The Village Hidden in the Stones and the Village Hidden in the Cloud have gone to war.
Having just left the Hokage Building, Shinichi walked slowly toward his home through Konoha's somewhat bustling streets in the evening twilight while thinking to himself.
Just now, he had submitted to the third Hokage the complete technical summary report for the current stage of the medical scroll project, the preliminary evaluation of material consumption and production capacity, as well as the recommendations for the next stage of personnel training and planning for production line construction.
And while submitting it, he also learned from the third Hokage the news that the Village Hidden in the Stones had declared war on the Village Hidden in the Cloud.
This meant that a new great war would erupt in the north. Village Hidden in the Cloud would be firmly tied down by the Village Hidden in the Stones and would likely no longer have the strength to pose any threat to Konoha's northeastern front.
For Konoha, this greatly reduced the pressure from the northeast, but at the same time, it also meant that the flames of war throughout the Shinobi World would burn even more fiercely, and the overall situation would become increasingly chaotic and unpredictable.
"How will the situation develop from here..."
Shinichi cast his gaze toward the north while silently calculating in his heart.
Village Hidden in the Cloud's tactical style had always emphasized offense, specializing in devastating lightning-fast assaults to crush enemies in a single strike.
However, times had changed, because of Shinichi and the Shinichi Battalion's devastating logistics destruction campaign deep within the Land of Lightning, Village Hidden in the Cloud's logistical supply and medical systems had suffered nearly catastrophic damage. Their vitality had been severely wounded, and their reserves and sustained combat capability were no longer what they once were.
Facing the Village Hidden in the Stones, an old rival that remained in full strength and was only now entering the war, Village Hidden in the Cloud would very likely be forced to change strategy, contract their lines, and shift into a more passive defensive posture.
Their famed lightning offensive would probably be impossible to execute again under the conditions of damaged logistics and medical systems, while simultaneously needing to stay wary of Konoha's direction.
Their most realistic option could only be to use the advantages of fighting on home territory and drag the war into a prolonged struggle of attrition and stalemate.
"In other words, in this timeline, the third Raikage probably won't have the chance to perform that legendary feat of fighting ten thousand enemies alone for three days and three nights..."
His memories from his previous life regarding the detailed process and specifics of the Third Shinobi World War had always been vague to begin with. The various databooks and the actual story content constantly contradicted and undermined each other.
There were countless inconsistencies in the timeline, characters, and events.
But based on Shinichi's deductions, the third Raikage had probably become overconfident during a certain advance, making him accidentally fall into an encirclement by the Village Hidden in the Stones' army.
In order to buy time for his subordinates to retreat, he had faced tens of thousands of the Village Hidden in the Stones ninja alone, fighting for three days and three nights before dying, thereby creating the tragic legend of one man against ten thousand.
That legendary battlefield absolutely could not have been within or near the Land of Lightning itself.
Otherwise, with Village Hidden in the Cloud's style and mobilization capabilities, three days would have been more than enough time for them to dispatch massive reinforcements. There was no way they would have simply watched their own Kage fall into such a hopeless situation.
The greatest possibility was that the third Raikage, during some overseas operation, became overconfident or misjudged intelligence, and was ultimately forced into an extreme rear-guard action to save his men.
But in this timeline, because of Shinichi's intervention, the Village Hidden in the Cloud's logistics and medical systems had suffered devastating damage, forcing them into a strategic defensive posture.
A defensive Village Hidden in the Cloud.
A third Raikage who needed to remain in the homeland to coordinate recovery and defense.
Perhaps there would no longer be an opportunity like the original timeline, where he advanced recklessly and ultimately fought alone as the rear guard.
Thinking of this, Shinichi instead felt increasingly calm, because due to his existence, this Third Shinobi World War had already deviated massively from the very beginning.
The casual flap of a butterfly's wings could create a storm through chain reactions, let alone when what Shinichi stirred up from the start was already a storm itself.
If the course of the war still unfolded exactly the same as the original timeline in his memories from his previous life, that would have been truly unbelievable. All the effort and changes he had made would have lost their meaning.
The tides of the era had already changed because of him. A brand-new storm was forming. This is the true Shinobi World that belongs to him, Shinichi Higashino.
"Good."
"Then your life will remain for now, third Raikage."
"In the future, you will serve as the most suitable… Dazzling stepping stone for my ascension to become the strongest of this era!"
Shinichi calmly withdrew his gaze from the northeast and continued walking home. But after only two steps, a new concern surfaced in his mind.
The position of Hokage!
In the original timeline, after the Third Shinobi World War ended, one of the key reasons the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, chose to step down and initiate the selection of the Fourth Hokage was because, Konoha had successively fought fierce battles against multiple powerful enemies during the war, including the Village Hidden in the Sand, the Village Hidden in the Stones, Village Hidden in the Cloud, and Village Hidden in the Mist.
The losses had been enormous, and the sacrifices immense.
After the war, someone needed to take responsibility, and a new image was needed to unite the people and heal the wounds.
But in this timeline?
Because of Shinichi's early warnings and intervention, Konoha had made extremely thorough preparations before the war even broke out.
On the southwestern front against the Village Hidden in the Sand, they had firmly kept the flames of war outside the national borders from the very beginning, even dragging the enemy into an attrition war favorable to themselves.
On the northeastern front against the Village Hidden in the Cloud, they had achieved a victory that could only be described as brilliant. Not only had they repelled the powerful enemy head-on, but they had also penetrated deep into enemy territory and heavily damaged their war potential.
And now, with the Village Hidden in the Stones declaring war on the Village Hidden in the Cloud, it could even be said that the Village Hidden in the Cloud had effectively been forced out of the war against Konoha altogether.
The wars on both fronts had been fought with great skill. It could even be said that Konoha held an overwhelming advantage, and the wars to come would likely continue the same way, perhaps even ending in even greater victories.
Then what about after the war?
A Konoha that, despite being trapped amid flames on four fronts, not only stabilized itself but also achieved multiple strategic victories, its leader, the third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, would not see his prestige decline. Instead, it would rise to an unprecedented peak!
He would become the heroic Hokage who led Konoha through its darkest hour.