I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 420 Sales champions always get extra perks, like not having to clock in or out or write daily reports.

"Total annihilation?"

Upon hearing this news, apart from Minato, who had experienced it firsthand with Tatsuma, and Sakumo Hatake, who had already guessed it, everyone else, including the Konoha scouts brought back by Tatsuma and Minato, looked incredulous.

The Konoha scouts knew the battle had been intense, the kind that could be seen from dozens of miles away. Those who knew it was ninja fighting, but those who didn't, would have thought it was a natural disaster.

However, even in the fiercest battle, they couldn't equate this with two people annihilating thousands of people; after all, such a feat was simply unimaginable.

Shikaku glared at Tatsuma like he was an enemy. "You had the ability to wipe them all out, why didn't you say so earlier?!" he thought. "He went through all that trouble, even going so far as to go to the Hokage Building to gather so many people to provide support, and now he's telling me it was all for nothing?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi nearly ripped off his beard. After letting go, he placed his stiff hands behind his back, covering them with his sleeves, and asked, "How did you do that?"

Tatsuma glanced at Minato and then said, "We encountered two not-so-bright Jinchuriki who used Tailed Beast Balls in front of us."

The Tailed Beast Ball, a technique that is tantamount to an unsolvable and death-defying jutsu for ordinary ninjas, does seem somewhat foolish in the face of ninjas who have mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique.

After all, dealing with Tailed Beast Balls was commonplace for the two of them. This year was spent training Kushina to master the power of the Nine-Tails, and also training Tatsuma and Minato to develop methods and experience in dealing with Tailed Beasts.

Hiruzen Sarutobi blinked, quickly recalling the possible scenarios that might have occurred, and his previously unbearable heart calmed down considerably.

Using one's own strength to annihilate thousands of ninjas is a completely different concept from using the power of a tailed beast to annihilate thousands of ninjas.

To annihilate a thousand ninjas, even if most of them are genin or chunin, requires extremely high levels of energy, focus, and control over the battlefield—it reaches the limits of human capability.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't dare say that he could survive and annihilate the enemy while facing over a thousand ninjas. Of course, if he had guards, he could confidently exchange ninjutsu with them.

The only people Hiruzen Sarutobi could think of who could single-handedly annihilate over a thousand ninjas were the two who founded Konoha.

Of course, if it's just about holding off without aiming for total annihilation, there are still people who can do it, like that guy from Kumogakure. Let alone a thousand, even several times that number, he could still hold off and resist, after all, he's a humanoid beast whose physique has been tempered to surpass the limits of humanity.

However, if one were to borrow the power of the Tailed Beasts, which are essentially natural disasters and whose Tailed Beast Balls are like calamities falling from the sky, coupled with their nearly inexhaustible chakra, it would indeed be possible to utilize their power.

This is why each village actively cultivates Jinchūriki. Besides Jinchūriki, Flying Thunder God Technique is also one of the ways to borrow the power of Tailed Beasts. Of course, Flying Thunder God Technique cannot borrow the power of Tailed Beasts as comprehensively as Jinchūriki.

However, the Flying Thunder God Technique allows one to borrow the power of the enemy's Tailed Beasts. For example, the Tailed Beast Ball that Tatsuma mentioned at this moment is indeed not a very smart move.

What was initially unacceptable now seemed acceptable, and Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts cleared. He looked at Tatsuma, whose clothes were tattered and covered in blood, narrowed his eyes, and asked:

"That's not all, is it? You also used that technique?"

Which technique? Which technique?

Apart from Minato and Tatsuma, everyone else looked puzzled. Judging from the Hokage's tone, it seemed that he was putting this mysterious technique on the same level as the Tailed Beast Ball.

"Um."

Tatsuma nodded without refuting, which made the people around him even more curious. What kind of technique was it?! In fact, they all knew that it must be some kind of extraordinary forbidden technique.

