Chapter 467: The End of the War
"Did it succeed?"
Nagato supported Kenichi.
Both of them had just been blown away by the shockwave of the nuclear blast.
Kenichi's physical condition was good, so he endured it. Nagato's puppets were not human at all, so they naturally endured it as well. There was no situation where the attack harmed their own side, which made Kenichi breathe a sigh of relief.
"I don't know. Even if it succeeded, the gain isn't much."
Kenichi shook his head.
He looked at the mushroom cloud rising behind him.
An attack like that could even kill a Tailed Beast. It should not be a big problem for Madara in his Edo Tensei state.
But even if it killed him, then what?
Madara was in his Edo Tensei form.
Even if the nuclear explosion killed him, the significance would not be very great. It would only send Madara back to the Pure Land.
But if there was no way to seal Madara's soul, he would eventually return.
However, Kenichi himself had not learned a sealing jutsu on the level of the Reaper Death Seal. Even if he had, restraining Madara would not be an easy task.
Now, he could only hope that destroying Madara's Edo Tensei body this time would buy him more time.
Enough time to annex the Land of Lightning, then make a few more nuclear bombs.
Kenichi himself did not know whether ordinary atomic bombs would be effective, but he still planned to try.
Of course, his own strength also needed to improve further.
In this war, Kenichi had discovered some of his weaknesses.
Although he had no problem facing ordinary Kage-level powerhouses now and could defeat them with relative ease, if he faced the encirclement of several Kage at once, it was not easy to decide the outcome quickly.
And if the opponent was a powerhouse on Madara's level, it became even more troublesome.
This was still only Edo Tensei Madara.
If Madara's plan succeeded, and he became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki and entered Six Paths Mode, then the current Kenichi might only be able to start researching how to build rockets and move to another planet.
However, it was not entirely without good news.
Before the nuclear explosion, Tsunade and the others had still been near the epicenter.
Even if they could run, and even if they ran very quickly, it would be impossible for them to come out of a nuclear explosion completely unharmed.
That meant the Kage of the three villages were basically half-crippled.
Even if they survived, recovering to their peak strength would take a great deal of time.
In that case, as long as Orochimaru could defeat the Allied Shinobi Forces on the front lines, the overall problem would not be too serious.
"What do we do now?"
Nagato looked at Kenichi.
His chakra had been depleted quite a bit, but he could still continue a low-intensity battle.
Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
Frankly speaking, this battle had gone beyond his expectations.
After all, he truly had not expected Madara to come over, let alone directly target him.
If Tsunade and the others had not thought Madara was his Edo Tensei helper at the time, it would have been difficult for him to deal with Madara.
If he had faced the encirclement of the three Kage plus Madara, that would have been even more amusing.
"First, let's clean up the battlefield. I want to see whether Tsunade, Onoki, and A are dead or alive."
Kenichi dispelled his Shadow Clones.
The returning chakra made his body feel much lighter.
Since obtaining the First Hokage's Sage Body, Kenichi had rarely encountered such a troublesome battle.
This battle truly made him feel as if his chakra had almost been insufficient, although that was also related to his use of multiple large-scale ninjutsu, as well as Shadow Clones.
However, Kenichi handed the task of cleaning up the battlefield to his Shadow Clones.
Nagato did not need to go.
There was still a large amount of nuclear radiation in the nuclear explosion area. Going in now would not be cleaning the battlefield. It would be rushing to death.
Nagato had no objection to this, but he still sent out some puppets to search for the whereabouts of the three Kage.
—-
"Damn it, damn it!"
Kitsuchi spat out a mouthful of blood.
He looked at the ninja in front of him, a trace of fear flashing through his eyes.
He truly had not expected Iwagakure to be so vulnerable before these ninja.
Moreover, every single one of these guys was excessively strong, especially their eyes.
When fighting them, if one was caught off guard and looked into their eyes, they could fall under genjutsu.
If one did not want to be affected, the best method was to avoid looking into their eyes.
But the problem was that this was a battle between ninja.
Not every ninja could learn to fight without looking into another person's eyes.
Kitsuchi tried to stir up dust, but it was still useless.
