Li Chuan had intentionally displayed some of his strength to Zabuza earlier to prevent that guy from having any other ideas over time.
Ultimately, Zabuza wasn't a good person, and his current cooperation was mostly due to mutual interests.
Therefore, a proper warning was sometimes necessary.
After warning Zabuza and giving a few instructions to Kino, Li Chuan spread his Flying Sword Wings and transformed into a sword light, soaring towards Konoha Village.
Before leaving, because he had to trade with Kakuzu and Orochimaru, he hadn't gone to Konoha to learn Ninjutsu from the Third Hokage. Now, his primary goal was to go to Konoha and learn all valuable Konoha Ninjutsu.
In truth, most Ninjutsu were already useless to him, especially some elemental Ninjutsu, as he had acquired plenty from Kakuzu, which was generally sufficient.
However, there were still some Ninjutsu he particularly desired.
For example, the Third Hokage's self-created Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique was a special Ninjutsu that could create Shadow Clones of thrown weapons, which could be combined with his Flying Sword Wings.
His Flying Sword Wings could unleash up to ten thousand small flying swords at once; if he were to Shadow Clone them, the number would instantly skyrocket, and the power would also greatly increase.
There was also the Flying Thunder God Technique created by the Second Hokage.
Although he currently had Apparition for short distances and Portkeys for long distances, the Flying Thunder God Technique was still a very worthwhile jutsu to possess.
This was because it had a unique feature: as long as the Flying Thunder God jutsu formula was imprinted in advance, he could instantly teleport there.
This jutsu formula could be imprinted on objects or people, and with sufficient proficiency, it could be successfully imprinted instantly and imperceptibly.
Neither Apparition nor the Portkey could achieve this.
In the future, if he needed to track someone, he could imprint the Flying Thunder God jutsu formula on them, so as long as the other party didn't remove the formula, he could instantly find them no matter where they ran.
In addition, there were some other Ninjutsu with special effects that he could also learn.
Li Chuan's sword escape was incredibly fast, and it wasn't long before he saw Konoha Village, surrounded by its wooden walls, again.
He retracted his Flying Sword Wings and landed not far away, then walked on foot to the south gate of Konoha Village.
"Izumo Kamizuki, Kotetsu Hagane, it's you two on gate duty again!"
Seeing the two Chunin in green vests sitting at a table by the gate, Li Chuan raised his hand in greeting.
Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, who were chatting idly, immediately stood up with respectful expressions upon seeing Li Chuan.
"Your Highness!"
The noble Your Highness of the Land of Fire had saved the Third Hokage and revived countless Konoha Village Ninja and civilians during Orochimaru and the Sand Ninja's joint attack on Konoha.
Now, he had also become the Third Hokage's fourth disciple.
With so many accolades, how could they not feel respect?
"I'm a Konoha Ninja now, so you don't need to call me Your Highness. Just call me Lord."
Li Chuan smiled and stepped forward to register.
"Yes, My Lord!"
Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane said in unison.
Li Chuan waved his hand at their response, then passed through the Konoha gate and re-entered Konoha Village.
Upon entering Konoha, the first thing to do was definitely report to the Third Hokage, so he didn't look for anyone else and walked directly towards the Hokage building.
Along the way, whether they were Konoha Ninja or Konoha villagers, everyone who recognized him showed great respect.
However, as he walked onto the bridge over the river that marked the north-south boundary of Konoha, he suddenly sensed something, raised an eyebrow, and turned his head to look to his left.
"Oh, strange. These two guys would actually come to Konoha."
In the middle of the river, five hundred meters to his left, two groups of people were confronting each other.
One group consisted of two individuals, both wearing identical black windbreakers embroidered with red clouds. The other group had three people: a man and a woman holding kunai, bearing injuries, and looking highly vigilant, while another person knelt on the water, gasping for breath.
Indeed, those wearing black windbreakers with red clouds were Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki of the Akatsuki Organization, while the other three were Konoha's Asuma, Kakashi, and Yuhi.
In the original plot, Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki did come to Konoha during this period.
But that was because the Third Hokage had died, and Konoha's strength was greatly weakened after Orochimaru's Konoha Crush Plan, which was why Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki wanted to take the opportunity to retrieve the Nine-Tailed.
Of course, he knew Uchiha Itachi's true purpose wasn't to retrieve the Nine-Tailed; he was merely there to warn Konoha's higher-ups, especially Danzo, not to harbor any ill intentions towards Sasuke now that the Third Hokage was dead.
But now, due to his presence, the Third Hokage hadn't died, and Konoha's strength had suffered virtually no losses, so he had originally thought these two wouldn't come.
"Perhaps... it's because of Sasuke's Sharingan."
After careful thought, Li Chuan had some general guesses.
He estimated that Uchiha Itachi's visit this time might be for another reason: to help Kakashi better master the Sharingan, enabling him to guide Sasuke in his training.
Currently, throughout Konoha, apart from Kakashi, no one else possessed the Sharingan.
However, because Kakashi's eye was transplanted from Obito and not his own, his application of the Sharingan wasn't particularly good.
Uchiha Itachi probably wanted to use his Tsukuyomi, seemingly severely injuring Kakashi, but in reality, helping him develop his Sharingan, allowing Kakashi to better grasp the mysteries of the Sharingan, and thus guide his younger brother Sasuke in his training.
Otherwise, with the strength of Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki, if they were to infiltrate Konoha, how could they have been so easily discovered by Kakashi?
The key was that he, this butterfly, had already flapped its wings so widely, yet Kakashi still fell victim to Tsukuyomi.
This could only mean that Uchiha Itachi's use of Tsukuyomi on Kakashi was planned, not an accidental event.
"Good, I also need your Sharingan."
Rubbing his chin, Li Chuan used Apparition and vanished from his spot.
Meanwhile, five hundred meters away in the middle of the river, Asuma and Yuhi, who had been instructed by Kakashi to close their eyes, heard Kakashi's heavy gasping and asked with concern:
"Kakashi, what happened? Can we open our eyes now?"
"No... no, not yet... you can't open your eyes!"
Kakashi, enduring the severe mental damage from Tsukuyomi, replied intermittently.
As Itachi's former Captain during his Anbu days, he knew how formidable this rogue Ninja, who had become an Anbu Captain at thirteen, truly was.
So, upon sensing that Itachi was about to use his Sharingan to activate a Genjutsu, he immediately told Asuma and Yuhi to close their eyes, while he himself only used his Sharingan eye to counter.
However, what he hadn't expected was that the current Itachi was so much more powerful than the Itachi he remembered.
Even though he used his Sharingan, he still fell into the opponent's Genjutsu.
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