Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Hanzo remained silent for a moment, a look of reluctance and hesitation flashing across his face, but he ultimately put on a cold expression and said in a cold voice.

If the Land of Rain wants to be reborn, it must start with the rebirth of Amegakure.

Chapter 119: Hanzo's Evaluation of Jiraiya

"Hanzo, I knew I hadn't misjudged you. You are a man I can help. Our village is a sieve right now. There are too many spies from various ninja villages, and many of them hold high positions. If we don't make a firm decision to get rid of these spies quickly, our Amegakure and the Land of Rain have no future."

Kirito praised Hanzo for his resolute decision to carry out a major purge of Amegakure.

The high-ranking position he wanted to hold in Amegakure wasn't one of a lone commander; he genuinely intended to cultivate a group of loyal followers within the village.

Before that, he needed to conduct a major purge within Amegakure.

After all, there's a specific role for everyone. Without a major purge, how can we ensure he takes office and then place his own people in important positions within Amegakure?

Moreover, the village of Amegakure is still dominated by Hanzo.

If he wants to break this deadlock, Hanzo will also need to personally carry out a major purge of Amegakure.

Only by making Hanzo personally attack his own people will the people of Amegakure become disloyal to him, making it easier for him to absorb those who are dissatisfied with Hanzo in the future.

At this moment, Hanzo was fantasizing about working together with Kirito to make the Land of Rain better than it is now, unaware that Kirito was setting a trap for him.

“Masashige, Amegakure has only just stabilized. If we start a large-scale purge immediately, it could cause chaos. Moreover, you are aware of Amegakure’s interrogation techniques, and we lack ninjutsu and skilled interrogation ninjas in this area.”

After agreeing to Kirito's request, Hanzo said with some difficulty.

Although he was determined to cleanse Amegakure, practical problems still troubled him.

Amegakure's foundation can't compare to that of major ninja villages like Konoha. Apart from its Water Release ninjutsu, Amegakure doesn't really have many other powerful ninjutsu to boast about.

"Don't worry about that, I've already prepared it for you."

Kirito smiled mysteriously.

The next moment, he took out a summoning card from his body, used the Summoning Jutsu: Release Jutsu to take out a scroll inside, and then handed it to Hanzo.

Hanzo, without suspecting anything, immediately took the scroll, opened it, and his face immediately showed a shocked expression: "Masashige, is this information of yours true?"

The scroll contained a great deal of secret information about Sunagakure, including various strategic deployments on the battlefield between Sunagakure and Konoha, such as the locations of armories, granaries, and field hospitals.

If the intelligence is true, once Konoha obtains it, it will deal a huge blow to Sunagakure, forcing them to redo their strategic deployments.

"Of course it's true. I spent a lot of money to hire a ninja who is proficient in torture techniques to get this information from those two elite puppeteers from Sunagakure. Unfortunately, the deeper information was blocked by a very strong sealing technique, so I couldn't get any more valuable information."

Kirito said with a hint of regret.

His words were half true and half false. While there were indeed extremely strong sealing techniques protecting the brains of Akasago and Sarashima, his Spirit Transformation Technique did not need to read their brains to obtain information. Instead, it acted directly on their souls, obtaining their memories by reading their souls.

"It's already great that we were able to obtain this information. Masashige, are you planning to hand it over to Konoha?"

Hanzo said excitedly, his face full of joy and his eyes showing anticipation.

“That’s right. I plan to contact Konoha privately and use it to exchange for a copy of the torture ninjutsu from Konoha.”

Kirito gave an affirmative answer.

However, he will then present Konoha with more detailed information than what is in the scroll. In this way, he can legitimately bring the information back to Konoha, alleviate the pressure on Konoha from Sunagakure, and incidentally gain enough benefits for himself.

"Perhaps you can get something more in return. I accidentally obtained some secret information, which is that Konoha is currently in the process of passing on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. I have received news from the border that Iwagakure and Kumogakure have suddenly dispatched a large number of ninjas to gather at the border of the Land of Fire. This news should be true. If you hand this information over to Konoha at this time, you can definitely get an unimaginably rich reward."

Hanzo thought for a moment and then offered a reminder.

