Just as Naruto's plans for Wave Country were proceeding smoothly,
Konoha was already in complete chaos.
First came the dissolution of Root. All Root members were dispersed and assigned to Anbu squads. Hokage Advisor Shimura Danzō was also stripped of his position and left idle at home.
The root cause was that Shimura Danzō had seen Sarutobi Hiruzen severely wounded and the Anbu suffering heavy losses, so he had attempted to force his way into power with Root. After failing, he was removed from office entirely.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was still alive, but Enma was gone. His strength had been cut by more than half, and of the dozens of elites he had taken with him, fewer than ten had survived.
Sarutobi Hiruzen also stepped down as Hokage and ordered the entire Ninja World to search for Jiraiya and Tsunade.
Meanwhile, near a hot spring in Hot Water Country, a lecherous white-haired figure was sneaking up a tall artificial rockery with a lascivious grin on his face.
"Lord Jiraiya!"
A flat, emotionless voice suddenly rang out, startling Jiraiya so badly that he fell off the rockery.
"You bastard!"
Jiraiya immediately turned and glared at the person who had frightened him. Seeing that it was someone wearing an animal mask, his temper eased somewhat.
"Did the old man send you?"
The Anbu ninja nodded. "Lord Hokage requests that you return to Konoha."
Jiraiya frowned. "Did something happen in Konoha?"
"Konoha was attacked. Lord Hokage was severely wounded, over half of the Anbu ninja were killed or injured, and more than half of Konoha was destroyed."
"What... You're not joking, are you?"
At first, Jiraiya had thought it was just another fight with some ninja village. But then he was told that half of Konoha was gone. He was completely stunned.
The