As the orders were issued, each Shinobi Village sprang into action.
Mixing up personnel, randomly assigning them to teams, consolidating logistics and weapons, even finding relics of their villages' deceased powerful Shinobi… Each village here was careful, providing relics with precisely enough material for a single use.
Clearly, they were still wary of Konoha.
However,
Having such small-minded defensiveness towards their allies before even defeating the enemy indicated they possessed absolute confidence in victory for this battle.
Their reasons for confidence weren't just the Impure World Reincarnation army, the living sacrifices 'death row prisoners' for Impure World Reincarnation, the manpower far exceeding Sunagakure, the Sky Castles with flight capability, but also the weapons developed over the years specifically targeting the undying puppets.
—Sealing Weapons!
Five years ago, when the Mechanical City descended upon Konoha, and during the clashes in the Land of Whirlpools and Kirigakure… although both conflicts ended in Sunagakure's victory, the enemy managed to capture several intact puppets.
Through dismantling and research on the puppets, they had discovered the principle of the puppets' revival through Dragon Vein Chakra. Based on this, they developed weapons that suppress puppet revival… by inscribing sealing formulas on the weapons, when the weapons pierce a puppet's body, the formula activates, forming a seal that isolates external Chakra, preventing the puppet from reviving.
Precisely because such weapons existed, they were so confident.
…
Amegakure.
Pain stood at the edge of the tower, overlooking the entire village, allowing the torrential rain to fall on him without reaction.
Suddenly, a pitcher plant grew from a wall nearby.
Then, the pitcher plant opened, revealing a half-black, half-white head.
"Pain, it's done. In three days, they will launch the attack on Sunagakure."
"Three days…"
Pain extended his hand, watching the water droplets striking his hand in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking.
Zetsu silently watched him for a good while before asking, "Are you all right?"
"…Fine!" Pain snapped back to reality, turned, and looked at Zetsu. "I am already prepared. I'll capture all the Tailed Beasts once the opportunity arrives."
Nagato hadn't had his legs blown off, nor had his life force been drained dry by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Growing up normally, his Chakra far exceeded that of his counterpart in the original work, allowing him to prepare for sealing now, whereas in the original work, it took him nine years.
However,
Because the various villages were in war preparation mode, guarding their Jinchuriki strictly, and the Akatsuki's members hadn't been fully recruited, action had been delayed.
"The war three days from now is the opportunity…" Black Zetsu said. "Aerial combat isn't like ground combat. The losing side has no room for escape. Therefore, the war between the Allied Shinobi Forces and Sunagakure will inevitably be an all-out decisive battle from the start."
"So what?" Pain calmly looked at Zetsu. "If it were only the Allied Forces' strength, it would be fine. But you also helped Orochimaru perfect Impure World Reincarnation. The past powerful Shinobi of each village… especially the First Hokage. Even with only seventy percent of his lifetime power, he is an unstoppable force in this era. The war in three days will only be one-sided. There's absolutely no possibility for a plan to reap the spoils."
Although Sunagakure had completely relocated to the Mechanical City, a Shinobi's nature is to accept commissions, complete missions to earn money and support their families.
Therefore, even though Sunagakure was in the sky, they hadn't severed contact with the ground.
Sunagakure not only had commission mission outposts in various cities of the Land of Wind, but the Mechanical City also randomly visited a city for trade every month.
Furthermore, over the past few years, Sunagakure had been continuously recruiting external clans and Wandering Shinobi… This strategy, while allowing Sunagakure's strength to expand rapidly in a short time, also gave other villages the opportunity to plant spies.
Thus, regarding intelligence on the Mechanical City, the other villages also knew quite a bit.
At this point, Sunagakure had manpower of around thirteen thousand Chunin and above. Each person was equipped with three to five autonomous puppets. Some wealthy individuals even had enhanced puppets or custom puppets… already achieving the level of one person being a small team.
This level of manpower was sufficient to compete on equal footing with the Allied Shinobi Forces.
However,
If adding an army of unlimited Chakra and unkillable Impure World Reincarnation Shinobi, then the scales of victory would tilt towards the Allied Forces. The imagined mutually destructive scenario where they could come out to pick up the pieces simply couldn't happen.
But was that really the case?
Black Zetsu inwardly laughed, asking Pain, "Is that what you think?"
"Don't you think so?" Pain stared at Black Zetsu, trying to discern something from his face.
But apart from White Zetsu's surprised face, no change in expression could be seen on Black Zetsu's face, nor could his true thoughts be guessed.
"If I thought so, then I wouldn't have helped Orochimaru perfect the Impure World Reincarnation technique." Black Zetsu chuckled lightly. "Although Sunagakure's strength is as such, what about Senki Ryuji?"
"He is a genius, in every aspect."
