Escape From Konoha

The Fourth Ninja World War is over, but the military forces of the Kingdom of Demons, which were originally stationed on the western border of the Earth Kingdom and now belong to the eastern territory of the Kingdom of Demons, show no signs of evacuating.

Rather, with the signing of the armistice agreement, the power of the Ghost Country stationed at the border has increased rather than decreased.

This made the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, who had begun to relax his nerves, couldn't help but tighten his nerves again, fearing that the Demon Country would directly tear up the armistice agreement, plunder the entire western part of the Earth Country, and even invade the rich central region of the Earth Country. , forcing the Daimyo of the Land of Earth to move the capital.

After all, some small actions in the Kingdom of Ghosts were okay, but now there are no small actions at all. They just continue to send more forces to the border, which makes Onoki feel uneasy.

Even if there is such a thing as an armistice agreement, it cannot bring him any sense of security.

Regardless of the fact that Iwagakure Village is now clamoring to be fierce and want to perish together with the Kingdom of Demons, this is just a compromise that was forced into a desperate situation and had to be made.

Because apart from shouting, Iwagakure no longer has any means to control the Kingdom of Demons.

Whether it is the Kingdom of Ghosts or the Kingdom of Earth, they are all well aware of such things.

"It seems that I have been staying here, and Onoki has no plans to return to Iwagakure Village. This old man really has no sense of humor at all, and he is too careless to be scared."

Standing on the cliff of a tall mountain rock, Ayane did not use Byakugan, but used a single-lens military telescope to look at the Iwagakure position in the distance.

The atmosphere at the Iwagakure camp in the distance was solemn, filled with an oppressive sense of urgency. The Iwagakure ninjas who were patrolling near the camp tensed up their nerves and started patrolling nearby. It can be seen that the military mobilization of the border areas after the war in Oni Country has made it difficult for Iwagakure to sleep and eat today. install.

No one wants to put an agreement on a piece of paper and think that as long as that kind of agreement is signed, both parties will really get along peacefully.

Iwakaku's current nervous behavior was completely expected by Ayane, the commander-in-chief of Iwagakure.

Unsurprisingly, the third-generation Tsuchikage Onoki continued to guard the front lines after participating in the armistice negotiations not long ago, and did not return to Iwagakure Village to take charge of the overall situation.

Just to be on guard against her sneak attacks.

In the Iwagakure Village, the only person who could pose a threat to her actions was the Tsuchikage himself.

Dust Escape is indeed a bit tricky for her.

That is not a force that flesh and blood can contend with.

"According to reliable information, Iwagakure secretly sent two thousand ninja reinforcements to the border not long ago to prevent us from taking the initiative to tear up the armistice agreement and continue to attack the Land of Earth."

One of the accompanying Jōnin from the Kingdom of Demons said.

"I hope that we can continue to fight. It is best to annex the western region, which is rich in products, and the central region, which is the cultural and economic center."

Ayane slowly took down the monocular and said with a regretful tone.

Although the Kingdom of Ghosts has taken the initiative to open up the western part of the Kingdom of Earth, if the mechanized troops advance a little further, they can engulf the western part of the Kingdom of Earth. By then, the entire central part of the Kingdom of Earth will be exposed to the forces of the Kingdom of Ghosts. Under the front... Unfortunately, all parties in this war have already mediated, and there are no signs of another fire in a short period of time.

"Forget it, I won't scare this old man anymore."

More than two months have passed since the beginning of the Fourth Ninja War. Her mission at the border has almost been completed. She does not need to be here personally to take charge. She can almost return to the Kingdom of Ghosts to resume her life.

After continuing to patrol for a while with the accompanying Jonin, Ayane returned to the camp.

That night, a squadron of 100 people, led by Ayane, headed towards the Demon Country to the west.

◎

"Hyuga Ayane left from the front line."

After hearing the news that Ayane had left the front line, not only Iwagakure, who was directly confronting the Demon Country, was relieved, but Konoha, as an ally, was also relieved for Iwagakure, and a big stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

In the Hokage's office, Tsunade looked at the information sent back from the front, her tense expression slightly thawed.

The results of the armistice negotiations have been settled, and all countries have made corresponding deployment actions. However, the subsequent frequent troop mobilizations by the Kingdom of Ghosts on the border still attract the attention of the major countries and the top leaders of Shinobi Village. , it’s hard to shift away from that.

With the military power stationed on the border of the Demon Country, the Fifth Ninja War can be launched at any time and the war will be ignited again.

Until the emergence of this information, Konoha and other alliance parties believed that the Kingdom of Demons had no intention of restarting the war.

"Iwagakure should be able to take a few breaths next."

