The Avengers of the Uzumaki Family

Everyone wants to gain the first-mover advantage.

Therefore, before you become fully powerful.

Menma must think twice before acting against any ninja village, taking his cautious nature to the extreme.

During the Konoha Crush plan, Menma was able to control himself, so it goes without saying that he can now do so even more. Moreover, Menma had foreseen this situation in the ninja world from the very beginning. He knew that the Ninja World War was not going to break out so easily. It's like clapping your hands; you can't make a sound with just one hand.

Therefore, Mianma quickly adjusted her mindset.

After further confirming the current situation in the ninja world.

Menma, feeling somewhat relieved, led Karin northwards towards the location of Takigakure Village.

The village of Takigakure owns the Nanao.

Therefore, even though it has been declining over the years, it still holds a pivotal position in the ninja world.

None of the five great ninja villages were willing to easily attack Takigakure. The five great nations knew best how powerful a tailed beast was. It wasn't that Takigakure was currently that threatening, but rather that none of the five great nations wanted to see Takigakure join the ranks of their rival ninja villages because of their pressure.

That would be the worst-case scenario.

Menma chose to come to this ninja village at this time to scout ahead and lay the groundwork for his next plan.

As mentioned before, the most direct and effective way for Menma to gain his own power in a short period of time is to usurp another village's territory. Among the small ninja villages, Takigakure is the most promising and controllable.

The potential comes from the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki—Fu and the legendary Heroic Water that can increase a ninja's chakra by dozens of times. The controllability comes from the fact that the current leader of Takigakure is a very young person.

Detailed original plot and character settings.

Menma didn't remember clearly, but he still had some recollection of the timid nature of the young leader of Takigakure.

Rather than clashing with those old foxes, Menma is much more willing to communicate with these young people.

Because being young means having 'infinite possibilities'.

Well, to put it bluntly, they're easy to fool.

"Huh? Takigakure Village is inside here? Menma? Are you sure!?"

Outside Takigakure Village, looking at the magnificent waterfall before her, Karin asked Menma with an incredulous expression.

"Yes, it's in here. I just checked with the surrounding villages, and this is where Takigakure Village is located."

Mianma smiled and nodded.

Even if a ninja village is built in the most secluded place, its location will eventually be known to the world. After all, ninjas need to take on missions to earn rewards. If you can't even find the location of a ninja village, where will you find employers to give you missions?

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 144 Takigakure Village (Third Update)

In the original story, Naruto and his group entered the village directly through a waterfall.

However, Menma learned from the people in the surrounding area that there is a winding path on the other side of the waterfall that leads into the interior of Takigakure Village, and that is the real road that Takigakure Village uses to receive visitors.

After all, it would be ridiculous to allow every outsider, especially ordinary people, to cross the waterfall and enter the village.

"Let's go, the main entrance is in another direction, and we need to change its appearance as well."

This time, we're here for reconnaissance, not for anything else.

One's appearance naturally needs to be concealed.

Not to mention that he is now one of the most wanted ninjas in the world, ranking among the top ninja villages. Who knows if Takigakure has received accurate information about him? Menma doesn't want to cause a huge commotion the moment he enters Takigakure.

"Ok!"

Karin nodded knowingly.

"Transformation Technique".

The two used transformation techniques simultaneously, each transforming into a young man in his early twenties or thirties. Then, one after the other, they flew towards the main gate of Takigakure, with Menma making no attempt to conceal his identity as a ninja.

Because that would be the most foolish thing to do. Any ninja village, unless it is really a tiny village like Hoshigakure, is unlikely to have sensory-type ninjas. Other slightly larger ninja villages will have sensory-type ninjas, and these sensory-type ninjas will certainly have obvious differences in their level.

But even the worst sensory ninja.

It can also detect other people's chakra aura within a certain range.

If Menma were to pretend to be an ordinary traveler, she would be simply burying her head in the sand and deceiving herself.

The road we took around.

Just a few minutes later, the winding path came into view. It must be said that from the perspective of an ordinary person, the geographical advantage of Takigakure Village is simply too exaggerated, whether it is the entrance to the waterfall or the entrance to this path.

There's no problem with entering normally.

But what if there is an invasion by a foreign enemy?

Unless the difference in strength is too great, and Takigakure is prepared in advance, no one can possibly penetrate into the heart of Takigakure.

This is similar to the defense of the narrow passage in Sunagakure.

Without the assistance of the Jonin Yura, an inside agent arranged by Sasori, even the strongest Sasori and Deidara could not have infiltrated Sunagakure silently. The same principle applies to Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure, as these ninja villages almost all have their own unique defensive strategies.

Only when Konoha was established were Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha so powerful that they didn't need to care about these details. Konoha was established on a large plain, which was truly well-connected. Later, they could only rely on a large-scale sensory barrier, but this could only be used to locate enemies, not as a real defense against invasions from other places.

Although this was Menma's first time visiting the territory of another ninja village in this life, he had already gained a relative understanding of the terrain of each ninja village from reading the original work in his previous life.

