Meanwhile in Konoha, the attack is getting more massive. There are so many unknown shinobi that join the attack, not just from Suna. But they are not that strong, so the Konoha shinobi still can handle them.
The problems are 2 S-Rank missing nins that join in so suddenly. They are Akatsuki members, Kisame, Kakuzu and Hidan. It's not so surprising because Orochimaru is still an Akatsuki member now because Itachi is still in Konoha and he doesn't get defeated by Itachi after trying to take Itachi's body.
So he receives Akatsuki's help for this plan because it's also a good chance for Akatsuki to capture the 9 Tails. So they send Kakuzu and Hidan to help Orochimaru. Kisame is Orochimaru's teammate, so he is included already.
Using Orochimaru's revenge as a cover, they can kidnap the 9 Tails' Jinchuriki without revealing their purpose. When they kidnap Naruto, it will look like it's part of Orochimaru's revenge plan.
They need to send at least 4 members just for this mission even though they also have Suna, Oto, and many mercenary shinobi to attack Konoha because they are facing the Yellow Flash and they also know that Zoro is in Konoha, so they can't send just a team.
But they also can't send more or it will make the other villages wary of them. It's also because they want to check Konoha's power because this village still has many strong shinobi. So they won't really force themselves to kidnap Naruto.
Besides, they are also still quite wary of Minato's Thunder God Flash technique. They know that Minato teleports using seal marks and there's no way he doesn't mark his own son. So if they don't make any preparations, Minato would teleport to their place to attack them.
For now, their priority is weakening Konoha and they will grab Naruto if they can. This is also a good chance to spy on Konoha to check their power. It will increase their chance to kidnap Naruto in the future.
Because of Kisame, Kakuzu, and Hidan, Minato can't assist Hiruzen in the fight against Orochimaru. He can't send just anyone to fight the 3 of them because it's the same as sending them to their death.
Besides, there are too many enemies in the village, so everyone is busy. In the end, he goes to fight them with Fugaku and Jiraiya. He feels bad for being unable to send Jiraiya to help Zoro, but the situation in the village is too dire.
Tsunade is also busy leading the jonins in his place. She still has her fear of blood, so she isn't suitable to fight. Also, she needs to help the medical nins to treat the injured shinobi.
Though she can only heal those who have been cleaned of their blood. So they also recruit genins to help clean the wounds and put bandages on the injured people for Tsunade to heal.
Even with that kind of problem, Tsunade's help still can help many shinobi keep their lives. She is still the best medical nin in the village and probably in the world, after all. Her skills are great enough to save those on the verge of death, so they can save many people.
Thanks to her too, someone who was supposed to die in the story was also saved. She could heal Gekko Hayate who was on the verge of death sometime before the Chunin Exam final. They found him faster than in the story before he lost his life.
But he was injured too severely, so he is still in a coma till this day, that's why they don't know about Suna's attack plan. Even Tsunade doesn't know when he will wake up, but she is sure he will survive.
Nevertheless, with Tsunade and also Shizune who was raised by Tsunade to be a great medical nin, Konoha can save many people. Those who are lightly injured can even join the fight again after some treatments, keeping their force strong.
As for Minato, Fugaku, and Jiraiya, they are very busy fighting the trio Akatsuki. Kisame, Kakuzu, and Hidan are not fighting them seriously and focus on stalling time. They just send some attacks before running away and they always stick up together.
Their goal is to keep Minato with them and they also avoid getting marked by him. That's why they use hit and run tactics. Their attacks are mostly aimed at their surroundings, which make Minato, Fugaku, and Jiraiya more focused on stopping their attacks to prevent their village from getting destroyed.
Hidan is annoyed by this tactic because he really wants to kill them. But this is an order from their leader, so they can't disobey it and Kakuzu makes sure to make Hidan follow the plan.