Standing in front of the desk, Shikaku smiled for the first time in a long time.

As for slacking off, it seemed completely impossible to Shikaku.

Hyuga Ayane, a ninja with terrifying strength, has left, but the ninjas under his command, as well as the mechanized troops with fierce firepower, are still stationed on the front line. If the western border of the Land of Earth is to be stable, Iwagakure must also send Only with the corresponding degree of strength can it be guaranteed to be foolproof.

However, in this war, Iwagakure lost nearly 7,000 ninjas and was short of manpower. Next, Iwagakure will cycle through the village's mission system, and at the same time dispatch a large number of ninjas to defend against the Kingdom of Ghosts. Even if it enters a confrontation period, the situation is still very unfavorable for Iwagakure.

Shikaku only hoped that the thousands of Konoha ninjas sent there could alleviate Iwakaku's urgent need at this time.

"I hope so. What I'm more worried about right now is that the old man with two scales is in shape. At his age, he may not be able to last a few years."

Tsunade raised a very real issue.

Lu Jiu was silent, he didn't have any good solution to this situation.

The reason why the third generation Tsuchikage's body was weak was not because of disease, but because of life span. It was a natural law that could not be changed by human beings.

The human body's peak energy is in the twenties, and with some medical treatments, it can last until the thirties.

But after the age of forty, the body's energy will decline rapidly, and all functions will decline rapidly.

Not to mention that it is very difficult for an old man over 70 to stay in a front-line position for several months.

"About this, all we can do is pray. What do you think, Hokage-sama, of my previous proposal?"

After talking about Iwagakure, Shikaku asked about another topic.

"Are you referring to the certain 'being' you guessed is secretly holding back the Kingdom of Ghosts?"

Tsunade considered her words and glanced at Shikaku.

Shikaku nodded.

"This kind of speculation is too incredible."

Tsunade expressed her opinion.

"However, I always feel that some of the actions of the Kingdom of Ghosts in this war are very weird and strange. While the Kingdom of Ghosts can contain the alliance army, it can still mobilize its forces to annihilate holy places like Mt. Miaomu... Honestly Said that they are fully capable of taking a further step in this war with the help of their powerful military power."

It is true that in this Fourth Ninja War, the losses of the Alliance Army were far greater than those of the Demon Country.

But in Shikaku's view, this is not enough. These results are far from the limit of what the Kingdom of Ghosts can achieve.

"It is true that their actions in this war were too strange, but it is still a bit unreasonable to move this speculation closer to unknown existences. Maybe the Kingdom of Ghosts just wants to be more steady and annex a big country, regardless of Whether it’s the huge land or the population, it’s a big hidden danger for the Kingdom of Ghosts.”

Unlike those small countries that have been infiltrated by the Kingdom of Ghosts, the Daming Mansion of the Kingdom of Earth still retains the supreme orthodoxy for the people under its rule, and this is a custom formed over thousands of years. Unless the Kingdom of Ghosts creates a large number of Massacre and eliminate all those who voice resistance, otherwise there is no hope of internal stability in the short term.

If other countries take advantage of the situation at this time, the country of ghosts will definitely have even more headaches.

Tsunade is more inclined to this idea than Shikaku's speculation.

Shikaku did not refute Tsunade's opinion.

Tsunade's explanation can be explained, and it is more convincing than his almost intuitive guess.

If you want to rule a country, it is not just as simple as appropriating the other party's territory and gathering the population.

Especially in large countries, the population is large. As long as 10 to 20 people resist, it will be enough to cause a terrible riot and cause huge trouble to the management.

"Let's not mention this matter. Next, we should pay attention to the quality of the ninjas themselves. Not only the graduation examination of the ninja school, but also the passing mark of the chunin examination must be improved."

This war allowed Tsunade to see the gap between the ninjas of Konoha and the ninjas of the Kingdom of Demons.

Those technical matters left Tsunade unable to do anything for the time being, but the quality of the ninja itself must be taken seriously.

Ninja is synonymous with elites, and not everyone is qualified to become a ninja.

If a village only focuses on the number of ninjas and begins to ignore the quality of the ninjas themselves, it means the degradation of the ninja village.

"Lord Hokage, making the exam more difficult is not a problem. The problem is that most ninjas don't have time to practice. What's more, even if they have free time, many ninjas will only use it to relax and wait for the next mission to come. "

This is the normal state of Konoha ninja.

After you graduate and become a genin, you have very little time to practice.

Most of the time, under the leadership of the captain, they have to go out to perform tasks and run for life.

Occasionally, when there is a holiday, I will use it to rest and dissipate the fatigue during the mission, and then take on the mission again, repeating these things over and over again.

