NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70: The Furious Raikage!
At this moment, the three snake princesses were in utter confusion.
The White Snake Sage, whom they regarded as a god, had just died right before their eyes?
Where in the world had this man come from?
Was such overwhelming strength really something a human—those frail creatures in their impression—could possess?
The three snake princesses were completely shaken.
Even though Kaede had already released their bindings, they couldn't summon the slightest will to resist.
Looking at them, Kaede's lips curved into a faint smile.
"You now have two choices."
"Either die alongside your White Snake Sage, or become my attendants."
The three snake princesses straightened slightly, exchanging uncertain glances.
"Is the choice that hard?"
Kaede narrowed his eyes, and a massive wave of killing intent instantly enveloped them.
No longer daring to hesitate, the three immediately prostrated themselves on the ground.
"Master!"
Snakes were cold-blooded creatures by nature—now that the White Snake Sage was dead, they'd be insane to accompany her in death.
Besides, with such a powerful new master before them, following him could be considered an honor.
"Remember this—my name is Kaede."
Activating his ocular power, Kaede teleported everyone out of Ryūchi Cave in an instant.
Only the God Tree remained behind, greedily devouring the energy of this realm.
…
Back home in Takigakure, Izumi spotted the two figures embracing.
"Kaede-nii, you're finally back!"
She ran up and threw herself into his arms.
"You know, your tree suddenly vanished without a trace!"
Sandwiched between them, Yugito wore an expression of pure resentment.
"Damn peacemaking…"
She wanted to curse.
Not that Izumi could be blamed—she was only thirteen.
Kaede reached out with his free hand to pat Izumi's head, then swept his gaze across the gathered clan members.
"Don't worry. I've just transplanted it somewhere else for now—it'll be back in a few days."
Only then did the others disperse to resume their work.
Turning to the Great Elder, Kaede said, "It's done. I'll come see you later."
The Great Elder nodded with a smile before leaving.
Naturally, he had also noticed the three beautiful women following behind Kaede.
In his view, the more women Kaede brought back, the better.
With Kaede's strength, granting him three attendants was already more than reasonable.
As for Orochimaru, he was somewhat surprised, but not to the point of being shocked.
After all, if even Konoha's Hokage could be swayed to join Kaede, what was one Orochimaru in comparison?
Tsunade walked straight toward Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru, I didn't expect you to show up here as well."
He grinned. "Tsunade, you seem to have a lot of free time lately."
"Kaede offered me an irresistible temptation."
"But you—word in the ninja world was that Kaede had killed you. And yet…"
Although Iwagakure had seen Tsunade working for Kaede, they certainly hadn't spread the news.
Onoki would have loved nothing more than to see Konoha completely humiliated.
Ignoring Orochimaru's teasing, Tsunade snorted and turned back to Kaede.
Orochimaru's grin widened.
"Sensei Sarutobi… you've really become useless in your old age, haven't you…"
Kaede didn't linger with them for long.
He let Orochimaru pick a location to build his laboratory, handed Yugito over to Izumi, and also placed the three snake princesses in her care.
The three were obedient, immediately fawning over Izumi.
Once that was settled, Kaede went to see the Great Elder.
Seeing the anticipation in the elder's eyes, Kaede said slowly:
"Mifune of the Land of Iron has been subdued. We should soon have the entire Land of Iron under our control."
"Meanwhile, Kumogakure tried to make a move on the Land of Sound, but they were repelled by the Two-Tails jinchūriki and other strong fighters."
Hearing this, the Great Elder let out a long breath.
"As expected of you. I'll arrange for people to take over both countries immediately!"
Then he frowned. "But with so many Cloud ninja dead, Kumogakure will likely send a large force to the Land of Sound."
Kaede smirked. "I'm waiting for them."
Over the next two days, Kaede secured both nations under his banner.
"Damn it! That bastard Kaede!!!"
On the battlefield between Kumogakure and Konoha, the Fourth Raikage flipped the table in fury.
He had just received word that Kaede's forces had taken over the Land of Sound.
That meant Yugito's disappearance and the deaths of hundreds of Cloud ninja were all Kaede's doing.
At that moment, the Fourth Raikage wanted nothing more than to fly to Takigakure and tear Kaede apart.
"Gather one thousand ninja—we're going to crush Takigakure!" he roared.
His secretary, Mabui, paled. "Raikage-sama, please calm down. We're still at war with Konoha. If you leave with a thousand men, Konoha will certainly launch a fierce offensive!"
"If that happens, what will happen to Kumogakure's reputation?"
"I can't just watch while Kaede's people take Yugito!" the Raikage bellowed.
Mabui looked conflicted. As Yugito's close friend, she was deeply worried—but Kumogakure's greater interests had to come first.
The Raikage finally growled, "No matter what, we can't let the Uchiha go unpunished! If word gets out, our village will lose all face!"
For once, a thought seemed to spark in his muscle-bound head.
"Bring me all the information you have on Kaede."
Mabui obeyed at once.
Before long, they were poring over a pile of documents.
When he finished reading, the Raikage's hands trembled.
Defeating Hiruzen Sarutobi in direct combat, subduing Takigakure with its Seven-Tails, capturing Tsunade with taijutsu alone…
Mabui murmured, "This man… he's a disaster waiting to happen."
The Raikage's voice was cold. "We must eliminate him while his power hasn't fully grown."
"I won't defeat Konoha only to have another Uchiha rise right next door."
Mabui nodded, then asked worriedly, "But what about our fight with Konoha?"
Grinding his teeth, the Raikage said, "We'll stop for now. Jiraiya's not easy to deal with anyway."
Mabui agreed and quickly formulated a plan.
"Isn't Konoha also wary of Kaede?" she suggested. "Let's work with Jiraiya to wipe out Kaede first."
The Raikage's eyes widened. "You want me to ally with Konoha?!"
Mabui explained, "Kaede is too dangerous. If we fight him alone, we'll give Konoha time to recover. We join forces now, destroy Kaede, and then continue our attack without any obstacles."
The Raikage slumped into his chair. He hated Konoha more than anything…
But Mabui's reasoning was sound.
At last, he ground out the words: "Fine. We'll do it your way. Kaede dies first."
With his approval, Mabui went to make arrangements.
Soon, a ceasefire proposal reached Konoha's main camp.
Holding the letter, Jiraiya frowned deeply.
"Kumogakure wants to team up with us to take down Kaede?"
(End of Chapter)
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