Avengers of the Whirlpool Family

Page 246

Based on this point, while Shikaku was infinitely wary of Menma in his heart, he also felt deeply sorry for him. It would be great if Menma could stay in the Hidden Leaf Village.

Unfortunately.

This is a luxury.

It is a luxury that Lu Jiu can never change or achieve at any time.

Therefore, this kind of meaningless indulgence only flashed through Lu Jiu's brain for a second before he put it out of his mind on his own initiative.

"My suggestion is to stop advancing right now, send more personnel to the front line, and assign personnel to the Hidden Cloud Village to collect as much meaningful intelligence as possible. After gathering the advancing Mist Ninja troops, we can make subsequent decisions."

After a slight pause, Shikaku glanced at the faces of Kakashi, Haiyi and others in the big tent one by one, and finally stopped at Jiraiya who was sitting in the main seat and said so.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 299 Decisions Needed

It should be said.

Jiraiya had really been going through a lot of turmoil in his heart during this period of time. First, he encountered Menma in the Land of Spring, and the two had a huge fight. This made Jiraiya truly realize that his 'grandson' could not turn back. It was not the kind of person who was bewitched and could not turn back, but the kind of person who had made up his mind and was unwilling and impossible to turn back.

Just like that close friend of mine back then.

They both made up their minds on their own.

Because I have already had this experience.

Therefore, in the Land of Spring, when he met Menma again and their eyes met, Jiraiya could see in Menma's eyes the determination that belonged only to that young man.

This also made Jiraiya feel extremely heartbroken, guilty and deeply regretful.

I didn't think it was anything before.

But on that day.

Jiraiya truly felt the disastrous consequences brought about by his own irresponsibility and evasion.

But the past cannot be changed.

He can only move forward positively.

He could understand Tsunade's decision, and he also knew that if such a development really came to pass, the final outcome of Konoha would definitely not be what Tsunade and Jiraiya wanted to see.

Don't be fooled by Jiraiya's nonchalant look.

But Konoha still comes first in Jiraiya's heart.

Even if it would be unfair to Minato and Kushina.

It will make Naruto sad.

But Jiraiya also made a decision in his heart that he must completely eliminate the threat of Menma here and in this situation.

In the current Konohagakure Village.

Except Tsunade.

He is the only one who has the ability to do this.

Moreover, Jiraiya still held on to the last glimmer of almost impossible hope, wanting to see if he could finally persuade Menma to turn back.

At the very least, Jiraiya still wanted to see if he could save Menma's life with his own methods.

After all, Menma is still the legitimate descendant of the Uzumaki clan, right?

Even if the tailed beast is extracted, he will not necessarily die.

Jiraiya felt that he could achieve the best possible result by leading the team to capture Menma himself, extracting the tailed beast, and then restricting his chakra and imprisoning him for life.

It just seems so now.

The difficulty of doing so is extremely high.

"I never thought that day, Menma would hold back. He could actually defeat the Fourth Raikage in a head-on battle."

Jiraiya couldn't help but shake his head slightly inwardly.

Jiraiya thought to himself that he couldn't defeat the Fourth Raikage even in his normal form, and he had to enter Sage Mode to do so.

The status of the Fourth Raikage in the ninja world is not exaggerated.

Instead, he had achieved this speed through his own swordplay and spearplay over the past twenty years, becoming the fastest in the ninja world!

That's the best compliment you can give him.

And now it is such a powerful shadow.

Not only was they defeated at the hands of Menma, but the entire Cloud Ninja frontline was also routed. Just as Shikaku said, it was indeed necessary to comprehensively consider Menma and all the forces under his command.

"Well, let's do as Shikaku said. But in addition to these, we must also strengthen the investigation of Orochimaru's traces. Shikaku, please contact those guys in the Root and ask them to focus on the investigation. They should know the severity of the problem here!"

Jiraiya nodded slowly, then added.

That deliberately emphasized tone.

Not only Shikaku, but also Kakashi, Haiyi and others in the surrounding area understood what he meant.

"Yes, Master Jiraiya, I understand!"

Lu Jiu also nodded heavily and said.

"Well, as for the investigation, Kakashi and Haiyi, I'll leave it to you two. Don't get close easily and don't take risks. Gather as much information as you can. What we need now is to stabilize the situation. Don't do too much. Do you understand?"

Jiraiya turned his head to look at Kakashi and Haiyi on the side and said in a deep voice.

Even though he lost his Sharingan, Kakashi was still one of the elite jonin in the Hidden Leaf Village.

