Konoha's Genius is a bit Ordinary?

"Sand Village? Why would you think there's a problem with the Sand Village?" Tsunade looked at Natsuro with a curious expression.

"Just a feeling. After all, the Sand Village is pretty weak right now. Hasn't the Akatsuki already started making moves? Didn't they target the Sand Village?" Natsuro asked.

"Yes, the Akatsuki has begun their operations, but as far as I know, they haven't targeted the Sand Village yet," Tsunade replied.

"I see." Natsuro nodded, frowning slightly. Why hadn't it happened yet?

Could this be the butterfly effect caused by his presence? But he hadn't done anything to directly affect the Akatsuki, had he?

Then again, it might have been some minor change he made unknowingly.

"Speaking of the Sand Village, why hasn't that old hag Chiyo passed away yet?" Tsunade said, her voice tinged with frustration.

"Something happen?" Natsuro asked casually.

"Jiraiya has already warned all the villages with tailed beasts to be on guard against the Akatsuki," Tsunade explained.

"Our relations with the Sand Village are particularly close right now, so we've been considering forming a deeper alliance to jointly guard against the Akatsuki. The Fifth Kazekage agreed, but that old hag Chiyo outright blocked it."

Tsunade gritted her teeth after explaining, clearly irritated by the situation.

"Oh, by the way, you probably don't know who the Fifth Kazekage is, do you? Care to guess who it is?" Tsunade suddenly asked, a mischievous tone in her voice.

"Gaara,"Natsuro answered directly, skipping any pretense of guessing.

"You already knew, didn't you? That's right, it's Gaara. He became Kazekage at just 15 years old," Tsunade teased. "So, do you regret not becoming Hokage back then? If you had, you'd hold the record for the youngest Kage. Now Gaara's taken that title."

Natsuro paused, then looked at Tsunade. "Gaara becoming Kazekage only proves the Sand Village doesn't have anyone else. Konoha isn't at the point where it needs a teenager as Hokage."

Tsunade had no response to that. It was true, the Sand Village currently lacked talent.

"So, how do you know Gaara agreed while Chiyo opposed it?" Natsuro asked.

"Gaara sent his sister, Temari, to explain everything," Tsunade sighed. "Gaara is still too young and lacks the authority to bypass the elders and make decisions unilaterally."

Tsunade sympathized with Gaara's predicament, as her own experiences as Hokage weren't too different. That said, her situation was still far better than Gaara's.

"That makes sense," Natsuro said, nodding. He understood Chiyo's stance, her deep resentment toward Konoha due to the deaths of her children at the hands of the White Fang made her obstruction unsurprising.

"Still, Temari coming here shows Gaara's attitude, which is a good thing," Natsuro added.

"True," Tsunade agreed with a nod.

At that moment, a shinobi from the intelligence division burst into the Hokage's office without even knocking.

Both Natsuro and Tsunade immediately felt a sense of foreboding.

"Urgent high-priority intel from the Sand Village!" the shinobi said breathlessly, handing a scroll to Tsunade.

"What?!" Tsunade exclaimed after reading it.

"What happened?" Natsuro asked, his unease growing.

"Gaara was defeated and captured alive by the Akatsuki during the night. The Sand Village is requesting our assistance," Tsunade said through gritted teeth. They had just been talking about Gaara, and now this?

Tsunade's eyes turned to Natsuro. Did he know something? Why else would he keep insisting there was an issue with the Sand Village? And now this catastrophe, losing a tailed beast and having their Kage kidnapped. This would of been a calamity for any village.

Natsuro also frowned. He hadn't expected such an event to happen right after his seclusion ended.

He had been planning to prepare some measures to deal with the Akatsuki's eventual approach to Gaara. But before he could act, Gaara was captured the day after Natsuro's return.

Moreover, most of Konoha's shinobi were currently preoccupied with dealing with the Mōryō situation. Natsuro himself had only just returned. Wasn't the timing too coincidental?

Tsunade also realized now wasn't the time for questions. She needed to act. However, with Konoha's forces spread thin, there wasn't much she could send to aid the Sand Village. Even Temari had been assigned to assist with the Mōryō issue.

Eventually, Tsunade looked toward Natsuro.

"I'll handle it," Natsuro said, cutting off her unspoken request and volunteering for the mission. He wanted to find out what had caused this sudden turn of events.

"Thank you. Once the other shinobi resolve the Mōryō situation, I'll send reinforcements to back you up as soon as possible," Tsunade said gravely.

"Understood," Natsuro replied. He didn't mention that he probably wouldn't need reinforcements, though he had a nagging feeling something about this situation was off.

After leaving the Hokage's office, Natsuro quickly prepared his gear and set off.

There were no Flying Thunder God marks left in the Sand Village.

While he had wanted to place a mark on Gaara, the Sand Village had refused. Understandably, they wouldn't want to hand over control of their greatest weapon, the tailed beast, to an outsider.

Even when he had offered to re-seal Shukaku, they had rejected the idea. The tailed beast was the village's ultimate weapon—why would they entrust the "key" to someone else?

