The Devil of Konoha: Starting as a Medical Ninja

Shadow clones can keep Konoha and Iwagakure locked in a stalemate, thus attracting the attention of other ninja villages and increasing the Akatsuki's chances of success.

Hongzhi didn't want the Akatsuki organization to be wiped out halfway through the tailed beast capture operation. If that happened, he would have to capture the tailed beasts himself, and if he killed them all at once, he would have to wait several more years.

Speaking of which, the Two-Tailed Beast, which died before, has not yet been resurrected, but Hiroji feels that it will only be a few months before it is resurrected.

After all, the natural energy of the ninja world flows toward a special place every once in a while, and Hongzhi is certain that it is not one of the three holy lands.

The only possible explanation is the Two-Tails, which is currently being revived, since the energy of a tailed beast cannot appear out of thin air.

In the pitch-black cave, figures emerged one after another. Nagato, the leader of the Akatsuki organization who had been silent for a long time, was preparing to convene a meeting of his members.

Although Amegakure is not located exactly between Iwagakure and Konoha, it is still easy to obtain information. Akatsuki's intelligence agents learned about the Iwagakure ninja's invasion of the Land of Fire.

Nagato understood what this meant, after all, he had also experienced the Fourth Shinobi World War, although his experience at the time was not particularly pleasant.

"Iwagakure and Konoha are at war. This is a great opportunity for us to collect the Tailed Beasts."

Nagato controlled Pain, looking at the listless members before him. The Akatsuki hadn't been particularly active lately, after all, the ninja world wasn't exactly peaceful.

"They're going to capture the Tailed Beasts again? Wasn't the Three-Tails already taken by Obito Uchiha? What's the point of collecting Tailed Beasts if we're missing one?!"

Deidara spoke with some frustration, recalling that his and Sasori's experience capturing the Three-Tails wasn't particularly pleasant, especially after being misled by Akatsuki's intelligence.

With Obito Uchiha's strength, if they had actually attacked directly back then, they wouldn't even have been able to leave.

"With the eight tailed beasts, we can easily destroy any ninja village. At that time, the entire ninja world will have no choice but to submit to our rules, thus achieving peace."

Nagato, controlling Pain, spoke calmly. He couldn't handle Obito Uchiha either, but the situation would change after collecting several tailed beasts, since the power of the tailed beasts was devastating.

Even Obito Uchiha wouldn't be a match for the eight tailed beasts.

"Are you scared?"

Hongzhi smiled as he looked at Deidara across from him. If the Akatsuki went on strike, who would capture those pets?

"How is that possible!"

Deidara instinctively retorted; if the person speaking wasn't that guy, he would definitely have unleashed a torrent of profanities.

This person's combat power is simply too overwhelming. The entire Hidden Leaf Village is like a toy. If they had started collecting the Tailed Beasts back then, the Nine-Tails, which was finally sealed away, would probably have been thrown here already.

"Since there are no problems, let's start collecting the tailed beasts, following the original rules, one for each person."

Nagato, controlling Pain, spoke calmly. To prevent Akatsuki members from provoking the guy who claimed to be Thor, Nagato directly exposed his identity.

There's no way around it; it would be such a waste if the Akatsuki, which we've worked so hard to organize, were wiped out by Thor with a wave of his hand.

This is why the Akatsuki members are relatively well-behaved; after all, news of what happened in Konoha has just spread, which is enough to shut these villains up.

"I won't get involved in this. It's easy to lose control when dealing with someone who could be easily strangled."

Hongzhi spoke casually, then immediately canceled the Illusionary Body Technique.

"How did someone like that get recruited into the organization?!"

After Hongzhi left, Kisame looked at Pain. He really couldn't understand why a guy who could directly destroy five ninja villages would stay in the Akatsuki. With such strength, he might as well have taken the Rinnegan and collected the tailed beasts himself.

Kisame's words drew the attention of all the Akatsuki members to Pain, as they shared the same question about the matter.

If they had the strength to defeat the leader, they would definitely give it a try, but that guy was clearly capable of crushing the leader, at least that's how he appeared to be.

As for whether the Rinnegan has any special abilities, they don't know, but in theory, even if such a person fails, he should be able to leave easily!