After leading Amegakure in battle against Konoha, he deeply understood how powerful this ninja village, founded by the God of Shinobi, was. At the same time, he fought against both Amegakure and Sunagakure, and was able to hold out until Amegakure could no longer hold on and had to surrender, which shows how profound its foundation was.

Currently, Konoha is in the process of passing on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and will face enormous pressure from the three great ninja villages. If Konoha can use this information to severely damage Sunagakure, it will definitely greatly alleviate the pressure from the outside world.

"Hanzo, what you say is true, but this is clearly taking advantage of Konoha's misfortune. We may be able to gain a lot of rewards in a short period of time, but do you think Konoha will be grateful to Amegakure? Definitely not. Konoha will only hate Amegakure even more."

"Didn't you just promise me that we'd build a stronger Rain Kingdom together? Have you forgotten already? Do you think it's better for the Rain Kingdom to be on good terms with the Fire Kingdom now, or to offend them?"

Kirito's expression instantly turned cold after being reminded by Hanzo, and he said in a cold voice.

Hanzo was surprised to see Kirito suddenly get angry at him, but after hearing Kirito's words, he immediately realized and blamed himself, saying, "You're right, I was too short-sighted. If the Land of Rain can use this to make friends with the Land of Fire, it is indeed better than Amegakure getting such a small reward."

He then continued, "Then we should act without delay. Let's contact Konoha as soon as possible and send this information out. Sunagakure is definitely afraid that Konoha will get this information, and they may have already started to adjust their strategic arrangements. The longer we wait, the less valuable this information will become."

“You’re right, this matter does need to be dealt with as soon as possible. However, I will personally discuss this with Konoha. Hanzo, it’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I really don’t trust the people around you. Once this gets leaked, the value of this information will be greatly reduced, and I might face even greater danger than if I had encountered those two elite puppeteers.”

Kirito nodded and said with a serious expression.

Upon hearing this, Hanzo's face darkened slightly, and he sighed, "I understand. Then I'll leave this matter to you. If you want to contact Konoha, you can go find a guy named Jiraiya. He is a disciple of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and he is currently in the Land of Rain."

"Jiraiya, I've heard of him. He's one of the Sannin you bestowed the name upon. Tell me honestly what kind of person he is?"

Kirito said thoughtfully.

"Well, I'd say he's a bit naive. To be honest, the reason he stayed in the Land of Rain is because he adopted three orphans from the Land of Rain and is teaching them to be ninjas. He's a Konoha ninja himself, yet he's training ninjas for the enemy country. What else can you call someone like that but naive?"

Hanzo carefully recalled his impressions of Jiraiya and the information he had gathered about Jiraiya's activities in the Land of Rain, and smiled bitterly.

"I see. That's an interesting fellow. I'd like to meet him. Well then, goodbye."

Kirito smiled.

As soon as he finished speaking, Kirito turned into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared from the spot.

Upon seeing this, Hanzo's smile quickly turned cold, and he decisively used the flames formed by his Fire Release chakra to burn the scroll in his hand.

Then, he walked out of the inn, looking at the rain that had started falling again, and muttered, "Hattori Masanari, I hope everything you said is true. Don't let me see you betray Amegakure and the Land of Rain, or even if I die, I'll drag you down with me..."

Chapter 120: First Encounter with Nagato

The Land of Rain is ultimately Amegakure's territory, and Jiraiya's whereabouts in the Land of Rain naturally could not be kept secret from Amegakure.

After obtaining the exact location, Kirito manipulated his White Zetsu clone to use the Mayfly Technique to move rapidly underground and quickly approach Jiraiya's residence.

Just like the residence in the original story, it was a solitary house built on the shore of a lake.

Kirito gazed at the house that left a deep impression on him from afar and sighed, "So there really are White Zetsu here."

Using his soul perception, he discovered that there were five White Zetsu scattered around the house, monitoring every move around it.

If he hadn't been alerted in advance that there might be White Zetsu protecting Nagato in the shadows, and hadn't kept his distance from the house, he would definitely have been discovered by those tireless White Zetsu by now.

Besides the White Zetsu, Kirito also discovered four other ninjas hiding nearby, who, like the White Zetsu, were closely monitoring the house.

