Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Sealing Technique: Spirit Serpent Lockdown.

This is a sealing technique that Orochimaru developed by further modifying the improved version of the Adamantine Sealing Chains, tailored to his personal taste.

Of course, this sealing technique still retains the original effect of the improved sealing technique in restraining tailed beasts.

It was precisely because he possessed this powerful sealing technique that could restrain tailed beasts that Madara Uchiha had to come over and do the hard work to capture the Four-Tails. Fortunately, he only needed to be responsible for capturing one tailed beast.

In an instant, Rōshi discovered that the chakra within his body was severely restricted and difficult to mobilize.

Because of this, his Tailed Beast Cloak and Lava Release Chakra Mode were forcibly removed.

"This is a sealing technique! You bastard, let me go!"

Old Purple instantly realized what Orochimaru had just used, and fear gripped his heart for the first time. He then cursed loudly.

The most feared thing for Jinchūriki is sealing techniques.

"Just go to sleep for a while. You'll soon be free and never have to suffer discrimination and exclusion from the villagers again."

Orochimaru ignored Rōshi's insults and smiled wickedly.

The next moment, his golden snake eyes suddenly turned into a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan. When Old Purple saw this, his cursing stopped abruptly.

Genjutsu: Sharingan.

Having witnessed the power of the Rinnegan firsthand, Orochimaru naturally coveted the Sharingan.

Therefore, after successfully helping Madara Uchiha quietly take control of Takigakure, he seized an opportunity to use the Reanimation Jutsu to possess the body of a Uchiha ninja he desired, thus successfully obtaining the power of the Sharingan.

The only pity is that he can't get the Mangekyou Sharingan yet.

However, he already knew the conditions for awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan. He had personally found two Uchiha ninjas with the potential to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan. The two were brothers and each had someone with whom they had deep bonds.

He planned to wait until Madara Uchiha attacked Konoha, then find an opportunity to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan in these two, and then steal their eyes.

After Orochimaru used Sharingan genjutsu to control Rōshi, a strange man in his fifties with white and black hair emerged from the nearby ground. It was none other than Black Zetsu, who had been hiding in the shadows watching the battle and keeping watch.

"Thank you for your hard work, but I didn't expect it to be done so easily. Lord Madara was right to send you to deal with him."

Black Zetsu glanced at Old Purple, who had already lost the ability to resist, and then turned to Orochimaru to praise him.

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru immediately deactivated Sage Mode and returned to his normal state. Without even looking at Black Zetsu, he said, "I'll leave the rest to you. I have some things to do nearby, so you can go ahead now."

As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared into the ground and vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Black was completely indifferent to Orochimaru's cold and aloof attitude. As soon as Orochimaru left, its man-eating plant-like body enveloped Old Purple, and then, just like Orochimaru, it disappeared into the ground in the blink of an eye.

The Four-Tails has been successfully captured.

The lava mountain then returned to calm.

……

The following day, Sunagakure officially launched an attack on Iwagakure, and a fierce battle broke out between a large number of ninjas gathered on the border.

As always, Iwagakure employed their signature team tactics, concentrating their power by using the same ninjutsu collectively to unleash the formidable combat strength of their ninja army. Various group Earth Release techniques caused significant trouble for the Sunagakure ninjas.

However, this time the Sand Village gained the upper hand in the war.

A puppeteer force of over a hundred people controlled thousands of puppets to launch a suicidal charge against Iwagakure's position. They had no worries about casualties, and the puppet army formed by this puppeteer force inflicted huge casualties on Iwagakure.

Moreover, because the puppeteers control standardized puppets, even if they are damaged, suitable parts can be found to replace them immediately, making their sustained combat capability much stronger than that of the puppeteer forces that Sunagakure once had.

Furthermore, standardized puppets are very easy to coordinate with each other. As long as puppeteers do a good job of rehearsing and training in advance, they can use puppets to form various battle formations to fight together, and even set up sealing and killing formations to lure and kill the enemy.

Thus, on the battlefield, this new puppeteer unit was like a sharp knife, easily cutting through Iwagakure's defensive formation and seriously threatening the heart of Iwagakure.

