Before deciding to release the Three-Tails to destroy Kirigakure, Chao Yanqian had already calculated all the consequences.
After the strength of Kirigakure was weakened by the Three-Tails, the Mist Village, busy rebuilding, would inevitably withdraw from the Third Great Ninja War, and Konoha's victory would become a foregone conclusion.
However, the release of a tailed beast in another village would definitely provoke the condemnation of the entire ninja world. Once this incident was exposed, the title of "cruel and bloodthirsty" could never be removed.
Therefore, Chao Yanqian must bear all the notoriety and must not let Konoha be implicated.
Given Konoha's current strength, facing a dilapidated Kirigakure that was attacked by a tailed beast, they would never make such a compromise. The prerequisite for all of this was that Chao Yanqian had to bear all the accusations alone.
Konoha would remain righteous, but the cruelty would be attributed solely to Chao Yanqian.
As a new genius of the Hokage clan, he had a cooperative relationship with Shimura Danzo. As long as Chao Yanqian maintained Konoha's reputation, Konoha would inevitably ensure Chao Yanqian's safety.
Of course, Chao Yanqian was not doing all this for nothing.
After today's battle, Bo Feng Shuimen would return to Konoha with Koychi and report to the Third Hokage exactly what happened.
Of course, the so-called "truth" would be that Kirigakure planned to seal the Three-Tails into Koychi's body, and then, once Koychi returned to Konoha, release the Three-Tails to destroy Konoha. Coincidentally, Chao Yanqian happened to discover this plot and, in a rage, released the Three-Tails inside Kirigakure.
The reason why Chao Yanqian's "truth" would be believed was that a jinchūriki is a village's ultimate weapon, and based on Chao Yanqian's strength alone, it was impossible for him to approach the jinchūriki unless Kirigakure deliberately sent the jinchūriki outside the village, suggesting a conspiracy.
The truth was plausible, but a public opinion battle was not just about moving first; it also required solid evidence. Otherwise, given Konoha's situation in the ninja world, all villages would blame Konoha one-sidedly.
As the mastermind behind everything, bearing all the infamy, the benefit Chao Yanqian would gain was the village's trust. After all, in this entire incident, Chao Yanqian protected Konoha's reputation and helped secure Konoha's victory in the war—a great achievement.
As for fame, it was not particularly important to Chao Yanqian. However, after this battle, the Chao Yanqian clan's reputation would inevitably spread throughout the ninja world. With military exploits and fame, as long as the Three-Tails incident blew over, even Konoha's high-level officials would be unable to move against the Chao Yanqian clan openly.
Because of this, after releasing the Three-Tails, Chao Yanqian did not immediately leave Kirigakure, but stayed behind to fight the Mist ninjas, drawing all their hatred onto himself.
With one punch, he killed a Mist ninja, then immediately retreated, putting distance between himself and Terumi Mei and the other Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
If he fought them head-on, Chao Yanqian would definitely be killed by the seven in front of him. But a ninja is not a samurai—no one fights fair one-on-one. Fighting while retreating is the true essence of a ninja!
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Compared to the relatively mild fighting where Chao Yanqian was, the battlefield around the Three-Tails was far more brutal.
Compared to the violent and irritable Nine-Tails, the Three-Tails' personality was much gentler. If not for the constant attacks from the Mist ninjas, Chao Yanqian believed the Three-Tails might have fled already, finding a calm lake to hide in.
However, a tailed beast still had the temper of a tailed beast. Having been sealed in a host, and then attacked immediately upon release, even the normally mild-mannered Three-Tails was now in a rage.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Jets of water from the Three-Tails blasted into the streets of Kirigakure, tearing through buildings. Countless Mist ninjas were injured by the powerful attack, and the less fortunate were directly crushed by the water jets.
Occasionally, a Tailed Beast Bomb from the Three-Tails would collapse entire sections of the village.
"Damn it! You demon!" Seeing the Three-Tails' rampage, Terumi Mei could no longer suppress the anger in her heart. She launched a Lava Release attack at Chao Yanqian, blaming him for the disaster.
"It's useless!" Using Flying Thunder God again to dodge Terumi Mei's attack, Chao Yanqian shouted, "Rather than deal with me, you should deal with the Three-Tails over there. Its destruction is much worse than mine!"
"Are you just going to keep hiding, coward?" Terumi Mei sneered.
"Would a coward release a tailed beast in someone else's village?" Chao Yanqian retorted.
"You..."
In fact, Chao Yanqian was a little concerned about being discovered. But judging from the expressions of the seven in front of him, they clearly didn't intend to expose him directly.
[Transformation Technique] shouldn't have any flaws, so the discovery probably came because some of them knew the Three-Tails' jinchūriki personally. Seeing the jinchūriki wandering around with Chao Yanqian in a daze must have looked suspicious.
"Hey!" Thinking of this, Chao Yanqian looked at the Mist captain and asked, "You recognize the Three-Tails' jinchūriki, don't you? That's why you discovered me! Although I was careless, you should know the truth!"
"What do you mean?" the Mist captain asked in a deep voice.
"You should know about the plan to seal the Three-Tails into a Konoha ninja and release it in Konoha!" Chao Yanqian said.
"I don't understand what you're talking about," the Mist captain denied coldly.
"It seems you don't plan to admit it," Chao Yanqian replied.
"Kill him! Don't let him keep talking nonsense!" the Mist captain ordered, and the seven immediately attacked Chao Yanqian.
"You want to kill me just to silence me?" As he spoke, Chao Yanqian teleported again, appearing on the back of the Three-Tails. Looking at the Mist ninjas surrounding the beast, he began to form hand seals.
[Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Technique]
The Earth Dragon Bullet easily blasted a Mist ninja into the air, but at the same time, Chao Yanqian exposed himself to the sight of the Mist forces.
"Someone is on the Three-Tails!"
"It's Konoha's ninja!"
"It was Konoha that released the Three-Tails!"
"Kill him!"
Sure enough, as soon as Chao Yanqian, wearing a Konoha forehead protector, appeared, public outrage exploded exactly as Chao Yanqian had planned.
"Isn't this fun, everyone?" Chao Yanqian looked down on the Mist ninja and shouted loudly.
"Is this Konoha's conspiracy?" a short, green-haired ninja shouted.
"Is it the Fourth Mizukage's doing?" Chao Yanqian said loudly. "Didn't your Mist plan to release the Three-Tails in Konoha? But Konoha is too far! Even if you released it, you wouldn't see the results! So to fulfill your wishes, I released the Three-Tails in your village instead. Now you can witness the destruction firsthand!"
"Don't blame me! Blame your own Mist leadership! I only used the method you intended to use on Konoha against you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the furious Mist ninjas unleashed all kinds of ninjutsu at Chao Yanqian. But before the attacks could land, he used [Flying Thunder God Technique] and instantly teleported outside of Kirigakure.
"It's over! Now all that's left is explaining everything to the Third Hokage after I return!" Chao Yanqian thought to himself.
Visit patreon.com/DavidOris to get 30+ chapters