New Target

While Rasa was pondering whether or not to arrange a marriage between him and Shikaku Nara.

In a hospital ward in Iwagakure, Yichen and the others had just received news that the Two-Tails had appeared.

However, the intelligence ninja from Iwa ninja were too far away, and they hadn't seen Obito Uchiha Yugito before.

The intelligence that came back was fragmented, disorganized, and illogical.

Therefore, Yichen and the others were all puzzled when they saw the intelligence.

Tomoko asked doubtfully, "The Perfect Two-Tails is fighting with Tsunade's Katsuyu and Rasa? Has the Cloud ninja fallen out with the Konoha Village and the Sunagakure?"

This was also a question that Yichen and the others had.

Yichen thought for a moment and asked, "Let's wait a while longer and see how the battle goes."

After a while, new information came in: the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had disappeared, and the Perfect Two-Tails hadn't lasted long before being sealed away.

Apart from that, no further major battles occurred, and the ninjas from the three villages did not separate.

Yichen guessed, "We can basically rule out the possibility of internal strife among the three families."

"It's not internal strife, but the Two-Tails is hostile to the Katsuyu and Rasa, so there's only one possibility."

"The Two-Tails was Obito Uchiha Genjutsu. Konoha and Sunagakure are probably helping Cloud ninja seal the Two-Tails."

"This also aligns with the information that the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was summoned away. It was probably Obito Uchiha did it while the Two-Tails was rampaging."

Saka said, "If that's the case, then the Two-Tails Jinchuriki must be very weak right now, and it's unlikely he'll recover without some rest."

"Should we take this opportunity to attack the Kumogakure?"

Saka still harbors resentment over the incident where the Yichen Cloud ninja up on Yichen and nearly killed him.

Yichen thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's unrealistic to start a war with the Cloud ninja. We've just become the Ruler of the Ninja World; what we need to do is convert that status into real strength."

"We should gradually widen the gap between ourselves and other ninja villages. If we rashly start a war, the result will only be the same as what happened to Konoha before."

Ming nodded and said, "I agree with Yichen's statement. Although we have annexed the Land of the Falls and occupied a small area in the northern part of the Land of Fire..."

"But these areas haven't brought us any benefits yet. On the contrary, we've incurred a lot of additional expenses in the initial construction phase."

"If we lose the war, all our investments will be wasted."

Everyone nodded in agreement; that made sense.

Yichen changed his tone and said, "However, we are not powerless, regardless of whether the Cloud ninja and the other two parties have fallen out."

"It's true that Yugito has run into trouble. In that case, let's go and cause trouble for the Cloud ninja team."

"The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path has disappeared; it must have been Obito Uchiha. The Cloud ninja should be returning soon."

"Let's ambush the Cloud ninja. Whether we kill the Fourth Raikage or Yugito, it will greatly weaken their Cloud ninja."

Ikura's eyes lit up, and he said, "That's right, especially the Fourth Raikage. If we can take this opportunity to kill him, then our dominance will truly be secured."

Konoha has no time to extricate itself; Kumogakure is Iwagakure's greatest enemy.

Weakening the Cloud ninja is now the basic national policy of the Iwagakure.

"Teacher Yichen, are you alright?" Tomoko asked worriedly.

Yichen smiled and said, "Don't worry, both Sage Mode and Tailed Beast Chakra Mode can help me recover from my injuries quickly."

"By the time we successfully intercept the Fourth Raikage and his group returning to the village, my injuries will definitely be healed."

Ming was still uneasy after hearing this, so he called Nakata Hajime, the head of the Medical Department, back in and asked him in detail about Yichen's injuries.

After receiving Nakata Hajime's affirmative reply, Mei finally felt a little relieved.

But she added, "We can intercept the Fourth Raikage, but we must also bring the Third Lord along."

Yichen nodded and said, "That's fine Fourth Raikage has been through a lot, and he's probably exhausted himself. The Cloud ninja also need to rest."