Natsuro also hadn't wanted to leave a Flying Thunder God kunai in plain sight. While it was nearly impossible to crack the jutsu, it wasn't entirely beyond possibility. Handing such a kunai to the Sand Village would essentially be giving them a chance to study his technique.

And they wouldn't need to fully decipher Flying Thunder God, figuring out how to deactivate the marks would be enough to weaken Natsuro's strategic advantage in future conflicts with the Sand Village.

Without an equal exchange of benefits, who would willingly take on such a risk?

An ideal exchange, in Natsuro's mind, would have been leaving a mark on Gaara. They could study the jutsu on Gaara, while Natsuro retained the ability to track Gaara's location. Unfortunately, the Sand Village disagreed.

If they had agreed, Natsuro might have already teleported to Gaara's side to save him.

Now, without any prior visit to the Sand Village, Natsuro had no marks to use and had to rely on foot travel to reach it.

As Natsuro departed, certain figures in the shadows began to move.

Root.

Danzo held a scroll in his hand, then handed it to a strange-looking summoned creature, which swallowed it whole before disappearing with a puff of smoke.

Danzo watched the scene with a cold gaze. While he found it odd that Orochimaru's summoning creature wasn't a snake, such details were irrelevant.

What mattered was that the day he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

That brat had finally returned to Konoha, and Danzo hadn't expected such a perfect opportunity to present itself the moment Natsuro came back.

This was fate aiding him!

Danzo's eyes gleamed with malice as he reflected on how long he had waited and how much he had sacrificed to deal with Natsuro. But it was all worth it. He knew he couldn't handle Natsuro on his own, so he had sought external help.

Now, as Danzo thought of his "ally," a sinister smile crept onto his face. This time, let's see how you survive, Natsuro.

.....

Meanwhile, in the Land of Demons

Naruto dashed forward at full speed, carrying a woman with light-colored hair on his back. She was Shion, the current priestess of the Land of Demons.

"Damn it! The entrance is completely blocked," Naruto growled, glaring at the massive stone constructs that formed Mōryō's ghostly army.

"What should we do now, Naruto?" Shion asked nervously, her concern evident.

"Hold on tight and leave the rest to me," Naruto replied, his eyes filled with determination as he formed a hand sign.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In an instant, countless Naruto clones appeared, flooding the area like a tidal wave.

Shion, despite having seen Naruto use clones many times before, couldn't help but gape at the sheer number of clones this time.

Next, Shion noticed a vivid, red chakra emerge from Naruto's body, forming a protective crimson armor.

She reached out her hand and touched her own body, realizing that she, too, was now covered by the same red armor.

"Hold on tight," Naruto instructed again. This time, he extended his right hand, forming a vibrant purple Rasengan in his palm.

Looking at the Rasengan, Naruto couldn't help but marvel. Having Kurama's chakra sure makes it easier to form this with one hand.

Despite training under Jiraiya, Naruto hadn't forgotten Natsuro's advice to master the Rasengan with just one hand. However, his progress had been slow, and he still couldn't do it without assistance.

Then again, Naruto thought, if I'm always using Kurama's chakra, does this count as me mastering the one-handed Rasengan?

Pushing the thought aside, Naruto watched as his army of crimson-armored clones shattered the ghostly army of stone constructs into rubble, clearing a path for him and Shion. Carrying her, he charged forward.

Reaching the entrance blocked by a large cluster of ghostly constructs, Naruto thrust his Rasengan into one of them.

BOOM!

The resulting explosion annihilated the surrounding ghostly army, clearing the entrance to the area where Mōryō's physical form was sealed. Naruto set Shion down.

"That was… incredible," Shion said, unable to hide her amazement.

"Of course it was!" Naruto grinned proudly but quickly snapped back to focus. "But there's no time to celebrate. Go inside and handle the sealing. Don't worry—I won't let a single one of these guys through!"

"Thank you, Naruto," Shion said with newfound determination as she rushed toward the sealed chamber.

Naruto remained outside, glancing at the night sky before turning back to the ghostly army, which had already begun reforming.

Though the constructs weren't particularly difficult to deal with, their inability to truly die was incredibly annoying.

But there was no choice, he had to hold the line!

Naruto wasn't sure how long he'd been fighting when suddenly, he heard a voice behind him.

"Chidori Blade!"

Naruto's eyes lit up as he saw Kakashi arrive on the scene.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, overjoyed.

"Leave this to us, Naruto," Kakashi said, glancing at his student.

"Got it!" Naruto replied with a grin before heading into the sealed chamber.

Watching Naruto's retreating figure, Kakashi sighed. He had already received word from the Hokage, but this wasn't the right time to tell Naruto.

Meanwhile, Team Hawk, accompanied by Temari of the Sand Village, was already en route to the Sand Village. With Natsuro heading there as well, Kakashi could only hope everything would turn out fine.

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Currently on Chapter 247 - The Meeting's Outcome and the Sage Spirit Shadow Clone