Chapter 84: The Biggest Winner
No one knew that both the Root organization and the Hokage Building had been invaded by powerful enemies.
Few even noticed that a fourth party was silently cleaning up the battlefield for them, collecting the corpses of their comrades.
At this time, the Konoha ninjas were tacitly cooperating.
One part escorted the villagers to the shelters, while the other part, rather than engaging in a full-fledged counterattack, was more focused on delaying the enemy and trying to survive, waiting for their comrades escorting the villagers to return before sounding the horn for a counteroffensive.
Meanwhile, the battle on Konoha Plaza remained intense.
Due to the First Hokage being resurrected by Impure World Reincarnation and using Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees to create a forest, the battle between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru could only be seen by those skilled in sensing and those with X-ray vision.
They also sensed that the Third Hokage's current situation was not good.
In the examination arena, Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy, two elite Jonin, were responsible for protecting the lives of the spectators, jointly fighting against the Sound ninjas led by Yakushi Kabuto and some Sand ninjas who had come to support them.
On the other side, Gaara and his siblings had already been captured by Izayoi and the other rookie genin.
The Konoha Crush had just begun, and the quick-reacting Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame, along with Sasuke Uchiha, who was also unaffected by genjutsu, Shikamaru Nara, and Neji Hyuga, attacked Temari and Kankuro together.
Because Gaara had used the Tanuki Sleep Technique, Temari and Kankuro didn't dare to use the Body Flicker Technique to go and retrieve Gaara. Faced with the combined efforts of the rookie genin, they were quickly defeated.
If Kurenai Yuhi hadn't arrived in time to warn them, these siblings might have been killed by the fearless rookie genin, who wouldn't have cared that their living value was much higher than their value dead.
On Gaara's side, having used the Tanuki Sleep Technique, he had relinquished control of his body to Shukaku, the One-Tail.
The chakra of a tailed beast surged forth, creating endless sand waves and quickly solidifying Shukaku's body, while also helping Gaara block the ultimate technique formed by the fusion of three nature transformations: Light Fang Cannon.
However, just as Shukaku's body was formed and before it could shout, "This great one has arrived!", its consciousness returned to Gaara's body.
This was because after its body was formed, Gaara's upper body was still protruding from its head.
The people below had difficulty noticing this target, except for Izayoi's Shadow Clone.
Izayoi, whose Shadow Clones didn't have great durability, directly took advantage of Shukaku not being fully awake and quickly flew to its head, punching Gaara's face, which wasn't protected by sand armor.
Gaara, who had just fallen into a deep sleep, was instantly awakened.
Shukaku's massive body instantly turned into endless sand waves, forming a huge sand pile in the examination arena.
By the time Gaara's consciousness slowly cleared, he had already been brought to the spectator stands in the contestant area by Izayoi.
"If you move, I'll kill you," Izayoi's voice rang in his ears.
"Don't kill Gaara! He's also my brother, he deserves to live! Please don't kill him!"
The pleading female voice completely woke Gaara up.
Looking at Temari, who was tied up with ropes and usually terrified of him but was now pleading for his life, Gaara's feelings were extremely complicated at this moment.
However, no one cared about his feelings. Kurenai Yuhi issued an order: "Hinata, seal his chakra. If he forcibly breaks through it, sever his limbs. This guy cannot be killed."
"Yes."
Hinata responded and acted, a series of Gentle Fist strikes landing on Gaara's body, sealing his chakra points.
The Byakugan in her temples, with veins bulging, was also closely watching Gaara's body. Once she noticed anything amiss, she would notify everyone.
At this moment, Izayoi's voice entered Hinata's ears, feigning ignorance: "How is Hanabi's situation?"
"Don't worry, Father has already left with Hanabi."
"That's good."
Izayoi nodded slightly, then prepared to just observe.
The main players in the Konoha Crush were the master-disciple duo of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru.
He was just a mysterious fourth party taking advantage of the chaos.
Kurenai Yuhi didn't intend for them to participate in the war, saying to Izayoi and the other rookie genin, "Take these prisoners and follow me."
After speaking, Kurenai Yuhi led Izayoi and the others, taking a detour away from Konoha Plaza, towards the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Department.
These three were all the Kazekage's children and definitely knew many things.
Along the way, they were attacked by many Sand and Sound ninjas.