Iwagakure's ninja quickly dwindled in number.
Lowering one's head and trying to react quickly to ninjutsu was very unrealistic.
Many ninja were buried at the hands of the Land of Flame's ninja while trying to fight with their heads lowered or their eyes closed.
And the village ninja who were controlled by genjutsu had disappeared, seemingly taken away.
But Kitsuchi did not know where they had been taken, or what was being done to them.
The village's strongest trump card, the Five-Tails, was being pinned down and beaten by that giant monster.
At first, the Five-Tails had tried to resist.
But as those ninja used the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan to control the Five-Tails, the current Five-Tails was purely taking a beating.
Kitsuchi did not even know how much longer the Five-Tails could last.
That giant monster was still hitting it, as if it wanted to beat the Five-Tails to death.
This made Kitsuchi somewhat afraid.
That was a Tailed Beast.
A powerful anti-human Tailed Beast.
Even the Tsuchikage would find the complete Five-Tails very troublesome.
But now, the Five-Tails was dying.
The worse news was that Kitsuchi himself was being targeted.
Looking at the six pairs of feet around him, a hint of despair flashed through Kitsuchi's eyes.
Being targeted by six jonin of this caliber, even he felt immense pressure.
Looking up could lead to genjutsu.
Falling into genjutsu could lead to being taken away.
But not looking up meant he could not fight.
"Now's the time!"
Kitsuchi did not give up.
The Kumogakure ninja had already left.
Although Konoha's ninja were still there, the battlefield was too chaotic, and he could not ask for help.
The only way was to escape the battlefield, return to the village, and then quickly relocate.
The Allied Shinobi Forces had failed.
Or at least, Iwagakure had failed.
The ninja squad they had brought, which had originally intended to enter the battlefield, harvest the territory of the Land of Water, and finally obtain funds to save the village from danger, had unexpectedly gained no money.
Instead, they were buried in the Land of Fire.
It was foreseeable that Iwagakure's strength would definitely be damaged after this battle.
If they did not return quickly, there might be no Iwagakure in the future.
"Earth Release: Great Earth River!"
Kitsuchi suddenly launched an attack.
A large amount of chakra surged out, and because the enemy was caught off guard, he actually broke through a gap.
Kitsuchi ran out without thinking.
But the moment he ran out, he felt something grab his neck.
Kitsuchi was forced to raise his head.
He saw a blonde girl.
Her appearance was very beautiful, and she carried a pleasant scent, but her pupils were vertical.
This person was...
"Kitsuchi?"
Orochimaru revealed a slight smile.
His Mangekyo Sharingan flickered faintly in his eyes.
Kitsuchi still had some resistance to genjutsu and managed to endure it without being affected for too long.
But in that brief moment, if Orochimaru had wanted to, Kitsuchi would already be dead.
"Orochimaru."
Kitsuchi tried to struggle, but it was useless.
The moment he was controlled by genjutsu, Orochimaru directly used a sealing jutsu to seal his chakra flow.
The current Kitsuchi was now just an ordinary person.
"If Onoki dies, then theoretically, you should become the Tsuchikage."
Orochimaru mused.
He had not originally intended to leave anyone alive.
But considering his student's plan to unify the Shinobi World, a jonin like Kitsuchi, who knew many of Iwagakure's secrets, was quite important.
That was why Orochimaru kept him alive.
Kitsuchi lowered his head.
He had already been choked unconscious, the intense suffocating pressure leaving him unable to breathe.
"Take him away."
Orochimaru waved his hand.
Kitsuchi no longer had any ability to resist.
Afterward, he would be taken away and become a loyal ninja of the Land of Flame.
Two jonin hurried over and carried Kitsuchi away.
For someone of Kitsuchi's caliber, they could at least receive a mid-level parasite.
But considering Kitsuchi's status, he would likely be implanted with a high-level parasite this time.
Orochimaru looked at the battlefield in front of him.
Iwagakure was finished.
The remaining ninja were now crumbling under the encirclement of the Land of Flame's ninja, and deserters had begun to appear.
However, these deserters were powerless before the encirclement of multiple Land of Flame ninja. They were taken away one by one and sent to the rear.
