In Konoha: I will spread the will of conquest throughout the ninja world.

Konoha, Hokage Building.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, conducted a serious inspection of whether the safety and fire prevention measures at the Konoha Village hot spring inn were in place.

After a long while, he let out a long sigh and expressed his feelings.

"What a thoroughly enjoyable examination!"

"Lord Hokage, there are two secret letters." The ANBU placed the two letters on the table.

Alas, happy times are always fleeting and beautiful.

He picked up the first secret letter and read it carefully. After a moment, he was furious.

Snapped!

"Onoki!"

The letter, when pieced together, was roughly a question from Onoki asking whether Konoha was going to go to war with Iwagakure.

The war had only ended a year ago. Had that old bald man, Onoki, gone mad?

Or is it that Iwagakure has so much money they don't know what to do with it?

After his anger subsided, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a deep sense of unease.

Iwagakure is no pushover.

In particular, the Hidden Stone Village under the rule of that bald old man Onoki practically treated ordinary ninjas as expendable resources.

If Isugen knew what he was thinking, he would definitely give me a thumbs up.

Old Deng, how far into the future can your crystal ball actually see?

During the Third Shinobi World War, the Third Raikage fought alone against 10,000 Iwagakure ninja for three days and three nights to cover the retreat of his comrades, eventually dying from exhaustion.

Those ten thousand ninjas were a trap set by Onoki specifically for the Third Raikage.

Although they weren't all killed, the Third Raikage's unreasonable and overwhelming strength resulted in heavy casualties. At that time, it was still a time of war, and Onoki's actions were completely driven by a desire for victory over personal safety.

Yeah, I don't care about other people's lives.

He sighed, opened the second secret letter, and looked distressed.

"Onoki, has he really lost his mind? If war really breaks out, no, at most it will be a small-scale local conflict, but it will still be disadvantageous to Konoha. Iwagakure is no weak village..."

With a look of confusion and seriousness, he quickly scanned the second secret letter, and two seconds later...

Snapped!

"Fight! If you're so capable, Onoki, then fight your way to the Land of Fire, fight your way to Konoha!"

The guards outside the door were startled by the commotion inside. They instinctively turned their heads and met each other's eyes, filled with doubt.

Is Konoha and Iwagakure about to go to war again?

The Thousand Hands Old House.

Mito Uzumaki's face at this moment was a mixture of surprise, shock, and emotion.

"Young people these days are amazing," she said with a smile, asking casually.

"What did the Hokage say?"

The ANBU member lowered his head and replied, "The Hokage seems very pleased and has threatened to send Iwagakure to attack."

"Not bad, she does resemble a Hokage somewhat." Mito Uzumaki nodded.

In the shadows, look at the nose with your eyes, and the heart with your nose; let the left ear take in the information and the right ear take it out.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Meanwhile, in Iwagakure Village.

"Old Purple, oh Old Purple!"

The guard in the shadows looked helpless.

"How many times has this happened to Lord Tsuchikage?"

"Including the times when Lord Zi had just left the village, it must have been fifty-three times."

"Sigh." X2

In the office, Onoki sat in his raised office chair, his expression shifting, his dissatisfaction with Old Purple reaching its peak.

You're perfectly capable of running off to become a wandering monk, so be it. With the strength of a Kage-level expert and the special abilities of a Jinchuriki, you can escape unscathed from the vast ninja world unless you fight to the death or your ancestral graves explode and you encounter a super-powerful figure like Madara Uchiha.

Why did you get involved in my plans?

Even if you get involved, why don't you run away when things turn against you? What's the point of having those two legs? Are you really just acting recklessly because Jinchuriki are tankier than ordinary ninjas?

Now they've got it.

While Ōnoboru was in great pain, he was also relieved that Konoha hadn't killed Rōshi outright, otherwise Iwagakure would have lost a tailed beast.

