Konoha: Prepare to defect, the system is coming.

"My most valued subordinate!!"

"The moment I knew you were going to capture the tailed beast, I really wanted to send the big sword Samehada to you, but... alas."

"Ms. Terumi Mei asked me to remind you to be careful. If you are exposed, you can immediately abandon the undercover mission. If you are not exposed, you can try to infiltrate their ranks and gain their trust."

"Kisame, the village is in financial trouble recently. You have almost used up the 2500 million ryo you handed over to the village. This is the 5 ryo I donated to you personally. You don't have to save it."

After reading the letter, Kisame was silent for a long time, then he crumpled it into a ball and stuffed it into his mouth.

Crunch!Crunch!

With a chewing sound, the letter was instantly bitten into pieces and swallowed in one gulp.

"Gain their trust? Want to find out the person who hired them from Akatsuki?" Kisame looked around expressionlessly, then leaned against a tree trunk, his eyes gradually losing focus.

According to normal logic, after he reported the matter, the Hidden Mist Village should have joined forces with the Hidden Iwagakure Village, and both sides should have used the tailed beasts to destroy the Akatsuki organization's conspiracy while following the clues to catch the person behind the scenes.

But the reality is

The Kirigakure told him to go for it boldly, and said that there would be only benefits and no harm in losing the fourth and fifth tails.

And Kisame naturally understood the benefits of this.

Since we cannot strengthen our own side in a short period of time, we should weaken the enemy in a short period of time. This way, we will have the advantage in the future Ninja World War.

"What a hypocritical world." Kisame shook his head and sneered, "Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the person behind the scenes must have an astonishing plan. Aren't they really afraid that this matter will get out of control?"

But these were not things he needed to worry about. Since the village had issued clear instructions, he just had to follow them.

Then, Kisame disappeared instantly and caught up with the tall man in front of him. He grinned and asked, "What is our next plan? If we go straight into the Hidden Rock Village, I'm afraid we won't be able to catch the tailed beast, and we'll die at the hands of Ohnoki."

Because the Hidden Mist Village and the Hidden Iwagakure Village do not border each other, the two villages had no chance to fight during the first three Ninja World Wars.

But Kisame had heard of the name of the Third Tsuchikage.

He possesses a bloodline limit that is superior to his bloodline limit, and is one of the few ninjas among the five major countries who can fly. He is a direct disciple of the first and second Tsuchikage, and is known as the Two Great Ninjas - Ohnoki.

"Plan!" Kakuzu groaned, looking up at the mountains in the distance, with a sharp edge in his eyes, "Don't worry, he will come out on his own initiative."

It was not until he met Black Zetsu yesterday that he learned one thing.

The organization's plan this time is very bold.

While the Hidden Mist Village is focusing their attention here, we'll sneak attack and capture all three at once! !

Yekura, who was originally preparing to capture the Four-Tails, turned around and headed straight for the Hidden Mist Village without any hesitation after learning that the organization decided to capture all three at once, ready to reunite with Konan and leave the two tailed beasts of the Hidden Mist Village to them.

Iwagakure Village.

As the only village in the ninja world built in the mountains, Iwagakure Village has extremely strong defenses. It is difficult for the enemy to break into it, and even if they break in, it is difficult for them to leave.

In order to prevent the younger generations of the Iwagakure Village from becoming dependent on the terrain, the second Tsuchikage followed the example of the second Hokage and established a ninja school to ensure the inheritance of will.

at this time.

In a building with a triangular top.

"Old stubborn!"

"What do you mean by stubborn? I am experienced and have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice."

"Won't you grow taller if you eat too much salt?"

"Bullshit, this has gradually condensed into essence as I get older."

Hearing the quarrel breaking out inside, the two Iwashi Ninjas guarding the door looked at each other, with a look of helplessness on their faces.

Recently.

Tsuchikage-sama and Lao Zi-sama quarrel every day, and the frequency of their quarrels has increased by who knows how many times compared to before.

boom!

The half-open office door was suddenly slammed shut. Lao Zi came out, took a deep breath, nodded to the two people standing at the door, and disappeared instantly.

next second.

Lao Zi appeared directly on the busy street.

He breathed in the fresh air outside, and his irritable mood caused by the quarrel was instantly relieved.

Looking back at the Tsuchikage Building behind him, Lao Zi took a breath again and said unhappily, "You are such a stubborn old man, you are so hesitant and still govern the village the same way you did decades ago."

“It doesn’t make sense!! It doesn’t make sense at all!!”

After shaking his head irritably, Lao Zi walked around the village a few more times and found that the village was not exactly the same as when he was a child, but at least there were not many changes.

Other villages are changing, but Iwagakure Village has not changed at all.

He didn't think much of this scene in the past, and he would occasionally reminisce about the fun things in his childhood.

But ever since he learned that the acting Mizukage of the Hidden Mist Village was a young man, his mood suddenly became not so good.

"The Hidden Mist Village - Mei Terumi, the Hidden Cloud Village - Ai, the Hidden Sand Village - Rasa, the Hidden Leaf Village - Tsunade," Lao Zi walked on the street with his arms folded across his chest, a gloomy face, feeling a little annoyed.

"This old stubborn man is still holding on to the idea that his offspring will be useless, and he is still occupying that position. Meanwhile, the other major ninja villages have replaced their leaders with young people and are making reforms to the village's malpractices.

