People in Demon Slayer: The Journey That Began with Demon Slayer

After saying that, Jiraiya wanted to rush up and interrupt Naruto.

Following Jiraiya's prompting, the others rushed toward Naruto's main body, who was gathering chakra.

However, Naruto's shadow clones blocked Zabuza and the others, preventing them from getting close to Naruto's main body.

A moment later, Naruto had completed his technique.

In Naruto's palm, the Rasengan, resembling a giant shuriken, was spinning continuously.

Jiraiya's gaze was solemn. Having already mastered the Rasengan, Jiraiya understood the principle behind this technique.

By incorporating wind-style chakra nature transformation into the Rasengan and further altering its shape, the seemingly enormous Rasengan shuriken is actually an amalgamation of countless tiny chakra blades.

With the added power of Sage Chakra and Nine-Tails Chakra, this technique far surpasses the power of ordinary S-rank ninjutsu.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Kakashi, and Tsunade, who had come from Konoha, finally arrived at the battlefield.

Hiruzen Sarutobi yelled at Naruto, "Naruto! These are all your comrades, what are you doing?!"

"Heh, what are you doing? Don't you have eyes? Of course, it's to get revenge on you!" Naruto sneered sarcastically.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked sorrowful: "Why...didn't your dream always be to become Hokage?"

"If I hadn't disguised myself, I would have died at your hands long ago! Since you ask me why, then I'll give you my reasons. Hiding my identity as the Fourth Hokage's son, being bullied by those idiots, being monitored by the Anbu every day, having no freedom whatsoever, being handed over to Root, and being tortured by Danzo—are these reasons enough, Hiruzen Sarutobi?!"

An enraged Jiraiya grabbed Hiruzen Sarutobi by the collar: "Old man! You actually handed Naruto over to that bastard Danzo?! Have you forgotten? Danzo is suspected of being involved in the Nine-Tails' attack! What were you thinking?!"

Feeling guilty, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't dare look Jiraiya in the eye, but even at this moment, he still defended Danzo: "Danzo... he did it for Konoha too..."

Jiraiya looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi before him, his eyes filled with deep disappointment: "For Konoha... Orochimaru's betrayal, the Nine-Tails' attack, the Uchiha clan massacre—Danzo was involved in all of these things. Was it all for Konoha? As Hokage, is Danzo all you care about?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not answer Jiraiya. Tsunade said, "Let's stop Naruto first. We can deal with these problems one by one when we return to Konoha. Konoha cannot lose Naruto now."

Jiraiya released Hiruzen Sarutobi, looking at Naruto sadly: "I'm sorry, Naruto... I've been neglecting you all this time..."

Naruto interrupted Jiraiya with disgust: "As Minato Namikaze's teacher and Kakashi Hatake as Minato Namikaze's disciple, you both clearly know my identity, but have you ever helped me even once? So stop putting on that hypocritical act, it's disgusting!"

Kakashi lowered his head in self-reproach. The death of his best friend and the sacrifice of his teacher plunged him into darkness during that period, so he didn't dare to visit Naruto at all.

"Die, all of you! Sage Art? Wind Release? Rasenshuriken!"

Naruto threw the Rasenshuriken in his hand.

Everyone was on edge as they faced Naruto's Rasenshuriken.

Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately created two shadow clones.

"The Three-Party Seal!"

The main body and its two clones each deployed a green, transparent pyramid-shaped barrier in the southeast, west, and south directions, protecting everyone in Konoha within the barrier.

The spiral shuriken made a piercing sound as it collided with the three-way barrier.

In an instant, the Spiral Shuriken spun rapidly, creating a whirlwind.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's three-way barrier cracked under Naruto's powerful attack.

In just a few seconds, the Rasenshuriken completely destroyed the three-way barrier and hurtled towards the Konoha ninja.

At the critical moment, Kakashi Hatake unwrapped his Sharingan from his left eye, transforming his three-tomoe Sharingan into the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Divine power!"

