Konoha: This Uchiha is extremely sneaky

Chapter 522 Avoiding the Edge

In the eerie, dark base, everything was shrouded in deathly silence.

The candles on the wall cast a dim, yellowish light, illuminating a patchwork of shadows. The doors to the rooms on either side of the corridor were tightly shut, as if something terrifying was hidden within.

Squeak!

A grating, teeth-grinding creak of a door hinge breaking the silence. The sound was deep and jarring, seemingly coming from afar, echoing endlessly in the enclosed space.

It sent chills down the spines of those who heard it, as if some evil force was about to awaken.

Finally, at the end of the corridor, a door slowly opened. Darkness poured out from the crack, swallowing the dim candlelight.

Something seemed to be wriggling and struggling in the room, emitting a low growl.

"Who are you…"

As the candlelight spread, in the dim light, Dou saw a proud figure standing there.

Is this person... Lord Orochimaru, or Sasuke?

He swallowed hard, unable to tell who this cold-faced 'Sasuke' really was.

"A 'katana'...?"

Kabuto watched helplessly as Sasuke turned and slowly walked past him. Although he didn't make any move, his eyes were fixed on the other person, not wanting to miss any clue.

"Who...are you?"

What do you think...?

Ignoring the bewildered Kabuto, Sasuke left the place where he had stayed for several years.

"A kaleidoscope?"

Slowly wiping away the crimson stain from the corner of his eye, Sasuke began to recall the battle he had just fought with Orochimaru during the reincarnation ritual.

He was able to defeat Orochimaru at his peak thanks to his brother Itachi.

In fact, despite Orochimaru's best efforts three years ago, Itachi still managed to find Sasuke.

However, Itachi had no good way to deal with his younger brother who was determined to surpass him and defeat Naruto.

Sasuke made it clear that even if he returned to Konoha, he would still find an opportunity to go find Orochimaru.

Because it was under Orochimaru's tutelage that he was able to constantly experience the feeling of death being close at hand, receive the best training, and make rapid progress.

In the comfortable Konoha, under the limited training of his father or brother, he would only make slow progress in his comfort zone, which is not what he wants.

Left with no other choice, Itachi used the Transcription Seal to leave Sasuke's eye technique in his eyes.

This is also why Sasuke was able to defeat Orochimaru at his peak and survive the reincarnation ritual.

"Next, it's time to find that idiot and settle things once and for all!"

Recalling his moments with Naruto, Sasuke's lips unconsciously curled into a smile.

The figure disappeared at the end of the corridor, leaving Dou behind.

……

"Naruto, we have a mission!"

Naruto, dressed in a smart outfit, saw Kakashi-sensei and heard that there was a mission.

He slurped down the last bit of ramen in the bowl, then held the bowl with both hands and drank deeply of the tonkotsu-flavored broth.

As Naruto sipped the rich noodle soup, tears of emotion welled up in his eyes.

God knows how he got through these past few months.

Faced with the "insect dish" meticulously prepared by Shima-sensei, even someone as oblivious as him felt that he was beginning to undergo a strange change.

Especially in the later stages, after he began to use toad oil to sense natural energy, he gradually felt that the insect dishes began to have a unique flavor.

This frightened him quite a bit.

Upon returning to Konoha, he immediately went to Ichiraku Ramen to properly satisfy his hunger.

Thankfully… compared to those weird and unorthodox dishes, I prefer ramen. I'm still the same Naruto Uzumaki, and I haven't turned into the frog-like Naruto of Mount Myōboku!

"Thank you for the meal, Uncle Ichiraku~"

With a clatter, Naruto finished eating and drinking his fill, greeted Uncle Okiichiraku, and got up to leave.

"Is it finally my time to shine?"

"Kakashi-sensei, what's the mission this time?"

Following behind Kakashi, Naruto began to imagine himself returning from his training and sweeping across all the mission leaderboards.

……

the other side.

"Obito, what are your plans regarding the Nine-Tails?"

In Amegakure, Nagato frowned, looked at Obito beside him, and asked a question.

The operation to collect the Tailed Beasts has begun.

The situation with the One-Tailed to Eight-Tailed is manageable, but the Nine-Tailed is more complicated, not to mention that the Nine-Tailed itself is incredibly powerful.

The Fifth Hokage alone was a formidable obstacle in their path.

"If we mobilize all our personnel, there is a certain chance of success."

"I already have a backup plan."

Nagato's getting a bit arrogant.

Faced with Toshiro, the Hokage, Obito had no good solutions and could only activate his backup plan.

"A backup plan?"

"Yes, if you want to capture the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the Hokage is an insurmountable obstacle."

"Although your strength has improved somewhat, even if we all go out to attack Konoha, the success rate is not high."

"Whether it's Jiraiya's incompetence, Tsunade's incompetence, or the Uchiha clan, these are all factors we need to consider. One wrong move could lead to complete failure."

"Therefore, I have prepared a backup plan, absolutely... You come and explain it to Nagato in detail!"

Although Nagato has recovered somewhat, Obito still doesn't have much confidence in facing Toshiro.

If they fail again, their plan could truly be declared bankrupt.

"There's a guardian ninja in the Land of Fire, and the leader of those guys is quite unruly."

Zetsu had gathered some information from him and shared it with Nagato.

"On the night of the Nine-Tails sixteen years ago, I accidentally collected a portion of the Nine-Tails' chakra and naively thought that I could use this Nine-Tails' chakra to overthrow the Fifth Hokage."

"All we need to do is obtain this Nine-Tails' chakra and let the demon golem absorb it."

"Guardian Ninja? These guys are really naive. They actually think they can take down the Fifth Hokage by using a piece of Nine-Tails' chakra. What a pipe dream."

Nagato couldn't help but scoff at those so-called guardian ninjas and their idea of ​​using the Nine-Tails' chakra to fight against Uchiha Toshiro.

These people are truly like frogs in a well.

"Is one unit of Nine-Tails chakra enough?"

His only concern was whether Jue's method would actually work.

After all, there is a huge difference between a complete Nine-Tails and a single Nine-Tails chakra.

"There shouldn't be any problem."

"Once the golem has the Nine-Tails' chakra, we can execute the plan."

Black Zetsu is very confident about this.

"That's good!"

Although he was somewhat tempted, Nagato knew that avoiding a direct conflict with the Hokage was the best course of action.

(End of this chapter)