Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 254 No one understands Konoha better than me

“Lord Raikage, perhaps you should go back and receive treatment first,” Mabui said to Ai after hesitating for a moment. “After all, your current physical condition probably isn’t enough to suppress them.”

Ai looked deeply at the group of people gathered in front of the Raikage Building, then turned and left without saying a word. Mabui was right. He had lost an arm, and his strength had already declined. Moreover, his injuries had not fully healed. If he rashly showed his weakness, it would be difficult for him to keep his position as Raikage.

After all, he was the one who bore the main responsibility for their Cloud Village's crushing defeat this time.

After all, Kumogakure is a ninja village founded on the core of martial arts. For Kumogakure, the Raikage can be tyrannical, dictatorial, or even incompetent, but he absolutely cannot fail!
Sunagakure suffered a defeat in the war. After the Kazekage returned to the village, he could continue to serve as Kazekage without any problems. However, once the Raikage fails, the trust of the village's ninjas in him will immediately drop to zero. At this time, if he appears in front of the villagers in such a weak state, he will probably be directly removed from the position of Raikage.

Therefore, he must now find a way to hold on until his injuries heal and his sworn brother Killer Bee regains consciousness.

However, when Ai returned to his place of recuperation in the Cloud Thunder Canyon, another piece of bad news followed: the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning had, under pressure from his ministers, passed a motion to re-elect the Fifth Raikage.

Under pressure from Konoha's war order, the Land of Lightning's court was forced to sign the reparations treaty. As a result, not only did Kumogakure suffer heavy losses, but the entire Land of Lightning's economy would also be severely damaged by this huge reparations. Therefore, the Land of Lightning urgently needed a scapegoat, and A, who was still not fully aware of the situation, was chosen by the Land of Lightning's officials as the scapegoat. After all, this whole thing was ultimately caused by A misjudging the difference in strength between himself and Uchiha Touko.

Upon learning this news, Ai slammed his one arm heavily on the table and sighed. He knew that in the village, his power was gone. If he could still control the court of Thunder Capital as before, then none of this would be a big problem. However, during the time he was unconscious, the civil officials of Thunder Capital had already gained the upper hand.

After pondering for a while, Ai looked up at his secretary and asked, "Mabui, I plan to nominate you for the fifth generation leader."

"Me?" Mabui froze on the spot after hearing Ai's words. "I can't do it, can I?"

“Why not?” A said. “Your strength is among the top in the village’s elite Jonin, and you’ve been by my side all these years, so you’re very familiar with the village’s affairs. If you’re willing, I can send a message to have the Anbu and Jonin team members who support me stand behind you.”

“But…” Mabui hesitated, but Ai waved her hand and said without waiting for a reply, “You just saw it yourself. Donald and his group have gained the support of many people. If no one steps forward, he has a high chance of becoming the fifth Raikage of the village. But don’t you know what Donald and his group were like before? They were just a bunch of idiots who only talked big and made a lot of mistakes when they did things! If he becomes the fifth Raikage, he will destroy the village sooner or later! So, for the sake of our village, you must step forward now.”

Upon hearing this, Mabuyi also fell silent. As Rayleigh's secretary, who needed help handling many documents, she was familiar with Donald and the others' resumes.

First is Donald. This guy has always tried to squeeze into the inner circle of power in Kumogakure. His strength has barely reached the level of an elite Jonin. However, in all the records of him leading his team to carry out missions as a captain, his success rate is close to the bottom among all the Jonin in Kumogakure. However, the casualty rate of his team has also been consistently high.

Furthermore, this person's behavior has always been flamboyant, and Ai had warned him about this many times before.

However, after the trend of black-white division in the Land of Lightning reached the Hidden Cloud Village, this guy seized the opportunity and transformed into the leader of the white ninjas in the Hidden Cloud Village. After the Hidden Cloud Village suffered a big setback in Konoha, he was the first to shout the slogan of impeaching the Fourth Hokage and making a white person the Raikage. In a short time, there were many people responding.

His supporter, Airon, is a famous ninja tool merchant in the Land of Lightning who has risen to prominence in the past two years. After the largest ninja tool factory in the Land of Lightning was attacked, his family's ninja tool business took the opportunity to seize a large share, becoming a rising star among the merchants in the Land of Lightning. As a ninja, although his success rate in leading his team to complete missions is not bad, the casualty rate of his team is extremely high.

The reason this guy supported Donald was probably because he realized that if his ninja tool business wanted to go further, he would have to get official support. And Ai had always been cold to him, so after Donald came forward, he was the first person in the village to openly support Donald.

The last of the three, Freyg, is the strongest of the three. He once competed with Killer Bee for the title of Bee, but lost to Killer Bee in the end. This has become his obsession ever since. During this time, he has publicly declared more than once that after Donald becomes the Fifth Raikage and inherits the title of A, he will become the Bee of the new era. The two of them will lead the Land of Lightning out of its current quagmire and create a new era for the Land of Lightning.

Under the operation of the three, taking advantage of the nearly one week that A was in a coma, they used the slogan of making Kumogakure great again to win over a large number of white ninjas who were already dissatisfied with A. They gathered together and made a show of support for Donald by replacing their headbands with red ones.

Thinking of this, Mabui realized that the other party had become a force to be reckoned with. If she didn't want the Raikage's authority to fall into the hands of this group, then she had no choice but to stand up and compete with them for the position of the Fifth Raikage.

“I understand, Lord Raikage.” Mabui nodded to Ai.

"The future of the village is in your hands. At the very least, you must hold out until Kirabi wakes up," Ai said, her eyes filled with longing.

"Understood!" Mabuyi nodded heavily.