Upon seeing the geographical location of Takigakure, one couldn't help but show a look of amazement. The natural terrain advantage, coupled with well-placed guards, makes it difficult for anyone to infiltrate unless their strength exceeds the dimensional gap.

"Hmm? Who is it? What brings you to our Takigakure Village?"

Without concealing their presence, Menma and Karin were immediately located by the Takigakure ninjas guarding the path. If they were just ordinary people, these ninjas would have simply let them pass.

But now it's quite obvious that the two are ninjas, even though it's unclear which ninja village they come from.

These ninja from Takigakure naturally had to show up and intercept them.

"Oh, we are messengers from Lord Tsuchimikata, the Left Minister under the command of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. We have a mission to issue to your village, and we request that your village leader grant us an audience."

Facing the scrutinizing gazes of the two Takigakure ninjas who had suddenly appeared before him, Menma smiled gently, calmly took out a token made of a special metal that he had prepared beforehand from his robes, showed it to the two ninjas, and said in a calm tone.

This was the identity that Menma had planned for himself long before he arrived.

Ninjas aren't just a class of people from ninja villages.

In the five great nations, the daimyo and some of the highest-ranking nobles all have a group of ninjas serving under them. These ninjas are either trained from a young age or recruited from outside. The most famous are the twelve guardians of the daimyo of the Land of Fire. Generally speaking, these ninjas directly obey the orders of the daimyo and nobles.

This can also be considered a confrontational strategy at the national level.

But in reality, it is extremely weak and powerless.

Because the ninjas under their command were either pitifully weak (at most only at the level of Chunin).

Or it's not so pure.

For example, the Twelve Guardian Ninjas mentioned earlier.

Asma was once one of them.

But what is Asuma's identity? The Hokage's son! Who do you think he'll side with?

Obeying the daimyo's orders? That's a joke.

The bloody battle between the Twelve Guardian Ninjas described in the original work is the best proof of this.

Therefore, the ninjas under these major powers generally have little chance to make a name for themselves, but their identities are still recognized and respected by others to some extent, which can be considered a kind of nominal etiquette. Although Menma's identity is fake, the token is real.

Because it was taken from Orochimaru.

This Orochimaru didn't even ask what Menma wanted it for, and generously gave it to Menma. Or rather, in Orochimaru's eyes, this was a trivial matter. Was a mere token of identity for a nobleman of a country really that important?

The answer is obviously no.

"!? So you are distinguished guests from the Land of Fire. Please come in. We will report to the leader immediately."

The green-haired ninja on the left couldn't tell if the token was real or fake, but he didn't care.

Identity is such a thing.

To put it bluntly, it's just a symbol; the ninjas valued practical matters more.

One of the ninja from Takigakure gestured to another ninja from Takigakure beside him.

"Ah."

Then.

He personally led Menma and Karin towards the interior of the village. Along the way, he warned them, in a tone that seemed like a reminder but was actually a warning, not to wander around after entering the ninja village, because some places were off-limits to outsiders and were even equipped with special traps.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 145 First Encounter

Menma didn't seem to mind. They were already on someone else's turf, so why shouldn't they be allowed to say a few words? Throughout the whole process, Menma maintained a smile and casually responded, while inwardly he was thinking about how to make initial contact with the young leader. At the same time, he was fully utilizing his senses to explore the ninja village. In that particular scene from the original work, Takigakure seemed small and didn't appear to have many ninjas, but that was clearly just a partial depiction.

As a village that possesses the Seven-Tails and once had the potential to become the sixth largest ninja village, with Kakuzu hailing from it, how could Takigakure possibly have only a few members?

Now, within Menma's vast senses, one can clearly detect hundreds of chakra auras in the vicinity, and even further away, many more chakra auras are constantly moving.

Although the size of this ninja village is far from comparable to that of the five great ninja villages.

However, the population living here has reached tens of thousands, and the number of ninjas is several hundred. If we also include the Takigakure ninjas who are on guard duty and on missions outside, the total number of ninjas should be over a thousand.

Of course, the chakra of these ordinary ninjas is generally not strong, and those who can reach the level of Jonin are even fewer. Compared with its peak, Takigakure is now really weak.

It's worth noting that Menma didn't sense any particularly strong chakra fluctuations nearby. Considering that Menma's current sensory range is already quite impressive, it's understandable that he couldn't detect anything within that range.

'Is the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki not currently in Takigakure?'

Menma subconsciously recalled the image of a girl named Fu with short blue-green hair.

This is also the most important and effective piece that Menma can use in his next plan.

Any individual pillar.

As long as one can unleash most of the power of a Tailed Beast, they can at least be treated as a Kage-level powerhouse.

Not to mention the perfect Jinchūriki.

Those are absolutely top-tier Kage-level beings, specifically referring to the Fourth Mizukage Yagura, the Jinchūriki of the Three-Tails, and Killer Bee, the Jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails. Especially the latter, when he unleashes his full power, ordinary Kage-level beings are absolutely no match for him.

While Fu's role in the original work is indeed not very large, she is still the Jinchūriki of the Seven-Tails. Even if expectations are lowered a bit, she can still be treated as an ordinary Kage-level character.