Starting as the Hidden Mastermind from Naruto

Chapter 148: Traces of Two Rogue Ninjas

Jiraiya in Sage Mode was very strong.

If he wanted to, he could escape from the siege of a top-tier combatant like the Six Paths of Pain. With sufficient intelligence, he could even counter-kill a few of the Pains.

Currently, the two toad sages, Fukasaku and Shima, sitting on Jiraiya's shoulders, looked small but were actually the highest combat power that could be summoned from Mount Myoboku. Besides providing him with natural energy to maintain Sage Mode for a long time, they could also help him fight.

However, after defeating Might Guy in his Gate of Shock state, Naraku Uehara's self-confidence had greatly increased. He was certain he could win.

If Naraku Uehara was willing to fight with his life, Jiraiya, without any intelligence, should not be his opponent, right?

After all, if worst came to worst, Uehara could still summon Galio.

But Jiraiya's relationship with Akatsuki was complicated.

Naraku Uehara didn't want the fight to be too intense. He just wanted to take the reward for defeating Jiraiya, as these rewards certainly wouldn't be too bad.

Naraku Uehara looked at Jiraiya, shook his head, and sighed softly, "I respect you very much. My teacher and my elders hold Lord Jiraiya's character in high esteem. If they knew I was fighting against you, they would definitely be very unhappy."

This sentence was true.

Even though the master and disciples had parted ways, Konan still respected Jiraiya in her heart.

"Oh?"

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows, seemingly a little interested, "Unfortunately, I don't know many friends in Amegakure... Many years ago, I did take on three disciples in the Land of Rain, but unfortunately, they all died in the Third Great Ninja War."

"Little Jiraiya."

Fukasaku suddenly interrupted their conversation and said in a deep voice, "Don't waste the summoning time. That Gamabunta fellow is still lying in a sickbed! Let's finish this quickly, the old lady and I still need to go take care of him!"

"Ha, Bunta is injured? What happened?"

Jiraiya was a little concerned about his old friend.

Fukasaku nodded and explained in a low voice, "Yes, Bunta said a friend of little Naruto injured it. I think his name was Ue… Ue-something…"

"Naraku Uehara."

Naraku Uehara said his own name and explained, "Actually, I just wanted to help Naruto subdue his summoning beast. After all, Lord Jiraiya asked for my help at the time, and I just happened to find that big toad named Bunta to be a bit foul-mouthed and not very obedient."

The gazes of one person and two toads instantly fixed on Uehara.

Jiraiya couldn't help but slap his forehead, "Hey, hey, hey, brat, that's not what I meant at the time…"

Fukasaku was immediately displeased, "This little brat is really meddlesome! A summoning beast is a ninja's partner, not a ninja's servant…"

Shima couldn't help but start rolling up her small sleeves and chimed in, "Little Jiraiya, this kind of brat really needs to be taught a good lesson… Don't waste the summoning time, let's end this battle right now!"

"Understood."

This battle was unavoidable.

The chaos in Konoha had to be quelled immediately.

"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"

Jiraiya quickly formed hand seals, instantly turning the ground beneath Naraku Uehara into a swamp, attempting to restrict Uehara's speed.

However, after this technique ended, Jiraiya was somewhat surprised to see that Naraku Uehara's feet were completely clean, not stained with the slightest bit of mud…

This guy had been flying the whole time!

"An enemy who can fly in the air?"

Shima frowned at once, shooting her long tongue out towards Naraku Uehara, trying to bind his movements, "Tongue War Binding!"

"Secret Technique! Duskblade!"

A purple chakra broadsword instantly appeared in Naraku Uehara's hand. He tried to cut the long tongue with one slash, but the chakra-infused tongue was exceptionally tough and wrapped tightly around his purple broadsword.

"Water Release: Water Cutter!"

A thin stream of high-pressure water shot out from Fukasaku's mouth, cutting horizontally towards Naraku Uehara's body, seemingly wanting to slice him in two with one move!

Naraku Uehara decisively let go of the purple broadsword in his hand, flash-stepped behind Jiraiya, and threw a punch at Fukasaku's head!

"I was prepared for this move long ago!"

Jiraiya abruptly turned and grabbed Uehara's fist, only to feel a colossal force attack him. If Jiraiya hadn't activated Sage Mode, he felt it would have been difficult to even take this punch.

But this still didn't stop Jiraiya from praising him, "Your Body Flicker Technique alone is faster than Hanzo of the Salamander, and not even inferior to that little fellow Minato!"

Yes.

Naraku Uehara's Body Flicker was very fast.

If he didn't know that Naraku Uehara hadn't left any Flying Thunder God markings, Jiraiya might have even suspected that Naraku Uehara had learned the Flying Thunder God Technique.

But since he had caught Uehara's opening, Jiraiya certainly wouldn't give up. His other palm quickly opened, about to slap Naraku Uehara's body, "Sage Art: Rasengan!"

Smack!

Naraku Uehara grabbed his palm with his other hand. Feeling the airwaves from the Rasengan rubbing against the air, he slowly raised his head to look at the tall Jiraiya and said softly, "A no-hand-seal ninjutsu? Truly amazing, Lord Jiraiya!"

