"All day it's either hauling boulders around for no reason or picking fights with that guy. Pathetic. If you keep this up, when are you ever going to get yourself a wife?"
The scene was so ridiculous that Uchiha Yuzuru actually laughed.
No wonder A always walked around with a face like thunder. With a dad like that, who wouldn't be a mess?
"Alright. Let's talk business."
At Uchiha Yuzuru's voice, the Third Raikage and A finally quieted down.
"Whether they're civilians or shinobi, they're deeply dissatisfied with the Third Hokage."
"Now is the perfect time to launch an attack on Konoha."
The Third Raikage and A exchanged a look, and excitement was written plainly in each other's eyes.
Even with the Uchiha clan now in Kumogakure, Konoha still had plenty of powerhouses. They weren't to be underestimated...
When Uchiha Yuzuru didn't mention him, the Third Raikage grew a little unhappy. "Yuzuru, what about me?"
"Sorry." Uchiha Yuzuru's grin widened. "I grew up in Konoha, so I forgot that the village's kage are also top-tier combat power on the battlefield."
The Third Raikage puffed out his chest proudly and said in a booming voice, "Precisely because I'm the Raikage, I should shoulder that responsibility even more."
"As for handling village affairs, you just need a smart secretary like Mabushin."
As the two of them got more and more carried away, A couldn't help cutting in. "And the reason?"
"Sure, we can just attack, but it'd be better to have a reason, wouldn't it?"
Uchiha Yuzuru was ready for that. "We demand that Konoha return all assets belonging to the Uchiha clan within the Land of Fire."
"If they refuse, then we have justification to attack."
"As long as we win, Kumogakure will leap to become the strongest shinobi village in the shinobi world. Mission commissions and the daimyo's funding will multiply."
"And..." Uchiha Yuzuru swept an arm outward. "After it's done, when Konoha returns the Uchiha clan's assets, I only want half."
"No." The Third Raikage laughed heartily. "You did the most work. We won't take a single coin of the Uchiha clan's assets."
"Worst case, after we win, we squeeze a little more out of Konoha as war reparations."
Inside the Raikage's office, Uchiha Yuzuru, the Third Raikage, and A stared at one another for a beat—then threw back their heads and laughed in unison.
"HAHAHAHAHA..."
Konoha Village.
After branding Harada Toru and the others as spies and executing them publicly, the villagers' emotions stabilized for the time being.
But Sarutobi Hiruzen knew that beneath the calm surface, dangerous currents still churned.
Loved ones dead, homes destroyed, forced to keep working just to have shelter through a brutal winter...
Under those conditions, anyone would be filled with hostility.
And once that fury was ignited, even he—the Third Hokage—might not be able to withstand it.
Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen was racking his brain for how to preserve his reputation in circumstances like this, Shimura Danzo pushed open the door and stepped into the Hokage's office.
He had a scroll in hand. He tossed it straight onto the desk in front of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Hiruzen. A letter from the Third Raikage."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow tightened almost imperceptibly.
Konoha and Kumogakure had never been on good terms.
After the Second Hokage died at the hands of a Kumogakure missing-nin, the two sides had never contacted each other again.
Now they had gone and taken in members of the Uchiha clan, souring the relationship even further.
What did the Third Raikage want, reaching out now?
Thinking it over, Sarutobi Hiruzen unrolled the scroll in his hands.
After only a rough skim, Sarutobi Hiruzen's chest began to heave.
Bang!
He slammed his palm onto the desk and roared, "Those bastards! They've gone too far!"
Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen's rage, Shimura Danzo asked curiously, "Hiruzen, what is it?"
"Those bastards in Kumogakure say we have to return the Uchiha clan's assets in the Land of Fire—or they'll declare war on Konoha!"
Taking in Konoha's traitors without permission was one thing. But Konoha hadn't even gone to pick a fight over it yet—and now Kumogakure had the nerve to come demanding money?
Absurd.
Completely absurd!
Even Shimura Danzo was stunned by Kumogakure's shamelessness.
He'd always thought his own skin was thick, but he hadn't expected there could be someone in this world even more brazen than him.
