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

Fortunately, he was not fighting alone. In addition to his clansmen as support, he also had the support of Vortex experts.

Although the powerful vortex expert had never shown himself to him, he could sense the presence of that chakra. If he wasn't mistaken, that should be the backup plan that Master Menma left in the village.

After thinking about this, Shisui gradually abandoned his conservative approach and began to take the initiative to attack.

As long as they can find the enemy's true location, it doesn't matter if they waste an Izanagi attack. The clansmen need to win a victory to truly establish themselves in this newly established ninja village.

Otherwise, even if Menma-sama doesn't bring it up, they will still feel indebted and won't be able to fully integrate.

The consequences of failing to fully integrate into the ninja village have already been experienced by the Uchiha once. They will be gradually squeezed out of the center of power until they can no longer even keep their clan territory and can only become stray dogs.

He took a deep breath, his abdomen swelled, and the gathered chakra poured out from his mouth.

Using the flames as cover, Shisui quickly approached Hiruko, his figure transforming into more than ten phantoms, relentlessly attacking Hiruko's weak points until he severed Hiruko's joints.

With a loud bang, Hiruko shattered into countless parts, revealing Scorpion's true form.

Scorpion's true form was a handsome red-haired boy, but after seeing his true form, Shisui was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that the other party would actually transform his body into a puppet; this idea was simply too crazy.

Forced to reveal his true form behind him, Scorpion's expression turned extremely ugly.

Apart from his encounter with Konan many years ago, he has never revealed his true form. Shisui is the first to do so. If he could turn Shisui into a human puppet, Shisui's strength would be among the top ranks of his collection.

With a thought, Sasori split his fingers into ten chakra threads, simultaneously manipulating a dozen puppets to attack Shisui.

Just then, Jiraiya sped across the battlefield and launched an attack from behind Sasori. The rapidly spinning chakra ball struck Sasori's main body directly, causing it to disintegrate instantly.

The sudden turn of events caught Scorpion completely off guard, but as long as the puppeteer still had the puppeteer, he was not considered a failure.

Attracted by the puppet's core, Scorpion's body reformed, and its sharp blades pierced towards Jiraiya's back, but were all blocked by the tough hairs.

After his attack failed, Scorpion quickly created distance.

After looking around and not finding Orochimaru, Sasori frowned. He then had the other puppets protect him while he took out a summoning scroll and summoned the most special human puppet, the Third Kazekage.

"Magnetic Release: Iron Sand Wings!"

After leaping onto the Kazekage puppet, Sasori manipulated the puppet to unleash a ninjutsu in mid-air, sending countless iron sand feathers hurtling towards Jiraiya on the ground, but they were all blocked by Jiraiya's thick hair.

As Magnet Release was used, Jiraiya, Shisui, and the others also discovered the strangeness of the Kazekage puppet.

Magnet Release is no ordinary bloodline limit. Jonin who can master this ninjutsu often serve as the Kazekage of Sunagakure, and none of them have been made into human puppets after their death.

Wait a minute... Jiraiya suddenly remembered an old story.

The Third Shinobi World War was triggered by the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, who happened to possess the Magnet Release technique and remains missing to this day, with no trace of his body found.

Could the disappearance of the Third Kazekage be the work of this puppeteer?

When Jiraiya recognized the Third Kazekage's puppet, Sasori also recognized Jiraiya's identity, cursed Orochimaru for deserting his post, and the thought of retreating arose in his mind.

Given the current situation, he and Orochimaru together would be no match for each other.

However, both he and Orochimaru wanted to capture each other and use them as test subjects for research, so it was impossible for them to work together.

With that thought in mind, Scorpion manipulated the Wind Shadow Puppet to take off from the spot, soaring straight up into the azure sky, and soon turned into a small black dot.

But just before the Wind Shadow Puppet was about to disappear from sight, a hurricane suddenly rose from the ground.

The hurricane soared into the sky, engulfing the Wind Shadow Puppet and quickly breaking its Sand Iron Wings. The puppet wobbled and fell into the forest, its fate uncertain.

Upon seeing the hurricane, Shisui smiled, knowing that it was just Menma-sama returning.

Jiraiya felt that the hurricane was a bit strange. It seemed that someone was deliberately manipulating it, both in its arrival and its end. But how much chakra would a ninja need to control the weather to a certain extent?

