I, Naruto Uzumaki, don't need your approval.

However, the current Kusagakure Village still needs the help of these two outsiders.

Chapter 178 Cooperation

With Tsunade and Jiraiya joining the fray, the battle quickly became one-sided.

Satoru had no chance to fight back and could only accept the beating. But no matter what kind of injury he suffered, Satoru could recover quickly, making him more troublesome than ordinary tailed beasts.

Seizing the opportunity, Jiraiya clasped his hands together and jumped onto Satoru's head, slamming his palms down: "Ninja Art: Four Symbols Sealing Seal!"

As the spell was cast, Wu's body began to be covered with incantations.

But just a few seconds later, these incantations were devoured by Wu, and the Four Symbols Seal was destroyed on its own.

Seeing that the sealing techniques were ineffective, Jiraiya's expression grew increasingly grim. His sealing techniques were not considered weak among Konoha ninjas, and the Four Symbols Sealing Technique was already considered a high-level sealing technique.

Above that, only large-scale combined ninjutsu and the Reaper Death Seal Technique remain.

After dodging Satoru's counterattack, Jiraiya approached the leader of Kusagakure and said meaningfully, "Leader, ordinary sealing techniques cannot seal Satoru. Kusagakure should pray for good fortune."

The leader of Kusagakure sighed softly and then said, "Satoru can only be sealed in the Box of Bliss; ordinary sealing techniques are simply ineffective."

"Why does the leader know so much about monsters...?"

The leader of Kusagakure was silent for a moment, then said, "This is Kusagakure's fault. I will personally apologize to the Hokage after this is over. Let's deal with Satoru first."

Jiraiya snorted and asked, "Where is the Box of Bliss now?"

"It's located in the nearby Anbu base, but please ask Jiraiya-sama to lead Satoru to the vicinity of the Box of Bliss so that it will be easier to seal him."

The leader of Kusagakure appeared very humble in front of Jiraiya.

Besides Jiraiya and Tsunade possessing strength comparable to the Five Kage, it also depends on the overall strength of the village. Kusagakure is one of the strongest small ninja villages, but it is still five to ten times stronger than the major ninja villages.

If the monsters inside the Box of Bliss could be controlled, that would be fine.

Kusagakure might be able to become a neutral ninja village, similar to the Land of Iron and the Land of Rain.

However, the plan failed. In addition to facing the threat from Iwagakure, Konoha would also express its dissatisfaction. Furthermore, with the loss of Karin, a free medical tool, the future of the village was predictable.

Upon arriving at the Kusagakure base, standing on the edge of the courtyard, one could faintly hear sounds of fighting from the bottom.

Jiraiya had excellent eyesight and immediately spotted the undead monsters and Akatsuki members fighting below. He frowned and asked with a displeased expression:

"You also secretly contacted Akatsuki mercenaries?"

"Lord Jiraiya, the Akatsuki is a very powerful mercenary group. Besides Kusagakure, many other villages have hired them to make up for their lack of combat power."

The leader of Kusagakure frowned as he explained.

All the other sacrificial ninjas died, so why are the Akatsuki ninjas still alive? Where did Wuwei and the Grand Elder go?

Could it be that they deliberately manipulated Wu to attack the village, intending to launch a coup against them?

The Akatsuki members also noticed Jiraiya and the others, and Itachi Uchiha, who was hiding in the Anbu, frowned deeply. He had come to Kusagakure to carry out a mission, so how could he have run into the Sannin of Konoha?

After exchanging a glance, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame instantly appeared in front of Jiraiya.

"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame!" Jiraiya stared at the two, a look of apprehension flashing in his eyes. These two were both vicious rogue ninjas with extremely strong abilities.

Logically, he should have acted immediately upon encountering a rogue ninja, but this is not Konoha after all.

Itachi Uchiha glanced past Jiraiya and looked at the leader of Kusagakure, demanding, "We need a reasonable explanation. Why did Kusagakure attack us? Why did they sacrifice hundreds of ninjas to open that box?"

Upon hearing this, not only Jiraiya and Tsunade, but even the Grass Village ninja all looked at the Grass Village leader.

