Chapter 417: Aizen's Ambition

"Sister Kikyo, Sister Erza, we are the champions!"

Anya clenched her fists, little stars twinkling in her eyes, jumping up and down with excitement.

Erza picked up Anya and laughed, "It's all thanks to Anya's Reading Mind; that's how Kikyo and I were able to grasp the Corpse Jiao's weakness."

Although,

Anya had been trembling with fear the entire time, hiding inside Kikyo's Demonic Barrier, she had provided critical help.

The Underground Imperial Palace map was extremely dangerous, harboring not only the entrenched Corpse Jiao but also the imperial zombie royalty buried in the palace over generations, as well as the Corpse Human Attendants who sustained them.

Anya said timidly, "Anya is still too weak, making my sisters worry..."

It was only because the two Tier 2 Game Players, Erza and Kikyo, had no malicious intent that the Reading Mind was able to take effect.

When she sensed the Tier 2 boss, the Corpse Jiao, she had almost been shocked into a fool by its violent spirit and will.

Fortunately, Kikyo noticed and hurriedly used the barrier to protect Anya.

It wasn't just the Corpse Jiao; those other Game Players who were also hunting the Corpse Jiao—like Akainu, who wore a Rose Medal and had a stern expression—would have rushed over and punched Anya to death long ago if they hadn't seen that Erza and Kikyo were not to be trifled with after noticing Anya's prying.

"Anya wants to buy 【Witchcraft Potion】 to improve my mental stats; I don't want to be a burden to Sister Kikyo and Sister Erza!"

The rewards for hunting the Corpse Jiao were distributed evenly.

Anya, the slacker, had the lowest contribution, but since she had at least served the function of 【Weakness Vision】, she received 100,000 Reward Points.

Being able to discover the Corpse Jiao's weakness,

was all thanks to the 【Corpse Human Attendant】, a type of palace guard that had turned into a corpse due to absorbing excessive Yin energy; their strength was not high, and they could barely be read by Anya.

Furthermore, because they served the Corpse Jiao, they knew the Corpse Jiao's secrets.

Kikyo, dressed in a red and white shrine maiden outfit, asked curiously, "Does Anya also want to become a witch?"

"Can I?"

Anya looked up at Kikyo, her eyes bright and expectant.

Kikyo, who had just hunted the Corpse Jiao, looked like a goddess descended from the heavens—pure and ethereal; a little brat like Anya simply couldn't resist.

Kikyo ruffled her pink hair and said, "Of course you can. To become a witch, one needs to be born with Reiryoku. Although you have no Reiryoku, in the Samsara Game, nothing is a problem."

She had originally wanted to tell Anya that a witch must shoulder the duty of protecting humanity and must be prepared to disregard her own life.

But after a second thought,

that was only because Musashi Country was ravaged by monsters, and it was a necessity forced upon humans.

Through these days of contact, she knew that in other worlds outside of Musashi Country, humans could actually live quite easily and freely.

There was no need to enshrine children with Reiryoku as Gods and pray for protection.

For Anya, becoming a shrine maiden was just a wonderful adventure.

How nice... another world.

Erza clenched her fist, rubbed Anya's head, and asked, "Stupid Anya, don't you want to learn Transformation Magic from me?"

"This... Sister Erza, the magic armor is too heavy, Anya is still a child who hasn't grown up, I can't carry it..."

Anya's eyes welled up with tears from the pain, and she pouted, lying with an abstract expression.

Well, in truth, she was just afraid of being tired.

Just hearing Sister Erza say she swung her sword five thousand times a day made her shrink her head in fear.

Erza turned her body away and said angrily, "Hmph, lazy brat, I don't want to talk to you!"

"Sister Erza..."

Anya kept acting cute and coquettish, finally making Erza lose her anger.

The two beautiful sisters were both moonlight in little Anya's heart, just like Twilight and Yor, able to make Anya feel warmth.

"What about this Corpse Jiao Inner Core?"

In the Anya Squad's public backpack, there was still one dropped inner core.

The Jiao core, which was about to transform into a Corpse Dragon, already possessed a trace of dragon aura and was judged by the game as a 【Golden Quality】 item.

Kikyo said, "Keep it for now; it will be useful later."

Erza did not refute and nodded in agreement.

Although Anya was young, she understood that Sister Kikyo's subtext was that the Anya Squad would not disband and would continue to act together in the future.

"Sisters are so nice!... Waku Waku!"...

"Bastards!"

