Uchiha Akaishi Tour

After finalizing the mission details, the group turned back towards Konoha Village.

"By the way, Minato-kun and Ranmai-san, you should tell them about the missions they've been on recently," Orochimaru said calmly.

Theoretically, both Akaishi and Yakushi have been carrying out other missions in Konoha recently, and while they're in the village, they're often disguised by ANBU ninjas. Therefore, Akaishi has been in Kumogakure for two and a half months, and the number of missions on his ninja handbook has been skyrocketing…

"Captain Orochimaru, what happened to those guys in the end?" After Akaishi learned about the mission he had undertaken and made sure he wouldn't be exposed, he asked Orochimaru.

At the time, Akaishi was only concerned with escaping and dared not stay in Kumogakure to watch the spectacle, but...

Akaishi believed that Orochimaru had definitely left after watching the "show".

"What a pity." Orochimaru shook his head.

Upon seeing this, Akaishi's heart sank – could it be that the damage was minimal?

"The Third Raikage was too strong, and he was also the type who was good at head-on confrontations. Because he held back the Eight-Tails, so... although the Hidden Cloud Village suffered a lot of casualties, most of them were Jonin and below. Not many Jonin were killed. As for ninja, about three hundred to five hundred died." Orochimaru was still a little regretful.

Upon hearing this, Akaishi gasped, secretly marveling at how dangerous the tailed beasts truly were!

At the time, there were only about two thousand ninjas in Kumogakure. This number of casualties was already quite alarming. Orochimaru's main regret was that too few Jonin had died. After all, Jonin rarely died from unknown AoE attacks. And since the Third Raikage was constantly facing off against the Eight-Tails, the number of Jonin casualties was naturally relatively small. "Tailed Beasts... are truly terrifying..." Akaishi said, secretly reminding himself.

Just then, Minato suddenly said seriously, "Akaishi, what's scary is the tailed beast, not the jinchūriki."

"Huh? I didn't say anything about Jinchūriki..." Akaishi was puzzled when he heard this, wondering why Minato was so sensitive.

Minato fell silent for a moment, and then Lanwu explained, "A month ago... the eldest grandmother passed away, and Kushina has become the new Jinchūriki." "Lord Mito... please accept my condolences." Only then did Akaishi realize that such a thing had happened in the past few months.

Lan Wu shook her head and said, "Grandma passed away peacefully. She had probably been waiting for this day ever since Grandpa passed away... The only one I'm still worried about is Kushina."

Akashi, thinking about Bunaubi's situation in Kumogakure, could very well understand this concern.

"Speaking of which, the Hidden Cloud Village simply sealed the Eight-Tails into that brat named Killer Bee's body," Orochimaru remarked. Hearing this, Akaishi couldn't help but feel regret—it was a pity he hadn't killed him!

"Of course, he won't have many opportunities to leave the village easily in the future," Orochimaru said calmly.

These words only made Minato more worried about Kushina...

In fact, Kushina's situation was worse than imagined. For the past month, Minato had been stopped by the Anbu whenever he wanted to see Kushina. Later, with special permission from the Hokage, Minato was able to see Kushina occasionally.

There's one more thing Orochimaru didn't mention.

The reason Konoha sealed the Nine-Tails into Kushina immediately after Mito's death was because they had no other choice. Konoha had no way to imprison the Nine-Tails, so they had to seal it into Kushina's body immediately.

But the Hidden Cloud Village is different...

It is said that the "Amber Vase" can seal eight tails inside for a long time!

However, the Third Raikage did use the "Amber Purification Bottle" to seal the Eight-Tails, but he immediately switched to sealing the Eight-Tails inside Killer Bee, who was only five years old at the time.

Even if Killer Bee is very suitable to be a Jinchūriki, he is only five years old.

Moreover, the "sealing technique" used by the Hidden Cloud Village is still in its infancy and is not yet fully developed...

In this situation, Orochimaru could hardly see any reason why he would do this, unless... there was something wrong with the "Amber Bottle"!

Previously, when the Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers were killed in their coup, there were rumors that the "Six Paths Treasures" they possessed had disappeared, and there were also rumors that there were no longer any ninjas in Kumogakure who could use the "Six Paths Treasures"...

Now it seems that Orochimaru hasn't seen any of the other treasures, and the "Amber Purification Bottle" seems to be barely usable, unable to seal the tailed beasts for a long time like it did when it was in the hands of Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

This is probably why Buying's situation has deteriorated so drastically compared to before...

Previously, even when the Cloud Village's "Iron Armor Seal" had problems, the Gold and Silver Brothers could use the "Amber Purification Bottle" to assist in the sealing. However, after the deaths of the Gold and Silver Brothers, even the Raikage could no longer use the "Amber Purification Bottle" like they did.

In other words, the impact of the previous coup in Kumogakure was more severe than imagined.

With this "Night of the Eight-Tails" added to the mix, Orochimaru estimates that they'll have to give up any thoughts of external war for the next few years...

Soon after, Akaishi and the others returned to Konoha Village.

While registering at the village entrance, Akaishi discovered that "he" had indeed just left the village not long ago.

The ninjas guarding the gate were also puzzled as to why they had returned so quickly, but since Orochimaru was leading the team, they dared not ask any further questions.

"Go back and rest first, then... um?" Orochimaru originally wanted to dismiss them directly, but then he suddenly noticed something.

Swoosh

At that moment, an ANBU ninja approached the group.

"Lord Orochimaru, the Hokage requests that you all report for duty," the Anbu ninja said respectfully.

Orochimaru frowned and said, "Understood."

Performance review?

What duties can be described?

Their trip out of the village was just a pretext.

