Escape From Konoha

Inside the courtyard.

"Even if you want to become stronger, it's really rare for you to look like this."

Shikamaru, who was practicing the family's secret art of escapism in the courtyard, suddenly heard such a sentence from his ear.

He put down his seal palm, turned his head to look at the person who came, it was his father Lu Jiu.

"A veteran of the three dynasties, are you so leisurely?"

Shikamaru pursed his lips, as if he felt that it would be embarrassing to be seen practicing hard.

After all, his past performance really doesn't match words like hard work.

"The elders of the three dynasties..."

The corner of Lu Jiu's mouth twitched violently at his son's complaints.

This generalization is actually not wrong. He has been through the Third Hokage, the Fourth Hokage, and the Fifth Hokage, and he has held the important position of Jonin squad leader during their reign. He can indeed be called the "Elder of the Three Dynasties".

In just twelve years, so many things have happened to Konoha, and the Naruto staff has been changed several times, which really makes him, the Jnin squad leader, very unhappy.

"How about the job at New Hokage? I heard that he is a difficult person to get along with."

Especially about women, Shikamaru suddenly had a bad association. Because women are equal to tigress in his mind.

"This kind of thing has nothing to do with you as a ninja. You should consider the Chunin exam next year."

Shikajiu doesn't plan to talk more with Shikamaru in this regard.

The content of his work is extremely confidential. He can still be sure about what can be said and what can't be said.

There are some things that even family members cannot disclose.

"Yeah?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows but didn't pay too much attention.

"So, regarding Sasuke, and Kakashi Sr.... Hatake Kakashi, have the higher ups started making preparations?"

After a pause, Shikamaru turned to other topics.

Shikaku glanced at Shikamaru and asked, "Are you asking for Naruto?"

"No, after all, they are still friends from the past, so it doesn't matter if I care."

"You're really tough." Shikamaru's little thoughts can be seen at a glance. Shikaku didn't blame him, so he said to Shikamaru: "Forget it, it doesn't hurt to talk to you. Generally speaking, such a dangerous and rebellious ninja, In theory, they must be resolved as soon as possible. Not only are they very powerful, but if left unchecked for a long time, they may lead to a decline in the village's credibility. On the other hand, because they have too much confidential information about the village, in order to prevent these secrets Leakage may endanger the safety of the village, and this part of the risk must also be prevented and controlled.”

"But the key is that the village shouldn't have so much spare energy now."

Shikamaru hit the nail on the head where the village was currently hurting.

Originally, because of the change of Hokage, Konoha is now mentally and physically haggard. The internal factions have not yet stabilized under the coordination of the new Hokage... If you are dealing with ordinary rebellious ninjas, naturally you don't need to do this. , sending a chasing force at will is enough to do the job. But this time the goal is different, and the mission delegation system needs to be restored. In fact, there are very few ninjas who can be freely mobilized.

"That's basically the case. Although the wanted documents for traitorous ninjas have been issued, it is an indisputable fact that the village does not have the power to pursue them now."

In fact, in Shikaku's opinion, there are two more important reasons, that is, the reshuffle of the ANBU and the game between the ANBU and the top management are still going on in secret. After all, with the size of Konoha, a sizable pursuit force can still be assembled by squeezing. However, the changes in the Anbu and high-level officials made it possible to put this matter on hold and temporarily dispatch patrol troops to show Konoha's attitude.

If Konoha wants to completely restore its turnover, it will have to wait until at least February next year. If things go well, maybe it can be done earlier, but in that case, my vacation will be gone.

Thinking of this kind of thing, Shikaku couldn't help but imagine the pain of working overtime.

Even if he is a ninja, he can't help but feel bitter in his heart when he thinks about working overtime.

"Okay, you should practice hard, and also supervise Ino and Chouji. In a while, there may not be much time for you to enjoy this stability."

After saying this, without waiting for Shikamaru to ask, Shikaku left here quickly.