Danzo instinctively wanted to say, "Fine. Then we'll fight."
But when he remembered how Sarutobi Hiruzen usually did things, he changed tack. "How much do they want? Are we paying?"
"I'll pay them my ass!"
Danzo stared at him, startled. "Hiruzen... you're sure?"
"I'm sure." Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice dropped, heavy as iron. "I'm sending Hatake Sakumo and Orochimaru to the front. Let's see how long those bastards can keep acting so arrogant!"
"Hiruzen, you finally made me look at you in a new light." Danzo lifted a thumbs-up.
"But that said, I think we could still talk to Kumogakure again—"
"Enough. Get out and prepare!"
After Sarutobi Hiruzen drove Danzo out, he stared blankly at the ceiling.
It wasn't that he was being tough.
He just couldn't afford it.
10 billion ryo!!!
Those bastards really had the gall to open their mouths that wide!
They even said they'd calculated it based on 100 million ryo in annual profits, and they'd only charge for 100 years as a "concession."
Sarutobi Hiruzen was so furious he almost laughed.
Forget whether he was willing to pay—he couldn't come up with that kind of money even if he wanted to.
After the Nine-Tails disaster, the village was desperate for funds.
Clearing rubble, rebuilding homes, death benefits, workers' wages, material costs...
None of it was even settled yet, let alone compensation.
Uchiha—evil to the bone.
How could you live in this village for so many years, and then be so ruthless to us?!
Land of Fire.
Border.
A dozen or so Konoha shinobi patrolled the border line, their expressions relaxed.
"Honestly, Lord Hokage is way too cautious. I don't believe for a second those guys from Kumogakure would dare attack Konoha first."
"Yeah. We won two Great Ninja Wars. If those Cloud ninja show up, we'll kill every last one of them."
"So what if the Uchiha clan joined Kumogakure? I don't get what they're so smug about."
"They don't seriously think Konoha became the strongest shinobi village in the shinobi world because of the Uchiha, do they?"
"HAHAHAHA..."
All the Konoha shinobi laughed loudly.
Then, without warning, a streak of blue lightning tore through the air. One Konoha shinobi was slammed away, his chest caving in as life left him.
"Heavy Bomb Flow!"
Another bellow followed. A burly man wreathed in crackling arcs of lightning drove an elbow forward, smashing a Konoha shinobi's head clean off.
"Enemy attack!"
Only then did the remaining Konoha shinobi react, their earlier composure gone in an instant.
In the crowd, someone was just about to pull out a signal flare for reinforcements when a vicious-looking man appeared in front of him.
In the man's eyes, a crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan turned slowly.
"The Uchiha clan will prove it. You're only the strongest shinobi village in the shinobi world because you relied on us."
A blade flashed.
A Konoha shinobi's chest was pierced through.
In a heartbeat, more than a dozen Konoha shinobi were slaughtered.
Not long after, space rippled like water, and Uchiha Yuzuru appeared out of thin air.
"All outposts have been cleared. Fugaku, A—each of you take your men and launch the attack on Konoha's main camp!"
"Yes!"
The two of them obeyed at once and left.
Even A didn't dare say a single extra word now.
In warfare on this scale, discipline had to be absolute.
If they disobeyed orders, Uchiha Yuzuru had the authority to execute them on the spot.
Watching the Cloud ninja who had long been lying in ambush surge toward Konoha's main camp on the border, Uchiha Yuzuru's face was as calm as still water.
War...
had begun.
Konoha's border camp.
Large numbers of Konoha shinobi constantly patrolled the perimeter. From time to time, shinobi carrying intelligence scrolls went in and out, everything orderly and controlled.
In the center, inside a vast room, Nara Shikakaze frowned at the intelligence on the table, a bad feeling rising in his gut.
On the other side, Yamanaka Ike asked in surprise, "No way. We have so many outer outposts—if something urgent happened, they should've signaled us already."
"That's exactly what I'm worried about." Nara Shikakaze's expression darkened further. "This many outposts losing contact at the same time... We're in trouble again."
The moment the words left his mouth, the earth began to tremble, as if an army of tens of thousands was thundering forward all at once.
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