Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

The Third Generation hesitated for three seconds, then resealed the letter in his hand and handed it to Sakumo Hatake.

Sakumo Hatake immediately accepted the order and took his leave.

"The war with Kumogakure is a good opportunity to get rid of some disobedient guys."

After Sakumo Hatake left, the Third Hokage lowered his head, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

Now that he has decided to go to war with Kumogakure, he must make the most of this war to gain more benefits for Konoha and, incidentally, deal with some of his own hidden dangers.

"What a long night."

The third generation stood up, moved his somewhat stiff body, then turned to look at the night outside the window and sighed deeply.

After tonight, the situation in the ninja world will undergo earth-shattering changes once again.

……

Time slowly passed, the night eventually faded, and the sun rose from the east as usual.

As the sun rose, a major news story that happened last night spread like wildfire throughout the entire ninja world.

Kirito Tohsaka of Konoha killed the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure.

When this news broke, everyone who heard it was shocked.

The common people of Konoha were almost overjoyed, sweeping away the dissatisfaction they had felt towards Kirito not long ago due to rumors. They all praised his bravery and were extremely proud of Konoha's strength.

The ninjas of Konoha were also overjoyed. The martial arts faction ninjas were ecstatic, and many of them had already begun discussing pressing their advantage to wipe out Sunagakure. The moderate faction ninjas mostly chose to remain silent and did not openly oppose the idea at this time.

Ordinary people in other countries generally felt that Konoha was indeed the strongest ninja village in the ninja world, and secretly hoped that their own country would not oppose Konoha.

Ninjas from other countries couldn't help but feel even stronger awe for Kirito Tohsaka, and they also didn't want to oppose Konoha in the future.

In no time, Kirito Tohsaka's fame in the ninja world soared, making him a household name.

While the villagers of Konoha were joyfully discussing Kirito's killing of the Third Kazekage and Konoha's impending defeat of Sunagakure, Chiyo and the members of the Sunagakure peace delegation were discreetly leaving through the gates of Konoha.

Just as the three generations and three advisory elders had discussed.

Konoha did not make things difficult for the Sunagakure peace delegation; they simply informed them that the peace talks were canceled and asked them to leave Konoha immediately.

In the forest, Chiyo and the other Sand Ninjas moved quickly forward, stepping on tree branches. Each of them wore a deep and solemn expression. They all knew that the road home would not be safe, and many of them would die on the way back, or even be wiped out.

"Stop!"

After Chiyo and the others had traveled more than ten kilometers away from Konoha, Chiyo suddenly spoke up.

As soon as she spoke, the other Sand Ninja behind her stopped.

"Lady Chiyo, are you going to change your route?"

Upon seeing this, Kurosa inquired.

Chiyo didn't answer his question, but just glanced at him indifferently, and then said, "Those who know the Shadow Clone Technique, use it immediately. The more shadow clones you create, the better."

These ninjas, who were sent by Sunagakure to Konoha for peace talks, were all elites, at least of the strength of elite Chunin. The Shadow Clone Technique was not a rare ninjutsu in the ninja world, and more than half of the delegation had mastered it.

A few seconds later, the number of people in the delegation increased several times over. Chiyo created more than thirty shadow clones in one go and had them go in different directions. Then she arranged for the delegation to split into four groups and leave from four directions.

"That old woman really did sell me out."

On the way to the Land of Rain, Kurosa's true form watched Chiyo continue leading the way ahead, cursing inwardly.

He certainly knew the Shadow Clone Technique, but Chiyo captured his true form first and then arranged for him to take the most dangerous route back to Sunagakure on the eastern route.

He could only keep this grudge to himself.

He knew perfectly well why Chiyo was doing this; it was simply because she didn't trust him and was worried that he might actually surrender to Konoha. That's why she was doing this now, trying to use Konoha to get rid of him.

"Too bad, your wishful thinking is going to fall through. I've already planned my escape route."

Kurosa sneered inwardly.

