I'm in Konoha, and I started with Ashura Chakra.

On this day, Konoha held a memorial service for the Konoha Elders and the four major ninja clans.

After all, more than two thousand people died, which is no small matter.

Aside from the fact that this number of deaths would occur during wartime, even during the Nine-Tails' rampage and the Konoha Crush, Konoha has never had so many deaths.

Moreover, those who died were all members of the Konoha Elders and their families, including the Sarutobi clan, to which the Third Hokage belonged.

Both out of courtesy and reason, a memorial service should be held for them, and even people from Daming came to pay their respects.

At the same time, it was also a subtle way of testing Tsunade to see if there were any new candidates for elders, or whether the elder system should be retained.

After all, without the elders, if something were to happen to the Hokage, the Daimyo, who didn't know much about Konoha, would have no one to recommend a successor or offer advice.

Tsunade didn't have time to deal with these things for the time being, and neither did Yagyu.

Unlike the memorial service for the Konoha Crush Plan, this memorial service was specifically for the Konoha Elders.

It wasn't a grand affair.

None of the clan leaders from the major ninja clans were present; they only sent a clan representative.

Sasuke Uchiha and Hikaru Uchiha, who were the murderers, did not go, and Yagyu also accepted a mission in advance and ran away.

Only the members of the four major ninja clans who had rushed back from outside were wailing and lamenting, it was unclear whether they were wailing for their clan leaders and fellow clansmen, or for their own future.

Seeing the survivors of the four major ninja clans crying their hearts out, the representatives of the other ninja clans were not moved at all. If they hadn't been rigorously trained, they would have almost burst out laughing with schadenfreude.

After all, nobody's a fool!

The Third Hokage and the Konoha Elders had witnessed firsthand how Konoha had been governed.

The suicide of Konoha's White Fang, the defection of the legendary Sannin, the departure of others from the village, the Cloud Village incident involving the Hyuga clan, the mysterious suicide of Uchiha Shisui, and the annihilation of the Uchiha clan two years later...

Even excluding the Fourth Hokage's death while sealing the Nine-Tails, the shadow of Konoha's higher-ups can be seen in these events.

In particular, the annihilation of the Uchiha clan made the remaining powerful Hyuga clan as obedient as dogs to the Konoha leadership.

If even the powerful Hyuga clan is like this, then other ninja clans are even more so.

Nobody wants to become the second Uchiha clan.

Therefore, when faced with the Root Organization's call for outstanding members of their clan, whether they were from the Aburame clan or the Yamanaka clan, they had no complaints.

It's not that we don't have the ability, it's that we don't dare!

In fact, the dissatisfaction of the various ninja clans with the Konoha leadership had been accumulating for many years.

Therefore, with Hiruzen Sarutobi's death and Tsunade's return to Konoha, they immediately became Tsunade's supporters. Even though Tsunade had not returned to Konoha for many years, they were happy to see the Senju clan regain control of Konoha, rather than Danzo Shimura, who was qualified to be a Hokage candidate, becoming the Fifth Hokage.

Now that the elders, the four major ninja clans, and the Root organization have been destroyed, all the major ninja clans can only applaud.

Even the Aburame and Yamanaka clans, who lost their outstanding members, were no different.

The parasites that had been sucking blood from Konoha since the Second Shinobi World War have finally disappeared completely.

Now it's their turn to repay the four great ninja clans!

The cake that suddenly becomes empty will inevitably be divided among the various ninja clans, just as the Konoha leadership devoured the legacy of the Uchiha clan and the Fourth Hokage and his wife.

Of course, these are just power struggles at the highest levels.

The lower-ranking ninjas and civilians of Konoha had no idea that such a small village could be so dark and filthy.

They all spontaneously presented white chrysanthemums to the Konoha Elders and the four major ninja clans to express their gratitude for their contributions to Konoha.

Looking at the portrait of Sarutobi Asuma, who was second only to the Konoha Elders and ranked in the second row, Kurenai Yuhi's expression was somewhat complicated.

Unexpectedly, after the Third Shinobi World War ended, the first person to die in their class was Sarutobi Asuma, the son of the Hokage.

Although Kurenai Yuhi rejected Asuma Sarutobi's confessions multiple times, she undoubtedly had a deeper impression of this childhood classmate and suitor than of Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, and even the deceased Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara.

Another familiar person has disappeared from her life, which reminds Kurenai of her father's departure more than a decade ago, and she feels a rare sense of fear.

In this cruel world, the people around you, or even yourself, may one day suddenly die.

If you do nothing, you will leave this world with countless regrets.

