Chapter 373: Splitting the Seven-Tails
The wooden plaque the Takigakure party saw was, of course, left by Ishiro.
The Konoha leadership's judgment was sound and well-reasoned, but what they didn't know was that Iwagakure's research on the Tailed Beasts had already surpassed Konoha's. Although it was still inferior to Kumogakure's, at least in the hearts of the Iwa high command, the meaning of the Tailed Beasts had slowly transformed from war machines to comrades.
As for Ishiro, he was an existence with a cheat. When it came to understanding the Tailed Beasts, apart from the Tailed Beasts themselves, no one could compare to him.
Therefore, Homura Mitokado and the others' judgment of Ishiro's purpose was wrong from the very beginning.
Just as Shikaku Nara had said, Ishiro's plan to force Konoha to hand over the Seven-Tails had two objectives: both to weaken Konoha and to gain benefits from the Seven-Tails. However, contrary to what the Konoha leadership thought, Ishiro's primary goal was the Seven-Tails; weakening Konoha was just a bonus.
Ishiro himself had been constantly monitoring the movements of Konoha and Takigakure. He couldn't grasp Konoha's movements in real-time, but monitoring Takigakure's every move was not difficult for him. With the boost from Little Saiken's chakra, Ishiro's sensory abilities had greatly increased, and he had easily brought the entire village of Takigakure into the surveillance range of his sensory ninjutsu.
When Kensuke left Takigakure with his twenty-odd subordinates, Ishiro had followed.
After that, the entire play self-directed and self-acted by Konoha fell into Ishiro's eyes. However, Ishiro never made a move. He only acted when the Konoha party had successfully lured the Taki-nin into the Land of Earth and was preparing to slip away. And his move was not to attack directly, but merely to pass on intelligence to the Taki-nin.
Afterwards, the Konoha party took a detour within the Land of Earth and finally left from the border of the Land of Grass, while the leader of Takigakure's party, under Ishiro's guidance, followed them all the way.
Until...
"Boss, we have a situation up ahead," in the Konoha team, the one codenamed Number Three, a member of the Aburame clan, discovered the enemy in advance.
"What's the situation? Is it Iwa-nin?" the boss asked.
"It doesn't seem to be Iwa-nin. The other party only has six people, facing us. They should be waiting for us. My kikaichū were discovered, but the other party didn't make a move," Number Three said.
The boss frowned, looked at Number Two who was holding the ceramic pot, and said, "Number Two, Number Three, you take two squads and wait behind. I'll go meet them. If anything happens, retreat immediately."
"Yes," Number Two and Number Three nodded in agreement.
At this time, the Takigakure party received another plaque, on which was written: The enemy is 6km ahead. There's a good show to watch.
Kensuke felt a little unnerved. "Leader, this ninja who is passing us messages is able to easily track that group of elite ninja without being discovered, and has the time to silently guide us. I'm afraid his strength is far beyond our imagination. If we continue to follow, it might be dangerous."
The leader of Takigakure sighed. "You said it yourself, the other party's strength far exceeds ours. What do you think the consequences will be if we choose to back down now?"
"We only have a chance of survival if we continue forward as the other party demands. At least, the other party still wants to use us. In their eyes, we should still have value in being alive."
Kensuke thought about it and realized it was true, so he said no more, but he felt an immense sense of humiliation in his heart.
Thus, the Takigakure party began to advance at full speed.
The development of the situation was exactly as Ishiro had predicted. The leader of Takigakure witnessed the Six Paths of Pain easily kill the thirty-plus Konoha elites and then take the Seven-Tails right in front of him.
The immortal bodies and bizarre abilities of the Six Paths of Pain were extremely effective against such elite ninja. Originally, with so many elite ninja together, they would not have been powerless against a conventional Kage. But in front of the Six Paths of Pain, they didn't even have a chance to escape. Neither the boss who went to meet the enemy, nor Number Two and Number Three who were waiting for the situation in the rear, could escape being killed by the Six Paths of Pain.
The entire process was effortless, completely one-sided.
"Who are these people?" The leader of Takigakure finally spoke stiffly, long after the Six Paths of Pain had left.
Kensuke thought for a moment. "Judging by their attire, they seem to be the Akatsuki organization, which is active in the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain."
"Sigh," the leader sighed. "Clean up the battlefield. Confirm if these are the people who ambushed you."
"Understood," Kensuke immediately began his inspection.
The result was obvious. Although they were masked, with a ninja's sharp eyes, it was very easy to spot certain details.
"Leader, it's confirmed. It is indeed that group. Their identity can also be confirmed. They are Konoha ninja," Kensuke said, his mouth dry. The identity of the Konoha ninja was also easy to confirm. For example, the kikaichū insects covering the Aburame clan member's body were something no other village's ninja could imitate.
"Konoha... they killed so many of our ninja and then framed Iwagakure. If someone hadn't reminded us in the shadows, we would have really fallen for it," the leader murmured to himself.
It was only at this moment that the leader of Takigakure understood: compared to these great hidden villages, the gap his own village had was definitely not just in strength. Even in terms of mentality, he was far inferior to the Kage of those great villages. Whether it was Konoha or Iwagakure, they had never taken him seriously from beginning to end. In their eyes, perhaps his only use was to help them create the public opinion they needed.
