In the dark and spacious hall, a huge statue of a god stood in the center.
The statue is clad in warrior armor, with glaring eyes, holding a sword in its right hand and a mallet in its left. Behind it is an iron ring with eight flames evenly distributed around it.
"He looks a bit like Thunder God."
It seems that no one has come to offer sacrifices for a long time; a thick layer of dust covers the ground.
Sizzle... Sizzle...
Subtle blue lightning crackled from the cracks in the stone sword in the statue's hand.
With the treasure before her, Aoki Tsuki leaped onto the statue's arm, drew her broken sword, and chiseled open the hilt of the stone sword.
I saw a sword hilt inside.
"As expected, it was hidden inside during the casting process!"
A bolt of lightning flashed in his hand and struck the stone sword.
Splash...
The rocks shattered, and a single-edged straight knife fell out. The blade was slender, and its surface crackled with electricity, as if it were absorbing the power of lightning.
Upon seeing this, Aoki Tsuki immediately converted his Chakra to lightning and channeled it into the sword, only to find it was a bottomless pit. The sword was like a parched desert, and his little bit of water could not fill it.
So they went outside and used an antenna to draw in the lightning from the sky.
Rumble...
A thick bolt of lightning was drawn down, and the longsword, infused with the lightning, floated up as if it were being bathed.
In an instant, all the rust was removed, and it became brand new and shiny.
"What a fine knife... Could this thing be the legendary Thunder God's sword? Tsk tsk tsk... It looks a bit strange..."
The blade is slender, resembling both a knife and a sword.
The sword I got in Takumi Village just happened to break, and I encountered a new one, which is very likely one of the three sacred weapons alongside the Totsuka Blade and the Kusanagi Sword.
Aoki Tsuki happily discarded his original broken sword.
He's just that fickle.
On a whim, he started practicing swordsmanship on the spot and discovered that, especially when imbued with Lightning Release Chakra, he didn't need to control it at all.
The knife automatically activated its lightning power, amplifying and releasing its full force.
For example, the power of the ' Cloud Piercer ' move is increased to at least three times its original value, and the attack range of the ' Lightning Burial ' move is expanded five times.
Other water-attribute moves did not see a significant increase in power.
When tired, one can meditate and rest, cultivate immortal Senjutsu, and refine spiritual power. Before one knows it, a red sun rises from the east.
"It's dawn. Time to go back."
When Aoki Tsuki slowly walked into the cave, he found Konan sitting by the fire eating rice balls, preparing for a new day of mining.
"Where did you go?"
She didn't believe that Aoki Tsuki really went to look for ore in the dark.
He's probably trying to avoid her.
"What kind of question is that? Of course I'm looking for ore! I've been searching all night, I'm exhausted."
Aoki Tsuki stretched and took two rice balls from the lunchbox to eat.
"... Did you find it?"
"Of course we found them, they're all here, see if they're right..."
As Aoki Tsuki spoke, he tossed a bag in front of Konan.
Konan opened the bag with a look of surprise and doubt, and her expression immediately changed. She took out a piece and examined it for a moment, then looked at the other pieces of ore in the bag one by one.
How did you do that?
She had been searching for days, and this guy brought back a whole bunch in one night. How could she possibly accept that?
Aoki Tsuki shrugged upon hearing this, "Search all over the mountains and fields, but I've always been lucky, and I just happened to find it."
You're kidding me!
"Is this all luck?" Konan pointed to the other pieces of ore in the bag.
She didn't believe a single punctuation mark in what Aoki Tsuki said.
Otherwise, what's the point of all her hard work these past few days? It's like feeding the dogs!
"Sigh... I was worried about not having enough, so I tried my luck a few more times. Great Goddess Amaterasu, I really got lucky."
He certainly wouldn't tell you about the horrific scene of him almost being struck by lightning.
"Hmph, you're really lucky."
Seeing that Aoki Tsuki was unwilling to reveal anything, Konan didn't bother to press him further, since this man had never told the truth before.
As long as the ore is found, the process doesn't matter.
"Alright, let's hurry up and eat, then head straight to the Land of Artisans," said Aoki Tsuki.
"Mm." Konan nodded.
She's been out for a while now, and she's getting really anxious.
After descending Thunder God Mountain, the two headed straight for the Land of Artisans. When they met Master Tesshin again with the ore, the latter was also quite shocked.
He thought they would be lucky to find even one piece, but they ended up finding five or six.
Without wasting any time, they immediately started forging, and it took them half a month to forge this special ninja tool.
When the two returned to Amegakure, more than half a month had passed.
Aoki Tsuki thought he could finally rest for a while, but then he heard some shocking news from the Shinobi World: the Fourth Hokage of Konoha was dead!
It is said that a natural disaster occurred, Fourth died trying to save the villagers.
The situation has changed drastically in an instant. The disappearance of the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure triggered the Third Shinobi World War. What will happen this time?
The situation, which had just stabilized, has become tense again.
Danzo sent a top-secret mission, requesting Hanzō to send someone to assist Root in assassinating the Third Hokage and clearing obstacles for him to run for Hokage.
Faced with this task, both Nagato and Konan hesitated.
The Third Hokage served for decades; he was cunning and calculating. Was he really so easily assassinated?
In all the years of the Shinobi World, the only person to successfully assassinate a Kage is Sasori of the Red Sands.