He was silently calculating other things in his mind.

That is, the plan, headed by the Daimyo of the Country of Fire, to unite the Daimyos of other countries to punish the Kingdom of Ghosts is moving forward.

Although the plan was temporarily stalled due to the change of Hokage, after Tsunade returned, the plan moved forward again.

As the jounin squad leader, he had the same authority to know the plan as the higher-ups. I was also fortunate enough to follow the Third Hokage to Daming Mansion to participate in this decision-making, and he provided part of the planning.

But now that the Third Hokage has unfortunately died halfway through his duties, then Tsunade, as the successor, must inherit the legacy of the Third Hokage and carry out this plan to the end.

Although Shikaku believes that there are many uncertain risks in promoting this plan, it has the support of several major powers and half of the Five Shadows. Therefore, it is not up to him to consider whether this plan should be implemented, but must be implemented. And implement it as soon as possible.

Shikaku sighed in his heart, and a gloomy look flashed in his eyes.

war……

◎

Opening the door to the Hokage's office, the first thing Shikaku saw was the pile of papers on the table.

In the corner of the office, there are also piles of paper, piled together in bundles. It is obvious that these have not been processed.

Shikaku lamented the hard work of Tsunade as the new Hokage. Thinking of this, he no longer felt the pain of working overtime.

Even the Hokage took the lead and worked so hard. As a subordinate, how could I still stand still?

Thinking this, Shikaku quickly walked to the desk, and then saw Tsunade lying on the desk, drooling at the corner of her mouth, sleeping soundly.

"..."

It could be a dream.

After all, everyone in Konoha is so busy, how could a Hokage be lazy at this time?

This must be an illusion, an illusion.

Just when Shikaku thought so, he seemed to hear movement next to him. Tsunade opened her eyes from her sleep and asked drowsily.

"What, Shizune, have you bought the pork chop rice?"

"No, it's me, Hokage-sama."

The corner of Lu Jiu's mouth twitched.

What is pork chop rice? It shouldn't be lunch time now, it's at least two hours away from lunch.

"Uh, it's Shikaku. Sorry, I made you laugh."

Tsunade noticed that the person coming was Shikaku, and she didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed. She calmly picked up a tissue and wiped the very indecent-looking saliva from the corner of her mouth.

Then, she said seriously:

"First of all, let me explain that I was definitely not lazy and sleeping just now. I was just thinking deeply about some village development planning issues. Don't get me wrong."

Put away the tissue you used to wipe your saliva first, Hokage-sama. Lu Jiu sighed in his heart.

"Since you are tired, it would be better for you, Hokage-sama, to go home and rest."

Considering that Tsunade has been working intensively since she came back, it is not incomprehensible that she would like to find some time to be lazy for a while. After all, it is also the responsibility of subordinates to care about the health of their superiors.

"Don't worry, I'm full of energy now!"

Tsunade said that she was fine and could continue to work, assuming the attitude of a hard-working boss who took things seriously.

"..."

This kind of words makes people feel even more guilty.

He suspected that as soon as he left here, the other party would lie down on the table and sleep again.

"these are……"

Shikaku noticed the stack of papers on the table in front of Tsunade and his expression changed.

"Ah, these are the personnel information of the medical department."

Although Tsunade can handle government affairs with ease, what she is best at is related to the medical department. After all, this is her old profession, and it is indeed more convenient to manage it than to deal with other things.

"Are you planning to reorganize it like ANBU?"

Lu Jiu thought about it.

"There's no need for that. Although there are some problems in the medical department, as long as there are no problems with the senior cadres of the department, everything is within control. It's not like the ANBU, which is infiltrated from top to bottom. It's become a sieve."

Tsunade said so.

"You can't say that. None of us knew that Kakashi would be Orochimaru's spy. Maybe before Minato, Kakashi was Orochimaru's man. I think the senior management of the medical department also We should investigate and maybe we can catch some big fish from it.”

Shikaku thought for a while and suggested to Tsunade.

