Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

For a moment, Tsunade felt an urge to destroy all of Hashirama's cells.

Grandpa's cells should not be the source of evil.

"Princess of Konoha, you must know the dangers of the Wood Release experiments, right? If this gets out, Konoha could immediately become the enemy of the ninja world. So, I really hope that Konoha can change its Hokage."

Kirito glanced at Tsunade from afar, noticing her current distraught state, and sighed.

Tsunade was well aware of the dangers of Root conducting such inhumane experiments. If the matter were confirmed, Konoha's reputation in the ninja world would be severely damaged, and it would likely immediately invite an attack from other ninja villages.

Are you threatening me?

Upon hearing Kirito's words, Tsunade's distraught expression instantly turned frosty, and she said coldly.

She now realizes that this head of intelligence in Amegakure knows a lot of things, which is undoubtedly not good news for Konoha. She is worried that if this Amegakure fails to achieve his goals, he will choose to expose the Wood Release experiments being conducted by Root.

"Absolutely not. I don't want to see Amegakure destroyed by Konoha. Don't worry, I'm the only one in Amegakure who knows about this. I will take this secret to my grave and will never let it slip out."

Kirito solemnly assured him.

Upon hearing this, Tsunade snorted coldly, then lowered her head in deep thought.

She understood Kirito's words; what he meant was that if Amegakure were to perish, he wouldn't mind taking Konoha down with him.

Although the other party spoke very tactfully and adopted a humble attitude, the threat was in no way diminished.

"You've won. I will do everything I can to help Amegakure bring Konoha's reinforcements, but you'd better remember that Konoha does not accept threats. Even if the Wood Release experiment is exposed in the future, Konoha has the courage to take responsibility for this mistake."

Before long, Tsunade made her decision, her eyes revealing a determination Kirito had never seen before.

“I will remember your words. With a heroine like you in Konoha, I believe Konoha is capable of handling this matter. I will wait for your good news in Amegakure, Princess of Konoha. However, I hope to see you again soon.”

Kirito noticed the change in Tsunade's expression and said cheerfully.

In fact, he presented the information about the Wood Release experiment partly to use it as leverage to get Tsunade to help Amegakure, and partly to provoke Tsunade, ignite her fighting spirit, and make her completely disappointed in the Third Hokage.

He currently doesn't have much information about the Root's Wood Release experiments.

But since this experiment was conducted jointly by the new and old roots, the third generation must be involved. Even if he himself may not be aware of it, things have developed to this point, and he has no way to defend himself.

Judging from the current situation, his good older sister has already concluded that the Wood Release experiment is related to the Third Hokage, her impression of the Third Hokage is getting worse and worse, and she has developed the determination to correct Konoha's mistakes.

This is a great start.

"You should have been the Fourth Hokage, my dear sister."

On a small mountaintop seven or eight kilometers away from Tsunade's military camp, Kirito controlled his White Zetsu clone, closed his Byakugan, and smiled.

……

Meanwhile, in a severely damaged town five or six kilometers east of Amegakure Village.

Thousands of ninjas are secretly gathering here, scattered throughout the town, hiding silently.

These thousands of ninjas were the Hidden Mist Ninjas who had traveled thousands of miles from the sea.

Suddenly, a person shrouded in a black robe burst into the deserted town. He seemed completely unaware of the Hidden Mist Ninja hiding there and swaggered through the area.

Yagura Karatachi, now in charge of the group of Kirigakure ninja, was startled when he saw the man in black robes burst in.

Because he didn't know when the man in black appeared; the man just suddenly appeared in the town.

Although he wasn't an outstanding sensory ninja, his sensory abilities weren't bad either.

The man in black robes was only a hundred or two meters away from him, and he only just noticed him at such a short distance.

What surprised him most was that even the Jonin Ao, who possessed excellent sensory abilities, hadn't noticed the black-robed man's appearance beforehand.

