Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Deidara nodded.

"Huh! Really?"

Heitu's eyes lit up, and he glanced at his grandfather without making a sound.

Onoki firmly disbelieved the ridiculous rumor of creating the strongest tailed beast weapon, yet she also doubted the existence of the Rinnegan. This blatant double standard frustrated the girl greatly. Fortunately, Deidara did not disappoint her.

It's true that they're creating the strongest tailed beast weapon!

"Of course it's true. Leader Pain is preparing to forge the strongest tailed beast weapon, to let this world feel the deepest pain. In this way, by experiencing the taste of suffering, peace can be born. Speaking of which..."

"The reason why we suddenly started fighting Konoha was because Orochimaru and Sasori, those two bastards, captured Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, which attracted Konoha's attack. But we didn't expect Konoha to be so strong, and we messed things up, and the organization was completely destroyed."

Deidara sighed with regret at the end.

This issue,

They really went too far!

To be honest, at the beginning of the war, Deidara did not believe that Konoha could win. He firmly believed that even if all of them died in battle, as long as Pain made a move, wiping out the Konoha ninja was just a matter of time. However, no one expected that the Sixth Hokage of Konoha also had the legendary Rinnegan.

then,

The Akatsuki's greatest asset was thus wiped out.

In the end, the Akatsuki organization suffered a crushing defeat.

Even Payne himself got caught in the crossfire.

"...I didn't expect your leader to be nothing more than a naive brat." Onoki snorted coldly, not giving his granddaughter a chance to show off. He waved his hand and ordered, "Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, get ready. We're going back to the village. We've caught this brainless idiot. We need to hurry back and prepare for the Chunin Exams. This time, I'm going to Konoha to see for myself just how many eyes that Sixth Hokage has."

[Chapter 410. Let's go to Konoha!]

As time went on, the news of the upcoming Chunin Exams inevitably spread further and further. Apart from the allied Kirigakure, even the Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure were aware that Konoha was preparing to hold an unprecedented Chunin Exams.

After repeatedly confirming that the message was correct

They've all started preparing for the Chunin Exams.

Even though they hadn't received an official letter from Konoha, and even though they could have refused to participate in the Chunin Exams, none of the four great ninja villages intended to coldly say "no" to Konoha.

Today,

Almost all the major ninja villages have learned what happened in Amegakure. Although they can't grasp all the details, the general situation can be pieced together because different people are deliberately leaking information for different purposes.

This allowed them to understand just how powerful Konoha truly is!

At this moment,

Going against Konoha would undoubtedly be foolish.

Even if they really wanted to weaken Konoha, they shouldn't have used such a stupid method. Unless they were out of their minds, no Kage would believe that a single village could contend with Konoha in its current state. Just the Rinnegan, whose power is unknown, is already a cause for great concern!

that's it,

Konoha was making orderly preparations for the Chunin Exams.

Meanwhile, all the other ninja villages, large and small, had begun preparations for this unprecedented Chunin Exams. Leaving aside the deeper issues of conflict between ninja villages, let's just talk about the impact of this unprecedented Chunin Exams.

The Chunin Exams are not something you can just casually get through.

This exam,

If it is successfully held, Konoha Village will become the most dazzling stage in the ninja world during that period. The performance of the genin from each village will be the focus of the ninja world, and the performance of the genin will naturally affect the reputation of their respective villages.

Moreover, the fighting strength of the higher-ups is no match for that of Konoha.

This doesn't mean that genin can't beat Konoha's genin. The gap between the upper and lower limits of jonin is astonishing, but for genin... the gap is limited. With proper planning and a bit of luck, they might be able to humiliate Konoha.

Just as the various ninja villages were making preparations in full swing, another piece of information was urgently delivered to the desks of the Kage and their leaders.

Country of Fields, Village of Sound,

This newly established ninja village was captured by Konoha ninjas in just one hour. The reason for the attack was simple and clear: Otogakure was a force established by Orochimaru, an S-rank rogue ninja from Konoha. Logically and morally, Konoha would not allow Otogakure to continue to exist after learning about this.

The reason for delaying the attack on Otogakure until now is...

There was no complicated reason; it was just that I hadn't paid attention and had overlooked it. I had forgotten that there was such a small place as Otogakure (Hidden Sound Village) until Uchiha Arashiyama started preparing to send out invitations to various ninja villages in the ninja world, and then he discovered this little-known village.

When the report was submitted, Zongxian was stunned for two seconds.

Immediately,

With Uchiha Shisui, the head of the Anbu, leading the charge, and assisted by Uchiha Chihaya, Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, Kaguya Kimimaro, Yuhi Kurenai, and more than ten others, they didn't need to mobilize a large army. They simply copied the experience of the previous raid on Amegakure and directly used this elite small force of less than twenty people to break into Otogakure.

They caught the Hidden Sound Village completely off guard.

to be frank,

The Hidden Sound Village was not entirely unprepared. Haku had removed the people in the Hidden Sound Village who were loyal to Orochimaru, emptied the Hidden Sound Village's database, and most of the remaining Sound Ninja were wandering ninjas who had been brought in later during the expansion and development of the village, as well as native ninja families from the Land of Rice Fields.

These people were either reluctant to give up the foundation that the Hidden Sound Village had painstakingly built,

Either all their hard work is tied up in the Hidden Sound Village,

Or they're local bullies in the land of fields, and you wouldn't know where to run to.