Back then, in order to survive, he had already betrayed the interests of Sunagakure, so now it wouldn't stop him from continuing to betray the interests of Sunagakure.

Last night, when he was spying with the Third Hokage, he had already made a secret deal with him. He obtained a parasitic insect from a member of the Aburame clan, which was so small that it was difficult to detect even with a microscope. Then, when he returned and talked with Chiyo, he secretly scattered these insects on Chiyo's body.

The Aburame clan's tracking abilities are renowned throughout the ninja world.

Therefore, even if Chiyo uses Multiple Shadow Clone Techniques to confuse the people of Konoha after being infected by this special insect, she will definitely not be able to escape Konoha's pursuit.

In the end, it's still a dead end.

If he makes another contribution, he will certainly not die and can safely return to Sunagakure. He can also use this opportunity to firmly establish himself in Konoha, making his future career in Sunagakure even smoother.

"Maybe I'll still have a chance to become the Kazekage."

Kurosa was lost in thought, filled with a pleasant feeling.

Meanwhile, Chiyo's true form was heading rapidly towards the Land of Waves all by herself.

She knew very well that Konoha had laid a trap to kill her, and that every route she took back to Sunagakure would be met with Konoha's ambush.

Of all the routes, the one with the best chance of her escape is undoubtedly the direction of the Land of Rain. As long as she successfully enters the Land of Rain, she can get help from the Hidden Cloud Village, and perhaps even the Hidden Stone Village. At that time, getting rid of the Leaf Village's pursuit will definitely be very easy.

However, this route is also the most dangerous.

She thought about it all night and finally came up with the best escape route: the Land of Waves. She would go to the Land of Waves, use it as a springboard to escape to the sea, and then find a way to circle the mainland and return to Sunagakure.

Once at sea, even someone as powerful as Konoha would find it a pipe dream to locate her in the vast ocean.

After most of the day, Chiyo finally passed through a secret defense line set up by Konoha between the Land of Fire and the Land of Waves, and officially left the Land of Fire. Next, she only needs to take a ferry and cross more than ten nautical miles to enter the Land of Waves.

However, when she disguised herself as an ordinary old woman and arrived at a ferry crossing, she immediately realized something was wrong.

She didn't know when, but she had fallen under an illusion spell. There was no ferry crossing in front of her anymore, only a white mist.

She immediately formed a hand seal to break the illusion herself, but found it didn't work, so she quickly ordered someone to use a spell to break it.

In an instant, a chakra needle in her brain was released, causing chaos in the flow of chakra within her body.

Sealing Technique: Mind Control Sand Manipulation!

This is another ingenious application of this sealing technique. By inserting chakra needles into one's own brain, a portion of unimportant memories are sealed. After being under the influence of genjutsu, one can then release these memories on their own, thereby temporarily disrupting the flow of chakra within the body.

Chiyo's chakra flow was disrupted, and she immediately broke the genjutsu. The white mist disappeared, and the distant ferry reappeared before her eyes, along with an old man in a kimono.

"Uchiha Homura, I didn't expect Konoha to even call on someone as unpopular as you just to kill me. Are there any others? Come out here too."

Chiyo recognized the old man at a glance as Uchiha Homura, the current head of the Uchiha clan, and exclaimed in surprise.

She truly hadn't expected Konoha to send the Uchiha clan leader to deal with her.

Among the many famous Konoha shinobi, this Uchiha clan leader can be said to be the most mysterious. He has never made a move since the founding of Konoha.

Therefore, the Sand Village had very little information about this Uchiha clan leader.

But one thing is certain: this Uchiha clan leader must be a Kage-level powerhouse, and one with extremely high strength at that.

The fact that the opponent had just cast an illusion spell on her without her noticing, and even forced her to reveal her trump card to break the illusion, was enough to prove that the opponent was terrifyingly strong.

This is a genjutsu that can silently catch a Kage-level powerhouse, and it's not even the most common way for Uchiha ninjas to release genjutsu by making eye contact with the enemy using their Sharingan.

