Naruto's civilian cannon fodder starts with the three-body technique

Chapter 184 Kato Dan's Regret

Unfortunately, the result was disappointing. In the following days, Orochimaru became even more sinister, but acted as if nothing had happened.

Kato Dan knew that this matter involved the Third Hokage, so he chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb, acting as if he knew nothing about the inside story.

Orochimaru, perhaps out of anger, or perhaps to clean up the mess left by his Hokage teacher and prevent leaks, secretly disposed of all the Konoha Anbu members involved in the matter, just as Hiruzen Sarutobi had cleaned up Danzo Shimura's mess before.

After making sure everything was done flawlessly, Orochimaru returned to the Land of Waves to visit Nawaki. By then, Tsunade had already transplanted a cloned organ into Nawaki, and Nawaki's injuries were finally out of danger.

Tsunade then regained her composure and finally realized something was wrong. There must be something else behind Nawaki's death, especially since Nawaki refused to reveal the details. She began to suspect Konoha.

Her first thought was that the Uchiha clan and other Konoha clans were colluding with Iwagakure to eliminate dissidents, and many other possibilities. She never considered that this matter was related to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

After taking care of Nawaki for a while, for Nawaki's safety, Tsunade hid Nawaki in the Land of Waves. She herself used Shadow Clone Jutsu in conjunction with the Flying Thunder God Technique to pretend to be deeply saddened by the loss of her younger brother and returned to the front line of the Land of Grass. After revealing the news of Nawaki's death, she secretly searched for the real culprit who murdered Nawaki.

Orochimaru always leaves no room for error, and Tsunade couldn't find any problems at all. In the end, it was Iwagakure who did it.

News of Nawaki's death quickly reached Konoha. The only grandson of Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, had died at the hands of Iwa ninja. The news caused an immediate sensation.

Mito Uzumaki naturally learned of such a big event.

"Order the sealing team to take Kushina Uzumaki to the Senju clan's territory."

Upon receiving the news, Hiruzen Sarutobi, along with the sealing team and Kushina Uzumaki, went to the Senju clan's territory and arrived in front of Mito Uzumaki, ready to seal the Nine-Tails into Kushina Uzumaki's body at any time.

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's view, Mito Uzumaki was already nearing the end of her life, and now, with this sudden change, she would surely not be able to hold on any longer. It was time to transfer the Nine-Tails into Kushina Uzumaki's body.

However, to Hiruzen Sarutobi's surprise, Mito Uzumaki, despite her grief over the loss of her beloved grandson, was still able to control the Nine-Tails within her and had not yet reached the point where she had to transfer the Nine-Tails.

"Hiruzen, my grandson is gone just like that. You must find out who did it."

As the strongest ninja in the world, Mito Uzumaki's imposing aura remained undiminished as she pressed down on Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Senior, the matter has been investigated. It was Iwagakure who did it. They were afraid that Nawaki would awaken his Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, so they surrounded and killed him. When Nawaki retreated, he stepped on an explosive tag trap, which is why—"

Then, Hiruzen Sarutobi added, "In addition, those explosive tags were provided by Kagerou Village in the Land of Mountains."

The explosive tags in Yangyan Village are extremely well concealed, able to be hidden among rocks and trees, making them very difficult to detect. This is why Rope Tree was unable to discover the explosive tag traps.

"Hmm." Mito Uzumaki remained noncommittal, her murky eyes seeming to see through everything, yet also seemingly knowing nothing at all.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart tightened, and he immediately promised, "Senior, I will send people to Takigakure Village right away and ask them to send troops to destroy Kagero Village together."

While they couldn't deal with Iwagakure, they could easily handle Kagerou Village. As for taking their anger out on Kagerou Village, they should blame themselves for recklessly selling explosive tags.

"You go yourself; I will guard Konoha Village for the time being."

Faced with such a blunt suggestion, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately agreed. "Then go do it." Mito Uzumaki waved her hand in disappointment. "Kushina, why don't you stay and keep Grandma company?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi left Kushina Uzumaki behind and led the sealing team away from the Senju clan's territory. As soon as they stepped out of the gate, they encountered Minato Namikaze, a disciple of Jiraiya.

"Hokage-sama."

Minato Namikaze quickly bowed.

"Hmm." Hiruzen Sarutobi simply nodded and quickly left.

Leaving Minato Namikaze completely bewildered, he couldn't help but wonder: The Third Hokage usually offered words of encouragement and imparted some knowledge of the Will of Fire, so what happened today? Hmm, maybe the Hokage was too busy and had something to deal with?
Minato Namikaze lingered at the entrance of the Senju clan's territory for a long time. Seeing that Kushina Uzumaki had not come out, he assumed she had spent the night inside. So he left and went to Training Ground 6 for night training.

After returning to his office building, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave some instructions to the Konoha elders. Without waiting for the Konoha army to be mobilized, he led a large number of Konoha ANBU towards the front line of the Land of Grass, leaving in such a hurry that it seemed as if he was fleeing Konoha Village.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's Konoha Anbu, composed entirely of elite troops with no logistical burdens, used only soldier rations and arrived at the front lines of the Land of Grass the very next day.

In recent days, the news of Nawaki's death has stirred up the Konoha ninja on the front lines of the Land of Grass, who have launched a series of attacks on the Iwa ninja's defenses, resulting in numerous casualties on both sides.

The fighting only eased after Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived.

Upon his arrival, Hiruzen Sarutobi convened a meeting of Jonin, which was attended by a number of Jonin management members from the Umino unit.

"I propose that each squad be equipped with a medical ninja to reduce casualties and increase the success rate of missions."

Seeing that the Konoha army was in dire need of medical ninjas and that many Konoha ninjas were not receiving treatment, Tsunade proposed a reform of the medical ninja system.

"Who is in favor? Who is against?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked solemn. In his view, the medical unit was entirely established by Tsunade. If each squad was equipped with a medical ninja, how powerful would the medical unit be?
Just as Kato Dan was about to agree, Umino Sasuke raised his hand first, agreeing with Tsunade's suggestion.

Tsunade gave Umino Sasuke a grateful look. It was just a simple look, but in Kato Dan's eyes, Umino Sasuke's preemptive action had won Tsunade's favor.

At this moment, Kato Dan finally began to understand why Elder Danzo had been so resentful about the Second Hokage's designation of a successor. He was just a hair's breadth away from winning Tsunade's favor, but now someone else had beaten him to it, leaving him with nothing but regret.

After Sasuke Unno raised his hand in agreement, the other officers in Unno's unit also raised their hands.

Hayama Shirakumo, Shun Uchiha, and Raito Namiashi were all his staunch supporters, so they naturally gave him their full support.

The Umino unit wasn't particularly strong, but it was definitely not weak, especially in terms of the number of Jonin votes, which was more than Tsunade's medical unit.

With the support of Umino Sasuke, the number of votes for reforming the medical ninja system more than doubled immediately.

Afterwards, Kato Dan also voted in favor, and Orochimaru and Jiraiya naturally supported their friend as well. With the political influence of the Senju clan, the number of Jonin votes immediately exceeded half.

(End of this chapter)