Chapter 312: The End of the Chaos
Ishiro had dealt with Sasori of the Red Sand three times, and each time he had gained a lot.
The first time, the Anbu squad Ishiro was in had captured Sasori, who was causing trouble on the Iwagakure border, alive. Not only did they receive a large number of contribution points, but he also got an opportunity to learn a B-rank ninjutsu. Ishiro remembered that he seemed to have chosen a B-rank sword technique back then.
Although Ishiro did not achieve anything in sword techniques, his disciple Kawakita had perfectly made up for his regret.
From a certain point of view, Sasori's contribution to Kawakita's path to the Kage-level was indispensable.
The second time, Ishiro obtained the Third Kazekage human puppet. In the subsequent Great Ninja War, because of the Third Kazekage puppet, Konoha had suffered a major defeat on the battlefield. This matter laid the foundation for Iwagakure's early withdrawal from the Third War.
It was from that time that Iwagakure began to compete with Konoha economically. If Sasori had been an Iwa ninja, Ishiro expressed that he could at least be credited with an S-rank mission.
This was the third time. Ishiro was very much looking forward to whether there were any other good things hidden on Sasori's main body.
The happy time of looting the corpse ended very quickly.
Since Sasori had no intention of getting entangled in the fight, Orochimaru, seeing that the battle on Sasori's side had ended, also naturally chose to retreat.
With these two sources of chaos gone, Konoha also slowly returned to calm.
A chaotic Konoha was relatively safe for Ishiro; few Konoha ninjas would come to deal with him specifically. But a calmed-down Konoha was somewhat dangerous.
Especially when Tsunade and Hiruzen calmed down to sort out and analyze the course of this incident, the loose ends Ishiro had left behind would more or less bring him danger.
Seeing that Tsunade and Hiruzen were about to be free, Ishiro also took advantage of this gap to leave Konoha.
Of course, before leaving, Ishiro did not forget to take the base for the Heavenly Transfer Technique.
After casting a regretful glance at the Hyuga clan's territory, Ishiro left Konoha from a remote corner.
On this trip to Konoha, Ishiro's main original target was Neji Hyuga.
But Hiashi Hyuga was still alive and well, and Hizashi Hyuga also had the appearance of being ready to die for his elder brother. Ishiro felt that it was impossible for him to take Neji away, both physically and psychologically.
Arriving at the place agreed upon with Ōnoki, he indeed saw Ōnoki looking anxiously in the direction of Konoha.
Ishiro quickly stepped forward and said, "Lord Third, the matter in Konoha is over. Let's go back."
Seeing that Ishiro was not injured, Ōnoki breathed a sigh of relief. He did not rush to ask if Ishiro had any gains, just nodded lightly, and the two flew away from Konoha together.
...
"Lady Hokage, a report just came from the barrier team. The ninja with the unfamiliar chakra who infiltrated the village two days ago also left the village after Orochimaru and Sasori did," an Anbu quickly came to the Hokage Tower to report to Tsunade.
This time, neither Orochimaru nor Sasori had dealt a devastating blow to Konoha. When Konoha was in chaos, the operations of various institutions had not ceased.
The barrier team was the same. Not only had they not moved, but they had also been monitoring the village the whole time. So the moment Ishiro left Konoha, he was sensed by the barrier team.
Tsunade and Hiruzen also breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. This god of plague, Ishiro, had finally left.
After confirming that there were no problems within Konoha, Hiruzen asked an Anbu, "When Orochimaru was causing trouble, did the Uchiha clan make any unusual moves?"
An Anbu member responsible for monitoring the Uchiha clan stepped forward and said, "Lord Third, the Uchiha clan did not make any unusual moves. Clan Head Fugaku did not appear."
"In addition, some individual Uchiha ninjas were helping to evacuate civilians."
Hiruzen nodded, then said, "You are all dismissed."
After the Anbu had left, only Tsunade and the three advisors, excluding Danzō, remained in the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen said, "The internal matters of the village have been resolved, but the Cloud delegation being completely wiped out in the village... I'm afraid the Cloud will not let this matter rest easily."
Koharu Utatane said, "Hiruzen is right. The Fourth Raikage probably already prepared for them all to die in Konoha when he dispatched this delegation."
"Perhaps the Fourth Raikage has already led people to prepare for friction at the border. Hiruzen, we have to prepare early."
Hiruzen certainly knew what Koharu meant by "prepare". Koharu was certainly not referring to war preparations; matters of war preparation should not be said to him so cryptically but should be discussed with the current Hokage, Tsunade.
Koharu was referring to the Hyuga clan. The purpose of the Cloud's massive mobilization was now clear to the Konoha higher-ups: it was for the Byakugan.
The Cloud would very likely use war as a threat to force Konoha to hand over Hiashi Hyuga.
Hiruzen could understand Koharu's meaning, but he glanced cryptically at Tsunade, who was currently checking the list of casualties. The current Hokage of Konoha was, after all, Tsunade.
