Naruto: From Novice to Grave

Sunagakure was the first to provoke war against Konoha, and also the first to surrender.

He's both bad at the game and loves to play; he screams as soon as you let go of him, and begs for mercy as soon as you choke him.

When news of their pleas for peace with Konoha spread through various channels, many naive people in the various ninja villages thought the war was about to end.

But they were wrong. Those who understood the situation knew that the war was not over; on the contrary, it had only just begun.

The Third Shinobi World War will gradually enter its second phase, which is also the most chaotic and brutal.

The shrewd and experienced Tsuchikage, Onoki, is not driven by hatred; everything he does is aimed at maximizing his gains with minimal cost.

Hatred is merely a tool to incite those below; self-interest is the fundamental force that allows a village to grow and prosper.

However, the plan encountered a slight mishap. Konoha produced a ruthless individual like Orochimaru, who captured Sunagakure with minimal losses. Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, Onoki greatly admired Orochimaru's command abilities and believed that this was the right approach.

Although it didn't cause Konoha to suffer a major loss, Sunagakure was crippled. Isn't that an opportunity?

After the Battle of Kikyo Mountain, while Sunagakure was in chaos and still rebuilding its strength, Onoki ordered the Iwagakure ninja to continue their large-scale plundering of the rich regions on the border of the Land of Wind.

Since the establishment of the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages, the world order has been basically set, and the era of large and small states annexing each other and daimyo and generals fighting each other in chaos has become a thing of the past.

Each of the five major powers has established its own territorial boundaries, while the smaller countries in the middle have become a buffer zone in times of peace and an arena in times of war.

Small countries can fight amongst themselves, but they are not allowed to annex each other and grow stronger, because the five major powers will not tolerate the emergence of another country that can threaten their position.

The last person to try this, Hanzo of the Salamander Village in Amegakure, was thoroughly defeated by the ninjas of the Land of Fire, Earth, and Wind. Then, the ninjas of the three countries fought a chaotic battle in their homeland, leaving the Land of Rain riddled with holes and causing countless tragedies of life and death for ordinary people, which directly led to the birth of the Akatsuki organization.

The five major powers cannot annex neighboring smaller countries if they want to, because the other major powers will intervene to stop them. No one is foolish enough to sit idly by and watch the other grow stronger. Besides, without a buffer zone, everyone is facing each other directly, which is too insecure.

Unless you first eliminate the ninja villages of other major powers and unify the ninja world, this balance will be difficult to break. In any case, it is the people of the small countries caught in the middle who suffer, so who cares?

Since expanding territory is too difficult, how can we gain benefits for our village during a major war?

It's very simple: money, precious metals, valuable jewelry, infants with special talents, various ninja techniques and secret arts, and anything that can strengthen the village's power is the target.

Iwagakure is doing these things right now.

By the time Sunagakure organized its forces and marched north, the rich border region bordering the Land of Birds and the Land of Rain had already been severely ravaged.

The Sand Village ninjas, having just ended their war with Konoha, now had to fight the Iwagakure ninjas with bloodshot eyes.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Grass, Iwagakure, while reaping the benefits, prepared to attack the Land of Fire, but they were waiting—waiting for a henchman to be eliminated.

Sure enough, seeing that Iwagakure had gained an advantage, the dark-skinned barbarians of Kumogakure couldn't sit still and quickly chose to join the war.

They're always the ones taking from others; there's no reason for them to stand by and watch others happily take from them.

Contrary to Onoki's expectations, once Kumogakure intervenes, the situation will be beyond his control.

The Cloud Village ninja invaded the Land of Fire from the Land of Hot Water and simultaneously entered the Land of Rice Fields, intending to drive out the Iwagakure ninja stationed there to prevent their capture.

Konoha had just ended the war on the western front and was now forced to redeploy troops to deal with threats from the northwest and north.

The situation became chaotic again.

The current situation is that Iwagakure has gone south and become entangled with Sunagakure, and the friction between Iwagakure and Konoha in the Land of Grass is becoming increasingly serious. At the same time, they are also defending Kumogakure in the Land of Fields.

The Sand Village marched north to resist the Iwagakure Village, but they had to leave some troops on the eastern front to prevent the Leaf Village from interfering with them.

Although both sides signed an alliance agreement, Konoha is unlikely to actually do it. Trust is the cheapest thing in the ninja world, and the agreement is just a piece of waste paper.

The moment the Cloud Village joined, they faced off against the Stone Village and the Leaf Village.

Each had its own rivals, and the entire ninja world was in complete chaos, teetering on the brink of spiraling out of control.

Now all that's missing is the addition of the Mist Shadow.

In fact, if the four major powers united to attack Konoha, Konoha would not be able to withstand it, but such a thing will never happen.

That's how the ninja world is. Without a common enemy, the five great ninja villages are wary of each other, guard against each other, and want to kill each other. There is absolutely no such thing as trust and cooperation among them.

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Before the Battle of Kikyo Mountain, the situation in the Land of Grass was relatively stable. The conflicts between Iwagakure and Konoha were limited to small-scale skirmishes and did not involve large-scale battles.

Therefore, Higashino Jiro, Uzuki Yuwa, and many other Konoha ninjas were given a rotation opportunity to return to the village for the New Year and rest for a period of time.

