Chapter 432: Three Kage Cooperation
Tsunade stared at the several pieces of paper for a long time, then said to an intelligence ninja who had come with her, "Are there any relevant records that match this appearance?"
The intelligence ninja was indeed well-informed. He looked carefully at the papers, then said, not quite certain, "From its size, this monster already surpasses all known Tailed Beasts."
"Although the strength of creatures in the ninja world cannot be judged by size alone, a monster of this level must have extraordinary power."
"The village's records have no corresponding existence that matches it. However, I have a guess."
"Perhaps this is the legendary Ten-Tails."
"At the time the village was founded, we collected some secret documents from the major clans. Among them, your clan, Lady Hokage, as well as the Uchiha and Hyuga clans, all vaguely mentioned the origin of the nine Tailed Beasts."
"There are also related materials that mention the word 'Ten-Tails'."
As he spoke, the ninja pointed to the nine giant eyes on the drawing of the Gedo Statue. "This monster has a total of nine eyes. It may correspond to the nine Tailed Beasts."
Tsunade frowned deeply. She also seemed to have heard her two grandfathers mention the Ten-Tails.
She said to the surrounding ninja, "This matter is classified as the village's highest secret. No one is to spread this."
But how could this kind of thing be hidden?
Many people had seen the shocking explosion that night, including intelligence ninja from various villages. Not many might have been able to identify the Dust Release, Light Release, and Tailed Beast Bombs, but after the news was transmitted back to their villages, it was not difficult to analyze this conclusion.
It was just that it was impossible for the other villages to guess the origin of the Gedo Statue, as Konoha had.
But it didn't matter. If they couldn't guess, someone would tell them.
For example, a Kumo intelligence ninja, with the covert assistance of Iwagakure, obtained the conclusion they wanted.
...
Kumogakure.
In the Raikage's office, what was strange to the people who had come for the meeting was that the desk was actually intact.
"The intelligence we got from Konoha: Iwagakure's Third and Fourth Tsuchikage, as well as two Jinchuriki, all acted together to attack an underground base within the Land of Fire," the Fourth Raikage said.
Killer Bee was shocked. "Idiot brother, Iwa and Konoha, are they at war?"
The Fourth Raikage shook his head and signaled for the intelligence chief at his side to speak.
"The owner of the base that Iwa attacked was not Konoha. According to analysis: Iwagakure was trying to obtain something called the 'body of the Ten-Tails'." After speaking, the intel ninja immediately looked at the two perfect Jinchuriki.
Killer Bee froze, because at that moment, the voice of the Eight-Tails, Gyūki, was already resounding in his mind.
The Fourth Raikage also saw that he had zoned out, but he did not rush him, instead waiting with rare patience.
A long time later, Killer Bee finished his chat with the Eight-Tails. He then relayed everything the Eight-Tails had told him.
After listening, the Fourth Raikage quickly extracted the core points: "The Eight-Tails means that the current nine Tailed Beasts were all separated from an original Ten-Tails by the Sage of Six Paths?"
"That giant monster in the secret base under the Land of Fire is the body of the Ten-Tails?"
"And possessing the Ten-Tails' body makes it possible to fuse the nine Tailed Beasts and ultimately revive it?"
Killer Bee nodded, continuing in his strange cadence, "You're right, idiot brother."
Then the intelligence ninja continued, "It seems the intelligence is correct. Iwagakure was indeed after the body of the Ten-Tails. It's just that the intel says they retreated in the end and did not take it with them."
"We just don't know if it's because they suffered great losses or because they had no way to take it."
The Fourth Raikage said, "The Tsuchikage has always been meticulous in his actions. If he had no way to take the Ten-Tails' body, he would not have attacked that base."
"He might even have let us go and die first."
"For him to choose to retreat, the most likely reason is that he encountered some accident. It's not impossible that he suffered heavy losses."
"Send men to monitor Iwagakure's movements. See if they have any follow-up actions."
"Yes." The intelligence ninja left immediately.
Iwagakure's movements were easy to check, because they were the ones guiding Kumo to think in this direction in the first place.
Not many days later, top-secret intelligence about Iwagakure searching for the Ten-Tails' body in the Land of Hot Water was analyzed by Kumo through various details and summarized into a report for the Fourth Raikage.
The Fourth Raikage slammed his palm down, shattering the desk that had narrowly escaped disaster last time. "Iwagakure is indeed cunning! I thought they had opened a land route to the Land of Hot Water to isolate Konoha, but it was for the Ten-Tails' body!"
"It seems Iwagakure was indeed after it."
In the office, the other ninja who had come to attend the meeting, seeing the desk get smashed, suddenly felt comfortable. This was the proper atmosphere for a meeting.
So, unlike the coldness of the last meeting, this time the Kumo higher-ups all spoke enthusiastically, providing many ideas for the Fourth Raikage.
In the end, the Kumo side came to a conclusion: Iwagakure had been plotting to get the Ten-Tails for a long time. They just felt that it was too difficult to get it silently from within the Land of Fire. So, Iwagakure had deliberately startled the snake, forcing the owner of that underground base to move, having them summon the Ten-Tails to the Land of Hot Water. And Iwa had previously been willing to offend Konoha to death just to get a road to the Land of Hot Water.
Now, this intention was very obvious. Unsurprisingly, Iwagakure was plotting to secretly seize the Ten-Tails' body.
Everything about contacting Kirigakure and annexing Takigakure was just a smokescreen.
