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Kushina simply sorted things out in her mind, roughly clarifying what had happened.
Afterwards, she answered Kakashi and Jiraiya, who were similarly concerned about Minato's situation, saying, "Minato is suppressing the Nine-Tails inside Naruto. He can't spare a hand right now."
Hearing this, Kakashi and Jiraiya felt a little disappointed. That man was very reliable.
Next, Kushina turned her head to look at Wujie and Karin. She looked at these last descendants of the Uzumaki clan, her expression slightly complex.
"Uzumaki..." she said. "I didn't expect to see descendants of the Uzumaki clan now. But the Uzumaki have been extinct for so many years. What's the point of you doing these things now? Hatred will only bring more hatred. Those of us who are already dead won't feel comforted by this. Let go of everything, your lives are still very long."
As a 'legitimate' descendant of the Uzumaki clan, Kushina felt she had a responsibility to represent the Uzumaki clan and stop Wujie and Karin from continuing to harm Konoha.
Wujie, however, didn't think so.
He chuckled softly and then said, "What meaning do you have, you ask? Weren't you and Minato already dead a long time ago? What do matters of the living have to do with you? What meaning is there in you suddenly jumping out at this moment?"
As it turned out, Kushina put her hand on her chest and said with a face full of happiness, "Of course there's meaning! Do you think we left our chakra just to protect Naruto? Actually, we have an even more important mission, and that is to let Naruto understand what love is!"
"Love?" Kushina's words startled Wujie, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Kushina seemed lost in thought, reminiscing. She continued, "When I was young, I was found by Konoha and brought back to the village. Then I was told that I was to become the vessel for sealing the Nine-Tails. This responsibility made me feel extremely painful and helpless at the time."
"But just when I was feeling lost, it was Mito-baa-chan* who told me. She said that her life as a jinchuriki was also very painful and harsh, but she always held onto the belief of『loving the village and protecting those she loved』and lived strongly, and in that process, she experienced what true happiness was."
"Mito-baa-chan took me to the Hokage Rock. She told me that if I also felt pain because of this, then as long as I found love before that and filled my heart with love, then even if I became the vessel for a Tailed Beast, I would definitely be able to live happily!"
"That's why I know that Naruto, during the process of becoming the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, might also experience the same confusion as we did back then. And at this moment, letting Naruto understand what love is and guiding him onto the right path, that is our responsibility as parents."
Wujie fell silent watching Kushina like this. After a while, he finally said, "I always thought the one brainwashed by Konoha was Naruto, but I didn't expect it to be you guys! Mito wasn't brainwashed by Konoha, and you weren't brainwashed by Mito. Now, you're not going to go brainwash Naruto, are you?"
Kushina looked at Wujie and Karin with pity, these two people who didn't know what 'love' was. Their twisted personalities actually made them treat it as brainwashing!
Kushina sighed, but still shook her head and said, "I'm not good with words. If I saw a confused Naruto, I would definitely beat him up without hesitation first. But Minato is different. He is the one who let me know what 'love' is, so he will definitely be able to awaken Naruto's true 'heart'!"
Yes, his 'true' heart must be to give everything for the village.
Wujie looked at the proud Kushina, and at Jiraiya and Kakashi who were similar.
A strange thought suddenly popped up in his heart, perhaps...
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, in a sense, truly was the 'strongest' Hokage.
The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, back then, took six elite guards, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, to Kumogakure to sign a peace treaty.
But Kumogakure's militant faction, the brothers Kakuzu and Ginkaku, took the opportunity to revolt. The Second Raikage died on the spot.
Tobirama and his guards were also forced to flee with nowhere to escape.
Finally, everyone realized that one person must use their life to hold back the pursuing force to allow the others to escape safely.
But when it came time to decide who would carry out this almost certain-death rearguard mission, everyone fell silent.
It wasn't until the very end that Hiruzen Sarutobi voluntarily raised his hand and offered to serve as the decoy to draw away the enemy.
When he said this, everyone else also looked at him with shock.
But in the end, Tobirama still took on the decoy mission himself. He designated the six individuals who were his Hokage guards before him as the future of the village, and also passed the position of Hokage to the first one who spoke up, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Perhaps, it was because he knew the others were even less reliable.
But that's not the point. The point is, these six were the Hokage's guards!
Their duty was to use their lives to protect the Hokage!
Moreover, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura were all disciples of the Second Hokage. They had been together for twenty or thirty years.
But even so, they didn't want to die for the Hokage!
Even when Tobirama announced he would be the decoy, everyone seemed to suddenly relax, and all remained silent.
But look now. After the Third Hokage developed the great technique of 『Brainwashing』, everyone is shouting the will of『love』and willingly sacrificing their lives and going through fire and water for the village!
However, what's slightly amusing is this.
