"According to my plan, there should have been a major battle." Naruto recalled his plan.
Naruto had first infiltrated the Hidden Cloud Village, using multiple tailed beasts as bait to lure Akatsuki into attacking the Hidden Cloud Village.
After suffering two consecutive failures, Akatsuki would definitely have sent even more people into the Hidden Cloud Village this time.
All of this had been part of Naruto's plan.
However, what happened afterward exceeded Naruto's expectations.
The Raikage's strength far surpassed imagination, and the Hidden Cloud Village's fighting force was even more formidable. It had actually managed to withstand the combined assault of several Akatsuki members.
At the time, Naruto had begun to wonder why the gap in strength between the villages of the Five Great Nations was so enormous.
One Deidara could overturn the Sand Village, yet several Akatsuki members had struggled to conquer the Hidden Cloud Village.
What happened afterward was even more beyond Naruto's expectations.
Right before the Deva Path, Naruto had directly fused with One-Tail Shukaku. He had originally thought this would enrage the Deva Path and trigger a great battle between Konoha and Akatsuki.
Unexpectedly, the Deva Path immediately changed his attitude, and even his tone became much gentler.
The final battle never took place. Naruto had brought so many people to the Hidden Cloud Village specifically because he had been prepared for a fight, bringing nearly everyone he could. Unfortunately, there was no chance to use them.
At the very end, Naruto had feared that Pain would make a sneak attack, so when he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to transfer everyone away, he had seemed especially flustered.
Yet Pain had moved at an unhurried pace, deliberately waiting until Naruto had teleported everyone away before using Almighty Push to destroy the Hidden Cloud Village.
*This