Early the next morning.
Naruto and Sasuke once again came to the Sound Shadow building in Otogakure. Following Ryun's instructions, Orochimaru had arranged some relatively bloody missions for the two of them.
"Your mission, both of you, is to go to the Land of Fire with others, to eliminate all the old noble factions and rebel forces within the Land of Fire who refuse to submit."
"Remember one thing, kill all those who do not obey, leave not a single one of those who resist."
Orochimaru threw an intelligence scroll to the two of them. It marked the coordinates of the enemy's location.
"As the vanguard, you only need to be responsible for the suppression and elimination mission. Afterwards, administrators will naturally take over the cities you capture."
"Yes."
After listening to Orochimaru's mission assignment, Sasuke quickly straightened his body and loudly accepted the order. Naruto, however, looked at the scroll in his hand, slightly distracted.
"Namikaze Naruto, do you have any questions about the mission I assigned." Orochimaru coldly asked the distracted Naruto.
"No, no." Naruto replied instinctively.
"Lord Sound Shadow, Naruto just arrived here, he might just be a bit unaccustomed to it." Minato quickly spoke up to help his child out of the awkward situation.
He now wore the Otogakure headband. His identity had rapidly changed from a Konoha Jonin to an Otogakure Jonin. Naruto and Sasuke, however, did not even have headbands yet. Theoretically, they were not Otogakure ninja.
Minato, as a ninja possessing the Flying Thunder God Technique, was also included in the vanguard ranks. Otogakure assigned him to capture cities and territories. This kind of mission was bloody, but undeniable, it was also an excellent and lucrative assignment.
After all, those charging at the very front would naturally be the first to reap the benefits. Although the target was the Land of Fire, which came with some psychological burden, the Land of Fire was also the juiciest among all nations.
Dealing with ordinary groups who had lost their chakra, a single ninja could carry out a one-sided slaughter against those forces. All Otogakure Jonin had received instructions. After capturing the assigned city, five percent of the net profit from the spoils obtained by Otogakure would be given as the Jonin's mission reward.
Every person in the vanguard could use this mission to instantly make themselves very wealthy, laying a solid economic foundation for a good life in the future.
"Since you have all received your missions, go carry them out."
Orochimaru dismissed everyone without looking up. He had a lot of work. A series of important documents always felt like they could never be finished reading. And this was after a team had already filtered them, the workload that remained.
The world was too big, and Otogakure had too few ninja. To conquer the various nations, just the travel time for the ninja would consume a huge amount of time, not to mention the subsequent governance work.
So for this reason, Orochimaru decided to prioritize conquering the Five Great Nations, then gradually encroach upon that series of medium and small countries.
"Naruto, what were you daydreaming about just now. Otogakure is not like Konoha. Discipline here is strict. Lord Orochimaru's eyes also tolerate no sand. And you are not even an Otogakure ninja yet. You should be careful about everything. Things like being distracted when receiving a mission cannot happen again in the future."
Minato could not help but scold him.
"I just, I just have some difficulty accepting this mission."
The first mission Otogakure arranged for him was to wield the slaughtering blade against his former countrymen. This kind of mission caused great resistance in Naruto's heart.
"If you really cannot accept it, then don't be a ninja. Ninja are never good people. If you become a ninja, you must have resolve. If you accept a mission and do not carry it out properly, the consequences could be very serious."
Sasuke sighed and said.
He knew Naruto was a very kind person, even to the point of being somewhat naive and overly idealistic. Such a person actually was not very suitable to be a ninja.
Back in Konoha, others could still give him care and leniency considering he was the hero's son. Now that he and his father had come to Otogakure, they would not receive that treatment.
Especially now that Orochimaru was in charge of Otogakure. Ryun basically rarely intervened in Otogakure's affairs.
"Who says I won't carry out the mission properly." Naruto's face flushed red as he stubbornly retorted.
"Leave not a single one of those who resist. Can you do that." Sasuke glanced at him and asked in return.
"I, I of course, can do it."
Naruto's voice obviously lowered a bit. Hearing this, Minato could not help but sigh heavily.
"Let my shadow clone accompany you."
"Dad. Even you don't believe in me."
His father's approach undoubtedly meant he thought Naruto could not stand on his own. This made Naruto feel greatly discouraged. Just a short while ago, he was a Six Paths level powerhouse recognized by everyone, the hope of the entire village.
Who would have thought that in just a few days, the people closest to him would think he was not cut out to be a ninja.
The plan to conquer the world was proceeding in an orderly manner. Compared to the busy Otogakure ninja, the Akatsuki, as the guardians of the Divine Tree, seemed somewhat bored.
"So boring. I really want to find someone to fight." Deidara lay on a branch of the Divine Tree, sighing repeatedly.
"Who says it isn't. There clearly isn't a single enemy, yet we have to guard this broken tree every day. I feel my scythe is about to rust." Several complaints came from the top of the tree, from Hidan.
"Since both of you are so eager for battle, why not continue fighting on the ground." Sasori of the Red Sand suggested.
"Brother Sasori is right. Why don't you two fight another round. Those of us watching can also relieve our boredom." Kisame followed.
"Fight what fight. That coward Deidara only knows how to fly around and drop bombs. It's the same routine every time. I won't fight someone like that." Hidan could not help but nos.
"Heh. The loser who lost to me, you can only talk big." Deidara glanced at him disdainfully.
"Bastard. Have the guts not to fly. Let's fight to the death on the ground." Hidan angrily cursed.
"I can fly, why should I fight you on the ground."
"Enough. Arguing back and forth with the same few lines. If you're not annoyed, we're annoyed. If you can fight, then don't argue." Kakuzu said impatiently.
The two of them snorted coldly upon hearing this, both too lazy to continue arguing.
"This fruit is about to ripen, right."
Konan looked at the huge chakra fruit within the barrier and murmured. Even through a tight barrier, she could feel the surging aura emitted by the chakra fruit. She could even vaguely smell a certain enticing fragrance emanating from the fruit.
"Yes. It should be soon. This fruit fused the chakra of everyone in the ninja world. It's unbelievable to think how powerful Ryun-kun will become after eating this fruit." Nagato said with emotion.
Just as all members of the Akatsuki were dutifully guarding the Divine Tree, a strange spatial vortex suddenly appeared high above at the treetop. At first, everyone thought it was their leader arriving. But the terrifying killing intent emanating from the spatial vortex in the next moment caused the faces of the Akatsuki members to change drastically.
"Watch out."
Countless Six Paths black rods shot out from the spatial vortex. Almost all Akatsuki members were within the firing range of the black rods.
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