---Third POV---
Two days later, the main street of Konoha was packed with people. This triumphal ceremony was far more elaborate than the one after defeating Kiri, after all, this was the first major war victory under the command of Minato.
Hiruzen had long made up his mind to groom Minato as his successor, and this was the perfect opportunity to build up his montum. The Konoha gate guards opened the gates to their fullest.
Minato led the returning troops at the front.
On both sides of the street, enthusiastic villagers of Konoha stood shoulder to shoulder, cheers echoing endlessly.
Ryouma and Kakashi didn't join the procession to bask in the villagers' admiration. Instead, they stood on the rooftop of the Hokage building, accompanying Hiruzen.
Only Obito had eagerly waited at the village entrance. The mont he saw Minato, he rushed forward to stand at the front of the formation, waving energetically to the surrounding villagers.
Feeling the charged emotions in the air, Killer B was dancing in the ranks, breaking into freestyle rap:
"Yo, yo, check it out, from Kumo to Konoha, I crossed the hills, bringing my rap flow, oh yeah!"
"B! Quiet down right now!" A delivered a solid smack to Killer B's head, physically forcing him to shut up.
Yugito actually admired Killer B a bit, being in the mood to rap in a situation like this, acting as if he were also among those being welcod.
The ninjas tasked with watching over them were thinking the sa thing.
---
The joys and sorrows between villages sadly did not align. While Konoha was filled with joy, Iwa only found the noise irritating.
Ever since Ōnoki received intel from Kumo's spies, he'd been pondering how to defeat the now fully unburdened and fully mobilized Konoha.
The battlefield in the Land of Grass, situated between the Lands of Earth and Fire, had now beco the focus of the entire shinobi world.
Here, the ultimate victor of the Third Great Ninja War would erge from the clash between the two current winning factions.
Rōshi and Han had already been deployed to the front lines and were performing decently, but when faced with the combined forces of Orochimaru and Jiraiya, they still lacked the decisive power to turn the tide.
At this rate, whether Konoha sent Minato or Ryouma, Iwa wouldn't be able to match them.
Ōnoki picked up the scroll on his table and stared at it again in disbelief.
"Capable of reflecting over 50 Tailed Beast Balls? Is the Kumo spy insane?"
Everyone in the shinobi world knew Konoha frequently produced prodigies, but the growth rate of this Leaf's Gale was absurd. As for Suna, well, they weren't even worth ntioning, having allowed their own Kazekage to go missing.
But Kiri was a different matter. They hadn't participated in the Second Great Ninja War, so their sudden and aggressive entry into this one clearly indicated preparation. And yet they were blown apart by the Leaf's Gale, with their Mizukage killed, becoming the first Kage in history to be assassinated by an invading enemy in his own village.
That stain would never be erased.
Kiri had now joined Suna at the "losers' table."
After receiving intelligence from Kiri, Ōnoki had imdiately ordered a reinforcent of Iwa's barrier defenses and stringent checks on anyone entering the village, terrified that soone might sneak in spatial coordinates, allowing Konoha to send a few Tailed Beast Balls their way.
It was worth noting that while there was no definitive proof, most people in the shinobi world believed that the Tailed Beast Balls transferred to Kiri by Ryouma were launched by the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
"Looks like I'll have to take action myself."
There was no backing down now, the Will of Stone would not allow surrender. Besides, no matter how strong a ninja was, they all had weaknesses. Even the Third Raikage, whose techniques were an extre counter to Ōnoki's own, had been brought down through strategy and cunning. The sa could apply to the Leaf's Gale.
He picked up the latest intelligence report on Ryouma from his desk and began analyzing how to counter him.
The boy possessed the sa space-ti ninjutsu as Minato. He wielded techniques like Blaze Release and Magnet Release, could use S-rank Wind Release ninjutsu without hand seals, and was also skilled in Lightning Release, Water Release, and fūinjutsu. He also had a special ability suspected to be another bloodline limit, a reflective ability that could bounce back ninjutsu.
Ōnoki felt a headache coming on just reading the report. He wasn't even sure if his Dust Release could be reflected, but even if it couldn't, he still might not be able to hit soone with space-ti ninjutsu like Ryouma.
The guy also had a massive chakra reserve. Trying to wear him down like they did with the Third Raikage wouldn't work. The only options were to either restrict his movent before he could react, or go for an instant kill.
But he alone didn't stand a chance. Iwa's other forces would need to keep Konoha's elite occupied.
"Looks like there's no other way."
He made up his mind. After writing a ssage on a blank scroll, he rapidly ford hand seals and slamd his hands onto the desk.
A puff of smoke revealed a rabbit with a horn on its head. The rabbit gave a little shake of its head, then bit down on the scroll he handed it. With another "poof," it vanished in a cloud of smoke.
---
anwhile, deep underground in a hidden location within the Land of Earth, a man, his body half-covered in so black, unknown substance, was dissecting a White Zetsu on a stone platform, implanting black rods into its body.
Under the dim, yellow lighting, the scene looked like sothing out of a horror film.
This man was none other than Nagato, the one Madara had abducted from the Land of Rain. But his body was now being controlled by the black half.
While he worked, a spiked White Zetsu erged from the floor and asked, "How's the clone production going?"
"Well enough," Black Zetsu replied.
Tobi bounced over cheerfully, asking, "Do you really think that Jiraiya will fall for it?"
Black Zetsu let out a dark, cold chuckle and didn't dignify the fool's question with an answer. He couldn't predict the future, so how could he know whether Jiraiya would take the bait or not? Suddenly, he seed to sense sothing and slowly began forming hand seals.
Poof.
