Chapter 323: The Weather has cleared

Amaterasu

Under the black burning flames, Obito wailed in pain, startling everyone the next moment.

Furious, Obito abruptly tore off his own clothes, and instantly the black flames of Amaterasu caught on the discarded garment.

As he watched his right arm consumed by the black flames, Obito snorted coldly. Chakra erupted within him, causing his right forearm to explode at the joint.

Blood splattered everywhere, and his severed forearm continued to burn in the Amaterasu flames on the water's surface.

"Unexpected! You, a mere brat, have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and your eye technique is the same as Itachi's – Amaterasu!"

Obito, already having lost his left arm to Jiraiya's Rasengan, now had to remove his clothes and sever his right hand to save himself from the Amaterasu.

Wearing only pants, Obito looked on with an unsightly expression at the situation unfolding before him.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto, seeing the figure standing atop a giant eagle in the sky, shouted excitedly. Sasuke, on the eagle's back, slowly smiled confidently.

His Sharingan eyes, with the six-pointed star of the Mangekyō, radiated unprecedented confidence.

"Obito, you disgrace of the Uchiha clan, you are nothing before these eyes!"

Proud Uchiha Sasuke felt as if the skies had cleared and the rain stopped, and he was invincible.

"Brat!"

Obito, infuriated by the mockery from his junior, especially Sasuke's condescending attitude.

"Obito, it's five against one now."

Jiraiya, in Sage Mode, laughed heartily, with Nagato and Konan ready at his side.

Even Naruto showed excitement – Sasuke had arrived!

"Obito! The clan has borne shame for over a decade because of you, you deserve to die!"

Sasuke descended swiftly from the sky, drawing his chakra-infused metal sword, surrounded by crackling lightning.

"Brat! You're too presumptuous!"

As the lightning surged through him, Sasuke's skillful swordplay left no chance for Obito to mount a physical attack.

Obito coldly observed Sasuke's new Mangekyō Sharingan with the six-pointed star.

"A new Sharingan, the heavens really favor your family, father and son, all awakening the Mangekyō."

Facing Jiraiya, Naruto, Nagato, Konan, and Sasuke with his new Mangekyō Sharingan, Obito's face turned ashen. A mocking smile slowly formed on his lips.

"Heh, we'll meet again. Next time, no one will stop me!"

With a cruel smile, Obito vanished in the turbulent sea, leaving no trace.

"Pervy Sage!"

After the battle, Naruto showed excitement, to his surprise, Pervy Sage Jiraiya was not dead.

At that moment, everyone gathered together, especially upon seeing the alive Jiraiya, Naruto's eyes welled up with tears, completely forgetting the awkward situation just before.

It must be said, being hot-blooded and thick-skinned has its benefits, and being rational simply doesn't work.

Jiraiya, watching Naruto, suppressed his negative emotions and stepped forward to embrace Naruto, laughing heartily.

"Ha ha, kid, you're crying? How could I, the Toad Sage, possibly die?"

Naruto's various changes made Jiraiya even more cautious, the influence of Asura was too great.

A broad mind naturally makes one likable, and Jiraiya himself was a person of great heart, but being magnanimous is entirely different from being saintly.

Surviving step by step in the harsh world of ninja, Jiraiya had experienced too much cruelty.

He used to appreciate Naruto's qualities, but now he had become silent.

Even the kindest person has their limits. Naruto's overflowing saintly heart, one moment fighting fiercely and wanting to kill the opponent, and the next, showing a face full of sorrow and generously forgiving others.

This kind of behavior was problematic, especially since the other party was his enemy.

"Sasuke, why are you here?"

At that moment, Naruto, seeing Sasuke, excitedly reached out to greet him, but was met with a cold, hard punch from Sasuke.

With a bang, Naruto was sent flying, sliding far across the water.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto, lifting his head and covering his injured mouth, roared angrily, his eyes full of questioning, as if to say, "Why are you hitting me for no reason?"

