Chapter 389: Rasa's Ambition
The one-minute attack was not long and ended quickly. Looking at the Konoha army now, only a few pockets of intact defenses remained. Ishiro estimated that the number of Konoha ninja hiding within them certainly did not exceed 200.
Of those exposed outside the intact defensive jutsu, only about a hundred had survived, and almost every one of them was injured.
Seeing this scene, Ishiro smiled faintly. This move was truly effective. Before he had launched the attack, there were at least 1,500 Konoha ninja below. These were all elites; the weaker ones had already died in the previous battles. One round had directly resulted in thirteen hundred casualties. Adding the losses from the earlier battle with the Dark Akatsuki, Ishiro felt it was certain that after this battle, they could at least force Konoha to pay a certain price.
Afterwards, Ishiro ignored the remaining Konoha ninja and turned his gaze to Hiruzen Sarutobi. While Ishiro had been unleashing his attack that surpassed the power of an S-rank ninjutsu, Hiruzen had not been idle. He had finally dealt with the Animal Path Pain using his taijutsu.
But Hiruzen was now filled with deadly regret. If he hadn't tried to relieve the main army by attacking a different target, but had instead stayed with the main force and added his own defense on top of Orochimaru's and Kakashi's, would they have been able to block Ishiro's attack?
The result now was that he had traded over a thousand elites for one of the enemy's puppets.
Although after this puppet disappeared, its giant summoned beasts also disappeared with it, freeing up Orochimaru's large number of giant snakes, none of this could make up for the loss of over a thousand elites.
"Retreat!" Hiruzen roared. Then, together with Orochimaru, he began to cover the rear for the others.
Danzō, however, had already regrouped with the surviving Konoha ninja and was escorting them in a rapid retreat from the battlefield before Hiruzen had even spoken.
Ishiro watched his "ally" Danzō depart without any intention of pursuing. Instead, he placed his gaze on Hiruzen Sarutobi. What a great opportunity.
If he could take down Hiruzen here and then send the Izanagi to the Uchiha clan, Ishiro felt that the path to unifying the ninja world would be secure.
Thinking of this, Ishiro formed a cross with his hands, aimed it at Hiruzen, and a terrifying power began to condense. At the same time, he shouted, "Orochimaru, die! Without the protection of those people, let's see how you'll escape!"
A corner of Orochimaru's mouth twitched. What an actor.
However, now was not a good time to think about these things. They had to retreat.
Suna's Chiyo had already begun to withdraw. Fortunately, Sasori was far away and would need a while to get over here. But Kakuzu was not far off. Having lost two hearts to Danzō, Kakuzu was very eager at this moment to take Hiruzen Sarutobi and his heart.
"Light Release: Primordial World Stripping Technique!" Ishiro aimed his Light Release at Hiruzen.
Just as Hiruzen was about to dodge, Nagato suddenly reached out his hand. "Banshō Ten'in!"
Hiruzen was horrified. The Universal Pull caused his evasive maneuver to pause for an instant. It was now too late to dodge.
But just at that moment, a giant snake suddenly burst out from underground, rushed to Hiruzen's side, and with a single slam, sent him flying.
Then, the blue light descended, and the giant snake was directly vaporized.
What a pity. Ishiro's Mind's Eye had been locked on Hiruzen, and he had caught his chakra escaping the range of the Light Release attack at the last moment.
That Orochimaru. Ishiro was not surprised that he would make a move, but he hadn't expected Orochimaru to have predicted his Light Release attack.
"Does he know me too well, or did he learn a lesson from Jiraiya's death?" Ishiro pondered.
With the force of that impact, Hiruzen managed to break away from the battlefield, fleeing in a different direction from the retreating Konoha army.
And Orochimaru moved even faster, disappearing before the Light Release explosion had even ended. However, his summoned giant snakes did not flee, staying behind to launch suicide attacks on the Deva Path and Kakuzu.
What a shame. The Deva Path was tied up. It was difficult for Ishiro to kill Hiruzen alone.
After a while, the giant snakes were all dealt with by the Deva Path.
Ishiro sensed the area below. Apart from the two intact Pains, Sasori, and Kakuzu with his two remaining mask-beasts, there was not a single living ninja left.
So, Ishiro looked at the Tendo Pain and asked, "How is the situation in the Land of Rivers?"
With the Land of Rain beaten like this, this base was finished. The outer members of the Dark Akatsuki were almost completely wiped out, and Jūzō Biwa was also dead. He wondered if the battle on the Land of Rivers side was just as intense.
However, Tendo Pain said, "Sunagakure did not make a move. Instead, they signed a peace treaty with us."
Ishiro was stunned. What is this situation? He then looked at Sasori, who had just been fighting Chiyo. What happened with Rasa? He sent Chiyo to participate in the attack on one side, while he himself was slacking off on the other?
"Rasa's demand was the same as yours: to open up a connection with the Land of Fire. Yahiko has already agreed, exchanging a portion of the southernmost territory of the Land of Rivers with the Land of Wind. Now, the Land of Wind is adjacent to the Land of Fire," Tendo Pain continued.
