Chapter – 358 Mocking Destiny

Looking at all the injured and killed Anbu, as well as the injured Ino-Shika-Cho Patriarch, Sandaime can't help but think bitterly, "I never expected that a day would come when Konoha would face an enemy who has inherited Shodaime Hokage-sama's Mokuton!"

Sandaime had a sorrowful expression as he remembered the old times he spent under the tutelage of Shodaime Hokage-sama and Nidaime Hokage-sama.

It is no exaggeration to say that Konohagakure was built solely on the powers of Shodaime-sama's Mokuton.

With his Mokuton, Senju Hashirama calmed the troubled and dangerous warring states period, established Konoha, established the system of one village and one nation, made Konoha the strongest shinobi village there was.

Therefore, Mokuton became the symbol of Konohagakure…

But with the death of Shodaime-sama, Mokuton disappeared… no one inherited Senju Hashirama's legacy, thus, Mokuton disappeared.

Konoha leaders couldn't accept the fact that Mokuton has disappeared, in order to change this reality they started experiments to transplant Hashirama cells into volunteer adults in an attempt to recreate the God of Shinobi.

However, the result did not go as they expected(?) or wanted(?).

Without exception, the experiments on each individual resulted in a failure, every last one of them died, none survived and the casualties only kept rising… most deaths were from the Senju Clan. The village leaders had most hopes from the members of the Senju Clan to inherit Mokuton, but their hopes were all crushed.

Consequently, with great regret, the village leaders were left with no choice, the experiments had to be terminated and had to be sealed away in the forbidden section… never to be explored ever again.

At the same time, they had to accept the fact that this Shinobi World has lost Mokuton.

However, there are always certain individuals who do not bind themselves by meager rules, they have various purposes and motivations to do what they intend.

In the hopes of acquiring more and more power whether political or strength-wise or learning all Jutsu in existence, there was some fellow who restarted carrying out those forbidden bloody experiments.

Sandaime does not know if their experiments resulted in a success or not… but he did not learn of these experiments being carried out in secrecy.

And the result now appears in front of him…

He who had believed that Mokuton has disappeared and has now become history like many past legends of the Shinobi World, only to be recorded in the archives for a general understanding and to be remembered by people of old age as an after-meal talk, was utterly shocked at the result before him.

The very existence of this Tobi(?) fellow is a slap in the face of Hokage. One who should have been wearing the forehead protector of Konoha, the Shinobi vest of Konoha, is wearing the Akatsuki Traditional Cloak and a one-eyed swirl-shaped orange mask.

The one who should have been protecting the village from all its enemies is an enemy of Konoha.

The one… who should be saving the lives of his fellow Konoha shinobi… is now harvesting their lives mercilessly.

"Just… who are you? You have inherited Shodaime-sama's Mokuton… why do you have this Kekkei Genkai?" – Sandaime questioned Tobi.

Tobi retracted his gaze from the direction of Amegakure, then looked at the old Hokage and said, "Ara…? Hokage-sama wants to know who Tobi is? Tobi(?) is Tobi! And Tobi can use Mokuton because Tobi knows magic… Tobi knows all kinds of magic… you can not even touch Tobi, but Tobi can touch you… why? Because Tobi is a magician!" – Pausing here, he continued with a deep tone, "But if you wish to know any further... You will have to defeat me first… which is something you will never ever be able to do, after all, you have gotten old Sarutobi…"

And unfortunately what Tobi just said is in fact true, even if he understands this fact he cannot accept, but even if he cannot accept it, he cannot do anything to retort to it… all he can do is grit his teeth in frustration, "Damn it!"

An enemy with both Mokuton and Space-Time Jutsu, it is as if destiny is mocking him by pitting him against someone who has the combined power of Shodaime, Nidaime, and Yondaime Hokage at once.

Although he does not have as much understanding of Space-Time Jutsu as Yondaime Hokage, nonetheless, he has roughly figured out some basic principles of Tobi's Space-Time Jutsu.

Basics principle simply says that as long as Tobi does not want to be touched he can not be touched.

Coupled with Mokuton, he can harvest lives even from long distances… all those corpses lying around are the direct proof of all this.

Drip… drip…

At this time, the winds coming from the Amegakure made the rain stronger. The heavy rain scoured the ground forming puddles of water mixed in with the blood of the dead shinobi.

Suddenly, venus flytrap extended out of the tree Tobi was standing upon. Venus flytrap leaves opened to reveal a half black and half white body. This was none other than Zetsu.

Tobi asked Zetsu, "What is happening in the village?"

Zetsu replied, "Amatsukami has attacked, the leader of Amatsukami is fighting against Nagato, and Homusubi is fighting Konan…"

"Amatsukami…?" – Tobi's face sank as soon as Zetsu's words fell.

Especially from the fact that Zetsu said Nagato, not Pain… It means that Nagato's secret is known to Amatuskami…

Tobi is not afraid of the five great shinobi villages, if he really intends then with the combined power of the Akatsuki Organization, any village can be destroyed within a single day, it is just that before all the preparations are completed for the project Tsuki no Me, Tobi does not want to turn his face against these villages.