Do whatever you want, so that even if you fail or are rejected, at least you won't have any regrets.

Thinking of this, Kurenai's expression suddenly became resolute.

Unlike Kurenai Yuhi, whose emotions were complex, Class 10 was sobbing quietly.

Nara Shikamaru felt a wave of confusion and despair.

In the original story, he at least knew that Hidan and Kakuzu, the immortal duo, were the ones who killed Sarutobi Asuma, and he could choose to kill the two of them to avenge Sarutobi Asuma.

Now, he has no idea how Sarutobi Asuma died, or who used a long-range technique to curse and kill the four great ninja clans.

Even if he's brilliant, he can't avenge Sarutobi Asuma if he doesn't even know the enemy or their techniques.

However, Nara Shikamaru soon set his sights on a new target.

He didn't know who the killer was simply because his limited perspective, strength, and even status meant he wasn't qualified to know more.

But the Hokage must know who the murderer is, or at least have a prime suspect.

Nara Shikamaru decided to ask the Fifth Hokage to tell him.

If you can't find the answer yourself, then ask your father, or you and Ino can ask Yagyu.

Once he knows who the murderer and suspect are, Nara Shikamaru will have a target for his investigation. If he encounters them again, he will kill them to avenge Sarutobi Asuma.

Naruto was also crying, with two kids beside him, namely Ise Udon and Kazamatsuri Moegi.

They were all crying for Konohamaru.

This is precisely why Sasuke Uchiha refused to come over.

He doesn't feel guilty when he sees these people crying.

Rather, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to resist taking action against the survivors he had already decided to let go.

Both clans sacrificed so much for Konoha, yet when the Uchiha clan was wiped out, not only was there no memorial service, but even their bodies were taken away by Konoha's higher-ups under the guise of burial.

Thinking of the ten three-tomoe Sharingan on Shimura Danzo's arm, Uchiha Sasuke dared not imagine how many Sharingan he might have hidden, or whether he was using the corpses of his clansmen for experiments.

Therefore, Sasuke Uchiha didn't want to come over, fearing that he would again have murderous intent and attract attention.

Liu Sheng returned the day after the memorial service ended.

On that same day, a piece of news shocked him.

Jiraiya is dead!

"What's going on? Why haven't I received any messages?"

Liu Sheng frowned, feeling for the first time that he was out of control.

Did he change too many things, causing the butterfly effect to completely distort the original course of Shippuden?

The news of Jiraiya's death came too suddenly.

Aside from Nagato and Obito Uchiha's true identities, Yagyu had already told Tsunade all the information about the Akatsuki members, including Hiruko, who was disguised as a Hundred Faces, without hiding anything from her.

The Akatsuki has only sealed the Three-Tails, and Pain and the Six Paths of Pain haven't taken any action yet. It's impossible for Jiraiya to have gathered information that the Akatsuki's headquarters is in Amegakure.

Furthermore, in the original story, Jiraiya specifically told Tsunade before taking action.

But Tsunade never told Yagyu about it.

How exactly did Jiraiya die?

Thinking of this, Yagyu couldn't help but contact Hyakume, as well as the wooden clone who used the disguise technique to act as an informant in Amegakure.

As a result, these wooden clones were completely unaware of the situation.

Yagyu couldn't help but wonder if Jiraiya hadn't died at the hands of Pain, but at the hands of someone else.

So, Yagyu teleported to the Hokage's office.

The atmosphere in the office was extremely oppressive at that moment.

Whether it was Tsunade, Shizune, or even Karin in her black suit, they all wore expressions of sadness and silence.

"Tsunade-neechan, what happened?" Yagyu asked. "How did Jiraiya-sama die?"

"He was killed by the leader of the Akatsuki organization."

Tsunade's beautiful eyes reddened slightly as she gritted her teeth and said, "The leader of Akatsuki was one of those three brats from back then, a disciple Jiraiya took in from Amegakure!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Sheng felt a slight chill run down his spine.

Was he really killed by Nagato?

How could a battle of that level possibly escape the notice of the Wood Clone hidden in Amegakure?

Even if the wood clones have very little chakra, their senses are still formidable!

Could it be that this battle between master and disciple is different from the original story, and didn't take place in Amegakure? Or did Nagato set up a barrier beforehand?

While pondering to himself, Yagyu outwardly continued, "Where is Lord Jiraiya's body? Tsunade-neechan, how do you know this?"

"Jiraiya's body should be in the hands of the Akatsuki leader," Tsunade said. "This is news brought by Fukasaku, the sage of Mount Myōboku. There are also intelligence codes that Jiraiya collected on his back, and he is currently receiving treatment and deciphering them."

