Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Even for him, if he were to accidentally find himself alone and encounter two people, his life might be in danger.

However, the two were defeated so thoroughly in this battle because they underestimated the strength of a powerful water-style ninja in a watery environment.

At the start of the battle, Kirito stunned them with a Waterfall Technique. Before they could retaliate, they were controlled by Kirito's Water Release: Water Flying Feather. They had no choice but to abandon their best puppet techniques and switch to ninjutsu to fight Kirito.

At this moment, Jiraiya realized that the outcome was already decided.

When a puppeteer abandons puppetry, he can already declare defeat.

If Jiraiya put himself in Kirito's shoes, he figured he could only rely on his summoning technique to summon a giant toad to fight Kirito in a place with water, and even then, he might not be able to win. Even if he did win, he definitely wouldn't be able to keep Kirito alive.

"Make a detailed record of the battle here, and then take the information back. Hattori Masanari, this Amegakure ninja, is not to be trifled with. At least within the Land of Rain, it's best to avoid any conflict with him."

Jiraiya turned to a Konoha ANBU ninja behind him and spoke.

"what."

The ANBU ninja immediately nodded in agreement and then used the Body Flicker Technique to disappear from the spot.

At the same time, ninjas from other villages lurking nearby also immediately sent people back to relay the news.

Chapter 92: Delicious Buns

Through his soul perception, Kirito knew that Akasuna and Sarashita were not dead yet, but they were not far from dying.

He wasn't particularly interested in killing, because he believed that the living were always more valuable than the dead.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, once the people of Sunagakure find out that the two are not dead, they will definitely be willing to pay a huge price to ransom them.

After all, one of them was the son of the First Kazekage and Chiyo, and he was also a first-class puppeteer. In the eyes of Sunagakure, his value was probably not much lower than that of Nawaki now.

In short, these two are now highly sought-after individuals and need to be protected.

Kirito decisively created seven water clones, ordering them to retrieve Akasuna and Sandstorm from the water, along with the puppets they had left on the battlefield, and bring them all back to his side.

At that moment, a blue-haired Amegakure ninja quickly approached Kirito and said respectfully, "Lord Masashige, leave these two to me. We Amegakure guarantee that we can uncover all their secrets."

The peach pickers have arrived.

Upon hearing this, Kirito's expression immediately turned somewhat displeased.

It was reasonable to hand over Akasuna and Sunagakure to Amegakure, but as far as he knew, Amegakure currently lacked skilled medical ninjas. Their medical ninjutsu level was even worse than that of the medical students in Konoha Hospital. He estimated that if the two fell into Amegakure's hands, the final result would be their deaths.

Although the ninja world is not lacking in methods of obtaining information from the dead, Kirito doesn't really trust Amegakure's abilities in this regard.

Kirito couldn't possibly accept this outcome if he couldn't reliably maximize his gains; these were spoils of war he had fought single-handedly.

As for the benefits of Yu Yin?

He doesn't consider anything until his interests are met.

Kirito then decisively refused, saying, "Go back and tell Hanzo that I'm taking these two people with me for now. Tell him not to worry, I'll bring them back safe and sound in a few days, and I'll make sure they're alive. Also, tell him to send someone to Sunagakure, Konoha, and Iwagakure to discuss the prisoner trade."

After saying that, he didn't wait for the blue-haired rain ninja to reply, and turned to leave with his seven water clones.

Seeing this, Lanfa Yuren opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his words.

He was still self-aware enough to know that this Lord Masashige didn't even give face to Hanzo, the most powerful figure in Amegakure, so how could he possibly give face to a mere Chunin? If he didn't know his place, he might get beaten up.

"Lord Jiraiya, he's leaving."

At the same time, a Chunin from the Aburame clan wearing sunglasses behind Jiraiya saw Kirito about to leave and immediately spoke up.

Their mission this time is to find an opportunity to break off relations with Hattori Masanari, who is played by Kirito; they can't let Kirito just leave like this.

"No, there's no need to chase after them. Now is the time for the strong to collect their spoils. Chasing after them now will only increase their hostility, especially for someone of my status. It will only increase their hostility even more."

Jiraiya shook his head.

