Chapter 131: Madara's Cautious Interest in Dakkon, Third Raikage vs. Hiruzen & Danzō Standoff, Three Villages' Massive Clash Begins
But don't underestimate Uchiha Madara—a camel that's skin and bones is still bigger than a horse.
He can still rely on the Gedo Statue to explode with power now; it's just that each use consumes one opportunity fewer.
And as time passes, the number of times he can act will only decrease—so Dakkon actually looks quite useful to Uchiha Madara.
However, years of experience made Uchiha Madara feel things weren't that simple, so he decided to observe further.
"Tell Obito—continue monitoring Shimura Danzō's exact situation!"
...
Frontline battlefield—Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō arrived at the command post together.
At this moment Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade's expressions weren't great. The three of them—who hadn't yet reached their peak—were facing a Third Raikage A whose strength had broken limits.
It truly disgusted them. Every battle relied on Tsunade tanking with her Teigu as main T, Orochimaru pulling aggro, and Jiraiya dealing damage.
But they simply couldn't restrict the Third Raikage A. Each attempt resulted in another failure for Konoha.
To reduce casualties, they could only retreat again and again. The current battlefield had already shifted from the Land of Rain to the Land of Fire.
Sarutobi Hiruzen naturally understood the frontline pressure. He comforted his three disciples: "From now on, Danzō and I will directly confront and defeat the Third Raikage. You three go restrain Ōnoki! We have intelligence that he arrived at the front lines yesterday. Now Iwagakure and Kumogakure forces have merged—what a troubled time!"
The three Sannin still understood Sarutobi Hiruzen's current strength. Previously he had transformed into Titan Kong and directly defeated the black dragon.
That level already completely surpassed the ninja world's "demi-god" Salamander Hanzo.
Although the Third Raikage A's current strength also seemed to surpass "demi-god" Hanzo, Sarutobi Hiruzen at least wouldn't suffer a crushing defeat.
As long as they could restrain or even suppress the Third Raikage, Konoha still had a chance.
As for Shimura Danzō—they ignored him. He was weak and glory-hungry, nearly killed and left half-dead by the Third Raikage.
Yet now he was lively again—no one knew what method he used.
On the other side, Ōnoki—who had arrived at the front lines—met the Third Raikage A.
On his way to the battlefield he had naturally learned of this Raikage's terrifying recent combat record.
"Third Raikage, my intelligence says Sarutobi Hiruzen has also arrived at the battlefield. Do we need to join forces?" Ōnoki probed the Raikage.
Though the Raikage was a reckless man, he had still been in politics for many years.
He could treat his own people casually, but toward an outsider like Ōnoki he remained full of vigilance.
He immediately caught the implication in Ōnoki's words—Ōnoki wanted to dump the troublesome Sarutobi Hiruzen on him.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen can be left to me alone—but Kumogakure wants the biggest share!" The Raikage directly began seizing the dominant position in this fragile alliance.
Ōnoki was happy to go along with it. His intelligence showed Sarutobi Hiruzen's strength was no longer what it used to be.
And this Raikage's power had also broken limits—he decided to let the Raikage and Hokage fight like dogs biting dogs!
Besides, the Raikage said "biggest share"—even one percent more was still huge.
Until the cake was actually taken, no one could know what would happen.
"Lord Raikage is truly bold and generous! Then it's settled—pleased to cooperate!" Ōnoki agreed readily.
"Oh—later go talk to my secretary Sarai about the specific allocation plan!" The Raikage added before leaving.
Leaving Ōnoki behind looking like he'd swallowed a fly.
...
The next day, rare clear weather appeared.
Under the backdrop of an ultra-large-scale war, a rare full-scale clash between ninja legions was about to occur.
This time Iwagakure dispatched 10,000 Iwa-nin; Kumogakure—though fewer in number—also sent 8,000 ninjas.
Konoha went all out and deployed 11,000 Konoha ninjas.
The Kage of the three villages stood in the center of the battlefield. Raikage A looked at Shimura Danzō standing beside Sarutobi Hiruzen and felt a bit surprised—clearly he had previously beaten him into a plant.
Yet he had recovered, and from what he could sense, Shimura Danzō's strength seemed to have even increased slightly.
He greedily wondered if this was Uchiha Naraku's doing.
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the high-spirited Third Raikage A and said: "Third Raikage, since you've already obtained a Teigu and your strength has increased so greatly, you also signed a three-year truce agreement with our Konoha before. There's no need to join forces with Ōnoki to fight Konoha. With Konoha's strength, continuing the war will only result in mutual destruction!"
Ōnoki saw Sarutobi Hiruzen had come to the battlefield yet was still trying to sow discord and avoid fighting—he immediately cursed loudly: "I've never seen such shamelessness! Your Konoha forcibly restricts Uchiha Naraku's personal freedom. I see right through it—you just want to monopolize Uchiha Naraku so he can forge large-scale destructive weapons for Konoha! And ultimately dominate the ninja world!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly felt tense—this old man Ōnoki had guessed it exactly.
As everyone knows: if someone suspects you have weapons of mass destruction, you'd better actually have them.
Konoha's current situation was very awkward—the weapon of mass destruction hadn't been fully forged yet.
The Raikage looked seriously into Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes and said: "Then hand over Uchiha Naraku from your Konoha. As long as you're willing to hand over Uchiha Naraku, I'll turn and leave immediately!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen naturally couldn't agree to this demand. The Guardian Divine Machine [Supreme Throne] still had less than a year before completion.
Handing over Uchiha Naraku at this time would be pure stupidity.
"Although Uchiha Naraku is a forging master, the number of weapons he forges each year is limited. In the past year and a half he only made two Teigu—and those were even handed over to you Kumogakure and Kirigakure!" Sarutobi Hiruzen tried playing poor.
But the Third Raikage A wasn't so easily fooled. He pointed at Dakkon in Danzō's hand and said: "This Teigu never appeared before, right? And that staff in your hand should also be a Teigu! How do you explain that? Enough talk—hand over Uchiha Naraku. Otherwise, war!"
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