Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

"strength?"

Sasuke scoffed, his laughter filled with undisguised contempt. "A village that doesn't even have a decent strongman, do I need to rely on their strength?"

These words made Kabuto, who was standing to the side, unconsciously frown.

He did not refute it, but he could not agree with it in his heart.

The Hidden Cloud Village is no pushover; its military strength has always been renowned among the Five Great Nations for its toughness. It also boasts two perfect Jinchuriki and the Fourth Raikage, famous for his speed and power.

"So who exactly are you...?" Kabuto couldn't help but ask.

"There are still two Jinchuriki in Kumogakure, aren't there?" Sasuke said calmly, as if answering a question, or perhaps talking to himself.

This answer made the pharmacist's eyes narrow sharply.

"Lord Orochimaru."

He strode forward, walked to Orochimaru's side, and asked in a very low voice, "How credible do you think there is to this recruitment by Kumogakure?"

"Could this just be a ruse?" Kabuto calmly analyzed. "Perhaps they just want to use this opportunity to test whether Sasuke has truly broken with Konoha. After all, an Uchiha with such strength and a future..."

Orochimaru shook his head, interrupting his guess, and let out a soft, ambiguous laugh.

"Hehe... Dou, you still don't understand them."

He slowly turned his head, his snake eyes flashing with an unusual light. "Those guys from Kumogakure have been coveting Konoha's bloodline limit for decades."

Do you remember the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?

The pharmacist nodded.

"Back then, she was kidnapped by Kumogakure once because of the Uzumaki clan's special physique and enormous chakra."

"And the Hyuga clan." Orochimaru's lips curled into a cold smile. "A few years ago, in order to obtain the secret of the Byakugan, they also planned a kidnapping, targeting the eldest daughter of the main family, Hinata Hyuga."

"In the end, in order to quell the anger of Kumogakure and for the sake of so-called peace, Konoha fabricated Hyuga Hizashi's body as the Hyuga clan leader and handed him over as the 'murderer'."

At this point, Orochimaru glanced subtly at the silent figure in front of him, lowering his voice even further.

"From the very beginning, Konoha was full of compromise and weakness. In order to maintain that false peace, they were willing to sacrifice anyone."

He paused, his voice filled with disdain for Konoha, "So, what do you think the Raikage would choose when faced with the Uchiha's eyes, which are hailed as the strongest?"

Dou remained silent; he understood.

The invitation from the Hidden Clouds was genuine; they longed to obtain this power.

As soon as Orochimaru finished speaking, the black-haired boy who had been facing away from them turned around without warning.

Sasuke's face was expressionless, but his eyes were filled with obvious disgust.

It is out of disgust for this corrupt rule of "arbitrarily sacrificing compatriots in the name of peace".

"This kind of thing..."

Is it interesting?

Chapter 137 The Existence of Ninjas is Meaningless (5k views, please vote for me?)

When Sasuke returned to the town, he could see that the ninjas who had been stationed in various places had all disappeared, leaving only the complex gazes of ordinary townspeople, a mixture of fear and curiosity.

It seems that the previous warning to Yunyin was effective.

Orochimaru seemed to have noticed this as well, but he didn't say anything.

With the help of Yakushi Kabuto, they quickly rented a sturdy enough fishing boat and set sail for the distant sea.

The Land of Whirlpools is a small island far from the coast.

After sailing for more than two hours through turbulent waves, just as the sky began to darken, the outline of a solitary island shrouded in thick fog finally appeared on the horizon.

The swirling mist made the surrounding scenery appear gloomy.

Eventually, the small boat slowed down and its bow gently bumped into a pile of rotten wooden stakes.

"We've arrived," the boatman's hoarse voice rang out.

Sasuke was the first to emerge from the cabin, and when he saw the scene before him, his brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Before us lies a long-abandoned ferry crossing.

The dock extending onto the water was already rotten and most of the wooden planks were gone, leaving only a few crooked piles bobbing helplessly in the murky water.

"Has the Land of Whirlpools remained like this for so many years?" Sasuke asked softly, staring at the ruins.

"Almost no one comes here anymore."

The boatman answered without turning his head, threw out the rope, and skillfully tied it to the stump of a dead tree on the shore. "I remember this place used to be a country, but for some reason, it suddenly disappeared overnight."

At this point, the boatman seemed to remember something, paused for a moment, and lowered his voice even further.

“I heard from the old people in the town that this country angered the god of death, and the gods punished it by destroying this place overnight.”

grim Reaper?

Sasuke raised an eyebrow; the word gave him a subtle sense of unease.

