"Looks like you're not going to tell me where Uchiha Madara is."
Hanyu Simu gripped White Zetsu tightly with one hand.
The latter gave a faint smile and muttered,
"What a pity... that guy Black Zetsu actually ran off first."
White Zetsu let out this final complaint before being crushed to pieces by Simu.
Only a single scarlet Sharingan remained, lying silently in Simu's palm.
Simu casually put it away.
As the Sharingan lost its chakra supply, the genjutsu cast on the Two-Tails and Three-Tails was naturally lifted.
The Three-Tails, in the form of a giant turtle, blinked groggily.
Then, it saw a terrifying figure standing in front of it.
Thick black hair, dragon-like scales covering his body, muscles bulging like steel, and two sharp horns protruding from his head.
The spiked kanabo resting on his shoulder gleamed menacingly, radiating a deadly aura.
This guy looked unbelievably strong…
But I'm a tailed beast!
How could I possibly back down?!
Even though it could feel the serious injuries it had sustained, the Three-Tails decided to uphold its pride.
It lashed out with its three spiked tails, aiming straight at Simu.
Minato, who was still being healed by the Katsuyu sage, glanced over and curled his lips.
"…Why does that move look so familiar?"
As expected, the scene played out just like before.
Simu caught the flailing tails with both hands and yanked hard.
Once again, the island-sized body of the Three-Tails was flung into the air, spinning wildly before slamming into the ground with earth-shattering force.
As the Three-Tails tumbled through the air, a vague thought flickered through its mind:
Wait… hasn't this happened before?
Its massive body smashed into the ground, leaving a giant crater.
At the same time, Simu dispelled the cloud of smoke that had been supporting the floating island above.
The literal island came crashing down, slamming directly onto the Three-Tails.
Even its sturdy shell couldn't withstand the tremendous impact.
Cracks spread across the gray-white surface of its carapace.
The rocks covering the island scattered, rolling to a stop before the battered and gasping Three-Tails.
Simu stood there and said calmly:
"Surrender, or die."
Unlike the first time he fought a tailed beast, Simu now found the experience dull—after all, this was his third one.
If the Three-Tails refused to submit, he could always just bring it back and make it work as a beast of burden.
Poor Three-Tails… completely toyed with.
But after witnessing Simu's terrifying strength and learning how his summons were treated, the Three-Tails finally gave in.
It signed Simu's unequal Summoning Contract.
And thus, Simu now had four tailed beasts under his command.
Minato and Rin, fully healed by Katsuyu Rishi, finally stood up again.
"Sensei…"
Rin looked at Simu, slightly embarrassed.
"Sorry to trouble you again… for saving me."
Simu stuffed his hands into his pockets and smiled.
"No need for that. As your teacher, it's normal for me to step in and save my students."
Minato glanced at the Three-Tails, then looked at his ridiculously powerful friend standing nearby.
"Sigh… Konoha now holds five tailed beasts. I fear the other ninja villages may unite against us."
His tone carried clear concern.
Minato never had ambitions to lead Konoha in dominating the ninja world.
But with Simu acting like this, it was hard to imagine other villages staying quiet.
After all, there were only nine tailed beasts total.
And Konoha now had five of them.
That was more than half.
Facing Minato's worry, Simu simply shrugged.
"My enemy has never been the Five Great Nations."
Minato blinked in confusion.
"Not the Five Great Nations?"
Everyone knew the Five Great Nations were the biggest powers in the ninja world—almost all the top-level fighters were based in one of the five major hidden villages.
If not them, then who?
Who else could be strong enough to stand against him?
Simu gave a calm, unreadable smile.
"There are still plenty of powerful enemies in this world, Minato—strong ones that neither you nor I know of.
"Or perhaps… not even from this world at all."
Minato frowned and asked thoughtfully,
"You mean those white puppets from earlier?"
Indeed, Minato had never seen anything like them before—not in the ninja world, nor in any village's historical records.
And they even had Sharingan—the power to control tailed beasts.
If what Simu said was true, then this might be a force beyond ordinary understanding.
"Then what are you going to do about Kirigakure?"
Minato asked.
At this point, Kirigakure had officially surrendered to Simu.
They couldn't just wipe out the entire village, could they?
Simu rubbed his brow.
"Yeah… that's the troublesome part. If they had resisted outright, it would've been easier to handle."
Minato could only wipe his sweat helplessly in response to Simu's words, which sounded more like those of a war criminal than a leader.