"Let's wait for the Third Hokage to return. Just like the last raid on Obito Uchiha, this time it will be just the Third Hokage, Han, and Roshi— the four of us—going together."

Ikura looked at Kitsuchi and said, "Senior Kitsuchi, I'll go with you to guard the home. Your injuries haven't fully healed, and I'm worried about you."

Seeing that Yichen was about to refuse, Tomoko quickly said, "We can have Kawakita come back and fill in for a few days. With Senior Kitsuchi and Kawakita in the village, there shouldn't be any problem."

Yichen sighed and said, "Alright, let's all five of us go together then."

Now that he had made the decision, Yichen could no longer calmly and slowly recover from his injuries.

After calling the Little Rhino Dog into the ward, Yichen immediately entered Six-Tails Chakra Mode and began to quickly recover from his injuries by using the Tailed Beast Chakra.

Ikura also went to make preparations for the battle.

Meanwhile, Kitsuchi and Saka and others, immediately began arranging for the martial law in the village after Yichen and the others left.

The next day, Ōnoki brought Kawakita and Roshi back to Iwagakure.

Ōnoki felt somewhat helpless; he hadn't gone on any trips lately.

First, there was the shortest-ever Ninja World War, where he led Kawakita and Roshi to intercept and kill the Sunagakure, and finally succeeded in killing his old rival, Chiyo.

No sooner had the matter ended than he led a large army to invade the northern border of the Land of Fire, successfully seizing a fertile piece of land and directly creating a border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Hot Water.

Afterwards, he and Yichen and others launched a long-range sneak attack, directly destroying one of Obito Uchiha's bases in Konoha.

Just when I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Yichen is about to cause trouble again. What is he saying this time? He wants to intercept and kill the Fourth Raikage?

Why do I feel like I've had more trouble than I have these past few days, even though I've been the Tsuchikage for decades?

But why do I still feel a faint sense of anticipation?

Ōnoki returned from the northern part of the former Land of Fire, now the Land of Land of Earth, first going to the Land of the Falls to meet up with Kawakita, who was overseeing the construction of a branch.

Then he quickly returned to the village with Roshi and Kawakita.

When Ōnoki and Kawakita heard about what had happened in the past few days, they both felt as if they had been in another world.

Kawakita, in particular, was even more affected because he didn't participate in the raid on Obito Uchiha in the Land of Fire.

He couldn't help but say, "What? So much has happened in the short time I've only been setting up a branch in the Land of Hot Water?"

Tomoko chuckled softly and said, "You'll get used to it."

Once everyone had arrived, Yichen and the others flew together towards the Land of Hot Water.

Just as Yichen had predicted, after Obito Uchiha the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path Mazo, the Fourth Raikage and the others did not immediately disband.

They stayed another night in the Land of Hot Water. The Fourth Raikage and Two-Tails Jinchuriki Yugito, definitely needed to rest.

That evening, the three Kage discussed some important events in the Ninja World.

For example, Tsunade and Rasa mentioned the ring on Obito Uchiha's hand when White Zetsu was impersonating him.

"Judging from the style, it should be Akatsuki Organization ring. I've seen it on the hands of the three Akatsuki Organization leaders, so I can't be wrong," Rasa said.

"It's just that the writing on the ring is different; that should be their code name in the organization."

Tsunade nodded in agreement, saying, "Although I've never seen Akatsuki Organization members wear it."

"But his ring is indeed the same as what my teacher said, and we even got one from Akatsuki member Juzo Biwa during our last raid on the Land of Rain."

After speaking, Tsunade looked at Kakashi. The ring was the one Kakashi obtained after leading his men to kill Juzo Biwa.

Kakashi nodded and said, "That's right, my Sharingan has examined it carefully, it is indeed Akatsuki Organization ring."

"The Akatsuki Organization's rings are very special; they may be related to some ability of the Rinnegan, and outsiders cannot replicate them."

The Fourth Raikage frowned, thought for a moment, and asked, "So, this mysterious Uchiha is a member of that Akatsuki Organization?"