Upon hearing Jiraiya's words, the Chunin Aburame suddenly realized what was going on.

He then continued, "Should we have the Hyuga clan ninjas follow him from a distance using their Byakugan? This guy has an extremely strong ability to hide. Once we lose him, it will be difficult to find him again. Our Konoha's intelligence network in the Land of Rain is currently facing some difficulties."

"No need to worry about that. I have a feeling that I'll see him again soon."

Jiraiya shook his head again and smiled confidently.

Jiraiya's words were so vague that they confused the not-so-educated Chunin Aburame. But since Jiraiya was the leader of this mission, he couldn't say anything more, only looking on with suspicion.

Jiraiya saw the suspicious look on Aburame Chunin's face, but simply smiled and didn't offer any explanation.

He had just absorbed some of the surrounding natural energy and used it to sense that the chakra in Akasago and Sarashita had not dissipated, indicating that the two were still alive.

Since the living are more valuable than the dead, he was pretty sure Kirito would never let the two of them die.

If Kirito wants to maximize his spoils, he will definitely have to sell the two as prisoners to Sunagakure, Konoha, and Iwagakure.

Unsurprisingly, the leaders of the three ninja villages definitely want to make this deal.

At that time, he could have approached Kirito as Konoha's negotiator, without having to rush in like this.

"Let's go, it's time to go back."

Jiraiya said.

With that, he took the lead and left.

Seeing this, the other Konoha ninjas around followed suit.

Jiraiya's departure with the Konoha ninjas did not escape the notice of the ninjas from other surrounding villages, such as Iwagakure, who had been keeping an eye on the Konoha ninjas. They discovered Jiraiya and the others' departure immediately.

The leader of the Iwagakure team was a burly young man with thick eyebrows, big eyes, a large nose, and a full beard. His gaze was resolute and sharp, giving him an overall impression of strength and reliability. He was none other than Kouto, the son of the Third Tsuchikage.

"Lord Huangtu, the people from Konoha have left. Should we chase after them now? That person just used so many powerful ninjutsu, his chakra must be greatly depleted. If so many of us go together, we might be able to snatch those two Sand Village puppeteers from him."

"A blond-haired rock-dwelling man asked."

The other Iwa ninjas were eager to try when they heard the suggestion.

Other ninja villages might fear Kirito's Water Release ninjutsu, but the Iwa ninjas won't. They are skilled in combined Earth Release ninjutsu, which is the nemesis of Water Release ninjutsu. Moreover, they have the powerful Earth Release ninja, Yotsuchi, by their side, so they have no pressure at all when facing Kirito.

They firmly believed that as long as Huang Tu led them together, defeating Kirito and taking his spoils would be a piece of cake, and they might even be able to keep Kirito alive as well.

They, the Hidden Stone Village, have always had the upper hand against the Hidden Rain Village. Even Hanzo the Salamander could only run away in the face of their Tsuchikage's Dust Release.

Looking at the confident expressions of his fellow countrymen around him, Huang Tu felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

As an elite Jonin, his perspective was far broader than that of his comrades who were only Chunin level, and he knew that what the blond-haired Iwa ninja had just said was wrong.

Kirito did use many powerful water-style ninjutsu, but it's debatable whether he consumed a lot of chakra.

The reason why Water Release ninjas' strength increases significantly in the presence of water is that they do not need to consume a large amount of Water Release chakra to create water. They can directly manipulate the water that is already in nature to continue attacking. This not only greatly reduces chakra consumption, but also saves the process of using Water Release chakra to create water, thereby saving the number of unnecessary hand seals and greatly increasing the speed of hand seal formation.

According to his estimation, Kirito's chakra was still enough for him to fight a major battle for a long time.

Moreover, Kirito's strength this time is too amazing. He himself is not very confident in defeating Kirito, even with the help of his fellow Chunin. Once a fight breaks out, Kirito may be fine, but his Chunin comrades will likely suffer heavy casualties.

Furthermore, if Kirito discovers that he cannot keep his spoils, he is very likely to destroy them himself, leaving the Iwa ninja with nothing.

This became even more certain to him after he discovered that Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, had chosen to leave.

