Escape From Konoha

In early August, during the scorching heat, the clouds seemed to have melted and disappeared without a trace in the sky.

The damaged buildings in Konoha Village are still under construction, but since almost twenty days have passed since the attack, most of the projects are gradually coming to an end and are in the final stage.

Although there is a sultry air in Konoha Village, Konoha, which is in the middle of the Forest of Fire Country, can still bear the sweltering weather even if it is sultry. The ninjas on duty did not complain at all and worked conscientiously at their posts to prevent the attack from more than twenty days ago from befalling Konoha again.

Not only the ninjas in the village resumed their work and became busy, but Tsunade, as the Hokage, never stopped working on her hands from the beginning.

As a Hokage, there are too many things to deal with every day, especially task delegation, which takes up almost half of Hokage's working time. Many times, even though Tsunade knew that tasks like task entrustment would soon lead to a huge gap in the Kingdom of Demons if it continued for a long time, but such a 'tradition', to be honest, if Konoha wants to change it in its current state, It simply can’t be done in a short period of time.

Although many major events had happened in Konoha during the two or three years since she became Hokage, her main focus was still on gathering power. If even this step cannot be achieved, then this Hokage is just a puppet supported by the people below.

Furthermore, no matter how friendly you are to the grassroots, if you want to learn from your teacher Sarutobi and cultivate a large number of die-hard loyalists of your own faction, it will take less than ten or eight years, which is simply unrealistic.

And by that time... Tsunade couldn't help but smile bitterly and have a headache. At that time, she was already over sixty, and it was almost time to elect the sixth Hokage.

Regarding the election of the Sixth Hokage, in fact, some voices that are not conducive to Konoha have already begun to appear in the current Konoha Village.

For example... there is no successor.

Currently, there is not a new generation of ninja who can really take the lead in Konoha.

Tsunade doubted that she would stay in this position for the next twenty or thirty years.

Of course, if she can work for twenty or thirty years, she can do it. With her health, living to ninety is not a problem. But the premise is...before that, there will be no new turmoil in Konoha.

Looking at the confidential information compiled and handed over by the ANBU, Tsunade frowned tightly, and there was a suffocation in her chest that could not be released, which made her feel worried about the future of Konoha.

"The speed is too fast..."

Tsunade put down the document in her hand. The contents described above were basically related to the Kingdom of Ghosts, followed by the Kingdom of Thunder.

These are the two most powerful military powers in the ninja world today.

It is not a secret in the ninja world that these two military powers use small countries as the stage of battle and fight behind the scenes.

Among them, the Kingdom of Ghosts is the most important, and it has attracted a large number of small countries, forming an alliance system with the Kingdom of Ghosts as the core. The values ​​and ideologies of these small countries have begun to tilt towards those of the Kingdom of Ghosts. In some places, shrines have even begun to be built to worship the witches of the Kingdom of Ghosts.

In Tsunade's opinion, this was more terrifying than pure military aggression.

As for the small countries that were interfered with, at least there was not much resistance at the bottom, and those who were dissatisfied were almost all the country's aristocratic groups.

Tsunade knew very well that this was the Demon Country's intention to divide the upper and lower levels of these countries and arouse conflicts between the two sides.

She no longer hides it, and is completely on the opposite side of the one-country-one-village system established by her grandfather.

Although the Ninja Village belongs to the country in name, it is actually only bordering the country's aristocratic group, because these nobles with a long heritage are the masters of the country.

But with the intervention of the Kingdom of Ghosts, the situation is completely different.

The next conflict will not break out for long.

Therefore, the idea of ​​continuing to develop stably in Konoha for twenty or thirty years is simply unrealistic.

In the first conflict, the Fire Nation organized the Fourth Ninja War.

Now, the Fifth Ninja World War is probably not far away, according to the current strategic layout of the Demon Kingdom. And Tsunade had a premonition that the next war would not be as superficial as the Fourth Ninja War, and might be a life-or-death situation.

"However, even if he knew it, it would be useless. That boy would not give Konoha such a chance... Konoha does not have the ability to initiate a war now."

Tsunade rubbed her brows, worrying about such a thing.

Because the initiative is in the hands of the Kingdom of Ghosts, if you want the Kingdom of Fire to gain the initiative, gathering all the power is a necessary prerequisite, otherwise it will only repeat the same mistakes and increase casualties.

And if you want to gather all the power, considering Konoha's current situation, it will take several years of preparations.

When she was worried about this, Tianzang, the captain of the seventh squad, knocked on the door and walked in. When he held a thick document in his arms, he should have something important to report.

"Lord Hokage, this is something sent from Elder Danzo. Please read it."