The leader of Kusagakure felt a chill run down his spine and said blankly, "I don't know. Opening the Chest of Bliss doesn't just require one sacrifice. Why do we need hundreds of ninjas? The elders are in charge of all of this."

Uchiha Itachi said calmly, "Your elder is dead, killed by another Jonin. There's no way to verify it now, and the fact that Kusagakure attacked Akatsuki is already established."

"You must give Xiao an explanation for this matter."

The scene of the Kusagakure leader shifting the blame felt somewhat familiar to Jiraiya. Back then, Danzo was exposed as the one who did all the bad things in the village, and the Third Hokage had always been unaware of it.

Danzo acted arbitrarily, but the fact that the Hokage knew nothing about it makes it seem even more unbelievable.

Even if they were truly unaware of these wrongdoings, they must at least acknowledge their responsibility for inadequate oversight.

The leader of Kusagakure was speechless and could only turn to Jiraiya for help: "Lord Jiraiya, Itachi Uchiha is a rogue ninja of Konoha. Please take action and deal with him quickly."

Jiraiya pulled his wandering thoughts back, let out a long sigh, and then entered battle mode.

Uchiha Itachi narrowed his eyes and said, "Lord Jiraiya, before settling our score, why don't we figure out how to deal with the monsters that came out of the box? Besides that flying monster, there are dozens of similar monsters down there. If we don't deal with them, you probably won't be able to get the box."

"Are there other monsters?"

Itachi Uchiha nodded: "That box devours the corpses of the surrounding ninjas and transforms them into monsters that can survive even fatal attacks, and their numbers are increasing."

"If they were to grow in scale, it would be a disaster for the entire ninja world."

"Although we Akatsuki are mercenaries, we will not stand idly by and watch the ninja world be destroyed. I believe the leader of Kusagakure, as well as Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade, understand this."

Upon hearing this, Tsunade, who had remained silent until now, spoke up:

“Uchiha brat, you’re right. We can put aside our grudges with the village for now and work together to deal with the monster that escaped from the Box of Bliss.”

"However, even after we defeat the monster, we will still be enemies."

Uchiha Itachi nodded slightly: "Of course. Now let's deal with the crisis we're facing right now. I've been looking forward to fighting alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade since I was a child, and I even dreamed of becoming Hokage."

These words made Jiraiya uncomfortable; he could never understand why Itachi would kill his own clansmen.

Seemingly sensing Jiraiya's thoughts, Itachi Uchiha explained expressionlessly:

"Killing my clansmen was, of course, to prove my worth and obtain these Mangekyou Sharingan. I also ask Lord Jiraiya to convey to the Third Hokage that he should nurture Sasuke properly, as I hope to gain even greater power."

"I will pass on this to the Third Hokage." Jiraiya's tone was unfriendly.

Chapter 179 Immortal Technique: Inorganic Rebirth

After Satoru left, Kusagakure became quiet.

The shop owner emerged from under the counter, carrying some homemade snacks, and cautiously asked from the second floor, "Two ninja sirs, has that monster outside been defeated?"

Naruto glanced at the shop owner and shook his head slightly: "Not yet, but the crisis your Kusagakure village is about to face has only just begun. I'm afraid there won't be any good days for the next few years."

Upon hearing this, the shop owner fell silent, then looked at Karin: "It's because of this child. This child has a familiar feel to him, and he looks a lot like that young doctor in the hospital."

Naruto didn't reply, and jumped off the second floor of the izakaya with Karin in his arms.

Seeing the two leave, the residents of Kusagakure, who had initially breathed a sigh of relief, began to feel uneasy again, unsure whether they were worried about the monster returning or about the future of Kusagakure.

Walking along the main street of Kusagakure, I headed towards the location of the Chest of Bliss.

This time, Naruto didn't have Karin disguise herself. Instead, he walked openly down the street. Many of the grass ninja recognized Karin's identity, but because of Naruto's aura, they didn't dare to get close.

Looking at the hesitant Kusagakure ninja and the Kusagakure residents with regret in their eyes, Karin asked curiously, "Why are they looking at me like that?"

"Without a tool for venting their frustrations and receiving free medical care, how can they not feel regret?"

At this point, a gloomy look appeared on Naruto's face.

