Chapter 308: Acquiring the Gedo Statue
According to Hanabi's account.
Ōtsutsuki Toneri is blind and needs her Byakugan to see.
With the Ōtsutsuki clan's physiology, they can perfectly adapt to the power of the Byakugan.
Such a dangerous individual couldn't be left unchecked.
Upon learning this from Marisa, Fugaku immediately summoned Kakashi and ordered the Anbu to form an elite team to track down and capture Ōtsutsuki Toneri.
"I want to join!"
Marisa shouted loudly, determined to personally retrieve Hanabi's eyes from Toneri and beat him up with her iron fists.
To avenge Hanabi.
"Marisa, don't be hasty. Let the Anbu investigate first," Fugaku knew his niece's fiery temperament, so he didn't outright reject her request but tried to calm her down.
This matter might not be as simple as it seems.
Better wait for Dan to return.
At that moment, somewhere in the ninja world.
In a dark basement, the flickering television screen cast shadows on Konan's face, intermittently illuminating her features.
She watched the news broadcast from Konoha TV expressionlessly.
The news reported that the leader of the Akatsuki, Uzumaki Naruto, attacked Konoha, was defeated by the great Sixth Hokage, and then repented, using the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu to revive all the dead.
At the end of the broadcast, the host sternly warned the remaining members of the Akatsuki:
"Your leader has realized his mistakes and atoned with his life. The remaining members should surrender and not persist in their errors!"
"Hmph."
Konan snorted coldly, her eyes flashing with anger. Under her intense gaze, the TV screen cracked and sparked.
What did they mean by Naruto repenting? Did he commit any crimes?
The real criminals were the large ninja villages like Konoha, which brought so much war and chaos to the ninja world while pretending to be innocent.
Hypocrites are utterly disgusting.
"Uchiha Dan, what did you do to manipulate Naruto into using the Rinne Rebirth Jutsu? Did you control him with genjutsu..."
Konan murmured, her hatred for Dan reaching its peak.
First Nagato, now Naruto. Uchiha Dan had personally killed the two most important men in Konan's life.
Despite her raging anger and hatred, Konan, after calming down, had to admit:
With Naruto dead, she and the remaining members of the Akatsuki were no match for Uchiha Dan and Konoha.
Even the Rinnegan had fallen into Dan's hands.
Worse still.
The enemy would undoubtedly seize the moment to hunt down the rest of the Akatsuki.
Realising this, Konan quickly left the basement, summoned numerous paper cranes, and issued a final order to the Akatsuki members:
From now on, remove your black cloaks with red clouds and disband immediately.
At this point.
All Konan could do was minimise further casualties.
However, what she didn't expect was.
A day later.
"Why are you here?"
Konan looked in surprise at Gaara and Fū before her.
"Sensei Konan, we have nowhere else to go," Fū shrugged, wearing a playful smile despite the danger of their situation.
Gaara, as always, remained silent, but his presence there spoke volumes.
Over the past eight years.
Konan, Naruto, Gaara, and Fū had spent almost every day together, forming deep bonds.
Though not related by blood, they had become like family.
So when a crisis arose, how could family abandon each other?
"You must leave now, as far as possible. I have a feeling Uchiha Dan will be here soon!"
Konan urged them sternly.
"What about you? Come with us, Sensei Konan. We can escape overseas and live away from the conflicts of the ninja world…"
Fuu suggested an idea and told Konan that she had already prepared a boat and mapped out the sea route.
Konan shook her head and sighed:
"It's useless. Uchiha Danzo's ambition is to collect all the Tailed Beasts and become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, so he won't let us go easily. Unless..."
After speaking, she formed a hand seal in front of them. A rumbling sound echoed, and the ground shook.
The ground split open, and the massive Gedo Statue emerged from the earth.
To Fuu and Gaara's surprise, Konan covered the statue with explosive tags.
"Konan-sensei, are you planning to..." Fuu began to guess Konan's intention.
Indeed.