This suggests that the man in black robes is quite powerful, and he clearly did not happen to be passing by by chance.

"Damn it, who is this guy? What does he want?"

As the man in black robes drew closer, Yagura Karatachi felt a sudden sense of impending doom and became alert, preparing for battle.

However, he did not act rashly. Whether the man in black robes was friend or foe was still unknown, and if he made a move, it might attract the attention of the nearby Cloud Ninja.

Soon, he finally saw the black-robed man's face clearly; to be precise, it was a white spiral mask that only revealed one eye.

The moment Yagura saw the mask on the black-robed man's face, he made eye contact with the man's eyes.

Then, to his astonishment, he discovered that the man in black robes had vanished.

Chapter 229: First Meeting with Uchiha Madara

"What about people!"

When Yagura saw the man in black robes vanish into thin air, his hair stood on end.

Not only him, but many of the Hidden Mist ninjas around who saw the man in black robes reacted in the same way.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the man in black vanished into thin air without their noticing. What this signifies is self-evident.

If the black-robed man they just saw wasn't a hallucination, then it could only mean that this black-robed man was exceptionally powerful.

"Pass down the order to have them check if anyone is missing or if there are any abnormalities on their bodies."

Suppressing his fear, Yagura quickly relayed the order.

Then, he closed his eyes and began to comb through his body in his own way, carefully examining himself.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times he carefully checked, and how many times he had his sensory ninja, Qing, insist on checking, he still found nothing.

"Qing, do you think that man in black robes did nothing to us?"

Unable to detect anything amiss, Yagura grew increasingly anxious and couldn't help but ask Ao, who also looked extremely unwell, for help.

Ao was speechless upon hearing Yagura's words.

How could he have done nothing? He couldn't believe that such a mysterious and powerful man in black robes would just happen to appear here and then do nothing.

He was certain that the man in black robes had left something on them, but their reconnaissance skills were too low, or the other party's methods were too sophisticated, so they couldn't detect it.

"Could this man in black robes be someone sent by the Hidden Cloud Village? But this doesn't seem like the Hidden Cloud Village's style. If they had such a powerful ninja, they would have already gathered a group of people to fight us."

Seeing Ao's eye-rolling expression, Yagura Kuriji knew that they had definitely been tricked and sighed.

His purpose in coming here was not merely to lead a group of Kirigakure ninja to assist Amegakure in defeating Kumogakure. His primary objective was to bring back as many as possible of these thousand-plus Kirigakure ninja, a direct order given to him by the Third Mizukage.

Most of the ninjas who came here were anti-blood mist ninjas, and each one of them was a skilled fighter. Therefore, these ninjas could be said to be the main force of the anti-blood mist faction. If they were to be lost here, the anti-blood mist faction's status in Kirigakure would definitely plummet.

Of course, the anti-blood mist faction ninjas who contributed the most this time, led by the Third Mizukage, will receive the lion's share of the rewards from Amegakure. Moreover, once they successfully help Amegakure defeat Amegakure, the anti-blood mist faction's status within Kirigakure will definitely be greatly enhanced.

This is a gamble, and a high-stakes one at that.

Thinking of the things the Third Mizukage had told him before he left, Yagura Karatachi suddenly had the idea of ​​leaving.

He encountered a ghost on this trip, and as the person in charge here, he must be cautious.

However, the war between Amegakure and Kumogakure is at a critical moment. If Kirigakure were to suddenly withdraw, it would definitely be a disaster for Amegakure and could seriously damage Kirigakure's reputation.

Taking money and not doing the job is breaking the rules.

Once this is exposed, it will be very difficult for Kirigakure to accept mission orders from the public in the future.

"Qing, what do you think will happen if we withdraw from the war between Amegakure and Kumogakure now?"

"I asked in a low voice," Yagura asked.

“We’ve already taken the money. If we return it now, we can forget about ever holding our heads high in the village again.”