It's impossible for him to join the Akatsuki organization. After all, if he wanted to leave at the speed of lightning, probably no one could catch up with him except for the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Be careful when capturing the tailed beasts. First, take care of the tailed beasts in Iwagakure. Onoki has just started a war, so he probably won't be able to take care of the jinchūriki in the Land of Earth."

Nagato did not answer the question. He could sense that the Thunder God's strength had become even more terrifying. As for his purpose, Nagato did not know, but judging from the current situation, the Thunder God should not have lied to him back then.

"If this war continues, it could very well escalate into the Ninja World War. We just need to wait for the right opportunity to strike."

Pain's voice echoed in the cave: if the Fourth Shinobi World War were to begin, it would be most advantageous for the Akatsuki.

Chapter 362 shouldn't be that bad.

Near the border of the Land of Fire, although the ninjas from Iwagakure attacked very quickly, Konoha must have been no pushover to have survived for so long.

After Jiraiya brought Konoha's elite troops here, although it was impossible for Iwagakure ninjas to repel them, they were still able to put up a fight with some difficulty due to the geographical advantage.

If Onoki didn't use Dust Release, he would be about the same level as Jiraiya now. The remaining elite Jonin from Iwagakure are not inferior to those from Konoha, but that's precisely why the battle became so intense. Otherwise, Iwagakure would have been defeated long ago.

Of course, this does not mean that Konoha can withstand the attack of Iwagakure. It only means that the line of defense will not be directly breached and that they can barely survive.

If reinforcements don't arrive in time, the Konoha ninjas will ultimately be the ones to fail.

Of course, Konoha's follow-up support was very timely. The shadow clones arrived at the rear camp on the third day and began to treat the injured ninjas one by one.

With the healing power of the shadow clones, any Konoha ninja who wasn't directly killed could be cured, which greatly reduced the pressure on Konoha.

The Hidden Stone Village must have discovered it too, but they didn't pay much attention to it. They even started sending ninjas to secretly assassinate them, but these ninjas disappeared without a trace.

As for Konoha, they are naturally full of hope, after all, their healing speed is too fast, and as long as they are careful on the battlefield, they will not be killed directly.

The battle here has reached a stalemate. Logically speaking, Iwagakure, knowing they couldn't defeat Konoha, should have retreated, since Konoha certainly wouldn't have pursued them under these circumstances.

However, Ōnoki, who was controlled by the illusion, had no such thoughts at all and only gave the order to keep charging.

This shouldn't be a problem, since the number of Konoha ninjas is indeed gradually decreasing.

News of the war between Iwagakure and Konoha had spread throughout the entire ninja world. Sasuke Uchiha, who was still desperately searching for the Akatsuki organization in hopes of obtaining information about Itachi Uchiha, remained silent for a long time after receiving this news.

He still cared about Konoha, after all, there were still a few bonds between them. However, upon receiving this news, his first thought was not to go and support Konoha.

Instead, he wanted to see if he could use this opportunity to find traces of the Akatsuki organization. After leaving the base, he obtained a lot of information in the black market.

One thing that is particularly noteworthy about the Akatsuki organization is that Onoki of Iwagakure once cooperated with the Akatsuki. Under the current circumstances, the Akatsuki might reappear.

"Uchiha Itachi, your end is coming soon!"

Sasuke Uchiha thought viciously, he had no belief whatsoever in the previous genjutsu. Itachi Uchiha was an absolute demon, and only his blood could appease his fellow Uchiha.

Sasuke Uchiha slowly made his way towards the site of the battle. He was still somewhat aware of his own strength, after all, he had almost been blown up by Deidara.

He no longer underestimated Jiraiya and the Tsuchikage; they were still somewhat troublesome. But he believed he had no problem dealing with the others.

After all, his strength underwent a qualitative change. Although he didn't know who the mysterious person was, Uchiha Sasuke was very grateful for his teaching, even though the process wasn't so pleasant.

Sasuke Uchiha's goal was very clear: find the Akatsuki members, get information about Itachi Uchiha, and kill Itachi and the guy who helped him exterminate his clan. Then he would be able to complete his revenge.

'Should we release the information about Itachi Uchiha's death?'

Having noticed Sasuke Uchiha's actions, Hiroji calmly pondered the situation, noting that the ninja world still lacked information about Itachi Uchiha's death.

Most people in Konoha don't know about this, and it's even less likely that the Akatsuki organization would leak it directly.

This resulted in Sasuke Uchiha not only failing to increase his strength in about two months, but also failing to find any trace of the Akatsuki organization.

