Chapter 354 - – 349 Opposing The God?

'Seems like I have no choice…' – thinking so, Kuroto instantly activated his Byakugan and muttered, 'Hakkesho Kaiten', suddenly a protective shield of spiraling chakra surrounded Kuroto protecting him from the explosions of the exploding tags.

Boom… Boom… Boom… Boom… Boom…

The sound of explosions resounded throughout the streets, alerting everyone around… who ran away from the battlefield as soon as they can…

Konan who was hovering in the air stared at the ground with an indifferent expression. Although the area where the intruder stood had been covered in flames and dust because of the explosions, however, she could very well sense the spiraling chakra that was quite conspicuous. Therefore, she was sure that the explosions just now caused by her attacks shouldn't have been enough to have killed him as such the intruder was not dead yet.

As soon as the explosions stopped, the spiraling chakra also stopped and along with it dust also cleared, the figure of the intruder came into full view, and as she expected, he was alive, in fact, he did not even have as much as a scratch on him.

Although expected, Konan was still surprised.

On the other hand, Kuroto's face did not change.

'Shikigami no Mai' is pretty baffling Jutsu, transforming the entire body as well as clothing into numerous sheets of paper lefts the opponent in a daze and confusion, and it is very difficult to tell which sheets of paper are explosive tags and which are simple sheets of papers.

Not only that, Shikigami no Mai gives Konan full leverage to turn her complete body into a stack of explosive tags, anytime, anywhere.

And this is undoubtedly a very tricky Jutsu, just think about it, a fierce battle is going on against your opponent, and out of a sudden, your opponent turns out to be a stack of hundreds if not tens of thousands of explosive tags, is that not shocking?

From this very brief confrontation, Konan seems to have realized some things and asked, "What is a shinobi of your caliber doing by sneaking into Amegakure?"

Kuroto lifted up his Kusanagi swords, and while tapping the flat part of it over his front-left shoulder, he replied casually, "I am Noragami Yato, and as I have mentioned earlier, I am a Samurai, do not disrespect me by mixing me with the lumps of you Shinobis who exists to only kill and destroy. Anyway, as I was saying, since I am a wandering Samurai, it is obvious that I like to wander around, as for the purpose of coming to Amegakure? It is very simple, I wish to challenge Hanzo-dono, but I have to say, this is not the kind of welcome I had expected to get, hey but I am not complaining… at least I get to see something interesting today."

While trying to distract Konan with idle chatter, Kuroto simultaneously also thought of countermeasures to make an escape out of here… 'Konan is a sensor class, so getting rid of her wouldn't be an easy task…I have to play this smart-…'

However, it seemed that Konan was not much interested in Kuroto's bullshit.

Boom…!

But just as the two sides were about to fight again, another explosion sounded not far away, following which there was a violent roar and then the earth trembled.

The explosion drew the attention of both the parties, as both Kuroto and Konan cast their gazes in the direction from where the explosion came.

While looking there, Kuroto thought, 'That is the direction from where the signal flare was shot…'

From the sounds of explosions and the trembling of the earth, it is not hard to guess that a fierce battle has broken out there.

Because of keeping his Byakugan deactivated, Kuroto couldn't perceive the exact status of the battle… but from the high amount of chakra he was able to sense in general, it wasn't much hard to guess that one of them was the Jinchuriki and since only one Jinchuriki was part of the investigation and infiltration team, so it is very obvious who that person was…

'Damn, I knew she shouldn't have been brought here!!' Kuroto cursed under his breath.

It was obviously Nii Yugito who was exposed. Kuroto did not want to bring her to the investigation, but she wasn't willing to listen because of her arrogant and overconfident attitude. So despite Kuroto's strong objection, she became part of the investigation team, and now this happens.

Unlike Kuroto's calm and indifferent look, Konan had a frown, it was rather strange to have someone with a Bijuu sneak in here… although she wasn't really worried about the end result, with this the Akatsuki has finally acquired their first Bijuu.