Hearing these words, Tsunade couldn't help narrowing his eyes, and began to think seriously.

Although she took over the Hokage's affairs and used her strong style to temporarily intimidate the two advisors from the beginning, in the final analysis this was just to make it easier for herself. But in terms of the details of the village, she still didn't take good care of some places.

And Shikaku can make up for these shortcomings of hers. As the Jonin squad leader, he understands all aspects of Konoha better than he does.

"Yes, but it needs to be done secretly. But since we want to investigate to the end, we will secretly dispatch manpower from the Hyuga clan and the Yamanaka clan to cooperate with the ANBU operations."

Tsunade didn't hesitate and quickly finalized the matter.

"Okay, I will go to Hinata and Yamanaka later."

Lu Jiu nodded, taking this matter on himself.

"Also, about this little girl..."

Tsunade pulled out a piece of paper from the file in front of her.

"Haruno Sakura?"

Shikaku saw the photo on the paper, it was Haruno Sakura, the medical ninja of Team 7.

As a new generation of medical ninja, Haruno Sakura has a great reputation in the medical department. Coupled with the medical charm incident, Shikaku also became obsessed with this twelve-year-old girl.

"Yes."

Tsunade glanced at it, and she could see the other party's identity information, ability information, and ninja resume.

"What Hokage-sama means is..."

"Check to see if she has been interfered by Kakashi. In addition, her research on medical talismans is very interesting. Remember to get some experiments later."

"yes."

Although he didn't know why Tsunade made such a decision, Shikaku nodded seriously and agreed.

◎

"You're not doing this right, try again!"

Somewhere on the backside of Mt. Miaomu, there is a pool formed by a waterfall. There are various stone toads of different sizes next to it.

Immortal Fukasaku sat on the head of a stone toad, holding a black stick in his hand. I don't know how many times he corrected Naruto's mistakes in cultivating natural energy. However, seeing Naruto's brows wrinkled after seeing that Naruto still couldn't get in after so long.

"But, I can't feel the 'natural energy' you mentioned, Grandpa Immortal. After all, is there really such a thing as natural energy?"

Naruto began to doubt the reality of the existence of natural energy in this world.

In the past, when he practiced ninjutsu, although he would encounter various problems, but after a few days in a row, he still had no gains at all. This was the first time he encountered such a situation.

"Yes, it's just that the natural energy hidden in the earth and the air is more difficult for us to discover and use. Even for the little Zilaiye back then, it took several years to get started."

"Several years!? Getting started!?"

When Naruto heard this, he immediately opened his mouth wide, looking extremely surprised.

"Well, although there are reasons for his own laziness, lack of perseverance, and giving up halfway, natural energy is indeed not such an easy power to grasp. Even in Miaomu Mountain, which has accumulated rich natural energy, a considerable part of the toads in it cannot sense it. Natural energy, not to mention the more difficult fairy art later on."

Fukasaku Sento jumped off the stone toad and said to Naruto.

"What about me? Immortal Grandpa, how long do you think it will take me to get started?"

Naruto asked, pointing at himself.

"Hmm... It's a bit hard to say. In terms of chakras, you have indeed met the basic requirements for cultivating immortal arts, but your basic ability seems to be a bit weak, even worse than that of Xiao Zilai..."

Immortal Fukasaku looked at Naruto carefully and said.

"Isn't it? Am I worse than a lecherous fairy?"

"It's hard to say. When Xiao Zilai was practicing fairy arts, he was different from you. His chakra control ability was already very good. With a good chakra, he sensed natural energy very early, but he couldn't control it freely. That's all. So his later immortal skills are only at a half-baked level, and he needs me and the child's mother to maintain it before he can enter the perfect immortal mode."

"It turns out that the lecherous fairy hasn't mastered it completely. If I master this, will I be better than the lecherous fairy?"

Naruto began to wonder.