But precisely because it is a forbidden technique, they have no access to it at all, which makes them even more curious.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, showing no intention of explaining to the others, and continued, "What about the Jinchuriki of Iwagakure?"

"Seriously injured, he'll be unable to move around much for the next year or two."

As soon as Tatsuma finished speaking, the people around him were filled with disbelief. Today's news was just too explosive, one after another. First, Hatake Sakumo led his men out of Iwagakure and needed their rescue, and then Tatsuma brought back a series of explosive news.

Tatsuma didn't exaggerate. Although Rōshi and Han's injuries weren't serious, just like when calculating a Jinchūriki's fighting power, the Jinchūriki himself and the Tailed Beast are calculated together, injuries are also calculated together.

The greatest threat to Jinchūriki is the Tailed Beast, and their greatest protection is also the Tailed Beast. If something happens to the Tailed Beast inside them, it's the same as something happening to them.

As for Rōshi and Han, they will be unable to use the power of the Tailed Beasts in the near future. No ninja village will release a Jinchūriki who cannot use the power of the Tailed Beasts, because the risk is too great.

Tatsuma's sense of time also stems from his "cruel" treatment of Kurama over the years.

In Tatsuma's view, the methods used by each village to seal the tailed beasts were all similar and essentially the same.

The process involves first sealing the Tailed Beast into the human body, then using the Tailed Beast's chakra to erode the seal and slowly open a passage. The Jinchuriki then steals a small amount of the Tailed Beast's chakra from this passage.

As the user becomes more familiar with the power of the Tailed Beasts, this passage will slowly expand, allowing the Jinchuriki to utilize more and more of the Tailed Beast's chakra. However, the seal must never be completely destroyed.

Just like the Nine-Tails that Tatsuma saw in Kushina's spiritual world, or the Four-Tails and Five-Tails bodies that Rōshi and Han condensed outside their bodies, they were actually just the overflowing portion of chakra.

Tatsuma had previously tried to absorb the Nine-Tails from Kushina's spiritual world to reduce the overflowing chakra and make Kushina, as a Jinchūriki, more "stable," but Tatsuma did not completely absorb the Nine-Tails.

The reason is that when the Nine-Tails in Kushina's spiritual world was completely devoured, it meant that the sealed chakra channels were no longer being eroded by the tailed beast's chakra and were in a state of being temporarily suspended.

As a condensation of chakra, the chakra of a tailed beast in its normal state is constant. That is to say, if a part of it is devoured, it needs to wait for a part to be replenished. During the replenishment period, the channel may "self-heal".

The next time the Tailed Beast's chakra wants to break the seal, or if the Jinchuriki wants to borrow the Tailed Beast's chakra again, they must wait for the Tailed Beast to erode and destroy the seal again, and create a new chakra channel.

What Tatsuma did to the Four-Tails and Five-Tails was to completely devour their overflowing chakra, and even use the open passage to pull in a lot more tailed beast chakra.

If Lao Zi and Han want to regain their fighting strength, they have to continue to wait for the Four-Tails and Five-Tails to replenish their chakra and erode the seal again. According to Tatsuma's estimate, this process will take one to two years.

In other words, whether Lao Zi and Han want to borrow the power of the Tailed Beasts or learn about today's battle from them, they must wait until the Four-Tails and Five-Tails break the seal again.

Therefore, Tatsuma confidently said that his use of Wood Release today might not be leaked, and that he would no longer mind if the Four-Tails and Five-Tails revealed the truth when they did.

Today's experience made Tatsuma realize what level he was at when he had revealed all his trump cards. At least, he no longer needed to fear any underhanded attacks after exposing his Wood Release.

The ninja world can accommodate a genius, but it is difficult to accommodate a genius Wood Release ninja, because the memories that Wood Release brings to the ninja world are too profound. Not to mention other villages, even in Konoha, there may be people who do not want to see the appearance of Wood Release.

Therefore, once his Wood Release is exposed, Tatsuma will face even greater targeting than before. Keep in mind that he is already the ninja being targeted the most.

