Chapter 175: Chapter 175: A Chaotic Konoha
"This is indeed worth a try!"
Sasuke seemed to have thought of something.
Orochimaru was somewhat curious. He had already considered many methods, but he wasn't sure if Tsunade would agree.
In fact, based on his understanding of Tsunade, most of the methods he had thought of would not only fail to gain her agreement but might even be outright rejected.
This was...
A bit tricky.
But Orochimaru held some expectations for Sasuke. Perhaps Sasuke had some unique ideas.
"What does Sasuke-kun plan to do?"
Hearing this, Sasuke smiled.
"It's not easy to say for now, and I'm not sure if it will succeed!"
"But I think it might work! I'll propose a deal to Tsunade; it all depends on whether she's willing or not!"
Sasuke glanced at Kabuto, who was tidying up the instruments.
"Is it done?"
Kabuto adjusted his glasses and then nodded. "Yes! Lord Sasuke, you can get down now!"
Jumping off the bed, Sasuke deactivated Sage Mode, then glanced at Orochimaru. "I'll make my move tomorrow!"
Considering how dire the situation in Konoha had become, Sasuke had originally planned to master all of the Wood Release techniques before heading to Konoha. However, given the urgency, he realized he needed to act earlier. This was now uncharted territory that hadn't occurred in the original storyline.
Sasuke wasn't sure what changes might suddenly happen at any given time. To avoid unforeseen complications, it was better to act sooner rather than later. If he waited for the turmoil in Konoha to resolve, his deal with Tsunade would lose all meaning. By then, persuading Tsunade to heal Kimimaro would become nearly impossible.
This time, Haku also wanted to accompany Sasuke to Konoha. However, the circumstances were different this time, a major battle could erupt at any moment. Sasuke wasn't sure he could look after Haku, so he declined Haku's request.
Orochimaru suggested sending the Sound Four along, but Sasuke refused this offer as well.
Ever since Guren arrived at the Sound Village base, she had been trying to persuade Orochimaru to use her for his next reincarnation, but Orochimaru refused. Guren had been in low spirits recently, but Sasuke paid no further attention to this.
The night passed uneventfully.
The next day, after finishing his preparations, Sasuke packed his belongings. Using the storage seal engraved on the wristband Orochimaru had given him, he stowed away the Scroll of Seals, along with many tools like shuriken, explosive tags, and soldier pills.
After all, the place Sasuke was heading to was Konoha, and at this point in time, Konoha's number of active shinobi was staggering. He needed to stock up on supplies to prepare for potential battles. The wristband Orochimaru specially prepared for him came as a surprise to Sasuke.
Was the wristband Sasuke used in the original story also given by Orochimaru? It seemed that Orochimaru didn't just see Sasuke or rather, himself as a vessel.
Leaving the Sound Village, Sasuke raced toward Konoha at lightning speed.
Lightning Release: God-Speed activated!
In a flash of electricity, Sasuke dashed through the forest at incredible speed. Having mastered Sage Mode, Sasuke no longer worried about chakra depletion. Even without activating Sage Mode, the benefits brought by his Wood Release Kekkei Genkai allowed him to maintain God-Speed for extended periods.
It took Sasuke less than half a day to reach Konoha from the Sound Village. The journey itself only took about three hours, but things slowed down once he entered the Land of Fire's territory.
The shinobi from Konoha were clearly much more active within their borders. To avoid detection, Sasuke had to take some detours. The closer he got to Konoha, the more numerous its shinobi became. Eventually, Sasuke was forced to hide among a group of people transporting grain to Konoha.
With war imminent, food supplies were a critical concern. Along the way, Sasuke noticed many rogue ninja from smaller villages attacking and looting within the Land of Fire. These groups often clashed with Konoha's patrol squads. Although both sides exercised some restraint, fatalities were unavoidable.
At this rate, despite attempts at moderation, full-scale conflict was inevitable. The Land of Fire's situation was quite precarious.
Danzo's newly established Flame Village was located near the coastline, closer to the Land of Waves. Thus, his rear flank faced little threat from smaller nations' rogue ninja.
On Tsunade's side, however, the situation was different. Backed against the Land of Wind and bordered by the Land of Earth, her position was far more vulnerable. Both borders had smaller nations acting as buffer zones, and these nations' rogue ninja were now targeting Tsunade. This harassment was a major headache for her.
Yet, she couldn't afford to openly confront these smaller nations, as doing so would leave her surrounded by enemies on all sides. While Tsunade wasn't afraid of these rogue ninja, being bogged down by them would be a significant problem.
Meanwhile, Danzo had gathered a considerable number of Konoha shinobi. Now that he had publicly stepped into the spotlight as a disciple of the Second Hokage, a peer of Hiruzen Sarutobi, and an acknowledged advisor to Konoha Danzo enjoyed substantial support. Although his title as Hokage was no longer officially recognized, many shinobi viewed Tsunade as an usurper and supported Danzo instead.
This undeniable fact was the source of much of the turmoil.
Currently, a third of the shinobi in the Land of Fire were aligned with Danzo, while less than a quarter sided with Tsunade. The rest of Konoha's shinobi were either on missions in other countries, waiting and observing the situation, or under the Daimyo's control for various reasons.
Konoha was in utter chaos.
This chaos made it easier for Sasuke to infiltrate the village unnoticed. Thanks to the Sage Mode techniques he had learned from Ryuchi Cave, Sasuke's ability to conceal his presence had reached a new level of subtlety. Even skilled shinobi found it difficult to detect him.
Using this newfound stealth, Sasuke successfully infiltrated Tsunade's new residence in Konoha. However, it was obvious Tsunade wouldn't be at home she was undoubtedly at the Hokage's office handling various matters.
With too many shinobi around, Sasuke couldn't wander the streets freely or treat Konoha's Anbu as blind fools. He found an unexpected hiding place to rest and plan his next move how to meet with Tsunade in secret.
The best course of action would be to sneak into the Hokage's office late at night. However, the building was protected by sensory barriers, making undetected infiltration nearly impossible. This was Sasuke's biggest headache.
As night fell and Sasuke still hadn't figured out how to approach Tsunade, he overheard voices outside the house Tsunade, Shizune, and Shikaku Nara were talking.
"Tsunade-sama, we can't afford to wait any longer."
"If we wait for Danzo to gather enough strength to attack Konoha, we'll definitely lose!"
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