Hiruzen's face alternated between pale and red upon hearing this.
The Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire stopped the agitated crowd before continuing his reprimand.
"Hiruzen, since the Uchiha were so important, why did you drive them away in the first place?"
"Right now, the Uchiha's reputation across the entire shinobi world is incredibly good!"
"I have heard that many Feudal Lords of the great nations are now willing to entrust escort missions to them!"
"And what about you? You've controlled Hidden Leaf for decades, yet its reputation declines day by day!"
Hiruzen lowered his head, unable to utter a single word.
"Right now, Hidden Leaf's ninja are occupied with the war."
"Even when I want to issue a mission, I have to go to Hidden Gento Village!"
The more the Feudal Lord spoke, the angrier he became.
"The Uchiha have been thriving ever since leaving Hidden Leaf!"
"What does that prove? It proves they are better than you!"
A fat noble immediately stepped forward in agreement.
"Lord Feudal Lord speaks the truth!"
"Not long ago, I transported a batch of goods from the south of the Land of Fire to the Land of Hot Water. Along the way, we had to pass through the borders of several countries, and bandits were rampant. I originally wanted to commission Hidden Leaf, but Hidden Leaf claimed they lacked manpower and refused."
"Later, I found Hidden Gento Village. They only sent three ninja as escorts, and one of them was merely a child who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy."
"Along the journey, we encountered three groups of mountain bandits. But the moment those bandits saw the Uchiha fan emblem, they did not even dare fight and immediately fled!"
"Yes, yes!"
Another merchant stood up, his eyes full of admiration.
"The success rate of Uchiha escort missions is nearly one hundred percent."
"Those rogue ninja, ronin, and bandits all avoid the Uchiha banner the moment they see it."
"This is strength! This is reputation!"
"If only the Uchiha were still ninja of the Land of Fire!"
A chorus of agreement echoed throughout the hall.
Hiruzen's expression became increasingly ugly, his fists clenched tightly.
The Feudal Lord returned to his seat and said coldly:
"I remember that during the Third Great Shinobi War, Hidden Leaf still had outstanding ninja like Minato Namikaze and Gento Uchiha..."
Hiruzen's body suddenly trembled.
"Now Minato is dead, and Gento Uchiha has left. Hidden Leaf no longer has any top-tier combat power remaining!"
"Hiruzen, just how exactly have you been governing?"
"In all these decades, how much talent have you cultivated?"
Hiruzen could only grit his teeth and listen to everyone's complaints with a dark expression.
At last, the Feudal Lord waved his hand impatiently.
"Enough. Get out and think carefully about how to solve these problems."
"If the borders still look like this within half a year, then resign on your own."
"The Land of Fire has no need for an incompetent Hokage!"
Hiruzen bowed heavily, then stood up and staggered out of the great hall.
Behind him, the discussions of the nobles and merchants continued.
"The Uchiha really are incredible..."
"I heard their clan head can hold off the Raikage by himself..."
"If only the Uchiha were still in the Land of Fire..."
Hiruzen clenched his fists and quickened his pace, leaving the Feudal Lord's residence without looking back.
...
On the road back to Hidden Leaf, Hiruzen's expression was gloomy.
His mind was filled with the faces of those nobles praising the Uchiha.
"Hmph! Uchiha! Uchiha!"
He gritted his teeth, his voice filled with resentment.
"What's so great about the Uchiha?!"
He recalled Gento Uchiha's youthful face and remembered how calmly he had killed Danzo right before his eyes.
He also remembered that if Danzo had not been killed, he would not be in such a desperate predicament now.
He could have simply shifted all the blame onto Danzo.
"Damn Uchiha!"
He slammed his fist into the ground, causing the earth to tremble.
Albeit when he thought about the current situation, most of his anger was extinguished.
The front lines were suffering continuous defeats, the Feudal Lord had issued a final ultimatum, the major ninja clans refused to contribute their strength, and the Anbu had suffered catastrophic losses...
Filled with worry, Hiruzen finally returned to Hidden Leaf.
