In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 488 Konoha's Response

Fire Nation.

Konoha Village.

In just over a year, the shadow of defeat in the Third Shinobi World War seems to be gradually dissipating as Konoha Village rapidly rebuilds and flourishes.

"Kakashi, Obito, Rin, today's mission is canceled; you will have free training instead."

A blond youth wearing a green vest over a blue shirt, with a gentle smile on his face, spoke to his three disciples, patted each of their heads, gave them brief instructions, and then vanished in a flash of yellow light.

"Huh? Is Minato-sensei going to a meeting again today?"

The boy, wearing orange goggles on his forehead, said in a silly manner.

“After all, Minato-sensei is already the leader of the Jonin team, a high-ranking member of the village, so it's normal for him to have frequent meetings. Kakashi, we and Obito…”

"No need, you can train on your own. You can't keep up with my training intensity."

The white-haired boy wearing a mask refused the girl's invitation and turned away indifferently.

"Tch, this arrogant guy, so what if he became a Chunin a year before us? Rin, let's train on our own and leave Kakashi, that bastard, behind!"

In a corner of the woods by the training ground, Minato Namikaze watched this scene, sighed slightly, thought for a moment, and finally created a shadow clone to go to Kakashi before activating the Flying Thunder God Technique again and heading towards the Hokage Building.

A few minutes later.

In the Hokage's office, the Senju brothers, several of Tobirama's students, the three legendary Sannin of Konoha, Minato Namikaze, Fugaku Uchiha, and Kushina, the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, were all gathered together.

The Hidden Leaf Village is unique in the ninja world for being able to produce more than ten Kage-level shinobi in one go. Even the Sand Village currently cannot match the Hidden Leaf Village in terms of the number of shinobi at the Kage level or above.

If the Third Hokage and the White Fang of Konoha hadn't died, this lineup would have been even more outrageous.

"Conservatively speaking, the number of puppet armors released by Sunagakure is at least several hundred, or even close to a thousand. If they all have the power described in the intelligence, then the scale of Sunagakure's special Jonin could be expanded by almost half. Moreover, if they can continue to produce more of these puppet armors, it could be a big problem!"

Danzo, his face grim, looked at the Konoha high-ranking officials who were reading the latest intelligence sent back by Root, and spoke.

Root has not yet discovered any information about higher-level puppet armor. Only special Jonin and above in Sunagakure would know about it. Basically, once you reach that level, your loyalty is guaranteed to be high, and you all know some of Sunagakure's secrets to varying degrees. You have set up corresponding seals in your brain to keep them secret.

It's not impossible for there to be undercover agents, but the possibility is low, and passing intelligence out is very difficult and extremely risky.

Even with Rasa and Ebizo doing a good job in counter-espionage, it would be difficult for Root to transmit this level of intelligence in a short period of time.

Even so, the things that Sunagakure showed to the outside world were already shocking to the high-ranking officials of Konoha.

"No matter when, there will always be people researching how to more ruthlessly eliminate the enemy in war, right, Tobirama?"

Looking at the blurry black and white photos in the document, Hashirama Senju scratched his head and sighed to his younger brother.

"Brother, shut up. This is not the time to talk about this kind of thing."

The person who automatically assumed the situation felt offended.

"Nearly a thousand puppet armors that can elevate the strength of Chunin by a level. It seems that the large amount of funds that the intelligence department estimated Sunagakure had withdrawn two months ago must have been used here. If Sunagakure can continue to manufacture these armored puppets and continue to equip the army on a large scale, I'm afraid the ordinary ninja below will only be able to win by sheer numbers."

Xiaochun, sitting in her seat, sighed.

Although she was resurrected as the teacher of the First and Second Hokage, and had a tall figure to support her, she still felt much more uncomfortable now than when she was assisting Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Back then, even when Konoha was in decline, they were still the leading side; now, however, they have fallen on hard times.

"If there are too many of these puppets, it will indeed be troublesome. Right now, the number of special Jonin in Sunagakure has doubled. If they continue like this, once the next Shinobi World War breaks out, the village will probably not be as lucky as last time, because we have used up almost all of our existing resources."

All that's left, besides the eighth gate that Dai is still developing, is..."

Orochimaru, dressed in a red and white divine robe and wearing a Hokage hat, turned his gaze to Kushina, who was sitting next to Minato Namikaze.

The latter smiled slightly at Minato Namikaze's somewhat worried gaze, then looked at Orochimaru.