As a result, the time left for the ninjas to practice will undoubtedly be squeezed and shortened.

According to Shikaku's statistics, on average, each Konoha ninja spends no more than a hundred hours practicing every month.

Take an ordinary C-level protection mission as an example. It takes two days to travel, and it may take a day or even several days to reach the destination. Then you have to rush to the village quickly to get the next mission, so as to obtain More pay.

Missions, rushing, and trivial matters in life consume most of Ninja's time.

Ordinary ninjas are exhausted just to earn the money they need to live.

"That means you need a lot of money, right?"

Tsunade returned the problem to its essence.

After all, most ninjas were not wealthy.

"More than that, this trend has been going on for a long time. If you want to change it all at once, it may be counterproductive. If Hokage-sama insists on this approach, I think the scope can be narrowed and piloted in a specific area."

"You mean ANBU?"

Tsunade immediately understood what Shikaku meant.

Since the ANBU is a unit directly under the Hokage, this unit has the highest loyalty to the Hokage among Konoha and will unswervingly implement the Hokage's strategy.

This method moved Tsunade quite a bit.

But then he frowned again.

"If you do this, wouldn't the number of people be too small? Besides, the ANBU usually have important jobs."

Although due to the establishment of the security force, the ANBU will no longer take care of trivial matters in the village, the work of patrolling the village still requires ANBU to patrol.

In this way, there will never be many ANBU who can escape from heavy tasks.

Even though the size of the Anbu was now expanded by two teams again, Tsunade still felt that there was a shortage of manpower.

"Then continue to expand the ANBU's manpower."

Shikaku thought for a while and answered.

"Shikaku, do you want me to listen to those old guys nagging in my ears?"

Tsunade smiled bitterly.

The proposal really struck a chord with her.

However, when two ANBU teams were expanded, quite a few of them had serious objections. If the ANBU continued to expand, she could foresee a terrifying scene where a group of old guys would block her.

"Hmm... Actually, we can secretly recruit people, and then insist to the outside world that the current ANBU has only 104 main combat personnel, and the rest are miscellaneous support personnel."

Shikaku's proposal made Tsunade think deeply.

As Hokage, it is legal to raise a few private soldiers.

◎

Konoha, a training ground near the Death Forest.

At this time, Naruto was sitting cross-legged in the dense forest, with his hands clasped together, his eyes closed tightly, and his whole body was enveloped by an abnormal aura.

Moreover, this breath made Naruto become more and more ethereal, as if he was integrated with the air here, indistinguishable from each other.

Finally, a faint orange eye shadow appeared in Naruto's eyes, which surprised Fukasaku Sennin, who had been observing the changes in Naruto's body.

After not seeing each other for a while, he realized that Naruto seemed to be a completely different person in the past few days, as if he was completely reborn.

Whether it is the cultivation of natural energy or further immortal arts, the other party is advancing at an incredible speed.

That unique eye shadow is the precursor for humans to learn the magic of Mount Myoki.

It can be said that as long as such a thing appears, mastering the magic of Miaomu Mountain is a sure thing.

However, this eyeshadow appears and disappears just as quickly.

It only stayed at the position of Naruto's eyes for less than a few seconds, and then quickly disappeared from Naruto's eyes.

Then the chakra and natural energy in Naruto's body seemed to lose balance. A violent breath burst out from Naruto's body, and his entire face began to swell, like a fat toad...

boom!

Fukasaku Sennin did not hesitate to pick up the black stick in his hand and hit Naruto on the back.

"ah!"

Just like when he was practicing natural energy in the past, Naruto let out a shrill scream and woke up from his eyes-closed state.

On the exposed back muscles, there is a deep and long red mark, which is the mark caused by being hit with the black rod.

In order to disperse all the out-of-control natural energy in Naruto's body, Fukasaku Sennin hit him very hard, for fear that Naruto would be turned into a toad by the runaway natural energy.

"It hurts so much. Grandpa Fukasaku, can you please pat it gently?"

Naruto put his butt back, propped himself on the ground, and knelt on the ground in an extremely inelegant posture. He turned back and gave Fukasaku Sage a resentful look.

Hitting him so hard every time, sooner or later something would happen to his spine.

"This is to disperse all the out-of-control natural energy in your body, little Naruto. It is a last resort. Moreover, although you entered the sage mode for a short time just now, in my opinion, without mastering it, you will Entering that state rashly is a very dangerous behavior. Your natural energy control is not enough, so don't be so greedy for success next time. Even if you want to become stronger, there is no need to rush. In the practice of immortality, the most important thing is to avoid being anxious. You need to calm down and not be bothered by any distracting thoughts.”