Her memory wouldn't be wrong; she hadn't seen Uchiha Homura at all, and there was no eye contact between them.

The thought that the other party's illusion could somehow trick her made Chiyo's heart sink rapidly.

The puppeteer versus the illusionist—this battle looks fraught with peril.

"Chiyo of Sunagakure, you truly live up to your reputation. You were able to break my genjutsu. Rest assured, I am the only Konoha ninja who would attack you here. I alone am enough to kill you."

Homura Uchiha couldn't help but admire Chiyo's successful escape from his Sharingan genjutsu.

He originally intended to capture Chiyo alive, since a living Chiyo was more valuable than a dead one, and he might be able to obtain more information from her.

Unfortunately, it backfired.

The next moment, he activated his Sharingan.

This time, the Sharingan he activated was not a simple three-tomoe Sharingan, but a more complex pattern, which looked like an inverted triangle with a circle in the middle.

Mangekyou Sharingan activated!

Chapter 235: Kagutsuchi

"Kaleidoscope Sharingan!"

While talking to Homura Uchiha, Chiyo had already secretly used the third eye ninjutsu to notice the unusual Sharingan pattern in Homura's eye sockets and exclaimed in surprise.

In an instant, her hope of escaping grew even dimmer.

She had certainly heard of the Mangekyou Sharingan's reputation. Although she had never personally fought against a ninja with the Mangekyou Sharingan, she had heard about it from the Second Kazekage and her husband, the First Kazekage, Retsuto, and knew that it was a power that surpassed the three-tomoe Sharingan.

She also knew that the Mangekyou Sharingan had its own unique eye techniques, and could also use a powerful eye technique called Susanoo, which was said to be able to create a giant chakra giant to fight with very strong attack and defense.

Her puppetry mainly relies on various bizarre poisoned hidden weapons to kill enemies. Once the Uchiha clan leader in front of her uses Susanoo, she will probably have no choice but to run away.

Because her puppet's attacks might not even be able to break through the opponent's defenses.

Uchiha Homura decided not to waste any more words with Chiyo. Before Chiyo could take out the puppet, he quickly formed hand seals, and a fan-shaped burst of high-temperature flames was released from his mouth.

Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!

In an instant, a wave of intense heat swept in. Chiyo multitasked, taking out a storage-type sealing scroll from her body with her left hand and quickly forming a hand seal with her right hand to unleash Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall for defense.

A thick earthen wall suddenly rose from the ground, blocking Chiyo's way.

However, Uchiha Homura's Fire Release level was clearly not low, and the Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation he used was extremely powerful. Moreover, at this moment, the pattern in his left Sharingan suddenly rotated, and the already powerful Great Fire Annihilation suddenly surged again, instantly transforming into a black fire dragon's head.

Kaleidoscope - Kagutsuchi!

Although Uchiha Homura's name is Homura, and his parents had high hopes for him, expecting him to excel in fire-style ninjutsu, he was often ridiculed by his clansmen and peers when he was young because of his poor fire-style ninjutsu skills. He felt very inferior because of his poor fire-style talent.

It wasn't until he awakened his Sharingan and displayed his powerful genjutsu talent that he gradually rose to prominence within his clan, eventually crushing all those who had mocked him and finally achieving his goal.

However, the trauma from his childhood never disappeared from his heart, which gave him a special obsession with improving his Fire Release techniques.

Perhaps because of this, after his Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyou Sharingan, he gained Kagutsuchi, a dojutsu that can instantly enhance the power of fire-style ninjutsu.

Moreover, he can freely change the form of Fire Release ninjutsu.

The black fire dragon head utterly destroyed the earthen wall in front of Chiyo, turning it to ashes. The thick earthen wall was as flimsy as paper, completely unable to stop the black fire dragon head's attack.

"Oh!"

Then, under Uchiha Homura's control, the black fire dragon's head suddenly exploded, and black flames engulfed Chiyo, followed by the appearance of a giant black fire lotus.