To get the Uchiha Clan to deploy their forces, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane went all out.
The very next day, they delivered a staggering two billion Ryo directly into Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands. Hiruzen then pretentiously added his own five hundred million Ryo to the pile and headed out to the Uchiha Clan compound.
As long as he didn't expose himself, would Homura and Koharu really go to the Uchiha to ask exactly how much they had been extorted for?
Therefore, Hiruzen pocketed the remaining one billion Ryo with absolute peace of mind.
"I have delivered the funds. When will the Uchiha Clan deploy?" Hiruzen asked coldly.
Glancing at the bank notes stacked on the table, Jie Uchiha was mildly surprised. He hadn't expected Hiruzen to gather the money so quickly. Sure enough, those old fossils in the Konoha Elder Council had embezzled an unimaginable amount of wealth from the village over the years.
However, Jie had no intention of going back on his word. He quickly verified the notes.
"The Hokage is straightforward. Within three days, the Uchiha Clan will be fully equipped and ready to march," Jie stated.
Hearing Jie's guarantee, Hiruzen's ugly expression finally eased a fraction. He nodded. "That is for the best."
With that, Hiruzen immediately left the Uchiha compound and headed for the other major clans.
Since this was the village's war, it naturally couldn't be fought by the Uchiha Clan alone. Although Hiruzen would have loved nothing more than to use them as sole cannon fodder, he couldn't make it so obvious. Moreover, he wasn't going to let any of the other clans off the hook—especially not those who had witnessed his embarrassment during the Jonin Commander meeting.
Hiruzen certainly didn't have the same patience for the other clans as he did for the Uchiha.
Even for the noble Hyuga Clan, Hiruzen simply issued a mandatory decree: they had to fully cooperate with the village's military operations. He even intended to make the major clans pool together the war funds, ensuring the village itself only had to pay a tiny fraction of the cost.
Over the past few years, in order to rebuild the Sarutobi Clan and Root, the village's treasury had been nearly drained by Hiruzen and Danzo. There simply wasn't enough money left to support a war.
Hiruzen's actions instantly sparked a chorus of bitter complaints among the village's major clans.
The Hyuga Clan, in particular, suffered the most. As the second-largest clan in the village after the Uchiha, they were ruthlessly squeezed by the Hokage. Not only were they forced to cough up five hundred million Ryo for military expenses, but more than half of their Branch Family was also drafted to the front lines.
If not for the Hyuga Clan's ancestral rule that the Main Family must never put themselves in danger, Hiruzen probably would have demanded that Hiashi Hyuga take the vanguard personally.
As for resistance? Did they really think Hiruzen was just some retired old man farming at home?
When Jie learned of the Hyuga Clan's plight, he simply offered a faint smile. Those who lacked the courage to resist would inevitably be exploited. It had been this way since ancient times. In a ninja world governed by the law of the jungle, blind forbearance would only make one weaker and weaker.
While the various clans of Konoha made intense preparations, the war quietly arrived, far exceeding everyone's expectations.
On the fifth day after the letter of accountability was delivered, the shinobi stationed at the Land of Fire's border sent urgent intelligence: Kumogakure's grand army was less than a hundred miles from the border. War could break out at any moment.
With war imminent, Hiruzen grew ruthless, issuing a mandatory order that all major clans must finish assembling their forces within a single day. Then, they were to march to the border to confront Kumogakure.
But with such a tight schedule, military funding became a massive issue. After all, not every clan had the vast, deep-rooted resources of the Uchiha Clan. Nor did they have members in the upper echelons like the Utatane and Mitokado clans, who had schemed untold personal benefits for their families.
Even the second-largest clan, the Hyuga, despite their considerable wealth, found it impossible to suddenly produce five hundred million Ryo out of thin air. It was pure fantasy.
When Jie looked at the deployment list delivered ahead of time by Joren, he almost laughed out loud.
Every major clan on the list had contributed their share, except for three: the Utatane Clan, the Mitokado Clan, and the Sarutobi Clan.
Among the four members of the Konoha Elder Council, Danzo Shimura was already dead, and his Shimura Clan had been wiped out by the Uchiha. Leaving the Shimura aside, the Utatane and Mitokado clans had only sent out a few Genin.
'Genin'. While sometimes jokingly referred to as the peak combat power of the ninja world, these Genin from the Utatane and Mitokado clans were absolutely not the kind to match that moniker.
However, in Jie's eyes, the most bizarre aspect of the list wasn't the Utatane or Mitokado clans. The Sarutobi Clan might be a bit down on their luck lately, but with Hiruzen around, their profound foundations were barely inferior to the Hyuga Clan's. Yet, on this entire deployment list, Jie didn't see a single name belonging to a Sarutobi shinobi.
Did Hiruzen believe the lives of Sarutobi shinobi were somehow nobler than those of the other ninja clans?
But soon, Jie realized he was wrong—spectacularly wrong. The Sarutobi Clan had sent one ninja to the war. Jie spotted the name at the top of the list.
Commander: Shinnosuke Sarutobi.
For a moment, Jie fell into silence. The instant he saw the commander's name, he completely understood Hiruzen's scheme.
By making Shinnosuke the commander, as long as the war was won, the man's reputation in the village would reach an unprecedented high. He was trying to copy Minato Namikaze's path—lead the village to victory, and then ascend to the throne of the Fifth Hokage amidst the strong demands of the villagers.
But... letting a member of the Sarutobi Clan command the Uchiha Clan?
Did Hiruzen really think that just because they were facing a war, the Uchiha wouldn't dare execute their commander right on the front lines?
Wanting to power-level a main account was something Jie understood. But letting a blank, level-one character command a group of elite, max-level players through a battlefield raid? Unless Hiruzen had completely lost his mind, Jie couldn't fathom his logic.
Nevertheless, Jie quickly tossed the battlefield roster to the back of his mind.
Who the commander was didn't matter in the slightest. Aside from him and Fugaku Uchiha, no one could order the Uchiha Clan around. If Shinnosuke Sarutobi really lacked the tact to recognize his place, they would simply slaughter him.
After all, once the war ended, assuming the plan went smoothly, it would be time for Konoha to change its Hokage anyway. Whether the Sarutobi Clan could even continue to exist by then was uncertain. Who would care about the life or death of a forced-out Hokage's son?
That evening, Jie and Fugaku attended the final pre-war meeting together.
Tomorrow, Konoha's grand shinobi army would march to the border of the Land of Fire, so tonight, Hiruzen would lay out the final deployments. Naturally, the war roster Jie had acquired ahead of time would be officially announced.
"What are you ninja clans trying to pull?!"
"The village is facing a major enemy, yet you still haven't gathered enough war funds?!"
"Are you planning to pay it all in reparations to Kumogakure after we lose?!"
Before Jie and Fugaku even stepped into the meeting room, Hiruzen's furious roaring echoed out from inside.
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