Sunagakure was intimidated, Iwagakure was defeated, and Kumogakure, unable to stand alone, also withdrew. Akira Uchiha's mission to showcase Konoha's strength at the border had been completed ahead of schedule.
Naturally, after a brief rest, everyone prepared to return to the village.
Hyuga Hiashi, who had originally come to avenge his clan against Kumogakure, found himself without a battle to fight. With the situation resolved before they even reached the Land of Lightning, his journey felt somewhat pointless.
Of course, it wouldn't be appropriate to push Konoha into continuing a conflict with Kumogakure just for personal revenge.
As they prepared to leave, Akira suddenly spoke to Nara Shikaku, "I'll leave the return to Konoha in your hands."
"Akira, what do you mean?" Shikaku and the others looked at Akira in surprise.
He was perfectly fine when they came here—why wasn't he returning now?
They knew that for a shinobi, leaving the village without the Kage's approval was considered desertion, a serious offense.
"I have some matters to attend to. I'll be traveling with Jiraiya, and once we've taken care of things, we'll return," Akira explained briefly.
Well, if Akira was traveling with Jiraiya, that changed everything.
Jiraiya had been absent from the village for years and had never been treated as a missing-nin. Similarly, given Akira's current position as the most likely candidate for the next Hokage, his temporary absence wouldn't raise any issues.
"Understood!" Shikaku responded after a brief pause, recognizing that Akira must have something important to handle.
With that, the Konoha shinobi bid farewell to Akira and headed back to the village.
"Kid, what are you planning? And why drag me along?" Jiraiya asked once the others had left, curious about Akira's intentions.
"Jiraiya, how much do you know about the Akatsuki?" Instead of answering Jiraiya's question directly, Akira posed one of his own.
Hearing this, Jiraiya's expression changed slightly, and he looked at Akira in surprise. "You... you know about the Akatsuki too?"
"Itachi Uchiha has already become a missing-nin of Konoha. He is currently with the Akatsuki," Akira responded.
The fact that Itachi was a mole planted within the Akatsuki by Konoha was top secret, not something that could be shared openly.
However, in the original series, Itachi trusted Jiraiya, and Akira felt the same way.
"I see," Jiraiya said, understanding dawning on him. He also felt a bit touched—Akira had trusted him enough to share such a critical secret. In a way, this meant that Itachi's life was now in Jiraiya's hands.
"The Akatsuki is a deeply hidden organization, and each member's strength is formidable," Jiraiya continued. "So far, we don't know their true objective or who their leader is. But I do know that Orochimaru was once part of the Akatsuki."
"Recent information suggests that Orochimaru has already defected from the Akatsuki," Akira added, glancing at Jiraiya.
Much like Naruto chasing after Sasuke in hopes of bringing him back, Jiraiya had spent years pursuing Orochimaru, hoping to redeem him.
But sadly, in the original series, Jiraiya died without seeing two things: Naruto becoming Hokage and Orochimaru's eventual redemption.
"Oh? So he's already left the Akatsuki?" Jiraiya's expression shifted slightly at the news.
Part of his interest in tracking the Akatsuki had been due to Orochimaru's involvement, but now, hearing that Orochimaru had already left the organization...
"Yes, that's why I asked you to join me—I'm going to find him," Akira explained, revealing the reason for their journey together.
"You know where Orochimaru is now?" Jiraiya's eyes lit up with interest.
"I have a strong lead. Let's go check it out," Akira replied with a smile.
It was like asking Naruto if he wanted to track Sasuke after his defection—Naruto would undoubtedly agree. The same logic applied to Jiraiya regarding Orochimaru.
Initially, Jiraiya had been curious about why Akira hadn't returned with the rest of the Konoha forces. He'd even wondered if this trip would cut into his research time.
But now, knowing they were searching for Orochimaru, Jiraiya's attitude changed entirely. He no longer minded delaying his return to Konoha.
Their destination was the Land of Rice Fields, home to the Hidden Sound Village, so the two Kage-level shinobi made quick progress.
Of course, the journey wasn't entirely silent. As they traveled, they chatted about various topics, with Jiraiya sharing all kinds of strange tales from the shinobi world and providing Akira with valuable information.
During one of their conversations, Jiraiya brought up an interesting point: "You know, this concept of Kage-level power is intriguing. In the shinobi world, there isn't an official classification for Kage-level strength."
