Begin

As Yichen had predicted, Root did indeed conduct a thorough search of the area surrounding the incident site, but since Yichen had cleaned up the battlefield, they didn't find any useful traces.

The information gathered about Danzo ultimately led to only two guesses. The first was that he died in the Uchiha Island battle, like the Root squad leader, at the hands of someone hiding in the shadows. This person was skilled in both water and earth elemental Ninjutsu, Sensory Ninjutsu, and had a decent Body Flicker Technique. However, these details alone were not enough to confirm this person's identity.

The second possibility is that this was all orchestrated by Uchiha Island. Firstly, there were no Sensory Ninja at all, because the other three Root member didn't detect anything unusual. Moreover, in retrospect, Yichen's location was far away from them. Normal Sensory Ninja couldn't detect things from that distance.

It was all orchestrated by Uchiha Island, with the aim of killing the Root squad leader and then seizing power. While this seems absurd, considering the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and Root, it's plausible. Only by placing Uchiha Island in the position of Root squad leader could they obtain more information about Root.

Danzo actually leaned more towards the latter, not because the latter's actions resembled those of a schemer like himself, but because the latter's reasoning was mainly based on his loyal subordinates. In particular, the dying question from the Root squad leader directly swayed Danzo's thinking.

After searching the vicinity for a while without finding any useful information, Danzo decided to act immediately and told one of his subordinates, "Notify Hanzo to begin the operation right away. We can't wait any longer."

After his subordinates left to carry out their orders, Danzo remained alone in the room, lost in thought.

Yichen is currently dealing with the Sharingan from Uchiha Island. The two corpses are easy to handle; Yichen has plenty of experience in dealing with them. However, preserving the Sharingan is more troublesome.

Fortunately, Yichen had read some basic medical books and obtained some information from the Yakushi Nonō. He prepared a potion, removed the Sharingan from its socket on Uchiha Island, placed it in the potion for preservation, and then sealed the bottle containing the potion into a scroll.

After finishing all this, Yichen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Yichen wasn't particularly interested in the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. If he knew how to use Izanagi, he might have considered implanting a Sharingan somewhere on his body. But for now, it was out of the question. For Yichen, transplanting Three-Tomoe Sharingan would be a burden far outweighing any benefits.

The best way to gain the most benefits is to hand over the Sharingan to the village.

After dealing with the Sharingan, Yichen went out to move around again. He chose the same few places as before, circled around, and confirmed the location Hanzo Yichen ambush him.

The terrain here is similar to that in the original work, but it doesn't seem to be the same place as in the original work.

Yichen used his Sensory Ninjutsu to count and found at least twenty ninjas around him. Because he dared not get too close, Yichen was unsure how many of them were Root ninjas and how many were Amegakure Anbu.

In addition, Yichen carefully examined all the plants around him and found that at least three trees gave Yichen a feeling similar to Natural Energy, indicating that there were indeed many White Zetsu clone in this place.

"By the way, does White Zetsu know that Nagato has already reached the Kage level?"

If White Zetsu had been monitoring Nagato, and Nagato was caught off guard, then White Zetsu should already know. But what if Nagato's Rinnegan could detect White Zetsu's presence? Would White Zetsu still dare to approach Nagato then?

Yichen couldn't be certain about this, but he guessed that Yichen, with his methods, should have a way to ascertain Nagato's condition. In other words, Madara probably knew that Nagato had become Kage Level and was developing the Rinnegan. If that were the case, wouldn't Madara do something about it?

The thought that Madara Uchiha might withdraw his involvement caused Yichen to waver again. Should he intervene or not?

After thinking for a while, Yichen decided that he still had to take action.

Ideally, Yahiko should be rescued. If that's not possible, at least express goodwill to Yahiko. This way Nagato, in the upcoming Third Shinobi War, the Land of Rain won't be an enemy of the Land of Earth, and the situation for the Land of Earth will be much better. However, because of Danzo, Konoha won't dare to ignore the Land of Rain and will definitely divide its Land of Rain to defend against it.

This is a good thing for the Land of Earth. Therefore, the minimum task for Yichen's trip to the Land of Rain is to increase his favorability with the Land of Rain.

Yichen used his Sensory Ninjutsu to investigate suitable locations for planting Exploding Tag Formation, but found nothing unusual. Yichen couldn't determine whether Hanzo was too skilled to be detected, or whether the Exploding Tag hadn't been planted yet.

After observing for a while longer, Yichen decided not to linger. He was too close to the ambush center; if Hanzo or Danzo came now, they would definitely find him. That would be too dangerous.

Having withdrawn from the ambush area, Yichen had nothing to do but wait in place.

With such a tight ambush here, Hanzo.

Yichen arrived at a good vantage point, used Camouflage Jutsu, and then waited quietly.

Soon after, Yichen saw a group of people enter the ambush area from afar. Although it was too far to see clearly, a glimpse of blue confirmed to Yichen that the plot had not gone astray.

Using the Light-Weight Rock Technique, followed by the Camouflage Jutsu, Yichen began to fly slowly. After circling halfway around the perimeter, Yichen arrived at the downwind side of the ambush area and then slowly floated upwards.

This is the weakness of Camouflage Jutsu; it's somewhat effective in areas with rich colors when moving quickly, but in the sky, it's easily detected by stronger individuals.

Therefore, Yichen only dared to move forward little by little. Finally, he stopped about 5 kilometers away from the center area in the air, about 1 kilometer above the ground. Whether it Root or the Amegakure Anbu, there must be many sensory ninjas. Yichen felt that 5 kilometers was the limit and he could not risk going any deeper.

They floated there, waiting for Nagato and Yahiko to arrive.

