Chapter 77: Frontal Assault
Inside the hospital of the Rain Shinobi Village.
"This is a map of Konoha."
Konan spread a map across the table, and Su Xiao and Nagato looked at it.
Attacking Konoha was no simple matter; it required thorough preparation. Even though Nagato was very powerful, a reckless assault on Konoha could still end in failure.
"There are three main targets: Konoha Hospital, the logistics supply depot, and the assembly point for patrol ninjas near Konoha. Destroying these three locations will effectively cripple Konoha..."
Konan began outlining her plan.
"This plan..."
Nagato stared at the map, but seemed to be considering something else.
"What's wrong, Nagato?"
Konan felt her plan was fairly sound.
"Nothing. Let's go with your plan. We'll adapt to any surprises as they come."
In truth, Nagato already had a plan of his own. Simply defeating Konoha wasn't his goal—he wanted to erase it completely.
"Our objective this time isn't just to attack Konoha. There's a more important mission."
"The Nine-Tails?"
Su Xiao guessed what Nagato was about to say.
"Correct. The Nine-Tails. Someone has already been sent to capture the Eight-Tails, so the Nine-Tails must be captured during this operation. Bai Ye, show some restraint when capturing it."
Nagato meant that Su Xiao shouldn't nearly kill the tailed beast.
"I'll see how it goes. Capturing a Jinchuriki alive is no easy task, especially the Nine-Tails."
The three continued their discussion, gradually refining the plan of action.
However, before executing the plan, many preparations were needed—such as entrusting some high-difficulty missions to Konoha.
Large ninja villages had significant expenses, and relying solely on the Daimyo's funding was clearly insufficient. They couldn't let others fully control their lifelines, so all major villages accepted commissions from other forces. The larger the village, the higher the fees. Despite the high costs, these villages had good reputations, with Konoha and Iwa leading the way.
After accepting a commission, the village would dispatch ninjas to carry it out. Konan submitted commissions to Konoha through special channels, and the missions were of considerable difficulty with generous payouts.
These channels had been cultivated over time and had cooperated with Konoha several times before, so there was no fear of arousing suspicion.
Weakening the enemy was equivalent to strengthening oneself. Since Su Xiao and the others were going to war with Konoha, they would use any method to increase their chances of victory.
Even so, neither Nagato nor Konan deployed any ninjas from the Rain Shinobi Village.
Moreover, during the battle, Konan would try to avoid appearing in Konoha. If she did show herself, all witnesses would have to be eliminated.
Konan handled all affairs of the Rain Shinobi Village. Although the village was isolated, some of her information might have leaked.
If Konan were exposed, the remnants of Konoha after the war would follow the trail and surely come knocking.
...
After preparing everything, on the eve of the battle, Su Xiao, Konan, and Nagato left the Land of Rain under the cover of night. Unusually, the rain in the Land of Rain had stopped.
The Land of Rain was located in the narrow gap between the borders of the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, not too far from Konoha. Traveling at full speed, they could arrive in about a dozen hours.
Su Xiao rode on Bubu Wang's back, while Nagato and Konan ran on foot. Nagato's body had recovered, so this level of travel was nothing to him.
Su Xiao lowered his head, a faint glow flickering in his hand as if he were kneading something. Seeing this, Konan instinctively moved away from him, as if he were holding something dangerous.
"So that's how it works."
Su Xiao seemed to be studying something, occasionally nodding or shaking his head.
In his hand was a piece of blue clay—the Explosive Clay technique he had obtained from Deidara in exchange. He had given Deidara the formula for a high-grade alchemy bomb in return.
Of course, obtaining this technique didn't mean he had the same abilities as Deidara. The Explosive Clay was just a prototype; its power wasn't that great. The later processing was the key, which was also Deidara's strength—what he called "art."
Originally, Explosive Clay wasn't used for combat but as raw material for fireworks. It was only after Deidara modified it that it gained its current power.
Su Xiao observed the blue clay in his hand. It was similar in nature to Explosive Clay. Explosive Clay was mixed with chakra, while this blue clay was mixed with Cyan Steel Shadow energy.
Although high-grade alchemy bombs had decent power and were easy to carry, without materials, they could only be made inside the Reincarnation Paradise, and the cost was high.
Su Xiao had been trying to improve the alchemy bomb for a long time, hoping to make it producible at any time rather than relying on stockpiles.
He had been studying the Explosive Clay technique for over half a month and finally produced a finished product today, but the result was unsatisfactory.
As it turned out, high-grade alchemy bombs and Explosive Clay couldn't learn from each other. Although their appearances and effects were similar, their materials and manufacturing techniques were completely different.
As for the blue clay Su Xiao made, it couldn't even change shape, let alone explode.
Sometimes persistence was necessary, but persisting without hope was foolish.
"Indeed, Explosive Clay and alchemy bombs are completely different. I expected as much."
Su Xiao tossed aside the blue clay. As Bubu Wang ran, the clay disappeared from sight.
The experiment had failed, and his mood inevitably dampened. Chakra and Cyan Steel Shadow energy were different in both nature and function, so failure was to be expected.
"If I could master chakra, there might be hope. Chakra..."
Su Xiao suddenly thought of a possibility—a way to possibly improve the high-grade alchemy bomb.
Alchemy bombs were made from several materials plus mana. What would happen if mana were replaced with Cyan Steel Shadow energy?
Once this idea appeared, it wouldn't go away. He urgently wanted to test it.
Unfortunately, this idea couldn't be tested until he returned to the Reincarnation Paradise. Although he couldn't experiment, he could speculate in his mind whether this method was feasible.
Thinking made the journey less boring. Before they knew it, the three had arrived in the territory of Konoha.
After reaching the forest near Konoha, they didn't attack immediately. First, they needed to find a hiding place for Nagato and set up the control platform he used to manipulate the six Paths of Pain.
Konan handled this. With a wave of her hand, a large number of papers flew out, gathering together to eventually form the shape of a tree.
After shaping, the paper tree developed branches and leaves. As long as no one observed it up close, they wouldn't notice it was a fake tree.
There was a vast forest around Konoha with countless types of trees, so this oddly shaped fake tree—nearly ten meters in diameter and shorter than the others—wasn't conspicuous.
Konan entered the fake tree and began setting up the control platform for Nagato to manipulate the six Paths of Pain. The main structure was wooden, with a base made of a black metal, the same material as the metal spikes embedded in Nagato's body.
Three hours later, the control platform was successfully built. With this, Nagato could remotely control the six Paths of Pain.
Although the six Paths of Pain were powerful, controlling them required many prerequisites. This was a jutsu Nagato had developed based on the Rinnegan.