Kirito used the Mayfly Technique to stealthily approach and discovered that the four ninjas were all members of the Konoha Anbu, which immediately relieved him.

The biggest problem with him coming to Jiraiya under the guise of Hattori Masanari is that the news might leak out. Once Sunagakure finds out, it's hard to guarantee that they won't become suspicious and react quickly, readjusting their strategic plans.

However, those White Zetsu underground are ultimately a hidden danger.

As far as Kirito knows, these White Zetsu are Madara Uchiha's eyes, and they are his accomplices in instigating conflicts between various countries.

He met with Jiraiya under the guise of Hattori Masanari, and these White Zetsu will definitely report this news. Madara Uchiha might even put this news into the black market for information.

In short, there is still a possibility that the information could be leaked.

"Let's eliminate them. This time, as long as we kill them directly without reading their souls, we shouldn't trigger the sealing eye technique that Madara Uchiha placed on them."

After a moment's hesitation, Kirito made his decision.

The next moment, a white, transparent Kirito emerged from the White Zetsu clone.

Out-of-body experience!

At this moment, the five White Zetsu were still diligently following Madara's orders and carefully monitoring the movements around the house, completely unaware of the approaching danger.

Before long, the five White Zetsu were annihilated without even being able to let out a scream, turning into five soulless vegetative bodies.

Then, his clone quietly entered the room.

Here, he saw Jiraiya, Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, all fast asleep.

Kirito simply watched them from afar, without getting close, and didn't even dare to look at Nagato, the current owner of the Rinnegan, too frequently.

The Rinnegan is the eye of a sage, also known as the eye that controls life and death.

Kirito strongly suspects that if Nagato opened his eyes now, he would see him already invisible in his soul form.

So, he glanced at Jiraiya and the others, confirmed that Jiraiya was among the people inside, then left the house. His clone soul then re-entered the White Zetsu clone, and used the Mayfly Technique to burrow underground, packing up all five White Zetsu underground and taking them away.

Next, he controlled the White Zetsu clone, who was playing Hattori Masanari, to slowly emerge from the open space in front of the house.

Jiraiya's current strength has not yet reached the Kage level, but it is already quite close.

As a powerful ninja, his vigilance was naturally very high.

This time, Kirito didn't sneak up with his soul in a way that was hard to detect. Instead, he appeared openly and brazenly. Jiraiya, who was fast asleep, immediately sensed something was wrong. He quietly opened his eyes and then quickly left the house without waking Yahiko and the other two.

"Oh, what a rare guest!"

Jiraiya opened the door, saw the guest who had arrived so late at night, and exclaimed in surprise.

He never expected that the person who came would be Hattori Masanari. It had been several days since he last met Hattori Masanari. At that time, he was certain that Hattori Masanari would come to Konoha to hand over the reins, but tonight he learned that Hattori Masanari had gone to Iwagakure.

They were directly proven wrong.

To be honest, he was having a headache about how to explain things to his teacher, but unexpectedly Hattori Masanari came to him today.

Is this because his deal with Iwagakure didn't go smoothly, or is he waiting for a higher offer from another ninja village?

Just as he was lost in thought, a scroll was suddenly thrown out from the hand of Hattori Masanari, who was disguised as a White Zetsu clone.

Upon seeing this, Jiraiya quickly caught the scroll.

Out of caution, he didn't open the scroll immediately. Instead, he looked at Kirito and asked in confusion, "What does this mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything. I just wanted you to see my sincerity. I wonder if Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, would dare to open it and take a look."

Kirito said coldly.

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya remained silent for a moment, then decisively opened the scroll.

The first step in a transaction is to gain trust.

What's wrong with Jiraiya taking some risks in order to ease tensions between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire and embark on the path of peace together?

Moreover, he believed that Hattori Masanari was not a fool. Since the other party knew his name, he must also know that his teacher was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

If something happens to him, Amegakure and Konoha might break out into war again.

Finally, his willingness to open the scroll without any preparation stemmed from his great confidence in his own abilities. He was confident that even if there was a trap in the scroll, he would be able to react immediately and take defensive action.