While there were ranks like Genin, Chunin, and Jonin, Jiraiya explained, many factors—such as summoning beasts, weapons, intelligence, environment, and bloodline limits—affected a shinobi's strength. Thus, it wasn't always the case that a Chunin was stronger than a Genin or a Jonin stronger than a Chunin.
There were plenty of instances in the shinobi world where a Chunin could defeat a Jonin, or even a Genin could take down a Jonin.
As for Kage-level strength, there wasn't an official term for it in the shinobi world.
"However, it's true that some shinobi far surpass the level of Jonin, so this idea of Kage-level power makes sense," Jiraiya conceded after some thought.
It was similar to the classification of martial artists into third-rate, second-rate, and first-rate masters. Some exceptional individuals could be considered top-tier, a concept Akira had introduced.
"Though the shinobi world doesn't have an official term, the life simulator does, and my experience cost just jumped from 100,000 to a million per simulation. If I could, I'd prefer not to have this Kage-level classification at all," Akira thought to himself, inwardly lamenting the high cost of being Kage-level.
The two continued discussing the concept of Kage-level power, and over two days, Jiraiya developed a clearer understanding of it.
Likewise, Akira gained a more precise comprehension of what Kage-level strength entailed.
To put it simply, if one were to quantify a shinobi's overall strength with numbers:
An ordinary person or an academy student would have a chakra level around 170.
A Genin would have a value around 1,700.
Chunin would fall somewhere in between.
Each rank up represented roughly a tenfold increase in chakra and overall strength.
A top-tier Jonin could easily outclass a newly promoted Jonin, and the disparity only grew at higher levels.
For Kage-level shinobi, overall strength would range from about 10,000 to 70,000.
Using Danzo as a baseline, Akira estimated that Danzo's strength was around the lower end of that spectrum. Akira's current strength was comparable to Danzo's, placing him at the entry level of Kage-tier power.
Of course, if Akira opened the Eight Gates, the situation would change drastically.
As for Orochimaru and Jiraiya, they estimated that the Sannin were in the 30,000 to 40,000 range, marking them as veteran Kage-level shinobi capable of overpowering Akira and Danzo in their base states.
The Third Hokage and the Third Tsuchikage were likely in the 40,000 to 50,000 range, slightly stronger than the Sannin.
That's why Jiraiya needed to be in Sage Mode to pressure the Third Tsuchikage, and Akira had to open at least the Sixth Gate to keep up.
As for why Orochimaru could defeat the Third Hokage in the original series? That was after several more years had passed, and the Third had grown even older, his strength diminishing. Orochimaru had also used Edo Tensei to summon the First and Second Hokage, making it a desperate struggle that eventually led to the Third's death.
By using numbers to compare the strength of Kage-level shinobi, Jiraiya began to understand the relative power levels of different Kage-tier fighters.
"You, kid, in your normal state, are probably just over 10,000," Jiraiya mused.
"But with the Six Gates open, you'd be around 40,000."
"And with the Seventh Gate? Probably around 70,000 to 80,000."
Recalling Akira's formidable performance with the Seventh Gate open, Jiraiya offered his assessment of Akira's power levels.
"Yeah, that seems about right," Akira nodded, acknowledging that the estimate was fair.
"But something still doesn't add up," Jiraiya added, shaking his head after further reflection. "If Kage-level strength ranges from 10,000 to 70,000, then your power with the Seventh Gate open should be the strongest."
"At least, I haven't seen any Kage-level fighter who could match you in that state."
"So, I have to wonder if any Kage-level shinobi could reach 100,000," Jiraiya speculated.
"That's because you're unaware of Nagato's existence. With the Rinnegan, he's likely the pinnacle of Kage-level strength, and 100,000 would be a fair estimate for him," Akira thought silently.
Just look at Nagato's feats in the original series.
Orochimaru was brought to his knees with a single Shinra Tensei from Tendo Pain.
The so-called demigod Hanzo, along with his forces from Amegakure, was utterly crushed by Nagato's Gedo Mazo.
And with one powerful Shinra Tensei, Nagato obliterated the entire Hidden Leaf Village.
Such power was so overwhelming that, compared to him, ordinary Kage-level shinobi seemed like children.
After evaluating these various power levels, Akira couldn't help but be astounded by the terrifying potential of the Eight Gates.
Especially the final gate, the Eighth Gate—it was unimaginably powerful, defying all logic...
******
Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 180 at patreon.com/Emik01.