Suddenly there was a loud impact and instantly someone with an extremely fast speed with his sword drawn out slashed at Kuroto.

DING…

Kuroto immediately used his own sword to block the slash resulting in a loud ear-piercing metal collision sound to ring out throughout the street.

This third wheel to arrive before Kuroto and Konan was none other than Uchiha Shinichi, with his Mangekyou Sharingan activated and a maniac grin on his face.

Shinichi said to Konan while clashing swords with Kuroto, "Konan-chan, leave this guy to me, hahaha… it's been a while since I have had the opportunity to move my muscles, I would like to have a good battle so as to not get any rusty…"

"Alright, but make sure to kill him at the earliest." – Konan obviously has faith in Shinichi's strength, and with a confident nod, she left a few butterflies behind in case of need for assistance, then spread her paper wings and left the battlefield.

Shinichi did not turn back and nodded, "You got it Konan-chan!"

After Konan left, Shinichi used a Genjutsu on Kuroto to establish a mental link between the two parties, where the two could communicate without a need for direct speech. Kuroto obviously did not resist the Genjutsu and after the mental link was established, Shinichi hurriedly said while continuing his Kenjutsu and Taijutsu battle with Kuroto, "Say, what are you doing here? And what's up with all these intruders in Amegakure? Are you going to finally deal with the Akatsuki Organization?"

Shinichi has obviously recognized that the real identity of the samurai named Noragami Yato is none other than Hyuga Kuroto.

Kuroto did not really ask what gave away his identity. Since he has been using the Tsukihi clone for quite some time, therefore, he realizes that once an Uchiha fights with someone, he will never forget that person, not for their entire life, the Sharingan just don't give them this leisure, so the reason why Kuroto's disguise was useless in front of Shinichi was obviously that his fighting style was easily recognized by Shinichi.

Since Shinichi recognized that the other person was none other than Kuroto, he obviously intervened to help Kuroto get rid of Konan.

"What are the other hidden detection mechanisms present in Amegakure aside from the rain that I once told you about?" – Kuroto questioned Shinichi while giving him a Hard Kick in the chest which sent the other guy flying out of the street and enter the main road.

There have to be other methods of detecting the intruders than just Rain made by Nagato and Konan's paper butterflies.

While throwing dozens of Shuriken at Kuroto, Shinichi also thought about Kuroto's question, and as if he suddenly remembered something, he answered, "Well, I just got to Amegakure, so I am not so sure, but If I remember correctly, Hiruko seems to have taken an interest in creating more of his chimera beast, at the same time he has also taken three subordinates under his wings with the name Ich, Ni, and San, together with them, he has been creating a large number of Chimera Beasts, so some of those beasts may be responsible… Sasori has also started developing his puppets strangely, and he seems to be trying to control them without any need for Chakra threads, so maybe his puppets are also involved here?"

Kuroto sighed then jumped off the ground to the sidewall, running along the building wall to gain a higher altitude, and then jumped at Shinichi while adding, "You should have notified me of this."

Shinichi also jumped on the same wall, and while doing wall walking to catch up to Kuroto, he weaved the hand signs, while also said, "Hahaha… as I said earlier, I just came to Amegakure so I wasn't much aware of what changes were happening here… seems like Pain is planning something big, so he gave Sasori and Hiruko some instructions, while also summoned me and Biwa Juzo back to Amegakure… anyway, you didn't tell me what are you doing around here? And I am rather surprised that you were caught."

Kuroto dodged the fireball that was fired at him, and while sending sword winds towards Shinichi, Kuroto asked with a surprised expression, "Pain is planning something big? Planning what?"

Shinichi dodged each of those sword winds and while firing another Jutsu, he said, "I am not so sure, in fact, nobody is… we were just summoned to Amegakure out of the blue…"

Kuroto sighed and sent a massive sword wind that cut the Jutsu in half, then said, "Sigh, we were planning a surprise joint raid on Amegakure, to deal with Akatsuki in one shot… but all three Kage insisted on carrying out a preliminary investigation despite my objection, and here we are sneaking into Amegakure… now that we are exposed, I don't think this raid is going to be any effective."

