After leaving Konoha, Tobito and Kakato exchanged thoughts and quickly made a decision.
"No, just the two of us can't even break through Konoha's defenses. We have to regroup with Shihi and Itami."
Although Tobito had gotten along well with Jiraiya during their conversation, it didn't mean they would abandon the mission given to them by their higher-ups.
Although the strength of the Ninja World in this dimension was far beyond their expectations, logically speaking, the Ninja World that had just opened its dimensional invasion function shouldn't have much resistance, so a Complete Body Susanoo would usually be considered top-tier combat power.
Who would have thought the Ninjas in this Ninja World could be so strong!
But faced with this situation, Tobito and Kakato had no choice but to regroup with their other two teammates.
Meanwhile, Shihi and Itami were thinking the same thing.
They hadn't expected to encounter opponents in this Ninja World who could hold their own against them.
Wasn't this a newly opened Ninja World that had just formed its directive? It hadn't even been visited by the Otsutsuki yet.
If they had been overwhelmed by sheer numbers, that would be one thing, but the fact was, they had been held back by a single person.
Itami couldn't understand why his counterpart in this world was so tough.
While the abilities of Six Paths of Pain are very strange, they also have a considerable restraining effect on Susanoo, and they seem to be immortal and can be resurrected infinitely, they were still no match for two Complete Body Susanoo.
Because the speed of their revival simply couldn't keep up with the speed at which they were being destroyed.
So after the battle was in stalemate for a while, Shihi and Itami decisively retreated.
Since several members of the Akatsuki were still trapped in Genjutsu, Itachi and Pain chose not to pursue them.
However, there was a small incident when Itachi tried to wake up Deidara.
Deidara, seeing Itachi so close to him, immediately tried to self-destruct, but thankfully, Itachi stopped him in time.
Kakuzu and Hidan weren't too affected, given their immortality, but the one who suffered the most was Sasori, who had been the only one awake.
His strongest puppet, the Third Kazekage, had been reduced to fragments.
After a quick cleanup, the Akatsuki had no choice but to halt their expansion plans and return to base.
Meanwhile, Shihi and Itami coincidentally ran into Kakato and Tobito on the road.
Shihi and Itami were severely drained of Chakra, so they were relieved to see Kakato and Tobito.
"How did things go on your end? Itami and I ran into this world's Itami. I have to say, the Itami of this world is incredibly strong! Even with the two of us working together, we couldn't defeat him."
Tobito looked surprised. After all, Shihi and Itami were rare geniuses of the Uchiha Clan, and they trained diligently.
If it weren't for also awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, Tobito wouldn't have known how far behind he would have fallen compared to these two.
Hearing that Shihi and Itami had also hit a wall, Tobito's embarrassed feelings vanished instantly. He immediately said, "Did you guys go to Konoha too?"
Shihi shook his head, "No, we were planning to go to Takigakure, but we ran into what seemed to be the Akatsuki. And it turns out this world's Itami is also a member of the Akatsuki."
After hearing this, Tobito also vented, "Kakato and I ran into this world's Kakato in Konoha. His name is Kakashi, and let me tell you, this Kakashi is just too ridiculous."
"Guess what? He's more flexible with ninjutsu than I am, almost spamming one Jutsu per second. Kakato and I couldn't do much against him."
"A Kakato who spams Ninjutsu? That's really strange..." Shihi replied after listening, then got back to the main topic, "Since both of our teams have hit a wall in this Ninja World, it's clear that this world's strength far exceeds our expectations. I think we should retreat to our own dimension for now. We'll report this information and then follow the higher-ups' instructions."
This was a safe and sound plan that Shihi and Itami had already agreed on.
After thinking about Kakashi's endless barrage of Ninjutsu, Tobito also felt a sense of dread and nodded, "Alright."
---
After Jiraiya left to report, only Kakashi remained in Yuto's office.
Having experienced the strength of their opponents firsthand, Kakashi was still shaken. If it weren't for Jiraiya figuring out their weaknesses, the two of them might not have been able to defeat the visitors from another dimension.
Especially after learning how exaggerated the strength of their Ninja World was.
'In a world without the Ninja World War... that meant Kakato's father was still alive, and Rin wouldn't have died.'
Thinking about it, Kakashi couldn't help but feel a bit envious of that world. At least the 'him' in that world was living a happy life.
But no matter what, it was all irrelevant now. This was his real home, and the others... might even become enemies.
---
Meanwhile, Yuto was also pondering his next move. Given the current situation, he decided to implement a plan he had considered earlier.
'Based on the command capabilities of this Ninja World, the best course of action was to continuously release new characters in the game for Ninjas to absorb and learn from.'
Moreover, since understanding a game character's background allowed for better control of their abilities, Yuto had already set his sights on a few Ninjas with significant growth potential.
By introducing each form of these Ninjas at different stages of their development, Yuto could not only provide background information but also complete the character progression chain, making it easier for players to master the new Ninjas' abilities.
To put it simply... if Yuto released a character like [Young Uchiha Sasuke], Sasuke himself would be able to master the character's abilities at 100% proficiency.
People close to Sasuke, such as Naruto and Sakura, who were familiar with his younger self, might achieve around 60% proficiency.
Those who understood Sasuke's background and history, like Kakashi or Itachi, could reach even higher proficiency, perhaps 80%.
As for those who neither knew Sasuke nor understood his background, their proficiency might not even reach 30%.
Because of this mechanic, Yuto had no choice but to create characters with complete growth chains.
Moreover, there weren't many powerful Ninjas in the current era, and most of them had already been added to the game.
So, Yuto decided to focus on releasing future versions of existing characters.
Thus, Yuto planned to release all forms of a single Ninja at once.
And the first choice for this was none other than the protagonist, Uzumaki Naruto.
The reason was simple: Naruto was the main character of the original work.
Additionally, Naruto's storyline was straightforward. Unlike Sasuke, who fell into darkness for revenge, embraced evil, and then redeemed himself, Naruto's path was clear-cut.
Naruto's journey was simple. He was a good-hearted person who stayed true to his path, embodying a purely positive image. He was a hero to Konoha and the entire Ninja World.
Such a character, with a simple story and immense power, was the perfect choice in Yuto's eyes.