With that said, he placed the information from his arms on Tsunade's desk.

Because this document was so important, Tianzang personally escorted it.

Perhaps because of Shikamaru's relationship, the relationship between the Hokage faction and the martial arts faction headed by Danzo has eased a lot recently.

Although it was an unexpected surprise, Tsunade still did not dare to be careless and relax her vigilance regarding Danzo's thoughts.

This is a poisonous snake hiding in the shadows. Once he relaxes, he will bite him severely.

However, after opening the documents one by one, Tsunade's eyes grew wider and wider, and an incredible color appeared on her face, as if she was surprised by the contents of the documents.

"Are you sure this was sent here by that old guy Danzo?"

Tsunade closed all the documents in front of her and looked at Tenzo seriously. The surprise in her eyes had not disappeared.

Although Tianzang didn't know what was recorded in these files, he could tell from Tsunade's reaction that the information in the files was very important to Tsunade.

So he nodded solemnly.

"Yes, Hokage-sama, this is something sent by Danzo's confidant Aburame Takene."

The other party is not only from the Aburame clan, but he is also a jounin who is highly trusted by Danzo. The things he escorts will naturally not be simple.

Tsunade's brows kept frowning and relaxing, going back and forth several times, as if she was extremely confused.

"Hokage-sama, may I ask what this is..."

"There are some information about fighting ninjas. Judging from Danzo's intentions, he should be planning to integrate these powers into the Hokage faction."

Regarding Tenzo, Tsunade didn't think there was anything that couldn't be said.

Moreover, if we really want to take action against the martial arts faction, we need to rely on Tenzo to lead the Anbu to execute it.

Tenzo opened his mouth slightly, and seemed to be surprised by Tsunade's words.

That Danzo elder could actually...

Tenzo's reaction was as expected by Tsunade.

In fact, regarding the gathering of the martial arts faction, she had been waiting for the opportunity to take advantage of this powerful force, but she had no choice but to give up because she never found a suitable opportunity.

Now it seems that Danzo has offered to help, which makes Tsunade a little uncomfortable.

"That old guy Danzo, it seems that his body has really..."

Tsunade sighed quietly, thinking of something, and her eyes showed a color of complexity or worry, which made Tenzo unclear.

◎

"I haven't been able to find any tasks to do lately. I feel like I'm just waiting around in the village. It's so boring!"

Inuzuka Kiba was lying on a cement pipe in the park, basking in the sun and complaining.

The rest of the people, such as Shino, Ino, and Choji, either leaned against or sat on the cement pipe, listening to Ya's complaints and taking it seriously at the same time.

Due to the tense external situation, some high-level missions are entrusted with little effort. In addition to doing some D-level missions that are not of much help to them, such as C-level and B-level missions, it is also difficult to gain experience from other tasks. The rich ninja grabs it.

Not to mention, their leading jounin was also assigned to work in the village and was unable to go out.

As subordinates, they can only stay with them.

"Is there anything I can do? I heard that because of Sasuke's incident, the village will go to war with the Kingdom of Demons again. Looking at this situation, the village will probably be in a state of war preparation from now on."

As the eldest lady of the Yamanaka family, Ino collects information much faster than ordinary ninjas.

After all, when Sasuke attacked Konoha, some ninjas from the Yamazaka clan also suffered casualties. Although not many, many people in the family also felt resentful and dissatisfied with this member of the last generation of Uchiha who was born in Konoha. Remove it quickly.

This made Ino feel very complicated and guilty. At the same time, she also clearly ordered herself not to interact with the other party again, cutting off the last trace of friendship.

After all, Sasuke had done such a thing, and she could no longer find any excuse to excuse him.

"But the higher authorities haven't issued such an order yet, so I might be overthinking it."

Ya sat upright from the cement pipe, holding Akamaru who was similar to himself in his arms, and expressed his opinion.

The voices in the village against Sasuke could not be stopped at all. Even though they, as classmates, could not bear it, they could not change anything in the face of such a general situation. At the same time, the diplomatic issues with the Kingdom of Demons involving Sasuke were also completely detonated.

The fact that the Kingdom of Oni secretly hides many criminals in Konoha has recently been used by Konoha to launch public criticism, although it is said that the effect is not obvious.

The reason is that the famous Snow Country star Koyuki Fuka has recently made another phenomenon-level movie that has taken the market by storm, successfully taking the lead and attracting more people's attention.

"Not necessarily, it depends on what the higher-ups think. However, I think even if a war breaks out, the village's winning rate should not be high."

Shino pushed up the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose and expressed his opinion.

