Chapter 124 Are we ignoring Hashirama's will?
The northern part of the Land of Fire.
Unclaimed territory, mountain cemetery.
Deep within the graveyard cave, Madara Uchiha still leaned back in his stone chair, his aged face filled with weakness, quietly listening to White Zetsu's report.
When he heard that the Mizukage had died in battle and that Kirigakure had surrendered completely to Konoha, even Madara Uchiha, who had experienced countless storms, was taken aback.
"The Hidden Mist Village has announced its complete surrender to Konoha?
How is that possible... Has Sarutobi disregarded Hashirama's will?"
Madara murmured.
It's alright that the Mizukage died in battle. Since the beginning of the Konoha Ninja Village era, it has only been a short period of more than forty years.
The Five Kage are now the third and fourth generation, so the previous Kage must have all died in battle.
Even Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage whose strength was closest to his and Hashirama's, died in battle, but Konoha was still successfully taken over by Tobirama's disciple, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and was not destroyed as a result.
The deaths of the Five Kage are common during major battles and are not unusual.
Therefore, the death of this generation's Mizukage is nothing to be surprised about; they are just juniors of average strength.
However, the complete surrender of Kirigakure means that this can no longer be taken lightly!
Although not completely destroyed, Kirigakure declared its total surrender, and from then on, Kirigakure became a vassal of Konoha, and could no longer be ranked alongside the Five Great Ninja Villages on equal footing.
The five great ninja villages checked and balanced each other.
This was Hashirama's original idea for the overall situation of the ninja world.
For this purpose, he even risked endangering Konoha by distributing the powerful tailed beasts to the various ninja villages.
This is the will of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju!
But now Konoha has broken through first.
Unbelievable!
"Hiruzen Sarutobi... no, that brat who just does whatever Tobirama says, how could he possibly make a decision against Hashirama's will?
Where would he get such power?"
"So, was it really all a decision made by that kid named Mochizuki Souji on his own?"
At this moment, White Zetsu chuckled and replied:
"It seems that's the case.
Although we can't easily infiltrate Konoha, judging from the reactions of the Konoha ninjas outside when they received the message, they were clearly terrified. It was hilarious!"
"Hmm...it seems Konoha has produced a junior with considerable strength and a lot of ideas..."
Madara muttered something, then asked:
"How is Orochimaru now?"
"He's digging up corpses everywhere for research!
Looks like he's making good progress; he's already successfully resurrected a dead person, even if they were just some lowly Chunin ninja!"
"Is that so? This junior's talent for ninjutsu research and development is indeed impressive. It shouldn't be too long before he fully masters the Impure World Reincarnation."
Madara was quite satisfied with Orochimaru's progress.
The Impure World Reincarnation technique developed by Tobirama is an extremely convenient and useful technique, and its resurrection effect on him is particularly significant.
Therefore, Madara had already thoroughly studied it over the past few decades.
The scroll given to Orochimaru contained not only the contents of the Impure World Reincarnation technique, but also his research insights from the past few decades, which could help Orochimaru avoid many detours and quickly master this technique.
Orochimaru's talent and wisdom did not disappoint him.
The progress was ideal.
Although he had only successfully resurrected one weak ninja, the principle was the same.
Once he succeeded once, he would not be far from being able to resurrect even Kage-level powerhouses.
The surrender of Kirigakure made him feel a sense of crisis.
Once you've done it once, there's a chance you'll do it again.
What if Mochizuki Souji defeats the other ninja villages as well...?
Konoha is already strong enough; if there are fewer opponents, it will be difficult for war to break out.
Without war, it would be difficult for him to cultivate strong individuals.
Madara thought for a moment, then said to White Zetsu:
"Go find Tobirama's disciple, I think his name is Shimura Danzo...
I can give him any help he needs. In return, I want him to force Mochizuki Souji to leave Konoha, or at least incite Mochizuki Souji to clash with Sarutobi."
"receive!"
"Go..."
White Zetsu once again submerged underground, while Madara continued to lean weakly against the stone chair.
Danzo Shimura... was an incompetent disciple of Tobirama, ambitious but lacking in ability and skills.
Madara approached this guy with a "let's give it a try" attitude, not expecting him to succeed.
However, if things really do turn sour, it should at least be able to delay Mochizuki Souji for a while.
This buys time, allowing Orochimaru to master the Impure World Reincarnation technique.
If anything were to happen, he could at least be resurrected using it.
Although the Impure World Reincarnation technique is still inferior to the true resurrection of the Samsara Rebirth technique, there is not much difference in power.
With his youthful condition and power, plus the resurrection from Hashirama cells, there is no one in the ninja world who can stop him!
...
Inside Takigakure Village.
Souji and his group, along with the fallen Takigakure ninja.
Kakuzu grabbed the current leader of Takigakure with one hand, exuding a terrifying killing intent that made the latter turn pale with fright.
Is this true?
"It's all true, you, you all..."
Souji carefully observed the expression on Takigakure's leader's face; he didn't seem to be lying.
"Then take me to see it."
"Okay, alright..."
The leader of Takigakure was extremely unwilling, but the difference in strength was too great, and for the safety of the others, he had no choice but to obediently follow orders.
The leader of Takigakure led everyone to a large room, which was very empty except for a wooden table with a ceramic pot on it.
"This is the container that sealed the Seven-Tails..."
The Souji is now proficient in advanced sealing techniques, and it is not difficult to see that the seals covering the pottery pot are in use.
That is, the tailed beast of Takigakure Village, the Seven-Tails, is sealed within it.
The leader of Takigakure said in a deep voice:
"That's why I said that the previous Jinchuriki passed away not long ago, and we haven't found a suitable candidate to be the new Jinchuriki, so we can only keep the Seven-Tails sealed in the pot!"
"It seems that's true. There's nothing we can do then..."
The Souji shook his head slightly and led everyone away.
Kakuzu glanced at the leader of Takigakure, a hint of nostalgia flashing in his eyes, but he didn't say anything more. He threw him to the ground and turned to follow Souji.
Although he was once a ninja of Takigakure, that was decades ago.
Back then, because he failed to assassinate Hashirama Senju, the village elders wanted to hold him accountable.
In a fit of rage, he killed all the high-ranking members of Takigakure and stole the secret technique, Earth Grudge Fear, thus becoming a rogue ninja.
This was not a pleasant memory, but because he had wiped out all the high-ranking members of Takigakure whom he hated back then, Kakuzu didn't have any particular feelings towards these unfamiliar descendants decades later.
He just felt somewhat disappointed and ashamed to see the current leader of Takigakure being so weak.
Souji walked out of Takigakure Village.
Unexpectedly, the Seven-Tails is now also in a sealed state without a Jinchūriki.
After their previous conversation, Tsunade decided to cooperate with him initially, but she would not join the Kage Club as his subordinate.
However, she agreed to return to Konoha as a medical advisor.
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end of this chapter...