Escape From Konoha

At the junction, the sky is filled with dust.

The landform of the Land of Earth is mainly mountainous and rocky. Although the land is large, there are not many places suitable for sowing. It can only maintain the status quo of self-sufficiency. In the event of a major disaster, it is necessary to start from the Land of Fire and the Land of Thunder. Only by purchasing food can we solve the food crisis that year. But generally speaking, relying on its vast land area and large population, it can also occupy a place among big countries.

At this time, the border between the eastern part of the Ghost Country and the western part of the Earth Country was reduced to a deserted land. Due to the outbreak of the Fourth Ninja World War, many areas were bombarded by industrial weapons or ninja ninjutsu. Many places on the border began to experience land loss and desolation.

Although it is not as desolate as the Kingdom of Wind, this area also has the basis for evolving into desertification.

The camp set up by the Kingdom of Ghosts is in this rocky wilderness. The nearest market town is forty or fifty kilometers away.

Sasuke arrived at the front line of the Eastern Front of the Demon Country around August 20th. Calculating carefully, a week had passed since he came here to participate in the border defense mission.

The position he received was listed as the captain of the second patrol squadron and the third detachment.

The patrol area assigned to his third detachment is located in the northeast corner of the border. Strictly speaking, it cannot be said to be the complete border between the two countries, because going west, hundreds of kilometers away is the territory of Snow Country. With the speed of his feet, it only takes two or three hours.

There are four frontline patrol squadrons. Each squadron is divided into six squadrons. Each squadron has a total of five to eight people. Therefore, there are almost 140 or 50 ninjas from the Kingdom of Ghosts participating in patrol work. .

Each squadron will be equipped with a sensory ninja, and each detachment will be equipped with a medical ninja to reduce casualties in conflicts with Iwagakure ninjas.

Standing on a steep rock as straight as a spear, Sasuke looked at the land from a distance.

You can see such steep and straight rocks everywhere, like needles growing on the ground, with no end in sight.

There are slight signs of desertification on the surface of the rock, which causes the rock surface to be continuously blown down by the wind, kicking up bursts of sand and dust that spread over the place.

And because these rocks are dark in color and densely packed together, they have a scary feeling.

At this moment, a figure jumped onto the straight rock dozens of meters high and came behind Sasuke.

"Lord Sasuke, someone just triggered the spider silk I spread."

Kidomaru, who had six arms, respectfully reported to Sasuke.

He couldn't help but disrespect him. Compared to Orochimaru who he followed in the past, Sasuke had a better temperament and would not use them as consumables. He would often participate in dangerous taboo experiments without human rights protection. Secondly, Sasuke was much stronger than Orochimaru. .

Before coming here, Sasuke had conducted a mock battle with them on the pretext of testing their strength. But even if it was a simulated battle, before Sasuke took action, the momentum of the burst of chakra almost destroyed the will of the four of them to fight.

You must know that each of the four of them has a strength close to that of a jounin. Even with their secret skills, they have a certain chance of winning when encountering a jounin.

However, under the suppression of Sasuke's chakra, he couldn't even think of fighting. This showed that Sasuke's strength had reached a level that they could not imagine.

For ordinary people, he is a very dangerous patrol figure, but in their group, with Sasuke's presence, it is just a casual thing, and there is no danger at all.

"Location, number of people."

Sasuke didn't look back, he just looked straight ahead with calm eyes and spoke concisely.

"Five kilometers to the southeast, there are seven people. As expected, they are the border patrol team of Iwagakure."

Kidomaru answered quickly.

"If they cross the line, deal with it. If they don't, let them leave. Be careful not to be provoked by them first."

After Sasuke gave the order, Kidomaru followed suit.

Naturally, Sasuke himself was not required to deal with Iwagakure's patrol team. A battle like this that was not at the same level would not arouse Sasuke's inner interest even if he thought about it.

Therefore, for the invading Iwagakure ninja, basically four people came forward to deal with it. Jugo was responsible for holding down the formation, and the miko Hoshino was responsible for logistics and medical work. Under normal circumstances, the latter two would not directly join the battle unless they encountered Iwagakure. Only the most powerful ninja in the world can settle things for the four of them.

Sasuke only needs to command and liaise with his superiors.

Sasuke did not feel bored during such patrols day after day, because here he had a certain degree of freedom and a lot of free time to polish his own foundation, which was now somewhat unstable.

He has not forgotten that he still has a shortcoming such as the upper limit of chakra. Only by making up for this shortcoming can he perfectly exert the full power of the Eternal Kaleidoscope. This kind of patrol life, which is neither loose nor too busy, is currently suitable for him.

