Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 310: The Backup Plan

As Ishiro left the Hyuga clan's territory and was heading towards the former residence of the Cloud delegation, an unexpected change occurred.

Ishiro came face-to-face with Tsunade, who was walking towards him.

Because his attention had been drawn by Neji Hyuga, Ishiro had not noticed Tsunade's arrival in advance. Therefore, he had no time to get away. By the time he reacted, he had already entered Tsunade's sensory range. To run now would seem rather abrupt.

And coincidentally, Tsunade, who was in a bad mood because of the Cloud ninjas, was heading in Ishiro's direction at top speed, filled with rage. From her posture, it seemed Tsunade was planning to find Orochimaru to vent her anger.

Because Tsunade's speed was too fast and Ishiro had been distracted, and his Mind's Eye had just been focused on observing Neji, it had failed to give an early warning.

Seeing the impetuous Tsunade, Ishiro did not panic. Instead, he immediately and respectfully moved out of the center of the street and stood to the side.

And Tsunade didn't pay any attention to Ishiro, planning to brush past him.

However, just at this moment, in the direction Tsunade had come from—that is, the residence of the former Cloud delegation—a violent battle suddenly broke out.

The members of the Hyuga branch family who had just finished dealing with the Cloud delegation alongside Hiashi Hyuga had just relaxed their minds when a terrifying killing intent descended upon them.

From underground at the Cloud delegation's residence, a large number of puppets suddenly shot out. These puppets had clear targets. As soon as they emerged, they launched an attack on some of the lone Hyuga branch family members with a clear division of labor.

The timing of their attack was also very clever, choosing the exact moment Tsunade left.

If they had acted any earlier, Tsunade could have immediately returned. Any later, and the Hyuga clan members would have been gone.

Seeing this, Hiashi was filled with lingering fear. In his Byakugan's vision, these puppets did not exist just now. Clearly, someone had just released them from underground. But now, as he observed carefully, he did not see any human figures.

The person hiding underground also possessed the ability to block the Byakugan's sight.

"Damn it!" Hiashi trembled with anger. "Could it be that the means to counter the Byakugan have already spread everywhere?"

The person underground had watched the Cloud delegation be completely wiped out, so they were clearly not on the same side. But they also happened to have a method to block the Byakugan.

But now, he had no energy to manage these things. What he needed to worry about most was how to escape, how to break out of the encirclement.

That's right, he and the branch family members in the courtyard were surrounded. A huge number of puppets had suddenly appeared in the courtyard. Hiashi felt like he was facing a ninja army.

When dealing with the Cloud ninjas before, some Hyuga clan members had felt embarrassed about being close-combat ninjas. But now, their thoughts had completely changed.

Facing the sudden attack of so many puppets, the number of ninjutsu-type ninjas in the entire ninja world who could last for a minute could probably be counted on two hands.

Fortunately, the Hyuga clan was entirely composed of taijutsu ninjas, and their Byakugan, in a sense, completely countered puppet masters.

Although this puppet master had used some method to hide their form, the movements of the puppets held no secrets under the Byakugan.

Apart from the first wave of sneak attacks where they suffered heavy losses, the Hyuga clan soon managed to barely stabilize the situation.

But this was only "barely." Hyuga branch family members were continuously hit by the puppets' hidden weapons and then fell to the ground, poisoned. Hiashi's situation was very bad.

Ishiro didn't know what was happening on Hiashi's side; he only knew that things were about to get bad.

Sure enough, Tsunade, who was rushing forward at full speed, stopped with a screech after hearing the commotion. By a stroke of bad luck, she happened to stop right in front of Ishiro.

Tsunade quickly turned around, looking in the direction she had come from.

Through the buildings, Tsunade couldn't see clearly what was happening inside. But the puppet figures that occasionally appeared on the rooftops, and the unique mechanical sounds when the puppets launched their hidden weapons, all told Tsunade that puppets were fighting there.

Such dense sounds—Tsunade knew at once that there were many puppets. Either many puppet masters were lying in ambush there, or someone could control a terrifying number of puppets.

But no matter which one it was, the Hyuga clan was in danger. It had to be known that the only two main family members of the Hyuga were still trapped inside.

Tsunade looked around, wanting to find someone to pass on an order, and then she saw Ishiro. After all, Ishiro was the closest Anbu to her.

"Fire a signal! Evacuate the villagers!" After speaking, Tsunade turned and rushed towards the puppet swarm.

Ishiro was completely dumbfounded. "Fire a signal? What signal? How would I know your Konoha's signal?"

After thinking for a moment, Ishiro, not caring about the consequences, took out a signal scroll from Iwagakure and fired it into the sky.

Tsunade, who was advancing, heard the noise but didn't look closely, only adding, "Follow me to support the Hyuga clan."

Ishiro was speechless, but not wanting to be exposed now, he could only quickly follow.

Following closely behind Tsunade and Ishiro was Hizashi Hyuga, as well as a portion of the combat ninjas from the Hyuga branch family who were originally guarding their clansmen.

When these branch family members saw that Hiashi's side was in trouble, none of them hesitated and directly chose to support him.

While running, Ishiro thought, "Is this because these branch family members genuinely recognize the main and branch family system, or have they become so numb that they are used to dying for the main family?"

"Are you a ninjutsu-type or a taijutsu-type? What large-area ninjutsu do you know?" Tsunade asked Ishiro. From his body movement speed, she had already judged that he should be a ninjutsu-type ninja. Now she just wanted to confirm.