As the very person who invented this 'Brainwashing Technique,' the Third Hokage doesn't seem to have benefited from this.
And why does the Third Hokage always seem to miss the good times...
When he was alive, chakra still needed to be carefully managed. At that time, he didn't even dare to use a Shadow Clone.
But as soon as he died, Onoki, who was even older than him, immediately started using Dust Release masterfully in the air.
Insufficient chakra?
What's that?
Even during the Fourth Great Ninja War, when the Third was Edo Tensei'd, it was the same.
The other Edo Tensei'd Kage displayed great power, flying through the sky and burrowing through the earth, but he alone was still just an old man, and he basically did nothing before going offline again.
It's simply outrageous!
While Wujie was lost in thought, the Three Sannin simultaneously sensed something amiss. They then looked towards the forest not far away. Jiraiya shouted towards that direction, "What's with all the hiding and sneaking around? Why don't you come out and show yourselves?"
Moments later, two figures appeared in everyone's line of sight.
The arrivals were none other than the Undying Duo who had been pursuing Kushina: Hidan and Kakuzu!
"Oh!?"
Jiraiya's expression became serious.
And after Hidan saw the people on the scene, he immediately burst into laughter. "Hahaha, this is truly rare! The organization issued orders to capture the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, the bounty targets of the exchange center, the Uzumaki siblings, and also the rogue nin Orochimaru, who is wanted by the organization, and Kakuzu! Looks like we're really going to have a big harvest this time!"
As soon as Hidan finished speaking, everyone present looked towards them.
Hidan was indeed laughing happily, but Kakuzu's face had already turned black.
Because they had immortal bodies, Hidan's long-standing habits had cultivated in him a reckless personality. But Kakuzu knew that their immortal bodies weren't truly incapable of dying!
So he rarely had the 'courage' to babble nonsense or speak rudely. What exactly was he trying to do by saying all those things?! Wasn't this just making enemies with everyone!
"Huh!?" Hidan opened his mouth and froze for a moment. He also seemed to realize he had said the wrong thing.
And looking at him like this, Wujie also figured out what 'not looking too smart' actually looked like.
At this moment, Orochimaru's heart also became speechless. He really did want to make things more chaotic.
But there's no need for it to be this chaotic!
The Three Sannin were already on opposing sides. Kakashi's involvement had already made things complicated. And now Kushina and Akatsuki have appeared. What exactly is going on?
Feeling the increasing hostility from everyone, Kakuzu immediately spoke up to explain. "Please don't pay attention to what that idiot said. Our goal is actually..."
Kakuzu quickly scanned Kushina and Jiraiya beside Naruto, then glanced at Orochimaru, and finally focused his gaze on Wujie and Karin, the two children.
"...we accepted a bounty from the exchange center to hunt down those Uzumaki siblings."
Wujie curled his lip and smiled. Were they treating them like soft persimmons**?
Jiraiya said, "Didn't your organization already issue orders to capture the Nine-Tails?"
Kakuzu shook his head. "There's no such thing. At least, I don't know of it. Our responsibilities vary. As you can see, we are only responsible for earning bounty money."
Kushina also spoke up. "You also attacked Naruto!"
"To be precise, the berserk jinchuriki attacked us; we are the victims," Kakuzu said, lying through his teeth. But Kushina also didn't know the cause of the incident and could only remain silent.
Kakashi said at this point, "Honestly, I don't trust them. The current situation is already complicated enough; who knows what they might do."
"We just want to earn some bounty money. Isn't this bounty still issued by your Konoha?"
Orochimaru looked around at everyone with interest, then smiled faintly. Suddenly, he bit his thumb, drawing blood. He smeared it instantly onto the summoning array on his other wrist. Kabuto Yakushi understood perfectly. He immediately took over this summoning array, performing hand seals in place of Orochimaru, and at the same time pressed his hand onto the ground!
Jiraiya and Tsunade were instantly startled. They also immediately cut their fingers and pressed their hands down!
Subsequently, the three summoning arrays were instantly completed under their palms!
"Ninja Art: Summoning Technique!!!!"
The three simultaneously let out a loud roar. Then, with a tremendous boom, accompanied by a large amount of smoke, three massive summoned beasts, each nearly fifty meters tall, instantly appeared before everyone!
Beneath Orochimaru's feet was Manda, the transformed dragon snake from Ryūchi Cave!
Beneath Jiraiya's feet was Gamabunta, the Toad Boss of Mount Myōboku's violent gang!
And beneath Tsunade's feet was Katsuyu, the Slug Sage from Shikkotsu Forest!
These three gigantic summoned beasts, plus Chōza Akimichi***, whose height exceeds fifty meters and is a 'monster' in battle, instantly brought an enormous sense of oppression to everyone!