The Devil of Konoha: Starting as a Medical Ninja

"We have guests, and you managed to catch them here in such a short time. You're quite capable!"

Just as Nara Shikamaru was pondering how to keep himself as safe as possible should Shukaku go berserk.

One of the madmen stood up abruptly, and as he did, the nine Iwagakure ninjas around him began to move.

Nara Shikamaru, who was tied up to the side, could just see that the madman's fingers were moving incessantly.

'A puppeteer?!'

Nara Shikamaru was shocked to see this. Could it be that these Iwagakure ninjas were all puppets controlled by this person?

While Nara Shikamaru was still pondering, nine Iwagakure ninjas, controlled by shadow clones, had already emerged from the basement.

Standing outside, Hongzhi watched the Iwagakure ninja slowly emerge, symbolically threw out a Wind Release ninjutsu, and then waited patiently.

"As expected, the puppet prepared on the spot is unreliable. Let you go instead!"

Unlike the previous two voices, which suddenly rang out, Nara Shikamaru was caught off guard until he saw the other madman, who hadn't moved at all, stiffly get up and slowly walk out.

At that moment, Nara Shikamaru felt shocked, and he realized a truth that left him speechless.

The man in black is indeed a madman, but there has always been only one madman.

Before Nara Shikamaru could continue thinking, an explosion came from above, followed by a series of falling rocks.

Along with the falling rocks came a cloud of dust that filled the entire space. In a daze, Nara Shikamaru felt someone grab him. When he opened his eyes again and saw his surroundings clearly, he found himself outside.

Nine corpses of Iwagakure ninjas lay peacefully around him, along with Gaara, who remained unconscious.

As for the madman, he had vanished without a trace, and even the puppet beside him had completely disappeared.

"What a pity."

Hongzhi gazed into the distance and muttered to himself. Although it was a one-man show, in order to avoid arousing suspicion, Hongzhi still sent his shadow clone away in that direction.

Nara Shikamaru must have obtained a lot of "useful information," and Koji doesn't care who he passes the buck to later.

This plan should be considered a perfect success. The chakra circulation patterns within Gaara's body, as well as the secret techniques that Nara Shikamaru of the Nara clan has already learned and is researching, have all been obtained.

If there's any oversight in this matter, it's about Shukaku inside Gaara's body. The original plan was to directly put Shukaku into a rebirth state.

However, the resurrection of the Two-Tails is still a long way off, and there is absolutely no need to kill the One-Tails, as that would only disrupt the balance of the ninja world.

This is something Hongzhi doesn't want to see. The best-case scenario is to keep Shukaku (the One-Tailed Beast) in Sunagakure obediently; maintaining balance is the most important thing.

If the ninja world were to descend into chaos at this point, the Akatsuki organization would certainly not let go of the opportunity to capture the Tailed Beasts amidst the chaos, and once the chaos begins, it will not be quelled.

When the ninja villages are stabbing each other in the back, who will care where the tailed beasts are? By the time they notice this, the Ten-Tails might have already been fully resurrected.

"He seems to be a puppeteer..."

While Hiroji was still thinking, Nara Shikamaru, who had been thrown on the ground, spoke up.

Upon hearing this, Hongzhi turned to look at him. Wasn't this child supposed to be very clever?

Something feels off after this experience. Could this be a side effect of large-scale memory retrieval?

Nara Shikamaru, being stared at like that by Hiroji, felt that he had done something stupid. This was the man who had saved him, so how could he not know that the man was a puppeteer?

Hiroji took out a kunai and cut the ropes binding Nara Shikamaru, then sat down and waited patiently.

After resuming his operations, Nara Shikamaru didn't rest. He first took out a scroll and sealed all the corpses of the Iwagakure ninjas, then began to carefully examine the area for anything unusual.

Hongzhi looked at Nara Shikamaru, who had been working in vain, and shook his head helplessly. This place was just randomly chosen, and it was simply wishful thinking for him to find other clues.

However, judging from the shadow clone's recent memories, Nara Shikamaru's ability to recover immediately is quite impressive.