But Amatsukami is another matter altogether… a mysterious organization about which you can't find any details, no matter how much you search sure is creepy and weird. Moreover, each of the members of Amatsukami has shown such superior strength that makes Tobi really careful when dealing with Amatsukami.

Tobi asked Zetsu, "Is Yama so strong that Nagato had to summon both Gedo Mazo and Nibi's Jinchuriki?"

Zetsu said after a bit of thinking, "He is strong no doubt, but what's more troubling is that he knew the secret of Pain Rikudo… and directly went after Nagato…"

Tobi wasn't surprised, but at the same time, he was.

Tobi feels that the person he met at the Base of Root on the night of Uchiha Shinichi's defection from Konoha is Yama, so he knows that Yama is strong for sure, but never imagined that his strength would be so exaggerated that Nagato will have to rely on Gedo Mazo and Nibi.

Listening to the dialogue between Tobi and Zetsu, even Sandaime looked in the direction of Amegakure and thought, 'Amatsukami has also come here? Could it be that Amatsukami has always been aware of the location of the Akatsuki Organization's base, or is it that they learned it recently? Regardless, if the leaders of the Amatsukami and Akatsuki Organization are fighting then does that mean no other units could sneak into Amegakure? And what happened to Jiraiya, Kakashi, and the others?'

…

Outside Amegakure, a place where no fighting was taking place.

Two figures wearing raincoats stood quietly in the rain. If Kuroto was here, he could easily tell that these two are none other than Orochimaru and his loyal subordinate, Kabuto.

Listening to the roars of the Gedo Mazo and looking at the looming golden light shining through the gloomy skies of Amegakure, Orochimaru muttered in a hoarse tone, "I did not expect the old man to have enough courage to launch a raid on the Akatsuki Organization… it's rather surprising if you ask me."

Kabuto said, "But this raid planned by Hokage-sama sure has helped us a lot, if the Akatsuki Organization is eliminated then our lives will become much easier."

Akatsuki Organization has never given up on killing Orochimaru, but they have never been able to kill him because of his extremely slippery nature.

But continuously escaping from the pursuit of the Akatsuki Organization is also troublesome for him. Therefore, when he received information from Hyuga Kuroto about the Hokage's plans, Orochimaru too came to Amegakure secretly.

There are several purposes in doing this.

The first is to observe the results of this battle.

Second, as much as he wants to deny it, he did have the intention to help out the tri-Alliance, if need be, as the Akatsuki Organization is a common enemy.

Third, and most importantly, if possible, to reap some benefits out of this raid, perhaps acquire the body of either Uchiha Shinichi or that of Uchiha Shisui, or if at all possible then of Pain.

But he changed his mind after witnessing some more things.

When he saw (through his white snakes) Pain Rikudo, Orochimaru was rather intrigued and when he learned the secrets of Pain Rikudo being nothing more than puppets, Orochimaru was more surprised.

Similar to Jiraiya, he also reached the same conclusion… 'Perhaps the third child is the one controlling Pain Rikudo, the one named Nagato.'

Feeling that he has learned something interesting and with the desire to know more, Orochimaru made his snakes go deeper into Amegakure, to search for the location of the third child.

Just when he felt like he has gotten closer to something, then this happened.

Gedo Mazo and Golden Sword appeared out of nowhere. While looking at that existence which can't be called anything short of a monstrosity, as well as peering at all the information he has gotten of the various battlefronts, Orochimaru can't help but think, 'I am surprised that Akatsuki is able to singlehandedly defeat all the three villages at the same time… If I hadn't known any better… I would have scoffed at such a sight… Konoha, Suna, and Kumo formed a tri-Alliance, yet they are unable to take dominate this battle… Perhaps I was too hasty in leaving the Akatsuki. If I had stayed within this organization for a while longer, I might have learned more things… things that would have helped me reach quite a lot closer to learning the truth of this world.. sigh, there is no reason to delve and regret on these matters now.'

While Orochimaru was busy thinking some things, Kabuto asked, "Orochimaru-sama, do you have any information as to who are the two people fighting at the center of Amegakure?"

A trace of curiosity flashed in Orochimaru's eyes, and he said, "One of them, the one controlling the large wooden statue should be the leader of the Akatsuki Organization… one remotely controlling those Pain avatars, the one named Nagato, as for the other one…"

Kabuto asked, "Who is the other one?"

Orochimaru thought a little, then shook his head, "Hmm, honestly I do not have any idea who the other person is… for the time being, at least. No shinobi of either of the three villages partaking in this battle seems to have such strength… so it is difficult to guess."

…

On Suna's side.

"Damn that bastard Pain… making me have to hide and wait in secret while everyone is having so much fun…!" – cursed a teenager in annoyance while he hid as best as he could in wait of the best timings to make his move.

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