About an hour later, Yahiko and Nagato arrived without bringing any subordinates. Yichen shook his head. The Akatsuki Organization had developed quite well over the years, Hanzo hadn't made a move yet because the Akatsuki Organization had too many members. If Yahiko had gathered the Akatsuki Organization's elites and brought them along, and then negotiated with Hanzo forcefully, Hanzo might not have dared to do anything to Konan.

But Hanzo saw Yahiko and Nagato's actions as a Hanzo message that he had done the right thing by taking Konan, and that they might even be able to go further. This led to the bizarre idea of having Yahiko commit suicide.

From his vantage point, Yichen could see that with the arrival of Yahiko and Nagato, the attention of the ninjas lying in ambush was drawn away. Some of the ninjas on the perimeter began to slowly flank Yahiko and Nagato from their rear.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yichen slowly began to drift towards the central area.

Yichen didn't dare to go too fast, moving even slower than Nagato and the others on foot. So when Yahiko and Nagato reached the center of the ambush point, Yichen was still about 2 kilometers away.

Once Nagato and the others stopped, Yichen dared not move again. By this time, the encirclement had been formed, and the attention of the Root and Anbu lying in ambush had begun to be focused on their surroundings.

Although their focus was on the ground, Yichen did not dare to be careless.

They weren't far away, and Yichen, being Jonin, could vaguely hear some sounds from below. Clearly, Yahiko was arguing excitedly with Hanzo about something.

Seeing that everyone was absorbed in their actions, Yichen quietly began to move closer to the center again.

Yahiko was busy arguing with Hanzo, but Nagato noticed Yichen's presence. Nagato was Kage Level ninja, the strongest ninja present besides Hanzo and Danzo. In addition, his Rinnegan could see through Camouflage Jutsu, so Nagato noticed Yichen's movement as soon as he moved.

Yichen noticed that Nagato's gaze seemed to shift slightly in his direction, so he reached out and gently shook his hand. This was also part of Yichen's plan; Nagato's Rinnegan was already highly developed, so it was inevitable that he would discover Yi Chen. Yichen would then need Nagato's cooperation.

Seeing Yichen floating in mid-air, Nagato felt a little relieved. He knew that Yichen was much more clever than him and Yahiko. Since Hanzo and the others didn't seem to have discovered Yichen, Nagato didn't expose Yichen's hiding place. Instead, he paid attention to Yichen's direction to see if Yichen had any further instructions.

When Yichen was only 1 kilometer away from the center, he Hanzo suggest that Nagato kill Yahiko. Yichen also sensed that Nagato was completely stunned. So he quickly took out a Kunai, pointed at the Kunai, and then pointed at himself.

Fortunately, Nagato reacted in the end and didn't pick up the Hanzo that Kunai had thrown at him. Instead, he took one out of his weapon pouch. Hanzo frowned, but didn't pay it any mind. Ninjas generally don't use other people's weapons.

However, Nagato had been emotionally agitated and hadn't concealed his gaze when he looked in Yichen's direction, which caught the attention of a Root squad leader lying in ambush. He quietly moved closer to a Sensory Ninja behind him and gave him a few instructions.

The Sensory Ninja paused for a moment, then began to use Sensory Ninjutsu on the air.

Yichen witnessed this scene. He didn't initially notice anything amiss, but when the Root ninja gestured towards his location, Yichen realized he was in trouble.

Glancing down again, Yahiko decisively rammed his chest into the Kunai in Nagato's hand. The scene was so sudden that Nagato was startled, first recognizing the Kunai as a fake. Yahiko, who had been prepared to die, felt no pain this time and was also stunned.

Meanwhile, Konan was standing some distance away, was already screaming, while Konan, Hanzo next to her, was still carefully trying to determine Yahiko was really dead.

While everyone's attention was drawn to Yahiko's actions, Yichen controlled himself to fly quickly towards Konan and Hanzo's location, while simultaneously Hand Seals to unleash the Water Style: Raging Waves.

As Yichen made his move, the Root ninja's shout rang out, but the timing was bad. The first reaction of those present was that the Root was frightened by Yahiko's actions.

Only two people in the arena reacted: one was the Root squad leader who noticed Nagato's strange expression, and the other was Nagato himself.

The Root squad leader was too far away to do anything. Nagato, knowing that "nothingness" was a lie, was the first to realize what was happening.

The Camouflage Jutsu failed the moment Yichen Hand Seals. Normally, with his strength at the Kage Level of Hanzo, he would have been able to react the moment Yichen revealed himself.

But coincidentally, the Root's Sensory Ninjutsu called out, successfully raising Hanzo's alertness. However, Hanzo's attention was entirely on Yahiko. His reaction was, "Could this be a clone? Has the real body hidden?"

By the time he sensed the Chakra fluctuations, Yichen's Water Style: Raging Waves had already descended from the sky.

Even with Hanzo's experience, he was startled by Yichen suddenly appearing in mid-air dozens of meters in front of him.

At this point, Hanzo had the opportunity to kill Konan, but considering that there were still Exploding Tag buried underground, Hanzo pretended to avoid Yichen's attack and deliberately retreated.

But Yichen already knew Hanzo's methods, so why would he foolishly step into them?

Yichen shouted, "Nagato, Banshō Ten'in!"

Nagato snapped to attention and immediately realized what was happening. Nagato and used a gravitational pull on Konan, and Konan flew to Nagato and Yahiko's side amidst the incredulous gazes of the others.

At this moment, Yahiko also came to his senses and looked at Konan, who had been rescued by Nagato, with a joyful expression.

Konan immediately went to check on Yahiko's body, and breathed a sigh of relief after seeing that Yahiko was alright.