As for whether the shadow clone's words would cause any misunderstanding, Hongzhi didn't know, and besides, even if there was a misunderstanding, there was nothing he could do.

That identity will probably not be used again, since controlling chakra threads is actually quite difficult.

Several hours later, Kakashi, Granny Chiyo, and the others slowly arrived.

Upon seeing Gaara and Shikamaru safe and sound, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Since they were alright, that was the best-case scenario.

Hongzhi used the Flying Thunder God Technique to bring a large group of people directly into Sunagakure. This was the same location where he first used the Flying Thunder God Technique to come from Konoha.

The kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God Technique is still stuck here, clearly indicating that it will not be disposed of until the Konoha ninjas leave Sunagakure.

After bringing the person back, Hongzhi casually found a place and slowly closed his eyes. No one disturbed him.

Then Kakashi and Granny Chiyo questioned him about the matter, and Nara Shikamaru could only silently recount everything he remembered.

As Nara Shikamaru spoke, the expressions of the people around him became somewhat strange. A female ninja dancing under the moonlight—was this really the beginning of this whole thing?!

However, as Nara Shikamaru continued to explain, the people around him realized that it was just a pretext to lure ninjas who thought there was no problem to investigate.

“His initial target should have been Senior Hongzhi, but I don’t know why he approached me.”

After finishing his explanation, Nara Shikamaru shook his head helplessly. The matter could be described as a close call, but he didn't know what Hiroji-senpai wanted to do.

"If it were that guy, he wouldn't be attracted to something like this at all, and if it were him, he would most likely discover the problem..."

Kakashi casually added that he knew a little about Hiroji; he had left "Icha Icha Paradise" there, but Hiroji didn't even glance at it.

As for the female ninja from Iwagakure who was being used as a puppet, if she appeared in front of Hiroji, he should be able to discover the problem given his control over chakra.

Chapter 271 A Fragile Balance

While everyone's attention was drawn to Nara Shikamaru's story, Granny Chiyo's expression became somewhat unnatural.

The only ninja she could think of who possessed the puppetry techniques of Sunagakure and was capable of such cruelty was Sasori.

Has that boy, once hailed as a genius puppeteer, now become such a cruel demon?

The ninjas of Sunagakure felt embarrassed by the puppet technique, especially Kankuro. When he heard that the mysterious man could control ten puppets simultaneously and even make them dance gracefully in the dead of night, he had only one thought in his mind:

This is definitely fake. How could he achieve such precise control? Moreover, he wasn't controlling a puppet, but a living Iwagakure ninja!

However, considering the corpses of the Iwagakure ninjas that had been recovered, Kankuro silently stepped aside and began to ponder what puppetry was.

He is now beginning to wonder if he has ever truly mastered the art of puppetry.

Hongzhi had no intention of listening to any of this. He was sitting on the ground, slowly sorting through the information he had obtained from Nara Shikamaru.

Most memories are useless, and although they include Nara Shikamaru's scandalous affairs, Hiroji doesn't want to know about them.

Hongzhi organized all the memories related to the family's secret techniques and studied them carefully. As for the remaining memories, he simply erased them.

The kidnapping of Nara Shikamaru and Gaara has been successfully resolved, and the atmosphere in Sunagakure has returned to normal.

However, having learned from the previous experience, both Sunagakure and Konoha have become more vigilant.

In summary, none of the tailed beasts from Sunagakure were lost, and Nara Shikamaru from Konoha was safe and sound.

This is the best possible outcome, but it is not good news for Onoki of Iwagakure.

Based on the timeline, the intelligence report from that elite team should be completed today, so that he can understand whether he can take advantage of the chaos to raid Sunagakure.

Aside from Konoha, which used to crush tailed beasts like chickens, no one would complain about having too many. Moreover, the other four ninja villages are not in particularly good shape right now, so even if Iwagakure gets the One-Tail, they won't be able to stop it.

Once the other ninja villages have recovered, Iwagakure will be able to have new Jinchuriki, and then they will not fear anyone.