The moment he entered the Hokage's office, Homura hurried over and pushed the door open.
His face was pale.
"Hiruzen, this is bad!"
Hiruzen removed his Hokage robe and hung it on the coat rack without turning around.
"What happened now?"
Homura walked to the desk, his voice urgent.
"It seems those three shinobi villages have discovered that we no longer have a Tailed Beast!"
"Not only are they showing no intention of stopping while ahead, they're actually sending even more ninja to the battlefield and becoming increasingly reckless!"
Hiruzen's hand paused.
Homura continued:
"Not only has the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B from the northern Hidden Cloud Village become increasingly aggressive, even the northwestern Hidden Stone Village is unwilling to fall behind and has transferred the Five-Tails Jinchuriki to the front lines."
"The power of a Jinchuriki's Tailed Beast Bomb is enormous. Our forces simply cannot withstand it!"
"Only the Hidden Sand Village to the west is relatively quiet. Their One-Tail Jinchuriki is still too young and has not yet been sent to the battlefield, but Rasa's Magnet Release is still difficult to deal with..."
He took a breath, despair audible in his voice.
"The front lines have already sent repeated requests for reinforcements. They're saying they truly cannot hold on anymore and are requesting permission to retreat!"
Hiruzen's eyes were filled with exhaustion and helplessness.
"Damn it... and at a time like this!"
He recalled the Feudal Lord's warning and gritted his teeth.
"No! We cannot retreat anymore!"
Homura became anxious.
"If we don't retreat, what do we do when we can't hold them back?"
"If this continues, our ninja are going to collapse!"
Hiruzen paced back and forth inside the office, his brows tightly furrowed.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, a glint flashing through his eyes.
He immediately said:
"For all these years, hasn't the Chinoike clan been raised inside the village without participating in the war?"
"Their Ketsuryugan is a Kekkei Genkai no weaker than the Sharingan!"
"Since the Uchiha could easily repel Hidden Cloud, then surely the Chinoike clan, who stand alongside the Uchiha in reputation, can do the same!"
He gritted his teeth.
"Hmph! Since these shinobi villages have gone too far, it's time to reveal our trump card!"
"Raise soldiers for a thousand days to use them in a single moment. The Chinoike clan should finally contribute their strength for us!"
He then directly ordered Homura:
"Immediately go to the Chinoike clan and conscript ninja. Personally lead them to the northern Hidden Cloud battlefield to deal with Hidden Cloud Village!"
"As long as the Chinoike clan takes action, they will definitely defeat Hidden Cloud Village!"
Upon hearing this, Homura immediately revealed a shocked expression.
"Ah? Me?"
Seeing this, Hiruzen immediately slammed the table and roared:
"At a time like this, you're still hesitating and acting timid?!"
"Two years ago, when the battlefield situation entered a stalemate, I immediately approved your request to return to the village to recuperate. Haven't you recovered yet?!"
Homura stammered:
"But..."
"No buts!"
Hiruzen slapped the table.
"The pressure across all three battlefronts is immense right now."
"Soon, I will personally head to the battlefield to withstand the pressure from Hidden Stone Village."
"The northern Hidden Cloud battlefield will depend on you and the Chinoike clan!"
"As for the western Hidden Sand battlefield..."
"They can only pray for their own survival!"
Hiruzen looked at the still-hesitant Homura and continued:
"If the Sharingan can defeat a Jinchuriki, then the Ketsuryugan can too!"
"I heard that after the Raikage looted the Land of Fire a year ago, he immediately took the stolen wealth to Hidden Gento Village to ransom Darui!"
"I hope your side can also try to capture Killer B and use him as a bargaining chip in negotiations!"
Homura opened his mouth-
However, when he saw Hiruzen's frightening gaze, he could only swallow his words and nod.
"I'll handle it immediately."
Homura left.
Only Hiruzen remained inside the office.
With a vicious expression, he muttered to himself:
"Gento Uchiha, did you think only the Uchiha possess a Kekkei Genkai? I do as well!"
"It's time to unveil our trump card and shock the entire shinobi world!"
---
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