With Tsunade's personality, it was impossible for her to do something like exchanging the life of a Konoha ninja for peace.
Koharu also knew Tsunade's personality. She could only sigh imperceptibly. Tsunade would never act according to her ideas.
"Sigh, if only Danzō were here." Koharu couldn't help but miss that companion who was willing to take the blame for anything.
The losses in Konoha this time were not large. The number of ninjas who truly died in battle was not many, mainly ninjas from the Hyuga branch family. There were also some civilians, all of whom had died when Sasori first unleashed his Performance of a Hundred Puppets.
The number of casualties from both sides was not significant relative to the entire village of Konoha.
The property damage in Konoha was also not considered large, completely incomparable to the night of the Nine-Tails Rampage.
It was just that the Hyuga clan had suffered huge losses; not a single complete house remained in their clan territory.
However, Tsunade did not need to worry about this. The Hyuga clan would solve it themselves. The wealth possessed by the Hyuga clan was something that made even her, the Hokage, envious.
Hiruzen said to Tsunade, "The Iwa delegation is about to arrive. Tsunade, arrange for someone to receive them."
Tsunade had a bit of a headache. A Cloud delegation had just been wiped out in Konoha, and now another Iwa delegation was coming. This gave her a very bad premonition.
Tsunade nodded and said, "Let's have Shikaku Nara receive the Iwa delegation."
"Teacher, during the rescue of Hiashi Hyuga, a Root member with the codename 'Ki' contributed a lot. But he also caused trouble at a critical moment, almost provoking Sasori's desperation in Konoha Village."
"And this Ki's strength is also quite good. He is very proficient in both Fire and Earth Release. His strength is at least at the Elite Jonin level. Do you know if Root has such a person?"
"I heard that many of Root's old members died before. Are the current ones all originally Orochimaru's subordinates?"
Hiruzen was stunned, then began to recall the old subordinates of Orochimaru who had been absorbed by Danzō at that time.
Hiruzen did not have Root's roster, so he hadn't thought in this direction at first. And Danzō was his best buddy; the power was given by him. So Hiruzen had never thought of investigating Root ninjas.
But Tsunade was different. She was not fond of the fact that there was a ninja organization in Konoha that was not under the Hokage's control.
Taking this opportunity, she wanted to get the list of Root members.
Hiruzen hesitated for a moment, then said, "I don't have Root's roster, but I do have a list of Orochimaru's subordinates from back then."
After speaking, Hiruzen went to his office to get the list.
This was the list of all ninjas related to Orochimaru that Danzō had given to Hiruzen back then.
Half of them had joined the Anbu, and half had joined Root.
Tsunade carefully looked through the list and began to judge Ki's identity.
But the more she looked, the tighter her brows furrowed. "What's going on? How come not a single one meets the conditions?"
Tsunade told Hiruzen all the information she knew about Ki, and then asked, "Teacher, can you confirm this Ki's identity?"
After speaking, Tsunade handed the list back to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen took the list doubtfully and then also seriously compared it. The result was that there really was no such person.
Now this matter was a big deal. Hiruzen carefully analyzed various possibilities and came to two conclusions: either this person was not from Root at all, and was an imposter from another village; or Danzō had been deceiving him all along, and his Root had other powerful subordinates besides Orochimaru's group.
The second possibility was not high.
Hiruzen knew that Danzō's Root had been secretly recruiting war orphans. Danzō had also taken in many children from ninja clans in recent years.
But these people were still young; it was impossible for an Elite Jonin to appear so quickly. And although this Ki's strength was high, he did not seem to have a family's secret jutsu inheritance like a ninja clan member would.
Thus, Hiruzen stated his guess, "I'm afraid this Ki is a ninja from another village in disguise."
Hearing this, Tsunade couldn't help but clench her fists, and a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on her back.
If that Ki was not a real Root member, then who could he be? This result was not hard to guess. One only had to think about who had been in the village these past few days.
"The Fourth Tsuchikage, Ishiro?" The one who spoke was Homura Mitokado. His voice also carried a trace of lingering fear. "Tsunade, did you not sense anything?"
Tsunade took a deep breath and slowly calmed her mood.
As the Fourth Tsuchikage, Konoha naturally had constantly updated intelligence on Ishiro. The intelligence showed that Ishiro had very likely mastered a Kekkei Tōta.
The thought of a ninja who had mastered a Kekkei Tōta standing right behind her, and even having killing intent towards her, made all the hairs on Tsunade's body stand up.
Recalling it carefully, the moment she was heavily injured by Sasori's high-pressure water gun, that Ki's hands seemed to have wanted to form a hand seal.
But now, the more she thought about it, the more it looked like the gesture Ōnoki made when he used Dust Release.
A Kekkei Tōta! Tsunade gritted her teeth. Her Creation Rebirth Technique, which she cast after releasing the Yin Seal, could it block a Kekkei Tōta?
Thinking of the power of Dust Release recorded in the intelligence, which could instantly turn everything to ash, Tsunade shivered again. There was no hope at all.
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