Upon hearing this, Qing was even more speechless.

He knew Yagura's character quite well; he was a cunning old fox. Although he seemed harmless, he was actually very scheming. Therefore, he thought a lot and acted with maturity and prudence.

He knew what Yagura was worried about, but the rule that ninjas take money to do things couldn't be broken.

Their departure has led to Amegakure's defeat by Kumogakure. Amegakure will not let Kirigakure off the hook and will surely spread rumors throughout the ninja world that Kirigakure took money and did nothing.

As for why they haven't publicly stated their involvement in the war between Amegakure and Kumogakure, it's to avoid giving others grounds for criticism, but that's just self-comfort. Kumogakure must have already discovered that Kirigakure has interfered.

Therefore, their withdrawal now is tantamount to abandoning the mission.

"This is absolutely terrible."

When Yagura heard Ao say that, he immediately felt a splitting headache.

He still wants to be the Fourth Mizukage in the future. If he really thinks that he will never be able to hold his head up in the village again because of this, then what's the point of him being the Fourth Mizukage?

……

Meanwhile, just as Yagura was agonizing over whether to withdraw from the battle between Amegakure and Kumogakure, a black-robed figure was watching Yagura, a Kirigakure ninja, with amusement in the shadows not far away.

The black-robed man's ability to conceal himself was indeed formidable. More than a thousand Mist Hidden Ones were like blind men, never imagining that the black-robed man was hiding right under their noses, yet not a single one of them could detect him.

"Hehehe, Lord Madara is really amazing. With just a few tricks, he made these Mist Ninjas start to act timidly."

The next moment, a black thing with eyes and a mouth emerged from the black-robed man's right sleeve, chuckling.

The black object was Black Zetsu, and the man in black robes was Madara Uchiha.

Now that the ninja world is in turmoil, the two finally couldn't resist making a move in secret, steering the situation in the ninja world in the direction they wanted to see.

They couldn't change the situation in Sunagakure, so they set their sights on the Land of Rain.

A prosperous and stable Land of Rain is not what they want to see, nor do they want Amegakure to become too powerful. They intend to create an environment suitable for the growth of Rinnegan vessels through this war between Amegakure and Kumogakure.

"That kid named Yagura is not simple. He actually has the aura of the Three-Tails. Although he doesn't have the Three-Tails in his body, he probably used some method to obtain a lot of chakra from the Three-Tails and successfully absorbed it into his own use."

Madara Uchiha stared indifferently at Yagura Karatachi, who was completely unaware of him at the moment.

"Really? I didn't expect this baby-faced kid to be quite capable. No wonder his chakra is far more than that of an average Kage-level shinobi. He actually managed to secretly take over the Three-Tails' chakra and succeeded."

Black Zetsu was greatly surprised to hear Madara Uchiha's words and couldn't help but glance at Yagura Karatachi a few more times.

That was all. He didn't take this Mist Ninja too seriously, because no matter how special the other party was, he was now a pawn in Uchiha Madara's hands. If Uchiha Madara wanted to, he could take his life at any time.

It knew Madara Uchiha's strength all too well. There was no ninja in the current ninja world who could rival him. Even though he no longer had the Rinnegan and was old, Madara Uchiha, who had successfully fused the chakra of Indra and Ashura, was still the ninja who could kill Kage-level ninjas as easily as killing chickens.

For example, right now, this ninja named Yagura Karatachi has unknowingly fallen victim to the transcription seal used by Madara Uchiha using his Sharingan, and his eyes contain a technique planted by Madara Uchiha.

Not only Yagura, but many of the Mist Ninja here have been affected by Madara Uchiha's transcription seal.

He was certain that once these Mist Ninjas assisted Amegakure in fighting Kumogakure again, some very interesting things would definitely happen.

"Let's go. The hidden traps here have been successfully laid. Take me to see my eye container."

Madara Uchiha withdrew his gaze and said, slightly wearily.