"The Land of Water…"
Just having disembarked from the ship, Utatane Koharu looked coldly at the lifeless country before her.
In her eyes was deep wariness. "The Akatsuki's power far exceeds this old woman's imagination. I never thought they would actually have a relationship with Kirigakure resembling an alliance. The fact that Konoha's Root can openly set foot on the Land of Water's territory without Kirigakure showing any reaction at all is proof enough of the closeness between the Akatsuki and Kirigakure."
Utatane Koharu suspected that Kirigakure was in fact the Akatsuki's financial backer behind the scenes.
Or rather, that the Akatsuki was Kirigakure's black glove, through which Kirigakure continually provoked conflicts among the small nations.
Then they would intervene in the wars of those small nations and profit from them.
Otherwise, it was hard to explain why Kirigakure would cooperate so closely with the Akatsuki.
Nor could it explain why one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages would secretly ally itself with a small organization like the Akatsuki.
It simply made no sense!
"Koharu-sama, since we've already hired the Akatsuki, shouldn't they be the ones to make a move? Why do we need to get involved ourselves?" a Root shinobi asked in confusion.
If it were the Root shinobi under Danzō's control, they obviously would not have dared ask Danzō such a question.
But the Root shinobi under Utatane Koharu's command had not been branded with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
Moreover, most of the old Root veterans had already died, leaving only those newly recruited by Utatane Koharu.
It was understandable that their professionalism could not compare with that of the old Root.
Utatane Koharu said slowly, "When a lion hunts a rabbit, it still uses all its strength—let alone when the lion is Uchiha Keizumi. To kill a lion, one must use two hundred percent of one's strength. Only then can the opponent be brought down."
"We must not leave the enemy even the slightest chance!"
…
Konohagakure.
Everywhere Jiraiya looked, one after another, large and small Slug Sage split-bodies appeared within his field of vision, and his expression had grown extremely grave.
Cold sweat slowly trickled down his forehead.
That the Slug Sage would obstruct him from contacting the Child of Prophecy was truly beyond Jiraiya's expectations, and outside the scope of his intelligence.
It caught Jiraiya completely off guard.
He had no time to prepare in advance.
"What should we do?" At such a moment, Jiraiya could not help but seek the opinions of Fukasaku and Shima.
The expressions of Fukasaku and Shima were no lighter than Jiraiya's.
After all, what they were facing was the Slug Sage—an existence on the same level as the Great Toad Sage.
Although the two of them were also called Sages of Mount Myōboku, compared to the Great Toad Sage, they were still far inferior.
"We can't give up on the Child of Prophecy. If the shinobi world loses its savior, the future shinobi world will fall into complete chaos. Is that the kind of shinobi world you wish to see, little Jiraiya?"
Suddenly, Shima's soft whisper made Jiraiya fall silent.
But at that very moment, Jiraiya seemed to sense something. Feeling a sudden premonition, he looked upward—and that one glance made his pupils contract sharply, for he saw a familiar figure plummeting rapidly from above, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of dread surging through him!
"Wait!"
Jiraiya's face changed drastically. While shouting in alarm, he hurriedly leapt backward.
The next second...
[Boom!!!]
A graceful figure descended from the sky like a meteor and crashed heavily into the ground; the earth beneath instantly quaked and shuddered, and rings of shattered stone rippled outward. Invisible gusts swept in all directions, whipping up a storm of debris and dust.
Amid the swirling air currents, Tsunade slowly rose expressionlessly from the fractured ground, her pale-golden hair and draped robe billowing fiercely with the wind.
A vast cloud of white smoke erupted from behind Tsunade.
The ground trembled violently once again, jolting Jiraiya so hard that he involuntarily bounced off the ground.
When his clogs landed again, Jiraiya stared ahead in shock.
A massive Slug Sage split-body had appeared behind Tsunade!
The gigantic Slug Sage split-body was larger than any building in Konohagakure, standing out strikingly within the village.
Then another bedraggled figure came rushing over in a hurry.