Sasuke sneered: "Naruto, it seems you still feel wronged. As a Konoha chunin, you disrespected the village's rules, leaving the Land of Fire's borders on your own, even entering the Land of Rain."

"The Hokage has ordered, Naruto has not followed the ninja code!" But before Sasuke could finish, Naruto immediately waved his hand awkwardly and laughed.

"Sasuke, forgive me, I didn't mean to."

As if Jiraiya's appearance brought Naruto back to his former self, but at that moment, he didn't know that his casual and willful character was making Sasuke even angrier.

"Naruto! Do you realize the seriousness of this situation?"

Sasuke appeared in front of Naruto in a flash, and Naruto quickly dodged.

In the moment they separated, Naruto was stunned, feeling something lift from his head, his ninja headband had already fallen into Sasuke's hands.

"Give me back my headband!"

However, Sasuke dodged Naruto's attempt to snatch it back and coldly said: "If it weren't for Lord Jiraiya vouching for you, just leaving the village on your own would be enough to classify you as a rogue ninja!"

"Sasuke!"

At this moment, the smile on Naruto's face froze as he looked at Sasuke's displeased expression, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

"Sasuke, I'll apologize when we get back, it's not that serious, is it?"

"Serious?" Sasuke shook his head in disappointment, seeing Naruto still harboring a carefree and hopeful mindset.

"Ask Lord Jiraiya how serious your offense is. If you weren't the Fourth Hokage's son, with your teacher Lord Jiraiya vouching for you, you'd be facing not me but the ANBU Black Ops by now, and you would have already been marked as a rogue ninja of Konoha!"

"Naruto, when will you face reality? You're always loud and thoughtless, preaching about mutual understanding, but look at yourself. If everyone acted like you, the world would be overrun with rogue ninjas."

As a team member, Sasuke looked at Naruto with frustration, reminiscent of the destined conflict between Indra and Ashura.

"Naruto! You talk about understanding others, but have you tried to understand them? You rant about equality, but abuse your privilege as the Fourth Hokage's son, never considering the consequences, always standing on the hierarchical system established by Lord Third!"

"But in the end, you criticize this 'unfair' system while standing on it and abusing its privileges. You've become a stranger, even disgusting!"

Finally, Sasuke took Naruto's forehead protector, saying coldly, "You're truly disgusting now!"

Sasuke's words left Naruto stunned, disbelief in his eyes.

After a while, Naruto forced a strained smile, "Sasuke."

"Ha ha, you two kids sort it out yourselves."

Jiraiya, watching from a distance, looked at Nagato with a helpless expression in response to Naruto's pleading eyes, only able to scratch his head and laugh foolishly.

Disobeying orders is a serious matter, but privileges exist everywhere.

However, Naruto's identity is special, being the son of the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

"Kid, aren't you going back?"

After this battle, there's no need for the Rain Village to hide, and it will surely be integrated into the Konoha. But Jiraiya was surprised to see the young Uchiha.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto and said respectfully, "The Genin Konohamaru has deserted without authorization from the Land of Fire and is now listed as a rogue ninja."

"What!"

Before Jiraiya could react, Naruto was shocked, forgetting everything else and anxiously exclaimed, "What's going on? It's impossible! Why would Konohamaru desert?"

In response to Naruto's inquiry, Sasuke just sneered sarcastically.

"Naruto, don't be delusional. The teammates who went after Konohamaru were all killed by him. The reason is simple, he said someone in Konoha was trying to harm him."

"How could anyone harm Konohamaru!" Naruto murmured in disbelief, but the grown-up Naruto seemed to think of something and glanced at Sasuke.

Seeing this look, Sasuke scoffed, "Naruto, you're just thinking that it's my Uchiha clan trying to harm Konohamaru, even wanting to eliminate the Sarutobi clan, right?"

This time, Naruto remained silent, but Sasuke sneered.

