Chapter 311: The Dragon Vein of the Ancient Kingdom of Roran
Kimimaro was too calm.
Facing a famous ninja like Itachi Uchiha, he could still maintain the attitude of a mature young man, not at all like a fifteen-year-old.
In the hot spring inn, Kimimaro sat cross-legged on the floor, looked at the youth opposite him, and got straight to the point. "Itachi Uchiha, I was sent by Lord Orochimaru."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the temperature in the room seemed to drop. A terrifying killing intent floated in the air…
Itachi sat in his spot, reining in the killing intent erupting from his body, and looked at Kimimaro with curiosity. "Hm, are you not afraid of death?"
Due to Konoha holding power, wanted posters for Orochimaru had been posted in all the important towns of the Land of Fire. This move was clearly Itachi's decision.
After all, Hiruzen Sarutobi had never advocated for excessive violence, especially against his own disciple. He would surely have left some leeway.
"My life should have ended long ago. To be able to survive to this day is entirely a gift from Lord Orochimaru." Kimimaro was completely unconcerned and looked at him calmly. "And Lord Orochimaru believes that you will surely be interested in other news."
"For example… Madara Uchiha."
"Hm?"
The chakra in Itachi's body erupted, steadily suppressing Kimimaro. "You actually have news of Madara?"
"Ahem…"
Kimimaro nodded and said in a deep voice, "Madara is far more active than you imagine. In places you cannot see, he is re-accumulating his strength, attempting to stir up a new round of war in the ninja world…"
"If I'm not mistaken…"
Itachi looked at the somewhat frail Kimimaro, his expression strange. "Is that guy Orochimaru unwilling to endure Madara's control anymore?"
"It's like this every time! He's clearly the one who revived Madara with Edo Tensei, yet he always ends up eating his own bitter fruit and being controlled by others…"
The Land of Wind had implemented a semi-closed policy in recent years, and its main merchants all came from the Hidden Sand. Clearly, both Orochimaru and Madara should be hiding in the Sand Village.
Comparing their power relations…
And that guy's strength—even the First Hokage had admitted that Madara had become stronger after being reanimated. Wiping out the entire Sand Village would be a piece of cake for him. Orochimaru didn't have the guts to challenge Madara!
"No one… can control Lord Orochimaru!"
Kimimaro was left with only stubborn retorts. If Orochimaru wasn't willing to endure Madara's exploitation any longer, he wouldn't have sent him to risk making contact with Konoha.
This was what it was to be young, with a hard mouth.
If it had been Orochimaru himself here, he would have spilled the beans long ago. That guy had always been able to bend and stretch, using any means necessary to achieve his goals… This Kimimaro fellow, not only was his mouth hard, but his bones were also hard!
After a long period of silence, Kimimaro finally got to the main point. "Madara Uchiha hopes that we can start a war between the Sand and Konoha to attract the ninja world's attention. They will have a big move next…"
"…So the Hidden Sand under Orochimaru's control is the sacrifice?"
Itachi frowned. A mere Sand Village, even with the help of Orochimaru's reanimated army, was really not much of a match for the current Konoha…
Come to think of it, Konoha had often fought one-against-two, one-against-three, one-against-four in the Great Ninja Wars, and these enemies were all great nation ninja villages. The weakest enemy was only the Hidden Rain Village led by the demigod Hanzo.
Now, it was Itachi who was in charge of Konoha's power. With the strength Konoha had currently accumulated, fighting one-against-seven shouldn't be a problem…
"The Sand is not without the power to fight back. In order to make the Sand and Konoha fall into the quagmire of war, he has promised to let the evil entity Mōryō from the Land of Demons join the war…"
"Mōryō?"
Itachi's eyes moved. The name sounded complicated, but it didn't feel particularly powerful.
"That is an evil entity eternally suppressed by the shrine maiden clan of the Land of Demons. It can control tens of thousands of human puppets, which happens to supplement the Sand's shortage of lower-level troops…"
This was the cannon fodder of the Great Ninja War.
Because of the Sand Village's resource problem, during the era of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, they had no choice but to specialize in training elite ninjas. Their lower-level combat strength was extremely lacking in comparison.
Coincidentally, Mōryō could provide a large number of cannon fodder puppets.
"There is one more thing…"
Kimimaro looked at Itachi and continued calmly, "And Madara is pursuing, or rather, capturing a person you are very interested in…"
"I wonder if the great Lord Fifth of Konoha has ever heard of a lost country, the legendary ancient kingdom of Roran."
"I have occasionally seen some materials on this."
Itachi looked at Kimimaro with confusion. "That was a nation within a nation, located inside the Land of Wind, which later fell into decline. Could it be that you…"
"The ancient kingdom of Roran is not that simple. The Dragon Vein sealed there has an immense amount of chakra. It is a power sufficient to change time and space…"
The young envoy from the Sand Village suddenly lowered his head and said in a small voice, "I am telling you very seriously, the person Madara is pursuing is very important!"
"Lord Orochimaru told me without a doubt that if Madara captures that person, he can even use him to exchange for Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki!"
"Hm?"
Itachi swirled the teacup in his hand, looking at Kimimaro's face, which had paled slightly when he mentioned that person. "Why don't you just tell me his name directly!"
Kimimaro calmly took a sip of tea and uttered a name that made Itachi's eyes narrow slightly. "Konoha's previous generation Hokage, the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze…"
"Just a week ago, Madara captured a ninja named Mukade, released the seal of the Dragon Vein, and just as he was about to absorb the chakra within it…"
"The space-time gate of the Dragon Vein opened, and the Fourth Hokage of the past… or rather, the Konoha Jonin, Minato Namikaze, accidentally appeared in this era!"
"If Minato Namikaze cannot be returned to the past, the history of the entire ninja world, including Konoha, will be changed because of this. You should understand the severity of this matter."
"Lord Orochimaru guesses that Madara perhaps wants to use Minato to get your Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki… His lineage is no longer a secret in the entire ninja world: the orphaned son of the Fourth Hokage."
"Even if Naruto is under your protection and is in no danger for the time being… I imagine he would surely want to truly see his own father, right?"
"Emotion is the most extravagant and hardest thing for a ninja to part with."
"Madara's move is a straightforward checkmate. Once he captures Minato, it means he can completely… sit and wait for the Nine-Tails jinchuriki to be delivered to his door."
"Because no one can imagine what terrible consequences will occur after the history of the ninja world is completely changed."
Kimimaro leisurely drank a cup of tea and said softly, "My life, because of the Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai illness, is about to come to an end. The moment I die will be the moment the Sand Village officially goes to war with Konoha…"
"Unless, before I die, you can send that still-fleeing Yellow Flash back to the era he should be in, and completely smash Madara's conspiracy!"
The room fell into silence.
The quasi-Fifth Hokage of Konoha heavily put down the teacup in his hand. "Then I hope you are all prepared! Whether it's Madara Uchiha or Orochimaru, I will not let either of them go!"
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