"Let's go back. From now on, Takigakure will not participate in any disputes related to the great hidden villages. We can't afford to provoke any of them," the leader said, somewhat disheartened.
Before, he had dared to jump up and down, to engage in a war of words with Konoha and make harsh statements. Now, knowing full well that Konoha had killed dozens of his elite ninja, he didn't dare to make a sound. These so-called Kage really dared to play rough. Konoha was definitely not as peace-loving as it proclaimed to the outside world.
Kensuke said, "But leader, even if we don't want to get involved, will Iwagakure and Konoha allow us to remain neutral?"
The leader's body stiffened. That's right. Now was not a time when they could be neutral just because they wanted to. For example, the cause of this incident was none other than the Tsuchikage stealing their Seven-Tails. They, the Taki-nin, had never actively provoked trouble; trouble had actively found them. In this cruel ninja world, there was simply no place for small countries like them to stand.
The leader suddenly felt a heavy weight on his back, as if his bent waist could never straighten up again. He looked at Kensuke and the others, then at the bodies of the Konoha ninja, and asked, "Who do you think we should choose?"
Everyone was stunned. That's right, who to choose? Konoha or Iwagakure?
Konoha was the old hegemon. Although it was weak now, its foundation was the deepest. No one could be sure if Konoha would just decline like this.
Iwagakure was the newly risen top power, faintly showing signs of surpassing Konoha. Especially with Iwagakure's aggressive policies, if they offended Iwagakure now, no one could predict what that Tsuchikage, who didn't play by the rules, would do.
No one spoke. In the end, it was Kensuke who said, "Leader, at the very least... at the very least, Iwagakure didn't kill so many of our comrades."
The leader looked at Kensuke, then at the others. No one objected to this statement, because in their eyes, the former Jinchuriki was just a weapon, not a comrade. Ishiro had only killed a few Anbu when he stole the Seven-Tails, and in the process, killed the former Jinchuriki who was already at death's door. But Konoha had killed more than twenty of their comrades at once. The strength of the ninja killed by Konoha was similar to the ninja the Taki leader now led. Everyone had some sort of relationship with them, so their hatred for Konoha was greater than for Iwagakure.
Moreover, Ishiro had not publicly admitted to stealing the Seven-Tails, so they, the Taki-nin, still had a fig leaf; they could pretend not to know. But the killing of the Taki-nin by Konoha was confirmed by all the elites present.
"Sigh. Kensuke, go see the Daimyo. Tell him I have agreed to the alliance with Iwagakure," the leader said, then led his subordinates back to Takigakure.
Kensuke opened his mouth but said nothing. From this moment on, Takigakure, or rather, the Land of Waterfalls, was tied to Iwagakure's war chariot. Perhaps in the next Great Ninja War, Iwagakure would directly demand that Takigakure dispatch a large number of ninja to serve as cannon fodder.
But what could they do? If Takigakure didn't quickly pick a side, they might not even be able to get through the current crisis. They were heartbroken over the loss of twenty-odd elites, but what about Konoha? Konoha had dispatched so many elites this time, and not a single one had returned. Could Takigakure shirk responsibility? What could they do in the face of Konoha's retaliation?
Small countries have no diplomacy. Although from beginning to end, this matter was not Takigakure's fault, there was nowhere for them to seek justice.
On the other side, the Six Paths of Pain brought the ceramic pot containing the sealed Seven-Tails to a mountaintop. Here, Ishiro was waiting for them.
That's right, the Six Paths of Pain were the reinforcements Ishiro had called in. Of course, he didn't need reinforcements to deal with a few Konoha ninja; Ishiro alone was enough. If Ishiro had acted, at most a few from the Konoha side might have escaped, but it wasn't necessary to waste a favor asking Nagato for help.
But Ishiro did not want to become a Jinchuriki, so how to use the Seven-Tails was a matter for discussion.
Ishiro had called Nagato's Six Paths of Pain over mainly to have him help split the Seven-Tails. Ishiro had already made an agreement with Nagato before. This time, Nagato would act, and Ishiro would only need a small part of the Seven-Tails' chakra. But this part had to contain a certain amount of the Seven-Tails' life force. As long as Nagato helped him split off a small part, he could take the rest of the Seven-Tails with him.
What was impossible for Ishiro was not particularly difficult for Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan.
The Human Path stepped forward, undid the seal on the ceramic pot, reached his hand inside, and then pulled out a mass that was invisible to Ishiro's naked eye but could be faintly sensed by his Mind's Eye. Ishiro didn't know if it was life force or a soul. Do Tailed Beasts even have souls? Considering his own shallow understanding of souls, Ishiro did not dwell on it and quietly watched the Six Paths of Pain perform.
After the Human Path stepped back, the Preta Path stepped forward and gathered the Seven-Tails' chakra that was naturally leaking out now that the seal was undone.
Finally, the Human Path and the Preta Path cooperated, fusing what they had each extracted.
Seeing this, Ishiro hurriedly stepped forward and sealed the fused chakra.
Because he had been in contact with the pre-formed chakra state of the little Saiken, with a brief scan, Ishiro knew that it had been a success. The Six Paths of Pain had easily accomplished what he could not. Last time, at the cost of a Jinchuriki's life, and after so much trouble that the Six-Tails had directly dispersed, he had only managed to get that little bit of chakra containing the Six-Tails' life force. But in the hands of the Six Paths of Pain, it had been done with ease.
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