As for the matter of Kumogakure, although it was important, Orochimaru had already reported it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

There's no need for Akaishi and Yakushi Nonou to rush to "report on their experiences."

Orochimaru had just wanted them to rest and wait for Sarutobi-sensei to find them, but who knew they would be in such a hurry?

"Hiruzen, are you still hesitating? Why not take this opportunity to hand over that Uchiha Akashi to Kumogakure? This will further lull them into a false sense of security..." Danzo tempted Hiruzen again.

"Shut up! I haven't hesitated at all about this. No matter what, I will not compromise with Kumogakure! Even if they were still heavily injured, what could they have done? If they dare to fight, then we can settle the score we owe our teacher!"

Although Sarutobi was somewhat muddle-headed, he still had courage.

"Is this what the teacher wanted to see? Besides... that's not what I meant. It's just that that Uchiha brat could have escaped directly, but he still exposed his Sharingan. Hiruzen, didn't you suspect anything?"

"Maybe this is the Uchiha clan trying to emulate Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and they're deliberately putting pressure on you." Danzo, seeing that persuasion wasn't working, turned to fanning the flames.

If it weren't for the fact that Danzo truly lived up to his reputation as Sarutobi's best friend, he would have immediately grasped Sarutobi's true nature!

As expected, Sarutobi hesitated upon hearing this, but then said, "Even if he has any ideas, it is Konoha's business to handle it, and it is not Kumogakure's place to interfere!"

"Moreover, Orochimaru has already reported that Akaishi risked approaching the core area at that time because he wanted to take advantage of the chaos to kill the Jinchuriki candidates."

Danzo sneered, "Killed a Jinchuriki candidate? Then... is he dead? Why didn't he kill a five-year-old child, only revealing his Sharingan?"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Step back." Sarutobi told Danzo to step aside.

Then Sarutobi let Orochimaru and the others in.

Since they were nominally going on a mission together, now Minato and Ranmai have also come along...

At this moment, Akaishi also saw Danzo standing to the side—when he left Konoha, this old man had just been "discarded" by Sarutobi, but... only three or four months have passed, and the situation is already the same.

"Lord Hokage, Shimura will assist you."

The group bowed normally, but... Akaishi pretended not to see them and ignored Shimura Danzo.

The reason is simple!

Akaishi understood that Shimura Danzo would definitely not speak well of him, so...

It would be better to just show your dislike for him. That way, Hiruzen Sarutobi would be more likely to think that Danzo Shimura and Akaishi had a personal grudge, and any accusations he made against Akaishi would be less credible.

"Hahaha, Akaishi, Nono, you two did a great job this time. It's a pleasant surprise that you were able to assist Orochimaru in completing such an important mission at such a young age," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a chuckle.

"I don't deserve such praise... In the end, I wanted to kill Killer Bee, but I failed and even exposed my Sharingan." Akaishi said modestly, even pointing out his own flaws.

"Hmph, is this really how you got exposed?" Danzo questioned.

"Otherwise what?" Akaishi retorted.

"Akaishi, answer Shimura's question properly," Sarutobi emphasized.

"Oh...that's right, Shimura-suke." Akaishi replied readily.

"Yakushi, you were there at the time, what happened?" Danzo asked Yakushi Nonou.

The pharmacist lowered his head, paused for a moment, and then said, "It's because A... that Raikage candidate, also unexpectedly returned and happened to visit Killer Bee, that's why he failed."

Obviously...

Yakushi Nonou acknowledged Akaishi's words and even went further to explain the reasons.

Upon hearing this, Danzo narrowed his eyes and looked at Yakushi Nonou with annoyance in his eyes—"Are you really that stubborn? Didn't I warn you beforehand? Couldn't you have set him up?"

"Is Shimura's report to me something you don't understand?" Orochimaru asked quietly.

Although Orochimaru knew that Shimura Danzo was targeting the Uchiha clan, he couldn't help but feel displeased at this moment.

"Orochimaru, Shimura is also being cautious," Sarutobi said.

"Uchiha Akashi, let me ask you... why do you insist on killing Killer Bee? Orochimaru has already told you that as long as you release the Eight-Tails, the damage to Kumogakure will be enough, right?"

"Why would you risk assassinating Killer Bee? Konoha won't attack the Land of Lightning on its own initiative. Any unnecessary weakening would only benefit Iwagakure."

"Not only did you take a risk, but... it also led to the exposure of your Uchiha identity!" Shimura Danzo questioned his intentions. Upon hearing this, Akaishi immediately showed an expression of disbelief, and even... glared at him angrily.

Upon seeing his reaction, Shimura Danzo was initially furious, but then he had a bad feeling—this brat had the same expression when he stirred up trouble over the "Sengoku Sealing History" incident!

"Why? Of course, it's to inflict as much damage as possible on Kumogakure!" Akaishi said matter-of-factly.

"Oh? So it's for the private affairs of your Uchiha and Yotsuki clans..."

"What Yotsuki clan... that was so long ago! If I hadn't gone to Kumogakure this time, I wouldn't have even heard of it. Of course, it's because... they killed the Second Hokage and wiped out our ally, the Uzumaki clan!" Akaishi became even more self-righteous. Danzo: ...

"You are because..." Danzo, of course, did not believe it.

However, this time Akaishi interrupted him directly!

Akaishi then took out the "Sealing Scroll," and after unraveling it...

Holding up the statue of the Second Hokage, Akainu confronted Danzo, demanding, "What did we do to Kumogakure? Do we need any other reason? Ask that question again, facing the statue of the Second Hokage!"

"You..." Danzo was momentarily speechless with anger, but seeing his teacher's sculpture held in his hand, he couldn't find the words to refute it. "Alright, Akaishi, don't just... take it out all the time," Sarutobi said somewhat awkwardly.