After a long while, Orochimaru managed to calm himself down and said to Ame-no-Kage in a gloomy tone, "It seems that I can never go back. So, Third Hokage, what do you plan to do with me?" Although Orochimaru knew from the previous battle that he was no match for Ame-no-Kage, he was not worried that Ame-no-Kage would take him back to Konoha because of this, since Ame-no-Kage was his only witness.

“It seems you can’t escape the label of traitor,” Tianqing looked at Orochimaru with sympathy, then handed him a map. “As for where you will hide later, I have a suggestion.”

For rogue ninja who have left their villages, having a hiding place is paramount. Only in this way, without a village to rely on, can they obtain sufficient supplies and rest amidst endless pursuit, and maintain enough strength to survive. For Orochimaru, who constantly needs to conduct research, a stable place to carry out numerous experiments is even more crucial.

"The Land of Rice Fields?" Orochimaru looked at the map that Amemori handed him, and narrowed his eyes at the unusually detailed information marked on it. "Such detailed reconnaissance information, it seems you're quite interested in this small country without a ninja village, Amemori. Could this Land of Rice Fields be Konoha's next target for annexation?"

“Due to years of internal strife and its location between various powerful nations, this country is fragmented by different factions. The daimyo’s control over the country is very weak, and there are no ninja villages. It’s a perfect place for you to hide, and even…” Tianqing continued slowly, “It could even allow you to establish your own ninja village, Orochimaru.”

In the original story, Orochimaru chose to establish the future Sound Village in the Land of Rice Fields after leaving Akatsuki because the country's chaotic situation made it suitable for him to exploit. This time, Ameharu has also set her sights on the Land of Rice Fields, not to establish a Sound Village prematurely, but because she has decided to use it as a testing ground for her social reforms.

In any case, given Orochimaru's increasingly insane personality, it's hard to guarantee that something won't happen if he's left in Konoha. It's better to send him to the Land of Rice Fields to establish the Sound Village and, incidentally, to serve as a pioneer of the revolution, tentatively conducting the revolution for Ame-no-Kage.

The progress of social systems can only occur on the premise of the progress of productive forces. In other words, social systems need to be compatible with the actual productive forces of the society at that time. If social systems fail to keep up with the development of productive forces, it will lead to various social problems such as war and turmoil.

Therefore, with the advancement of productivity, the ancient Warring States period system of regional division was abandoned. The ninja village system created by the First Hokage was adopted by all the major powers because it could concentrate resources and make better use of chakra, the most advanced productive force. Thus, at that time, the ninja village system of one ninja village per country was the most suitable social system for the world.

However, as time went by, stimulated by the successive Shinobi World Wars, the research on chakra by various countries advanced by leaps and bounds, and the productivity of the entire society made great progress. At this time, the ninja village system gradually became outdated and became an obstacle to the development of productivity.

This is the real reason why Naruto Uzumaki never truly changed the Naruto world. He merely used the cataclysmic disaster of the Fourth Shinobi World War to establish his reputation as a "hero," and then, relying on his immense personal charisma and overwhelming strength, forcibly suppressed the conflicts between the various ninja villages.

Although the various ninja villages appear to be on good terms, conflicts and contradictions continue to fester in the shadows. When Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha pass away, the ninja villages, having forgotten the horrors of war over time, will once again go to war because of those long-accumulated conflicts.

The official fan fiction of the original work, "Boruto," also known as "The Second Generation of the Village Wants to Be the Village Chief Too," is filled with disputes and conflicts, which prove that Naruto Uzumaki can only ensure peace for one lifetime, but cannot effectively solve the problems of the ninja village system.

Therefore, in this sense, Naruto Uzumaki can only be considered a savior hero, not quite a "chosen one." On the contrary, Nagato's chuunibyou theory—that "by occasionally bringing pain to the world, those who experience pain can maintain peace"—seems quite effective, because Naruto Uzumaki precisely relied on the pain inflicted on the world by Madara Uchiha to restore peace!