They would undergo modification there until they became ninja of the Land of Flame.
Orochimaru now understood how his student controlled these people.
Although it was somewhat beyond his expectations, as he had not expected Kenichi to obtain parasites, and it even seemed that those parasites had reproduced.
With these mind-controlling parasites, Kenichi could quickly unify the entire Shinobi World.
All resistors, once implanted with parasites, would become the most loyal subordinates.
"How interesting."
Orochimaru licked his lips.
He spat out a snake from his mouth, and from the snake's mouth came a sword.
Then Orochimaru took the sword into his hand.
Orochimaru carefully evaluated the situation.
If his student unified the Shinobi World, it would be beneficial for him.
At the very least, he would have enough resources for research, and all ninjutsu could be freely studied.
That would fulfill his ideal.
So Orochimaru did not mind helping his student.
Moreover, the most troublesome people on the battlefield had already been drawn away by his student.
If Orochimaru could not quickly resolve the battle against these ordinary ninja, he himself would lose face.
"Lord Orochimaru, the Kumogakure ninja have left. They are advancing toward the direction of the mushroom cloud."
A Land of Flame ninja jumped out.
Orochimaru glanced at him.
He was an ANBU responsible for relaying intelligence.
Although his student had once said that the name "special agent" sounded better, they had ultimately still adopted the name "ANBU."
"What about the Konoha ninja?"
Orochimaru looked at the battlefield in front of him.
Currently, the most noteworthy thing on the entire Iwagakure battlefield was the Five-Tails.
"The Konoha ninja are also showing signs of commotion and are packing up."
The ANBU ninja's words made Orochimaru nod.
His idea was actually very simple.
First, pretend to attack Iwagakure and attract the attention of Kumogakure and Konoha.
Then use the tactical squad Kenichi had given him to attack Kumogakure, making them misjudge his target as Kumogakure.
That would draw away the Kumogakure and Konoha ninja.
Finally, Orochimaru would directly assault Iwagakure, take it down completely, occupy Iwagakure's current position, and divide Kumogakure and Konoha.
That would prepare them for the subsequent war.
But Orochimaru had not expected the tactical squad Kenichi gave him to be so effective.
Kumogakure suffered heavy losses in this battle, and now Kumogakure was even beginning to retreat, presumably planning to find A and then return to Kumogakure with him.
In that case, only Iwagakure and Konoha were still here.
And then there was Sunagakure.
Those people had vanished to some unknown place.
Orochimaru had already assigned the task of investigating Sunagakure's whereabouts to Deidara, but Deidara had not yet sent back any news.
He also did not know what those people from Sunagakure were doing.
"Teacher."
Kenichi ran over from the distance, his face not looking very good.
"Is your battle over?"
Orochimaru glanced at his disciple.
Kenichi had clearly been through a major battle. His eyes showed some fatigue, and his body was covered in dust.
"Mm."
Kenichi wiped the dust from his head, then glanced around. His gaze fell on the Five-Tails and Sasori, who was currently beating it.
The nuclear explosion had not killed the three Kage.
At least, he had not found any remains of the three Kage at the nuclear explosion site.
Nor had he found Madara.
Kenichi did not know whether they had been vaporized or escaped.
After searching for a while, he could only come over to deal with other matters first.
He had to seize this opportunity to expand his gains and also confirm how his teacher Orochimaru was doing.
"The Land of Earth is a bit far."
Kenichi looked at the Five-Tails.
Then chakra condensed in his hand, forming a huge wooden sword, which he thrust through the Five-Tails' head.
After that, he created several more wooden swords to pin the Five-Tails down.
The Five-Tails was already on the verge of collapse.
With Kenichi's finishing blow, it directly dissipated from this world and would reappear only after some time.
Kenichi nodded.
The Tailed Beasts could not be left alive.
If even one Tailed Beast died, Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan could not be implemented.
For the Divine Tree to appear, all nine Tailed Beasts had to be gathered.
Now, he had completely made it impossible for Madara to enter Six Paths Mode.
"Are you planning to target Konoha or the Land of Lightning?"
Orochimaru looked at Kenichi.
He knew what his student meant.
.....
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