"Zhino, how do you increase the ambition of others and destroy the prestige of your own? If a war really breaks out, I plan to fight a big war. I heard that in a war, the speed of promotion of ninjas will be much faster than usual."

It seems that the tooth is dissatisfied with the pessimistic and negative thoughts of the will.

Yes, he died faster than usual. Ino silently complained about those words in her heart.

Not only did she learn the secret techniques inherited from her family, but she also dabbled in some medical ninjutsu, so she worked in a hospital for a period of time and was tasked more than once with the task of comforting the wounded who survived the war.

She could more or less guess that war was by no means such a light thing.

What's more, the opponent was the Demon Country, which had defeated Konoha.

"However, Shikamaru and Naruto don't seem to be here, and I don't know where the other two from Team 7 are."

Ino looked around and saw no sign of Shikamaru, Naruto or the others.

"That...that..." A soft voice sounded, and Hinata, who had been listening quietly to her companions, slowly said, "In the morning, I saw Naruto-kun and two other people from Class 7 going out. I think they should have gone to practice."

"Really? It's really hard work. I heard that he defeated Sasuke alone this time. I took a look at the place where they fought. It was really terrible. I don't know how he did it..."

Ino thought of something and secretly sighed.

"So, where is Shikamaru? Choji, I remember you said you were going to visit Shikamaru's house this morning."

With that said, Ino turned her attention to Choji who had been eating snacks.

Choji stopped chewing potato chips.

"This is about it. When I went there in the morning, he had already gone out and I didn't meet him. He probably wanted to be alone."

"This is not like him. Moreover, when he went to deal with Sasuke before, he didn't even say a word to us and just went by himself."

Ino put her hands on her hips dissatisfied, as if she was dissatisfied with Shikamaru's independent actions.

"I don't know about that. I always feel that he has something on his mind. When he wants to say something, he should take the initiative to say it. Besides, we can't rely on him and Naruto for everything."

Choji seemed to not care about it and just ate his snacks.

Ino was slightly speechless. For a guy who had been eating snacks, there was no way he could be convinced by such words.

…

"Welcome."

There was no grand welcome ceremony. Standing in front of Shikamaru was Aburame Takene, a ninja dressed in pitch black.

Behind him, there were two masked root ninjas, looking at Shikamaru from top to bottom through the eye holes of the mask with indifferent eyes.

Shikamaru stood still in front of the three people without saying a word.

Aburame Takene was not a talkative person, so she felt that this was already a welcome ceremony, so she turned around and entered the passage behind her, gesturing for Shikamaru to follow him.

Shikamaru was not afraid, but with the mentality of revisiting his old place, he once again entered this deep passage that he had visited more than a month ago.

The transformed Konoha Punishment Room has been completely reduced to a base for root offices.

This also makes some people think that the location of the torture room can be moved to prevent the prisoners here from being too close to their roots.

Not for the safety of the base, but for the safety of the prisoners inside.

Follow Aburame Tune deep into the base until you stop in front of a room door. Aburame Tune takes the initiative to push the door open. It is a small study room with bookshelves placed on the walls and a large number of books on them. and scrolls. In addition, there are beds for resting and desks for working.

"This will be your room from now on, and you can use the things in it at will. The information files on the bookshelf will allow you to understand the operating mode of the root organization faster."

Aburame Horine didn't look at Shikamaru, she just looked at the furnishings inside the room and spoke to the air.

"Don't you have to go see Danzo?"

Shikamaru asked.

Aburame shook her head, looked at Shikamaru and said, "To be honest, Danzo-sama's physical condition has been declining rapidly since more than two years ago. For Danzo-sama now, rest is more important than anything else. . If there is nothing particularly important, it’s best not to disturb him. If you have anything, just tell me. Unless Danzo-sama takes the initiative to find you, do you understand?"

After saying that, without waiting for Shikamaru to speak, Aburame took the two root ninjas behind her and turned around to leave.

…

In the underground ward.

Danzo heard the footsteps, and he opened his eyes faintly while lying on the seat.

He didn't speak, just stared at Aburame Takegen who came to look for him with a pair of indifferent eyes.

Looking at the opponent's attire, he reunited with his long-lost subordinate - Aburame Ryoma.

He is equally gifted, he comes from the Aburame clan, and he also...enters the roots and becomes a nameless person in the darkness.

However, this nostalgia was quickly cut off by Danzo.

Maybe there are still human feelings left in his heart, but he who has fallen to this point must not indulge in such nostalgia.

Because remembering the dead is meaningless, people have to live in the present and there is a future.

With little life left, he has only one purpose left - to eliminate all people, organizations, and countries that threaten Konoha.