◎

Iwagakure.

Tsuchikage Building.

The Third Tsuchikage Ohnoki felt that apart from back pain, there was basically nothing to worry about.

After the Fourth Ninja War, he began to slowly delegate power. Most of Iwagakure's affairs were handed over to his son Huang Tu. At the same time, for the sake of Huang Tu's legitimate reputation, he was promoted to Tsuchikage Assistant.

In this way, as a Tsuchikage, his burden is much lighter. Although the back pain has not been cured, as long as he pays attention to it and does not engage in strenuous exercise, he should be able to support it for a few years.

After all, as long as he lives, Iwagakure will have a powerful weapon that can be used to intimidate other countries. If he dies, the future path of Iwagakure and even the Kingdom of Earth may not be easy. The neighboring countries to the west are not very friendly towards Iwagakure and the Land of Earth. If he is here, he can still be saved. If he dies, with the ability of his son Loess, he may not be able to support the power given by the Kingdom of Demons. pressure.

Regardless of the fact that the other party is handling Iwagakure's affairs in an orderly manner, most of the reason is that he, the Tsuchikage, supports him from behind. In some major matters, his son is always indecisive and hesitant. He can become an assistant to the Tsuchikage, but he does not have the capacity to become a Kage. .

When he dies, not to mention resisting the Kingdom of Ghosts, I am afraid that even his own internal personnel will not be able to deter him, and there will be civil strife.

Thinking of this, Onoki couldn't help but feel sad again.

The most regrettable thing is that he did not see the birth of Iwagakure's third dust escape ninja in his lifetime.

If there is such a talented person, even if he dies, he will be able to completely feel at ease, and he will not be struggling to hold on until now, unable to take his last breath.

"Kurotsuchi's ability and strength are very good...but it will take many years to fully grow up."

Onoki thought of his granddaughter Kurotsuchi.

Compared with his father Huangtu, Kurotsuchi has no flaws in his character. He is confident and strong, and he is also very serious about doing things. Although he is occasionally naive, he can mature after careful tempering.

In terms of strength, it is also not a problem. At only eighteen years old, he has independently created a blood lineage that is worthy of being called a genius.

Now he is one of the few elite Jonin in Iwagakure Village.

But there are too many Jonin in Iwagakure who are too young, have insufficient qualifications, and have a stronger voice than her, but it is not a problem to come up with a dozen.

In a short period of time, it is not that simple to stand out from the crowd of jounin.

Especially when there is no war, if you want to make some achievements, you can only endure it slowly.

However, although my granddaughter can endure it, she may not be able to endure it.

His body is getting worse every year, and he may be lying in a coffin next year or the year after that.

Just as Ohnoki was thinking about Iwakaku's future path, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and then someone walked in.

It's his son loess.

He is tall and strong, no worse than Yunyin's group of barbarians, but his appearance is unexpectedly kind and honest. In short, it is difficult to completely intimidate the people below with this kind of exposed aura. .

Not ruthless enough.

However, Onoki did not express these dissatisfaction outwardly.

In any case, compared to most ninjas, Huang Tu's abilities are still very good and his strength is strong enough. If Iwagakure has a suitable successor, Huang Tu will indeed be a very good Tsuchikage assistant.

"Father, this is a letter from Konoha, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure. Because the matter is of great importance, you need to make your own decision."

Loess presented three letters, which came from three different ninja villages: Konoha, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure.

Ohnoki did not open the letter, but guessed what was going on, and said, "Is it something over at the Land of Rain? You see what Kumogakure does, and you make arrangements accordingly. In short, don't be the first to do it."

In the last battle, Iwagakure was the one who took the lead, but was tricked by Kirigakure's Mizukage and killed thousands of ninjas. Looking back now, Onoki still felt heartbroken and unable to breathe. And he scolded the Mizukage who took the blame and resigned again in his heart.

Although it is important to recapture the tailed beast now, the basis of recapturing it is to ensure that Iwagakure's power does not suffer too much loss.

Being able to plot to seize several tailed beasts and hiding them so deeply, Onoki didn't think this was a small organization that could be manipulated by others. Looking at the group of S-class wanted criminals gathered in this organization, you can tell that this organization has a lot of potential. How deep.

As a Tsuchikage, he didn't want to keep going back and forth with today's young people.

"yes."

"Any thing else?"

Ohno Mu asked without raising his eyebrows.

