I just returned to Konoha and found that my entire clan was gone.

What Temari found strange was that Tsunade didn't seem to care much about this mission, only sending an ANBU squad and two relatively unknown Konoha Jonin, as well as a Genin with white hair.

It's not that I don't trust these teammates, but they're certainly not as trustworthy as renowned ninjas like Kakashi and Might Guy.

Keep in mind that they are dealing with Uchiha Yelan, and this kind of team doesn't seem to be up to the task.

"Stop!"

The leader of the Konoha team was Shirakumo Hayama. When Tsunade received the news from Sunagakure and was still struggling to decide who to send, Shirakumo Hayama volunteered.

Sunagakure provided the information, but Konoha was still in charge of this matter. Shirakumo Hayama, who held the highest position, immediately stopped after speaking.

A figure emerged from the shadows ahead; his facial features were somewhat soft, making him seem approachable.

The Sharingan in his eyes instantly put everyone present on high alert.

"Sorry, passage is prohibited ahead."

"Uchiha Shisui, you were once a ninja of Konoha, are you just going to aid and abet evil?"

A somewhat plump teammate of Shirokumo Hayama, who was also a Jonin of Konoha, couldn't help but speak up at that moment.

"I once trusted Konoha so much, yet I paid with my life. If I could do it all over again, I would choose to trust my brother..."

Shisui didn't intend to make a move; she simply stopped the other party here, speaking the most resolute words in a gentle tone.

"Enough with the nonsense, just get started!"

Shirokumo Hayama drew his ninja sword from his back and instantly created a powerful wind blade, slashing directly at Shisui.

The speed was extremely fast, with no hand seals required, and the attack was incredibly fierce.

The Sand Village group was taken aback. Hayama, as expected of a Jonin of Konoha, was clearly a master, even if his reputation wasn't as widespread as Kakashi's.

But it's not that simple. The title of "Shisui the Instantaneous" is not just a boast. The wind blade only hit the afterimage.

Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique

Several fire dragons spewed from Shisui's mouth, their range and power increasing with the aid of the Sharingan.

Temari and the others looked unwell. They were skilled in Wind Release, which was countered by Fire Release, but the Sand Village ninjutsu were almost entirely unusable by them.

Water Escape, Water Formation Wall

The Konoha genin with white hair and carrying a large pot stood in front of everyone and successfully created a water wall with just two hand seals, directly blocking Shisui's fire jutsu.

Is this a ninjutsu that a genin can use? Temari was stunned by the old man's strength. This level of proficiency and skill was far beyond what a genin could possess.

"Kousuke-senpai's identity is somewhat special, but he is indeed a genin from Konoha."

Tekuno explained, noticing the expressions on the faces of Sunagakure and the others.

Maruboshi Kosuke is an old man who truly witnessed the rise of Konoha. He became a ninja after the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, took over, and has been silently contributing to Konoha ever since.

Because he killed all his comrades on his first mission, he resolved to remain a genin for life. When Tobirama Senju found out, he specially taught him some water-style ninjutsu, and his true strength was stronger than many jonin of Konoha.

Originally, Tsunade had decided that Maruboshi Kosuke would be the third temporary advisor, but Kosuke, who wasn't even willing to be a Jonin, broke the rules to become an advisor. In the end, it was his teammate Shirakumo Hayama who took on the role of temporary advisor.

Flames and water created a large amount of white mist. Ye Shan did not let his guard down. A slash with firelight came, and he reacted instantly. His whole body turned into a clump of leaves and disappeared from Shisui's sight.

Konoha Instantaneous Movement

This is a more advanced ninjutsu than the Body Flicker Technique. Very few people in Konoha can master it. While using the Body Flicker Technique, it leaves behind a clump of leaves to confuse the opponent. Regardless of its practicality, it certainly exudes a high level of coolness.

Vacuum sword

Hayama swung his sword repeatedly with a backhand motion, creating a large net of wind blades. He had once used this technique to instantly kill more than twenty Iwagakure ninjas, most of whom were Chunin or higher. There were very few ninjas who could reach this level in any village.

