Starting with the usurpation of Akatsuki, the ninja world was overthrown.

Chapter 220 Who Will Save the World?

After discovering that the shrine maiden had been hiding something from them, Shiba Kiyokawa initially made many contingency plans.

During the process of accompanying the priestess's group into the country, a significant number of members from the Akatsuki's reconnaissance battalion secretly left the group and ventured deep into the Land of Demons to conduct intelligence gathering.

At the same time, he also instructed Nagato's Pain to keep an eye on the direction of the Land of Earth.

Because the Ninja World War is still ongoing, Shiba Kiyokawa always subconsciously remains cautious when making decisions, taking into account all aspects of the surrounding environment.

However, it wasn't until they followed the priestess from the border all the way to the capital of the Land of Demons that Shiba Kiyokawa realized that his guess might have been slightly off this time.

The shrine maiden didn't seem to have any extra ambitions; on the contrary, the people here seemed exceptionally pessimistic about the future.

So much so that by the time Shiba Kiyokawa arrived, the entire city was already undergoing its final evacuation.

"Are you evacuating the people?"

The guard beside the priestess nodded in affirmation, "Yes, in order to deal with this crisis, we began to relocate the city's residents a month ago."

As he spoke, the guard sighed and said, "It's also our bad luck. We're in the midst of war, and we can't ask Konoha or Kumogakure for help. We can only hope that the priestess will be blessed with good fortune and turn this bad luck into good."

M7

Shiba Kiyokawa looked at the shrine maiden again and, sure enough, found a hint of determination and compassion in her expression.

So, is the reason for holding back not because of ambition, but simply because of a lack of confidence in us?

Afterwards, Shiba Kiyokawa and the main members of Akatsuki followed the priestess to her usual residence. There, the priestess pulled out a lot of old documents and carefully explained the abilities and legends to everyone, as well as the true intentions behind their commission.

"Our request is mainly divided into two parts. First, we hope you can help hold back the army of the undead and buy more time for our people to evacuate. Second, we need your help to protect me and take me to the place where I will be resurrected."

"Is that all? What happens after we take you to the designated location? And how long do we need to hold off the undead army?" Shiba Kiyokawa asked further.

The priestess revealed a compassionate expression, "After you take me to the designated location, I will personally seal it! And all you need to do is hold out until that time."

By then, the people should have already been evacuated. Even if I fail, the people here should be able to hold out in the mountains for a few more years.

Knowing part of the plot, Shiba Kiyokawa guessed that the shrine maiden was probably planning to sacrifice herself to reseal the shrine.

He didn't expose the part of the truth the priestess was hiding, but after the meeting he told Nagato, "Let Pain come back. There's no need for him to go to the Land of Earth to keep watch. This mission should be unrelated to other ninja villages."

But then he added, "We can have Payne check out the location the witch just mentioned beforehand."

Unlike the Konoha people in the original story, who just foolishly follow the arrangements of their clients, he is not like them.

Some intelligence still needs to be personally verified by our side before we can feel at ease.

After explaining the details of the mission, the priestess let them rest in the palace for the night.

The next day, the Akatsuki members split into two groups.

The main force of the Sixth Battalion, led by the witch's guard, headed to the ambush site to await the arrival of the undead army.

Meanwhile, the three main members, Shiba Kiyokawa, Konan, and Nagato, continued to stay by the shrine maiden's side, helping her complete the final evacuation work in the city before setting off for the "destined place" the shrine maiden had spoken of.

Throughout the journey, the priestess warned them of the horrors of war, and even took the initiative to apologize to Konan, with whom she had a past conflict, saying, "I am truly sorry to have dragged you into such a disaster. It is because the war has affected the surrounding areas that our people are unable to reach the more distant Konoha Village to issue a distress call."

Konan gave her a cold, wary look and said, "Apologize as you please, but what's with this tone that says we're hopeless if Konoha can't come? Are you emphasizing that we're just your second choice?"

Shiba Kiyokawa listened from the side and chuckled to himself. Now, Minami was also becoming quite eloquent under his influence.

In the original storyline, both generations of priestesses did indeed seek help from Konoha.

Despite the priestess's best efforts to explain, the meaning she conveys is clearly still the same.

That's not what I meant. I just wanted to say that this is a massive disaster destined to affect the entire ninja world. If anyone can stop this catastrophe, I think it's most likely only the ninja from Konoha, the number one ninja village. That's what my precognitive intuition tells me.

It seems that, according to the original destiny, the ninja world should always be saved by Konoha.

Shiba Kiyokawa didn't respond immediately because he was a cautious person and was waiting for feedback from the front lines.

Meanwhile, the Akatsuki's Sixth Battalion, having arrived at the designated ambush location, encountered a group of undead soldiers who had been prematurely awakened.

These undead soldiers didn't seem to struggle at all. Instead, they were covered in armor and helmets like terracotta warriors. From a distance, they appeared to be in perfect military formation, but only upon closer inspection could one see that their faces were pale and withered.

Upon seeing these undead arrive ahead of schedule, the witch's guards looked terrified and kept frantically watching.

"Damn it! How could these things appear ahead of schedule? Has their power leaked? Has the seal encountered an unexpected problem? We're doomed! We're doomed!"

The leader of the assault battalion, Yabane, gave the man an impatient sidelong glance, while the commander of the reconnaissance battalion, Chihiro, simply slapped the guard across the back of the head without any politeness.

"Shut up, are you trying to summon a ghost? We're all in position now!"

The guards screamed, "You have no idea! This is a disaster that could destroy the ninja world! Even a few days in advance would have been enough to cause widespread death and destruction! The evacuation isn't even finished yet, what are we going to do now? We're going to die, we're all going to die! We should have risked our lives to ask Konoha for help!"

Unable to stand the man's noise, Chihiro used a grappling move to subdue the guard, then stuffed a wad of bandage into his mouth.

Then, Raven Feather selected five men from the assault battalion.

"You guys go test these undead. Be careful. If they're too difficult, retreat immediately. The brothers from the reconnaissance and support battalions will be watching you."

1

"yes!"

The five quickly jumped off the cliff and headed towards the undead soldiers in front of the valley.

After a brief exchange, the five men, looking somewhat wolfish and cunning, retreated.

"We've tested them. These undead have very high physical strength and great power. Judging solely from their taijutsu abilities, they are all at the level of a special jonin. However, we haven't discovered that they have any ninjutsu abilities yet."

At this moment, the guards, who were bound, gagged, and had their mouths stuffed, began to struggle and make a fuss again.

You don't even need to listen to know that this person is probably yelling "It's over, it's over" again.

Indeed, just looking at the sheer number of these undead, combined with the strength of all the special Jonin and their immortality, anyone would think at first glance that this battle would be extremely difficult.

Even the number of the undead who had awakened ahead of time was greater than the number of Akatsuki ninjas who had arrived in the Land of Demons.

Not to mention that many members of the Akatsuki team did not reach the level of Special Jonin, a fact that the guards were well aware of.

He was one of the people in the country who did not approve of the priestess going to the Akatsuki to request help. In his opinion, how could the Akatsuki possibly handle such a situation?

"We really should have risked our lives to go to Konoha..."

But the next moment, before the guard could struggle to spit out the bandage stuffed in his mouth, the Akatsuki members present had already made a swift decision.

"Heh, this is far inferior to Konoha with Minato Namikaze. Everyone, prepare for battle!"