Kakashi focused on Naruto's Rasenshuriken, and a point appeared at the center of the Rasenshuriken. This point twisted and changed continuously, absorbing Naruto's Rasenshuriken into the space-time dimension.

However, the Rasenshuriken is an amalgamation of countless tiny blades, and it is impossible to absorb them all into the space-time continuum; some of them still ended up among the crowd.

The deformation and high-speed rotation of extremely high-density chakra completely destroyed the cells in the bodies of some Konoha ninjas, causing them to die on the spot.

Chapter 248 The Changing Landscape

Hiruzen Sarutobi used Earth Release ninjutsu, employing an elemental advantage, to stop the subsequent effects of Naruto's Rasenshuriken in time, thus preventing the casualties from escalating.

Jiraiya and the others looked towards Naruto's location, only to find that Naruto had disappeared.

Naruto's departure left everyone present with an incredibly heavy heart.

The war is finally over, but the price paid is heavy.

Konoha suffered countless casualties, but what Konoha found most unbearable was Naruto's departure.

Each of the five great ninja villages has a Jinchuriki as their ultimate weapon to deter other villages, but Konoha lost its Jinchuriki and was completely put on the defensive.

A light drizzle began to fall from the sky.

Tsunade treated the seriously injured, while Hiruzen Sarutobi stood silently in place. Jiraiya looked up at the sky, letting the raindrops patter on his face, the tears streaming from his eyes unreadable.

Jiraiya walked away without a word. Hiruzen Sarutobi, watching Jiraiya's retreating figure, sensed something was wrong: "Jiraiya, where are you going? Konoha needs you!"

"No, Konoha doesn't need me. The Konoha of today is no longer the Konoha I once wanted to protect with everything I had. All I see in Konoha now is darkness, decay, ruin, and ignorance!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi pleaded, "Jiraiya, I will be stepping down as Hokage this time. I hope you will succeed me as the Fifth Hokage!"

Upon hearing the title of Hokage, Jiraiya showed no joy, but instead asked, "Then, Hokage-sama, what do you intend to do with Danzo?"

“Although Danzo did many wrong things, he also made contributions to Konoha. The Hokage stands in the sunlight, but in places where the sunlight doesn’t reach, someone needs to secretly protect Konoha in the darkness. This is unavoidable!” Hiruzen Sarutobi explained.

"Is that so... Lord Hokage, you should find someone else for the position of Fifth Hokage. I, Jiraiya, am not capable of succeeding him."

Jiraiya left the Land of Fire with endless disappointment.

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked sadly, "Tsunade, did I really do something wrong?"

Tsunade did not answer Hiruzen Sarutobi, but addressed him respectfully, saying, "Hokage-sama, the wounded here are in stable condition, and the war is over, so I should leave now."

Hiruzen Sarutobi trembled: "Tsunade, are you leaving too?"

"Lord Hokage, just as Jiraiya said, Konoha is no longer the Konoha it once was. When the Fourth Hokage was dying, he entrusted Naruto to you, but you not only failed to take good care of him, you even handed him over to Root. You have let down the Fourth Hokage."

Grandpa founded Konoha hoping for world peace, so that children would grow up in peace, no longer embroiled in brutal wars. But you, with your own hands, overthrew it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi explained, "But war has come, and I have no choice but to do this..."

"What about the other Uchiha children besides Naruto? Although I don't have any good feelings towards the Uchiha clan, the children did nothing wrong. After all, the Uchiha clan still belongs to Konoha. Why exterminate them all, not even sparing the newborn babies?"

Furthermore, the Sharingan was stolen from the corpses of the Uchiha clan members. It's safe to assume Danzo was involved, and you must have known this and chosen to remain silent.

Tsunade shook her head in disappointment and, like Jiraiya, left the Land of Fire.

With Jiraiya and Tsunade gone, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked much older.

After this war, Konoha was severely weakened.

The Uchiha clan was wiped out, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki defected to Konoha, and two of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya and Tsunade, left Konoha. Countless Konoha ninja were killed or injured.