Karin and similar simple tools are not uncommon in the ninja world. The Jinchuriki of the major ninja villages are the best examples. They bear the greatest resentment on a daily basis and must fight against the Tailed Beasts at all times.

It's hypocritical to say that you have to protect the village at critical moments, otherwise you'll be letting down the village that nurtured you.

Karin seemed to be affected by the gloomy atmosphere as well, her eyes immediately dimming. Noticing this, Naruto smiled and said:

"These are all things of the past. Do you plan to take revenge on these Kusagakure ninja now, or let them watch as Kusagakure slowly declines?"

Karin fell into deep thought, then looked at Naruto and asked, "Menma-sama, what was your choice back then?"

Naruto was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "I let them fend for themselves, but you and I are different. Back then, if I didn't like something, I would directly hit and scold them back, but they really hurt your body."

"I intend to do what Lord Menma did and watch them bring about their own destruction."

Karin made a decision: she wanted to take revenge herself, rather than relying on the power of others, and her mother's wish was for her to live a normal ninja life.

Not long after, the two arrived near the Kusagakure base and witnessed the battle between the ninja and Satoru.

Naruto was somewhat surprised that Konoha had joined forces with Akatsuki, thinking to himself that only a shared crisis could bring together two sides with different stances.

Karin watched intently as a Kage-level powerhouse battled a Tailed Beast-level monster.

Karin was particularly envious of Tsunade, who could create a large crater in the ground with a single punch. If she had such power, she wouldn't be bullied by other ninjas.

At that moment, Naruto suddenly sensed a familiar chakra and looked towards the distant woods.

On one of the large trees stood a ninja wearing a vortex mask, none other than Uchiha Obito. Obito also sensed Naruto's presence, and after leaving a White Zetsu in place to disguise himself, he immediately used Kamui and disappeared into the vortex.

Never engage in battle lightly without sufficient certainty; this was a lesson Obito learned from his mistakes.

Upon arriving at the forest where Obito was, and finding that Obito's chakra had completely disappeared, Naruto let out a soft hum, and then dealt with the White Zetsu disguised as Obito, placing the White Zetsu's corpse directly into the scroll.

If he weren't worried that others might also gain control of the White Zetsu's power, he wouldn't bother collecting any more White Zetsu.

There are many of these things in the warehouse of Wochao Village. They were all captured by the old clan chief using sealing techniques for research.

Naruto formed hand seals to create shadow clones to protect Karin, then looked towards the Box of Elysium, preparing to seize it. He couldn't let go of a treasure related to the Divine Tree so easily.

Naruto quickly locked onto Jonin Muu's chakra and vanished in an instant.

When Naruto found Muwei, Muwei was in a dark room, depressed. He couldn't understand why his son, who had been resurrected through the Box of Elysium, had become Satoru. This was not the result he wanted at all.

"Why did it fail? Why! Isn't the Box of Bliss supposed to grant wishes?"

Naruto approached Wuwei and said coldly, "The Box of Bliss can indeed grant wishes, but the method is not what you imagine. Your son was indeed resurrected, but he has also become a slave to the Box of Bliss forever."

This is precisely what makes the Box of Bliss so strange—it can grant wishes, but it's incredibly sinister.

For example, to achieve world peace, all we need to do is kill off all of humanity, and the world will naturally be at peace, and the concept of war will no longer exist.

"Who are you?" Upon noticing the figure appearing in front of him, Wuwei immediately became alert.

Without wasting any words, Naruto directly used his Sharingan genjutsu on Wuwei to ask about the sealing technique for sealing Wuwei, as well as research data related to the Box of Bliss, and then threw the data to Kurama.

"Nine Lama, can we deduce any information about the sacred tree from these materials?"

Kurama accepted the information, frowned, and pondered for a long time before saying, "If the Box of Bliss is truly that sinister, I doubt its connection to the Divine Tree... it's more like something that already existed in the ninja world..."

Seemingly realizing she had said the wrong thing, Kurama quickly shut up.

Upon hearing this, Naruto fell into deep thought. The Nine-Tails is a tailed beast that inherited many of the Ten-Tails' abilities. Even the Nine-Tails couldn't discern the origin of the Paradise Box, so this thing might be even older than the God Tree.

Perhaps only the Sage of Six Paths knows what the Box of Bliss really is.