"Does Naruto know?"

"Hmm, that kid left without a word." Tsunade said with her eyes closed, rubbing her temples. "Jiraiya's death must have been a huge blow to that kid. Sasuke has already gone to comfort him."

Upon hearing this, Yagyu released his senses and indeed saw Sasuke Uchiha's chakra next to Naruto's.

Yagyu was instantly relieved. With Sasuke Uchiha by his side, he wasn't afraid that Naruto would suddenly turn evil and unleash the Nine-Tails' chakra.

It wasn't Sasuke Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan that could control Naruto.

It was Uchiha Sasuke who could best understand how Naruto was feeling right now.

In the original manga, during the Tenchi Bridge incident, Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha met again, and Naruto was almost killed by Sasuke.

Sasuke Uchiha was so disgusted by Naruto's arrogance that he genuinely wanted to sever his bond with Naruto.

Naruto, who lost everything at birth, could not possibly understand the pain of Sasuke Uchiha, who once had everything but lost it all.

Therefore, Naruto, who couldn't understand Sasuke Uchiha's feelings but kept saying he wanted to bring him back to Konoha, had no right to try to win Sasuke back.

It wasn't until Jiraiya died, and Naruto experienced the pain of losing someone important, and truly let go of his hatred and forgave his enemy, that he officially awakened the so-called "Talk-no-Jutsu" and regained the right to stand in front of Sasuke Uchiha.

The same applies now. Only Sasuke Uchiha can truly understand Naruto's current feelings, and only he can prevent Naruto from turning evil.

So, Yagyu temporarily put Naruto's matter aside and asked, "The Akatsuki's headquarters are in Amegakure, so what do we do next?"

The unspoken question is: should we go to war?

Tsunade didn't say anything, but continued to rub her temples.

After a long while, she finally opened her eyes and said sharply, "First it was the Konoha Elders and the four major ninja clans, then the Root organization, and now it's Jiraiya. The Akatsuki organization is no longer just a simple gathering place for S-rank rogue ninjas, but a terrifying organization that threatens the safety of the ninja world."

"The Rinnegan from mythology, and the capture of tailed beasts—they definitely have ulterior motives."

"Before they capture all the tailed beasts, we must unite as one and nip this enormous danger that could threaten the entire ninja world in the bud."

After saying that, Tsunade said to Yagyu, "Yagyu, please use the Flying Thunder God Technique to go to the four great ninja villages and the Land of Iron, and invite the other five Kage to the Land of Iron. I want to convene the Five Kage Summit to discuss how to join forces to eliminate the Akatsuki."

"I understand, Hokage-sama." Yagyu nodded solemnly, and his form of address for Tsunade changed.

However, Yagyu's heart was filled with surprise.

I didn't expect the Five Kage Summit to come so early, and it was even initiated by Tsunade.

You should know that Nagato is not dead yet.

If the Five Kage Summit is successfully convened, it is unknown whether the Fourth Shinobi World War will arrive ahead of schedule, or whether the Allied Shinobi Forces will remain as united as in the original story.

Yagyu was very curious.

So, with the help of Shizune and Karin, he carried the envoy's token and the officially stamped invitation.

The figure vanished into thin air without warning.

When they reappeared, they had arrived in a country where snow was falling heavily.

This is one of the few neutral countries in the ninja world, and it is a neutral country with great strength, to which the five great ninja villages have tacitly agreed not to attack.

In this age of ninjas, the Land of Iron is the only samurai nation that cultivates chakra but not ninjutsu, instead focusing on swordsmanship.

"I am Yagyu, an elite Jonin of Konoha. I have come to the Land of Iron as an envoy of Konoha in the Land of Fire to visit Lord Mifune. This is my token."

Upon arriving at the entrance to Snow City in the Land of Iron, Yagyu, who had specially changed into a green vest, showed his messenger token to the gatekeeper and introduced himself.

Upon hearing this, the two guards' expressions immediately changed slightly, and then they said respectfully, "Your Excellency, please wait a moment, I will go and report to Lord Mifune immediately."

Clearly, they all recognized Yagyu.

Even in a land of samurai, the name Yagyu is known.

After all, in these three years, Yagyu and Class 8 had earned a formidable reputation.

In peacetime, the fact that they can abandon a mission and return to the village without punishment when they encounter one demonstrates the strength of the Eighth Squad.

Everyone knows that the most powerful member is not Team 8, but Yagyu, the second person after the First Hokage to awaken the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.