Promoting the Konoha threat theory, and talking about the Hidden Mist Belt!

-

Meanwhile, news of the many events that occurred in the Land of Whirlpools finally spread throughout the entire ninja world.

Although the Lightning-Earth Alliance was completely annihilated and the Konoha envoy was killed in a surprise attack by Hozuki Shingetsu, the Lightning-Earth Alliance's attack on Uzushio Village was already a matter of great concern in the ninja world. In addition, after the Uzumaki clan entered the Land of Water, many people witnessed it, and the various ninja villages gradually learned about the specific details of this battle.

The most enraged were not Konoha, but Kumogakure and Iwagakure. As the instigators of this incident, Iwagakure and Kumogakure attracted a lot of attention from the beginning. Including Konoha, most ninja believed that without Konoha's reinforcements, the Uzumaki clan would definitely be wiped out, with at most a few Uzumaki clan members scattered throughout the ninja world.

Even the Sand Village was frustrated by this—if the Iwagakure and Kumogakure villages obtained the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki sealing technique as a result, they would be one of only two villages, along with the Kirigakure village, without a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki. They regretted not joining in and missing a golden opportunity to divide up Uzushio Village.

However, to the astonishment of the ninja world, the allied forces formed by Kumogakure and Iwagakure not only failed but were completely annihilated by the Uzumaki clan. Even the leaders of the two villages, Modevi, the Raikage's sworn brother, and Ryougi, the leader of the Explosives Squad, perished in the Land of Whirlpools. Even Iwagakure's Five-Tails was traded for one for one by the Uzumaki clan.

So, under these circumstances, how could the two villages, having lost both face and substance, not be furious?

Enraged, the two villages immediately issued a kill order against Hozuki Shingetsu. Hozuki Shingetsu's bounty on the black market was as high as three Asumas. This tempting reward also prompted many bounty hunters to travel across the ocean to the Land of Water to help build up the prison in Kirigakure.

At the same time, the news of the Uzumaki clan joining Kirigakure was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue across the ninja world. No one expected that the Lightning-Earth Alliance, after fighting tooth and nail, would ultimately be outmaneuvered by Kirigakure.

They even considered having the Uzumaki clan join Konoha, but they never imagined that the Uzumaki clan would join Kirigakure, since that would also be a form of NTR.

This undoubtedly led the various ninja villages to secretly update their impressions of Kirigakure: internally unstable, weak, fond of causing trouble, and adept at stealing.

However, the Uzumaki clan joining Kirigakure was a stroke of good luck for the other forces, at least they didn't join Konoha.

Although Kirigakure's strength increased significantly after acquiring the Uzumaki clan, making it possible for them to produce Jinchuriki of Tailed Beasts, their remote overseas location and isolation meant they were not the primary target of other forces on the continent.

Leaving aside the fact that the Land of Water doesn't have particularly abundant resources and isn't worth attacking, the most important thing is that it's common knowledge that Kirigakure and the Daimyo are at odds. And if they're at odds with the Daimyo, it means they won't have much military funding. And what good are manpower if you don't have much funding?

Could it be that you can conjure up explosive tags and kunai out of thin air?

Therefore, their main target is still Konoha, the most fertile land in the ninja world and the most powerful village. As long as Konoha's strength does not increase significantly, everything will be fine.

While the ninja world was thoroughly mocking the two villages of Kumoi and Iwata for losing both their lives and their army, Hozuki Shingetsu's name once again appeared before everyone.

This newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kirigakure, who had only been in office for a year and was still under thirteen years old, once again demonstrated his exceptional linguistic skills and keen ability to grasp current affairs. This led the other ninja villages to truly regard him as a high-ranking member of Kirigakure, and as a pillar of the village.

It can be said that from today onwards, Hozuki Shingetsu can take off the "genius" label. He has moved beyond the evaluation of "promising future" and can truly stand on his own.

Some even went so far as to call Hozuki Shingetsu "the fox spirit of ninjas" because of his talent for causing trouble, comparing him to Shimura Danzo, the "darkness of ninjas" who was also involved in sordid affairs, and calling him "the source of all evil in the ninja world's turmoil."

Danzo Shimura's assessment of this was:

"There are no heroes, so Zhuzi became famous!"

Chapter 57 The Three Rankings of the Ninja World

Danzo Shimura felt extremely humiliated that Shinju Hozuki was so young yet so famous as to be on par with him, but he was helpless to do anything about it.