The Land of Whirlpools is an island nation, and even in the mythological imagination of ordinary people, destruction should be accompanied by the wrath of the "Sea God".

Whether it's a hurricane or a tsunami, these terms are far more fitting to the local landscape than a vague "Grim Reaper," and they sound more plausible.

"Why do you call him the Grim Reaper?" Sasuke pressed.

"I don't know about that." The boatman shook his head, looking puzzled. "That's what the old folks in the village say, passed down from generation to generation."

“I did hear something about it in the intelligence I’ve gathered.” Kabuto Yakushi, who had been silent all along, spoke softly at this moment, pushing up his glasses. “It seems that the Uzumaki clan had a custom of worshipping the ‘God of Death’ in ancient times.”

"The rumor that the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed by the Grim Reaper must have originated from this."

"Oh! Right, right, right!" The boatman suddenly slapped his thigh, turned around and looked at Yakushi Kabuto in surprise, "I remember now, I've heard the old folks talk about this! So that's where the rumors of being wiped out by the 'Grim Reaper' came from!"

Dou did not respond to his astonishment, but continued to narrate calmly.

"But the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools was not due to divine punishment, but because ninjas from other countries were too wary of the Uzumaki clan's unparalleled sealing techniques."

"So overnight, several ninja villages joined forces and launched a surprise attack on the island. The war broke out too quickly, and by the time their ally Konoha received the news, it was too late."

The boatman listened in stunned silence, and after a long while he muttered to himself, "So that's how it is... What an incredible secret!"

He sighed as he finished setting up the boat planks.

Orochimaru and Sasuke disembarked from the ship one after the other, finally setting foot on the land that once belonged to the "Uzumaki Clan".

"Gentlemen!" the boatman called out from behind them.

The two turned around.

The boatman scratched his head, a simple, worried look on his face: "Although you seem very powerful, and you do have some connection to this destroyed country..."

"But we still need to be careful."

“Some of the original residents still remain on this island. I’ve also heard that some vicious pirates have recently made it their hideout.”

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru slowly turned around, a very gentle smile appearing on his pale face.

"Thank you for reminding me."

The boatman felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of that smile, and instinctively shivered. He dared not say another word, quickly untied the mooring rope, and rowed the boat into the thick fog without looking back.

On the island of Whirlpool Country, everything seemed excessively vibrant.

The towering trees blocked out the sun, and the bushes grew wildly, as if they wanted to completely devour all traces left by humans.

Following the path overgrown with weeds, an abandoned town came into view.

This place once prospered because of its port, but now only ruins remain, silently telling the story of nearly twenty years of desolation.

"Shall we search this place first?" Kabuto Yakushi walked to the door of a half-collapsed house and peered inside.

“No need.” Orochimaru shook his head, his goal becoming clearer: “Let’s find the ruins of the ninja village first.”

The three continued on their way.

Then, not long after leaving the town, a commotion of shouts and frantic cries came faintly from the woods.

The three stopped in unison, their figures flashing a few times before silently landing on the treetops high above.

Below is a simple settlement built from rubble materials, housing only a few dozen families.

Five pirates wielding swords were brazenly driving the villagers away, dragging out sacks of the grain they had painstakingly stored.

"Hurry up! Hand over all your grain!"

"Or we'll take your heads!"

They were incredibly arrogant; despite being only five people, they plunged the entire village into a deathly silence of fear.

The villagers looked numb. Although the children's eyes burned with a flame of rebellion, they were held back by the adults beside them and could only watch in despair as their source of survival was taken away.

“There are ninjas.” Sasuke’s voice was soft as he looked at two of the pirates.

The two were not wearing headbands, but the fluctuations in their chakra still gave them away.

They weren't particularly strong, not even as good as those newly graduated genin, but in front of these unarmed civilians, they were absolute force.

"Is Sasuke going to save them?" Orochimaru turned his head and asked with great interest.

He didn't care about the lives or deaths of these ants; he was more curious about Sasuke's thoughts at that moment and what choice he would make.

Sasuke did not answer.

He watched silently as the ugly scene unfolded below, as the strong ruthlessly bullied the weak, and as those eyes, which should have been filled with despair but had their edges worn down, turned to dust.

Then I remembered the child fighting with wild dogs for food in the muddy puddles, and the old village chief who was kicked away by the wandering samurai.

"Really..."

He murmured softly, a cold look of disgust flashing in his eyes.

"...As ugly as ever."

The moment he finished speaking, his figure flickered slightly in the treetops and then disappeared.

Below, the five pirates' sinister smiles froze on their faces without warning.

Their bodies were instantly bound as if by invisible shackles, unable to move, only their terrified eyes could still move with difficulty.