Now again engaged in a Kenjutsu fight, Shinichi said with a frown, "Planning a surprise joint raid? Well, that's surprising, considering that the villages are always at one another's throat… anyway, you could have just asked me for the information, and I would have let you know..."

Kuroto denied while dodging a kick that came to his head, "But the last time I checked, you were not in the Land of This… so it was pointless… besides…"

Smash… "Hmm… that's true… argh that hurts… can't you go a bit easy?" – nodded Shinichi while receiving a fist on the gut as he puked out blood, then smashed his fist into Kuroto's gut.

Smash… "Huff… huff… Don't go joking around… Konan's butterflies are present around, your cover will be blown up if I go easy on you, or you go easy on me… Anyway, I have already killed Shinno, so obtaining intelligence from you or him, it's all the same anyway… but those damn-…"

Roar…

Suddenly there was a painful roar from a beast, it's just that the roar seemed more like a painful cry.

Kuroto sighed, it seemed that Nii Yugito is defeated already…

Shinichi asked casually, "The one over there doesn't seem to be able to hold on anymore… do you want to go over there and help?"

Kuroto shook his head, it was pointless anyway, as the Chakra of Nibi was disappearing, meaning that Nii Yugito is defeated, and Nibi is already in Akatsuki's hand.

Kuroto is not idiot enough to risk saving her…

Shinichi said, "Well that's fine with me, I don't really care what happens to anyone as long as you are alive, anyway, what are you going to do now?"

Kuroto said, "Nibi's Jinchuriki has been captured, saving her will be an act of foolishness, I am going to be retreating now…"

Shinichi asked, "And how do you plan to do that? I mean you don't really expect me to just let you walk away, right?"

Kuroto shook his head and said with a chuckle, "Even if you try to stop me, you really can't. I am mere a Kage Bushin, my original should have already taken a different route to the retreat point."

Shinichi's eyes widened, and he grinned suddenly, "Well I didn't see that one coming."

Kuroto smiled, and said, "So what are you waiting for? Just finish me already…"

Shinichi nodded and rushed towards Kuroto's Shadow Clone, while Kuroto's Shadow Clone did the same as it rushed towards Shinichi.

And just when the two parties were about to close in at each other, a light green Chakra covered Shinichi's body, and from that Chakra, a Chakra Blade extended and instantly pierced right through Kage Bushin's chest.

(Translator's Note: The conversation between Shinichi and Kuroto up to here has been through the mental link, now it will be normal)

"Hahaha… that's my win!" – Shinichi grinned.

Kuroto, "Don't be so sure… I commend that you have excellent skills, but if you think that you have defeated the great Samurai Noragami Yato, then you are too quick to judge…" and leaving that sentence, the Kage Bushin disappeared with a Poof… sound.

With the disappearance of Kage Bushin, Shinichi cursed, "Damn, just a Kage Bushin, huh?"

...

On the other side, after the Kage Bushin disappeared, Kuroto who was walking towards the retreat point received all the memories and muttered, "It seems that Nii Yugito is captured."

Not caring at all, he continued to the retreat point and soon arrived, there he met up with Yamanaka Patriarch, and both Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo were also there, but there was no trace of Jiraiya or Samui either.

Seeing that Hyuga Kuroto has returned safely, the other three breathed a sigh of relief.

Elder Chiyo said, "Nii Yugito and Samui were captured, I observed through my puppet, but I couldn't find any opportunity to rescue either of the two… we may have to abandon them…" – As an experienced Kunoichi, Elder Chiyo can obviously judge things.

Kuroto naturally did not care about the safety of either of the two, instead, he asked the Yamanaka Patriarch, "Inoichi-san, is there any news from Jiraiya-sama?"