After news of the defeat of the combined forces of Lightning and Earth in the Land of Whirlpools spread, everyone talked about the details with great interest, and Modibi's three loud laughs caused the Hidden Cloud Village to lose face completely. However, some information revealed during the battle was even more noteworthy, including the mirage possessed by Hozuki Shingetsu.

From the moment Hozuki Shingetsu used the mirage to disrupt the Allied Forces' perception, he knew that this trump card he had kept hidden for so long could no longer be concealed, so he openly revealed it.

Upon receiving this news, Danzo finally understood why Ryoma Aburame and his group had disappeared without a trace after entering the Land of Whirlpools.

Despite Danzo's prior deployment of three Root squads to ensure the mission's success, his underestimation of Yukinagi and Yagura's strength, coupled with his lack of knowledge that Hozuki Shingetsu possessed crucial information about mirages, rendered Ryoma and his companions like drops of water in the ocean, unable to make a ripple.

There's no other reason than that mirages are terrifying; they can be called "cannon fodder crushers." Before you reach a certain level of strength, you can say that as many as you send in, they will all die.

However, Danzo Shimura felt extremely resentful about this, as he felt that nothing he had done during this period had gone smoothly.

From the recent assassination attempt on Hozuki Shingetsu to the Uchiha incident, he felt like he was constantly having bad luck, as if a shadow was always looming over him.

So… “You just want to keep Kirigakure out of the picture, don’t you? I’m not going to let you have your way.”

As a fellow expert in scheming, Shimura Danzo sensed something amiss from Hozuki Shingetsu's various moves. After pondering in secret for a long time, he finally figured out Hozuki Shingetsu's strategic intentions.

By making a high profile in the public sphere, they misled others into thinking that Kirigakure only wanted to stir up trouble and had no ambition whatsoever.

Do you think Danzo Shimura would do as you wish?

"Organize a team to write a play based on the current war in the Land of Whirlpools. Using other channels, emphasize the Hidden Mist Village's secret plot to incite chaos in the ninja world, allowing them to take advantage of the confusion and increase their strength," Danzo instructed a Root ninja beside him.

It's hard to say exactly how effective this drama will be; it depends on how the leaders of each ninja village view it. However, it will definitely increase the hatred of Iwagakure and Kumogakure towards Kirigakure, serving to annoy Hozuki Shingetsu.

"To be honest, given that we can't directly send troops, that brat Hozuki Shingetsu's propaganda tactics have been quite effective." Danzo chuckled, looking forward to seeing how Hozuki Shingetsu would react to this drama, and waiting to see how he would deal with his tricks.

This tactic of using one's own weapon against oneself is indeed quite satisfying.

-

With Danzo's strong support, the play was quickly produced and performed in major cities, achieving considerable success.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, unusually, praised Danzo.

With Konoha's instigation, at least the other three major ninja villages have come to view Kirigakure as a venomous snake that deliberately disrupts the ninja world and tries to take advantage of the chaos.

Well, as long as the relationship between Kirigakure and the Daimyo does not improve, it will never be able to shake off the label of being poor and weak due to scarce military funds.

However, such remarks more or less hindered some of Hozuki Shingetsu's plans, causing him a lot of unnecessary trouble.

"Danzo? I was thinking that it wasn't good to keep targeting Konoha, but since he's already put his face on the table, I might as well take care of Konoha as well. It's just a side effect."

When he learned that it was Danzo Shimura who was behind it, he immediately thought of the assassination attempt in the Land of Whirlpools. Although that was also a case of him setting a trap, it still didn't stop him from pinning the blame on Danzo.

Fueled by both old and new grudges, Hozuki Shingetsu immediately implemented a new round of Konoha-specific strategies.

Yagura, standing nearby, glanced at it, then shook his head and left. He wasn't particularly interested in this war without gunfire. Yukinagi, on the other hand, seemed quite interested, or rather, interested in gossip.

"How do you plan to retaliate against him?"

"Danzo, even though he's learned how to use public opinion to attack the enemy's weaknesses, he's still too green!" Hozuki Shingetsu glanced at Yukinagi, feeling extremely relieved that she had finally returned to normal, and didn't hold back his words.

"To understand public opinion, the key is not how sharp its arguments are, but how to resonate with the broadest possible audience. In other words, you need to subtly integrate your intentions into topics that interest more people."

"For example?" Yukinagi looked at Hozuki Shingetsu with great interest, particularly interested in how he would retaliate.

Hozuki Shingetsu smiled slightly and wrote a few large characters on the desk.

Yukina moved closer to him and read it aloud, word by word.

"The Ninja World's Heaven Ranking, Earth Ranking, and Human Ranking?"