Chapter 121 You are the true leader of Whirlpool Village

Knowing that Naruto had returned, Shisui was full of confidence and walked towards where Jiraiya was.

Like Sasori of the Red Sand, he also guessed Jiraiya's identity. This had nothing to do with Jiraiya's ability to disguise himself, but rather because there were only so many strong ninjas in the ninja world, and even fewer ninjas who could attack using their hair.

Jiraiya knew his identity had been exposed, but he still didn't reveal it, chuckling as he said, "I'm just a helpful ninja passing by. I came to help when I saw your village was under attack..."

When they met Jiraiya, he didn't reveal his identity, and Shisui didn't expose the final secret either.

Regardless of the reason why the Uchiha left Konoha, they would be regarded as rogue ninjas in Konoha's eyes. Rogue ninjas and normal Konoha ninjas naturally have different positions.

"Thank you so much for your help..."

"You're welcome, you're welcome..."

Jiraiya scratched his head, looked around, and said with some confusion, "You should be Uchiha from Konoha, so why are you establishing a base in Uzushiogakure? Has Konoha expanded its influence into Uzushiogakure?"

When Jiraiya asked a question he already knew the answer to, Shisui's expression changed slightly: "Konoha is ostracizing the Uchiha everywhere, yet they won't allow the Uchiha to leave Konoha? We don't want another madman to appear among our clan..."

The madman Shisui refers to is naturally Uchiha Itachi.

Jiraiya had also heard about Itachi Uchiha and sighed softly, but from Konoha's perspective, he could not condone the Uchiha's actions, as they would encourage other ninja clans to follow suit.

At this moment, Uchiha Izumi and the others, who had killed the remaining Orochimaru, arrived. Upon seeing Jiraiya, they hurriedly said to Shisui, "Clan Chief Shisui, this senior just defeated Orochimaru. Please remember to pay him a reward of 100,000 ryo."

One hundred thousand taels... Shisui glanced at Jiraiya in surprise, his expression somewhat complicated.

Regardless of Jiraiya's attitude towards the Uchiha clan, he had just driven Orochimaru away, reducing the losses of Uzushio Village, and could be considered a guest of Uzushio Village.

Thinking of this, Shisui smiled and said, "Senior, why don't you come and sit in the village? We'll tell you slowly why the Uchiha left Konoha and why they chose Uzushio Village."

Jiraiya nodded; he also wanted to see what was happening inside Uzushio Village.

Then, as if remembering something, he said, "Oh right, besides me, there was also a Kirigakure squad that came to support Uzushio Village. They are nearby."

As soon as Jiraiya finished speaking, Naruto and the others appeared in front of them.

Shisui recognized Naruto at a glance, but at a signal, he looked at Zabuza beside him with a puzzled expression.

"Zabuza, you Jonin, what are you doing here again?"

Zabuza, recalling his experience in the interrogation room, quickly said, "I came here on the orders of Lord Menma, and I have no ill intentions toward the Land of Whirlpools."

Shisui smiled and said, "Of course I believe you mean no harm. Although we had some minor disagreements before, considering that you supported Uzushio Village this time, you are a guest of Uzushio Village."

Zabuza breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said to Haku and Naruto, "We haven't met Lord Shisui yet. Lord Shisui's strength surpasses that of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. We've come here for this exchange because of Lord Shisui."

The conversation between Shisui and Zabuza caused Jiraiya to frown repeatedly.

Although the Uchiha clan did not collude with Orochimaru, the evidence of their collusion with Kirigakure was undeniable. However, the Kirigakure ninja's attitude towards the Uchiha clan seemed a little too respectful.

Even if the Uchiha clan repeatedly thwarted their enemies on the battlefield of Kirigakure, they should not be overly respectful.

However, Jiraiya didn't notice that Naruto was playing with several puppet parts in his hands. These parts had considerable magnetic force and could even float in mid-air for a short time.

……

Time moved forward a few minutes.

After using Wind Release ninjutsu to disrupt the Kazekage puppet's movements, Naruto instantly arrived at the location where the Kazekage puppet had crashed. However, after searching the surrounding area, he still couldn't find Sasori's puppet core.