"You two go ahead. I plan to use the Gedo Statue to lure Uchiha Danzo here and then destroy it in front of him. The statue is the vessel of the Ten-Tails, and without it, Danzo can never become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. After that, there will be no point in him continuing to hunt you down."
Konan revealed her plan.
"But what about you? How will you escape?" Fuu asked worriedly, then realised she had asked a foolish question.
Even Naruto couldn't escape from Uchiha Danzo, so how could anyone else?
Konan-sensei was prepared to die.
"Fuu, Gaara, as your teacher, this is the last thing I can do for you. Go quickly."
Konan spoke calmly, her mind made up.
Unfortunately.
This delay meant that they were destined not to escape.
A massive, invisible pressure suddenly descended from the sky, causing all three to tense up, their hair standing on end.
In the next second.
With a ripple in space, the man they least wanted to see—Uchiha Danzo—appeared.
"Oh, everyone is here. Looks like I don't have to search for you one by one."
Danzo floated in mid-air, looking down at Konan, Fuu, Gaara, and the Gedo Statue behind them, greeting them casually.
However.
Compared to Danzo's relaxed demeanour, the expressions of the three on the ground were much more serious.
"I didn't expect you to come so quickly."
Konan's face was stern, but internally, she was immensely surprised and found it incredible.
She had just released the seal on the Gedo Statue to let it emit its presence, and Danzo had arrived almost immediately. How could he be so fast?
Danzo seemed to guess her thoughts and smiled slightly, explaining her confusion:
"You can thank Naruto for that. He told me about this place."
"So, you did use genjutsu to control Naruto." Konan's gaze was icy. She had long known that the TV reports about Naruto's 'repentance' were nonsense.
"No, no, no, you misunderstand."
Danzo shook his head and explained, "I didn't do that. Naruto himself wanted to use the Rinne Tensei, and he voluntarily told me the hiding place of the Gedo Statue.
However, he had one condition: for me to spare you.
I'm a man of my word, so you can rest assured that I won't kill you since I promised Naruto."
Upon hearing Danzo's words, Konan was shocked, standing frozen on the spot.
So that's how it was.
Naruto, you fool.
"As for you two."
While Konan was stunned, Danzo turned to Gaara and Fuu, rubbing his chin, "Hmm, if you hand over the Tailed Beasts inside you, I can spare your lives too."
Facing Danzo's 'generosity.'
"Never!"
Gaara refused outright.
Fuu stared at Danzo with hatred, sneering:
"Jinchuriki die when they lose their Tailed Beasts. Do you think we don't know that? Uchiha Danzo, I'd rather die with Chomei than hand it over to you."
Then.
Both of them erupted with violent chakra, ready to fight Danzo to the death.
"I mean..."
Danzo remained relaxed, asking them, "Aren't you willing to do something for Naruto? Just hand over the Tailed Beasts, and I'll bring him back to life. How about it?"
Bringing Naruto back to life.
These words made Gaara and Fuu pause.
"Don't believe his lies!"
At this moment, Konan came to her senses and quickly warned them, "If Uchiha Danzo uses Rinne Tensei to revive Naruto, he would die. He's just deceiving you."
Konan knew that Obito originally told Rinne Tensei to Nagato.
He said that using this Jutsu could revive the dead, and the caster wouldn't die, just suffer a massive chakra drain and short-term exhaustion.
Initially, Konan believed it too, but later, she realized the truth.
Obito had been lying.
His goal was to use Nagato to revive Uchiha Madara, which was why Madara had implanted his Rinnegan into Nagato.
So how could Uchiha Danzo be willing to pay the ultimate price to revive Naruto?
"Who said I was going to use Rinne Tensei? Does Uzumaki Naruto deserve that?"
Danzo sneered, mocking Konan's naivety.
Not even for Naruto, let alone for his wife and children, would Dan sacrifice his own life to revive someone.
No one in this world was worth that to him.
After all, he was a man destined to become the God of Muscles.