Aside from Sunagakure, which fought a desperate battle with Konoha, Kumogakure, whose Two-Tails was captured by Akatsuki, and Kirigakure, which was destroyed by Yosuke and others, only Iwagakure, who had been watching from the sidelines, became the biggest winner of this war.

The greatest victory is to suffer no losses; this war has completely changed the landscape of the entire ninja world.

Konoha, once the strongest in terms of overall strength, has plummeted to fourth place. If it weren't for its advantageous geographical location, it would be even weaker than Sunagakure at this moment.

Although Kirigakure was damaged by Yosuke and his group, the overall casualties were not serious, and Kirigakure could recover its strength as long as it was rebuilt.

Although the Hidden Cloud Village was ambushed by the Akatsuki and had its Two-Tails stolen, it still possesses the Eight-Tails, making it the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

The Hidden Stone Village suffered almost no casualties and even captured many Konoha ninjas. Through some special means, they were able to obtain a large amount of information about Konoha, making it an extremely profitable venture.

Jiraiya returned to Mount Myōboku, wanting to understand something. The Great Toad Sage had once said that his disciple would be the Child of Prophecy, but Naruto chose to seek revenge against Konoha. Therefore, Jiraiya wanted to ask the Great Toad Sage.

Jiraiya arrived at the palace on Mount Myōboku.

The giant toad sage, Gamamaru, is currently fast asleep. He is entirely orange, has yellow eyes, wears a string of prayer beads around his neck with a pale purple cat's eye stone in the center bearing the character "oil," and is wearing a doctoral cap on his head.

"Great Toad Sage!" Jiraiya kept calling out to the Great Toad Sage.

The Great Toad Sage awoke from his deep sleep: "Who goes there?"

Jiraiya said urgently, "Great Toad Sage, I am Jiraiya. I want to ask about the Child of Prophecy!"

The Great Toad Sage slowly asked, "Little Jiraiya, you want to ask whether Naruto Uzumaki is the Child of Prophecy, right?"

Jiraiya nodded: "If Naruto is the child of prophecy, is it still possible to bring him back to the right path?"

The Great Toad Sage explained, "I once said that the Child of Prophecy would bring about tremendous changes to the ninja world, but these changes may not necessarily bring salvation, but could also bring destruction."

Jiraiya was utterly shocked: "Shouldn't the Child of Prophecy be the savior who saves the world?"

"The Child of Prophecy may become a savior, but he needs guidance. However, you have led him down the path of destruction."

Jiraiya asked, unwilling to give up, "Is it still possible to salvage this?"

"Now there is another force interfering with the future, so the future is already unclear. Perhaps you can find that force and cooperate with it, and maybe you can try to salvage it."

"I understand, I will definitely turn things around!" Jiraiya said firmly.

"Jiraiya, the child of prophecy is still Naruto Uzumaki for now, but it may not be so in a while. At that time, the future will be uncertain, so you don't have much time left."

Chapter 249 Ashura Chakra

At this time, Naruto Uzumaki had already arrived in the Land of the Dead.

Naruto, wearing a cloak, was in a valley somewhere in the Land of Darkness.

Naruto took out a small mirror and looked at his lower back. Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Seal was visible on his lower back.

"Kurama, this time I plan to try sealing the Flying Thunder God mark."

Kurama asked in confusion, "Naruto, when did you learn sealing techniques?"

“Back in Root, those Root ninjas tested a lot of sealing techniques on me, right? I memorized one of their commonly used techniques,” Naruto explained.

Nine Lama suddenly realized: "So that's how it is!"

Using sealing techniques to seal the Flying Thunder God mark was Naruto's only option. He tried many methods to erase the Flying Thunder God mark from his body, but none of them worked.

Even if Naruto cuts off that piece of skin, it won't have any effect, because the Flying Thunder God mark will reappear once new skin grows back.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naruto created a physical clone.

The physical clone concentrated chakra on its five fingers, and the elements of lightning, wind, water, fire, and earth appeared at Naruto's fingertips.

"Five Elements Seal!"