Naruto: Naraku Grows Stronger as a Beautiful, Tragic Side Character

Chapter 268: Chapter 268 The situation has changed, Kikyo Mountain#

Naraku frowned, pondering what deal Hanzou had made with Sunagakure.

Even White Zetsu hadn’t gathered much relevant intelligence, indicating both sides were extremely cautious, likely communicating entirely through secret messages and codes, with no physical evidence left from each transmission.

If Nagato hadn’t been so ruthless in his recent attack, causing Hanzou to become a bit restless, he wouldn’t have been so flustered as to directly call people for a face-to-face, open discussion.

So, what exactly was their plan?

It was now clear that Hanzou seeking Konoha’s cooperation to eliminate the Akatsuki Organization was something Sunagakure welcomed, and perhaps it was even part of Sunagakure’s deal with Hanzou. Why would this be the case?

Konoha’s fighting strength was currently stretched thin; dozens of Anbu was not a small number that could be pulled out casually. These individuals were likely drawn from the defensive forces facing the Land of Wind, stationed near the Land of Fire.

Losing so many Anbu would leave Konoha’s defenses unprecedentedly weak, which would naturally be very advantageous for Sunagakure. If Sunagakure seized the opportunity to launch a large-scale attack, Konoha’s defense line could very likely collapse, allowing them to strike directly at the heart.

Therefore, there was only one truth: Sunagakure had made a deal with Hanzou first, asking him to find an excuse to tie up Konoha, so they could exploit the weakness and completely overthrow Konoha in one fell swoop.

Coincidentally, Hanzou was troubled by the existence of the Akatsuki Organization, so he used the opportunity to seek Konoha’s help, even promising huge benefits that made those old fogeys willing to take risks—after all, as long as Sunagakure didn’t detect any abnormality in the defense line, and the Anbu returned to their positions in time after completing their mission, everything would be fine, and they could even earn a large amount of military funds.

For Hanzou, this plan had high feasibility and a high return rate.

As long as Sunagakure successfully ambushed and destroyed Konoha Village, he would not only eliminate the Akatsuki Organization with Konoha’s help but also wouldn’t have to pay them anything, while still receiving his reward from Sunagakure. It was like getting something for nothing and killing three birds with one stone.

No wonder ”Yahiko’s Death” was released by the animator; it turned out this event involved so many forces and directly affected the situation of the Third Great Ninja War.

Naraku’s eyes moved, and he began to rapidly calculate.

In the animation, the Sand Ninja were willing to pay a reward, indicating that the plan was largely successful, and Sunagakure’s vanguard had already breached Konoha’s defense line and entered the Land of Fire.

There was a similar event in the original world line: the Mount Kikyo Battle during the Third Great Ninja War.

At that time, Konoha was once pushed to its doorstep by Sunagakure, almost teetering on the brink of collapse, and only managed to barely save the Village after sacrificing many Ninja and fighting a brutal battle.

So, Sunagakure’s marching route now was probably similar. If they wanted to intercept them, Mount Kikyo was the safest location.

Although Naraku was ordered not to fight and was thus excluded from the combat units, if the war spread directly from the border to his doorstep, he couldn’t be blamed.

Moreover, he hadn’t made much progress for so long. If he didn’t seize this opportunity to wreak havoc and earn some popularity points to fill his wallet, how could he justify it?

As for the bloodline limit sickness, he would just suppress it with popularity points and pretend it had slightly worsened to fool them. After all, Tsunade and Orochimaru weren’t in the Village, so no one would be able to tell if it was real.

The only problem now was that he had to quickly obtain news of ”Sunagakure’s sneak attack” through some legitimate channel. If he was late, Konoha might actually be successfully ambushed by Sunagakure.

And the only person who could transmit a message to him alone across thousands of miles was probably only Eternal Day... It was late at night, so even if Naraku was anxious, he had to honestly wait for the message to be transmitted for him to ”know” before acting.

However, he didn’t forget that Kana’s squad was operating behind the first defense line. Out of caution, he still spent popularity points to activate one [Pseudo-Izanagi: Time Reversal Modification].

If Kana happened to encounter or was about to encounter danger, it could greatly increase the probability of turning the danger into safety.

But if Kana was going to be safe anyway, then this money would be wasted... Naraku didn’t hesitate much; he would just consider it money spent for peace of mind.

