Chapter 224: If You Won't Submit, I'll Beat You Until You Do
A quarter-hour later, at the Valley of the End, before the statue of Hashirama Senju.
Jiraiya had already entered Sage Mode.
He was getting serious!
The clan jonin also rushed over, shouting from afar.
"Jiraiya, don't think just because you're invincible on the battlefield that you're so great!"
"That's all because our village comrades were sharing the enemy's pressure for you!"
"Without these clans' sacrifices, you'd have died on the battlefield long ago!"
"Jiraiya, you need to understand one thing—one person's power is ultimately limited!"
Jiraiya's face was grim as water. He ignored this clamor, only quietly watching, calculating everyone's advance speed and distance.
Once everyone had entered his attack range, he spoke gravely:
"Now's the time. Begin!"
So Shima and Fukasaku opened their mouths, emitting calls at unique frequencies. Combined with Jiraiya's chanting, they blanketed the approaching crowd with sound waves.
This technique required advance preparation and was very time-consuming. It wasn't suitable for battlefield use—better suited for dealing with powerful enemies.
He'd only used it once before when facing Uchiha Yasushi. But just as the chanting began, Yasushi had broken it by puncturing his eardrums.
He hadn't used it since.
Now using it again, it was actually against his own village comrades—even Jiraiya himself found it ironic.
Though these clan jonin heard the calls, they didn't realize this was an attack at all, still shouting and charging forward.
However, just as they were about to reach Jiraiya, their bodies suddenly stiffened—unable to move.
In shock, they urgently looked around, only to see four massive statues suddenly appear surrounding them. On their chests were written the characters "Fu," "Do," "Myo," and "O"—right hands holding swords, left palms open, encircling them in the center.
Only then did Jiraiya approach them, speaking seriously.
"I've never denied the clans' contributions to the village, and I deeply recognize the sacrifices the clans have made for the village."
"But I've also always known of the clans' greed and insatiable demands!"
"Everything must have limits. Once you exceed them, it will inevitably have the opposite effect."
"Since you won't listen to reason, I'll communicate with you in a different way."
"Whether you recognize me or not, I don't care."
"But this Hokage position—I absolutely will not relinquish it, even if the daimyo himself comes!"
"If you won't submit, I'll beat you until you do!"
"You say one person's power is limited—that's correct."
"But the problem is, this limitation refers to being relative to an entire shinobi village, not your small group."
"You cannot represent all of Konoha Village at all, can't even represent the entire clan community."
"Haven't you noticed?"
"Of those who charged out with you to fight me, there are less than half the jonin group. Most jonin have actually already abandoned you."
"With just you few people, I alone can destroy you with a flip of my hand!"
"What?" These people were immediately shocked, hurriedly looking carefully. Indeed, aside from the civilian jonin who weren't aligned with them to begin with, many clan jonin had also disappeared.
Among them, besides the four hardcore Hokage families—Ino-Shika-Cho and Hyuga—quite a few smaller clans hadn't come either.
"Bastards! We've been betrayed!"
Now these clan jonin panicked. No one understood those fence-sitters' thoughts better than they did.
If everyone had to cut their share, large clans would definitely cut more than small clans.
If everyone at the bottom benefited, small clans would definitely gain more than large clans.
Moreover, this group jumping ship midway definitely wasn't because they were intimidated by Lord Hokage's prowess—they definitely wanted to sell out their allies for a good price.
These clan groups were originally loose alliances with different interests. Now that some had defected, the entire alliance immediately fell apart.
Someone immediately took the lead in surrendering.
"Lord Hokage, we know we were wrong. From now on, we'll definitely firmly support any policy Lord Hokage implements, absolutely without defiance."
Others immediately glared at him angrily, then quickly followed suit.
"Lord Hokage, we were all incited by those clans who didn't come. They're the true culprits!"
"That's right, especially those black-hearted Nara family members—they're the ringleaders!"
"These bastards talked a good game, but at the crucial moment, they jumped ship halfway!"
"Absolutely despicable!"
"Truly detestable!"
This group's ability to read the wind was so swift that even Shima on Jiraiya's shoulder couldn't stand watching.
Shima curled her lips in disgust:
"Just moments ago they were calling you 'Jiraiya' repeatedly, and now in the blink of an eye they're saying 'Lord Hokage' again. This change of tune sure is smooth!"
"Heh, hehehe..." These people didn't dare talk back, only able to laugh awkwardly.
"Alright, old woman, don't make more trouble for little Jiraiya." Fukasaku quickly extended his webbed foot to cover his wife's mouth. "Since there's nothing more to do, we'll head back first. Next time you need to fight, summon us again!"
"Thank you both."
Jiraiya politely saw them off, released the Genjutsu Binding technique, then called these jonin over to question them thoroughly.
These clan jonin were furious. At this point they couldn't care about anything else, speaking over each other and confessing everything.
Only then did Jiraiya learn that this incident was actually initiated by the Nara family.
The Ino-Shika-Cho families had always been hardcore members of the Hokage faction. After so many years of development, they'd long since become major clans in the village.
The policies Jiraiya had been implementing—if not causing the three families the greatest losses, certainly not small ones.
So when the Nara family took the lead in forming alliances, all the clans immediately became interested.
Even hardcore Hokage-faction families wanted to rebel—what was wrong with us joining in?
Even serving as vanguards for the Ino-Shika-Cho families was acceptable!
But who knew that when it came time for real action, not a single person from the Ino-Shika-Cho families showed up!
These families had been completely sold out by those three!
Even Jiraiya couldn't understand this now, completely unable to figure out what the Ino-Shika-Cho families were scheming.
Knowing his own mind wasn't sharp, he simply stopped overthinking it. He directly led everyone rushing back to the village, waiting to confront Shikaku Nara face-to-face.
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