Fukasaku Sennin meaningfully warned Naruto.

"I know. I've found that trick, and I won't let you down, Grandpa Fukasaku. Just wait and see."

With that said, Naruto continued to sit down cross-legged, with his eyes closed tightly, keeping his hands clasped together, and began to refine the natural energy around him.

Seeing Naruto quickly enter the state again, Fukasaku Sennin couldn't help but sigh. Naruto and Jiraiya were completely different in their attitude towards training. This level of concentration and seriousness was something Fukasaku Sennin had only seen in very few ninjas.

◎

The sharp chirping of birds sounded in the deserted wilderness.

At any moment, there was a loud roar, and under the roar of thunder, a huge rock more than ten meters high exploded from the bottom.

Looking at the huge rock shattered by his own Thunder Release Ninjutsu, Sasuke still held the thunder light in his hand, but the bird song became much weaker and no longer as loud as before, which made Sasuke frown.

"Isn't the integration complete enough?"

Just now, he had made new progress in his cultivation of immortality.

The originally motionless natural energy and chakra showed signs of merging with the help of Jugo.

Only the fusion of natural energy and chakra is qualified to form senjutsu chakra.

Only by learning to utilize Senjutsu Chakra, the power used by ninjas, can we call it Senjutsu and enter the so-called Sage Mode.

In sage mode, the ninja's speed, strength, nerve reactions, ninjutsu, and illusions will all be improved in all aspects.

And this kind of improvement is also the most critical factor that widens the gap between celestial ninjas and ordinary ninjas.

If Sasuke wants to gain such power, he cannot avoid merging senjutsu chakra and enter sage mode.

Otherwise, no matter how much natural energy is absorbed and how much natural energy is skillfully used, it will not mean much to Sasuke now.

Sasuke dispersed the Chidori in his hand. The Chidori's power had indeed been improved, but the extent of the improvement was not as ideal as imagined.

Sure enough, magic is not a power that is easy to master.

Even if you can master the use of natural energy, there is still a long way to go before you can achieve magic.

"Am I still too impatient in my mentality?"

Sasuke closed his eyes, suppressing the physical restlessness caused by the magic in his heart.

Too much power will make a ninja lose himself.

It seems that in the past few days, we can't be too eager to perfect the fusion of natural energy and chakra. Before the state of mind calms down, some unpredictable accidents may happen at the final level.

Seeing Jugo's crazy and bloodthirsty appearance, Sasuke became more wary of his views on natural energy and senjutsu.

At this critical juncture, no amount of caution can be used too much.

Snap.

The sound of applause came from behind.

Then came the sound of footsteps.

Different from Kabuto's footsteps, this kind of footsteps sounded like a snake crawling, accompanied by a hissing sound.

Without too much guessing, Sasuke knew who was coming.

There had always been a vague sense of peeping, which was also brought about by this person.

"What do you want from me, Orochimaru?"

If arrogance was needed in the past to gain Orochimaru's appreciation, then Sasuke's attitude towards Orochimaru at this time was arrogance from the bottom of his heart.

Dirty maggots who care about the Uchiha bloodline.

A snake of shadow that lives in darkness.

This is Sasuke's entire interpretation of Orochimaru.

Moreover, even if he were to confront Orochimaru in terms of force, Sasuke felt that even if he was defeated, escaping easily would not be a problem.

He is no longer the fledgling Konoha genin he was two years ago.

This is the confidence that Sasuke can use to communicate directly with Orochimaru in a cold and hard tone.

"Haha, I just want to congratulate you, Sasuke-kun, for taking one step closer to the realm of sage again. Sure enough, my guess was right. Jugo is very important for you to learn senjutsu."

Orochimaru's hoarse voice echoed through the air.

"Don't talk nonsense. I'm feeling a little unhappy right now. You'd better not come over and mess with me."

It was not a discussion, but an order given in a commanding tone.

Orochimaru was not angry at Sasuke's rude attitude. Instead, he opened his mouth, and a long blue snake came out of Orochimaru's mouth. Then, half of his body came out of the long blue snake, and he opened his own snake. The mouth, a scroll stained with transparent and slimy liquid, spit out from the long snake's mouth.

Orochimaru picked up the scroll stained with slimy liquid, walked up to Sasuke, and handed the scroll out.

"What's this?"

"Itachi, as well as Konoha's top brass related to the Uchiha genocide incident. Although you can't take revenge on them yet, there is no harm in following up in real time."

Orochimaru said.

Sasuke endured his nausea and took the scroll covered in slimy liquid from Orochimaru's hand.