……

The news that the Daimyo had approved the decision to re-elect the Raikage quickly reached Kumogakure. Upon hearing this news, Donald felt that victory was just around the corner. After donning his red headband, he and his supporters took to the streets of Kumogakure to spread their ideals.

"Villagers!" In a prominent spot in the Cloud Village square, as Donald's supporters played upbeat music, Donald made his grand entrance, swaying his body slightly to the rhythm of the music.

"Donald!"

"Donald!"

The white ninjas and ordinary villagers who had gathered there kept calling out his name.

Donald strode to the high platform in the center of the square, his signature blond hair particularly striking in the sunlight. He was dressed in a magnificent ninja outfit bearing the insignia of the Hidden Cloud Village, waving to the crowd with an air of confidence, his voice loud and resonant, carrying a distinctive intonation:
"Fellow ninjas of Kumogakure! Great Kumogakure ninjas! Hardworking ninja tool merchants! And our best, strongest, and most loyal Kumogakure ninjas! How are you? Listen, today is an important day, a very important day. The Daimyo has passed the resolution to re-elect the Fifth Raikage. We will elect a new Raikage, the Fifth Raikage!" Donald clenched his fist tightly and waved it a few times at the supporters below who were gathered, wearing red headbands.

"We were once very strong, extremely strong! The First, Second, and Third Raikage were all powerful figures, and I respected them deeply. But look at us now! Our Fourth Raikage launched a war! A war launched without careful consideration! And the consequence of this war is that nearly 1000 of our comrades are imprisoned, and our country will have to pay a heavy price to bring them back! And another 1000 comrades have lost their lives forever in the Land of Fire! Is this right? This is not right!"

A look of deep anguish appeared on Donald's face.

"The Fourth Raikage, A! When he tried to kidnap the children of Konoha, did he consider the consequences? What did his actions cause? He caused a war that led to the complete defeat of Kumogakure! He caused the decline of Kumogakure! He is a loser, a complete and utter loser! We need a winner! Someone who can make Kumogakure great again!"

After saying that, Donald pointed to himself!

"That person is me! Donald! No one understands Kumogakure better than me! Nobody! I know our Lightning Release, our ninjutsu and taijutsu, I know our mountains, our thunderclouds! I even know the price of every single Lightning Plate! Do you know why? Because I'm a doer! I've built the best Lightning Release training grounds, I've negotiated the best ninja tool deals—of course, the best for Kumogakure! Very good! Very good!"

"Now, let's talk about our opponents! Speaking of Konoha, oh, Konoha... Konoha! Konoha!" Donald shook his head with disdain. "They always say one thing and do another. They smile to your face but do dirty tricks behind your back. Do they think they're so smart?"

Donald's hands were making a peculiar gesture, which he kept waving.

"No! Listen, everyone from Kumogakure: No one... no one understands Konoha better than me! I'm telling you, no one! I've studied them for over a decade! I know what their Hokage is thinking, I know what their Hyuga clan is thinking, I know their Uchiha... oh, Sharingan, troublesome, but I have a way to deal with it! I understand their weaknesses, very much! Their so-called 'Will of Fire' is all a lie! Weakness! Only the 'fighting spirit' of our Kumogakure is true power!"

After saying this, Donald paused, then raised his voice:

"So, when I become the Fifth Raikage—you will choose me, because you are smart!—the first thing we will do is renegotiate those terrible, extremely unfavorable treaties! We will win! We will win big! We will make Kumogakure stronger, richer, and safer than ever before! We will reclaim our glory! We will make our enemies fear us again! Remember my words: Under Donald's leadership, Kumogakure will achieve unprecedented victories! Believe me, I am the expert! Elect Donald as the Fifth Raikage! Thank you all! I love you all! Long live Kumogakure!"

After speaking, Donald waved enthusiastically to his supporters, his golden hair, like ears of corn, shimmering in the sunlight.

"Donald!"

"Donald!"

The fans with red headbands below the stage cheered enthusiastically.

Not far away, Uchiha Touko, who had been brought to Kumogakure by White Zetsu and disguised as a local, stared at this scene in astonishment.

"This guy... he's got talent." Uchiha Touko, disguised as a local by White Zetsu, twitched his lips slightly before commenting after a long while.

"Lord Touko, should we lend him a hand?" At this moment, Tobi asked in Uchiha Touko's ear.

"Help him? Of course we'll help him." Uchiha Touko chuckled, forcefully breaking off a section of a railing. He then used the high temperature of his Lightning Release to melt and re-solidify the fragment until the metal condensed into a steel ball with a diameter of five millimeters.

Then, Uchiha Tokō gently tossed the steel ball down, while simultaneously using Lightning Release to create a weak magnetic field around it.

As the magnetic field began to operate, the steel ball suspended in the air shot towards Donald on the stage with a whoosh after a few breaths.

"Snap!" With a muffled sound, the steel ball grazed Donald's right ear, and a little blood seeped out and flowed down from his ear.

"Protect Lord Donald!" Donald's supporters quickly gathered together upon seeing this, while Freig, who was with him, also looked sharply in the direction from which the steel ball had been shot. However, Uchiha Touko's shadow clone was no longer there, leaving only a White Zetsu, which he disguised as a black ninja and fled after being discovered.

Once the black ninja disguised as a White Zetsu was discovered, he was immediately surrounded and attacked by the enraged Red Headband members, and died among them in no time.

At that moment, Donald, his face covered in blood, forcefully raised his hand to the sky and waved his arm, as if to tell the whole world that this little thing could not stop him!

"Donald!"

"Donald!"

"Donald!"

In the square, Donald's red-headband supporters were also caught up in his emotions, chanting his name continuously. At this moment, a White Zetsu mixed in with the crowd shouted again, "Fifth Boss! We love you!"

(End of this chapter)