Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Suddenly, he heard a familiar call. He immediately looked up and saw a strange bird appear in the sky.

Upon seeing the strange bird, he quickly took out a blank scroll from his person and opened it.

The strange bird circling in the sky suddenly swooped down and disappeared into the blank scroll, and a large amount of writing quickly appeared in the Taotie's eyes.

"The northwestern border, huh? It seems the time for our target to make a deal with Iwagakure is almost here."

Taotie looked at the words that appeared on the scroll and murmured.

The scroll still contained no clues about Hattori Masanari, only that their people had discovered traces of the Tsuchikage's son, Koto.

Taotie already knew about Hattori Masanari's recent actions through Root's intelligence network.

Several days ago, Hattori Masanari had made a deal with Huang Tu, but the deal was not finalized at the time.

Now, Huang Tu has reappeared in the border town where he previously traded with Hattori Masashige. Unsurprisingly, he is here to hold new trade talks with Hattori Masashige.

You can find Hattori Masanari by following the loess soil.

This is what Taotie is thinking at this moment.

The next moment, a large number of parasitic insects appeared on the scroll he was holding, and then devoured the entire scroll.

Then, he transformed into a swarm of parasites and vanished from the spot.

In a short while, all the parasites in the area disappeared.

Just then, a mouse suddenly emerged from the corner. It glanced at the spot where Taotie had gone, then seemed to be startled awake, let out a strange cry, and quickly scurried back into the corner.

At the same time, in a certain inn in Komachi, Yamanaka Yun slowly opened his eyes and whispered, "I didn't expect to meet someone from Root here, and their level seems to be very high. They might be a member of the Skull Squad."

In search of Hattori Masanari, Yamanaka Kumo has been traveling through the Land of Rain for the past few days.

However, he failed to find Hattori Masanari, but instead found traces of many Root members and even personally dealt with many of them. The Taotie he just encountered was the strongest Root ninja he had ever met.

Based on his current deduction, that person was a member of the Skull Squad.

"Bang bang~"

There was a sudden knock on the door.

Shan Zhongyun immediately said, "Come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, a maid dressed in an ordinary kimono came in with some dishes.

When Shan Zhongyun saw the maid, a strange light flashed in his eyes.

After the maid entered, she kept her head down. She didn't speak or look at Shan Zhongyun. She simply placed the dishes neatly in front of Shan Zhongyun and then respectfully withdrew.

After witnessing the maid leave, Yamanaka Yun picked up a chopstick, turned a simple mechanism on it, and took out a small piece of paper from the chopstick.

"Not bad, it seems the intelligence network here is well set up. If I remember correctly, this place is under the jurisdiction of Fuma Ichiro, right? Guys from the Fuma clan are indeed quite capable."

Upon seeing the contents of the note, Shan Zhongyun smiled and exclaimed in admiration.

The note contained only six words: "Yellow earth reappears."

"With this information, I should be able to find Hattori Masanari next. But how do I get Gojo Makoto to help? The two days we agreed on have long passed."

Upon receiving the information, Shan Zhongyun's expression immediately soured at the thought of going to see the person he was in love with.

He had previously boasted that he could find Hattori Masanari in just two days in order to get Kirito to agree to help him deal with the Skull Squad, but he stood Kirito up. Now he's trying to get Kirito's help again, which is really embarrassing.

"This is a golden opportunity. That person also deeply hates the Roots, so he probably doesn't mind waiting a few more days. As long as we can find Hattori Masanari, everything will be fine. At worst, I'll apologize afterwards."

Thinking this to himself, Shan Zhongyun quickly left the room.

Before long, he found the Night Organization's liaison and passed the information to Gojo Makoto, who was far away in the Land of Waves.

……

On the other side, in a small border town on the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Wind.

Chiyo was currently examining and maintaining her puppet at a secret Sunagakure stronghold in the town. Ever since she learned that Hattori Masanari was making a deal with Iwagakure, she had secretly come here, leaving only a substitute in Sunagakure to cover her tracks.

The lives of her son and daughter-in-law were more important than anything else; this was Chiyo's only thought.

Although this decision is somewhat willful, she has lived for so long and made so many contributions to Sunagakure. If she is a little willful this time, I don't think anyone will dare to say anything.

However, the longer she is away from Sunagakure, the longer her substitute will be exposed.

As a key leader of the martial arts faction in Sunagakure, her prolonged absence from the village would have many negative consequences, and might even affect the war between Sunagakure and Konoha.

"Damn Hattori Masanari, where is he hiding? He hasn't shown up for so long."

Chiyo put down the puppet arm in her hand and said absentmindedly.

The Rain Ninja who kidnapped her son and daughter-in-law was truly troublesome due to his stealth abilities. Her brother, Ebi, had been working with her intelligence network in the Land of Rain to find Hattori Masanari, but they still hadn't found him yet. Instead, they discovered many people from other ninja villages.

For example, that member of Root, the Dark Side of Konoha, noticed that Root members have been quite active in the Land of Rain lately.