As a former low-level civil servant, Tianqing had taken countless exams on Marxist-Leninist essays, and having served as Hokage for a considerable period, he was well aware of the flaws in the ninja village system. Therefore, long before the war began, Tianqing had set his sights on the Land of Rice Fields, sending many people to survey it under various pretexts, preparing to use it as his future secret experimental field.

Now, Orochimaru, who was "forced to defect," had nowhere to go, so Ame decided to send Orochimaru to the Land of Rice Fields to scout out the way and build up the basic framework of the Sound Village. It was also a way of reusing laid-off workers in another form.

"You will decide on the allocation of personnel in the ninja village. Konoha will secretly provide you with funds and materials," Tianqing said, indicating that he would not interfere with Orochimaru's personnel choices and that Orochimaru could still carry out his research and experiments to his heart's content. "However, there is one thing: a special management system will be implemented in this ninja village in the future. Do you have any objections?"

Orochimaru shook his head, indicating that there was no problem. As a rogue ninja, being able to find a territory and become the leader of a ninja village was definitely a very good treatment. As for the so-called "special management system," Orochimaru naturally didn't have any questions about it. Even a genius like Orochimaru was inevitably limited by the times and didn't realize the importance of it.

Watching Orochimaru's departing figure, Tianqing's eyes gradually turned cold: "Next, it's time to go back and deal with Danzo. How dare you just throw away the army that Konoha has worked so hard to train? It seems it's time to let you know what it feels like to be blown up on the spot like a hearse drifting away! You think I can't play dirty tricks?!"

.................

PS: Second update, please continue to favorite and recommend!

Chapter Nine: Sino-Japanese friendship relies on South Korea, while Uchiha and Hyuga friendship relies on Orochimaru.

At this time, Konoha was draped in white mourning clothes. Every household hung white cloths to symbolize mourning. Whether they were large or small ninja clans or ordinary ninjas, the grief-stricken people put on mourning clothes and walked towards the cemetery on the edge of Konoha Village to mourn their fallen relatives at the memorial stone.

In this battle, Konoha lost almost all of its forces on the battlefield in the Land of Lightning, including nearly ten thousand able-bodied ninja and almost half of its weapons and supplies. This was an extremely heavy blow to Konoha, a village that had repeatedly won wars in recent years.

Before the extreme grief of losing loved ones and the sudden, enormous defeat, the villagers' anger had already reached a boiling point. They desperately needed to find the culprit who had caused them such pain. As a result, Orochimaru's reputation as a traitor spread throughout the village, and everyone cursed him.

It is said that the Uchiha and Hyuga ninjas, who have always had a bad relationship and usually disagree, will actually curse Orochimaru together whenever he is mentioned. It is similar to how, in Tianqing's past life, trolls from China and Japan often hurled insults at each other online, but if they found Koreans, they would unite to attack them. This has a sense that "Sino-Japanese friendship depends on Koreans, while Uchiha and Hyuga friendship depends on Orochimaru."

Tsunade stood in the Hokage's office, looking silently at the people below whose faces were filled with sorrow or anger.

"Lady Tsunade, the person has been brought here." Shizune opened the office door and walked in. Behind her was a young girl with a timid expression and an unusually dejected look. She was none other than Mitarashi Anko, Orochimaru's only disciple.

Looking at Mitarashi Anko's pale face and her dark circles, Tsunade forced a smile. "Don't worry, Orochimaru isn't like the rumors say. Soon, I'll clear his name. Just in case, you should stay with Shizune for now."

Hongdou nodded without saying a word, and silently followed Jingyin out.

In the original story, after Orochimaru defected, Anko, who had a cursed seal on her body, lived under the suspicious gaze of the villagers every day. This strong woman persevered with her tenacious will and strong heart, and even became a special Jonin, proving her loyalty to Konoha with her actions.

