Conflicts Among the Higher-Ups

Ōnoki shook his head at Kitsuchi and the other Iwagakure shinobi, signaling for them to disperse. Then he looked at Sōsuke and said weakly, "Ninja Master, your strength truly lives up to your reputation. It is admirable."

Sōsuke's defeat of Hiruzen Sarutobi made it inevitable that he was powerful, but Ōnoki had never imagined that Sōsuke would be this absurdly strong.

He had not even figured out Sōsuke's methods before suffering a complete defeat.

Sōsuke had gone easy on him. In a real battle, he would likely have already been killed.

Ōnoki was no longer curious about how Sōsuke had defeated Hiruzen Sarutobi. He was far more curious about how Hiruzen Sarutobi had managed to return to Konoha alive after facing Sōsuke.

Even his Boundary Stripping Technique had been unable to do anything to Sōsuke. Hiruzen Sarutobi's Ninjutsu surely would not have worked on him either.

"For the sake of Ninshu."

Ōnoki felt that Sōsuke must not have wanted to go to war with Konoha completely, so he had spared Hiruzen Sarutobi's life.

Sōsuke was indeed powerful. Even if he gathered the village's elite shinobi, Ōnoki had no confidence that they could take Sōsuke down.

But no matter how strong Sōsuke was, he was only one person, while a great ninja village possessed many elite shinobi.

With his great strength, Sōsuke could protect himself and kill many enemy shinobi, but he could not protect every Ninshu shinobi.

If Ninshu went to war with any great ninja village, the result would inevitably be mutual destruction. Neither Ninshu nor the great ninja village would come out ahead.

Most of Ninshu's shinobi would be killed by the great ninja village, while the village would also have to face the threat of Sōsuke, a shinobi of terrifying strength.

"Dust Release truly deserves its status