Chapter 330: The ninja who listens to orders but not to announcements

Upon hearing this, Roshi frowned tightly.

Before coming, he had already learned about the precarious situation of the Rock Village, but after he truly arrived at the front line and heard Kitsuchi's narration, he knew that the situation was even more critical than he had thought.

It could even be said without ceremony that the Rock Village had already reached a life-and-death juncture.

Therefore, he also knew that he could not continue to watch from the sidelines. For the sake of the village, he had to do something.

Even if he had huge differences with the Tsuchikage Onoki.

The reason for the differences between the two was also very direct. Roshi's view was roughly similar to that of the Steam Ninja Han.

Although Roshi was older than Han and could be considered Han's senior, because he became famous during the ten years of peace in the ninja world, he was counted as a middle-aged ninja of the Rock Village.

Consequently, Roshi believed that he also had the strength to inherit the title of "Tsuchikage."

When the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, who was an older generation ninja, stepped down, he might also have a chance to go further.

But the reality was only the ruthless suppression of the Third Tsuchikage.

Clearly, whether it was Roshi or Han, neither was the candidate for the next Tsuchikage in the mind of the Third Tsuchikage Onoki.

And so, the differences between Roshi and the Third Tsuchikage Onoki intensified day by day.

Similar to Han, in order to suppress Roshi, even for a major event like the expedition to the Cloud, Onoki still did not use Roshi.

Even though Roshi was an expert in the entire Rock Village with strength second only to Onoki.

Roshi—mentioning this name, perhaps most people in the ninja world were somewhat unfamiliar with it. In terms of popularity, Roshi was even less known in the ninja world than the Rock Village's Steam Ninja Han.

But within the Rock Village, Roshi's prestige was indeed second only to the Tsuchikage Onoki.

No one dared to provoke this hot-tempered bearded ninja within the Rock Village, and even the Tsuchikage Onoki usually gave Roshi some face.

—Even though the fact that Roshi disagreed with him was known to everyone within the Rock Village, he still had such privileges.

The reason for all this, which seemed magical, was actually very simple, and that was—strength!

That's right, strength.

Because of the differences in opinion, Roshi and the Third Tsuchikage Onoki had a fierce exchange.

But the final result was that Onoki was a move higher, and Roshi was eventually defeated.

Even so, Roshi's strength was still recognized by the vast majority of Rock ninja. His strength was definitely not comparable to that of a Kage-level candidate; he was a real Kage-level powerhouse!

It was precisely because of this strength that Roshi had the confidence to ignore the Tsuchikage.

Since opinions could not be unified, Roshi simply played the game of "listening to orders but not to announcements" within the Rock ninja.

Consequently, even though his strength was stronger than Han's, the number of missions Roshi completed for the Rock Village was far less than Han's.

This further led to Roshi's reputation not being as loud in the ninja world as the Steam Ninja Han's.

At this critical juncture, Onoki naturally would not be stupid enough to continue suppressing Roshi, and could only choose to transfer Roshi from the Rock Village to the front line, using Roshi's combat power to drag the Rock Village out of the quagmire of the Land of Moon.

Although he did not care for the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, Roshi still had the professional ethics of a Rock ninja in his heart.

Since he was willing to come to the front line, it naturally explained the problem.

This was also why Onoki did not remonstrate much and directly opened up to Roshi.

"If we want to withdraw the troops, we must first deal with the war with the Cloud."

"Only by solving the worries behind us can we have the ability to deal with the Leaf."

Onoki said to Roshi in front of him in a stern tone, to which Roshi appeared noncommittal.

Clearly, he had no objection to Onoki's statement.

If they were to force a retreat regardless of the Cloud behind them, I am afraid the final outcome for the Rock ninja would be to be caught in a pincer attack by the Leaf and the Cloud.

Seeing Roshi's default, Onoki continued.

"According to my estimation, the consumption of combat power is now approaching the limit of the Cloud."

"As long as we are willing to give up the Land of Moon, the Cloud should be able to accept a ceasefire agreement."

"But before that, there is still an unstable factor—the Third Raikage!"

Onoki said with deep eyes.

Long before attacking the Cloud, the Third Raikage himself had always been the biggest threat in Onoki's eyes.

The Third Raikage, who had combat power exceeding that of an ordinary Kage-level powerhouse, was the biggest uncertain factor in the war.

Even if he was unwilling in his heart, Onoki had to admit that the Third Raikage's terrifying combat power was something he could not compare to.

If the Third Raikage were allowed to let go of his hands and feet, killing thousands of Rock ninja in a day would be as simple as playing, so long before the war began, Onoki had made a series of arrangements to limit the Third Raikage's appearance.

Fortunately, under the deterrence of Onoki's Particle Style, the Third Raikage did not dare to make a move at will.

But now, at this very moment, Onoki was very afraid that the Third Raikage would rely on his own sufficient combat power to veto the Rock Village's negotiation proposal.

Therefore, before proposing peace talks, Onoki had to ensure that the Third Raikage's combat power was somewhat consumed.

It would be best to injure the Third Raikage, or even at the very least, to fight the Third Raikage and draw, so that the Third Raikage would give up the idea of influencing the war situation with his own combat power.

This was something that Onoki alone would naturally find difficult to do.

In a one-on-one, he was afraid he was not the Third Raikage's opponent.

But now with Roshi's appearance, everything was different.

"I understand."

Roshi said slowly, and he clearly understood the joints.

"What do you want me to do?"

Roshi looked at Onoki, his eyes showing no retreat, only a touch of determination. He stared tightly at Onoki's eyes, waiting for Onoki's answer.

Things had come to this, and smart people already understood what was about to happen next.

Since one Kage-level powerhouse could not defeat the Third Raikage, then with two Kage-level powerhouses, one in the open and one in the dark, wouldn't there be a possibility of drawing with the Third Raikage?

The best result, naturally, was for the Tsuchikage Onoki to take the initiative to become bait, attracting the Third Raikage's attention.

And Roshi, who arrived in the dark, would act as a backup, taking the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the Third Raikage. Such an arrangement was undoubtedly the most reasonable, and at the same time, the most likely to injure the Third Raikage.

Of course, this order could also be reversed, but once Roshi was exposed in the front, the Third Raikage would naturally be more alert, and the difficulty of Onoki's success would also greatly increase.

Therefore, what to do next depended on Onoki's choice.

Undoubtedly, the person attracting the Third Raikage's attention in the front had extremely high danger.

The "Strongest Spear," Hell Stab: Four-Finger Nukite, was no joke. A slight carelessness could very likely lead to being cut down under his hand in a head-on duel with the Third Raikage.

If Onoki were to let selfishness prevail and let Roshi attract the Third Raikage's attention in the front, Roshi would not object either.

It was just that after this battle, if he could luckily survive.

Roshi would also completely break away from the Rock Village.

Because he would be completely disappointed in Onoki and the Rock Village.

In the Rock Village...