Anyway,

These people lived in fear of when Konoha would attack, yet they remained hesitant to abandon their plans and flee, until Uchiha Shisui led a group of experts to the gates of Amegakure, crushing Otogakure's will to resist with overwhelming force.

say nothing else,

Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Chihaya, and Uchiha Itachi activated their Susanoo.

Ninety percent of the Sound Ninja were terrified and surrendered, putting down their weapons. The remaining small group of die-hards were dealt with by Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Kimimaro Kaguya, Kurenai Yuhi, Mangetsu Hozuki, and Ameyuri Ringo, who chopped down all the troublemakers as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

If you were to ask why the list above includes strange names like Hozuki Mangetsu and Ringo Ameyuri,

The answer is simple.

Because Sogen felt that Otogakure was a force established by Orochimaru, an S-rank rogue ninja from Konoha, and this fell right under the purview of the Konoha-Kigakure Joint Rogue Ninja Investigation Department. Moreover, unlike the operation against Amegakure, which required 100% reliability, this operation did not have such high standards.

then,

Adhering to the principle of using what is needed, the names of Hozuki Mangetsu, Ringo Ameyuri, and others were filled in.

"Is it... over?"

Ringo Ameyuri, holding the Raito Kiba, stood in the pool of blood and asked Kakashi Hatake a question not far away.

"That's right, it's over."

Kakashi, who was using his Sharingan to interrogate people for information, nodded.

My gaze lingered on the crimson pool of blood for a second. She had seemed like the quietest woman before, but she turned into a demon the moment she stepped onto the battlefield. Many of the Sound Ninja who were killed didn't even have time to surrender before they were wiped out.

"boring!!"

Ringo Yuri frowned.

That's not enough!

There's really no fun in bullying these small fry, and you can't even kill them all properly. It's so incredibly boring! Ringo Ameyuri turned and walked away over the pool of blood, intending to find Uchiha Chihaya for a duel.

Kakashi, who was left behind, let out a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

If that woman intends to attack the surrendered Sound Ninja, even though he doesn't want to fight that kind of murderer, he will probably have no choice but to take action. After all, their raid on Sound Village this time was not for a massacre; they only needed to wipe the village out of the village and there was no need to commit meaningless killings.

"That's terrifying!"

The clear female voice revealed Kakashi's true feelings.

"Hong, did you get things sorted out on your end?"

Kakashi looked at Kurenai Yuhi walking over and asked.

“That Minister Hozuki handled everything by himself; I couldn’t get a word in edgewise,” Kurenai Yuhi said, glancing at the pool of blood that had already turned black out of the corner of her eye. She gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I was prepared to die here before I came, and I even left a will before I left… Turns out I was just overthinking it.”

"We were lucky, or perhaps the Hokage was very strategic."

Kakashi shrugged off the Sound Ninja who was so scared he was about to wet his pants. "The Sound Village is Orochimaru's territory, how could it not have any powerful ninjas? It's just that those powerful ninjas started disappearing one by one half a month ago, leaving behind only some nobody."

"Therefore, the Hokage only sent this small number of people because there was no need for a major conflict."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Otogakure is finished!"

Outside the Hidden Sound Village

At the top of the hill, beneath a towering tree that resembled a canopy, Obito Uchiha, wearing an orange-red swirling mask, and Black Zetsu, resembling a pitcher plant, stood on the ground, one with half of his body extending from the tree trunk, both watching the disappearance of a village below.

"Orochimaru hasn't shown up yet. Either Haku's resurrection operation failed, or Orochimaru has been resurrected but has long been prepared to abandon this village."

It was Black Zetsu who spoke.

He turned to look at Obito Uchiha and asked:

"Obito, what do you think?"

"Let's pray that Orochimaru hasn't been resurrected!" Obito Uchiha replied coldly.

If Orochimaru has truly been resurrected... then the hope of retrieving the Rinnegan has become even more remote. Only if Haku fails will they have a chance to cooperate with him and retrieve the lost Rinnegan. Although they have not received any contact from Haku so far, it seems that he still has no intention of cooperating with them.

"Praying alone won't solve the problem."

Black Zetsu stared at Uchiha Obito, "We have to take action. Deidara has been taken away by the people of Iwagakure, Sasori of the Red Sand is still missing, and now Otogakure, the village that might be hiding Haku's whereabouts, has also been captured by Konoha. If we keep waiting like this, Obito, are you planning to meet Rin in your dreams?"

"You're courting death, Jue!!!"

Having his sore spot touched, Obito threw a kunai with his backhand, which grazed White Zetsu's cheek and pierced the tree trunk with a "clang".

"Okay! I apologize, I was too impulsive."

It's hard to say how perfunctory Black Zetsu's apology was... but Obito knew perfectly well.

Since suffering an unprecedented setback in Amegakure,

They were confused for a while.

Next, they planned to gather the remnants of the Akatsuki organization before considering their next move. However, the operation was not going well. Sasori of the Red Sand had disappeared to some unknown place. Not only was there no trace of him, but there wasn't even a footprint to be found. As for Deidara... they finally managed to confirm that Deidara was in the Land of Hot Springs.

Unfortunately, they arrived a step too late.

The Third Tsuchikage found Deidara first and captured him alive. Watching the group fly into the sky, Obito Uchiha remained silent for a long time, giving up on chasing after them to rescue Deidara. Now was not the time to deal with the Third Tsuchikage. With Konoha's current strength, these were just pawns used to counter Konoha!