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"Breaking news! Breaking news! The first-ever ranking list of ninja strength on the mainland has been released!"

"Do not miss passing through!"

"With a thousand-year-old ninja sect and tens of thousands of ninjas, who will stand out from the crowd? The answer lies in the Heaven, Earth, and Human Rankings of the ninja world!"

"Ranked by Kirigakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, with the Mizukage guaranteeing its credibility with his life!"

"Anything produced by Wuyin is guaranteed to be of the highest quality!"

Early that morning, major cities and important transportation hubs throughout the ninja world were instantly drawn to these shouts. Nobles, wealthy merchants, and ordinary workers alike were all captivated by the calls.

"Judging from these shouts, it seems to be some kind of ninja strength ranking?"

A passerby stood still, watching the vendors shouting in the distance, a look of interest on his face.

They naturally knew about the profession of ninja, and they also knew that there were five great ninja villages in the world, and they vaguely knew that Konoha was the most powerful village in the world at that time.

But it's really hard to say who the strongest ninja in the world is.

The Kage of the five great ninja villages each have their own supporters, and none of them can convince the others. Besides the five Kage, Hanzo of the Salamander, the "demigod," also has many supporters who believe that he single-handedly brought the Land of Rain to its current status and deserves to be called the number one ninja in the world.

Besides, there is no clear standard for judging the strength gap between Jonin, the combat power of Chunin, or which village's Genin is the real genius.

In the past, people could only speculate based on the bounties in the underground black market. However, this method of speculation lacks impartiality and cannot cover most ninjas. Therefore, how to judge the strength of a ninja and which village has more geniuses has always been a debatable issue.

However, judging from the promotional slogan of this ranking, it seems to be a ranking of the strength of the current ninjas in the ninja world?

"Give me one!"

Finally, driven by his curiosity, the passerby took out his money and bought a serving.

He took it and saw that the ninja world ranking was a three-volume set, corresponding to the Heaven, Earth, and Human rankings. Before he could even delve into the differences between the three rankings, his eyes were drawn to the beautiful woman with a purple diamond-shaped mark on her forehead at the very top, followed by a large title.

"Number one on the Heavenly Ranking: Mito Uzumaki!"

Chapter 58 A single word can throw the world into chaos!

"Such white font... no, such a long cover... no, such great strength."

After being overwhelmed by the cover of Mito Uzumaki's book, the passerby glanced at it reluctantly for a few more seconds before turning over the cover of the Heavenly Ranking and finding that the first page was marked in bold and eye-catching text: This volume only includes the one hundred strongest Jonin in the ninja world.

The second page then provides a detailed introduction, and the person ranked first among the many powerful figures in the ninja world is not the leader of the five great ninja villages, nor the "demigod" Hanzo of the Salamander, but a woman who looks extremely beautiful, Mito Uzumaki!

"The wife of Hashirama Senju, the 'God of Shinobi,' and the first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in the shinobi world. Even the Nine-Tails had to bow down and submit to her under her exquisite sealing techniques!"

"A proud rose on the battlefield, an everlasting flower of Konoha!"

On this page, the editor lavishes praise on Mito Uzumaki, calling him the pillar of Konoha, a top-tier ninja who dominated the ninja world for twenty years, and the core competitive advantage of Konoha's hegemony.

Then there's Mito Uzumaki's detailed battle record, so detailed that it's accurate to the date, proving that the editor wasn't just making things up because they were captivated by Mito's beauty, but based on her actual battle record—after all, with the Mizukage's life guaranteeing credibility, Shingetsu Hozuki would naturally make slight modifications while maintaining the overall plausibility.

Following closely behind are "Hero of the Ninja" Hiruzen Sarutobi, "Darkness of the Ninja" Danzo Shimura, and only in fourth place are "Two Scales" Onoki, the Third Raikage, the Second Kazekage, the Third Mizukage, Hanzo of the Salamander, and other powerful figures.

Then came the heads of the major ninja villages, the leaders of some smaller ninja villages, and other figures, totaling about a hundred people.

For each of the top-ranked ninjas, Hozuki Shingetsu thoughtfully designed a nickname. Of course, if a ninja already had a nickname, then that nickname would be used. The focus was on giving names to some Jonin who did not have nicknames.

For example, he replaced Hanzo of the Salamander, named the trio of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru "The Three Legendary Sannin of Konoha," and named Sakumo Hatake "The White Fang of Konoha," among other things.

Based on Hozuki Shingetsu's perverse sense of humor, he even followed the ancient Konoha fan fiction and created a "Konoha Eight Colors".