Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 347 The Konoha Collapse Plan is launched, and Shukaku is forcibly captured.

"That guy is a genius," Bane added, ignoring Jiraiya's complicated feelings.

At this point, Jiraiya finally composed himself, smiled, and said, "To be praised like this by the Spirit Lord, he must be truly remarkable."

Kakashi, standing nearby, was slightly surprised and said, "But his performance is that of the worst in this year's class."

"He possesses too much power and cannot control it, so his performance in the outside world is very mediocre. It would be a waste to treat him as a Jinchūriki," Bane replied calmly.

"You mean, the power of the Tailed Beasts affected him?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"That's right," Bane nodded.

After a slight pause, Bane's lips curled into a wicked smile as he deliberately said, "Why don't I remove the tailed beast from within him, allowing this precious gem to shine with its true brilliance?"

In Bane's view, the Nine-Tails both made Naruto Uzumaki successful and dragged him down.

As a member of the Uzumaki clan, although not a pure-blooded one, he was born with a huge amount of chakra. The Nine-Tails did not help him much in the early stages, but instead hindered him and made it difficult for him to grow.

After he mastered the Nine-Tails' chakra and it no longer interfered with his body, Naruto Uzumaki's talent immediately became apparent.

That means he can learn anything you teach him, and he learns it very quickly!

From summoning techniques to sage techniques, he can master them almost instantly, and he can even create entirely new ninjutsu based on his own ideas. This is hardly the performance of a loser.

Therefore, Bane has always believed that if we look at the two individuals, the Nine-Tails and Naruto Uzumaki, it is definitely Naruto Uzumaki who made the Nine-Tails, not the other way around.

Upon hearing Bane's words, both Jiraiya and Kakashi's expressions changed drastically. Jiraiya immediately said, "Spirit Lord, the Tailed Beasts are of utmost importance, representing peace in the ninja world. Please don't act recklessly!"

"You ninjas are laughable. You keep talking about peace and pin your hopes on so-called tailed beasts. It's really hard to describe. With this kind of mentality, you'll suffer for it sooner or later," Bane commented disdainfully, but didn't say anything more.

Tailed beasts possess an almost limitless and terrifying amount of chakra as energy, which might make them excellent materials for constructing the Transcendental Gate.

Without lingering too long on Naruto, Bane quickly turned his attention to another protagonist.

Uchiha Sasuke.

This guy, standing next to Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, has already mastered the essence of being cool at such a young age. To sum it up in one sentence, it's like that year when I had my hands in my pockets and didn't know what an opponent was.

With a cold, aloof expression that showed he didn't care about anyone, he calmly watched the amateurish game unfold on the field.

"That brat has Orochimaru's aura about him," Bane chuckled.

"A few days ago in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru left a very unique curse mark on him, which seems to be an evil power." Kakashi's expression was very calm, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes.

Jiraiya seemed oblivious to the situation, and Bane, seeing this, calmly stated, "It's natural energy, but it becomes somewhat violent when used. That's Orochimaru's self-modification of Sage Mode."

"Natural energy?" Jiraiya seemed to realize something at that moment, looking intently at Uchiha Sasuke. After a moment, he said, "I see. Spirit Lord, can you help me?"

But before he could finish speaking, Bane looked at him with a strange expression and asked, "What help do you need? What offering are you going to give me?"

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya's lips twitched twice, and then he said, "Never mind what I said."

"Heh." Bane chuckled, then said, "He's a genius, a true genius. No wonder Orochimaru had his eye on him. Even I'm slightly tempted."

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya's expression brightened slightly with excitement. He asked, "Is the Spirit Lord interested in these talented youngsters? Are you planning to take them on as disciples?"

Having witnessed Bane's strength, Konoha takes him very seriously. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is very worried that Orochimaru might use the power of this Spirit Lord to cause trouble because of Ryuchi Cave.

But if the Spirit Lord were to take someone from Konoha as a disciple, then the relationship would be quite complicated. No matter what, the Spirit Lord would give Konoha some face, right?

"I am somewhat interested, but among all the youngsters in Konoha, only these two have piqued my interest," Bane said, waving his hand.

Jiraiya, upon hearing this, was just about to say something more.

Suddenly, Bane turned his gaze to the wall of the hall in the distance, which puzzled Jiraiya.

"Here it comes," Bane said softly.

"What's coming!?" Jiraiya asked in confusion.

But the next second, a deafening explosion and the sound of buildings collapsing suddenly echoed outside the venue. Jiraiya's expression changed drastically, as if he had sensed something, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Orochimaru!"

Without saying anything more, Jiraiya vanished from the spot.

At the moment Jiraiya disappeared, Maki, an elite Jonin from Sunagakure, suddenly attacked Kakashi from the other side.

Kakashi reacted quickly, using a Body Flicker Technique to dodge Maki's Wind Release attack and shouting as he created distance, "Watch out for Sunagakure!"

However, his words seemed to come a little too late. Gaara, who had been suppressing his killing intent for a long time, went berserk the moment Maki made his move. The violent power emanating from Shukaku swept across the entire area. Perhaps it was because Shukaku was unhappy with Kurama, or perhaps it was for some other reason. In any case, as soon as Gaara made his move, he set his sights on Naruto Uzumaki.