However, this beautiful blueprint was immediately shattered by the loss of contact with the elite squad, and they were completely cut off from communication.

Although he still hoped they could create a miracle, Onoki knew in his heart that it was impossible; most of the Iwagakure ninjas had already been wiped out.

But Onoki couldn't understand why Sunagakure was able to recover so quickly. Normally, when something like this happens, rescue would be a huge problem. In such a chaotic situation, it would be easy for the Iwagakure ninjas to gather intelligence.

But now it seems that Sunagakure's recovery speed is too fast, there must be something wrong with it.

Onoki quietly looked at the map in front of him, and finally focused his gaze on the center of the Land of Fire.

"Konoha again? How could something like the Flying Thunder God Technique be passed down like this..."

Onoki understood the truth in a very short time, something Sunagakure couldn't have done on its own. However, with Konoha's medical resources and the Flying Thunder God Technique, the speed was acceptable.

Moreover, when facing ninjas using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Onoki felt he might be killed outright, let alone those so-called elites.

"Konoha!"

Onoki stared intently at the location of Konoha on the map. He had thought that Konoha had been compromising since Hiruzen Sarutobi became Hokage, and that their strength was already greatly diminished.

But as it stands now, Konoha remains a behemoth. Putting aside the two legendary Sannin, the ninja with the Flying Thunder God Technique, and the so-called medical genius, Konoha is practically without any weaknesses.

After this failed attempt, Onoki did not take any further action, and the alliance between Sunagakure and Konoha is now unbreakable.

Unless Sunagakure is a fool, they won't do anything that could break the alliance. With the Flying Thunder God Technique, the speed of reinforcements from the other side is unimaginable. Even Iwagakure wouldn't be able to face two ninja villages at the same time.

One of them, in particular, is Konoha, which has already begun to rise again.

The construction of Sunagakure was progressing rapidly. When the last patient was taken out of the operating room, Hiroji was already preparing to return to Konoha ahead of everyone else.

There's nothing left to linger in Sunagakure. Even if someone gets injured during construction, Konoha's ordinary medical ninjas are more than capable of handling it.

Kakashi and Asuma felt the same way; keeping Hiroji in Sunagakure for so long put them under a lot of pressure.

If it were any other ninja, it wouldn't be like this, but since that guy has no more wounded, he should go back as soon as possible.

"There are no more wounded soldiers who need your treatment. We've discussed it and decided to have the elders send you back first."

Late at night, Hiroji, who had originally planned to leave his shadow clone there, was briefly taken aback after hearing Kakashi's words.

"no problem."

Without hesitation, Hongzhi agreed. In fact, it didn't affect him at all; it just meant that he went back openly instead of secretly.

This had no impact on Hongzhi.

The next morning, under the somewhat complicated gazes of Konoha and Sunagakure, Hongzhi was directly sent to the rooftop of the Hokage Building by a shadow clone using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Seeing that Hongzhi had left safely, most of the Konoha ninjas breathed a sigh of relief. With that person around, the pressure was still immense.

Meanwhile, Granny Chiyo and Ebizo from Sunagakure sighed helplessly. Although they had known for a long time that the possibility was very small, they were still somewhat surprised to see the man leave without any expression.

In the future, Konoha's medical ninjas will definitely be at the top level, and as a result, Konoha's strength will gradually increase. It will be quite difficult for Sunagakure to gain a voice in the alliance.

However, this also has its advantages. As long as the alliance remains, Iwagakure will certainly not act rashly, unless Iwagakure believes it has the strength to contend with three ninja villages at the same time.

After all, Kumogakure isn't stupid, and the Fourth Raikage was healed by Konoha. If Iwagakure starts a war, it will be a three-on-one situation.

Under such circumstances, Iwagakure would certainly not make any rash moves, which led to the establishment of a fragile balance. However, if another ninja village were to encounter a fatal problem, this balance would be broken in an instant.

Upon returning to Konoha, Hiroji greeted Tsunade without stopping and then went straight into seclusion.

Tsunade did not stop her, since it would have been pointless anyway.