Yamanaka Inoichi denied, "There is some sort of Chakra interference that is disrupting me from being able to communicate with others… so I did not try any longer…"

Elder Ebizo added, "Do not worry, Jiraiya did not intervene in the battle that the two Kunoichi of Kumo had with the Akatsuki members, he is probably hidden somewhere within Amegakure… he is wise enough to act cautiously, we should retreat now… if we delay any longer than the enemy will come after us."

Kuroto sighed in relief after hearing his, 'At least Jiraiya-sama was safe.'

Losing Nii Yugito and Samui was already a big loss, if something had happened to Jiraiya then this raid will become a total failure.

Then Elder Chiyo said with a solemn expression, "I have to admit that your previous judgment was indeed correct, Amegakure's security is much more stringent than I would have expected… the preliminary investigation mission resulted in a total failure… we must retreat immediately and pass on the intelligence of whatever we have found to the base."

Kuroto nodded with a disappointed expression, "Unfortunately, nobody listened to me…"

No longer wasting any more time, they all dived into the sewer and sneaked out of the village.

A few seconds after they have left, a few pieces of paper stuck out of the wall, then morphed into a butterfly shape, and flew towards the tallest tower of Amegakure.

…

At the Pain Tower.

Papers gathered from all over the village and took the form of Konan behind Tendo Pain who still sat on the tongue, indifferently looking at the village that was destroyed at many places.

With the appearance of Konan, Tendo Pain stood up and walked to the inner chamber while asking, "Status?"

Konan said, "They have left."

Suddenly a spiraling whirl appeared in the void, and Madara walked out of it, and at the same time, a venus flytrap emerged out of the ground.

Madara asked, "Nibi's Jinchuriki?"

Pain nodded, and said, "Captured as planned."

Konan said, "The shinobi that Uchiha Shinichi seems to be fighting was just a Kage Bushin… thus he has retreated."

Zetsu said, "Ah, that's too bad…"

Konan added, "Regardless of whether it was a Kage Bushin or not, his strength was quite good, Uchiha Shinichi wasn't able to take the advantage all along, and it seemed that even at the end, the Shinobi willingly got pierced."

Madara nodded, "Unexpectedly he could match Shinichi…"

Pain questioned, "Who was this Shinobi?"

Konan said, "Well, he claimed to be a wandering Samurai, but it should have been Hyuga Kuroto, one of the seven people that sneaked into the village to carry out their preliminary Investigation mission."

Madara asked, "And Hyuga Kuroto's Kage Bushin's strength could reach such a level?"

Konan nodded, and said, "He wasn't weak by any means…" – Although her fight with Hyuga Kuroto was very brief, Konan was somewhat surprised by the other party's strength, and she could feel that he was different, as he seemed all too calm about everything.

Zetsu said, "Hyuga Kuroto seems to have become rather strong… I reckon that his strength is only next to Uchiha Shisui in his team…"

Pain said, "It matters not…"

Madara thought to himself, 'Can a Hyuga really have such a level of strength? More so, Hyuga Kuroto of all Hyuga?'

Zetsu asked in wonder, "But I still wonder, how did Hyuga Kuroto figure out the location of our base?"

Konan said, "Is it possible that he obtained this intelligence from Orochimaru or probably from Shinno?"

Zetsu added, "Or probably from Yomi? As Yomi is dead, most likely to have been killed by Hyuga Kuroto considering that the daughter of Miko of Land of Demons is under Hyuga Kuroto's protection in Konoha."

Orochimaru, Shinno, and Yomi are the only three possible sources of information. And all three seem to be possible.

Madara said, "It doesn't matter from where he learned, for now, we have to focus on the plan."

Konan questioned, "Konoha, Kumo, and Suna have joined hands, are you sure that Iwa is not participating in this?"

Zetsu nodded, "Iwa is not even informed."

Konan said, "I wonder why the three villages did not approach Iwagakure and Kirigakure?"

Madara said, "Regardless, even if they did include, I am quite certain that Onoki wouldn't have agreed as he is still negotiating with us to obtain Hiruko's 'Chimera no Jutsu', perhaps Hokage was able to think this through and figured out our connection with Iwa, and Kiri."