Huang Tu, who has always valued compatriots and unity, was unwilling to let his men suffer heavy casualties for a spoil that was unlikely to be obtained.

He remained silent for a moment, then overruled the objections and said seriously, "Let's retreat too. That Rain Ninja isn't as easy to deal with as you think. Even I would lose more often than win against him here. If you encounter him in the Land of Rain in the future, it's best not to get into a conflict with him."

The other Iwa ninjas were all shocked to hear that Yotsuchi had given such high praise to Kirito's portrayal of Hattori Masashige.

Then, some of the Iwa ninjas began to show expressions of lingering fear, and stopped making the foolish suggestion of going out to steal Kirito's spoils.

Even Huang Tu lost more often than he won against Tong Ren; wouldn't these people just be throwing their lives away if they went there?

Soon, the people of Iwagakure, led by Huang Tu, quickly retreated.

Both Konoha and Iwagakure chose to retreat, and the ninjas from other smaller villages who had originally planned to take advantage of the chaos also wisely left.

However, some people still chose to give chase. They were a group of burly, dark-skinned men from Kumogakure, led by a Kumogakure Jonin wearing sunglasses.

"Hmph, a bunch of cowards. It seems that only we, the Cloud Ninja, can catch this big fish. Men, follow me and snatch those two puppeteers from that Rain Ninja. Let our Cloud Ninja have more puppeteer successors. When that happens, the boss will definitely reward us handsomely."

The Cloud Village Jonin sneered as he watched the people from Konoha and Iwagakure leave.

"Oh~"

The group of Cloud Ninja exclaimed excitedly, quickly following the Cloud Village Jonin who were running swiftly across the water ahead.

Chapter 93: Chiyo

Half an hour later, in an abandoned village that had been turned into a swamp.

A group of ninjas wearing Cloud Ninja headbands were lying haphazardly in the water, large amounts of bright red blood flowing from the numerous wounds on their bodies created by wind blades formed by wind release ninjutsu, turning a large area of ​​the surrounding water red.

In the center of this group of fallen Cloud Ninja, Kirito was holding the head of a burly, dark-skinned man with one hand, lifting him off the ground.

He looked at the dying Cloud Village Jonin in front of him and sneered, "The people from Konoha and Iwagakure have left knowingly. Do you Cloud Village think you can make an exception? You think you can bully me just because you know Lightning Release? Who said I only know Water Release ninjutsu?"

Relying on his soul perception, he naturally noticed the group of Cloud Ninjas following him early on.

After a chase, he realized that the group of Cloud Ninjas were determined to catch up and were even arrogantly shouting at him to hand over the spoils of war. So he decisively turned around and fought back.

The strongest member of this group of Cloud Ninjas was a Jonin who was proficient in Lightning Release and swordsmanship; the rest were Chunin who knew Lightning Release. With such strength, Kirito was naturally not afraid, since he knew ninjutsu beyond just Water Release.

He also possesses a considerable number of Wind Release ninjutsu techniques that counter Lightning Release techniques.

Several of the Root ninjas who participated in destroying the Senju clan's barrier last time were from the Shimura clan. He obtained many good Wind Release ninjutsu from these people, but he has not been training them for long enough to use them as smoothly as he used Water Release ninjutsu in the Land of Rain.

Even so, it was more than enough for him to use in conjunction with his Water Release ninjutsu to deal with the group of Cloud Ninja.

With the wind barrier formed by Wind Release: Wind Wall, he neutralized the terrifyingly fast lightning ninjutsu that the Cloud Ninja relied on to defeat him. Then, he easily manipulated the Cloud Ninja with various water ninjutsu.

Less than three minutes into the battle, he had defeated the entire group of courageous Cloud Ninja.

"The boss will avenge us."

Even facing imminent death, the Cloud Village Jonin still spoke with great bravado.

"Who said I was going to kill you? If I really wanted to kill you, you would all be dead by now. Don't worry, you are all important assets for me to revive Yuyin. I won't let you die so easily."

Kirito said coldly.

After saying that, he slammed the Cloud Village Jonin's head hard onto the ground, knocking him unconscious.

He then used his water clone to gather all the Cloud Ninjas around him, turned around, and quickly left.

This time, no one followed.