Even if the tailed beasts can be resurrected and people can be organized to capture and recreate Jinchuriki in the future, the ninja world is so big. What if the Four-Tails is resurrected in a sparsely populated area or in the territory of another ninja village?

"Damn Danzo, could this be a trap they set together?" Onoki wondered.

Although the Root ninjas are well hidden, the major ninja villages have their own methods for identifying Konoha's Root and Anbu.

The reason is that Danzo's reputation as the darkest figure in the ninja world has spread too far, and since a ninja's chakra attributes can be reflected through their spirit, anyone who is willing to spend some time can find a Root ninja among a group of ninjas.

Therefore, he knew who had approached Iwagakure earlier to discuss cooperation, but everyone tacitly kept quiet about it.

After all, Konoha's White Fang is out of the question; he's too strong, impossible to defeat. But those Sharingan eyes are valuable assets. If they could capture them alive and bring them to Iwagakure to be used as sex slaves, they could eventually have their own Uchiha clan.

But the plans couldn't keep up with the changes.

He still couldn't understand what it meant for a nine-year-old kid to fight and capture Roshi all by himself without Sakumo Hatake even lifting a finger.

Is that correct?

This isn't right!

However, if this is a smokescreen, the message was relayed by his own undercover agents, and besides, no normal person would spread such false information.

The cunning frog keeps touching your belly.

There's only one truth! This news is true!

Konoha has produced another genius!

It might not be the one that's publicly known, but it definitely exists!

"Nine years old..." Onoki's eyes flickered, their expression uncertain.

Memories of the past caught up with him; the experience of standing like a lackey at the gates of Konoha that year seemed like yesterday.

Was Madara Uchiha this strong when he was nine years old?

He didn't know, and he didn't want to know.

The deaths of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were a cause for celebration in the ninja world, like the collapse of two great mountains.

But if such a powerful figure were to appear in Konoha again, he simply couldn't bear to imagine what that scenario would be like.

When Madara Uchiha was still alive, he wanted to unify the ninja world, but was stopped by the God of Shinobi. However, there is no God of Shinobi in this era, and that nine-year-old brat is not Hashirama Senju.

Onoki knew that his current thoughts were a little frightening.

Having lived most of my life, I'm surprised I feel a sense of apprehension towards a nine-year-old child.

But who knows the truth about how he was bullied by Madara Uchiha at the gates of Konoha when he was young? He was afraid! If Konoha really produced another person like that, he was afraid that he might get so excited that he would suddenly stretch out his legs and go to meet his ancestors in Iwagakure!

With a thousand thoughts swirling in his mind, Onoki slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, his eyes sharp as if he were a detective who had just received a commission for an affair in the middle of the night.

He couldn't bear to watch Konoha grow stronger and do nothing!

"Go and summon the heads of each department."

Since things have come to this, let's redeem Lao Zi first.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

At the border of the Land of Fire, after exchanging words with the ninja who came to make the handover, the group watched as the ANBU, carrying the tightly bound Old Purple, sped towards Konoha.

The fifty strings conveyed deep emotions.

Although they had many unpleasant experiences during the battle, and although both sides had been fighting to the death not long ago, as a well-behaved child raised in the spring breeze, he had no interest in the weak who had lost the power to resist.

...Actually, Lao Zi has already squeezed out all the oil and water he could have squeezed out this month.

Ha, useless thing.

Sakumo Hatake glanced sideways.

Did Fifty Gen just say something like a little devil quote?

"Now that the mission is accomplished, let's..." Hatake Sakumo slowly began.

Their mission was to bring back the intelligence agent, Yakushi Nonou, and secondly, to find the spies hiding in the shadows.

Spies are no longer being considered, unless that spy is brave enough to step forward now that the Four-Tails Jinchuriki has been captured, and besides, this is a side mission.

So, after solving and exceeding the main questline, they should now be...

"Back to the village."

"Let's go, Tanabata Street!"

Two places that are not exactly the same, but completely unrelated, were put together.