"Who exactly is the Anya Squad? An archer and a magic knight—how could they snatch the Corpse Jiao?"

In the conference room of the Hokage Building, Shimura Danzo, draped in monkey skin, had a gloomy face. Even though he was indoors, he refused to take off his Hokage Hat, suppressing his anger as he said, "Jonin Asuma, can you explain?"

For this Corpse Jiao hunting operation, Konoha could be said to have gone all out, with a large number of Elite players lost, and in the end, they only snatched five 【Underground Imperial Palace】 entry tickets.

The players who ultimately undertook the Corpse Jiao hunt were the Mobile Unit's Tsunade, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sasuke Uchiha.

There was no help for it; although Danzo was unwilling to let the Mobile Unit go hunting, he could not deny that Tsunade and the others were indeed Konoha's strongest.

"Anya Squad is very likely new players from a high-tier world who possess great strength themselves; the Konoha Troops who hunted the Corpse Jiao were simply not as skilled as their opponents..."

As Asuma spoke, his gaze fell intentionally or unintentionally on Aizen.

Most players had already figured out the differences between worlds; like the Ninja World and the Pirate World, their strength was not particularly outstanding among countless other worlds.

He suspected that Aizen was very likely a lifeform from a high-tier world who had smuggled himself into the Ninja World while the Evil God was attacking.

"The matter has reached this point; do not go chasing after who is responsible."

Akimichi Torifu spoke slowly, "What needs to be done now is to recover our vitality. Konoha's elite players have lost nearly half, and we still need to station troops at the border of the Land of Hot Springs to avoid an attack from Kirigakure."

Shimura Danzo had broken his word, leading to war between Kirigakure and Konoha, and the front lines were strained.

Even the strongest Ninja Village could not withstand continued turmoil.

"The Hokage does not mean to blame anyone. After all, the passing of our partners makes even me, Aizen, feel heartbroken, let alone the Shadow who shines upon the village?"

Aizen, who had been silent the entire time, spoke up to relieve Danzou: "However, just as withered branches are blown down by the wind, they fall into the soil and nourish Konoha; two Game Village Exchange Vouchers are the sweet dew bestowed by the fallen heroes."

The rise of the Shadow Organization, which pledged loyalty to Danzou, would inevitably lead to resistance from the Ninja Clans.

The Mobile Unit led by Asuma, wandering on the fringes of the Konoha Family, required no attention for the time being.

Shimura Danzo's power in Konoha appeared immense, but it was all a castle in the air, long since isolated from the Ninja Clans and the Mobile Unit.

As for the commoner ninja? They appeared to be loyal to the Hokage, but as long as he gave the order, they would not hesitate in the slightest to cut off Danzou's head.

Aizen revealed a look of sorrow at the opportune moment, yet his heart remained as calm as water.

"That's right, two Game Village Exchange Vouchers are enough to secure a place in the new season!"

Although he had not yet figured out the content of the new season, Danzou took the opportunity to step down from the slope and said.

The meeting ended hastily.

Shimura Danzo continued to stay in the Hokage Building, unwilling to leave.

The villagers also found it strange; ever since the Evil God attack incident, it seemed that the Lord Hokage had undergone a great change, especially the fact that he wore the Hokage Hat even when it was windy or raining.

It felt like a starving ghost reincarnated, seeing a steamed bun and being unwilling to let go.

"Thank you, Lord Aizen."

"Think nothing of it."

The director of the Konoha Newspaper Office had not expected that Lord Aizen would actually be willing to set aside time to agree to his plan of photographing the "Smile of the Sun" photo album.

Watching the back of Lord Aizen as he left, he could not help but sigh: "Lord Aizen is truly approachable; if it were up to me, I would definitely support him to become the next Hokage!"

Aizen, having left, walked all the way to a barbecue restaurant at the corner of the street, looked up, and after seeing the emblem of the Akimichi Clan, knocked on the door knocker with a smile on his face.

"Sorry, we are already closed."

"I am Aizen Sosuke."

Creak...

The wooden door of the barbecue restaurant was pushed open a crack, welcoming Aizen into the shop.

Inside the dim shop, it was crowded with familiar faces.

The Clan Heads of the Pig-Deer-Butterfly Clan, the Clan Head of the Hyuga Clan, as well as those from small clans like Qingcheng.

"You're late, Mr. Aizen."

"My apologies."

Aizen smiled apologetically and quickly took his seat.

This was a conspiracy aimed at the current Hokage!

(End of this chapter)