"Danzo-sama, Nara Shikamaru's side... I have made arrangements according to your instructions."

Aburame Togen saw Danzo lying on the seat with a sickly posture, and hesitated for a while before speaking.

He had seen Danzo's cruelty, ruthlessness, and cold-bloodedness, but he had never seen him look so weak and decadent.

So much so that he forgot that the old man in front of him was also a mortal.

No matter how powerful the ninja is, there is nothing he can do in front of the knives of time.

What's more, there are still many hidden dangers in the body.

This is no longer an area that medical ninjutsu can touch.

Thinking of this, Aburame Kagen, who had already decided to give up her feelings, couldn't help but feel sad in her heart.

"In addition, I also handed over the information of some important personnel of the Fighting Faction to the Hokage in accordance with your instructions. With the other party's ability, he should be able to gather the main strength of the Fighting Faction before your deadline, avoid internal fighting, and go Better to deal with the Kingdom of Ghosts..."

Aburame told Danzo something.

Danzo just opened his eyes and listened quietly, without saying a word the whole time.

It wasn't until Aburame finished talking about root extraction that he slowly closed his eyes.

Seeing this, Aburame Togen sighed, knowing that Danzo was not in good mental condition, so she bowed slightly and left.

◎

It was early or mid-August when Sasuke returned to the Kingdom of Demons.

Knowing that when they return to the Kingdom of Ghosts, they won't have too many days to meet each other.

Kakashi will probably continue to work in the intelligence department, and then be transferred to an important department by his superiors.

On his side, he also has to accept the arrangements of the Uchiha clan, but he doesn't know where he will be transferred for the time being.

As for what position the family would seek for him in the military, to be honest, Sasuke didn't care.

What he believed in was his own power.

As long as his power is still there, he can gain a foothold in the Ghost Country's military without the help of his family.

On the contrary, if you don't have the strength, even with the help of your family, you won't be able to go far.

From the beginning, his understanding of himself was very clear.

Therefore, after arriving at the military area where Shion City is located, Sasuke said a simple goodbye to Kakashi and then rushed all the way to the research area.

His next goal is very clear, which is to fuse Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan, so that his eyes can go one step further and gain power beyond the Mangekyō Sharingan!

After a series of strict identity verifications, Sasuke came to the special research institute where Shiraishi was located.

The area here is very large, but Sasuke knows that the only researchers working here are Shiraishi and a woman named Nohara Lin.

Before arriving at their destination, Sasuke saw Shiraishi's figure in the corridor.

The other party should have already sensed his chakra and was waiting here in advance.

The other party looked the same as before, wearing a spotless white coat, with his hands in the pockets of the coat, and always had a slight smile on his lips, looking quite friendly.

"You're here just in time. Hurry up and help me transplant Weasel's eyes. Don't tell me that it's been so long and you haven't been ready to work yet."

However, Sasuke ignored the affinity shown by the other person and said rudely.

"You are so impatient just after you came back. After all, you are still a young man." There was no blame in Shiraishi's tone. He just continued in a normal tone: "Don't worry, your brother's Sharingan simulated the fusion result very smoothly. In addition, Use my medical ninjutsu to guide you, and there is no risk of failure."

"So much the better."

"Follow me, the operating room is over here."

Shiraishi turned around and led the way.

Sasuke followed him forward and came to an operating room. There were several computers inside, and a large number of Sharingan compositions were displayed on the screen, including his and Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan graphics.

Next to the operating table, stood a slim, mature woman also wearing a white coat - Nohara Lin.

Her right hand held a glass bottle, and a pair of scarlet eyeballs were soaked in the solution.

Sasuke could identify it as the pair of Mangekyō Sharingan belonging to Itachi.

Taking a slight breath, Sasuke suppressed the inexplicably agitated emotions in his heart and tried his best to keep his mind calm.

"Come and lie down here."

Not paying attention to the almost non-existent tension in Sasuke's heart, Shiraishi just gave instructions lightly, as if the operation to be performed next was just a normal and trivial matter, not worth mentioning.

Sasuke nodded and followed Shiraishi's request, lying on the operating table.

Watching Sasuke lie down, Shiraishi reached out his hand to Sasuke's forehead and pressed it gently.

Sasuke immediately felt a strong wave of sleep coming over him, and without resisting, he allowed this wave of sleep to erode his consciousness, causing him to fall into a coma.

"Lin, you can start."

Seeing Sasuke sleeping, Shiraishi's facial expression became solemn.

"is teacher."

Lin pulled off the cap and stretched her finger towards the scarlet eyeball in the glass bottle.