The old stubborn man still thinks he can balance the forces of all factions. If someone else comes up, the Hidden Rock Village will be ruined immediately."

Lao Zi said that he could understand Ōnoki's concerns, but he did not agree with them.

Young people always need to exercise and also need to experience setbacks.

Wrists are not something you are born with.

"Fried oil cake, fried oil cake!"

“Fresh bean paste!”

“River crabs, river snails, river shrimps!”

"."

Snack, fruit and seafood vendors on both sides of the street were shouting and greeting passers-by in a hurry.

Although the permanent population of Iwagakure Village is much smaller than that of Konoha, there are just as many pedestrians on the streets.

Some of them would stop and carefully compare the goods sold by the merchants; some would pick up the goods and directly state their desired price without even looking at the price; some would wave their hands impatiently in response to the merchants' enthusiastic greetings.

Lao Zi smelled the various scents in the air and looked at the passers-by who were buying things. His vision suddenly became dazed and the scene before him suddenly changed to another scene.

There were no longer any vendors hawking their wares on either side of the dilapidated streets. Instead, there sat a group of people in ragged clothes with sallow faces due to malnutrition.

Their eyes were filled with despair and they sat on the ground with numb expressions, not making any noise or making any noise, as if they had lost hope for the future.

Until someone passed by them, those people mechanically stretched out their hands and begged for some food to fill their stomachs.

Seeing that dull and glazed look in his eyes made Lao Zi's heart ache. He shook his head violently, bringing his thoughts back to reality. The scene before him became prosperous again.

"With that old stubborn way of governing, the Iwagakure Village will become like this sooner or later." Lao Zi turned around, glanced at the Tsuchikage Building behind him with some worry, then clenched his fists and said disappointedly.

"If you think our village is not good, you should build it instead of yearning for Konoha."

At this moment, a scolding sound came through the air.

Lao Zi looked up and saw a vendor pointing at a passerby and said angrily, "If you think the Tsuchikage is not doing a good job, then you should work hard to become the Tsuchikage instead of pointing fingers and speaking ill of others behind their backs."

"If you feel that the 'Will of Stone' is inferior to Konoha's 'Will of Fire', then you should enrich it and make it a being that surpasses the Will of Fire."

“If you think the people around you are ignorant, then learn from them and change the people around you, instead of complaining, cursing, and running away.”

"Where you are standing now is the village where you were born and raised. How you are, how the village will be."

Lao Zi's heart suddenly shook, and the fog that had originally shrouded his heart dissipated instantly.

Before

He had no intention of becoming the Tsuchikage, let alone governing the village.

I just feel that the direction of the village's development is not right and I want to change something, but that old guy Ohnoki always finds various excuses to maintain the status quo.

but now.

Lao Zi turned around, slowly walked up to the middle-aged man, and asked sincerely, "I have the idea of ​​changing the village, but I don't want to become a Tsuchikage."

"Master Lao Zi!" Without waiting for him to finish, the middle-aged man took a step back, looking somewhat at a loss.

"Don't be nervous!" Lao Zi waved at him kindly and said with a smile, "I just feel that what you just said makes sense. I want to ask, what is the first step to take."

"Ah! Ah!"

The middle-aged man nervously grasped the corner of his clothes and stuttered, "First step. First, go out for a walk?"

"Why?" Lao Zi asked puzzled.

"In fact, I don't know how to take the first step." The middle-aged man scratched his head a little embarrassedly, and said awkwardly, "It's just that I see that Master Zi has been unhappy recently, and I often hear you and Master Tsuchikage quarreling.

I spend most of my energy quarreling every day, leaving me with less energy for thinking.”

Hearing this, Lao Zi nodded thoughtfully.

His head really hurts from the recent quarrel with Ōnoki.

Every day when I open my eyes and see that the village has not changed, I can't help but want to quarrel with Ohnoki. After the quarrel, I feel even worse. This vicious cycle continues and I have no time to think seriously.

After the Four-Tails Jinchuriki's figure completely disappeared, the middle-aged man slowly raised his head, a sharp light flashed in his eyes, and he slowly spoke in a voice that only he could hear.

"If you think Akatsuki is not good, then you can build it; if you think Akatsuki is wrong to capture the tailed beasts, then you can join the organization and change it; if..."

"Tsk, I don't know where Zetsu got this idea from, and he even arranged dozens of White Zetsu to shout it out loudly in places where Lao Zi often passes by."

"Does it really work?"

Lao Zi demonstrated with practical actions that this thing is really useful.

What he heard today gave him a great shock. He was so shocked that he started packing his luggage after returning home. Then he left a letter and left the village under the cover of night.

When he stood on the wall of the Iwagakure Village, he looked at the mountains hidden in the darkness. His originally anxious mood was instantly relieved, and his rigid thinking became active.

Looking back at the sleeping village, Lao Zi's eyes then fell on the Tsuchikage Building and he whispered.

"Old stubborn man, try to live a few more years and see how I can change the village with my actions."

As soon as the words fell, the dark shadow on the wall instantly disappeared into the night without attracting any attention.

To outsiders, the Iwagakure Village is a typical place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but for the ninjas of this village, especially the powerful ones, it is very easy to leave the village without attracting any attention.

Especially for people like Lao Zi who often leave the village, it is as simple as eating and drinking.

"Where should we go next?" Lao Zi tapped his feet lightly on the rock wall and instantly rushed forward dozens of meters. The whistling sound of the wind in his ears did not affect his thinking at all.