The ones who had followed were all from the Hyuga branch family. No need to ask, they were all taijutsu-type ninjas. To quickly clear out that terrifying number of puppets, relying on them was not enough.

Coincidentally, Tsunade herself was also a taijutsu ninja, and at this time, the other Anbu had not yet arrived, so Tsunade could only place her hopes on Ishiro.

"Lady Hokage, I am fire attribute. I know some B-rank fire jutsu," Ishiro quickly replied respectfully.

"Alright then. In a moment, you use ninjutsu to open a path, and we'll charge into the puppet swarm. Hizashi, you all protect him. By the way, what's your name?" Tsunade directly gave the order, not forgetting to ask Ishiro at the end.

Ishiro's heart tightened. The Anbu had many members; it was normal for Tsunade not to recognize every single one, especially since he was still wearing a mask. And how long had Tsunade been in office?

But no matter how busy she was, she must have seen the Anbu roster. If the codename or name Ishiro gave was one she had no impression of, that would be awkward.

If the codename he gave happened to be one in the Konoha Anbu, and Tsunade happened to know that person, then he would be in a tragedy.

So, after hesitating for a second, Ishiro said, "My name is Ki."

Tsunade's advancing figure paused slightly, then without turning back, she chose to continue forward. Ki. Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui—this was the codename system for Root members.

A few seconds later, Tsunade said, "I am the Hokage. Even if you are a Root ninja, you are still a member of Konoha. Execute the order."

This time, Tsunade's tone was much sterner than before.

"Yes," Ishiro complied.

That's right. Ishiro intended to impersonate a Root member at this time. The attire of Root and the Anbu was not the same, but with the "Scapegoat King's" typical behavior, it was perfectly normal for Root to disguise themselves as Anbu to act.

This was the only way Ishiro could think of in a short time that wouldn't expose him.

Along the way, seeing that Tsunade hadn't noticed anything was wrong, Ishiro breathed a sigh of relief.

Tsunade didn't have the Root roster, and the codenames of Root members were not fixed. If Jia died in battle, Danzō would promote the one behind him.

So even if Tsunade had met the real Ki, it didn't matter, because that person might already be dead, and the title of Ki had been taken by Ishiro.

Or it could be that someone ahead had died, and the original Ki's ranking had risen. Ishiro had been promoted in sequence to become the new Ki.

Soon, the group arrived before the dense army of puppets. The area within a radius of dozens of meters, with the former Cloud delegation's residence as the center, was filled with puppets.

Ishiro glanced at the room where the Heavenly Transfer base had been hidden. "Good, it's not within the puppet army's encirclement."

Tsunade glanced at Ishiro but said nothing.

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!" Because the goal was to charge into the puppet army to relieve Hiashi's group, Ishiro chose the B-rank fire ninjutsu with the greatest straight-line killing power.

Ishiro didn't hold back too much. A Root member with a codename like Ki should be at least a Jonin. It wasn't excessive for Ishiro to display the strength of an Elite Jonin.

This B-rank Great Dragon Fire Technique was cast after Ishiro had increased his chakra output. Its power far surpassed a normal B-rank ninjutsu.

A thick fire dragon shot straight into the puppet swarm, forcefully blasting a narrow path.

Seeing this, the well-prepared Tsunade immediately called for Ishiro, Hizashi, and the others to charge in.

Hizashi was responsible for the rear guard, the other Hyuga branch members for protecting the left and right flanks, and Tsunade opened the path in front. Ishiro, the only ninjutsu-type ninja, was protected in the center by everyone.

The group continuously advanced. Once the path blasted open by the Great Dragon Fire was refilled by puppets, Ishiro would cast the jutsu again.

And while Ishiro's group was charging in, more and more Anbu and regular ninjas joined the ranks of besieging the puppet army.

Originally, these ninjas had not received orders. Facing the clash between the Cloud and the Hyuga, they had all chosen to watch from a distance. After all, that could only be considered a conflict. Even if it involved diplomacy between the two countries, that was a matter for later.

But the situation was different now. This dense army of puppets, if fully deployed, the impact on Konoha would be no less than the Nine-Tails Rampage.

This could already be considered a war.

In an instant, Sasori of the Red Sand, hidden underground, felt the pressure.

Sasori had come to Konoha on a mission from Nagato after being accepted into the Dark Akatsuki.

His mission was to cooperate with Orochimaru to seize the Byakugan.

Nagato himself didn't care much about the Byakugan, but its reconnaissance ability could complement White Zetsu's in certain situations.

Especially when distinguishing Jinchuriki, the Byakugan had a miraculous effect.

Coupled with Orochimaru's instigation, saying he had subordinates as inside support and could infiltrate Konoha without being discovered, Nagato finally agreed to Orochimaru's request.

This couldn't be helped. The Dark Akatsuki was actually a relatively loose organization of rogue ninjas. The relationship between Nagato's Dark Akatsuki and its members was more of a cooperation than a superior-subordinate relationship.

As a newcomer, Orochimaru had proposed his conditions for joining the organization, and Nagato had to consider them at his discretion.

For example, Sasori's condition was that the Dark Akatsuki provide him with the resources and environment to research puppets. Jūzō Biwa's request was for protection from being killed by the Mist's assassination squads.

Obtaining the Byakugan was Orochimaru's condition.

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