For a time, Iwagakure could only defend passively and suffered repeated defeats, losing a large amount of land that it had once seized from the Land of Wind.

Iwagakure Village, Tsuchikage Building, Tsuchikage Office.

Having not slept for almost three days, Onoki, his eyes gleaming with dark circles, listened to the new battlefield intelligence delivered by the secret technique Red Earth and said with a grim expression, "I understand. Tell Yellow Earth that the enemy must be stopped at the border and absolutely cannot be allowed to enter the Land of Earth's territory."

As soon as he finished speaking, he tried to stand up and stretch his stiff body, but suddenly a cracking sound came from his waist.

"Ah~, my back!"

The next second, Onoki clutched his waist in pain and screamed.

"Lord Tsuchikage, please go and rest as soon as possible. If you continue like this, your body will not be able to take it."

Hongtu quickly went over to calm Onoki down, persuaded him, and then used his palm technique to treat Onoki's old back.

After hearing this, Onoki remained silent.

With the enemy practically at his doorstep, how could he possibly sleep? What's even more terrifying is that Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki, is currently missing, and Iwagakure is facing its most dangerous moment in history.

As the Tsuchikage, he must find a way to break the current dangerous situation as soon as possible.

"Lord Tsuchikage, let's seek help from Konoha. Judging from the current situation, Sunagakure has been planning this war for a long time. If we have Rōshi here, no matter how powerful their new puppet troops are, they will not be able to break through our Iwagakure's defenses."

The Sand Village is definitely closely connected to that mysterious force targeting our Iwagakure. We, the Iwagakure, alone will likely find it difficult to contend with them.

Seeing that Onoki was still stubbornly trying to hold on, Kurotsuchi felt extremely sorry for him. Then, with a heavy heart, she made her suggestion.

"Shut up! How could we, the Hidden Stone Village, possibly bow down to the Hidden Leaf Village? Don't even think about it."

Onoki refused without hesitation, then glared at his daughter-in-law.

Facing Onoki's angry gaze, Kurenai, though fearful, did not back down. She looked directly into Onoki's eyes and mustered her courage to say, "Lord Tsuchikage, the enemy was able to capture Rōshi without our knowledge. What other forces in the ninja world do you think could do that?"

Upon hearing this, Onoki's angry gaze immediately dimmed.

Hongtu's words were like a sharp knife, easily cutting through his facade of strength and exposing his weakness to the air.

Yes, what forces in the ninja world could have captured Roshi without Iwagakure's knowledge?

There are only two answers.

One is Konoha, and the other is Uchiha Madara.

As far as he knew, Konoha had been busy improving its strength recently, and that terrifying boy had been staying in Konoha and not coming out because of Madara Uchiha, which basically eliminated the possibility of Konoha attacking Roshi.

Moreover, from a purely self-interested perspective, Konoha has no reason to continue provoking Iwagakure under the threat of Uchiha Madara.

Therefore, the most likely person to attack Rōshi is Uchiha Madara.

Unfortunately, Iwagakure had no evidence and dared not confront Madara Uchiha.

Judging from the traces left at the scene of the battle, Lao Zi fought the enemy for a very short time. It can be basically concluded that Lao Zi was defeated and captured after fighting the enemy for only a few rounds.

Who is Rōshi? He is the Jinchūriki of the Four-Tails and a Lava Release ninja. He is considered a top-tier ninja among Kage-level ninjas, yet he was easily defeated by his enemy.

If the enemy wasn't too powerful, then they must have been prepared and used some kind of ninjutsu that severely countered Rōshi to subdue him instantly.

But regardless of the reason, Iwagakure is in great danger right now.

Because when Rōshi was captured, it was right when Ōnoki left Iwagakure.

Therefore, it is clear that Chiyo's disappearance and Rōshi's capture were both part of a conspiracy, and two powerful Kage-level fighters have fallen because of it.

It's easy to imagine how deep the waters run behind this conspiracy.

Now, thinking about it carefully, Onoki couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine, because the enemy must have known that he had left the village alone.

So what would happen if the enemy's plot was aimed at him?