This time, Anko's situation was even more difficult, because Orochimaru, in addition to his defection, was also blamed for the deaths of many Konoha ninja. Therefore, to prevent the angry people from doing anything rash, Tsunade specifically sent Shizune to bring Anko back and protect her closely.

Watching Anko walk away with Shizune, Tsunade sighed deeply, then asked in a cold voice towards the shadows beside her, "Have you found out? Who leaked the information and spread it throughout the village?"

Even though Danzo pinned all the blame on Orochimaru in his intelligence report, if this intelligence had only been sent to the Konoha leadership, Tsunade, as the acting head of government, could have suppressed it or taken measures to prevent the villagers from associating Orochimaru's defection with the army's defeat.

However, the person who received the intelligence disseminated it to the entire village in the name of Konoha's intelligence department without informing their superiors, thus successfully provoking the anger of the entire village and completely depriving Orochimaru of any chance to defend himself.

"We found him, but he committed suicide. And before he died, he completely destroyed his brain; even the Nakayama clan can't read the information in his brain," the Anbu replied. During the time Amemori was away from Konoha, Tsunade, as acting administrator, naturally took over the basic command of the Anbu directly under the Hokage, enabling her to mobilize the Anbu to carry out some relatively low-level missions.

"Heh, suicide?" Tsunade curled her lip. "I didn't expect Danzo to have such a suicide agent hidden in the intelligence department! But it doesn't matter, I still have enough witnesses to prove that Danzo is lying. Once the villagers of Konoha calm down, I will be able to convey the whole truth to them and let them understand the real reason for this failure. It's only a matter of time before they expose Danzo's tricks!"

Because Danzo could never have imagined that Kabuto Yakushi, who was involved in most of his plans, was actually a double agent under the Hokage's command, and also the best witness to prove Danzo's crimes.

..................................

On the border of the Land of Earth, countless tents stood arrayed on the hillsides, banners fluttering in the wind, and fully armed Iwa ninja were busily making final preparations for battle. After secretly agreeing with Danzo to jointly attack the Land of Lightning, and after a period of mobilization, the 30,000-strong Iwa ninja army was finally assembled. At the Third Tsuchikage's command, they would launch a rapid advance and begin their attack on the Land of Lightning.

"Lord Tsuchikage! Something terrible has happened!" An Iwa ninja rushed into the tent and handed a report to the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki. "We just received news that Konoha's army has been defeated! And defeated terribly, almost completely wiped out. Only Danzo escaped back to the Land of Fire with less than a hundred men!"

"What?! Konoha actually lost?" an Iwa ninja strategist exclaimed in surprise. "Currently, most of Konoha's army is concentrated on the battlefields of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water. In other words, Konoha has directly lost nearly half of its army this time. The fighting strength of the entire village has been greatly weakened. I'm afraid they can no longer spare enough troops to join forces with us to attack the Land of Lightning!"

"What's there to worry about? We haven't even officially declared war on the Land of Lightning yet. Now that Konoha has been defeated, we'll just turn around and join forces with the Land of Lightning to deal with Konoha! The Land of Lightning, having already expended a lot of manpower, should be quite happy to have our fresh troops supporting them!" The Third Tsuchikage said nonchalantly, then revealed a cunning smile: "Also, send someone to ask our old friend Danzo. It seems his situation isn't too good right now. So, does he need to come here to lay low for a while? Don't worry, considering our past friendship, we won't treat him unfairly. We can also help him eliminate those obstructive witnesses around him!"

After all, Danzo, as a high-ranking official of Konoha, was very familiar with all kinds of information about Konoha. If he could defect to Iwagakure with the valuable information in his mind, it would be a huge benefit to the Land of Earth.

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PS: First update. Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend. Also, this volume is quite long and has many characters, so the progress will be slower. I can't help it, I'm just not good at writing.