"Is the Dark Akatsuki Organization really that powerful? Or are they just bluffing?"

Tsunade looked helpless and said, "Raikage, two of the three leaders of Akatsuki Organization are Kage Level."

"Among the other official members, not counting the mysterious Uchiha we met today, there is also Kakuzu, a former Takigakure missing-nin, and Sasori of the Red Sands missing-nin from Sunagakure."

"I used to have my old partner Orochimaru, but thankfully Orochimaru has left the Akatsuki Organization."

Before the Fourth Raikage could speak, Rasa said, "The Hokage is mistaken. The three leaders of Akatsuki Organization are all Kage Level now."

Hiss~

Tsunade, the Fourth Raikage, Kakashi, Shikaku Nara all gasped in shock.

Tsunade quickly asked, "Kazekage, when did this happen?"

Rasa said calmly, "I only found out about it when we cooperated to attack the Akatsuki Organization last time."

"When the Akatsuki Organization were preparing to fight us, they had more top-tier fighters than we did, which is why I chose to back down."

Rasa took the opportunity to find an excuse for his past betrayal.

The Fourth Raikage smashed the makeshift office in front of them to pieces with a single punch.

Then, gritting his teeth, he said, "So, if the Akatsuki Organization fully supports the Iwa ninja, the combined high-end combat power of the three of us might not even be as much as that of the Iwa ninja?"

Tsunade nodded with a wry smile.

The Fourth Raikage continued, "What exactly is the relationship between the Iwa ninja and the Akatsuki Organization? Why can't the information we have from our village clarify how they got together?"

Rasa also looked at Tsunade, as he was also curious about this question and wondered if Konoha had any definite information.

Tsunade hesitated for a moment, but considering that the three parties were now allies, it wouldn't be good to hide information that didn't involve the village's core secrets, so she said, "I do know some of the reasons."

Long ago, when the Akatsuki Organization was just starting out, one of our Konoha advisors contacted Hanzo of the Land of Rain.

He offered to deal with the Akatsuki Organization in exchange for the support of the Land of Rain.

However, this operation was thwarted by the Tsuchikage, who was at the time only a Jonin, and probably not even Jonin yet.

The Tsuchikage saved three members of the Akatsuki Organization.

The Tsuchikage Akatsuki Organization involved in both the negotiations and conflicts between the Hanzo and Hanzo. Therefore, the Tsuchikage was a benefactor to the Akatsuki Organization.

Danzo! The Fourth Raikage and Rasa exchanged a glance, both realizing that the other had guessed it just like they had.

The Fourth Raikage said, "We must weaken either the Iwa ninja or the Akatsuki Organization, or we're finished."

"Don't forget, Kirigakure is also very close to Iwagakure. If the three of them join forces, they are fully capable of annihilating our Three Great Ninja Villages."

Tsunade and Rasa's expressions turned just as grim as the Fourth Raikage's.

Especially Tsunade, she knew she needed to limit the Akatsuki Organization's growth, but she couldn't do it. If she could eliminate the Akatsuki Organization, she would have done it long ago.

Just like when we teamed up with the Sunagakure last time.

But there's a ticking time bomb in the village, and that's making her uncomfortable too.

Rasa seemed to see through Tsunade's thoughts and said, "Hokage, if you don't mind, our Sunagakure is willing to help your Konoha quell the internal strife."

Upon hearing this, the Fourth Raikage first imagined the two times he had cut flesh from Konoha, which he missed.

He cursed himself inwardly for being slow to react, then immediately said, "We Cloud ninja can also do our part."

Tsunade was very tempted. Although asking Rasa and the Fourth Raikage to help would definitely cost Konoha a lot, it was nothing compared to a high-intensity rebellion.

She wanted to agree immediately, but after glancing at Kakashi, who was standing not far away with his head down and not saying a word, she held back and did not agree directly.

Tsunade was aware of Kakashi's abnormal Uchiha complex.