The situation has changed drastically from what Bane remembered. He doesn't know why Orochimaru suddenly made his move at this time. As a result, Naruto Uzumaki, who was supposed to receive Jiraiya's guidance, make some progress, and master the Summoning Jutsu, is still a blank slate.

I can't do anything!

"Hinata, get out of the way!" Naruto shoved Hinata aside, and by the time he tried to run away, the sandstorm had already completely surrounded him.

Meanwhile, the Konoha Jonin who were originally present were now entangled with the Sunagakure Jonin and seemed completely unable to attend to Naruto's situation.

Just as Gaara's expression turned ferocious, his eyes flashing with murderous red light, and he was about to crush Naruto Uzumaki to death, suddenly, a hand landed on his shoulder.

This made Gaara freeze. He instinctively turned around and looked behind him, only to see that the man who had been standing on the high platform was now standing behind him.

He wore a dark blue haori that flowed over his shoulders, and his black hair swayed wildly in the yellow sand. One hand rested on his shoulder, while the other held an exquisite jade-inlaid pipe. At the same time, a malicious smile played on his lips.

"Kid, you looked really arrogant just now. Were you trying to provoke me?" Bane said maliciously.

"Die!!!" Gaara's mental state is extremely poor due to prolonged lack of sleep. He's ready to turn into a murderous maniac if provoked even slightly.

The surrounding yellow sand suddenly became fierce, and the sand that should have crushed Naruto Uzumaki instead swept towards Bane behind him.

"Watch out." Naruto Uzumaki noticed this and instinctively warned him.

Then, in the next second, he saw dark power slowly emanating from the handsome man's body. The outward manifestation of that dense dark element did not seem as swift and violent as Gaara's Sandstorm, but it was more powerful.

Just as the yellow sand could never break free from the attraction of these dark elements, no matter how much came, it was quickly swallowed up and disappeared.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

At the same time, Bane gently exhaled a puff of smoke, seemingly quite casually. Even Naruto Uzumaki, several meters away, did not notice any particular change.

Gaara, however, felt extreme fear and pressure from him, while Shukaku within him was frantically reminding Gaara of his presence.

"Run! Find a way to move, you idiot!"

"That guy is no match for you. You'll die!"

Unfortunately, locked onto by Bane's murderous gaze and aura, Gaara was completely unable to move. He felt cold all over, as if he had been frozen in place. He couldn't even tremble, let alone run away.

Because of his height, the man in front of him slowly squatted down, and the hand that was originally on his shoulder moved to his abdomen. Gaara felt the five fingers touching his abdomen, and the fear in his heart intensified.

Without any special technique, it was almost like brute force. Bane's fingers kept pushing into the area directly above Gaara's navel, and his fingertips strangely merged into his body, as if he were trying to pull something out of him.

Shukaku, inside Gaara, clearly sensed the danger and cried out in terror, "What are you standing there for? Move now, you brat! He's going to break my seal!"

Shukaku was terrified and extremely unhappy about being sealed inside Gaara. As a result, he harassed Gaara day and night, making it impossible for Gaara to sleep.

For so long, he had fantasized more than once about the seal within Gaara being broken and him regaining his freedom.

But at this moment, when the sealing technique was broken in such a brutal and unreasonable way by the man in front of him who terrified him, he only hoped that the sealing technique that imprisoned his freedom could hold on for a little longer!

Dense incantations manifested from Gaara's body, flowing across his skin as if trying to hinder Bane's actions. Unfortunately, they were completely ineffective. Bane brutally crushed the incantations, turning them into ink that flowed from Gaara's body and soaked into the ground along his toes.

Soon, Bane's hand had completely disappeared into Gaara's body, leaving only his wrist outside his stomach.

The brat's expression turned pained, but Bane didn't seem to care at all. He seemed to be groping for something, and after a moment, he grinned and said, "Got it."

Without any hesitation, Bane suddenly pulled his hand out of Gaara's abdomen. In his palm, he was holding a cute-looking little creature, which was the miniature form of Shukaku.

Forcibly pulled from its host's body, Shukaku was terrified, struggling and screaming, "Let me go! You monster, who are you?"

Once freed from the seal, Shukaku's power could be unleashed, but despite his struggles, he was unable to escape the man's grasp, nor could he grow to his original size and regain his former majesty. It was as if the hand gripping him was more powerful than any sealing technique.

Holding Shukaku in his hand, Bane smiled and said, "It looks quite cute, little thing."

After a slight pause, Bane pondered for a moment, then muttered to himself, "Let me think... how do I release it? By manipulating chakra... into chains, hmm."

As he muttered to himself, several chakra chains rapidly appeared on his arm; this technique was the Adamantine Sealing Technique!

However, before these chakra chains could lock Shukaku in their hands, they suddenly seemed to malfunction and collapsed in mid-air.

This made Bane say with a hint of helplessness, "Looks like I still need to practice more. Oh well."

As soon as he finished speaking, Bane casually pulled open a spatial fold of dark element in the air, then gently tossed Shukaku into the dark space and sealed it away.

At the same time, Gaara had completely lost consciousness. His legs gave way and he fell to the ground, and the surrounding yellow sand quickly fell and scattered all over the ground.

Not far away, Naruto Uzumaki looked at Bane with a horrified gaze, while also looking very confused.

At this moment, for the first time in his life, he heard the voice of the nine-tailed fox within him.

"Run!!!"

(End of this chapter)