo's doubts, Li Chuan directly merged his true essence and chakra, his eyes transformed into yin and yang, and he activated the Sage Mode of the Path, his body instantly erupting with extremely powerful chakra fluctuations.

"This looks a bit like Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage's Sage Mode!"

Sensing the unusual changes in Li Chuan's chakra and the sudden surge in chakra fluctuations, the Third Hokage and the three advisors' expressions all changed instantly.

The younger generation may not know, but how could the older generation not understand?

Although Li Chuan's Sage Mode is clearly different from Jiraiya's and the Fourth Hokage's, it can be seen that they belong to the same type, which is based on chakra and mixed with some kind of natural energy.

As expected, he truly deserves to be called a super genius who can transform from an ordinary person into an elite ninja in just one or two years.

In this way, it makes sense that he was able to severely injure Kisame and repel Itachi Uchiha.

"That's what geniuses are like; they always surprise people. I think Shimura probably hasn't experienced that kind of thing, which is why he doesn't understand."

The Third Hokage chuckled and teased Danzo, easing the tension, before asking Li Chuan:

"During the battle, did you hear them mention anything about Akatsuki?"

The reason why all the Konoha leaders gathered here is because they learned from Asuma and Kurenai's reports that Akatsuki, which Jiraiya had been tracking, had actually set its sights on the Nine-Tails.

Tailed beasts are the strongest weapons of war in a village, and their loss is absolutely unacceptable.

Li Chuan's eyes darted around, and after pretending to think for a moment, he slowly spoke:

"I do have some information about Akatsuki. When I was fighting Kisame, he seemed to mention something about Amegakure. I think it might be related to Amegakure."

In fact, only Konan, Zetsu, and Obito within the Akatsuki organization knew Pain's true identity.

The other members only ever saw the Six Paths of Pain being controlled by Nagato; they were unaware of the connection between Nagato and the Land of Rain.

Even Kisame and Itachi only knew that Obito was impersonating Madara Uchiha.

At least for now, Itachi knew Nagato's identity, but it must have been a few years later. If the Third Hokage had known before his death, he wouldn't have kept it from him.

Moreover, Nagato had never said he wanted to capture the nine tailed beasts; he simply worked as a mercenary, moving around various ninja villages and earning a lot of money.

The plan to capture the tailed beasts was only recently formally finalized.

Therefore, even with the information passed down by Itachi, the Third Hokage was unable to determine which village's ninja was the true leader of Akatsuki, or who the guy who called himself Uchiha Madara and caused the Nine-Tails' calamity was.

"Rain Village?"

The Third Hokage turned to look at Danzo.

He knew that Danzo had secretly been having an affair with Hanzo the Salamander of Amegakure during the Third Shinobi World War.

Seeing this, Danzo said expressionlessly:

"Ten years ago, a civil war broke out in Amegakure. Even now, Hanzo the Salamander has not completely resolved the civil war. Moreover, apart from sending people to participate in the Chunin Exams, Amegakure has always implemented a closed strategy and has not contacted the outside world."

Currently, we at Root also have no information regarding the inner workings of Amegakure.

How could he not know about the Akatsuki organization? Back then, it was because he was attracted to Nagato's peculiar eyes that he persuaded Hanzo of the Salamander, that brainless guy, to join him in fighting Akatsuki.

But what benefit would it bring him to reveal information about "Akatsuki"?

If we want to dethrone the Third Hokage and take his place as Hokage, then we can't tell him a lot of information. Even if it will harm Konoha, it's all worth it as long as he can become Hokage.

It's a pity that Orochimaru, that good-for-nothing, failed to kill the Third Hokage during the "Konoha Crush Plan".

"It is indeed somewhat suspicious. Could it be that Hanzo of the Salamander is behind Akatsuki?"

The third generation frowned.

If it really is Hanzo the Salamander, then it's more troublesome.

"It's peacetime now, and without concrete intelligence, it's best to avoid conflict with the Rain Ninja."

At this moment, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu spoke up.

As staunch doves, the two did not want Konoha to clash with other ninja villages.

In particular, the Land of Rain is located at the junction of the Land of Earth, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Wind. If Konoha were to rashly attack the Rain Ninja during peacetime, it would inevitably make other villages think that Konoha was about to do something.

That would trigger the Fourth Shinobi World War, which would be terrible.

(End of this chapter)