After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 211

Chapter 211: Why Didn't You Say So Earlier?

"He's awake! The Tsuchikage is awake!"

The moment Ōnoki opened his eyes, he heard his granddaughter Kurotsuchi's voice. His memories came flooding back as he recalled what had happened earlier. The old man immediately tried to leap from the bed, ready to enter combat mode.

Crack.

"Ah—my back."

The Third Tsuchikage froze mid-movement in an awkward posture on the hospital bed. Couldn't be helped—at his age, joints were prone to problems. This was an old ailment of his.

Just then, a palm glowing with green light reached over and pressed against Ōnoki's lower back. The pain from his herniated disc quickly faded, and Ōnoki let out a long breath.

"Phew—finally better. Thank you so much—you...?"

The old man turned to see which doctor possessed such incredible healing skills, only to find himself face-to-face with a familiar smiling face.

"Yo!"

He raised his hand in greeting.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

After the initial chaos, Ōnoki finally understood the situation through his granddaughter Kurotsuchi's explanation and calmed down from his earlier panic.

After knocking out those Iwagakure ninja, Jiraiya understood things couldn't escalate further and quickly took charge from Naruto. He arranged several ink carriages to transport these unconscious ninja back to Iwagakure Village, and before Naruto could say anything else outrageous, Jiraiya explained their purpose to the village's other ninja.

Honestly, when they saw their seemingly invincible Tsuchikage thrown onto a carriage like everyone else, those Iwagakure chūnin and genin had their whole worldview turned upside down.

The village elders also understood that if Naruto's group with such power claimed no ill intent, they clearly meant it. Just as Naruto said, establishing dominance first made the negotiations much smoother.

"This is how Konoha visits?! This is too! Too!"

Obviously, Ōnoki didn't think so. He was still fuming, desperately trying to find a word to describe his opponent, but coming up empty.

"Ah, well, don't worry about the details."

Naruto ignored the indignant Ōnoki. After healing his back injury, he sat back in his chair. Beside him, Jiraiya and several Iwagakure officials sat in attendance.

"Speaking of which, you did quite well following my advance warning to hide your jinchūriki properly."

Naruto said with a grin.

"I searched your village from top to bottom all day without finding any trace of the jinchūriki."

Hearing this, Ōnoki and the other elders of Iwagakure immediately looked deeply uncomfortable.

"But now it doesn't matter. I've already arrived. Call them out. From now on, I'll protect them."

With that said, Naruto waited casually for Ōnoki's response.

"We don't need your help! Iwagakure's jinchūriki will be protected by Iwagakure itself. We don't need outsiders interfering!"

Ōnoki's attitude was resolute. Even after being defeated once, his stance hadn't wavered. He represented more than just himself. As the village's Kage, his every action symbolized the entire village. No matter how you looked at it, he had to stand firm.

"That won't do, old man. Based on the military force your village has shown so far, you probably can't protect the jinchūriki. That 'Madara Uchiha'..."

"Who?!"

Ōnoki had been skeptical when he heard Naruto claim his village was inadequate, but upon hearing Madara Uchiha's name, his attention immediately shifted.

"Madara Uchiha. Didn't I tell you?"

Naruto said casually.

"The Akatsuki organization's mastermind is 'Madara Uchiha.'"

"Impossible!"

Ōnoki shouted in disbelief. The name alone proved Madara Uchiha had left deep scars on this elder.

"That man should have died long ago!"

"Well, I don't know about that. After all, he has a Mangekyō Sharingan and calls himself 'Madara Uchiha.'"

Naruto didn't quite understand Ōnoki's reaction. Anxiety, regret. Shouldn't it be fear? Being afraid of a ninja who displayed such incredible strength in history isn't strange.

What he didn't know was that Ōnoki deeply regretted allowing his disciple Deidara to leave the village and join Akatsuki.

Having hired Akatsuki multiple times to work for him, in Ōnoki's mind, that organization was just an ordinary mercenary group. Just some rogue ninja, right? We have those in our village too.

Ōnoki knew his disciple, Deidara, inside and out. So when the rebellious youth chose to flee Iwagakure and join Akatsuki, though he knew about it, he didn't stop him. In his mind, letting Deidara remain in such an organization wasn't a big problem. At least he could still keep tabs on him.

But now, learning that Akatsuki's true leader was none other than "Madara Uchiha," Ōnoki felt genuine panic. He knew that with Deidara's strength, if it truly was that man, Deidara wouldn't stand a chance.

Moreover, according to earlier messages from Konoha, Akatsuki was becoming an enemy of the entire ninja world. If their strength was limited, that would be manageable. Everyone could just retrieve their respective villages' rogue ninja for punishment.

But with someone like Madara Uchiha at the helm, Akatsuki's threat level skyrocketed. They might truly be capable of destroying the Five Great Nations. In that scenario, other villages would have no choice but to go all out and fight with everything they had. And in a war like that, Deidara would almost certainly die.

"Never mind that. Whoever he is, I'll deal with him eventually anyway."

At Naruto's statement, Ōnoki said nothing. He simply thought Naruto was ignorant of Madara Uchiha's true strength.

"So where are your village's jinchūriki?"

They were back to the same question. Hearing this, Ōnoki and the elders all shifted uncomfortably.

"The jinchūriki..."

"Mm-hmm."

"Iwagakure's jinchūriki have been missing for several years now."

"Huh?"

Seeing that Naruto had frontally defeated Iwagakure's ninja, and that even he as Tsuchikage had been defeated, Ōnoki's pride couldn't hold out any longer.

He also believed someone with Naruto's strength didn't need to lie to him. So the elder reluctantly recounted matters regarding Iwagakure's jinchūriki.

Iwagakure had two jinchūriki in total: the Four-Tails Jinchūriki "Rōshi" and the Five-Tails Jinchūriki "Han."

Rōshi was an old man like Ōnoki who, due to his stubborn personality, refused to become a "human weapon" and clashed ideologically with Ōnoki, ultimately leaving Iwagakure to become a wandering monk. Even Ōnoki didn't know his exact whereabouts.

Han, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He fully embraced Ōnoki's will and served as a trusted lieutenant, earning countless merits for Iwagakure and winning the title "Steam Ninja." Yet this useful and reliable jinchūriki disappeared several years ago, right under Iwagakure's nose, without a trace.

Hearing this, even Naruto began to suspect whether that masked man had infiltrated Iwagakure years ago to capture them.

The jinchūriki's disappearance threatened not only Iwagakure and the Land of Earth's national pride but also their very survival. If other major nations' villages learned your jinchūriki were gone, they might get dangerous ideas.

"Ah, no need to worry about that."

After hearing Ōnoki's explanation, Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "I'll collect the other villages' jinchūriki as well."

At this, Ōnoki was quiet for several seconds before speaking.

"Actually, there's a small village called 'Takigakure' where the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki lives."

Takigakure wasn't an Iwagakure ally. When it came down to it, all Kage shared the same survival instinct.