Just as the wind net was about to approach, Shisui's figure became blurred, turning into several afterimages that broke through the wind net.

"Tekuno!"

Ye Shan remained calm and directly called out his companion's name.

Having lived together on the border for many years, Shoujiu and Ye were of one mind and grabbed a steel wire and pulled hard.

Boom boom boom—

Explosions rang out around Shisui, and several of his clones disappeared one after another. Tekuno was a Jonin who was proficient in the use of ninja tools and was extremely skilled at setting traps. He began setting them up at the very beginning of the battle between Hayama and Shisui.

The mist conveniently obscured the Sharingan's vision, which proved to be very useful.

Impressive! Temari hadn't expected these relatively unknown Konoha ninjas to coordinate so skillfully. Her initial dissatisfaction with Tsunade gradually faded.

A burst of green chakra instantly appeared on Shisui's body, gradually transforming into the form of Susanoo. Shisui had no intention of holding back.

The others, their faces grim, no longer held back, unleashing a barrage of ninjutsu upon Shisui. Shisui did not dodge at all; conventional ninjutsu had no effect on him whatsoever.

Shisui's Susanoo conjured a weapon resembling both a spear and a sword, which spun continuously in Susanoo's hand, and the flames gathering on it gradually turned into a storm.

Only now did Ye Shan realize how naive his previous thoughts were. When his moves stopped working, he knew that the two sides were not even in the same league.

Shisui plunged the spiral sword in his hand directly into the ground, creating a powerful burst of flames. Even though Kosuke used Water Release, he could only withstand it for a second before it was torn apart.

Finally, the battlefield was burned to a crisp by the flames, and all the ninjas lay dead on the ground. Shisui's Susanoo slowly dissipated, and everything returned to normal.

Shisui looked at his hands. After his resurrection, his ability to control Susanoo had become stronger. His reanimated body was not afraid of the side effects of the Mangekyou Sharingan, nor did he feel pain, so he could use it without any worries.

Moreover, this was only because Shisui held back. If he had attacked the opponent directly instead of plunging his sword into the ground, there probably wouldn't have been many survivors.

"Halt! What exactly are you planning to do...?"

Hayama struggled to his feet; he was the only ninja still able to move.

Shisui sighed. Wouldn't it be better to just lie still? He looks like he can barely stand up.

"Give up. Although I don't know what Ye Lan is up to, if you were facing Ye Lan, you would have been dead long ago."

Shisui left only his back view; now these people were no longer a threat at all.

"Ye Lan is stronger than me now. If Konoha wants to know any information, the few of you are not enough."

Chapter 118 Essence

"Itachi, are those rumors outside true?"

Tendou stepped forward and looked at Itachi, his expression revealing nothing of his inner thoughts.

"Those are just rumors."

Itachi did not avoid the gaze of the Heavenly Path, but his pupils had already transformed into Sharingan.

"Ha, a spy from Konoha? To kill an entire clan in order to infiltrate Akatsuki, I don't know how such an absurd idea could be published in the newspaper."

Kakuzu was referring to news from outside newspapers, which everyone in Akatsuki knew, but this reason was clearly unbelievable, not to mention there was no substantial evidence.

"That's not necessarily true. The Uchiha are capable of anything."

"This is what Sasori, who has dealt with the Uchiha clan before, said in a low voice."

"Hmph, I also disagree with recruiting Uchiha Yelan. I still remember the grudge from last time."

Hidan, carrying his scythe, spoke menacingly.

"Uchiha, tsk, Itachi, according to the intelligence, your younger brother seems to be with Ye Lan as well. What are your thoughts on that?"

Deidara chimed in.

Seeing that the majority of the voices of opposition were against it, the Heavenly Path had no choice but to put the plan aside for the time being. However, taking down Itachi based on mere rumors would inevitably cause others to have objections, especially since Itachi had contributed to the organization in the matter of the Three-Tails.

