The once-great Shinobi of Shadows, the currently hale and hearty Hokage, passing out just like that? No one believed it.
At the very least, Jie Uchiha noticed Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyelids twitching slightly. He was likely feigning unconsciousness to stall for time, planning to conveniently wake up only once he had formulated a countermeasure.
But Hiruzen had sparked public outrage this time; it wouldn't be so easy to muddle his way through. Even Jie, the instigator of this whole situation, hadn't immediately thought of a proper way out, let alone Hiruzen.
It had to be said, although this 'Fainting Jutsu' was shameful, it was highly effective. Once Hiruzen collapsed, everyone temporarily forgot about demanding an explanation and scrambled around in a flurry of concern. After a period of utter chaos, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado hauled Hiruzen off to the Konoha Hospital.
Watching the Hokage's subtly trembling eyelids and the harsh, cold expression on Koharu's face, Jie immediately understood that Hiruzen wouldn't be returning anytime soon.
"He brought this on himself," Jie murmured, shaking his head slightly.
The Uchiha clan had only managed to extort one billion Ryo, yet Hiruzen had the gall to ask for two billion. He was insatiably greedy and utterly detestable. And of all the people to scam, he had targeted his old friends. Now that the truth was out, no one could save him.
Hiruzen using his fake coma to escape certainly saved him trouble, but it left the various clan heads in the conference room staring at each other in dismay. They had come for a meeting, but before it even began, the Hokage had gotten into a screaming match with the Hyuga. Once the Uchiha arrived, the conflict escalated, and now even the Hokage had been sent to the hospital.
With the leader of the meeting gone, what could subordinates like them possibly discuss? Would the Hidden Leaf army really be able to march out on time tomorrow? For a moment, everyone's hearts filled with anxiety.
If Danzo were still alive, he would have undoubtedly seized the opportunity to step forward, eagerly preparing to temporarily exercise the authority of the Hokage. But Danzo was dead. Even if he had been alive, his reputation was thoroughly ruined; no one would have paid him any attention.
Since the Hokage was unconscious and the elder council had rushed to the hospital, the only person left with any real authority was the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha. However, the matter of that one billion Ryo was like a fishbone caught in their throats; no one present could speak comfortably.
Jie and Fugaku had already prepared numerous contingency plans, but neither had expected Hiashi Hyuga to create such a golden opportunity. Jie certainly hadn't expected that piggybacking off Hiashi's words would yield such an unbelievable result—instantly igniting the entire room, turning everyone against Hiruzen, and forcing the Hokage into a fake coma.
The payoff was so massive that even Jie and Fugaku needed a moment to process it.
Still, they absolutely couldn't miss such a perfect opportunity. Jie coughed lightly. Fugaku immediately understood his intent.
After mentally composing his words, Fugaku stood up and addressed the crowd. "The Third Hokage is getting old, after all. A moment of agitation was enough to send him to the hospital. However, war is imminent. The Uchiha clan is willing to act as the vanguard to help the village fight against Kumogakure."
Seeing the complex expressions in the eyes of the various clan heads, Fugaku knew exactly where their concerns lay. He continued, "Since everyone here has contributed to the military funds, the Uchiha clan naturally cannot be an exception. One billion Ryo. The Uchiha clan is willing to offer the entire one billion Ryo as military funding to assist the village against Kumogakure."
Hearing that Fugaku was willing to dedicate the entire sum to the war effort, everyone's expressions immediately softened. Although they knew full well that Fugaku was merely putting forward the money Hiruzen had just given them—meaning the Uchiha clan wasn't actually spending a single dime of their own wealth—at the very least, the Uchiha weren't pocketing the cash, either.
With the one billion Ryo smoothing things over, the atmosphere in the conference room instantly livened up, completely different from when Hiruzen had been present. With Fugaku taking charge, the meeting proceeded smoothly. Soon, it was time to decide the troop deployments for each clan.
This was the true focal point of the pre-war conference, and the clan heads began to deliberate seriously. Although Hiruzen had already made his demands and the deployment rosters were basically ready, war was no child's play. People would genuinely die. Therefore, the clan leaders had no choice but to reconsider carefully. Now that the Uchiha were providing a massive injection of military funding, the outlook of the war had suddenly become much more optimistic, prompting the leaders to review their rosters.
Watching the clan heads report their lists one by one, Jie couldn't help but yawn.
In Jie's eyes, this war wasn't complicated in the slightest. As the sole victorious nation of the Third Great Ninja War, the Hidden Leaf currently lacked the strength to wage a new war. Kumogakure, as a defeated nation, was naturally in an even worse state. Even if they postured as though they had a massive army ready for a fight to the death, Jie was certain this was merely psychological warfare.
After all, in the original timeline, although the Leaf managed to appease Kumogakure's threat by sacrificing Hizashi Hyuga, resolving the conflict without bloodshed, Kumogakure still didn't launch a war even after discovering that Hizashi's death was a bait-and-switch. It all boiled down to the fact that Kumogakure hadn't recovered from the previous war either. They were arguably worse off than the Leaf, forced to rely on empty bluffs.
Furthermore, in this life, Jie had specifically looked into the matter. After Kumogakure's defeat in the Third Great Ninja War, the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning had drastically slashed their funding. Therefore, Kumogakure was undoubtedly in a much more pitiful state than anyone imagined.
Even if it did escalate into an actual war, it wouldn't be a protracted one. What was more likely was that Kumogakure planned to use their top-tier forces—the Fourth Raikage and their two Tailed Beasts—to crush the Hidden Leaf's psychological defenses, forcing them to surrender and extort massive war reparations.
After all, the current Hidden Leaf had lost most of its true high-end combat power to defections and departures. The only Kage-level powerhouse they had left on paper was an aging Hiruzen Sarutobi! They occupied the most fertile land in the ninja world, yet possessed no true experts to protect it. It was no wonder Kumogakure viewed the Hidden Leaf as a prime piece of meat, itching to take a bite.
It was truly Hiruzen and Danzo's fault for being so incompetent, mismanaging a champion-tier village into a bronze-tier one.
Fortunately, with a true champion like Jie personally taking the helm now, a mere Kumogakure was nothing to worry about. In the face of the Mangekyo Sharingan, Tailed Beasts were nothing more than oversized pets. And although the Fourth Raikage boasted the absolute greatest speed in the ninja world alongside an incredibly powerful physique, it couldn't change the fact that he was primarily a Taijutsu ninja.
As long as it was close-quarters combat, everything was meaningless before his Visual Jutsu.
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