However, with the defeat of Sunagakure, the situation in the ninja world changed drastically. The actions of Iwagakure and Kumogakure were like igniting a quiet powder keg, and the situation instantly became tense.

The Land of Grass, the Land of Fields, and the Land of Hot Springs were unable to resist the invasion of the great power and had no choice but to ask Konoha for help.

After all, compared to those bandits, the reputation of Konoha, established by the God of Ninja, was much better, and the image of Konoha ninjas was also slightly more positive than that of the other four great nations.

This is a world where everyone is worse than the other four great nations. Compared to the other four nations' daily inhumanity, Konoha Village immediately appears clean and upright—as long as you don't look like good people, then I am the righteous one.

In this situation, Jiro Higashino missed his son's birthday for the first time, and followed the main force towards the Land of Grass.

The birthday party, which usually involves all three family members, was canceled this year due to the war, and only five people were present.

Uchiha Shisui, Uzuki Yugao, and Gekko Hayate came to celebrate his birthday.

Of the four, Higashino's birthday is the earliest, at the end of March. The birthdays of the other three are all after October, and even Yugao and Hayate's birthdays are only one day apart, so they can basically celebrate together.

Under the watchful eyes of his friends, Makoto Higashino made another wish earnestly.

He hoped that Higashino Jiro and Uzuki Yuwa would both come back alive.

In his previous life, he was just an ordinary person. When he arrived in the ninja world, he was born into a commoner family. He didn't have a system that gave him the Otsutsuki physique right away, nor did he have an innate spiritual treasure living in his brain, and he didn't have a deep blue panel that could add dozens of points a day.

He only has one special soul that he discovered when he was 4 years old. Its function is to help him filter white natural energy. Since white energy accounts for the smallest proportion of all kinds of natural energy, his absorption speed is extremely slow.

In addition, he was extremely self-disciplined. He started studying and cultivating diligently from the age of three, and by the age of seven, he had already achieved considerable strength.

With this strength, they can barely protect themselves, let alone intervene in the Ninja World War?

I don't have that ability.

Let's take a look at the figures who emerged when World War III entered its chaotic phase.

Having been tricked by Orochimaru, the Sand Village ninja turned their anger on the Iwa Village. A young ninja named Rasa stood out, and his Magnet Release: Gold Sand technique buried countless lives of Iwa Village.

Currently, this person enjoys a high reputation in Sunagakure and is showing signs of becoming the Fourth Kazekage. However, his rival, the beautiful Yotsuki, who provides mummy services to Iwagakure with her Bloodline Limit: Scorch Release, also has many supporters.

Two tigers cannot share one mountain, unless one is male and the other female.

The problem is that Rosa is a married man, and his wife Karura is heavily pregnant and their child is about to be born.

On the battlefield of the Land of Hot Springs, the son of the Third Hokage of Kumogakure, along with his brothers, formed the future AB duo, whose strength was unmatched for a time, causing the Konoha ninjas great suffering, until they encountered the yellow-haired Konoha ninja in the middle of the year.

Minato Namikaze held his own against two opponents, one of whom was an Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. With his Flying Thunder God Technique, he managed to repel the Cloud Village's attack.

Konoha's Yellow Flash lives up to its name; for ordinary ninjas, encountering him is a death sentence, and there's no point in trying to escape.

With Orochimaru now disheartened, Tsunade gone, and Jiraiya focused on paving the way for his disciple, Minato Namikaze is the most dazzling figure on the Konoha battlefield. Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, he traverses the battlefields between Konoha and Iwagakure and Kumogakure, striking fear into the hearts of his enemies.

No matter how difficult the resistance was for the Konoha ninjas, as long as they saw a flash of yellow light, they knew victory was in their hands.

In October, a major event occurred on the battlefield that shocked the entire ninja world.

After an intelligence battle between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, Kumogakure fell into Onoki's trap. The Third Raikage, A, led an elite force to the border region of the Land of Rice Fields, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Waterfalls, attempting to intercept the large amount of valuable supplies looted by Iwagakure.

Then he found himself surrounded by ten thousand Hidden Stone Ninja.

He was accompanied by the most powerful and experienced elite troops of Kumogakure. In order to preserve this core force for the village, the Third Raikage led them to break through an opening, and then stayed behind alone to cover the rear. He fought for three days and three nights before dying from exhaustion.

The death of the Raikage not only showed the entire ninja world the power of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, but also plunged the Third Shinobi World War into an uncontrollable and chaotic phase.

With the hatred of the Third Hokage's death, the Cloud Village ninjas went head-to-head with the Iwagakure. Taking advantage of the fact that a large number of Iwagakure ninjas were transferred to besiege the Raikage, Konoha pushed the battle line back from the border to the Land of Grass.

Did the two sides achieve cooperation? No, with Kumogakure and Konoha still locked in a life-or-death struggle in the Land of Hot Springs, cooperation was impossible.

Sunagakure has also accelerated its efforts to drive out Iwagakure from within the country.

For a time, Iwagakure seemed to have become the big boss of the ninja world, with three of the four major participating nations attacking it.

Onoki: "..."

This...this isn't right, why did the plan turn out like this?

Why did I become everyone's target while we were fighting?

But since things have come to this, there's no choice but to grit our teeth and persevere to the end.