Chapter 258: The Konoha Crush Ends
"Hey, Konoha! Someone who can speak for you, get over here!"
Kaito Shirogane shouted for someone with authority, but his hands were already moving, tossing Sarutobi Hiruzen's corpse to Jiraiya, who had just repelled several of the Pains.
A large group of Konoha shinobi, all covered in wounds, gathered behind Jiraiya.
No matter how unreliable Jiraiya usually was, he was still a top-tier ninja who had earned the title of "Sannin" in the Third Great Shinobi War. After the series of catastrophes Konoha had suffered, he was one of the few people they could rely on.
Jiraiya instinctively caught the body, then froze in place.
He looked at the charred corpse in his arms, but he could still make out his teacher's stern, old-fashioned face.
He looked up, seeing Orochimaru standing several dozen meters away, wearing the red-cloud-on-black-cloak, standing with the man from the intel, Mercenary Tao.
"Orochimaru... Sensei is dead..."
Jiraiya's voice was thick with sorrow. When Orochimaru had defected, he had chased him for a long time, only to be defeated. The two, who had fought side-by-side since childhood, had parted on the worst of terms.
He could never understand why Orochimaru was so obsessed with his research; Orochimaru could never understand why Jiraiya stayed in the village.
Seeing Jiraiya's grief, Orochimaru just gave a cold smile, his voice calm and icy.
"Yes. What a pity. The Third Hokage died fighting to protect his village."
There was no trace of pity in Orochimaru's voice. His words made Jiraiya's heart go cold.
Jiraiya took a deep breath, finally confirming that Orochimaru was a true enemy. He stood in front of the others, staring coldly at Mercenary Tao and Orochimaru.
"At this point, is there anything left to say?!"
Orochimaru took two steps back, and Tendo Pain, who hadn't been as active, stepped forward. The ones who had caused the most destruction to Konoha were undoubtedly the Animal Path's summons and the Asura Path's missiles and lasers.
The Six Paths of Pain's lethality against ordinary ninjas was overwhelming. The giant summons alone required Jounin-level power to handle. An ordinary Chunin or even a Special Jounin needed a full team just to take one down, and even then, casualties were high.
And the Animal Path could summon dozens of them, even giving them the ability to split into more when defeated.
This ability had caused catastrophic damage throughout Konoha, and it was the reason Konoha couldn't gather its forces to use a large-scale joint-jutsu on Orochimaru and Mercenary Tao.
Moreover, every Path of Pain possessed the Rinnegan's perception. Ordinary Body Flickers, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and thrown weapons were almost useless.
Although the Six Paths had seemed ineffective against Kaito Shirogane, in a battle of this scale, eachPath could easily kill scores of ninjas with taijutsu alone.
"We do not intend to completely destroy Konoha."
In truth, Pain's original plan was to flatten Konoha to make the world feel pain.
But Mercenary Tao had told him that doing so would only make the other shinobi villages unite against the Akatsuki. And then, Kumogakure, Sunagakure, or Iwagakure would simply take Konoha's place.
Pain didn't fully grasp this logic, but he understood the core of what Mercenary Tao was saying: these shinobi villages were just instruments of violence, taking orders to start wars, plunder, and be supported by their nations.
The heart of this cycle of profit was not in the shinobi villages.
So he was willing to start the [Fall of the Five Great Nations] plan. He wanted to see if the "long-term peace" Mercenary Tao spoke of was a possibility.
Even though Nagato knew very well that Mercenary Tao was no good man—that he was a tyrant who craved chaos—Nagato had been trapped in the spiral of shinobi hatred for too long. He was willing to try any hope, no matter how small.
As long as it can truly end the wars... even if I am the one to put a brutal king on the throne... someone else will just assassinate him later.
"From now on, we will withdraw from Konoha. And you will not be able to hide the fact that Konoha was attacked by us, and is now mortally weak."
Tendo Pain's tone was level. He was merely stating what would happen next.