"There is indeed one more thing." Huang Tu hesitated and said: "According to the patrol troops on the west front, they saw Sasuke Uchiha, who had previously attacked Konoha, among the patrol troops in the Kingdom of Ghosts. Regarding this matter, I still need you, father, to make a decision."

"...Uchiha Sasuke? The brother of the genocide Itachi? I heard before that he attacked Konoha and killed two of Konoha's advisors and elders, and finally escaped unharmed. The Uchiha clan... is really amazing A young man.”

Onoki frowned.

Although he has never met Uchiha Sasuke himself, the name of the tree's shadow man first killed Orochimaru, one of the three ninjas, and then killed his brother Uchiha Itachi, and finally attacked Konoha and killed The two consultants escaped unscathed... Regardless of whether there was any special reason, these names were enough to prove that the other party's strength was extraordinary.

Moreover, according to the information sent by Konoha, the opponent is the same as Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Madara in the past. He has opened the Mangekyō Sharingan and can use the fourth stage of Susanoo.

"Father, what should we do now? Uchiha Sasuke appears on the front line in the west. Is there something going on here..."

Huangtu looked worried.

Over the past two years, Iwagakure's life has not been easy.

In the Fourth Ninja World War, not only did thousands of ninjas die in the battle, a large piece of land in the west of the Earth Kingdom was also occupied by the Kingdom of Demons. In terms of morale, Iwagakure was naturally lower than the military of the Kingdom of Demons.

Although Konoha and Sunagakure later supported many ninjas, everyone knew that it was just a pretense. Once the war breaks out again, it is unknown whether these two villages will really support Iwagakure.

"Probably not. Although there have been a lot of frictions with the Kingdom of Ghosts on border issues in the past two years, it cannot be escalated to the level of a war so quickly. Most of them are the top military officials of the Kingdom of Ghosts who want to frustrate the country. Let’s practice this new generation of ninja from the Uchiha clan.”

Onoki thought so.

"Then just leave it alone?"

"Reinforce two thousand ninjas to the front line, and at the same time tighten border security, that's it. The most important task at the moment is to find that organization, unite with the other villages, and take back the stolen Four and Five Tails."

As long as these two tailed beasts return, Onoki can relax some of the pressure on him when facing the problem of the Demon Country, and won't have to frown every day.

"Yes. Then, father, if there is nothing else to say, I will go down first."

"Well, let's go down."

Ohnoki nodded and watched Huang Tu leave respectfully.

When Huang Tu left the office, a look of disappointment flashed across Onoki's face.

Even though he had given so much power, his son didn't even have the slightest idea of ​​seizing power. He always did his duty and diligently completed the tasks assigned by him.

Ohnoki doesn't know whether he has succeeded or failed in educating his children.

In this era of great strife, the loess will definitely be swallowed up completely by the surrounding evil wolves and tigers, and even Iwagakure's foundation will be severely damaged.

"It seems that I am still a little too early for retirement. I hope this old waist can still hold on..."

Onoki sighed, and then the disappointment on his face disappeared, and his cloudy eyes gradually brightened, revealing colors as sharp as blades.

◎

"Did the reconnaissance team sent there mysteriously disappear again?"

Even if he put on a raincoat, he could not hide the man's strong body. Kumogakure chuunin Darui, carrying a heavy ninja sword as always, took the intelligence document passed by Kumogakure chuunin in front of him and scanned it carefully. , they learned that the plan to infiltrate Yuyin Village failed again.

After receiving the investigation permission order from Amegakure, a total of six hundred ninjas from Konoha, Kumogakure, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure began to conduct a comprehensive search in the Land of Rain, and they were bound to uncover the mysterious organization that might be hiding in the dark.

However, after many days, the investigation team still had no usable information.

Moreover, it is said that a total of more than 600 ninjas were dispatched from the four villages, but in fact this is not the case. This is only a superficial number. The actual number is more than 1,200. The number of ninjas who came to the Land of Rain to investigate was more than 1,000. The number of people literally doubled.

And Darui is the captain of the Kumogakure investigation team.

He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about the current situation.

No matter it is within the Kingdom of Rain or the more core Yuyin Village, there is no good news for the time being.

Forget it if it was the Kumogakure family, the same was true for the other three villages, and no useful information was obtained.

As the land that can be searched in the Kingdom of Rain becomes less and less, it will eventually evolve into an embarrassing situation where only Rain Hidden Village is left and has not been searched.

The reconnaissance personnel sent to secretly investigate Yugakure were nothing more than vanguard pawns.

But looking at it now, in the entire Rain Kingdom, only Yugakure has the most doubts.

Who is Payne, the leader of Yugakure?

