Chapter 148: Your Thinking Is Too Naive
Faced with another attack from Rōshi, this time Uchiha Dali didn't bother playing along. Instead, he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
The moment his eyes took on the Mangekyō form, his genjutsu activated.
In the blink of an eye, Rōshi was subdued.
But before Uchiha Dali could approach him, Rōshi suddenly regained his senses.
Four-Tails chakra surged from his body once more, and his fists, coated in scalding lava, came crashing toward Uchiha Dali.
"I almost forgot—you're a Jinchūriki. Illusions don't work well on you."
Seeing the man spring back to life, Uchiha Dali shook his head, casually leaping backward.
And in the next instant, he vanished from in front of Rōshi.
When he reappeared, his entire right fist was coated in Armament Haki. Without hesitation, Uchiha Dali smashed it down onto Rōshi's back.
Since genjutsu wasn't effective on the target, brute force would be the better approach.
This punch carried tremendous power.
Enhanced by Armament Haki and fueled by his terrifying chakra, what would've been an ordinary blow now had unimaginable destructive force.
With a thunderous bang, Rōshi's body shot through the air like a cannonball, flying all the way to the horizon.
Uchiha Dali raised a hand to shield his eyes as he looked up. "Am I really this strong…"
As his voice fell, he leapt into the air to give chase.
…
After a round of "peaceful and friendly" exchanges, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki, Rōshi, was finally lying flat.
He gazed weakly at the sky, unable to understand how he had lost to this Uchiha kid from Konoha.
"You should be calm enough to listen to me now, right?"
Uchiha Dali smiled as he stood nearby.
At his words, Rōshi's eyes shifted slightly, glancing at him. "With a shinobi like you, no wonder that old fool Ōnoki lost the war."
Uchiha Dali gave no reply—only a faint smile.
"I have no hostility toward you or the Tailed Beast inside you," he explained. "My goal was never to claim the power of the Tailed Beasts for myself. I only acted to prevent something terrible from happening."
Hearing this, Rōshi's expression showed a flicker of surprise.
To prevent something bad from happening?
This kid's spouting lies at his age already.
To take his Tailed Beast, he had risked invading the Land of Earth.
"You think I'll believe that?"
"But I guess there's no need to lie either… after all, I've already lost."
Even though he had no strength left to resist, Rōshi still didn't choose to believe Uchiha Dali's words.
"You haven't left the Land of Earth in a long time, have you?" Uchiha Dali asked.
Rōshi gave no answer.
That question didn't seem related to their conversation at all.
Rōshi couldn't be bothered to respond to pointless talk.
Not out of rudeness—he was just exhausted.
After such a prolonged fight, his stamina and chakra were completely drained.
Even speaking one more sentence made him feel like falling asleep.
His consciousness didn't fully slip into unconsciousness—only the Four-Tails inside him was sustaining him now.
At that moment, the Four-Tails' voice rang in Rōshi's mind.
"This kid's strength actually pushed me close to running out of chakra. Let's hear what he has to say, Rōshi."
"I don't sense malice from him… aside from those ominous eyes."
The fact that the Four-Tails had taken the initiative to speak shocked Rōshi slightly.
He perked up.
Since even the Four-Tails had made the suggestion, there was no harm in hearing what the kid had to say.
Seeing Rōshi show a hint of willingness to listen, Uchiha Dali continued his explanation: "There's a group called 'Akatsuki' that's planning to capture the Tailed Beasts from around the world."
"They've even infiltrated our Konoha Village before. While we don't know their exact motive yet, I believe their actions will bring disastrous consequences to the other nations."
"Since I know they're after the Tailed Beasts, I decided to make the first move—gather all the Jinchūriki and Tailed Beasts before they can."
"As long as you're under my protection, Akatsuki won't be able to touch you."
"There's one more thing…"
Uchiha Dali also told him about how the Lands of Water and Wind had submitted to him.
During their fight, he'd noticed how out of touch Rōshi was with external information.
He still only seemed aware that the Third Great Ninja War had ended—and nothing more.
Sure enough, upon hearing this news, Rōshi looked utterly stunned again.
He gazed once more at Uchiha Dali. "If what you're saying is true, then what's your real goal in collecting all the Tailed Beasts?"
"There's no way anyone would offer us protection out of pure goodwill, right?"
Someone capable of defeating him so easily…
Rōshi now believed that Uchiha Dali truly had the power to offer them protection.
But so what?
There's no such thing as a free lunch—every adult knows that.
Which is why Rōshi couldn't bring himself to trust Uchiha Dali's motives.
"You're right. I'm not doing charity."
"Gathering all of you has two purposes: one, to sabotage Akatsuki's plans and ruin their objectives."
"Two, to weaken the military strength of the other nations—and the reason for that is to unify the entire ninja world."
Uchiha Dali didn't mind sharing his goal.
The other guy had no strength to resist anyway.
Laying it all out might even help win Rōshi over.
After hearing this, Rōshi fell silent.
But after a few seconds, he let out a scoff. "Unify the ninja world? What a naive idea…"
"Naive, huh?"
Uchiha Dali asked curiously.
Rōshi ignored him and continued, "Ever since people settled on this land, conflict between nations has been endless. All the periods of peace combined don't even add up to a hundred years."
"If people around the world could truly unite, why would war keep breaking out over and over again?"
"Now you're telling me you want to unify the whole ninja world. Isn't that the most naive idea of all? What makes you think you can do that?"
Saying all that in one breath made Rōshi feel dizzy—his stamina was nearly depleted.
He slowly closed his eyes.
There was no reply from Uchiha Dali.
He wasn't sure if he'd blacked out for a moment or not.
After a long pause, he finally heard Uchiha Dali's voice again:
"Among the five great nations on this land, I've already conquered two. What do you think of that?"