"What a 'Fox of Iwagakure.' His plan runs so deep," the Kumo officials couldn't help but marvel in their hearts.
After reaching this conclusion, the Fourth Raikage continued to ask, "After all this time, has the identity of that power that secretly controls the Ten-Tails' body been confirmed?"
The intelligence personnel thought for a moment. "The intel department analyzes that that power should be the master of the white experimental subjects that Iwagakure mentioned last time."
The Fourth Raikage thought. "It's those white monsters that can impersonate our ninja with extreme realism?"
The intelligence ninja replied, "Yes. Last time, Iwagakure captured some of them and gave us the inspection method, but those subjects run very fast. We didn't capture any alive."
"At the time, we guessed that they might be Konoha's handiwork, but now it seems that's not the case."
"It's estimated that at the time, it was Iwagakure deliberately guiding us to think in that direction."
The Fourth Raikage said, "So, Iwagakure must have obtained intelligence from those white experimental subjects and found their nest?"
"Probably so," the intelligence ninja replied.
"Very good. Everything forms a closed loop," the Fourth Raikage finally concluded.
"Continue reconnaissance. We must clarify Iwagakure's movements. We must participate in the snatching of the Ten-Tails' body this time."
A few more days passed. A piece of intelligence was placed on the Raikage's new desk.
Iwagakure had made no more moves. All their intelligence ninja had withdrawn.
But the Fourth Raikage was very excited, because his assistant had helped him analyze the reason.
"Iwagakure should have obtained the exact location of the Ten-Tails' body. But now that all eyes are gathered on them, they have chosen to go quiet, waiting for the storm to pass."
And most importantly, Kumo had, from all the news gathered from various channels, guessed the target that Iwagakure had locked onto.
"Land of Hot Water, Unsen Mountain. The Ten-Tails is there," the intelligence ninja said slowly.
"This mountain is in a relatively remote location. It also has hot springs, but very few people go there."
"More than ten days ago, on the same night that the Third and Fourth Tsuchikage attacked the underground base, the water level of the hot springs on Unsen Mountain suddenly rose by a large margin."
"This must have been caused by that faction summoning the Ten-Tails' body over."
The Fourth Raikage stood up, paced around the office, and finally said, "Send someone to contact Konoha. This time, I will cooperate with them to seize the Ten-Tails' body together."
Killer Bee and the others were all shocked.
Yugito hurriedly asked, "Lord Raikage, there is only one Ten-Tails' body. How will we divide it after we get it?"
He snorted. "Now is not the time to consider these things. How to divide it will be discussed after we have actually gotten it."
"But right now, none of us can be sure what dangers there will be in seizing it. Pulling in Konoha is also to share the risk."
"What if this is another conspiracy by that Fox of Iwagakure?"
The others looked at each other, but in the end, they agreed with his words.
Tsunade was also very surprised to receive the Raikage's message, but she placed more importance on the matter of easing relations with Kumogakure.
Konoha had already reached an alliance agreement with Sunagakure; it just hadn't been announced to the public yet.
If they could also ease relations with Kumo, even if they couldn't count on truly dealing with Iwagakure together in the future, at least they wouldn't kick Konoha while it was down, while it was tied up by the Uchiha clan.
However, Tsunade also knew that the Fourth Raikage's invitation was not well-intentioned.
So, after weighing the pros and cons, she also sent a letter to Rasa. Her thinking was the same as the Raikage's: to share the risk.
A few days later, the Hokage, Kazekage, and Raikage secretly gathered in the Land of Hot Water. Accompanying them were their guards, two per Kage, and an elite team of one hundred men each.
Rasa brought Ryosuke and Baki.
Tsunade brought Kakashi and Shikaku Nara.
A brought Darui and one intelligence ninja.
The thinking of all three parties was similar. They had not dispatched a large army, for fear of leaking the news.
The effect was indeed good. Even Ishiro was kept in the dark. Otherwise, he would definitely have gone to stir up some trouble.
After the three parties converged, as per international custom, they exchanged a few sarcastic barbs, then pretended to be very restrained and magnanimous and not to hold it against each other. Finally, the three parties set off together towards Unsen Mountain.
There were more than three hundred people in total, their target was clear, and there were no particular weaklings among them. So, their marching speed was very fast, and it didn't take long for them to reach their destination.
Tsunade and the others did not plan to waste any words with the enemy but chose to attack directly.
The method adopted by the allied army was the same as Ishiro's: they also chose to open the way with large-scale ninjutsu. However, they did not have individuals like Ishiro's group, where each one could unleash the most ferocious attacks in the ninja world.
Among the three hundred-plus people, only the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito, had this ability. The others, even Rasa who was also skilled in group attack ninjutsu, were not good at blasting through thick mountain rock.
On the contrary, Tsunade's slug, Katsuyu, could open a passage by corroding the mountain with its powerful acid. It was just that this method was relatively time-consuming.
So, in the end, Yugito took the lead. One Tailed Beast Bomb smashed into Unsen Mountain, directly creating a large crater in its side. Then, the three hundred elite ninja all cast their combination ninjutsu.
Then, Katsuyu's acid was used to corrode the side of the mountain that had been blasted open, while the complete Two-Tails, Matatabi, coordinated on the other side, pushing the mountain with all its might.
In the end, the allied army of the three Kage directly pushed over Unsen Mountain, revealing the Gedo Statue underneath.
(End of Chapter)
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