Dropped into Naruto, Breaking the World Apart

Kakuzu wiped the blood off his body and looked at the corpse of the Konoha ninja lying on the ground, feeling a bit dumbfounded.

"How did you know Konoha set up an ambush here?" Kakuzu asked Getsushoku, puzzled.

Originally, the two of them had come to the Land of Fire planning to swindle a certain wealthy noble. But then Getsushoku suddenly claimed that the man's home was crawling with hidden Konoha shinobi waiting to ambush them.

At first, Kakuzu thought Getsushoku was just spouting nonsense again—as he often did, talking about random, delusional things. But when the Konoha ninja actually appeared, Kakuzu was left wondering how Getsushoku had figured it out.

Getsushoku laughed with his hands on his hips.

"Something this simple, and you couldn't see it?" he mocked Kakuzu dramatically. If they were still in Amegakure, Kakuzu probably would've stormed off right then. Who the hell had time to listen to Getsushoku's nonsense?

But now, stuck in enemy territory, Kakuzu couldn't afford to act on impulse. Gritting his teeth, he forced his voice to sound humble.

"I really didn't see it. Would you be so kind as to explain it to me in detail, Getsushoku-sama?"

Getsushoku looked even more smug.

"You've been by my side this long and haven't learned a damn thing. Truly disappointing..."

Kakuzu tried hard to suppress his temper. Why hadn't he noticed Getsushoku was such a jackass before?

"Honestly, I had no idea Konoha had set up an ambush," Getsushoku said nonchalantly, completely ignoring Kakuzu's shocked expression.

"I'm not a prophet, and I don't have any spies in Konoha. How would I possibly know their plans in advance?"

Kakuzu stared blankly at him. "But you clearly predicted the ambush."

"It was just a reasonable deduction," Getsushoku replied with a sideways glance. "You told me earlier that you've robbed nobles in the Land of Fire three or four times already. These guys pay huge taxes every year—do you really think Konoha would sit back and let someone rob them? Even if there wasn't an ambush this time, there would be next time—or the time after that. As long as you keep looting, sooner or later, you'll run into trouble."

Kakuzu squinted at Getsushoku. "So that's why you transformed into a Kumogakure ninja?"

Getsushoku nodded seriously.

"Exactly. All the killing and burning? That's what Kumogakure does. Has nothing to do with the innocent bounty hunter Kakuzu!"

"Despicable. Truly despicable." Kakuzu gave him the courtesy of not saying that out loud, but he was definitely cursing him in his heart.

Getsushoku glared right back—Don't think I don't know you're cursing me inside!

Kakuzu was the first to stop their childish back-and-forth and asked,

"So what now? Konoha's trackers are almost here."

Konoha's tracking systems were top-tier. Kakuzu didn't think they'd be able to escape easily—even advanced transformation techniques wouldn't help, since insects and ninken didn't rely on appearance to identify targets.

Once surrounded, a big fight would be inevitable. Kakuzu wasn't a battle maniac—he preferred to avoid fights whenever possible.

"We run. Immediately. Head toward... the Land of Earth!" Getsushoku declared.

Framing Kumogakure by committing crimes in the Land of Fire, then fleeing toward the Land of Earth? That ought to spark some juicy speculation, right?

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes at Getsushoku. Was he seriously going with this dumb and sinister plan?

...

Two squads of shinobi arrived in pursuit.

The second team wore masks and remained silent—they were members of Root.

"You! Why are you staying here instead of pursuing the enemy?!" the Root leader barked as he joined the other Konoha ninjas.

A Hyuga ninja stepped forward, expressionless.

"And why did Root take so long to get here?"

The Root ninja froze for a moment, speechless.

They were all Konoha shinobi, supposedly fighting side-by-side without regard for personal gain or sacrifice. But clearly, that was far from the truth. Thanks to internal strife and factionalism, no one wanted their own people to be the ones dying.

The Root ninja cast a dark look at the Hyuga. With enemies closing in, they were still fighting each other? Ridiculous. Danzo-sama was right—these arrogant clan shinobi deserved to be thrown in the trash.

"Commence pursuit." The Root ninja dropped the topic, unwilling to argue further.

The other Konoha ninjas sighed inwardly. Chasing down enemies was hard enough without having to watch their own backs for friendly fire. What a miserable situation.

...

A group of villagers huddled in the bushes, trembling as they looked toward the distance.

"Why are those two killers here?" someone whispered in a trembling voice. Everyone around shared the same fear and confusion. They were just ordinary folk from the Land of Fire—what had they done to offend people like them?