Zetsu questioned Madara, "But why did you let them retreat?"

Madara said with a chuckle, "Nibi is already caught… if all of them were to be caught here and now, the three Kage will get scared and run away… But now that only two are caught, and since both of them are from Kumo, so Raikage will insist on coming here… so Hachibi who is together with the rest will also be captured at the same time…"

Konan questioned, "It will be difficult to resist all of them at once…"

Zetsu said, "Biwa Juzo and Uchiha Shinichi have already arrived, while Kakuzu, Sasori, Hiruko, are also here…"

Madara said, "We have our latest recruit too… and Tobi too will partake in the battle…"

Zetsu said, "The other reinforcements too will be arriving within half an hour…"

Konan nodded, "I suppose that should be more than enough, the civilian evacuation is already finished…"

With everything decided, Tendo Pain walked step by step to the tip of the tongue, overlooking the entire Amegakure like a God, and said, "Finish all the preparations, I will teach them the meaning of opposing the God!"

At the same time Tendo Pain said these words, Madara disappeared into a spiraling whirl, Zetsu went inside the floor, and Konan's body dispersed into papers.

…

At the Base of tri-Alliance.

Boom… Smash… "Damn Akatsuki! Damn Pain, I will eliminate them all!" – Raikage smashed the table to pieces as soon as Yamanaka Patriarch finished showing him memories of Elder Chiyo about what all transpired.

Nii Yugito and Samui were captured, there is no news of Jiraiya, everyone was left stunned, and Raikage was furious, his roars could even be heard from half a mile away.

Killer Bee asked Elder Chiyo and Kuroto, "Aw, with her strength, Yugito couldn't even retreat, hum, yeh?"

Elder Chiyo shook her head, and said, "You have already seen my memories of the fight."

While Kuroto was too lazy to speak anything. Jinchuriki and a Jonin of Kumo fell into Akatsuki's hands, now Raikage should be anxious, not him. Kuroto already did his part when he urged them to not waste their breath in a preliminary investigation mission, not listening to him was their mistake.

As Kuroto expected, Raikage could no longer wait and said, "I propose that we immediately launch a raid on Akatsuki!"

Sandaime nodded, the disappearance of Jiraiya also made Sandaime uneasy, although nothing should have happened to Jiraiya based on the memories of Chiyo, however, there is still no guarantee, so he also agreed to Raikage's proposal.

With Raikage's proposal, and Hokage's agreement, Kazekage discussed some things with his Anbu Commander Pakura, then finally nodded and agreed to follow along.

After everyone's united agreement Kuroto walked out of the cave.

As soon as Kuroto came out, Shisui arrived next to Kuroto and whispered, "Kuroto-san, I heard that the preliminary Investigation Mission failed?"

Kuroto nodded, "The best opportunity to carry out a surprise attack is now wasted… sigh, now the chances of success have decreased significantly."

Shisui thought a little, "Even if this opportunity failed, but if the joint raid is launched, it should still be possible right? After all, not all members of the organization are always present in Amegakure."

Kuroto shook his head, "I have confirmed, all the members of Akatsuki are present there…" With a pause, 'And Pain seems to have planned something big, I really have a bad feeling about this all.' Kuroto continued, "Itachi and Kazekage Puppet should have also arrived in the Land of Rain, stay in contact with Itachi."

Shisui nodded and questioned, "Amatsukami will also be participating here?"

Kuroto nodded, "If Amatsukami does not intervene, the village will suffer a very big loss, besides, I also have a special task for Itachi. It's about time Amatsukami that has been silent in the Shinobi World for such a long time show up again."

Shisui asked with a slightly curious tone, "So the leader of Amatsukami will finally be revealed to the Shinobi World?"

Kuroto nodded calmly, "It's about time, the leader of Amatsukami and Akatsuki have a 'little' face-to-face chat!"

.

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