NOVEL WEB Chapter 103: Chapter 113
"Become a branch of Konoha in the Land of Wind."
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One hour passed.
Every villager in Sunagakure now knew—the village of Sunagakure no longer existed.
The ninja in charge of forehead protector production and distribution had already received the order to change the Sunagakure symbol to the Konoha leaf.
All the Sunagakure forehead protectors needed to be replaced with Konoha ones—within a single day.
Then Kitahara Kaede instructed Temari to arrange people to head to Amegakure to deliver a message.
Or rather, to get straight to the point and strike a deal.
Have them prepare funds and come to ransom Sasori.
As for Sasori, the master of puppetry—his puppet body and his heart had been separated, but everyone knew that once reassembled, he could move again.
That's puppetry.
But puppetry wasn't the important thing right now. When it came to Kankurō, he was nowhere near competent in it.
As for Sasuke and Naruto—they were asked to stay and help organize information on all past and present Sunagakure jōnin and higher-ranked ninjas.
And after confirming the data…
They would also need to do something very important… that is—dig graves.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Dig graves?
[Tobirama]: Big brother, you don't get it.
[Tobirama]: Sunagakure doesn't have many outstanding ninja, but if they're usable, we'll use them.
[Tobirama]: So this is about using Edo Tensei—resurrecting the barely qualified Sunagakure ninjas.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Oh, I see.
[Tobirama]: But the way he's thinking and the pace he's moving at is even faster than I had imagined.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: ???
[Tobirama]: I had thought about this before too, but worried it would cause rejection, so I hadn't decided.
[Tobirama]: But he's already started the trial.
[Tobirama]: Which means Kitahara Kaede is experimenting with letting Edo Tensei resurrected people live alongside normal people, starting in Sunagakure.
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: ???
[Tobirama]: …
[Tobirama]: …
[Tobirama]: …
[Tobirama]: Sigh… Big brother, think a bit more.
[Tobirama]: In the 60 years of the shinobi world, what has increased the most?
[Tobirama]: The number of ninja who died in the ninja wars!
[Tobirama]: No matter which village—it's the same.
[Tobirama]: And… Konoha produced the most geniuses and excellent ninjas.
[Tobirama]: So…
[Tobirama]: Kitahara Kaede is thinking about Konoha's fallen ninjas.
[Tobirama]: Big brother, if I wanted to resurrect you with Edo Tensei to help Konoha, would you help?
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: If it were me, I'd want to come back and help Konoha.
Hashirama immediately replied.
[Tobirama]: Right.
[Tobirama]: Yes, and 90% of Konoha's other ninjas would feel the same way.
[Tobirama]: Although Hiruzen did a poor job, he undeniably spread the Will of Fire very well.
[Tobirama]: Like Kakashi's father… he actually committed suicide…
[Tobirama]: He didn't want to hurt others, so he chose to end himself.
[Tobirama]: Ugh! Konoha's White Fang definitely had the Will of Fire. What a pity!
[Tobirama]: …
[Tobirama]: Damn!
[Big Dumb - Hashirama]: Hm?
[Tobirama]: I realize now that Hiruzen was completely unfit to be Hokage. He should've just been a teacher at the Ninja Academy.
[Minato Namikaze]: Uh…
Because Naruto had already grown stronger and let go of the past, Minato finally felt relieved.
Even though he still held reservations about the Third Hokage, he had come to see that Konoha—seemingly in decline—was not a crumbling ruin after all.
But…
With the Second Hokage's proposal, and Kitahara Kaede's pilot programs…
If Sunagakure accepted a large number of Edo Tensei resurrected ninjas, it meant this could be implemented in Konoha too.
And what Konoha had no shortage of over the years—was dead jōnin.
So if this force could emerge and be put to use… then…
Konoha would immediately return to the top as the Number One Shinobi Village.
Three thousand jōnin is no longer a dream!
[Kakashi Hatake]: …I see.
And what Kakashi thought of—was when Danzo was executed. Kitahara Kaede had him photograph the body, and preserve both the arm full of Sharingan and the Sharingan in Danzo's right eye.
It was all… to resurrect the Uchiha clan with Edo Tensei.
The Uchiha clan were naive and kind at heart.
Reveal the truth about Danzo, give them justice…
Because:
[If anything happens, let Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado take the blame.]
Which meant—after dragging out Danzo, sacrificing one of the elders like Koharu or Homura, the Uchiha would return.
Then the Uchiha clan's decades of dormant power would return to Konoha.
Konoha would become stronger and more prosperous than ever! Only in this era could that be achieved and accumulated.
No wonder… no wonder…
Kakashi realized the task was monumental. No wonder the Second Hokage said Kitahara Kaede had refused multiple times to be a candidate for Hokage.
Because this required all past Hokage to be present to handle it.
It came with great responsibility and countless missions.
One person alone… it was too exhausting. Without a few Kage to share the burden, there was no joy in it.
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Meanwhile…
Sunagakure had already sent people to Amegakure to seek out the Akatsuki for a ransom deal.
But something like this…
"Impossible!"
At Amegakure's village gates, Kakuzu—who had just returned from a mission—was the first to oppose it.
"How can we pull money out of our own pockets to make peace?"
"They failed to capture the Tailed Beasts—that's their own problem!"
"I'm not paying a single coin!" Kakuzu was personally brought back by Konan to serve as Akatsuki's financial director.
Pain assigned the missions, and anything money-related went to Kakuzu.
So he was the organization's treasurer.
But his background was far from ordinary—he was a living fossil of the shinobi world. In his youth, he had been ordered by his village to assassinate Hashirama Senju. When he failed, he was blamed by the village, so he wiped out the entire village in revenge and stole their secret technique.
By taking others' hearts, he could keep living.
And now, with five hearts, he had lived over 90 years.
Didn't living that long make him tired?
Yes—except for one thing.
Money.
He joined the black market, became a bounty hunter, assassinated targets, and exchanged their bodies for money.
Money, money, little money… hehehe… money money…
He only cared about money. So the idea of using money to ransom Sasori? No way.
But—
"Pay them."
It was Black Zetsu who spoke, now returned. "Forget the Tailed Beasts for now. Stop trying to capture them."
Seeing the others staring, Black Zetsu added, "This is what Tobi and I agreed on."
"Right, Tobi?"
"..." Tobi.
"..." Obito.
?????
Tobi—who was actually Obito—looked at Black Zetsu, completely bewildered.
Was there something wrong with Black Zetsu—or with himself?
They had just said they were going after the Tailed Beasts and starting the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Now they were suddenly backing off?
What the hell?
How could things change this fast?
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