"Fourth Hokage, the Eight Trigrams Seal is complete. I should be able to unleash the Nine-Tails in its Six-Tails form while maintaining consciousness. If it were in its Seven-Tails form, my consciousness would be severely eroded, but I should be able to hold out for a few minutes."

“Very good. If another great war breaks out in the future, we may be at a disadvantage on the main battlefield. Minato-kun, I know you don’t want Kushina to go to the battlefield, but if the village is in a critical situation, we still need to put Kushina, as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, into battle.”

Don't forget that the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure is growing extremely fast; he's not even eighteen yet, two years younger than you. His strength will likely continue to increase. To fight him, the power of the Nine-Tails is essential.

Orochimaru nodded slightly to Kushina, then spoke earnestly to Minato Namikaze.

“I understand, Fourth Hokage, but Kushina, as a Jinchūriki, is a crucial element in ensuring the village’s fighting strength. I propose that I fight alongside Kushina when she enters the battlefield to prevent a repeat of the incident where the Four-Tails and Five-Tails were captured in Iwagakure.”

The blond youth looked at Orochimaru with a determined gaze.

"The request is reasonable, I agree."

Orochimaru nodded decisively.

To deal with that guy, we need a sufficiently powerful, lightning-fast ninja to keep him occupied.

"Developing it to the level of six or seven tails is probably not enough. Back then, Madara was able to fight his older brother, who was still at his peak, for three days and three nights with the power of the Nine-Tails, until they were exhausted. This shows that as long as it is properly controlled, the Nine-Tails can also have combat abilities above the level of a Kage."

As a Jinchūriki, if Kushina could fully master the power of the Nine-Tails, her strength would definitely surpass that of the Nine-Tails controlled by Madara.

"Next, we need to do everything we can to help Kushina master the power of the Nine-Tails. Big brother, you have to keep an eye on things. Once the Nine-Tails' chakra goes berserk, only your Wood Release can suppress it." Tobirama Senju's red eyes swept across the conference room as he spoke to Hashirama Senju.

"Oh, but I'm not the only one who can suppress tailed beasts, am I? Fugaku's Sharingan is also there..."

Hashirama Senju scratched his head.

"With Big Brother around, that's enough. Even if it completely riots, it's just a wild beast that can't use ninjutsu. With Big Brother's remaining strength, it's enough to suppress the Nine-Tails. With my assistance, it won't be a problem."

As for Fugaku, and the others, and other tasks, every bit of our strength is precious and must be used to the fullest extent.

As if to show that he was not targeting the Uchiha clan, Tobirama Senju denied Fugaku Uchiha's claim and then immediately followed up with an explanation.

As for whether to believe or not, everyone present knows perfectly well what's going on.

"Second generation, you might as well speak frankly. There's no need to be so secretive. If you trust me, you trust me; if you don't, you don't."

Fugaku Uchiha looked at Tobirama Senju and spoke expressionlessly, his displeasure written all over his face.

Sasuke looks almost 80% like Izuna, which suggests that the two families are likely very closely related by blood.

However, this is indeed the case. After Madara, their lineage was able to take the position of Uchiha clan leader because they had a very close blood relationship with Madara and Izuna's father, Uchiha Tajima. Fugaku's father and Madara were not even beyond the fifth degree of kinship, and Fugaku even had to call Madara and Izuna his cousin.

It was precisely because they were once very close to the core of the Uchiha clan and held considerable power and military strength within the clan that they became clan leaders.

In other words, Fugaku and Tobirama Senju had a blood feud over the killing of Fugaku's uncle, and Tobirama Senju was the most direct culprit for the Uchiha clan's decline to its current state.

Whether it was killing Izuna before the village was founded, or suppressing the Uchiha after becoming Hokage, the Uchiha suffered greatly at the hands of Tobirama Senju. Now, with Tobirama still so wary and vigilant, Fugaku Uchiha, no matter how indecisive he may be, has to take a stand at this time.

Otherwise, there would be no need for him to continue serving as a high-ranking member of Konoha and the head of the Uchiha clan.

Hashirama Senju also glared at Tobirama Senju:

"Tobirama! Don't act recklessly! Fugaku is our comrade and a trustworthy junior. Stop showing this attitude. Fugaku's consideration for the greater good is not a reason for you to push your luck! Fugaku, I apologize to you on behalf of Tobirama!"

Hashirama Senju decisively slammed his head against the table, banging it against Fugaku Uchiha's head.