According to her, this "Dark One of Konoha" was also looking for Hattori Masanari, and his purpose was definitely to stop Hattori Masanari from making a deal with Iwagakure and to kidnap him.

"That's good. With this dark figure of Konoha stirring things up, my chances of rescuing Akaza and Sunagakure are much greater. Hattori Masanari, you better not have killed my son and daughter-in-law, or I will definitely turn you into a human puppet myself."

Chiyo said softly, her eyes revealing deep hatred and a fleeting hint of fear.

Suddenly, a Sand Villager appeared in the open space behind her. He knelt on one knee and said respectfully, "Lady Chiyo, there is news."

"explain."

Chiyo turned around instantly and said excitedly.

“We discovered traces of loess, and he reappeared in the border town where he previously met with Hattori Masashige.”

Sunagakure answered truthfully.

“Very good. Send people to that border town immediately. If Huang Tu appears there, Hattori Masanari will definitely appear there as well.”

Chiyo gave the order loudly.

"Ha~"

Sunagakure immediately carried out the order.

The next moment, he turned into a pile of yellow sand and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Chiyo decided to take action immediately. She quickly tidied up the puppets on the table and then prepared to head to the border town.

But just as she was about to leave, she suddenly stopped, a thoughtful look on her face. She said with a puzzled expression, "Wait a minute, those two guys traded in that border town before, and now they're trading there again. Isn't that too obvious? These kinds of transactions have to be very discreet..."

Chiyo was an old and shrewd woman, and the more she thought about it, the more illogical it seemed that loess would appear in a border town.

She immediately took out a scroll from her person, opened it, revealing a detailed map of the Rain Kingdom, and quickly located the border town where Huang Tu had now appeared.

"Is this the place? There are Iwagakure troops stationed less than 20 miles away, and the terrain is flat. With the speed of a ninja, it would only take five minutes to cross."

Soon, Chiyo found an inconspicuous little village on the map that was a little far from the border town where Huangtu was located, and murmured to herself.

She looked at the location of the small village, her expression shifting between light and shadow, her heart filled with unease.

Intuition and experience told her that the border town where Huang Tu was now was just a lure to attract everyone's attention, and the real transaction location was this small village.

However, whether such judgments based solely on intuition are correct is another question.

If she guesses wrong, she will lose the best opportunity to save her son.

Because she was so eager to save him, Chiyo couldn't make up her mind for a moment.

……

Konoha, at dusk, in the Uchiha clan's territory.

Kirito strolled through the area again. After several days of Tsunade's meticulous care, he had fully recovered, even better than before, and had gained several pounds since his hospitalization.

He has returned to the Uchiha clan's territory to collect the reward he is owed.

When Kirito returned, he saw that many places were decorated with white flowers and white ornaments. Many Uchiha clansmen were dressed in black, and their faces were heavy, lacking their former arrogance.

"I think I came at the wrong time."

Kirito noticed the changes in the Uchiha clan's territory and sighed.

He knew what was going on after a little thought.

All of this was caused by war.

After the Nine-Tails was sealed, the ninja forces gathered at the border by Iwagakure and Kumogakure began to withdraw in less than half a day. As a result, many Uchiha ninjas who had been sent to the border to provide support also returned to Konoha one after another.

However, when these Uchiha ninjas returned, most of them had completely lost the joy they had shown before setting off, and only a heavy feeling remained on their faces.

Although Konoha did not wage war against Iwagakure and Kumogakure, the border between Konoha and the two ninja villages has never been peaceful.

After the Uchiha clan ninjas arrived at the border, they naturally couldn't just go and take a look or go through the motions; they also needed to fight on the front lines, which was exactly what they desired.

As a result, these Uchiha ninjas who initially underestimated the enemy suffered a great loss on the battlefield. Many paid a bloody price for their arrogance, forever remaining on that border battlefield stained with blood and filled with the sounds of battle.

Those who survive on the border are all elite ninjas from various villages. The Uchiha clan members have no advantage against them; on the contrary, they can easily die at the hands of these battle-hardened and well-coordinated ninjas.

So when these Uchiha ninjas, who had experienced the baptism of war, returned, the long-absent shadow of war once again loomed over the Uchiha clan, making them realize that war was not something to be happy about.

The Uchiha clan is no longer the ninja clan that could roam freely on the battlefield.

The times have changed.

The methods of ninja warfare also changed.

One clan cannot fight against a village.

Chapter 129: She is the hero of Konoha

The Uchiha clan compound was shrouded in a heavy atmosphere. Kirito, being an outsider, naturally dared not wear a smile on his face. He also maintained a somber expression and quickly headed towards Chizuru's residence.

Soon, he arrived at Chizuru's house.

At that moment, Chizuru was sitting at the doorway in a daze when Kirito came up to her, and she noticed him.

"Why are you here at this hour? That guy isn't home right now."

Chizuru greeted Kirito coldly.

"What were you thinking about just now? You seemed so engrossed in your thoughts."

Kirito, upon hearing this, was unimpressed. His attention had already shifted to Chizuru, and he asked her why she had been lost in thought.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little bored today."