Chapter 10: Minato Namikaze's Spy Career

Unlike the grieving Hidden Leaf Village, the Hidden Cloud Village was filled with joy. In the previous war, the Land of Fire had been overwhelming the Land of Lightning, leaving all the Hidden Cloud ninjas with a pent-up resentment. Now that their great revenge had been achieved, every Hidden Cloud ninja was naturally beaming with joy. Even those Hidden Cloud ninjas who had lost loved ones in the war showed a hint of vengeful satisfaction on their faces.

Disguised as a foreign merchant, Minato Namikaze glanced up at the colorful flags hanging above the street, a flash of anger crossing his face. He then forcibly suppressed his anger, regaining his composure, and casually pulled down his hood to conceal his appearance before walking deeper into the street.

When the Land of Lightning's super weapon appeared out of nowhere and decisively defeated Konoha's army, the world was shocked by its terrifying power. Consequently, everyone dispatched their most elite ninja to the Land of Lightning to investigate. Konoha, as the defeated party, was especially terrified of this super weapon. Therefore, immediately after receiving news of the defeat, Minato Namikaze received a mission from Konoha, requiring him to lead a small team to infiltrate Kumogakure and uncover the truth behind this super weapon.

Before the exact range and attack conditions of this terrifying anti-military weapon are ascertained, Konoha dares not send its last remaining main force to the Land of Lightning. What if it gets hit by another shot? Wouldn't that mean immediate annihilation? Although Konoha is the most populous of the five great nations and can retrain a completely new army in a short period of time, the corresponding weapons, equipment, and combat experience are not so easy to acquire.

"How much are these apples? I'll have a set." Minato Namikaze stood by a fruit stand on a street corner, asking the vendor before squatting down to select apples. At the same time, he secretly glanced at the two figures following him. "So I'm being watched. But judging from their skills, they're probably just ordinary genin. Looks like they haven't discovered my identity. So this surveillance is just a routine check on outsiders?"

On this day of village-wide victory celebration, the Hidden Cloud Village noticeably tightened its control and vigilance, especially regarding outsiders. Numerous genin and chunin were deployed for round-the-clock surveillance and tracking. Anyone arriving at this time, regardless of whether they were "merchants," "travelers," or "mercenaries," was likely a spy sent by another village to gather intelligence on superweapons.

Minato Namikaze picked up the apple, then turned and walked into a nearby alley, disappearing from the observer's sight. Two Cloud Ninja rushed over, only to find the alley empty. "Quick, after them!" The two Cloud Ninja exchanged a glance and hurriedly ran towards the other end of the alley.

......................

Whoosh! Flying Thunder God Technique!

As he entered the alley, Minato Namikaze used Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport into a secluded, dark room in the distance.

"Has that person spoken yet? How's the intelligence gathering going?" Minato Namikaze asked, casually handing over the apple he was holding.

"We've pried his mouth open," a voice replied, then stared intently at Minato Namikaze with its white eyes for a while before taking the apple and, while eating, stating its conclusion: "Confirmed to be Minato Namikaze himself. The Byakugan detected no trace of genjutsu, nor any other anomalies!"

Whew!

Upon hearing this, everyone else in the room breathed a long sigh of relief and put down their weapons.

This investigation mission was of great importance, so Konoha selected elite ninjas, including those from the Hyuga Byakugan, Uchiha, Yamanaka, and Nara clans, and formed a formidable five-person team with Minato Namikaze as the captain. To be on the safe side, each member returning from the mission was required to undergo a thorough examination by the Hyuga Byakugan to ensure there were no suspicious signs before being allowed to regain trust.

Then an Uchiha ninja handed over a piece of paper filled with information: "After being caught in our Uchiha genjutsu, and with the addition of the mountain's mental invasion technique, that Cloud Ninja has now confessed everything he knows."