Shizune, carrying several ninja tool pouches, ran up behind Tsunade, panting heavily.
Expressionless, Tsunade drew out two specially made bandages from one of the pouches.
She slowly wrapped the bandages around both her palms.
"Jiraiya, if I ever see you bringing these two toads—who can't speak a single honest word—running wild in the village again, don't blame me for forgetting our old friendship. Don't think that by using some so-called Child of Prophecy as an excuse, you can meddle with the children of this village at will! I'm not buying Mount Myōboku's act either!"
Tsunade's tone had already turned ice-cold.
...
The sudden heavy crash in the distance—something massive slamming into the ground—made Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart jolt violently.
Atop the Hokage Building, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression changed slightly. He immediately gathered the fatigue from his face, stood up without hesitation, and quickly walked to the window to look into the distance.
In Sarutobi Hiruzen's line of sight—a gigantic Slug Sage split body was standing in one direction within Konohagakure.
Its colossal figure stood in stark contrast to the surrounding buildings.
This instantly made Sarutobi Hiruzen recognize that it was Tsunade's Summoning Beast!
Sarutobi Hiruzen furrowed his brows, muttering in shock, "What is Tsunade doing? Why would she suddenly summon the Slug Sage within the village? Doesn't she know that doing this will cause quite a bit of panic among the people?"
However, once he recalled that Tsunade and Uchiha Keizumi had been very close recently—
Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately understood. When Uchiha Keizumi made a move inside the village, he too hadn't cared in the slightest about whether it would cause an impact, nor had he cared whether ordinary civilians would feel afraid.
It seemed… Tsunade had already fallen completely, already become the same type of person as Uchiha Keizumi.
After this thought flashed through Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind, he immediately summoned two ANBU shinobi.
These two ANBU were among the few still relatively loyal to him, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
After all, there were still some in the ANBU who had been personally promoted by Sarutobi Hiruzen himself. Even though much had happened, and their loyalty might not be as high as before, compared to the other ANBU shinobi who leaned toward Uchiha Keizumi, these two were already considered quite good.
At the very least, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt he could trust them.
"You two, come with this old man to see what's going on!"
After issuing the order, Sarutobi Hiruzen leapt straight out the window—
Jumping down from the ledge.
The two ANBU shinobi said nothing and followed right after him.
…
At the same time.
Konohagakure Police Force.
"That's… Tsunade-sama's Summoning Beast!" One Police Force shinobi immediately recognized the distant Slug Sage split body. At that moment, a Slug Sage split body the size of a thumb crawled out from the ninja tool pouch on the Police Force shinobi's waist.
Only to hear this split body speak in a human voice: "The main body told us that we must immediately go support Tsunade-sama—because the toads of Mount Myōboku are attempting to take away Konohagakure's Jinchūriki."
Upon hearing this, the Police Force shinobi's expression changed.
Wasn't Konohagakure's Jinchūriki Uzumaki Naruto? That was one of the village's trump cards!
At the same time, he was also Keizumi-sama's Absolute Justice follower!
And moreover, a student of the village's ninja academy.
As for Tsunade-sama… she had a cooperative relationship with Keizumi-sama, one could even say they were friends. At present, it was clear that Keizumi-sama intended to push Tsunade-sama to the Hokage position. If nothing unexpected occurred, the next Hokage would surely be Tsunade-sama.
Although Tsunade did not bear the Uchiha name, she now stood on the same side as the Uchiha.
Her becoming Hokage would certainly be better for the Uchiha Clan than Sarutobi Hiruzen being Hokage.
At the very least, she would not discriminate against the Uchiha Clan.
Nor would she isolate and exclude the Uchiha.
Whether for public or personal reasons, whether for the village or for justice, they, the Police Force shinobi, absolutely could not sit idly by.
"Notify all available Police Force members!" A Uchiha jōnin of the Police Force immediately gave the decisive order: "Take all ninja tools and go support Lady Tsunade at once!"
Soon after—
A large number of Police Force shinobi immediately assembled, all rushing toward the direction where Tsunade's Summoning Beast was located.