"So what are you going to do?" Konan demanded through gritted teeth in response to Dan's merciless taunt.
Dan slowly descended to the ground, speaking leisurely:
"Thanks to the ingenuity of ninjas, many techniques to revive the dead have been invented. But don't misunderstand, I'm not talking about that fake resurrection technique like Edo Tensei. I mean true, flawless revival.
This technique, called 'One's Own Life Reincarnation,' was created in Sunagakure. I've already obtained it from Chiyo of the Sand.
Oh, and just so you know, the one performing the technique will be the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Interesting, isn't it?"
Konan listened in disbelief.
"Konan-sensei, Sunagakure does indeed have such a forbidden technique," Gaara said quietly into Konan's ear.
Konan finally started to believe.
Getting Hiruzen Sarutobi to sacrifice his life to revive Naruto—this cruel trick seemed just like Uchiha Dan's style.
So what Dan said was likely true.
Fuu and Gaara exchanged glances, understanding each other. Fuu stepped forward and said to Dan:
"Fine, we agree to your terms. We hope you keep your promise, Sixth Hokage!"
They knew they wouldn't survive anyway, so they might as well use their lives to bring Naruto back, reuniting him with Konan-sensei.
"Fuu, Gaara, I can't let you do this!" Konan spread her arms, blocking the two. She couldn't stand by and watch them go to their deaths!
Dan yawned, looking bored, and said:
"Can we stop the tragic drama? Who said that Jinchuriki would die without their Tailed Beast? I promised Chiyo to return a lively Gaara to Sunagakure. His siblings are still waiting for him."
Konan, Fuu, and Gaara were all taken aback by Dan's words.
"But the Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals used to extract the Tailed Beast will kill the Jinchuriki..." Konan still had doubts.
"That's because Naruto and Nagato's Rinnegan were not their own, so they couldn't fully utilize the true power of those eyes," Dan said flatly. A pair of Rinnegan appeared in his eyes. "I've improved the Illusionary Dragon Nine Consuming Seals to safely separate the Tailed Beast from the Jinchuriki. It just takes a bit more effort.
So, do you want to come with me or not? Decide quickly.
Remember, my patience is limited."
Dan was getting impatient.
If Konan continued to dawdle, he wouldn't be polite anymore. He would just smack her away and take the Gedo Statue and the two Jinchuriki.
After all, he had only promised Naruto not to kill Konan, not to refrain from hitting her.
Konan, Fuu, and Gaara exchanged looks.
Finally.
"Fine, we'll go with you."
Konan's eyes flashed as she agreed to Dan's terms.
However, neither she nor Fuu and Gaara let down their guard. Konan especially was ready to detonate the explosive tags on the Gedo Statue at any moment if she found out Dan was lying, destroying the statue completely.
To this, Dan simply smiled and said:
"The Gedo Statue is the body of the Ten-Tails. Your explosive tags won't destroy it. Be careful not to blow yourself up; otherwise, it will be hard for me to explain to Naruto.
He'd have to come back to me to revive you. Why go through all that trouble?"
Faced with Dan's mockery, Konan remained silent, unable to find any retort.
Finally, she sighed in defeat and waved her hand, making the explosive tags on the Gedo Statue fall to the ground.
Under the watchful eyes of the three, Dan leapt to the top of the Gedo Statue. His Rinnegan emitted a powerful force, creating a swirling vortex that absorbed the massive statue into an unknown space.
The Gedo Statue was secured.
A few hours later.
Dan returned to Konoha with Konan, Fuu, and Gaara.
Hokage Tower, Hokage's Office.
"Kakashi, take them to rest and notify me when Hiruzen Sarutobi is ready."
After instructing Kakashi, Dan was about to head home to play with his kids.
But just as he was about to leave—
"Dan, wait, there's an urgent matter." Fugaku walked into the office and informed Dan about Toneri Otsutsuki taking Hanabi's Byakugan.
(End of the chapter)