He couldn't imagine what Iwagakure would be like after he fell.

"Lord Tsuchikage, it's time to make a decision. The situation at the front is dire. Unless you personally go to oversee the battle, relying solely on Tsuchikage and the others, we're afraid we won't be able to withstand the Sand Village's offensive. However, once you leave the village, it will lose its only Kage-level fighter, and that mysterious hostile force might take the opportunity to launch an attack."

Seeing that Onoki was finally unable to hold on any longer, Kurotsuchi sighed.

If she could, she really didn't want to expose her father-in-law's disguise at all, but the situation in Iwagakure was really critical and couldn't be delayed any longer.

In fact, the reason for the defeat at the front was twofold: firstly, there was no Kage-level expert to oversee the situation, and secondly, due to the mysterious hostile forces, Onoki had secretly transferred many of the elite troops from the front back to the village to strengthen its defenses.

However, the setbacks at the front lines and the continuous retreat have seriously affected the stability of Iwagakure. They must stabilize the situation as soon as possible and even turn the tide of battle. However, this will inevitably lead to a significant decrease in the village's protective capabilities.

This is where Iwagakure is in danger now. The enemy is not only Sunagakure, but there is an even more troublesome enemy hiding in the shadows, and that enemy is quite familiar with Iwagakure.

“Red Earth, you’re right, but we at Iwagakure haven’t reached the point where we need to ask Konoha for help. We at Iwagakure must overcome this difficulty on our own.”

After pondering for a while, Onoki regained his composure and shook his head at Kurotsuchi.

It wasn't that Onoki was vain or too proud to ask for help; it was simply that if Iwagakure asked Konoha for help now, it would severely damage the honor of countless Iwagakure ninja and cause countless Iwagakure ninja fighting on the front lines to lose their fighting spirit.

Iwagakure still has tens of thousands of ninjas, and Onoki is also there. How can they ask Konoha for help? Are they really that much weaker than Amegakure?

Unlike Onoki, Kurotsuchi didn't think about so many things. Her husband was currently fighting the enemy on the front lines and might die at any time, leaving her a widow.

Sensitive as she was, she didn't want Iwagakure to make pointless sacrifices. After thinking for a moment, she dropped another bombshell: "Tsuchikage, Madara Uchiha has mastered the Impure World Reincarnation technique. I heard that he once summoned Lord Mu. If Lord Mu is behind all of this, helping the enemy target Iwagakure, do you think we Iwagakure can bear all of this alone?"

The next moment, Onoki suddenly raised his head and said to Kurotsuchi with a serious expression, "Where did you hear this news from?"

At the same time, he finally understood why his whereabouts had been discovered.

Because almost all of his knowledge came from his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage Mu, if he were among the enemies, Iwagakure would be practically transparent to them, and many secrets would be impossible to keep, including the top-secret information that Rōshi was training in the Lava Mountain.

Seeing this, Kurotsuchi was about to reveal her source of information when Onoki flew out of the window before she could speak and soared into the sky.

Chapter 343: The Nine Seals of the Illusory Dragon

"Lord Tsuchikage!"

When Akatsuki suddenly flew away, Akatsuki hurriedly followed.

Onoki is currently the only Kage-level shinobi in the village, and also the Tsuchikage. He is the pillar of Iwagakure. If anything were to happen to him, Iwagakure would be in real danger.

Unfortunately, she didn't know Earth Release: Super Light Heavy Rock Technique, so she could only watch helplessly as Onoki flew higher and higher into the sky.

"If it's Master Wu, then he'll definitely be here."

As Ōnoki soared into the sky, he kept thinking about this sentence.

At the same time, he used a kind of sensory ninjutsu to rapidly expand and enhance his sensory abilities.

When he flew to a certain altitude, he finally sensed that unusually familiar chakra, which was also from the Dust Release technique.

The next moment, a huge cylindrical beam of light rushed in.

Without a second thought, Onoki instantly produced a transparent cube that shimmered with white light from within his hand.

The transparent cube rapidly expanded upon its appearance, forming a giant cube that was considerably taller than Onoki.

Dust Release: Particle Style!