If the puppet's core cannot be destroyed, Scorpion will eventually be able to develop another puppet army.

Naruto picked up the Kazekage puppet fragments from the ground and let them pierce his flesh. He still couldn't find the puppet's core, ruling out the possibility that the core had fallen into the sea after disintegrating. It's highly likely that Sasori was rescued by Orochimaru.

But things start to get complicated once Orochimaru is involved.

Orochimaru's combat strength is mediocre, but his escape ability is too strong. He has all sorts of strange ninjutsu. Even if you kill Orochimaru, you may still be able to revive in a spare container.

To put it bluntly, Orochimaru is a mini-Otsutsuki, with extremely strong vitality.

However, considering the relationship between Orochimaru and Sasori, Sasori's days ahead are probably not going to be easy.

Shortly after Naruto left, a venomous snake that had feigned death spat out Sasori's puppet core. The puppet core quickly assembled into a puppet, which stared intently at the venomous snake in front of it.

"Orochimaru, why did you desert your post? We had a chance just now!"

The venomous snake revealed a human-like look in its eyes and said dismissively, "But in the end, I saved your life. Besides Jiraiya and Shisui, there are other strong people in Uzushio Village. We have no hope of winning."

"Instead of arguing about these things, we should go back and denounce Jue. He deliberately leaked the information to lure us here."

Sasori snorted and said, "Consider this a favor I owe you. I'll give you a good prospect, but compared to Zetsu, I still think your problems are bigger. For example, why is Jiraiya here?"

"Jiraiya was an accident..." Orochimaru also felt a headache when Jiraiya was mentioned.

How exactly did Jiraiya discover and track him? Could it be that Uzushio Village was a forward outpost of the village? But the old man probably didn't have that kind of guts, and Danzo would never compromise with the Uchiha.

……

Inside Wochao Village.

Shisui led Jiraiya, Naruto, and the others to the Uzushio Village office and introduced them to the second-in-command, Uzumaki Himon.

Himon recognized Shisui but not Jiraiya. He gave him a warm welcome and then began to explain the past and future prospects of Uzushio Village.

In the end, Himon directly invited Jiraiya to work together to build Uzushio Village.

Jiraiya declined the invitation from the Fire Gate, saying that he planned to visit Uzushio Village and had no intention of staying there for the time being.

Himon was somewhat disappointed by Jiraiya's rejection, but such a powerful figure would not easily join a small village like Uzushio Village, so it was still within his acceptable range.

I left the Wochao Village office and walked on the streets where everything was waiting to be rebuilt.

Jiraiya suddenly looked at Naruto and said in a low voice, "Little Menma, if I'm not mistaken, you are the true leader of Uzushio Village!"

Chapter 122 Different Uchiha

Naruto looked at Jiraiya with a strange expression and said with a hint of concern, "Uncle Ninja, are you out of your mind? I'm just a fresh-faced genin who just graduated, and I've been following Zabuza-senpai on missions."

Jiraiya ignored Naruto's disguise and said expressionlessly:

"First of all, the Jonin leading the team should be called teacher or captain, not a general title like senior. Secondly, although you and Zabuza are good at hiding it, he always glances at you out of the corner of his eye when making crucial decisions."

"More importantly, an ordinary genin would never easily get close to a strange ninja unless he was confident enough to defend against the strange ninja's sneak attack, or even deliberately approach the strange ninja..."

Upon hearing this, Naruto dropped his pretense, created some distance, and said with a light laugh:

"Even knowing all this doesn't necessarily mean I'm the leader of Uzushio Village. At most, you could say I'm the captain of the Kirigakure squad. What evidence do you have to prove I'm the leader of Uzushio Village?"

"Your words are the best proof..."

Jiraiya smiled and then continued, "Besides, wasn't your expression a little too composed as you watched me confront Orochimaru? And that hurricane that suddenly appeared and attacked the puppet..."

“There are far too many suspicious points that could prove your identity is extraordinary.”

Jiraiya's analysis made Naruto frown, while Zabuza, Shisui, and the others beside him were on high alert, ready to fight at any moment, fearing that the two might completely break off relations and start a major battle in the village at any time.

Upon noticing his subordinates' movements, Naruto gestured for them to remain calm, then looked into Jiraiya's eyes.