In a forest somewhere in the Land of Fire.
Swish...
Obito, wearing an Akatsuki red cloud robe, descended from the sky and landed in the forest.
At this time, Orochimaru walked out from behind a large tree, a smile on the corner of his mouth: "Still wearing this red cloud robe?"
Obito ignored Orochimaru's teasing and said: "Our cooperation shouldn't be over yet, right?"
"Cooperation?!" Pausing, Orochimaru laughed: "Even Nagato was defeated, what cooperation is there?"
Obito said: "That was the past, we now have a new leader!"
Orochimaru looked teasing: "Do you like finding masters for yourself so much? Sorry, I don't have such a hobby!"
"I'm afraid it's not up to you!" Shaking his head, Obito said in a deep voice: "Our current leader is named Isshiki Otsutsuki. He is an existence stronger than Nagato, no, it should be said he is an existence surpassing the concept of a ninja! If you acknowledge our cooperation, everything remains as usual. I can even promise to give you Sasuke Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan as payment afterwards!"
Orochimaru asked: "What if I refuse?"
Obito shrugged: "Then next time it will be Isshiki Otsutsuki coming to find you personally. But he is not as easy to talk to as I am!"
Orochimaru pretended to think, finally smiling: "Alright, I agree to cooperate!"
Inside an underground shelter in the Land of Fire.
Tsunade walked into the dim shelter. As usual, she skillfully injected a tube of medicine into the patient lying on the sickbed.
Subsequently, she glanced at the instrument, copied the data onto the medical record hanging by the bed, and said to the patient on the bed: "The situation is starting to improve!"
"Thank you!"
The patient on the sickbed thanked softly.
"No need to thank me, treating you is just part of my agreement with him!" Pausing, Tsunade seemed to think of something and said: "There is a piece of news you might be interested in. The Akatsuki is looking for you all over the Ninja World! Of course, it's 'Dark Akatsuki'!"
Undoubtedly.
The patient lying on the sickbed was none other than Itachi Uchiha.
After Itachi solved the fake created by the 'Fear Hegemon', Shinji, who couldn't fully trust him, entrusted him, who was already suffering from Kekkei Genkai illness, to Tsunade.
Hearing the news brought by Tsunade, Itachi was somewhat puzzled.
Now that the overall situation of the Ninja World was set, the group of 'Dark Akatsuki' should have scattered like birds and beasts. He couldn't quite understand why the other party was still looking for him.
Tsunade obviously had similar doubts, asking: "Do you know what 'A' has been doing recently?"
Itachi shook his head.
Tsunade wondered: "He clearly already snatched the Ten-Tails and became the strongest in the Ninja World, why did he suddenly disappear? What conspiracy do you guys still have?"
Itachi said: "I'm sorry, Lord Hokage, I'm afraid I can't answer your doubts, because I only have a cooperative relationship with 'A'."
Tsunade was silent for a while, then said: "If you get any news, I hope you can notify the village in time."
Itachi answered: "Yes!"
Looking at each other for a moment, Tsunade turned and left the shelter.
Although the Ninja World had been calm recently, from the news collected through various channels, she had a feeling that the current calm in the Ninja World probably wouldn't last too long.
Returning to Konoha Village, Tsunade went directly to Naruto's secret training ground.
At this time, Jiraiya was conducting special training with Naruto. Seeing Tsunade arrive, Jiraiya stopped the training.
Tsunade asked: "How is it going?"
Jiraiya smiled: "Already have a clue!"
The battle with Sasuke not only allowed Sasuke to open the 'Rinnegan', Naruto and Menma also gained a lot.
In that battle, it was Naruto's first attempt to activate 'Nine-Tails Chakra Mode' and 'Sage Mode' simultaneously. And this gave him huge inspiration, because he found that after simultaneously activating 'Nine-Tails Chakra Mode' and 'Sage Mode', the two different modes would influence each other, thereby further improving his state.
But uncoordinated places also existed between the two modes, so after coming back, he had been trying hard, wanting to fuse these two modes perfectly, creating a 'Kurama Sage Mode' stronger than both.
Jiraiya, certain that Naruto was the light to save the Ninja World, naturally fully supported Naruto's idea unconditionally, hence the special training just now.
Naruto wiped his sweat and said: "Granny Tsunade, I have found the trick to harmonize the two modes. Before long I can create a brand-new mode!"
Menma floated out from Naruto's body, arms crossed: "Hmph, wasn't it relying on me!"
"Hehe!"
Naruto chuckled.
Naruto had extraordinary battlefield intuition, which should be inherited from the Fourth Hokage's combat wisdom, but in other aspects, Naruto was slightly dull.
And Menma's appearance complemented this point.
Menma was almost completely opposite to Naruto. His on-the-spot combat wisdom was average, unable to do unexpected things on the battlefield like Naruto. But he inherited the Fourth Hokage's talent for learning and developing ninjutsu. For example, 'Great Spiraling Ring' was developed by himself.
Naruto was responsible for proposing ideas, Menma responsible for proposing solutions, and Jiraiya responsible for perfecting details. The master and disciples cooperated tacitly, making a clearly difficult thing simple all of a sudden.
One must know that no matter what kind of chakra mode, it was the top secret technique in the Ninja World.
For example, the Raikage of past generations roamed the Ninja World relying on a 'Lightning Release Chakra Mode', making Kumogakure's prestige approach Konoha.
And whether 'Nine-Tails Chakra Mode' or 'Sage Mode', both were secret techniques stronger than 'Lightning Release Chakra Mode'. Even the top genius ninjas might not necessarily be confident in combining these two modes into one.
But Naruto managed to do it!
Hearing this, Tsunade smiled with relief.
She now completely agreed with Jiraiya's judgment, believing Naruto was the savior of the Ninja World in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.
Because the improvement of Naruto's strength was really too fast, somewhat subverting her understanding of ninjas.
One must know she herself was a genius, and when she was at Naruto's age, her strength was only between Special Jonin and Jonin.
And the current Naruto had completely surpassed Jonin. If really fighting, probably even she and Jiraiya were not Naruto's opponents.
At such a young age, possessing such strength, he completely trampled those so-called 'geniuses' in the village's history under his feet.
Of course, Shinji was an exception!
Swish...
Suddenly, an Anbu landed in front of Tsunade, reporting: "Lord Hokage, the village just intercepted a piece of intelligence!"
Tsunade took the intelligence and looked, her expression instantly becoming solemn.
Jiraiya asked: "What happened?"
Tsunade handed the intelligence in her hand to Jiraiya: "See for yourself!"
Jiraiya's face also changed after reading, because the intelligence indicated 'Dark Akatsuki' would attack Naruto recently to seize the Nine-Tails.