He knows how powerful Jiraiya is. If he surpasses the opponent, maybe it will be his turn to become the next generation of Hokage.

"Don't think about these good things. Even Xiao Zilai can't enter the perfect fairy mode by himself, but as far as humans are concerned, he can be regarded as a very remarkable ninja. Ninety-nine percent of humans who come to Miaomu Mountain to seek fairy arts are stuck in the Below the entry level. There are only a handful of human beings who can enter the fairy mode on their own for thousands of years. And the fate of the losers has become these stone toads."

Fukasaku Sento pointed to the big and small stones and toads around him, and warned Naruto not to be careless in this regard, otherwise the end would be miserable.

Sure enough, upon hearing Fukasaku Sensei's words, Naruto swallowed in fear.

At this moment, the two heard footsteps approaching, turned their heads to look, and saw Zilai walking over.

"How is it, Boss Fukasaku, how about Naruto's natural energy cultivation?"

Ji Lai also asked as soon as he came over.

Immortal Fukasaku glanced at the unwilling Naruto, and said without concealing: "It's not possible at all, the little Naruto can't sense the existence of natural energy. After so many days, I still can't do anything. According to my opinion, I should wait for a while, maybe it will work." .”

"Does it need to be so troublesome? Can't you use toad oil to assist your cultivation?"

Zilai also frowned and asked.

Sensei Fukasaku hesitated.

"Toad oil can indeed play an auxiliary role, but the degree to which that thing senses and absorbs natural energy is judged by the basic ability of the person concerned... If the control ability is too poor, it may immediately turn into a stone toad. "

In other words, in the eyes of Immortal Fukasaku, it is too dangerous for Naruto to use toad oil to assist his cultivation.

"After all, you have to try it to know. And isn't there you Fukasaku Boss? Naruto is the son of the prophecy predicted by the big toad sage. This level can definitely be overcome."

Jiraiya also has sufficient confidence in Naruto.

"...Okay. But let me say first, if you fail, you will temporarily give up the practice of immortality and start from the foundation of chakra control."

Immortal Fukasaku also felt that Naruto, since he was the son of prophecy in the mouth of Immortal Toad, might really be able to perform miracles.

So it jumped to the side of the pond, reached into the pond, and let its palms be covered with toad oil in the pond.

"Naruto, take off your shirt."

Jiraiya ordered.

Although Naruto was puzzled, he did so and took off his shirt, revealing a strong figure.

Then, Fukasaku Immortal, who had his hands covered in toad oil, jumped behind Naruto, and spread the toad oil on Naruto's back.

For a moment, Naruto felt a little bit of coldness, something uncontrollably drilled into his body from the outside world.

"Well……"

Naruto found that his body became extremely stiff, as if he had lost control, showing surprise.

"not good!"

Seeing that Naruto's head began to swell and his body began to show signs of petrification, Fukasaku Sage immediately took out the black stick in his hand, aimed it at Naruto's back, and struck him quickly.

"ah!"

Naruto screamed in pain, feeling as if his back had been severed by Fukasaku Sennin with a black rod. He puffed air in his mouth to reduce the pain.

With this blow, the uncontrolled natural energy in his body was also driven out of the body by the black rod, allowing Naruto to return to his original state.

"Can't you?"

Looking at Naruto who was gasping for air, Jiraiya sighed.

Fukasaku Sage said helplessly: "You have also seen the situation. Toad oil has its pros and cons, but it is definitely not suitable for Naruto at this stage. Little Jiraiya, you'd better get his basics right first. If he can't even If you can't control chakra well, then it's impossible to control natural energy and fuse celestial chakra."

Immortal magic is not that simple. Even in Miaomu Mountain, there are only a handful of elites who can master the magic of immortality.

Sensing natural energy, controlling natural energy, and then manipulating and merging it with chakra. Although the steps are simple, most people can skillfully control natural energy, which is a great existence.

If you want to reach the third stage and fuse your own magical chakra, it is not a power that can be easily popularized.