There was nothing else to do after that, so he opened the forum to see what the experts in the plot section were thinking.

—

”Konoha Hunts Akatsuki, Sunagakure Behind, Hanzou’s Three Birds with One Stone Plan”

1L (OP): The intelligence revealed in the latest episode is crucial. We can see that the entire process of Amegakure and Konoha ambushing the Akatsuki Organization was within Sunagakure’s grasp.

Sunagakure’s goal was certainly not to eliminate the Akatsuki, which was insignificant to them. It could only be those dozens of Anbu from Konoha sent to Amegakure. Whether to delay or eliminate these important combat forces, it would cause great damage to Konoha’s defense line.

If they seized the opportunity for a blitzkrieg, it’s really hard to say if Konoha could withstand this wave.

That’s why Hanzou dared to dig a pit for Konoha and wasn’t afraid of retaliation. For him, it would be best if Sunagakure directly killed Konoha this time. Even if Konoha was lucky enough not to die, it would be severely weakened and completely unable to hold him accountable.

If the plan went smoothly, not to mention Sunagakure, Hanzou would truly profit immensely: solving the Akatsuki, a major problem, with the help of others (Konoha), without paying any money, and even receiving payment from others (Sunagakure)...

2L: I noticed a detail, at that time, it was Konoha’s Anbu who jumped down first to deal with Nagato.

If Nagato hadn’t gone berserk and wreaked havoc, Hanzou might have kicked them while they were down after they dealt with Nagato. Perhaps there were even some Sunagakure Ninja ambushing further out.

3L: Reply to 2L: Agreed, highly probable.

4L: Konoha lost both people and money and was invaded across its border, a huge loss; Amegakure lost people but gained money, a slight profit; Sunagakure used money to weaken Amegakure significantly and collapse Konoha’s defense line, while they themselves advanced triumphantly... Overall, it was Sunagakure’s Qin Shi Huang touching a power line—they won big time!

5L: Tsunade is probably going to be infuriated by those short-sighted old fogeys in the Village.

6L: Not just Tsunade, Jiraiya would also explode if he knew Konoha personally participated in the ambush of the Akatsuki Organization.

7L: Counting everything, the only high-ranking combatants left in Konoha Village are Hiruzen Sarutobi and the two Advisors. There aren’t many high-level combatants left. Can they withstand this wave?

8L: Will Sakumo Hatake perform a ”rising from his deathbed” act?

9L Reply to 8L: Hey, don’t say it, you really shouldn’t say it! If White Fang defeats Sunagakure again, that scene would be truly spectacular!

10L (OP): Unlikely. The power of Forest Creation is very low. Naraku and Orochimaru both said it would take a very long time to see any improvement.

11L: Even if Sakumo Hatake doesn’t wake up, it doesn’t matter. Kushina, as a nuclear weapon, can just blow up with Sunagakure. With a Tailed Beast Ball carpet bombing, there’s no way they could reach the Village.

12L: And there’s Naraku. He’s also in the Village, not on the front lines. Once his Mangekyo is activated, he’ll be slaughtering them like crazy.

13L: The upstairs comment reminded me, could Naraku be about to die this time? He’s so sick, Old Thief might really let him die in this battle!

14L: Noooo (ㄒoㄒ)... Kakashi is still on the battlefield at this time, they won’t even get to see each other one last time! Ahhh!

15L: It’s over, it’s over! The more I think about it, the more I feel Old Thief must have arranged it this way! It’s over!

...20L: naraku fans heard the news and rushed over! The sky is falling!! (╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻

21L: Old Thief! Dog Thief! Evil Thief! I will kill you!!!

22L: Sister Kanai, the sky is falling!!! What kind of ultimate bad ending is this?!

23L: It’s all over! Both the fans of naka (naraku/kakashi cp) and KakaNara are going crazy!

—

Naraku scratched his chin, thinking, ”He’s not even dead yet, and they’re already mourning. Isn’t it a bit too early?”

Fortunately, the original poster timely pulled the derailed thread back, continuing to discuss which route Sunagakure would take to attack.

—

...38L (OP): Getting off-topic, everyone. Now I’ll continue to deduce Sunagakure’s advance route. There are several terrains in the western Land of Fire that are particularly suitable for Sunagakure Ninja’s forced march. First is...

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