It can't be said that Tatsuma's life is like walking on thin ice, but it is certainly not comfortable, especially outside of Konoha. Once his identity is exposed, he won't even have time to eat a meal in peace.

Being cautious and thinking things through has become an instinct for Tatsuma. Within the scope and pace allowed by the ninja world, gradually revealing himself is a very safe approach.

As for the ultimate concealment of his abilities, no one would believe it unless he did so from the very beginning of his arrival in the ninja world, but it's too late now.

If he continues to hide his talents now, others will only think he's holding back a big move. He must maintain his "growth" to keep people's wariness at a level that Chenma can control.

Exposing Wood Release now is the limit of what Tatsuma can control. If it were a year or two later, Tatsuma feels he would have complete control.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, unaware of the details, assumed that Tatsuma and Minato had inflicted extremely serious injuries on Rōshi and Han. He nodded, glanced back at the assembled ANBU and Jonin, then looked at Tatsuma and asked:

"What do you think should be done next?"

"There are too many people, and it's not suitable for the Anbu to handle this. We should reduce the number of people and have five to seven Jonin lead a team to directly recruit ninja squads from the surrounding area from the border. This will allow us to communicate with the Land of Grass and demonstrate our sincerity in the peace talks and our determination to maintain peace in the ninja world."

"We must firmly defend our borders. If the Iwa ninja chooses to wage war against us in the Land of Grass, we can send a letter accusing the Land of Earth of invading its territory and attempting to provoke a ninja war."

Tatsuma glanced at the crowd and voiced his thoughts: Konoha was in the wrong first, and it was impossible to avoid Iwagakure's initial criticism. Therefore, they needed to drag others down with them and change their stance.

Once the Land of Grass intervenes and the Hidden Stone Village takes action, they will go from being in the right to being in the wrong. Tatsuma believes that Onoki will see this clearly.

Moreover, the annihilation of over a thousand ninjas and the serious injury of two Jinchuriki put immense, invisible pressure on Iwagakure. Before understanding Konoha's methods, Onoki would not allow the Iwagakure ninjas to act rashly.

After all, Onoki wouldn't risk Konoha suddenly producing a fully-fledged Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, or someone with combat power comparable to the First Hokage and that rogue ninja, by deciding to go to war with Konoha.

The most likely scenario is that Onoki will first find Rōshi and Han, while simultaneously engaging in protracted negotiations in the Land of Grass, awaiting the revelation of the truth. As long as Iwagakure remains unaware of the truth, this protracted negotiation will continue.

What Konoha needs is a fair and square response. As long as Konoha doesn't show weakness, this battle won't even start before the truth is revealed. This is why Tatsuma considers annihilating all the Iwa ninja within his "limits".

Agreeing to let Yahiko and the other two take away Rōshi and Kan was also a deliberate attempt to create a false impression. As an important link in the chain of evidence, the moment Rōshi and Kan were taken away by Yahiko, the evidence was already tainted. Their credibility, if not greatly reduced, would certainly raise some questions.

Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a moment, then nodded and looked at Nara Shikagami, who had remained silent, merely acting as his son's tool. He said, "Shikagami, you'll handle this matter, is that alright?"

Lu Yuan shrugged and said, "Could there be a problem?"

"Haha~ Then I'll leave it to you."

He had always entrusted diplomatic negotiations to Shikaku, and he didn't intend to do the same in this matter. However, he glanced at Shikaku and added, "Let Shikaku assist you."

Shikaku's face twisted instantly. Sure enough, Sakamoto Tatsuma shouldn't exist; he only gets himself into trouble!

Tatsuma gave a contagious smile, looked at Shikaku, and said, "The work in the Anbu can't be neglected either. I believe you can balance it well."

Having said that, ignoring Shikaku's death ray, he looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said, "Hokage-sama, I need to rest. I have my reporting to my superiors."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said, "Go back and rest. Sakumo and the others too, you've bought the village enough time. There's no rush to report on your duties."

(End of this chapter)