In the forest on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Sichuan to the west.
On the orders of the Sandaime Hokage, he came to assist Namikaze Minato and others to arrest Nara Shikaku, who was pretending to be the First Hokage.
He was standing on the thick branch of a big tree with Yamanaka Haiichi and the new clan leader of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Hiashi.
Around them, a Konoha ninja wearing a green vest and a serious expression could be seen.
"It has been arranged. According to Namikaze Minato and the others' speed, they will be able to arrive here in about two hours."
"Okay, thank you for your hard work."
Nara Shikaku, who was holding his hands on his chest, just nodded and seemed very calm after hearing Yamanaka Haiichi's words.
It seemed like he didn't care about the upcoming battle at all.
But Yamanaka Kaiichi, who knew him best, could see that Nara Shikaku's mood was actually very heavy.
Or.
Everyone who knows the content of the intelligence cannot feel relaxed now.
Yamanaka Haiichi sighed softly: "I hope our preparations will work."
He has an astonishing three-meter-tall body, powerful taijutsu and boxing skills, and can use the legendary Wood Release of the First Hokage.
He was so powerful that he knocked out Hinata and Hizashi with one blow. He received Inuzuka Jaw's family Taijutsu Secret Fang Fang head-on, seriously injuring both the man and the dog.
On top of this, Namikaze Minato even concluded that the opponent had powerful perception ability that could predict where his Flying Thunder God would land.
besides.
The other party's Wood Release can actually restore the injuries of others. It is said that the seriously injured Hyuga Hizashi and Inuzuka Jaw recovered very quickly after being pricked by a tree branch for a while.
This means that it is entirely possible for the opponent to heal himself during the battle.
honestly.
Such a powerful Wood Escape master with comprehensive abilities and seemingly proficient in everything.
If it weren't for the Sandaime Hokage, Danzo and the two advisors would all deny each other's identity.
He even took out the portrait of the First Hokage and compared it with the face sketched by Minato Namikaze.
They really might have thought that the 'God of the Ninja World' Senju Hashirama had reappeared in the world.
So who will the other party be?
This issue has actually been considered within Konoha Village.
One of the consultants, Mito Monobu, suggested that based on Crocodile's self-introduction, could he be the first generation leader of the Senju clan?
In his opinion, the opponent's Wood Release is absolutely true, so his blood must be related to the Thousand Hands clan.
Although even among the Senju Clan, only Senju Hashirama possesses Wood Release, the Blood Succession Limit is the Blood Succession Limit, and it is essentially inherited through blood.
But Danzo's words at the meeting left Mito Kabuto speechless.
"Since the other party is a former strong man of the Senju clan, then why do you pretend to be the First Hokage in front of Namikaze Minato and use this identity to approach our Konoha Village?"
Everyone can hear the profound meaning in Danzo's words.
That is, no matter whether this person is related to the Senju clan or not, he obviously has ill intentions towards Konoha.
Nara Shikaku, who also attended the meeting, also believed in this.
I even think the other person is a bit stupid.
If you want to get close to the Leaf Village and gain their trust, you shouldn't pretend to be the First Hokage.
Just like Crocodile, claiming to be the ancestor of the Thousand Hands clan, there is basically nothing to doubt about them.
But that's it.
Now that they are sure it is the enemy, they must find a way to capture it first, and then find a way to extract more information and tear apart all the mystery surrounding the opponent.
Nara Shikaku based on the information sent by Namikaze Minato.
First of all, it was judged that in the face of the wood escape ability of the 'pseudo-first Hokage', it would be meaningless to have a large number of ordinary middle- and lower-level ninjas.
On the contrary, it will only increase casualties, thereby affecting overall morale.
So he immediately made a decision to only lead thirty jounin, twenty special jounin and fifty chuunin from various major ninja clans.
Don't think they are just chunin.
But these ninjas who either have blood inheritance limits or have family secrets would be considered at least special jounin in other big country ninja villages. If they are in those small ninja villages, they are enough to hold the position of jounin.
This is basically the consensus of the entire Konoha ninja.
Even if other ninja villages were unhappy, they could only curse in secret, but no one questioned it directly.
After all, in the previous two ninja wars, Konoha Village did win the other ninja villages on its own.
Not to mention that even the tailed beasts in the village were given to them by the First Hokage.
Therefore, the ninja force led by Nara Shikaku is equivalent to one hundred jounin-level ninjas in the entire ninja world.
And their target is only one person.
It can be seen that its importance is extraordinary. You must know that even big country ninja villages such as Sunagakure Village and Kirigakure Village have relatively few ninjas.
The number of jounin, including special jounin, will not exceed one hundred.
This is the profound heritage of Konoha Village.
"Let everyone take their positions, but remind them not to have murderous intentions before taking action, and there is no need to hide it too obviously. Just pretend to be around normal alert."
Nara Shikaku turned to the headset to remind all the ninjas around him.
"The other party has extremely powerful perception capabilities, so no matter how we hide, we will probably be easily discovered by the other party."
"So why not pretend to be here to greet the other party's escort team?"
This is also the advantage of him only bringing a hundred people. This number is neither too many nor too few. It is completely reasonable to say that they are guards.
The other party is pretending to be the First Hokage, so it makes sense for their Konoha Village to be more grand.
No one in the headset answered, but everyone began to relax their bodies and minds intentionally.
There are also some people who have already hidden themselves, and after thinking for a few seconds, they naturally walk out of the hiding place, or actively stop using ninjutsu such as invisibility and earth escape that look malicious.
The people present were all experienced old ninjas, so they naturally understood what Nara Shikaku meant.
Even their respective positions were tacitly adjusted into an inner and outer two-layered protection formation, which made Nara Shikaku smile happily when he saw this.
"It's really reliable, everyone..."
Seeing so many outstanding colleagues, his mood suddenly became less heavy.
"Don't say you are not, even if you are really the first Hokage, or the first generation leader of the Senju clan, as long as you are hostile to the current Konoha, then we will definitely be able to stop you!"
Nara Shikaku slowly clenched his hands into fists, secretly working hard for himself in his heart, and his eyes staring in the direction of Kawanoguni were full of determination.
the other side.
In Konoha Village, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the current third generation Hokage, is standing in front of the office window wearing a Hokage hat.
He was also looking at the direction where Nara Shikaku and others were.
Loulan, Crocodile who captured the Third Raikage alive, and this strong man who was obviously not the First Hokage, but had powerful wood escape ability.
All of this made Sarutobi Hiruzen feel uneasy.
"Old man, I'm back."
Suddenly, the door behind him was pushed open, and then a tall white-haired man walked in. It was Jiraiya, one of the 'Sannin'.
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned around, his brows seemed to relax a little, and he said with a smile: "How is it? Did the Great Toad Sage see anything?"
"Sage just said to me... a good thing." Jiraiya replied with a puzzled look on his face.
"Good thing?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen was stunned for a moment, what does this mean and why is it a good thing...
at the same time.
In the room of Konoha's intelligence analysis team.
Orochimaru, who was wearing a Konoha vest, was looking at a pair of large scissors and a strange-looking pistol that he had just received.
His eyes were no different from those of the three special jounin around him, full of confusion.
Because Orochimaru found that he couldn't understand...