A cloud of smoke burst forth, and the rabbit Ōnoki had summoned earlier appeared. Black Zetsu took the scroll from its mouth without opening it and headed straight to Madara, who sat in a stone chair, his eyes opening as he sensed Black Zetsu approaching.
"What is it?" he asked.
"A ssage from Iwa."
Madara took the scroll from Black Zetsu's hand and skimd through it.
"He still has so fight left in him, I see, cough, cough—"
Before he could finish, he suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit, as if struck by a severe illness.
"Madara-sama, it seems… your body may not last much longer."
He looked at the aged Madara with a complicated expression. Madara was only barely clinging to life by relying on the Gedo Statue to transmit life force to him.
During the battle with Ryouma, he had used up too much of the chakra stored in the statue. Now, he could be said to be at the end of his rope. If he were to engage in another high-intensity battle, he'd probably drop dead halfway through.
After coughing for a while, he finally caught his breath. "Is there any recent intel on that brat?"
"Of course," Black Zetsu replied slowly. "He's been wreaking havoc on the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water. Even the Third Raikage's son, along with the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails jinchūriki, were captured alive by Konoha."
Madara snorted coldly. Just as he had suspected, if Kumo hadn't already lost the battle, Ōnoki would never have so readily agreed to a partnership. Ever since the day he was driven out of the Land of Water, he had realized one thing: to complete the Eye of the Moon Plan, he absolutely had to kill Ryouma. If that wasn't possible, he'd at least have to find so way to restrict him.
At worst, he could just give up the portion of One-Tail's chakra within Ryouma, it wasn't much anyway.
He knew he didn't have long to live, and Nagato was far from qualified to act as the dium to nurture the Rinnegan, let alone use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique. He didn't have the ti to corrupt Nagato gradually, either.
So, he simply used genjutsu to control Nagato, and attached Black Zetsu to Nagato to forcibly manipulate his actions. As his embodint of will, Black Zetsu would continue nurturing the Rinnegan after his death and eventually revive him when the ti was right.
Having Black Zetsu reach out to Ōnoki for collaboration was just a contingency plan. Madara was undoubtedly confident, but he was never arrogant.
Faced with a ninja as powerful as Ryouma, there was no way he would bet everything on resurrecting and relying solely on the Rinnegan to crush his enemies. What if he couldn't be revived?
In his eyes, no one in the shinobi world was a match for the current Ryouma. And since Ryouma also knew about the Eye of the Moon Plan, once peace ca to the shinobi world, there was no guarantee he wouldn't target the Rinnegan next. Of course, that was just a secondary concern. The most important thing was that, after their last encounter, he believed he had figured out Ryouma's weakness. That counter-based ability of his, there was still a chance to exploit it.
The next step was to find the right bait to lure him into a trap.
"Keep an eye on Ryouma."
"Yes."
---Ryouma's POV---
At the gates of Konoha, I was there chatting casually with two gate guards.
Nominally, the Third Hokage had sent to welco the delegation from Kumo for peace talks. In reality, I was there to give the brash Kumo ninjas a show of force.
At least, that was how I saw it.
The two guards seed to be big fans of and were as excited as little kids eting their idol.
"Please give your autograph! I'm begging you!"
" too! This is my one true lifelong wish!"
I was already used to people asking for my autograph. I pulled out a pen from behind my back that I carried around just for this purpose.
"Of course. So, where do I sign?"
"Aweso! Right here is fine!"
A gust of wind swept past, and three ninjas wearing Kumo headbands arrived at the gates of Konoha at a run and ca to a stop. The leader wore a gray cap and had an eyepatch over his left eye. He was likely Dodai, a high-ranking officer of Kumo. Just as the Third Hokage had said, they traveled light, he'd brought only two guards.
"Greetings, Ryouma-san." Dodai politely greeted in Kumo's traditional fashion.
"Oh, so you didn't even fight on the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water and still recognize ?"
"Naturally. Who in the shinobi world hasn't heard your na?"
After a round of polite flattery, I led Dodai and his two companions toward the Konoha guest inn.
"It's still early, how about we begin the peace talks now? We have co with great sincerity this ti."
"No can do. The peace talks are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon." I refused Dodai's request without hesitation.
At that mont, I knew Inoichi was leading several skilled mbers of the Yamanaka clan to probe the minds of A and the others, who had been knocked out by drugs. Per the Hokage's orders, he was avoiding using overly forceful ntal techniques, so it was taking a bit longer than usual.
"May I ask why the talks can't begin today?" Dodai tried to fish for useful intel.
"Uh… the weather's bad today. Not suitable for peace talks," I said casually, obviously making it up.
At that, one of Dodai's guards on the right burst out angrily, "You really think that excuse makes sense? You're obviously just stalling to extract intel from the others!"
I stopped in my tracks and spoke in a lazy tone, "Why bother stating the obvious? All it does is bring you sha, what's the point?"
"Bast—!"
"Enough! Silence!"
Dodai sternly scolded the guard for his outburst, then turned and apologized to . "My apologies. But if possible, I still hope you can relay to the Hokage our desire to begin talks as soon as possible."
"It's getting late. You should all get so rest."
I clearly had no intention of continuing the conversation. After escorting them to the front of the Konoha inn, I turned and left.
As for the words spoken by that Kumo guard earlier, I didn't take them to heart. While I wasn't so hyper-intelligent scher, I could still recognize a classic "good cop, bad cop" routine.
Dodai had only brought two ninjas, there was no way he'd pick a hothead to accompany him unless it was deliberate. That guard's actions were clearly a probe to test Konoha's limits.
30 advance chapters!
/Malphegor
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