During his last infiltration, Naruto had left Flying Thunder God Marks inside and outside Kumogakure, so he no longer needed his previous method to break through the Heavenly Retribution Formation!
Whoosh!
He appeared with Konan in a clearing in Kumogakure.
The clearing had once been the site of the Raikage's residence. Destroyed during the battle, then turned into a depression by Planetary Devastation, it had only just been leveled, and the soil was still fresh.
The moment they appeared, the nearby Kumogakure guards spotted them and surrounded them!
Naruto said coolly, "Looks like your boss has no intention of being good and handing things over~."
One Kumogakure ninja shouted, "The will of lightning will never bow to plunderers!"
With an unreadable expression, Naruto said, "The will of fire, the will of stone, the will of lightning... the founders of the great ninja villages seemed to follow the tides of their times, passing down strongly subjective ideals that their successors treated as absolute truth."
"I was once like that, too. But as I gained experience, I realized those so-called wills were mostly rhetoric used by self-serving people to rally others around them."
"..." The Kumogakure ninja exchanged glances.
Naruto said, "Don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to dismiss or belittle you, because these ideals really do strengthen the unity of a village, even an entire nation..."
"But before an overwhelming existence, they seem rather flimsy."
"Tell me, have you ever heard of the will of God...?"
The Kumogakure ninja asked, "God?"
Naruto smiled faintly.
He was not talking about his senior fellow student who called himself a god, but the genuine gods far beyond the heavens, who stood above all living beings!
"The will of God means scorning cause and effect and the cycle of reincarnation, treating all beings under heaven as