"Just a Konohamaru. If our Uchiha clan wanted to act, we would have done so long ago."

"Naruto!" Jiraiya called out to Naruto, his face filled with complex emotions, ultimately sighing deeply.

Killing teammates and defecting, Konohamaru was destined to not be able to return. And Sasuke's words made sense, if the Uchiha clan really targeted the Sarutobi clan, Konohamaru would not have survived.

"I forgot to tell you, the members of the team chasing Konohamaru."

At this moment, Sasuke revealed a mischievous smile. He deeply loathed the Sarutobi clan, especially after experiencing the Mangekyō Sharingan.

If not for Teacher Yoru, the Uchiha clan's extermination plan by the Third Hokage's Root Division would have been implemented, and the Sarutobi clan would have faced the same fate as the Uchiha clan.

Victor or vanquished!

"The members of the pursuit squad are Temari, Kankurō, and you, Naruto!"

As Sasuke's voice fell, Naruto's face was filled with shock.

"You left the Land of Fire on your own, this is the Hokage's chance for you to redeem yourself. By the way, I almost forgot to tell you, after Konohamaru escaped the Land of Fire, he went into the Land of Rain."

Under Sasuke's mocking gaze, Naruto was even more shocked, while Jiraiya sighed deeply and gestured that he couldn't intervene in this matter.

…

Land of Rain.

In the drizzling rain, Konohamaru was cautiously on guard in the forest, his face and body covered in mud.

He was now preparing to cross the Land of Rain to reach the Land of Earth. At present, in the entire ninja world, only the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth were relatively safe, at least providing refuge from the pursuit of Konoha.

Carefully moving through the forest, the stinging pain on his cheek caused involuntary muscle spasms.

"Damn it! Why don't you understand me!"

At this moment, feeling the pain of the injury on his face, Konohamaru couldn't help but curse in anger.

The injury on his face was inflicted by his teammate, whom he also brutally killed when they came to retrieve him. This act led him to be labeled as a rogue ninja and pursued.

In the forest filled with continuous raindrops, suddenly a cracking sound was heard. Although it was faint, Konohamaru, as a ninja, showed a look of terror.

"Damn it! Why won't you give me a way out! Curse you, Uchiha!"

With a roar, Konohamaru threw several shuriken, and with a chilling sound, a hoarse voice echoed in the woods.

"Hehe, little brat of the Sarutobi clan, did you know? I thought there was no hope, but unexpectedly, you delivered yourself to me as a rogue ninja."

A shadow slowly emerged from the bushes, revealing an ugly multi-armed puppet and its controller, who gradually showed his true face.

The puppet-controlling ninja, with a face covered in greasepaint and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes, wore a forehead protector with the character "Shin", indicating he was a Jonin.

"Kankuro!"

With a grim face, Konohamaru uttered a name filled with resentment. Kankuro had once bullied him, and later, Konohamaru's grandfather was responsible for the death of Kankuro's father, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.

"Jie Jie!"

Kankuro, excited and bloodthirsty, laughed while looking at the miserable figure before him, once the proud grandson of the Third Hokage.

"You know, the Third Hokage deceived my father, the Fourth Kazekage, into invading Konoha, then ambushed and killed my father midway, impersonating him to participate in the Chunin Exams. I've always remembered this hatred!"

At this moment, Kankuro, angrily thumping his chest, seemed to express the depth of his hatred.

"But for the sake of the entire village! I had to endure it, even giving up this so-called hatred. But, lo and behold, the Sage of the Six Paths must have opened his eyes! You, this little brat, actually defected, haha!"

"And even killed your own teammates, directly being listed as a pursued rogue ninja, haha!"

Controlling the puppet, Kankuro's face showed an excited and bloodthirsty smile, while Konohamaru revealed a drop of cold sweat.

The opponent was a Jonin! Although he had trained hard over the years, he was still well aware of the strength of a Jonin!

Run!