Unlike the previous assassination of the leader of the Hannya Corps, this was a mission destined to fail, and they would face Konoha's subsequent retaliation, Amegakure could not possibly withstand.
If we refuse, it might alert Danzo, who might send someone to Amegakure to investigate.
Meanwhile, someone anonymously placed an assassination order for Akatsuki on the black market. The target was Shisui Uchiha, and a deposit of ten million taels was required.
Xiao's rule is that the deposit is non-refundable regardless of whether the deal is successful or not.
In the past year, Shisui Uchiha has performed exceptionally well in battles against Kirigakure, completing multiple S-rank missions and earning the title of ' Body Flicker Shisui '.
This mysterious person is very likely from the Kirigakure.
Since the newly joined member of the organization Juzo Biwa, suffered a great loss in his battle with Shisui, it is necessary to send someone who can defend against Sharingan Genjutsu to handle this mission.
Sasori of the Red Sands accepted the mission, while Aoki Tsuki was tasked with teaming up with the Root members to assassinate the Third Hokage.
Since they were going the same way, they decided to travel together.
"I heard you also fought against Shisui Uchiha?" Sasori asked.
As a fellow genius, Sasori was confident that he was no less talented than others, but even he had to take the genius ninja from the number one Kekkei Genkai clan in the Shinobi World seriously.
They wanted to gather as much intelligence as possible.
"His Body Flicker Technique is unpredictable and mysterious, impossible to break. Furthermore, his skill in Genjutsu is very high."
There's a saying in the Shinobi World: When two people face Uchiha, they can still put up a fight; when one person faces Uchiha, they'll turn and run.
There are very few people who can single-handedly defeat the Uchiha.
"Hmph, I'd like to see what's so special about his Body Flicker Technique."
Scorpion was extremely interested in this target.
Many people know the Body Flicker Technique, but Shisui was probably the first to make a name for Body Flicker Technique using it, which shows he really had some skill.
"Brother Scorpion, I'll come over and help you out after I've sorted things out here."
"Unnecessary!"
As they approached Konoha, the two parted ways. Sasori continued southeast, while Aoki Tsuki made contact with the Root members and infiltrated Konoha.
The Nine-Tails' Disturbance destroyed most of the core area of Konoha, but it also gave Konoha the opportunity to reorganize, saving the village the work of demolition.
The Uchiha Clan was taken advantage of and driven to the edge of the village, next to a prison, where they were treated like prisoners.
Everywhere there were houses under construction. Aoki Tsuki glanced at them quickly without looking closely, and was led to a secluded house.
"You'll rest here tonight. Don't wander around. The village is under martial law, and there are Anbu watching everywhere," Gen's men warned.
Aoki Tsuki nodded and said, "Understood."
If he gets caught running around in this situation, even Danzo can't protect him.
Another covert mission I had was to find out what had happened in Konoha.
Aoki Tsuki didn't need to ask to know the details of the Nine-Tails' Disturbance; the assassination was just a formality. This was a trap specifically set for Danzo.
Therefore, he had no psychological burden and went to sleep obediently.
Nothing happened that night. As dawn broke, the guide came again, leading Aoki Tsuki to meet up with the Root members of this operation. They then left the village through a secret exit and headed to the ambush site.
Aoki Tsuki noticed a child wearing a cat-face mask in the group and guessed that it must be Yamato in his youth, who was also Danzo's trump card in this assassination attempt on the Third.
It's likely that this was also a way of flexing their muscles to their ally Hanzō; the power of Wood Release is in no way inferior to that of the Tailed Beast.
Yamato noticed the gaze of the person wearing the Panda mask and asked them:
"My code name is 'A'. You must be the assassin from Amegakure. I heard you once fought Shisui Uchiha and escaped unscathed."
"Just call me 'Moon.' Actually, I was beaten so badly by Shisui Uchiha that I had to run away. That guy's Body Flicker Technique is truly unbeatable."
"That's true. Some of our opponents have fought him, and they all fell victim to his Body Flicker Technique."
At this moment, the leader suddenly waved his hand and said, "We've arrived at our destination. Everyone, choose your ambush positions."
The crowd immediately dispersed, some hiding in the grass, others in the trees. After clearing away the traces, the area became quiet again.
As time passed and the sun rose higher, the atmosphere in the forest gradually became oppressive.
A group of people came into view. The leader was wearing a divine robe, a Hokage hat, and had a pipe in his mouth. He walked slowly with his hands behind his back.
Everyone's hearts tightened; this was the assassination target: the Third Hokage.
The Third and his group seemed completely oblivious to anything amiss, Earth Flow their march towards the ambush point.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Shuriken and Kunai all directions.
Ding ding ding...
The Third Hokage's bodyguards immediately scattered to avoid the attack.
Wood Release: Wood Release: Great Forest Technique
Dozens of wooden vines suddenly emerged from the tree canopy, heading straight for the Third Hokage to strangle him.
puff...
All that remained of the Third, pierced by the vines, were his divine robes, his Hokage hat, and a tree stump.
" Substitution Technique...?"
At the same time, the sound of Chidori singing chorus rang out behind A.
"This is... Kakashi of the Sharingan!"
The members of Root were very familiar with Kakashi and immediately realized they had been tricked.