This plan is obviously made by Obito who knows Konoha better than them. His battle with Minato when he released the 9 Tails also made him very wary of Minato's jutsu mark because it took him a lot of effort to remove the seal mark.
Obito actually managed to remove that mark. He did it by cutting the marked area, which surely was very painful. Then he placed a part of White Zetsu's body on that removed area, just like how Madara replaced his destroyed body parts with White Zetsu's body parts.
He could do it to the Akatsuki members if needed, but he doesn't want to give them the ability to use Wood Release. So they can only remove the body parts that get marked, but it will weaken them, especially if the mark is placed in vital areas.
To avoid that, they need to avoid getting marked by Minato by using hit and run tactics. It actually works quite well because they attack their surroundings instead of Minato, Fugaku, and Jiraiya as the Konoha trio will focus on protecting their village.
But they also need to focus on avoiding Minato's kunais or other thrown weapons because those weapons must've been marked. So they use long distance jutsu or also throw weapons to deflect those thrown weapons from afar.
Thanks to them, Orochimaru can focus on the fight against the 3rd Hokage and the other shinobi can keep attacking the village. Their tactics really frustrated the Konoha trio because they are very slippery.
Suddenly, Minato senses that the mark he placed on Shukaku's sand body replica disappears because the sand body has crumbled. This means that Zoro has defeated Shukaku, which eases his worry greatly.
But now he can't teleport to Zoro because the mark has gone. He knows that picking Zoro here will help them greatly, but he also knows that Zoro has a very bad sense of direction, so Zoro won't be able to return on his own.
"Sigh, I should've given him a marked kunai."
"What are you talking about?" Jiraiya asks his student.
"The Ninja Hunter, I sent him to deal with the 1 Tail. He has won, but now he can't return because I didn't give him a marked kunai."
"Ah, that battle junkie who can get lost in a straight path." Even Jiraiya knows about Zoro's poor sense of direction.
"How rare of you to make such a mistake. Minato, make a clone and send it to the nearest location of where they fight. His assistance will help us a lot, so we can't waste it." Fugaku gives an idea.
"That's also a problem. You see, the marks I've planted around there have also been destroyed."
"What?!" Jiraiya and Fugaku are really shocked because this means Zoro's battle with Shukaku has destroyed a very large area.
"Just send a clone to the nearest location even if it's quite far. You are the fastest out of everyone here, so your clone can reach his location faster than anyone else even if it's a little too far. We can't prolong this war or too many people will die." Fugaku knows they really need Zoro's help now.
"Alright." Minato makes a clone and sends the clone to a marked location at the nearest spot to Zoro's location.
It will take a while, but now they can get Zoro back to the village.
Minato's clone moves quickly and it arrives quite far from Zoro's location as Minato says. The clone runs as fast as it can to find Zoro by going to the last coordinate the mark on Shukaku's body was felt, which is around 20 km away.
The clone summons a giant toad to help it move faster because the giant toad can cover more than a km just with a jump. While high in the air, the clone can see the destruction caused by Zoro's battle with Shukaku.
Many big parts of the forest have been destroyed and some hills are leveled. Now he knows why the marks around here have been destroyed. The battle was just too destructive. If this fight happened anywhere near Konoha, then the village would have been destroyed.
Though well, if he needs to fight Shukaku near a village or town, Zoro won't let the battle escalate to this degree. He would have just focused on waking up Gaara to seal Shukaku back instead of enjoying the fight.
Soon, Minato's clone arrives at Zoro's location. He arrives a while after Zoro finishes talking with Gaara. Zoro isn't surprised by his arrival because Zoro already sensed him from afar.
The giant toad's jumps are also making strong tremors on the ground to be unnoticeable. Zoro was alerted at first until he sensed Minato. But Minato's presence is quite strange, so he realizes it's just a clone.
"You here to pick me, right? Then let's go back quickly. I still want to beat some asses." Zoro is still not satisfied even after fighting Shukaku.
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Chapter: 170. Zoro vs Edo Kages
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