"Shinobi of Konoha, the war is about to begin. Let's hope you don't let it end too quickly."
Pain finished speaking and began to float into the sky. He had one last thing to do. He was going to destroy Konoha's defensive fortifications, leaving the village with no walls to hide behind.
Seeing this, Jiraiya sensed the danger and quickly began to form hand seals, gathering Sage Chakra.
But the blonde woman behind Kaito Shirogane spoke up.
"I'd advise against that, Lord Jiraiya. The situation as it stands is the optimal solution. Anything you do now will only make Konoha's position worse."
She walked out from behind Kaito Shirogane and the others. Jiraiya was stunned. This masked woman... had an intense Natural Energy!
That level of Natural Energy... if not balanced by a powerful Chakra, she should have been turned to stone.
But this woman was completely unaffected.
[Providence] sensed Jiraiya's gaze. She calmly spread her hands, Natural Energy radiating from her. She even spun around, her body floating slightly.
Her power was definitely not as weak as she had let others believe.
"Lord Jiraiya, what we should be thinking about is how, in this situation, we can rebuild a new Konoha in two days, and successfully defend the village from the coming multi-village assault."
"We?!"
Uchiha Fugaku questioned coldly. For a time, he had truly considered this woman an option. Her information channels were vast and mysterious. Both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo had trusted her.
And she had expressed her affirmation of the Uchiha. He had thought that if this woman could rise, the Uchiha's situation would improve.
But today's events had made him completely unable to understand her actions.
In the face of a powerful enemy, she had silently betrayed the Third Hokage's faction, giving them no warning at all.
Providence just smiled lightly, not explaining. She believed that in the face of a despairing power gap, these shinobi would eventually walk the path she wanted.
Her actions were not bound by any contract or logic. She simply followed the choice of the most "perfect timeline." That was all.
Just then, a black-haired Uchiha ninja walked from the direction of the Uchiha compound, his sword dripping blood.
Uchiha Fugaku saw his eldest son. Behind him, Mikoto was desperately holding back Sasuke, who was sobbing, screaming for his brother to come back.
But Uchiha Itachi only paused for a moment, then walked to Mercenary Tao's side without looking back.
"Danzo... has been killed."
Kaito Shirogane raised an eyebrow. He didn't see Itachi carrying Danzo's head, so he knew what had likely happened. Far away, on the Magic Carpet, Catherine made a hand gesture.
Kaito Shirogane's lips curled. He patted Itachi's shoulder.
"Very good. I'm satisfied with your slaughter quota."
"The Konoha Crush... ends here. Next... it's time for us to spread chaos across every land."
Kaito Shirogane looked at the distant Susano'o, which was unable to land a hit on Uchiha Obito. Clearly, Uchiha Shisui still hadn't used his one shot of [Kotoamatsukami].
He grabbed Uchiha Itachi, jumped into the air, and began to kick off the air, using [Moonwalk] to quickly leave Konoha.
Then, Tendo Pain, high in the sky, unleashed a terrifying blast at the Hokage Monument.
The devastating repulsive force shattered the stone faces and caused the entire mountain to collapse, carving a path deep into the forest. Konoha's rear was now completely exposed.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
At this moment, a pale Kakashi, along with Shibi Aburame, Choza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, and many other clan heads, arrived behind Jiraiya.
They had been scattered, fighting the summons, and had used their clan's power to bring Konoha's chaos under control.
And behind them, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, Might Guy, and all the other shinobi of Kakashi's generation gathered, all of them covered in wounds.
They had successfully survived today's disaster.
Asuma Sarutobi stared numbly at the charred corpse in front of Jiraiya. He collapsed to his knees, utterly broken. He could only watch as that group flew away, without even the strength to throw a single kunai.
"Where the leaves dance, the fire burns..."
"The shadow of the fire will illuminate the village, and new leaves will sprout again."
(End of Chapter)
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