If this continues, it will probably take him a very long time to get information about Itachi Uchiha, which might mean he'll be killed before he even has a chance to grow up.

Although Hongzhi was able to use shadow clones to keep an eye on Uchiha Sasuke, he couldn't be a babysitter forever, could he?

However, Hiroji has collected Sasuke Uchiha's blood. If Sasuke dies, Hiroji can be resurrected using the Impure World Reincarnation Technique obtained from Sunagakure.

Speaking of which, Hongzhi hasn't purified Uchiha Sasuke's bloodline yet. Perhaps if he does, he'll be able to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Of course, this is just speculation, but although Sasuke Uchiha's strength hasn't increased, it's still roughly the same as Naruto Uzumaki's...

Most importantly, due to the influence of Hongzhi, their current strength is slightly weaker than it was in Shippuden.

However, it is still possible to rapidly increase their strength, but this will have to wait until the Akatsuki has collected most of the Tailed Beasts. Hongzhi does not want to search the world for Tailed Beasts.

If Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki's power levels were increased too much, it could very well lead to the Akatsuki being destroyed before the Tailed Beasts could be fully collected.

……

Amidst the swirling yellow sand, Sasori and Deidara slowly walked towards Sunagakure. The tailed beasts they had collected were divided into One-Tail and Three-Tail according to their share.

The Three-Tails is now said to be controlled by Obito Uchiha, so the only target can be the One-Tails, which exists in Sunagakure.

"Brother Sasori, we shouldn't run into Obito Uchiha this time, right?"

As Deidara walked along the road, he asked curiously, "Back when we were dealing with the Three-Tails, we were pretty sure of victory, but then this so-called Obito Uchiha appeared, which led to us getting a lesson in the end."

Upon hearing this question, Sasori fell silent, seemingly contemplating the possibility of encountering Obito Uchiha.

"It shouldn't be that unlucky."

Sasori's final answer was somewhat uncertain, clearly indicating that he was still somewhat wary of Obito Uchiha.

However, Sasori didn't think that guy would come out directly. Since the Akatsuki wanted to collect the Tailed Beasts, and that guy had unparalleled power, the safest scenario was that he would come out to take them after the Akatsuki had successfully collected them.

They've only just begun collecting the tailed beasts, and based on their route, they should be the first team to find their target. Obito Uchiha shouldn't just show up directly.

Of course, Sasori wouldn't directly confirm this, after all, that was Uchiha Obito, not him, Sasori of the Red Sand, how could he possibly know Uchiha Obito's thoughts?

If that guy really makes a move when they subdue the One-Tailed Jinchuriki and bring him back to Akatsuki, he will definitely abandon the Tailed Beast immediately.

Chapter 363 The Pain of Sunagakure

Sasori wouldn't fight to the death with Obito Uchiha for a tailed beast. If he couldn't win, he would just leave. That guy wouldn't be chasing after him for no reason.

"What should we do if we encounter this?"

Deidara's voice continued to come, still very concerned about this matter; they certainly had no hope of defeating Obito Uchiha.

If we just go back like this, who knows what the leader might think?

"Of course they ran away."

Sasori's answer was straightforward: a deadly fight was out of the question. Fighting a ninja you know you have no chance of winning isn't courage, it's idiocy.

Moreover, it wasn't him who wanted to collect the Tailed Beasts, but the leader who possessed the Rinnegan. If it really came down to a fight to the death, it would be him versus Obito Uchiha.

"That's what I think too."

Deidara felt somewhat relieved upon receiving this answer. He didn't want to fight to the death; as soon as he discovered Obito Uchiha's whereabouts, he would definitely run away without hesitation.

As for the Akatsuki, if the leader really wanted to say something, he could simply leave the Akatsuki. The ninja world is so vast, surely there's somewhere that can showcase art; it's simply impossible.

The two slowly made their way towards Sunagakure. Meanwhile, in the Kazekage's office, Granny Chiyo and Ebizo were looking at the scroll in their hands with worried expressions.

When Iwagakure attacks Konoha, Sunagakure, as an ally of Konoha, should logically provide support, but that's where the problem lies.

Sunagakure itself had no support. The rampage of Shukaku, the One-Tailed Beast, caused Sunagakure's strength to plummet. It was barely able to maintain border defense and village stability, which was the limit for Sunagakure.