Chapter – 542 Hokage and Tsuchikage’s Helplessness

With the arrival of Sandaime Hokage and Sandaime Tsuchikage, both Shisui, and Itachi disguised as Homusubi breathed a sigh of relief.

It's not that the two of them expect Sandaime Hokage or Sandaime Tsuchikage to be able to help in the battle, they are just relieved that these two Kage are still alive.

When the two of them saw the tragic situation of the Godaime Kazekage, Yondaime Raikage, and Yondaime Mizukage, as well as what had happened to the Yondaime Kazekage last time at the War of the Best, both of them were really worried about the situation of the Sandaime Hokage and Sandaime Tsuchikage and thought that perhaps the two of them have been secretly killed by other members of the Akatsuki Organization… after all, both of them were missing at the same time…

But now that they have personally confirmed that that's not the case, and both Sandaime Hokage and Tsuchikage are safe, both Shisui and Homusubi are really relieved.

In fact, Sandaime Hokage did not even participate in the previous battle of Gokage v/s Akatsuki, nor did he fight against any other member of the Akatsuki Organization…

Of course, this does not mean that he had no intention of joining any battle. Truth be told, Sandaime Hokage had every intention of joining the Gokage v/s Nagato battle and was eagerly waiting for the message from Yamanaka Inoichi to arrive while presiding over all the ongoing battles in the village from the Roof of Hokage Building.

But before he could receive any message from Yamanaka Inoichi about the hidden location of Nagato, Sandaime Hokage, who was standing on the roof of the Hokage Building suddenly discovered the figure of Tendo Pain floating above the sky of Konoha…

Initially, he was confused about what Tendo Pain wanted to do and assumed that perhaps Tendo Pain was observing the situation in the Village, but after receiving several messages about the abrupt evacuation of all the Akatsuki members from the Village at the same time, Sandaime Hokage immediately realized the abnormality of the situation.

Although he didn't know what exactly Tendo Pain wanted to do, he at least understood that it would not be a good thing… So, immediately, Sandaime Hokage used all the Chakra he could muster to cast several Earth Style Defensive Jutsu in order to protect the key areas of the Village including all the refugee Shelters, Hokage Building, Anbu base, Intelligence Base, Konoha Hospital, Konoha Academy as well as several other important locations from Tendo Pain's Super Shinra Tensei.

With the timely action, Sandaime Hokage did manage to negate the damage at these places to the bare minimum, however, he, himself was not lucky enough and directly bore the impact of Tendo Pain's Super Shinra Tensei… As a result of which, he along with the entire Hokage Building was completely crushed and buried deep into the rubble.

Because of directly bearing the impact of Tendo Pain's Super Shinra Tensei and because of heavy Chakra Consumption at the time of using defensive Earth Style Jutsu, coupled with his old age, he lost consciousness and was unable to come out of the rubble.

It was only after the battle inside the village had ended and all the foreign parties had retreated that Jiraiya and Tsunade who were worried about Sandaime found and rescued him from the pile of rubble.

After Sandaime was rescued and regained consciousness, he was told the intelligence that the Four Kage, as well as Elder Hamura, along with several dozens of Shinobi had already secretly left the Village to kill the leader of the Akatsuki Organization.

As soon as he learned this piece of intelligence, he simply instructed Elder Koharu to preside over the situation in the village, then immediately rushed towards the outer battlefield while completely ignoring his own Chakra exhaustion and injuries.

It was only thanks to the treatment given by Tsunade while rushing here that Sandaime Hokage's injuries had recovered and his Chakra Reserves were also restored.

For Sandaime Hokage, the destruction of the Village is already an established and irreversible fact, although he is deeply angered and saddened at what has happened to the Village, he knows that he can not change what has already happened… but even then, if the Akatsuki Organization that threatens the peace of the Shinobi World can be eliminated once and for all at the cost of one-time destruction of Konoha Village, then he is willing to clench his teeth, harden his heart and bear such a cost.

Therefore, regardless of the situation in the village, and without any care for his own injuries, he rushed towards the outer battlefield in order to provide whatever support he can so that they can completely eliminate the threat of the Akatsuki Organization.