"It seems like this is all, but don't worry, Boss Fukasaku, I will let him control his balance as soon as possible."

Jiraiya also felt that he had acted too hastily.

If he wanted to become fat in one bite, he would definitely tire Naruto to death.

The road to becoming stronger still needs to be done step by step.

"Well, I'll trouble you. In addition, go to the workshop and get a few immortal charms for little Naruto to use. This will help him grow faster and even help him use immortal magic in the future."

Fukasaku Sennin thought of something.

"Has that thing been made?"

Jiraiya became excited.

"Almost. Although it can't be mass-produced on a large scale, it can still be done to produce a hundred and eighty copies."

"Great, this is equivalent to destroying one of the enemy's generals! Then I won't stay here any longer. Naruto, pack up and bow, let's return to Konoha as soon as possible!"

Jiraiya was so excited that he urged Naruto to act quickly.

After saying that, without waiting for Naruto to respond, he hurried towards Miaomushan's workshop.

◎

Kirigakure Village.

Mizukage's office.

"This is a letter from the Kingdom of Ghosts."

Terumi Mei came to Yagura with a letter and said to him.

Yagura put down what he was doing, quickly took the letter, opened it and scanned it, the look on his face softened slightly.

"How is the situation, Mizukage-sama?"

Terumi Mei didn't know what was written on it, but judging from Yagura's expression, something good must have happened.

"The Kingdom of Ghosts has successfully contacted Ryūchi Cave."

"So, is the threat from Mount Miaomu finally eliminated?"

Terumi Mei asked.

"That's true for the time being, but we still need to fight one more time to know how it will be. However, Ryūchi Cave and Miaomu Mountain are both holy places, so the difference in strength between the two will not be too big. Coupled with the assistance of the Kingdom of Ghosts, together we can It shouldn’t be a problem to capture Miaomu Mountain in Ryūchi Cave.”

Yagura tapped his fingers on the table and expressed his opinion.

Even without the assistance of Ryuji Cave, he felt that with the military power of the Kingdom of Demons, it would not be a problem to capture Miaomu Mountain. However, it would be very difficult to operate in this way, and it would also be interfered with by various unexpected factors. This leads to a certain deviation in the results.

"Next, you follow me to the Daiming Mansion and meet with the Daiming. Regarding going to the Fire Nation Parliament after the year, we need to make some preparations as soon as possible."

Soon, Yagura also made this decision.

"So fast?"

Terumi Mei was surprised.

"Well, maybe the war will come faster than we imagined. The original plan was for Akatsuki and the other big countries to use the tailed beasts as a breaking point to weaken the strength of both sides, and then annex them... But now, the Fire Country, The two great names in the Kingdom of Wind, including our great one, seem to have other thoughts."

Although Yagura knew that the actions of the Demon Country would attract the attention of these daimyo sooner or later, he did not expect that these daimyo would unite so quickly. The ability to perceive crises is sharper than imagined.

And according to the information revealed by the daimyo of the Kingdom of Water, it seems that the Kingdom of Earth also intends to join the alliance and jointly sanction the Kingdom of Ghosts. Of the first five major countries, only the Country of Thunder is left. Its position has not yet been completely firmed up and it has other plans.

"If that's the case, then you need to be careful with your next steps."

Mei Terumi thought for a moment and answered.

"Actually, there is no need to worry too much. This kind of alliance only looks very gimmicky, but in actual operation, it is not so easy to get along just because of the internal trust issue. Each country has its own interests and demands, and when the time comes, it will really The only ones who contribute on the battlefield are Konoha and Sunagakure."

Compared to Terumi Mei's caution, Yagura's attitude seems more optimistic.

Ignore Sunagakure who is still in the recovery period, but Konoha...maybe those high-level officials will make some big revelations that will shock everyone.

Konoha's most powerful enemy is not outside, but within. If this problem is not solved for a day, there will always be huge hidden dangers. This is true for both ourselves and the Allies.