It should even be said that, from the current perspective, losing the Sharingan is actually a relief for Kakashi.

In the future battle in the original work, the Mangekyō Sharingan did bring powerful gains to Kakashi, including the Susanoo in the decisive battle, which is not something that can be compared with ordinary techniques.

In the previous stage, even an ordinary Magatama Sharingan still limited Kakashi's talent.

He is a genius who was able to be promoted to Jonin at the age of 12.

Now that the Sharingan's blue consumption limit is gone, Kakashi's strength has been further unleashed.

It is hard to say whether he can reach the shadow actor level, but the quasi-shadow actor level is still qualified enough.

As the person in charge of the investigation sent out, he is the most suitable person.

Yamanaka Inoichi is one of the most powerful perception-type ninjas in the Hidden Leaf Village. If he is accompanied by a corresponding jonin from the Hyuga clan branch, the situation can generally be guaranteed to be foolproof.

"Yes, Lord Jiraiya."

Kakashi and Haiyi also stood up at the same time and responded.

"Remember, don't be reckless."

Jiraiya seemed a little uneasy and gave a few more instructions. After all, the current Menma was no longer the same Menma as before, nor was he the same Menma that Jiraiya thought he was before they met in Spring Country.

We still have to be cautious about everything.

"Yes!"

Kakashi and Haiyi also nodded seriously.

Especially Kakashi. In the battle at the Valley of the End, Kakashi himself almost died at the hands of Menma.

Now he doesn't have any extra hope at all.

Guilt? Regret?

Maybe.

But what follows is for himself and more importantly for Konoha.

Kakashi also made up his mind in his heart that this was the normal state a ninja should have. In this world, it was meaningless to talk about right or wrong or justice. Position and interests were the most direct and fundamental criteria.

Kakashi was only worried about Naruto's problem.

He moved his lips slightly, wanting to say something, but in the end, as if for some other consideration, he swallowed the words back.

After bowing to Jiraiya together with Haiyi on the side, the two of them strode away.

Others also perform tasks within the scope of their responsibilities.

Jiraiya was left alone in the big tent, looking at the Land of Taki far in the east, with a complex look in his eyes.

"Hey...."

He couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

The impact of this great defeat of the Hidden Cloud Village is unparalleled.

The Konoha frontline troops were the first to receive the news because of their close distance, but the news spread very quickly afterwards.

In less than a day, all countries and ninja villages that were not in particularly remote areas learned of the news.

The shock this caused made almost everyone who heard the news think it was a huge joke.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 300 The shock continues to ferment

It’s not that the Hidden Cloud Village cannot be defeated.

The Fourth Raikage is not invulnerable.

But that definitely depends on who the opponent is.

It is normal to lose to Konoha and Iwagakure. Even if it is the current Mist Village and Sand Village, other national ninja villages will not feel particularly shocked. They are more or less one of the five major ninja villages. Outsiders do not know the internal details, but at least in their opinion, these ninja villages should have such a foundation.

But what is Takigakure Village?

A medium-sized ninja village.

I heard that they were able to defeat the Hidden Cloud Village in a head-on combat without any conspiracy or trickery.

How is this possible?

The moment you receive it for the first time.

Those small country ninja villages all seem like something out of a dream.

In the Sand Village, which is also a large ninja village, the fifth Kazekage Maki also issued an order to withdraw all front-line troops after hesitating for a long time.

Originally, Maki was planning to respond to Konoha's call and send some people to join the team. After all, their Sand Village is still a nominal ally of Konoha, and they also wanted to see if they could get some benefits by the way.

After all, he has three tailed beasts as his jinchūriki.

The Sand Village doesn't dare to touch these things now, but they can always share some of the benefits in other aspects, such as mission shares. Maki believes that the Fifth Hokage of the Konohagakure Village, Princess Tsunade, will definitely take care of its allies.

This was Maki's original intention.

But now the Fifth Kazekage still chose to retreat.

It is no exaggeration to say that the power displayed by the Takigakure Village led by Menma has surpassed that of their Sand Village.

Not to mention there is also the Kusagakure Village.

Even if they are just making up the numbers.

The combined momentum is something that the current Sand Village cannot rival.

Maki still made a choice very from the heart.

God knows if he will be beaten up if he gets close to him. The Sand Village cannot afford any losses now.

Not to mention the thousands of casualties.

Even the loss of hundreds or thousands of people is enough to make Maki feel painful.

"The Sand Village can no longer withstand the turmoil..."

Maki stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window in his office, looking towards the northeast, and sighed softly in his heart.