When he was rushing here, Sandaime Hokage had imagined all sorts of scenarios that he might end up facing, and also thought up their respective countermeasures so as to cope with those scenarios… but never did he expect to face such a scene upon arriving here and was deeply stunned.

Watching dozens of elite Jonins lying dead or injured on the messy battlefield, watching Yondaime Mizukage Karatachi Yagura, and Killer Bee, the two perfect Jinchuriki lying injured and being stripped of their respective Bijuu, watching the Yondaime Raikage, and the Godaime Kazekage lying injured and unconscious in the pool of their own blood, and watching Uzumaki Nagato, the leader of the Akatsuki Organization, as well as the three other Akatsuki members including the masked man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara, Konan, and Tobi standing completely unharmed despite facing all these people… Sandaime Hokage finally realized that he had really underestimated the threat of the Akatsuki Organization, as a result, everything he did was completely meaningless…

All the planning and strategizing he did to catch the Akatsuki Organization in the carefully woven trap in order to completely eliminate it once and for all with a thunderous strike resulted in a complete failure, and after everything that has happened tonight; the one who was truly defeated was not the Akatsuki Organization and Nagato, but Konoha Village and him...!

Such a reality really made Sandaime Hokage feel desperate for the first time, and he can't help but clench his fist at his own weakness… and inability to protect the village…

But at the end of the day, he can only sigh… and look at the figure of Yama with the hope that the leader of Amatsukami protects the village.

And while Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen was helpless, Sandaime Tsuchikage Onoki who was also floating in the sky looked at the battlefield.

Previously he too participated in the battle to eliminate Uzumaki Nagato, the leader of Akatsuki, but their company couldn't even get past Tobi who alone crushed them all. It was only thanks to his experience and cautiousness that he soon realized the difference in the strength of the two sides, and barely escaped at the last moment under the cover of several Iwagakure Shinobi.

Had it not been for the fact that the leader of Amatsukami decided to take action in order to stop the Akatsuki Organization and Sandaime Hokage came to the battlefield along with Toad Sannin Jiraiya and Tsunade-hime, he really wouldn't dare to return to the battlefield… because he is more than clear that it is suicidal.

To be honest, Tsuchikage Onoki's current mook is quite complicated… Although he doesn't know how strong the leader of the Akatsuki Organization is, based on the strength that Tobi has shown previously, and also based on his own personal experience of the Shinobi World he knows that once he intervenes in the battle, he is likely to die…

Moreover, Onoki also has a feeling that if the Five Great Shinobi Villages do not take advantage of this opportunity brought by the intervention of Amatsukami, then perhaps there would no chance to defeat the Akatsuki Organization in the future.

Although this is his gut feeling, such a reality is still very hard for him to accept who has been used to controlling the flow of the events of the Shinobi World as the leader of one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

With such helplessness, Onoki can't help but look at the pair of ripple pattern-ed Dojutsu in the eye sockets of Nagato and think, 'Are those the Rinnegan-eyes? The eyes of Rikudo Sennin… And is the leader of Amatsukami really stronger than the leader of Akatsuki? Can Yama really defeat the Rinnegan bearer Nagato?'

With this doubt in his mind, Onoki shifted his haze on the body of Yama.

This is the first time he has seen the figure of the mysterious leader of the enigmatic Amatsukami Organization that has earned such high prestige in the Shinobi World. Onoki doesn't know exactly how strong Yama is…? But based on the fact that Yama seems to be able to calmly bear the pressure exuded by Nagato, is still easy to assume that the strength of Yama is also unfathomable.

Although Onoki doesn't want to admit it, even he has realized that the only force capable of fighting against the threat of the Akatsuki Organization is the Amatsukami Organization, not any of the five great shinobi villages…

Obviously, Onoki wasn't the only person with such a train of thought, others too had such a thought in their minds.

In fact, at this moment, the gazes of all the people, including all the members of the Akatsuki Organization present here, were consciously or subconsciously converged on Yama's figure.

This is because no one could guess what exactly is Yama thinking and what kind of move will he make to defeat Nagato…?

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