Because he knew that his younger brother would never bow down to the Uchiha clan, no matter what.

Even if they were wrong, they had to blame the Uchiha clan.

“Brother, no, from a realistic point of view, what I just said is the most reasonable choice. If you can suppress the Nine-Tails, you can use Fugaku’s power for other purposes.”

Tobirama Senju crossed his arms and said coldly.

"Alright, First Generation, Second Generation, and Fugaku, the war has only ended a little over a year ago. The enemy still exists and is stronger than us. Now is not the time to fight amongst ourselves."

"Fugaku, the First Hokage believed in you, and I believe in you too. From the very beginning, you proved your and the Uchiha's loyalty to the village, that's beyond question. The mistake was that the Second Hokage didn't make that clear from the start."

Orochimaru then stepped forward to mediate.

The red-eyed old white-haired man gave a cold snort, turned his head to the side, and looked as if he had been wronged.

It's hard to say whether he did it on purpose.

At this crucial time when Konoha needed to unite the Uchiha forces, the high-ranking members of the Hokage faction cooperated very well.

Hashirama Senju plays the good cop, Tobirama Senju plays the bad cop, Orochimaru mediates in the middle, and it all seems to lean slightly towards the Uchiha clan.

Of course, Hashirama Senju's cooperation was passive, because Tobirama Senju and Orochimaru already knew what he was going to do.

Although they are not very bright and are as unpredictable as Naruto, their behavior is often quite logical and easy to guess.

It's difficult to get the Uchiha clan to willingly be driven by the Hokage lineage. Even if Fugaku Uchiha really looks like that, we still have to be wary. It would be better to divide the Hokage lineage into a pro-Uchiha faction and an anti-Uchiha faction, so that they can cooperate with each other. This would allow us to fully utilize the Uchiha's power without losing the mentality of excessively targeting the Uchiha while guarding against them.

When Konoha's higher-ups do this, it usually means they want the Uchiha to do the work.

As expected, Orochimaru continued:
"However, to a certain extent, some of the Second Hokage's words are not without reason. Sunagakure was the first to reform and also the most thorough in its reforms. If the village wants to withstand a possible attack from Sunagakure in the future, in addition to continuing to tap into its internal strength, it also needs to unite with other allies that can be won over."

Fugaku, the Uchiha clan, and the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning should still have connections, right? They still wield considerable power in the Land of Lightning. The village needs to leverage the connections between the Uchiha clan and the Daimyo and nobles of the Land of Lightning to strengthen ties with both villages and try to bring them to the same side. Therefore, the village needs to send a suitable high-ranking official as an envoy to Kumogakure.

After all, Iwagakure has suffered an unprecedented blow, while Amegakure, an ally of Sunagakure, has risen to become a major power and its strength has greatly increased. We need new and powerful allies.

"Kumakuchi is the most suitable choice. As a high-ranking member of the village, and with the Uchiha clan having connections to the noble daimyo of the Land of Lightning, you are the only one qualified to be the envoy."

As a ninja clan with a history of thousands of years, the Uchiha clan had connections with many daimyo and nobles. In fact, the Hyuga and Senju clans also had connections. However, during the Warring States period before the founding of Konoha, the Uchiha clan did have close ties with the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Lightning, doing a lot of work for them. They even helped the daimyo drive the powerful Blood Pond clan to Hell Valley.

Only forty-odd years have passed since the Warring States period. Although the connections between the Uchiha clan and the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Lightning are not as strong as before, they can still be maintained.

"Cloud Hidden, huh...that's fine."

Fugaku Uchiha's eyes flashed. Considering that he would be capturing the Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails in the future, he thought this would be a good opportunity to visit Kumogakure and learn about them. Therefore, he nodded in agreement.

Orochimaru continued:

"Amegakure is extremely dependent on Sunagakure. If we want to bring them to our side and cut off this dependence, it will probably be difficult to do so in a short time. However, Kirigakure may not be impossible to win over. It's just that Kirigakure's army was severely damaged by us in the previous Shinobi World War, so it will probably be quite difficult. But we still have to try. As long as there is profit to be made, it's not impossible."

"Elder Yan, I'm entrusting this matter to you, but be careful with the scale. The threat from Sunagakure is growing, and the elders of Kirigakure should be able to see that if they want to maintain their position in the ninja world and avoid becoming Sunagakure's vassal, they have no choice but to cooperate with us."

(End of this chapter)