But soon, Konoha ninjas came to their aid.
Izayoi, who no longer needed to hide his strength, directly floated into the air and used the ultimate technique: Judgment.
Faced with Izayoi using an ultimate technique as a normal attack, not to mention the Sand and Sound ninjas, even the Konoha ninjas who came to support them were dumbfounded.
Watching the technique that could be compressed or expanded, the former being a weakened version of the Light Fang Cannon and the latter a wide-range attacking laser beam, Sasuke Uchiha's eyes were filled with fervor, and he almost drooled.
Even his Lightning Release: Chidori, which he had just learned not long ago but had no chance to use, suddenly lost its appeal.
At the same time, Sasuke Uchiha made a decision in his heart.
Once the war ended, he would train in Water Release nature transformation, then politely ask Izayoi to teach him. If Izayoi refused, he would pester him relentlessly, mooching off him and standing by as a third wheel until Izayoi was willing to teach him the ultimate technique.
"Damn it, my home!"
Just as Sasuke Uchiha was thinking of ways to get Izayoi to teach him,
A frustrated curse suddenly snapped him back to reality.
He saw Izayoi, who had been flying in the air displaying divine power, currently looking majestic and like a god descending. The usually gentle, polite, respectful to elders, and precociously mature Izayoi suddenly cursed loudly in a certain direction.
Then he directly abandoned Kurenai Yuhi and the rookie genin, flying towards that direction.
Hinata's gaze also instantly turned sharp. Without leaving a single word, she turned into an afterimage and closely followed behind.
Following their direction, Kurenai Yuhi and the others were immediately left with a look of wry amusement.
They saw a huge three-headed snake rampaging through the city, wantonly destroying the surrounding buildings.
Explosive tags and Five Elements ninjutsu had failed to kill it, instead making it even more violent.
While its three heads attacked the ninjas who had harmed it, the three-headed snake swung its tail, accidentally destroying a two-story detached house.
This house was Izayoi's home.
It was no wonder Izayoi was so frustrated.
Kurenai Yuhi regained her senses and said to the rookie genin, "Don't worry about them, you guys continue to follow me."
"Storm Release: Judgment!"
A white laser beam shot down from the distant sky, hitting the middle head of the three-headed snake right on target.
Immediately, this huge laser beam contracted at a visible speed, changing from a simple electrothermal attack to a sharp laser cutter. As the caster's arm swayed, it cut through the entire three-headed snake. The corpse turned into a puff of white smoke and returned to Ryuchi Cave.
"So... so powerful Lightning Release attack!"
"It's not Lightning Release, it's Storm Release ultimate technique. It's the work of that ninjutsu genius everyone has been talking about recently."
"What an amazing little guy, he even knows flying ninjutsu!"
"That's great, we finally got rid of that trouble. Hurry and go support the others."
"..."
Looking at Izayoi descending from the sky, the Konoha ninjas exclaimed in admiration for a few moments before quickly turning into afterimages and going to support their other comrades.
Landing on the ground, Izayoi looked at the ruins in front of him, the corners of his mouth twitching. "The main body and those Shadow Clones are really useless."
When a person becomes ruthless, they even scold themselves.
In fact, not only the Shadow Clones, but even Izayoi's main body and the Shadow Clones responsible for controlling the puppets hadn't anticipated this scene.
The main body was responsible for harvesting the Root organization and Danzo Shimura's treasures.
The Shadow Clone at the Naka River was responsible for controlling the puppets for finishing blows, collecting corpses, and hiding them. The Tenseigan was simply too busy.
The Shadow Clone protecting Ranmaru was responsible for charging Ranmaru.
The Shadow Clone that infiltrated the Hokage Building was busy cleaning up traces and taking Tenzō away from Konoha.
None of them had noticed the three-headed snake because this snake had come all the way from the village gates. Its original fate was to be crushed by the giant toad summoned by Jiraiya.
Unexpectedly, after learning about 'Pain Tendo', Jiraiya immediately abandoned everything and ran to the underground base of the Hokage Building.
Perhaps all his luck had been used up on the drop rate. The three-headed snake, by some terrible twist of fate, headed straight for the street where Izayoi's house was located.
Out of so many houses, it had to choose Izayoi's home.