Those two people, of course, referred to Kakuzu and Getsushoku.

"How many villages and towns did you destroy along the way?" Kakuzu asked, his tone unreadable. Just moments ago, Getsushoku had created multiple clones, sending them off in different directions to wreak havoc and confuse the pursuers.

"Ah~" Getsushoku sighed melodramatically. "I never realized I was such a cruel, heartless person."

"At least you're self-aware," Kakuzu muttered, giving him a sideways glance. His wariness of Getsushoku was now at its peak.

A smart enemy wasn't scary. A completely unhinged teammate with no moral boundaries? Terrifying.

"Looks like someone's catching up!" Getsushoku snapped Kakuzu out of his thoughts.

Kakuzu turned around—sure enough, a few figures were rapidly closing in.

"Where are we now?" Getsushoku asked.

"Almost at the Land of Grass. Once we pass through, we'll be in the Land of Earth," Kakuzu replied immediately.

"Good. Kill the Konoha shinobi chasing us and hang their corpses at the Land of Earth's border as a warning." Getsushoku said it calmly, like it was just business as usual.

Kakuzu felt a fresh wave of frustration wash over him.

As Konoha's pursuers slowly closed in, Kakuzu quickly noticed that the group seemed disjointed, lacking cohesion.

Previously, Getsushoku had impersonated a Hyuga and brutally slaughtered an entire clan of children who had bullied Hyuga Hinata. The massacre had stirred up a media storm in Konoha.

The higher-ups, seemingly intent on putting pressure on the Hyuga clan, had done nothing to suppress the rumors—allowing villagers to gossip freely and slander the clan. But no one expected the Uchiha to secretly fan the flames, pushing the Hyuga into a full-blown public crisis.

Then, in a twist, the Uchiha mobilized the police force to help the Hyuga suppress the rumors, building an alliance to resist the high command's oppression.

This kind of ruthless, strategic move was totally unlike the Uchiha's usual behavior. No one knew who had come up with the idea.

In the end, the two rival dōjutsu clans had formed a reluctant alliance. Meanwhile, among the high command, Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen were no longer on the same page. Other clans stood by, watching from the sidelines.

—This was the current chaos within Konoha. And the more chaotic things became, the safer the Uchiha were. If they couldn't integrate into the village, then they would drag all the clans into the same pit, creating rifts between every clan and the ruling elite.

With Shimura Danzō around as the scapegoat Hokage, orchestrating this kind of situation wasn't hard at all. Kill a few clan shinobi and pin it on Danzō—it was so normal that barely anyone would suspect the proud but foolish Uchiha.

Uchiha Fugaku seemed to have opened the door to a whole new world. He finally understood that being a good person only left him feeling repressed and stuck between impossible choices. Only by being a villain could one freely take action!

The Uchiha had always been too naive and kind. Though they had a fiery temper, they never maliciously harmed the villagers. That's exactly why the villagers had the nerve to talk about them behind their backs. On the other hand, Danzō had a bad reputation—everyone knew he was shady to the core, yet no one dared to speak up, not even a whisper, afraid it would bring disaster upon them.

Most people were like that. They'd nitpick and criticize the good guys while treating the villains with exaggerated respect.

At last, Uchiha Fugaku saw the truth. He wasn't even sure why his moral bottom line had dropped so drastically… but—wasn't that a good thing?

...

Of course, the one more puzzled than Uchiha Fugaku was Sarutobi Hiruzen. His previously flawless political tactics suddenly stopped working, like there was an invisible hand sabotaging him at every turn. And yet, he couldn't trace a single clue. All he could do was react defensively. But the more he tried to defend, the more holes appeared—Konoha's shinobi returning from missions could be visibly seen dividing into small factions.

...

Konoha shinobi charged toward Getsushoku and Kakuzu.

"Huh? They actually set up an ambush?" one of the Konoha shinobi muttered, but he didn't seem worried. The enemy only had two people—even with an ambush, how much damage could they really do?

The battle horn sounded. Konoha's shinobi attempted to encircle Getsushoku and Kakuzu.

"Fifteen of them," Kakuzu noted with a slight frown. "Didn't expect Konoha to put this much effort into a pursuit."

"You robbed quite a few wealthy merchants from the Land of Fire. Those are Konoha's main economic arteries," Getsushoku replied.

Despite being outnumbered, the two were relaxed, even chatty.

Kakuzu was extremely confident. He had lived this long because of both strength and caution. Unfortunately, he was plot-killed by Naruto in the original story.

Both Getsushoku and Kakuzu used unconventional techniques. The moment they struck, Konoha's formation fell into disarray.

