Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 219 The Significance of the Will of Fire

"Then, hand over Konohamaru now." Uchiha Touko coldly looked at the other party, indicating that he should hand over the person.

"Do you think I'm a fool?" the Cloud Village ninja shouted, carrying Konohamaru. He seemed to think that raising his voice would give him more courage. "Now, escort us to the border. After the Raikage crosses the border safely, I will naturally release this brat."

"Are you threatening me?" Uchiha Touko narrowed his eyes. The sky, which had just begun to darken, darkened again, and lightning flashed in the clouds.

"Don't move!" At this moment, the Cloud Ninja who was holding Konohamaru raised his other hand, holding an already activated explosive tag. "This explosive tag is already activated. As soon as my chakra disappears, this brat will be blown into the sky with me."

“Interesting.” Uchiha Touko sheathed his Lightning Blade, nodded, and said, “Let’s go then.”

At this moment, the sealing team stepped forward, intending to apply a chakra-sealing technique to the remaining Cloud Village members.

However, the remaining Cloud Village ninjas did not want to surrender. Just as one of them drew his weapon to resist, a bolt of lightning struck down precisely from the sky, turning him into a charred mess.

"What are you doing?" the man holding Konohamaru hostage roared.

“You only said you would exchange Konohamaru for your Raikage, it has nothing to do with these people,” Uchiha Touko said. “I just dealt with a few prisoners who didn’t want to be captured properly.”

"You..." The man who had taken Konohamaru hostage was speechless for a moment, but still said angrily, "Of course I'm including my companions. If you don't want this brat to get into trouble, take them all back to the Land of Lightning."

"Do you think I'm too easy to talk to?" Uchiha Touko said coldly. "At most, we'll trade one for another, or we'll just kill the hostages and then our two countries will go to war."

“You…this brat is the grandson of your Third Hokage,” the other party said through gritted teeth.

At this moment, everyone's eyes turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen wanted to say something, but considering that Touko Uchiha was the real decision-maker here, if he backed down now, it would put Touko Uchiha in a disadvantageous position in this negotiation. So he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said, "Konohamaru is my grandson, and he will be a Konoha ninja in the future. Every member of my Sarutobi clan is ready to sacrifice themselves for the village."

At this moment, Uchiha Touko slowly spoke up: "The reason I am willing to exchange your Raikage for Konohamaru is not because he is the grandson of the Third Hokage, but because our Will of Fire tells us that we, these leaves, can turn into firelight to illuminate the tender shoots of the village when needed, but that does not mean that you can make unreasonable demands on us without any bottom line. Konoha has never been afraid of war!"

The expression on the face of the person holding Konohamaru hostage changed several times. He originally wanted to use Hiruzen Sarutobi to stir up internal conflicts in Konoha, but what he did not expect was that Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had previously turned a blind eye to their demand for the Hyuga clan to hand over their clan leader because he did not want the war to continue, suddenly became tough when faced with his kidnapped grandson.

At this moment, the morale of the people of Konoha was also boosted by Uchiha Touko's words.

Sacrificing so much to save a child from Konoha is a completely different matter from saving the grandson of the Third Hokage.

Uchiha Touko's words made some ninjas from ninja clans in the crowd, especially the Hyuga clan who had suffered similar treatment, think that if their children were to encounter such a situation in the future, the Hokage would spare no effort to protect the children of the village.

No one in the Konoha ninja present doubted this point. After all, since Uchiha Touko took office, a series of policies he had issued, such as prohibiting ninja academy students from graduating early and revising village rules to forcefully set the conscription age at 12 during wartime, all demonstrated his attitude: with him in Konoha, there was no need for children to go to the battlefield.

"Take them all to the border first. We can discuss the prisoner exchange after the Raikage returns to the Land of Lightning! Until then, you must ensure their safety," the man holding Konohamaru hostage said, sounding somewhat threatening but actually weak.

“Alright, let’s go then,” said Uchiha Touko. After sealing the prisoners’ chakra, the Konoha members bound their hands and lined them up before following Uchiha Touko and the Third Hokage toward the border.

However, at this moment, Sasuke and Neji found Uchiha Touko.

"Teacher, Neji and I will stay here," Sasuke said. "Naruto seems a bit off."

"Naruto's condition is not right?" Upon hearing this, Uchiha Touko looked in the direction of Naruto. He saw the boy leaning against a giant, burnt-down tree, his expression blank and his eyes lifeless. Even Deidara's constant waving of his hand in front of him could not wake him up.

"Is it because of the battlefield?" Uchiha Touko looked at Naruto and understood. After all, when he first went to the battlefield, his performance was not much better than Naruto's.

Sasuke and Neji benefited from their family traditions and received the most standard ninja training before becoming disciples of Uchiha Touko. They also possessed naturally stable mental states, making them more adaptable to the battlefield.

However, Naruto, who is kind-hearted by nature, will naturally have his worldview greatly impacted when he suddenly sees this cruel battlefield. This is similar to how Uchiha Touko, who received nine years of compulsory education in his previous life and whose moral standards far exceeded those of the ninja world's insects, could not accept the cruelty of the battlefield.

At that time, Uchiha Touko, under the great stimulation, directly activated the two-tomoe technique, but it took him nearly a month to gradually get used to the battlefield with the companionship and guidance of his clan elder Uchiha Kaito, who was both his teacher and father.

Having experienced this before, Uchiha Touko understood that lecturing was pointless at this point. Having Sasuke and Neji, his childhood friends, accompany him and let him figure things out on his own would likely be more effective.

So, Uchiha Touko nodded and said to Sasuke, "Alright, then you and Neji can stay here. Also, you're in charge of cleaning up the battlefield. Make sure that the bodies of all the fallen comrades in the village are returned to the village as intact as possible."

"Understood!" Sasuke nodded vigorously.

……

Uchiha Touko led the Konoha army swiftly toward the border.

At noon, Uchiha Touko led his army across the Land of Hot Water and arrived at the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Lightning.

Kakashi was already leading Konoha's border troops, confronting the Cloud Village, which was stationed along the border.

At this moment, the two Jinchuriki of Kumogakure have arrived on the battlefield, but Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan is something they are very wary of.

After all, their intelligence only stated that Uchiha Tokō couldn't use genjutsu, but that didn't mean that other Mangekyou Sharingan users couldn't use genjutsu.

Although Killer Bee and Yugito are both perfect Jinchūriki, the Mangekyou Sharingan is too special, and they dare not gamble on whether Mangekyou Sharingan-level genjutsu can work on perfect Jinchūriki.

……

(End of this chapter)