Hinata used the Body Flicker Technique to arrive beside Izayoi and softly comforted him, "It's okay, Izayoi-kun. If the house is gone, we can rebuild it. As long as you're alright."
"That's the only way. Let's find the scrolls first. They contain my savings and our photos," Izayoi nodded. What was done was done, and unless he had the ability to reverse time, even he couldn't change it.
Thus, Izayoi used the X-ray vision of his Tenseigan to locate the important items in the ruins.
Soon, Izayoi found them.
"Hinata, those guys are yours to deal with."
Izayoi glanced at a few Sound ninjas who had appeared out of nowhere and said to Hinata.
"Yes."
Hinata nodded sharply, her eyes fierce, then a large amount of chakra erupted from her hands, transforming into two purple lion heads.
Immediately, Hinata used Lightning Release chakra to stimulate her cells and increase her speed. In a flash of lightning, she appeared before a Sound ninja and struck out with her palm.
The Sound ninja who received this palm strike had the chakra in his meridians instantly devoured. At the same time, an external chakra force blasted into his body through his skin and flesh, impacting his internal organs.
The Sound ninja immediately spat out blood, losing his ability to fight.
Killing a Sound ninja with a single palm strike, Hinata continued her attack on the other Sound ninjas.
Relying on the Hyuga clan's main family's advanced secret technique, Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists, Hinata easily dealt with these cannon fodder-level Sound ninjas.
By the time she finished fighting, Izayoi had also retrieved several scrolls and a few photos protected by picture frames from the ruins.
Seeing that the photos were undamaged, Izayoi breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the ruins in front of him and comforted himself, "It's good that it's destroyed,正好 (just right) to get a bigger house."
At this moment, Izayoi and Hinata simultaneously looked towards the Hokage Rock.
In their senses, a large group of chakra signatures was surging from the direction of the Hokage Rock.
Having read the safety manual, they knew that Konoha had begun its counterattack.
With the villagers escorted to the shelters, the ninjas had no more worries.
The once strongest ninja village would unleash an astonishing level of unity.
Unless the opponent was a major ninja village mobilizing all its forces or a super powerhouse with the ability to inflict a dimensional reduction strike, no one would be a match for Konoha.
Sure enough...
With the return of the escorting ninjas, the Konoha side, which had previously appeared somewhat passive and even at a disadvantage against the combined forces of the Sand and Sound ninjas, instantly displayed overwhelming power, routing the Sand and Sound ninjas.
Adding to this, the Sand ninjas at Konoha Plaza brought back their discovery. It turned out that their Fourth Kazekage was actually Orochimaru in disguise, and the real Kazekage had disappeared.
The Sand ninjas, led by Baki, no longer cared about finding Gaara and his siblings. They hurriedly fought and fled Konoha, preparing to bring this news back to their village and let the council of elders make a decision.
And the Sand ninjas who couldn't escape very decisively chose to surrender.
As long as they weren't dead, the village would find a way to redeem them.
At the same time, the master-disciple battle between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru also reached its conclusion.
As in the original story, the aging Hiruzen Sarutobi was no longer a match for Orochimaru.
Adding to this, the opponent had resurrected the First and Second Hokage through Impure World Reincarnation. Even though they were less than one-tenth of their prime strength, they could still cause Hiruzen Sarutobi considerable trouble.
At the moment of life and death, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who often instilled the Will of Fire ideology in the new generation, made a decisive move. He chose to give up the opportunity to go to the Pure Land, offering his soul to the Reaper, and successively sealed the souls of the First and Second Hokage. Then, realizing he couldn't seal Orochimaru's soul as well, he decisively took away the souls of his hands, preventing him from ever performing ninjutsu again.
Amidst Orochimaru's piercing roar, Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes forever with a trace of a smile on his face.
Growing up together, becoming the Hokage's bodyguards and disciples together, building Konoha together, fighting openly and secretly, turning a Konoha that could win against four enemies alone into its weakest state – these good friends had achieved the 'dying on the same day of the same month of the same year' feat.
Unfortunately, one soul could still go to the Pure Land, while the other could only stay in the Reaper's stomach.
The Konoha Crush initiated by Orochimaru had no winners, whether it was the Hidden Sound Village, Konoha, or the Hidden Sand Village.
The only winner, and also the biggest winner, was Izayoi.
This Konoha Crush was a direct windfall for Izayoi.
(End of this chapter)
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