After thinking for a while, Simu still couldn't come up with a better solution.
He smacked his forehead, annoyed.
"Sure enough, it's better to leave this kind of thing to Shikaku."
When in doubt, hand it to Shikaku.
That had already become a habit for Simu.
"In any case, try contacting Konoha first," Minato offered a more grounded suggestion.
At the moment, Konoha was in a precarious situation, lacking an acting Hokage.
Although both Simu and Minato had left instructions before leaving the village, the fact remained: the newly appointed Hokage had taken the newly appointed Anbu Minister to another country to abduct people from a major ninja village.
Wasn't that far too reckless?
Shikaku had also returned urgently from Mount Liang to prevent Sarutobi Hiruzen's faction from staging a comeback.
Because of this, Konoha had held several emergency meetings.
The final resolution was to send a large army to fortify the border and support the Fourth Hokage.
In terms of troop selection, most of the Inner Council sided with the Hokage faction.
Notably, the Hyuga branch family and the Uchiha clan had contributed the most forces.
By the end of the meeting, only the Hokage faction and core figures—such as Shikaku, Uchiha Sifang, Hyuga Hizashi, and Inoichi Yamanaka—remained in the Hokage office.
Confronted with the sudden shift in events, Uchiha Sifang sighed.
"This is really a mess. The village hasn't even stabilized yet, and you're already off on another risky mission."
As a pillar of the Hokage faction, the Uchiha clan had the most to lose if Simu failed.
If anything happened to Simu and Sarutobi Hiruzen regained power, the Uchiha would likely face devastating retaliation.
Shikaku rubbed his temples, visibly exhausted.
On the night Simu left, he had rushed to Oya...
Since then, he'd been handling Hokage faction matters, coordinating every detail while simultaneously dealing with the former Third Hokage faction.
Due to Minato's absence, he had also taken on the responsibilities of the ninja army's expedition—a tremendous burden.
After a moment, he said wearily,
"After all, it was Hokage's student who was captured. It's not wrong for Simu to react the way he did."
But then, his tone sharpened as he regained his spirit.
"The most important thing now is to stabilize the village internally, then pressure the Land of Water. We absolutely cannot let the Fourth Hokage's campaign go wrong."
If something happened to Hanyu Simu, Shikaku couldn't even imagine the consequences.
First, the old-guard Sarutobi Hiruzen and his faction would definitely seize the opportunity to strike.
Second, the major powers that had been suppressed by Simu would likely invade.
It was already known that the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth had formed a full military alliance.
Both had deep blood feuds with the Land of Fire and wouldn't miss this chance.
Even though Konoha had a prosperous population and strong military strength right now, it couldn't withstand an attack from four great nations simultaneously.
Thus, the key to turning the situation around rested on whether Simu could safely bring Rin back.
At the Sarutobi clan estate, now the headquarters of the Konoha Guard.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat at the head of the room.
On either side of him were Konoha's two senior advisors and his son, Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Utatane Koharu opened her mouth and said,
"Hiruzen, now is our only chance to reclaim the Hokage seat."
"Right now, Hanyu Simu is trapped in the Land of Water—his life or death unknown. The Hokage faction that supports him has mostly left the village. If we don't act now, it will be too late!"
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura—those two old relics—still refused to give up their hold on power.
Their last hope was Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Seeing that Hiruzen looked hesitant, Homura quickly added,
"Hiruzen, have you forgotten the promise you made to our teacher?"
Those words struck a nerve.
When the First Hokage handed down his title to him, Hiruzen had sworn to uphold the glory of Konoha and pass down the Will of Fire forever.
If he allowed Hanyu Simu to run amok like this, the Will of Fire might be extinguished.
Raising his head sharply, he asked,
"Shinnosuke, how's the security team?"
Sarutobi Shinnosuke, now in his prime, had already made preparations.
"They're ready to block Konoha's main roads and take control of the village at any time."
"In that case..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up. There seemed to be flames igniting in his aged eyes.
Just as he was about to give the order for a coup, a ninja from the Sarutobi clan burst into the room.
"Lord Hokage, urgent news!"
Even now, within the Sarutobi estate, people still called Hiruzen "Hokage."
"Battle reports from the front lines—Hanyu Simu has killed the Fourth Mizukage, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and thousands of Mist Shinobi!"
"Kirigakure has surrendered!"
…
Thud.
Hiruzen's pipe slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a dull thump.
The room fell into stunned silence.
With just two people… they had forced Kirigakure to surrender.
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