A corner of Ishiro's mouth twitched. Well played, Rasa. This so-called alliance with Konoha was just to use the Akatsuki to weaken Konoha.
In this battle, up to this point, the one who had profited the most should be Rasa.
Both Konoha and the Akatsuki were powerful enemies that Rasa had to face. To be able to inflict heavy losses on both of them in one battle was a remarkable feat. Most importantly, after this battle, the originally peace-loving Akatsuki would definitely see Konoha as a mortal enemy. The pressure felt by the Land of Wind would be much less.
Before the battle, even Ishiro had believed it, thinking that Rasa was going to attack the Land of Rivers. He had not expected to have underestimated Rasa. Perhaps Rasa had been prepared for both outcomes. If attacking the Land of Rivers was profitable, he might have already made his move. It was only because he saw that Yahiko and his two friends were all in the Land of Rivers that Rasa felt it wasn't worth it, and so he had changed his target to Konoha.
Ishiro suddenly remembered something. "What about the Seven-Tails?"
Tendo Pain said, "The Seven-Tails was taken by Konoha. They were well-prepared and had scouted the location where it was stored in advance. While we were being tied down on the front lines, that Konoha genius, Hatake Kakashi, snatched it away."
Kakashi?
Ishiro recalled that his attention just now had been on Hiruzen, and he hadn't paid much attention to Kakashi. But now that Kakashi had retreated with Danzō, would the Seven-Tails be confiscated by him? After all, everything Danzō did was "for Konoha." What was his was also Konoha's. What difference was there between the village holding a good thing and him holding it?
Ishiro's guess was correct. Not long after leaving the sight of Ishiro and the others, Danzō, in his capacity as an advisor, forcibly took the Seven-Tails from Kakashi. Danzō's status and strength were there for all to see. With Hiruzen's life and death unknown, he was the supreme commander of this remnant army. Kakashi, who was nearly exhausted after using an S-rank ninjutsu, didn't even have the ability to resist.
If not for the consideration that the Seven-Tails was not yet completely in his hands and that this was not a suitable time to cause trouble, Danzō might have even intended to forcibly pull Kakashi into Root. But Danzō knew that if he really did that, the hot-tempered Tsunade might directly fall out with him. It was even possible that she would issue a warrant for his arrest, declaring him a rogue ninja. So, Danzō temporarily let Kakashi go. The matter of Kakashi could wait until after he became Hokage.
After getting the Seven-Tails, Danzō had no intention of rescuing Hiruzen. He took the remnant army and rushed back towards Konoha at a forced march.
On the other side, Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ishiro and the others were not pursuing him. He found a hidden place to treat the wound from being hit by the great snake. Fortunately, Orochimaru had held back, and the injury was not serious. Then, Hiruzen also retreated towards Konoha. As it turned out, he, alone, was even faster than Danzō's group.
When Tsunade heard from Hiruzen that more than eighty percent of the elites dispatched this time had been lost, she almost fainted. Her tenure as Hokage was a real disgrace. Since taking office, although she had not experienced a large-scale war, several operations had ended in failure, either with heavy casualties or with monetary reparations and apologies.
This surprise attack on the Akatsuki had been planned so well. No matter what, it shouldn't have ended like this.
"Could it be that Orochimaru turned against us again?" Tsunade asked.
Hiruzen shook his head. "No. This time, if not for Orochimaru, we wouldn't have even had a few hundred people left. Even I would have had to die under a Kekkei Tōta."
"A Kekkei Tōta? Ōnoki made a move?" Tsunade asked.
Hiruzen shook his head again. "Not Ōnoki. It was the Fourth Tsuchikage, Ishiro."
Tsunade exclaimed, "What? The Fourth Tsuchikage can also use Dust Release? Isn't he not proficient in Wind Release?"
Hiruzen thought for a moment. "It was definitely a Kekkei Tōta, but it probably wasn't Dust Release."
"The way it was used was exactly the same as Ōnoki's Dust Release. Although the effect was somewhat different, the power was not lacking at all. It was definitely a Kekkei Tōta."
"Dust Release is a combination of fire, wind, and earth. But the Kekkei Tōta that the Fourth Tsuchikage used should not be these three elements. There was a blue light when it hit the target, so there should be a lightning element among the three. As for the other two, I guess they were water and earth."
"These two elements are what the Fourth Tsuchikage is best at. His first Kekkei Genkai, Porcelain Release, was formed from the fusion of water and earth."
Tsunade frowned. "I remember, the Tsuchikage originally had two Kekkei Genkai, Porcelain Release and Storm Release. Now he has another Kekkei Tōta. Doesn't that mean he possesses three Kekkei-level abilities by himself?"
"There was also intelligence before that a female disciple of the Tsuchikage, named Ogura Saki, seemed to have also developed a Kekkei Genkai. It seems Iwagakure's technology for developing Kekkei Genkai is already very mature."
Hiruzen nodded. He felt a little envious. Although Konoha had many secret jutsu, none of them were suitable for him. On the contrary, Iwagakure's method of developing Kekkei Genkai was suitable for his constitution, which possessed all five elements.
If Konoha also had such a secret treasure, then he might have been the true "Strongest Hokage."
(End of Chapter)
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