Afterwards, the Heavenly Path disbanded the Akatsuki group. They had just captured the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki a while ago, and they needed a few more people to seal it in the next couple of days.

The information about the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki was actually provided by Ayaka, who participated in the Chunin Exams. Akatsuki, which originally had no plans to take action, ordered her capture after learning that Fu was just a ninja from Takigakure. She is currently being held captive.

...

"The pursuers behind us have been dealt with."

Ye Lan, who was ahead, suddenly spoke.

Sasuke didn't expect to defeat the pursuers so quickly. The Impure World Reincarnation is a very useful ninjutsu in some respects. He didn't even see the other party's figure, and he didn't know who was chasing him.

"Don't worry, none of them are acquaintances of yours. Apart from Sunagakure, they are all a bunch of Konoha ninjas you've never spoken to."

Ye Lan saw through Sasuke's thoughts and said directly, "At that time, Sasuke chose to follow me, but he still had feelings for the people of Konoha."

Sasuke, realizing his thoughts had been read, lowered his head and remained silent. He wouldn't regret it, but he was indeed not used to the feeling of being at odds with Konoha.

"Hmph, Sasuke, what kind of existence do you think Konoha is?"

After thinking it over, Ye Lan decided to talk to Sasuke. His future choices might affect Sasuke, and there were some things about leaving the Uchiha clan. Even if Sasuke left him because of this, he wouldn't have any complaints. He just wanted to make things clear beforehand.

Sasuke was puzzled; he didn't understand why Ye Lan would ask such a question.

Ye Lan didn't expect him to answer and continued.

"The Hokage, Jonin, Chunin, Genin, and further subdivided into Anbu, Special Jonin, Jonin squad leaders, Hokage advisors, and so on. Konoha, as a village, has its own hierarchical system, with greater power at higher levels, often holding the power of life and death over those below them."

Sasuke recalled Ibiki's teachings when he first participated in the Chunin Exams: a ninja cannot refuse a mission based on its difficulty; even if it is a mission that will surely lead to death, once the village assigns it to you, you must carry it out.

From this perspective, the upper echelons do indeed determine the life and death of lower-ranking ninjas.

Ye Lan was also a victim of this system; he participated in an S-rank mission when he was only ten years old and still a Chunin. Even Itachi, when Konoha gave him such a mission, actually carried it out.

Without giving Sasuke much time to think, Ye Lan continued.

"Moreover, the so-called fair promotion is just a nice-sounding phrase. Unless your strength surpasses most people, you won't be promoted directly. I'm not saying this to belittle anyone, but take your class of students for example. Apart from Shikamaru and a few other clan ninjas, how many of your commoner classmates have you actually made friends with?"

"Sakura? The others are too weak."

Sasuke tentatively revealed the reason.

"Aside from Sakura, whose situation is somewhat special, what about the others? Why are they weak?"

"No talent? Not hardworking enough?"

Hearing Sasuke's answer, Ye Lan smiled. Even Sasuke wouldn't think in such a deep direction.

"Is it really a lack of effort? Or is it that they don't even have the right to try? To put it bluntly, it's just that the Jonin leading the team is unwilling to teach."

Ye Lan's words jolted Sasuke awake. In an instant, Sasuke's heart raced. He felt as if he was trying to grasp something but couldn't quite grasp it.

“In this world, apart from bloodline families, even ordinary escaping techniques can shine if mastered to the extreme. Look at the previous high-ranking officials of Konoha, very few of them had bloodlines. Why were they able to sit in these positions?”

"They're strong enough to help Konoha rise? No, they can't do that. All they do is teach the so-called Will of Fire and send you clueless people to your deaths."

“Teach ninjutsu? If I teach you, why don’t you teach others? With this pool of people, there will always be exceptionally talented ninjas. Once they become strong, shouldn’t we give them a Jonin rank? If they are obedient, that’s fine, but what if they are disobedient?”