Several Earth grudge clones with different Affinities split the battlefield. Getsushoku seized the opportunity to strike at the weaker support shinobi, swiftly reducing Konoha's numbers.

"Damn it!" one of the Konoha shinobi howled in frustration. They thought this mission wouldn't be too hard. Who would've guessed nearly everyone would fall here? What would they tell the village when—if—they got back?

"Maybe we should retreat?" the same shinobi suggested hesitantly.

"We can't win anyway. Rather than all dying here, better to bring back intel on the enemy!"

No one said a word in response—because the Root shinobi were glaring at them like hawks, giving off an ominous vibe: "You try to run, and we'll cut you down ourselves."

Root had always been that stubborn.

The result: total annihilation.

...

Dragging a corpse behind him, Getsushoku suddenly turned to Kakuzu and asked seriously,

"Has the shinobi world ever had a plague?"

Kakuzu's instincts flared like a blaring siren. His expression filled with an ocean-deep, sky-high, earth-shattering level of alarm.

"What the hell are you trying to do this time?"

"I was just wondering—if we dumped a huge pile of corpses into a water source, could we trigger a plague? The Land of Fire's climate is really perfect for bacteria to thrive~" Getsushoku seemed genuinely considering this deranged idea.

Kakuzu immediately changed the subject.

"Didn't you say you wanted to hang the corpses in the Land of Earth? Then get moving."

Root shinobi corpses had very distinct characteristics. As Kakuzu sealed them into a scroll, he couldn't help but mutter,

"If Senju Hashirama were still alive and saw how Konoha shinobi turned out like this, he'd probably cry his heart out."

"You've dealt with Senju Hashirama before, haven't you? What kind of person was he?" Getsushoku asked.

Kakuzu's face twitched slightly.

"He was strong—but kind of an idiot. Hard to imagine he actually founded an entire era."

During the chaotic Warring States period, Hashirama was like a lotus blooming from the mud—unsullied and pure. Despite not being all that educated, he somehow developed an ideology of peace. Even more incredible was how he convinced his mortal enemies, the Uchiha, to support that ideology. Honestly, it was hard to wrap one's head around.

Kakuzu deeply suspected that Hashirama's greatest power wasn't Wood Release—it was his baffling charisma. It was like he had a cheat code: one smile and people would drop to their knees; help an old lady cross the street and her grandson would turn out to be a future prodigy…

"From the perspective of later generations, Hashirama was actually kind of average. Maybe even a bit of a dimwit. The Third Hokage probably thought of himself as more capable than Hashirama. At least, his political skills were way more advanced," Kakuzu said, increasingly puzzled. From the viewpoint of the common man, Hashirama was undoubtedly a legend—a pioneer of a new age, worthy of bold calligraphy in the annals of history. Someone might even write a Chronicle of Hashirama one day.

But from the standpoint of individual ability or leadership charm, Hashirama was honestly pretty unremarkable. Everything he did was through brute force. Strategy? Zero. Tactics? Nada. Even if he claimed the sun rose in the west, people would just go, "Yeah, yeah, you're right," out of fear of his Wood Release.

And that peace he built? Held together by sheer might. Once he died, war broke out immediately.

Kakuzu believed that if he had Hashirama's level of power, he too could create a golden age of peace.

...

"So that's what Senju Hashirama looks like in your eyes?" Getsushoku chuckled in amazement.

Kakuzu snorted.

"Konoha worships Hashirama like a god, but the other villages don't. After he handed out Tailed Beasts so 'fairly,' I'm sure plenty of people called him an idiot behind his back."

"Yeah, Hashirama really was a goofball," Getsushoku smiled. "You think he wasn't all that impressive—probably a lot of people think he had something wrong with his head. But… the only one called the God of Shinobi is Senju Hashirama. What if all those seemingly foolish actions carried some indescribable depth?"

Kakuzu sneered at himself. "Everyone in this world looks down on others. When someone achieves something great, it's easy to start thinking—'He just got lucky,' 'He had backing,' 'He came from a good family,' 'If it were me, I could've done that too'—that sweet, delusional confidence. Just empty talk, no need to take it too seriously."

When someone achieves greatness, everything they do gets scrutinized under a microscope. Maybe what they did wasn't all that meaningful, but people still overanalyze it and find all sorts of deep meanings—like those reading comprehension questions in language exams. The author might've just been filling space, with no intention of conveying any profound message.

Senju Hashirama giving away the Tailed Beasts? Honestly, he probably really was just being dumb.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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