As a formidable squad capable of controlling, dealing damage, and conducting reconnaissance, they easily captured a Jonin from Kumogakure before he even realized what was happening. They then subjected him to various genjutsu brainwashing and mental invasion until all the information in his mind was completely extracted. Afterward, the unfortunate prisoner would be kept in custody, and his identity would be replaced by Minato Namikaze.

"So this super weapon is called the Chakra Railgun?" Minato Namikaze quickly flipped through the intelligence he had gathered over the past few days. "The cannon consists of two parts: the Chakra Dispersion Cannon and the Chakra Time-Space Cannon... It only needs chakra charging to fire..."

Minato Namikaze then frowned. Although he knew that with the Uchiha and Yamanaka clans working together, the prisoners couldn't possibly conceal or lie about the information, for some reason, he instinctively felt that something was wrong with the information.

........................ ..

The Third Raikage stood at the window of his office, watching the passersby on the street, a slight smile on his lips: "Ever since the appearance of the Chakra Railgun, there have been many more outsiders coming to Kumogakure. I wonder how many of them are spies?"

"Dad, the preliminary surveillance results are in." The future Fourth Raikage walked into the office and handed a statistical document to his father. "I really didn't expect that we only sent some ordinary genin and chunin for routine surveillance, but we found that at least half of these outsiders were acting strangely! Should I take some men to arrest them all and interrogate them?"

The Third Raikage shook his head. Although he looked as rugged as a wrestler, as the leader of a village, he was not a clueless brute. "Don't worry too much about those spies. We still need them. Just have the people below maintain normal surveillance. Also, have you distributed the information I had specially compiled about the chakra railgun to the villagers?"

"They've all been distributed. Everyone is very proud of the village's chakra railgun and wants to know more about it, so the information is very popular!"

"That's good." The Third Raikage revealed a sly smile that seemed completely out of place with his rugged appearance. "Only in this way can our Kumogakure village reap the greatest benefits!"

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PS: Second update. Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend!

Chapter Eleven: Bluffing is a very good strategy.

Seeing his son's puzzled look, the Third Raikage continued to explain, "The Hidden Cloud Village desperately needs a victory that can boost morale. Previously, Konoha deployed various powerful puppet weapons during the war, which instilled great fear in many Hidden Cloud villagers. The Chakra Railgun can revitalize them and make them no longer afraid of Konoha's new weapons. That's why I had people compile information about the Chakra Railgun and distribute it to the entire village."

"But wouldn't doing this make it easier for spies from other villages to obtain information about the Chakra Railgun?"

"We need to get these spies this information! Let them spread the word about the immense power of the Chakra Railgun to every country!" the Third Raikage continued. "These documents only exaggerate the power of the Chakra Railgun, deliberately downplaying the enormous energy it requires. The goal is to make all countries fear our power, so that we can gain the greatest advantage in our next operation! Whether the war continues or a ceasefire is negotiated, as long as the other side fears our Chakra Railgun, we will have the upper hand!"

In Tian Qing's previous life, this strategy of using superweapons to bully others had a very professional name: nuclear blackmail. A major power possessing superweapons could arbitrarily impose conditions on countries without them, and the other side would have no choice but to accept these conditions. This is the main reason why China allocated a large amount of manpower and resources to develop superweapons during the difficult early years of its founding.

Then, the Third Raikage picked up a document from the table and handed it over: "This is an agreement just sent by the Third Tsuchikage, requesting that we join forces to attack Konoha. Hmph! That damned old bastard actually secretly amassed an army of 30,000 on the border, and only notified us now! If we hadn't used our chakra railgun to wipe out Konoha's army, I guess that old bastard Onoki would have joined forces with Konoha to attack us from both sides, right?!"

"These faithless, traitorous Iwa ninja!" the future Fourth Raikage cursed angrily. "Should we just use the chakra railgun to...?"

"No!" The Third Raikage immediately rejected the tempting suggestion of eliminating the Third Tsuchikage in one fell swoop. "The army of the Land of Lightning is already depleted. We need fresh troops as cannon fodder to deplete Konoha's ammunition. Let those Iwa ninjas lead the charge for us in attacking Konoha!"