However, the next moment, the Rasengan abruptly dissipated!

An invisible attack sent Naraku Uehara flying!

Mount Myoboku's secret taijutsu, Frog Kumite. This ability could mobilize natural energy to attack an enemy, making it completely imperceptible.

Naraku Uehara glanced at the damage brought by the Frog Kumite, his brow couldn't help but furrow. His hands quickly formed seals, and a huge hurricane vortex appeared beside him, "Wind Release: Hurricane's Howl!"

This hurricane quickly moved towards Jiraiya, enveloping Jiraiya and the others within it.

Jiraiya frowned. He could only infuse chakra into his feet to fix his body in place, lest he be swept into the hurricane.

This way, they could only face Naraku Uehara's attacks.

As expected.

Naraku Uehara didn't let this opportunity go. A monstrous wave emerged from under his feet and instantly rushed towards Jiraiya!

"Not good!"

Seeing the huge wave, Jiraiya's expression changed drastically. He could only form hand seals to defend, "Earth Release: Mud-Walled Fortress!"

A tall earthen wall appeared before him!

Jiraiya, with chakra covering his feet, climbed up the earthen wall, looking down as the monstrous wave swept in, quickly submerging the area around the wall.

A moment later.

The hurricane gradually dissipated, and the wave also gradually receded.

Fukasaku urged in a deep voice, "Little Jiraiya, I understand you might want to spare this brat's life, but we can't keep countering move for move like this. It will waste our summoning time!"

"That's right."

Shima also persuaded from the side, "Use a powerful sage art immediately! This brat is not easy to deal with!"

"Understood!"

Jiraiya flew down and prostrated himself. His long hair instantly spread out, turning into countless hardened senbon, and shot towards Naraku Uehara, "Sage Art: Needle Jizo!"

"Wind Release: Wind Barrier!"

Naraku Uehara immediately formed a wind wall, blocking the attack of the Needle Jizo. The two of them, separated by the wide ruins, began a contest of ninjutsu!

For Jiraiya, this clearly entered his rhythm!

After the wind wall disappeared, Jiraiya quickly launched his own attack, "Ninpō: Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"

A mass of white hair instantly extended, tightly binding Naraku Uehara's body in the air. Then, Jiraiya spewed out a stream of toad oil, "Sage Art: Goemon… Toad Oil Bullet!"

Following Jiraiya's action, Fukasaku beside him spewed out a Wind Release ninjutsu, and Shima spewed out a Fire Release ninjutsu!

The flames quickly ignited the toad oil!

Wind feeds the fire, oil feeds the flame's might!

Instantly, a sky-covering flame surged towards Naraku Uehara. The land was scorched by this monstrous wave of fire, and the toad oil even triggered an explosion!

The speed of the fire wave was too fast, there was no opportunity to even find a chance to dodge!

Moreover, this was a completely unstoppable technique!

Unless he used Demonic Bubble-Toke, it was absolutely impossible to extinguish these flames.

Naraku Uehara frowned. A golden light shield appeared around his body, and at the same time, his body rapidly ascended, escaping the burning area of the flames.

It was the invincibility of Divine Judgment's Moment.

This was the first enemy to force him to use his invincibility skill since his life energy and chakra energy had broken ten thousand points!

As expected, Jiraiya could not be underestimated!

If he was slightly careless, he could very likely be overturned!

Latest novels are first released on 69shu bar!

Jiraiya's expression suddenly changed as he looked at the unharmed Naraku Uehara in the air, "What is that technique? Is it a defensive technique similar to the Water Prison Technique?"

"Sorry, Lord Jiraiya."

Naraku Uehara raised his palm. Golden chakra light swords floated around the light shield. He looked down at Jiraiya on the ground and said in a deep voice, "I must tell you, this time you have lost."

Golden light swords shot towards the ground!

Jiraiya hurriedly dodged. He saw the golden light swords shoot into the ground, causing the earth to crack inch by inch. Clearly, their power was not small.

However, two light swords still managed to graze the bodies of Fukasaku and Shima, almost killing the two toad sages!

Or rather, these chakra light swords were originally aimed at them!

Bang!

The two toads dissipated into puffs of smoke!

The natural energy in Jiraiya's body gradually became insufficient, and he had to exit Sage Mode. This battle had been quite difficult for him.

Now that Sage Mode was broken, Naraku Uehara no longer hesitated. He had already gained the upper hand, and the reward for defeating Sage Mode Jiraiya was already in his hands!

Next was to use the fiery momentum from his battle with Might Guy to defeat Jiraiya!

Naraku Uehara flew down in front of Jiraiya, clenched his fist, and threw a punch at Jiraiya!

Bang!

This punch, however, only hit a shadow clone!

Immediately after, Naraku Uehara was kicked away by another Jiraiya who had appeared!

Naraku Uehara slowly got up, patted the dust off his clothes, and started cursing inwardly. Why had he been getting shown up by enemy shadow clones so much recently?