"People only see him spending six years turning Sunagakure into a hegemon rivaling the entire Shinobi World, but they overlook the fact that he once destroyed Kumogakure alone, and he was only sixteen at the time."
"Since his battle with the Fourth Mizukage in Kirigakure five years ago, no one has seen him act again. Everyone's impression of his strength remains at five years ago. But would his strength truly remain at five years ago?"
Hearing this, Pain frowned.
People have limits. A Shinobi's strength becomes difficult to improve after reaching a certain level, unless that level of strength is still far from their potential limit.
If he didn't have the Rinnegan to raise his potential limit, he wouldn't have had too much improvement these years either.
Because his Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and even physical attributes had almost reached human limits.
But Ryuji didn't have the Rinnegan.
From known intelligence… Ryuji's Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and even physical attributes had reached Shinobi's limits five years ago, almost impossible to improve further.
And the Sage Mode that could amplify overall strength level in a short time had also already been mastered.
Apart from becoming more proficient with Sage Mode, Pain found it hard to imagine other ways Ryuji could significantly increase his strength.
But even greater proficiency with Sage Mode wouldn't lead to too much improvement.
Therefore, he absolutely couldn't be much stronger than five years ago… judging from a normal person's perspective, it should be so.
But was Ryuji a normal person?
Could a normal person turn Sunagakure into a hegemon rivaling the entire Shinobi World in just six years?
Impossible.
In fact, reaching the level of destroying a village alone already couldn't be described with the term normal. He was a person who transcended the boundary of worldly 'genius'.
He belonged to the type of genius like Hashirama, appearing only once in the entire history of the Shinobi World.
Thus, Pain changed his viewpoint.
"Let's hope so!"
As long as both sides' strength was not too different, then even without mutual destruction, without an opportunity to capture all Tailed Beasts on the spot, the victorious side would inevitably suffer heavy losses.
Afterward, seizing the Jinchuriki would also become much easier.
…
Konoha's Sky Castle.
Hokage's Office.
The First, Second, Third Hokage, and Orochimaru gathered here, their faces full of gravity.
Suddenly, Tobirama said loudly, "With elder brother here, it's enough. Why summon that fellow?"
Hashirama also echoed, "Although I don't think I'm anything remarkable either, when it comes to strength, I am quite confident."
"Regarding the First Hokage-sama's strength, naturally no one doubts it. But regarding Senki Ryuji, similarly no one will doubt him."
Looking at the speaker, Orochimaru, Tobirama disagreed. "I've also heard you describe Senki Ryuji's deeds. He is indeed a genius among geniuses. But merely that level is still not a match for elder brother. Even with only seventy percent of his lifetime power, it's the same."
"Merely from outsiders' accounts, one cannot understand his terror!" Orochimaru retorted. "Others don't know, but I know very well. Senki Ryuji is a Shinobi who transcended life and death. Five years ago, he was at that level, but five years later, who can say for sure?"
Hiruzen also wryly smiled and agreed. "First Hokage-sama, Second Hokage-sama, although saying this somewhat boosts the enemy's morale and diminishes our own, Senki Ryuji truly cannot be judged by ordinary genius standards. Back then, I viewed him with ordinary genius standards, that's why I repeatedly thought I had victory in hand, but ended up utterly defeated each time. Facing that fellow, no amount of preparation is too much."
Hearing this, Hashirama and Tobirama looked at each other.
Although they didn't believe Ryuji was truly that powerful, they understood Hiruzen's capabilities well.
For Hiruzen to regard him so highly, there must be a reason.
Moreover, his student Orochimaru was also an exceptionally talented Shinobi. His judgment also had high persuasiveness.
After pondering briefly, Hashirama said, "Although you say that, summoning Madara is truly not a good idea!"
"Huh?"
"Release!"
Facing their confusion, Hashirama directly explained with action, directly releasing the Impure World Reincarnation's control over him.
"This!?"
"Now you understand the reason!" Looking at Orochimaru's shocked expression, Hashirama said. "Impure World Reincarnation's binding force on the summoned is insufficient to control me and Madara. Summoning him will only make the situation worse."
"Orochimaru?"
The Third Hokage looked at Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's face turned deathly pale.
He had completed his research on Impure World Reincarnation with Zetsu's help, bypassing many experimental steps. Therefore, he hadn't discovered the shortcoming of Impure World Reincarnation's insufficient restraining power on powerful individuals.
"It seems your research on Impure World Reincarnation isn't thorough enough!" Tobirama said with slight pride. "Back then, the inability to overcome the shortcoming of insufficient binding force on powerful individuals was why I sacrificed summoning strength to increase binding. But achieving this level is already quite remarkable. With a little more effort, you might completely perfect this technique."
"That's not the problem. Zetsu was handling this aspect of the research. His reports to me didn't contain information about this."