Appointment

Ming Jing held a blank sheet of paper with a message written on it: "If you want to save this person, come alone to the Valley of the End in twelve hours." The person he was supposed to save was Konan.

"Damn it!" Ming Jing's face darkened with rage, but he had no choice but to force it down. The Uchiha Clan Crest Symbol on the paper made him suspect Obito was behind this. The goal was likely to lure him away from Konoha. Still, Ming Jing could not be certain that Obito had truly kidnapped Konan, because Nagato was far too easy to fool.

What should he do? Ming Jing frowned. If only he knew the Flying Thunder God Technique, he could instantly return from the Valley of the End to Konoha. Thinking back on the plot, Nagato had destroyed Konoha and killed more than half the villagers and Konoha Ninja. In the end, however, Naruto persuaded him with Talk no Jutsu and revived everyone. In a sense, staying in the village was quite safe—though he might die once in the process.

But Ming Jing did not dare take that gamble. After all, Hinata was already his. Without Hinata, who would step forward at the critical moment to save Naruto? Iruka? Or Sakura?

He could not gamble. Absolutely not!

With that in mind, Ming Jing got up and went to find Koji Kurama to discuss how to escape this battle. It was from this battle onward that the power scale of the Naruto World began to collapse, officially ushering in an age where "Chunin were worthless as grass, and Jonin were less valuable than dogs." A Jonin? Please line up over there to collect your death notice. A Kage? If you ran into someone named Madara Uchiha on the