Chapter 68 - Roshi

I was slowly approaching Iwagakura.

It's funny that all these "hidden villages" are, in fact, mostly far from hidden.

The country of the earth is quite unique. Almost all the land space is filled with rocks and mountains, and rare plains have questionable fertility.

Strong winds are walking here, just like in the Wind country, but with one difference. Here, in the land of the Earth, the wind is able to lift small stones into the air and form the so-called "Stone Rain" by the locals.

After a while, it seemed to me the hidden village itself, surrounded by mountains and rocks, creating excellent natural protection. The village looked more like a stone city.

The area of the village was quite small compared to Konoha and Suna. All this is done in order to fit between these rocks and mountains. Yes, all for the sake of natural protection.

That is why mostly all the buildings in the village are large stone tower-like high-rises that go up into the sky.

It certainly looks impressive. However, from the point of view of defense, all this is very, very bad.

To understand, I can destroy an entire village with just one blast seal. And it won't be the most powerful fuin.

All these high-rises will simply fold up like houses of cards, burying the villagers under them.

Fortunately for them, even if I wanted to kill, I would not stoop to genocide of "civilians". My maximum is Shinobi.

To revive Kagyu, according to my plan, the unification of the Shinobi world is underway, which means that I definitely shouldn't dirty my hands by killing an entire village.

Even killing Shinobi will most likely prevent me from further peaceful unification of villages. If I kill a few Shinobi, it's unlikely to affect the future in any way, but if I kill a few dozen, then it will definitely be remembered to me.

But on the other hand, if I allow myself to be "soft", then some human beings will cease to respect me and may try to "fuck up" me, thinking that everything will get away with it.

In general, I need to do the same thing that I did some time ago during the defense of Uzushio. I need to show that jokes are bad with me and at the same time make it clear that Uzumaki Tetsuya is not an executioner.

And yes, I will go according to my plan anyway, whether Zetsu agrees or not. The fact that I gave him a choice is just an illusion of this very choice. In fact, his answer won't change anything. Of course, Zetsu is also needed to revive Kaguya, but I don't think he will refuse to revive his mother when everything is ready.

After enjoying the view of the village, I folded my arms on my chest and with a small smile said loudly – Oonoki, do you really think that I won't feel such a number of Shinobi in the neighborhood? You either underestimate me or you're just being an arrogant idiot. –

After a few seconds, Willow shinobi began to appear all over the neighborhood.

Someone came out from behind the rocks, someone literally floated out of the ground, and someone together with Oonoki themselves became a rock.

I was not surprised by this ambush, because when I came here, I did not hide my presence. Therefore, Oonoka had time to prepare for my visit.

"Are you talking to me about arrogance, brat?! A frowning Oonoki shouted seventy meters away from me.

Now he is almost fifty years old, however, he looked much older. Very small height, even for a world where the average height of a man is one meter seventy.

His head was almost bald, and the few remaining gray hair was tied in a bun with a yellow ribbon. Thick eyebrows, mustache and triangular beard were the same gray color. A big red nose looked out of place on a small face.

A green and yellow robe with a large red collar, mesh armor with a regular shinobi suit and small sandals in socks…

This is exactly what Tsuchikage Iwagakure looked like.

– Dared to come alone to the great hidden village! And after that you talk to me about arrogance boy?! Oonoki was angrily tearing his throat out, but I ignored the old man.

But he ignored it because a tall, dark man towered next to a small old man.

His rather long hair swayed freely in the wind, almost reaching his shoulders.

A typical and rather cheap shinobi outfit covered a muscular body.

Half of the face was covered by a dark mask, leaving only the eyes to show... very interesting eyes. A red sclera and a deep green iris without a hint of a pupil.

But the most incredible thing was shown to me by the "Imperial Zone". This "man", if you can still call it that, almost entirely consisted of gray threads that permeated the remains of his human body. Five hearts, inside the man, beat in unison, forming a bizarre pattern of chakra and tenketsu.

– It's amazing ... – I muttered so that I could be clearly heard by others – How much did they pay you to come here? –

– I wasn't paid. A deep, deep voice boomed out from behind the man's mask.

I spread my hands – Is it really a lie that for Kakuzu, an S-rank nukenin, there is nothing more valuable than money? –

– No, it's just that sometimes there are things more valuable than money. For example, the heart of the "Shinobi God". –

Hmm. That's how... baby Kakuzu thinks he can take over my motor, it's a pity that he won't succeed. But his technique is very interesting. Not that I was going to use it or give it to anyone, but in itself such a unique jutsu is very interesting.

Orochimaru will write with boiling water when I bring Kakuzu's corpse... yes, I will definitely kill him, so that everyone here does not have a thought to consider me soft. And at the same time, no one will remember the death of this nukenin to me. Profit!

– Before I start beating the very spirit out of you, I'll say... give up! You have no chance against me. –

Oonoki clearly didn't like my suggestion, but before the old man burst into abuse, Kakuzu, grunting, said with irritation in his voice – You take too much on yourself, son of Hashirama. Once, I had the honor to fight with your father. I lost that fight, but Hashirama couldn't kill me. I survived and became much, much stronger. Also, here and now, there is a whole great village on my side… And then you have the courage to declare our surrender? –

It's true. However, the moment you, little Kakuzu, attacked Hashirama, he already had one foot in the grave. And the past Shinobi God did not have the opportunity to use the internal "gate"... And how have you already managed to forget that I was chasing three armies of Shinobi with the help of a Thousand-handed Truth, while at the same moment I was beating three Kage. Although, what else to expect from two old men. Wait a minute… And for me, how many years have I been in total?... No matter.

– My job is to warn, then don't bite your elbows. I shrugged with a wide grin on my face.

The next moment I felt a strong push under my feet and before the whole clearing on which I was standing was turned around, I managed to move to the kunai with hiraishin's seal.

I teleported to a place nearby. About a hundred meters from here I left a special kunai just in case.

It seems that Oonoki has not been sitting idly by all this time and mined the place of our supposed meeting. It's brave, because an explosion of this level just touched his Shinobi.

Slowly, I went back to that clearing, while it was raining from the sky from pieces of earth that were raised by the explosion.

As expected, the clearing turned into one large pit six to seven meters deep.

When the Willow Shinobi saw me safe and sound, they all swallowed nervously saliva and tightened their grip on the kunai.

Oonoki frowned, displeased that the ambush had done no good.

Kakuzu didn't react in any way.

But that's not all. I felt a shinobi with a lot of chakra coming here.

– Sorry I'm late! The red–haired man said when he landed near Oonoka and raised a small column of dust.

– Nothing. You're just in time, Roshi. Oonoki smiled slightly.

Bright red hair, a long-sleeved bard shirt, trousers of the same color and black sandals. This is exactly what the four–tailed Roshi - Jinchuriki looked like.

With the arrival of jinchuriki, the mood of the Shinobi changed. They became more confident. They became slightly relaxed.

– What do you say now, brat? Oonoki grinned confidently.

– I'll just say that it's getting interesting. I replied with the same grin, which infuriated Oonoki a little.

If they think that something will change with the arrival of jinchuriki, they are mistaken. I even benefit from the arrival of the Son Goku vessel, because this way I can capture a little of the four-tailed chakra.

Okay… The Seventh Gate of Wonder…