Why do the people of Rain Hidden, and even the people of Rain Country, call them ‘gods’?

Who is that ‘divine messenger’?

The envoy sent there only heard the voice of the ‘god’, but did not see Payne himself.

This is a big doubt.

Why does this leader Payne dare not meet people?

Is it just to maintain the mystery and power of ‘god’?

Darui sighed after frightening the four elite jounin with his murderous intent alone.

Sure enough, this investigation is not that simple to complete.

"Wouldn't it be better to let someone else do such a boring task? Raikage-sama is really..."

Darui folded the letter and put it in his pocket, then scratched his head with his palm, complaining helplessly.

Moreover, the environment in this country is not friendly at all. Fortunately, it is still summer. If it were winter, the rainy weather would be quite bearable.

"Jounin Darui, what should we do next?"

Kumogakure Chuunin asked aloud.

"The current investigation progress is too slow. If this continues, I will definitely be scolded by the Raikage-sama. Let's go and catch some Amegakure ninjas who are alone outside, and then invite the ninjas of the mountain clan of Konoha to come over and see. Let’s see if we can find some useful information from the minds of these Amegakure ninjas.”

Although he is not particularly willing to have a conflict with Yugakure on the territory of Rain Country.

But in order to advance the task as quickly as possible, Darui felt that he had to take some drastic measures.

Moreover, if the base of that organization is actually not in the Country of Rain, but someone misinformed it, they can stop as soon as possible to avoid wasting too much time and energy.

As for Yugakure, he was offended if he offended him. He was just a small country located in a place where big countries were at war, so Darui didn't take it seriously.

"yes."

Kumogakure Chuunin nodded and went down.

◎

The days at the roots were calmer than imagined.

Perhaps it's because the leader of the organization, Danzo Shimura, is old, so the aggressiveness of the organization has become a bit dull.

However, as soon as such a naive idea emerged in his mind, Shikamaru abandoned it.

That Ninja no Yami, even though he is very old, is still very dangerous. Contact with such people is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger.

But now I am already riding a tiger.

Konoha is not very peaceful now, either internally or externally.

Especially the external pressure has always been great, but if the internal can be unified, then no matter how great the external pressure is, in Shikamaru's view, there is still a way to save it.

There is nothing to fear from powerful enemies. The division within the village is the key.

If this problem is not solved, Konoha, this huge machine, will continue to rot and rust, and then it will really be at the mercy of others.

That's why he came to this dark place.

Understand this huge and dark organization, and work hard for the future unification of the village, or in other words, want to become a bridge between the roots and Hokage.

This couldn't help but remind Shikaku of a person - Uchiha Itachi.

In the secret records of the roots, Uchiha Itachi was originally the bridge between the village and the Uchiha clan.

But this bridge was eventually abandoned by Danzo, and the Uchiha clan was destroyed and became a passing guest in Konoha's history.

Shikamaru didn't know what the future was waiting for him, but he knew that if he didn't do this now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

The darkness, coldness, ruthlessness, and cruelty of this organization revealed to Shikamaru an extremely bloody real ninja world.

In such a bloody world, there is no place for the will of fire. There is just a group of nameless people who have forgotten their past and names. They continue to cause killings with cruel and dehumanizing methods and protect Konoha in an extreme way.

Putting down the document in his hand, Shikamaru let out a long breath after finishing reading.

After so many days of data investigation, my understanding of the roots has deepened.

It's a double-edged sword.

When he killed the ninjas who were enemies of Konoha, he also cut deeply into his own people.

Such an organization would be the sharp sword of Konoha in times of war, but in peacetime, if not restricted, it would become a borer that eats away at the vitality of Konoha and splits Konoha from the inside.

Nowadays, Shikamaru feels that it is meaningless to discuss who is right and who is wrong.

The important thing is how to change the current situation of the village so that the strength of the village can be united into one place instead of fighting separately, each with its own leader.

Once war comes again, this will become Konoha's fatal weakness.

Thinking of this, Shikamaru couldn't sit still.

After so many days of studying the information, he had almost understood the basic matters, including the operation of this organization. Next, it was time to formally meet the Shinobi Darkness.

However, as soon as he stood up, the people in the room were pushed away, and Aburame Torigen, dressed in pitch black, appeared at the door.

"Nara family, Danzo-sama wants to see you next."

Shikamaru was stunned for a moment, then regained his composure and nodded.

"Come with me."

Ignoring Shikamaru's reaction, Aburame Takene left the door and led the way in a business-like manner.

Shikamaru walked out of the room and followed closely.