Ever since Uehara saw Itachi Uchiha show up Obito Uchiha with a crow clone, he seemed to have started having bad luck. Today, he himself had been tricked twice, by Kakashi's lightning clone and Jiraiya's shadow clone.

Jiraiya looked at Naraku Uehara getting up in the distance, a slight smile on his lips as he said in a low voice, "Brat, I'm a little curious. You were able to copy Guy's ability just now. Why didn't you use that technique on me? You clearly still have a lot of chakra, right?"

Naraku Uehara gave Jiraiya a speechless look and replied softly, "Because Lord Jiraiya's abilities are not worth wasting my precious technique on."

This was, of course, nonsense.

Naraku Uehara believed that Jiraiya's strength lay entirely in his summoning beasts. What if he stole the Summoning Jutsu?

Jiraiya's expression immediately choked up. He flexed his wrist, his expression gradually becoming serious, "What a troublesome little fellow…"

After losing Sage Mode, Jiraiya didn't actually feel that his strength had decreased. As an orthodox ninja, his fighting style was not limited to a single method.

The means of battle were far more important than strength.

Sage Mode was indeed very powerful, but because he had summoned the two toad sages, Fukasaku and Shima, it also limited Jiraiya's diverse fighting styles, preventing him from summoning other beasts.

It even meant that in a taijutsu fight, Jiraiya had to ensure no one harmed the two sages who were helping him absorb natural energy.

Facing an unconventional genius ninja like Naraku Uehara, who possessed many rare ninjutsu, Jiraiya believed he had to use some unconventional fighting methods.

"Ninpō: Summoning…"

"Lord Jiraiya!"

Just as Jiraiya was about to form seals to summon a toad, several Anbu appeared around them, interrupting their battle, "The advisors wish to see you immediately. We will take over here!"

Dozens of Anbu ninjas densely leaped around them, instantly surrounding Naraku Uehara!

Clearly, this was a large-scale mobilization of the Konoha Anbu!

The leading Anbu captain walked to Jiraiya's side and explained in a low voice, "Lord Third Hokage has died in battle. To appease the hearts of the people in the village, the advisors believe that the next generation of Konoha's Hokage cannot suffer another defeat. We will take over matters here… I'm sorry, please consider the bigger picture. Just leave this to us to handle."

This decision had just been made by the two Konoha high-level advisors.

Because Jiraiya had been unable to defeat Naraku Uehara, the two high-level advisors, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, in order to appease the people, could not let Konoha's top combat power suffer another defeat.

Strictly speaking, after Hiruzen Sarutobi's death, Konoha was now left with only Jiraiya as its top expert with both prestige and strength.

Now, Jiraiya and Naraku Uehara had been fighting for quite some time. If Jiraiya were to unexpectedly lose, it would be a severe blow to Konoha's prestige.

Therefore, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado decided to interrupt this battle, no longer letting Jiraiya face a strong enemy alone.

It had to be said, for the sake of the entire Konoha, the actions of the two high-level advisors were understandable. It was a bit cautious, but it could be said to be reasonable.

After the Third Hokage's death, they urgently needed a top-tier combat power to give the villagers confidence and make enemy countries fearful.

What if their chosen Fifth Hokage, Jiraiya, was defeated by an Amegakure ninja? Wouldn't Konoha's prestige be swept to the ground?

How could they maintain the dignity of the number one ninja village?

Especially since Konoha now had other troubles.

"Hokage, that's something I will never be!"

Jiraiya shook his head. He had never liked the position of Hokage before, and after today, he disliked it even more.

Jiraiya refused the Anbu's proposal in a deep voice, "Go back and tell them, I will help them find a suitable candidate for Hokage!"

"I'm sorry."

The Anbu captain refused Jiraiya's order and continued, "Lord Jiraiya, for Konoha's sake, please comply with the higher-ups' orders."

"Stand down!"

Jiraiya looked at Naraku Uehara, who was surrounded by a group of Anbu, and said in a deep voice, "Wait until I've dealt with this brat. He is not someone you can easily handle. Stand down!"

However, the Anbu captain's arrival was, of course, not without preparation.

This Anbu captain threw a scroll towards Naraku Uehara and said in a deep voice, "The advisors have heard of your wish to do whatever it takes to achieve an alliance between Konoha and Amegakure. Konoha has decided to agree to sign Amegakure's treaty of alliance…"

After speaking, this Anbu captain added, "If you agree, we will immediately send someone to contact Amegakure to sign a mutual defense pact…"

"..."

Konoha would actually make such a concession?

Why would they make such a concession to a mere Amegakure ninja like him!

Naraku Uehara was a bit stunned, not understanding why things had developed to this point.

He felt as if he had shot himself in the foot!

Jiraiya was somewhat incredulous about these concessions, "What on earth is going on?"

The Anbu captain leaned close to Jiraiya's ear and said in a low voice, "Lord Jiraiya, the Sensory Team has discovered the traces of two S-rank rogue ninjas around the village. One of them is Itachi Uchiha!"

(End of Chapter)

---

Read up to 20 chapter ahead of time on patreon.com/Legendryweeb

{please give this novel 5 Star review and power stone}

*Thank you*.