Then the Third Raikage lowered his voice: "Remember not to mention using the Chakra Railgun so easily in the future. In fact, after the last launch, the engineers in charge of maintenance discovered that due to the huge energy impact during the launch, the internal structure of the Chakra Railgun had many problems, and they had no idea whether it could fire a second shot!"

It was all a bluff; that was the real reason why the Third Raikage was exaggerating the power of the Chakra Railgun in the village!

The Third Raikage knew perfectly well that this experimental chakra railgun was likely incapable of firing a second shot, and there simply wasn't enough time to build a completely new one. Therefore, to prevent other countries from taking advantage of the situation to invade, especially Konoha's potential retaliation, the Third Raikage publicly publicized the power of the chakra railgun throughout the village. He deliberately ensured that spies from other villages obtained this information, so that the terrifying power of the chakra railgun would be deeply imprinted in everyone's minds. Relying on this seemingly impressive but ultimately ineffective "tiger skin," he aimed to buy precious time and greater benefits for Kumogakure!

This is the strategy of the village's leader! Even though the Third Raikage is big and burly, like an ultimate muscle man whose entire body's nutrition is used to grow muscles, it doesn't mean he's brainless. After so many years of political struggle, he has long been an old fox who can master all kinds of strategies!

......................

Late at night, under the cover of darkness, several Konoha ninja secretly slipped out of Kumogakure, carrying the intelligence they had gathered about the chakra railgun, and fled swiftly towards Konoha. Meanwhile, in several other directions, spies from various ninja villages, carrying intelligence that the Raikage had deliberately given them, were also heading towards their respective villages.

On the walls of Kumogakure, the guards, who had already received the secret orders from the Third Raikage, remained motionless. Even though they had discovered the presence of some spies with subpar stealth skills, the guards showed no intention of pursuing them. Instead, they allowed the spies to leave with information describing the terrifying power of the chakra railgun.

In Konoha's secret hideout, Minato Namikaze sat alone in a dark room, munching on his dinner. After obtaining the information he needed, Minato, as the team leader, issued orders for the others to return to Konoha with the intelligence, while he remained in the Land of Lightning.

Because Minato Namikaze was scared.

Based on the intelligence he obtained, Minato Namikaze discovered that the chakra railgun not only has an extremely long range, capable of striking targets from the Earth's surface to space, and from one country to another, but it can also fire directly once the target's exact range is known. So what if the Land of Lightning were to aim the chakra railgun at Konoha? After all, Konoha's geographical location is known throughout the world, so there's no need for the Land of Lightning to investigate!

Therefore, Minato Namikaze was terrified that the village he had fought for and the people he loved would be instantly destroyed by the chakra railgun.

Therefore, Minato Namikaze decided to stay behind alone in the Hidden Cloud Village, which was full of enemies, and he was going to destroy the chakra railgun!

"The chakra railgun made a loud noise when it fired, so many Cloud Ninja witnessed the bombardment that day. Judging from the trajectory of the beam of light, the chakra railgun should be located among the mountain peaks on the edge of Cloud Ninja Village!" Minato Namikaze carefully considered his target and planned his battle strategy.

As a space-time ninja with the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato Namikaze was very confident in his power and believed that he could destroy the target on his own and escape unscathed. This is one of the reasons why he did not agree when his teammates offered to stay and help.

*Snap!* Minato Namikaze donned the Aquarius Gold Cloth. Although he didn't particularly like the flashy, glittering appearance of the Gold Cloth, the powerful enhancement it provided was enough to make him overlook this minor flaw: "Ready? We'll move at dawn when the Cloud Ninja guards change shifts!"

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P.S. First update! Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend! O(∩_∩)O~

Chapter Twelve: I've had enough of catching pigeons!!

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