I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 482: To get a high score, you don't need to do the difficult questions; to get a perfect score, you need to tackle the bonus questions.

Inside the Hokage's office, Lu Yuan, holding a notebook and a pen, looked at Tatsuma, who sat in the Hokage's seat, and asked with a slightly strange and cautious expression:

"Let me repeat myself, see if I understand correctly. You mean, once Sunagakure condemns it, we'll reply that it was just a small-scale skirmish between a five-man Konoha ninja squad and a thousand-man Sunagakure ninja squad on the border of the Land of Rivers, is that right?"

After repeating it, even Shikagawa, who had been in charge of all ninja village affairs with Hiruzen Sarutobi for many years, showed the expression of an old man using a cell phone on the subway.

A five-person ninja team is reasonable, but calling a team consisting of a Kage of a ninja village, a Jinchuriki of a Tailed Beast, and thousands of ninjas a ninja team is a bit excessive.

Such a statement was unlikely to convince the public. Of course, Shikagami also knew that Tatsuma had no intention of convincing the public at all; his statement was merely intended to mock Sunagakure and further provoke them.

Shika, who felt that his endurance was much higher than that of Hiruzen Sarutobi, still felt a little twitched. No wonder his brat hadn't smiled since becoming Tatsuma's "assistant".

Lu Yuan felt it was necessary for his family to put more effort into treating his heart condition. He believed he could probably pull through, since he had already planned to retire as a loyal follower of the Third Hokage, whom he served!

But Shikaku still has decades to live; without some medicine, he probably won't make it through.

However, there was good news for her son: the Nara family had plenty of medicine.

Chenma, unaware of what Lu Yuan was thinking, simply nodded and said, "That's right, is there a problem?"

No, no.

Lu Yuan quickly waved his hand, then asked, "What if the Sand Village asks why we happened to be on their ninja team's usual route?"

"Our ninja squad is on a mission for the Land of Rivers, and we're operating within its territory. Why do we need to explain this to the Sand Village?"

"Oh! You're right!"

Lu Yuan scribbled in his notebook again, then asked, "What if they seek confirmation from the Land of Rivers?"

"A confidential commission, or a commission made by someone from the Land of Rivers."

The situation is urgent. Konoha did not communicate with the Land of Rivers beforehand and reach an agreement. Moreover, even if Konoha did try to negotiate, the Land of Rivers would not cooperate. Even if they were powerless to stop it, they would shout "No!"

"clever!"

Lu Yuan exclaimed in admiration, then said, "If they investigate the client, can't we say that the client unfortunately died, leaving no way to verify the facts?"

"As expected of the Jonin team leader and Konoha's chief strategist, Lord Shikanohara, let's do as you say."

Tatsuma nodded in approval, and Shikagami nodded as well. Then he continued, "What if Sunagakure ignores our reply and insists on launching a large-scale military campaign for revenge? Do you think we should fight in the Land of Fire or the Land of Wind?"

"When a village prospers, the people suffer. When a village falls, the people suffer. As the head of the five great ninja villages, Konoha has the responsibility and obligation to limit ninja wars to ninjas and prevent harm to civilians."

As a major power, we have a responsibility to protect our smaller neighboring countries. We cannot stand idly by and watch the Sand Ninja trample on the land of the River Ninja. Therefore, we will not engage in war, but we will stop the Sand Ninja from persecuting the River Ninja!

After these righteous and eloquent words, Lu Yuan quickly jotted them down, then looked up and asked, "So... the Land of Rivers?"

"Yes, the land of rivers."

"Yes! Yes! This is what Konoha should do!"

Shikaku also delivered a passionate speech, but then frowned and asked, "What if the Land of Rivers refuses to provide assistance? What if they demand that our war, and our efforts to stop the Sunagakure's persecution of the ninja world, be carried out elsewhere?"

"That must mean the daimyo of the River Land is being threatened by evil forces, which is why he has done something so disregardful of the safety of his people. Therefore, we must help the people of the River Land to eliminate the wicked and purge the court of corrupt officials!"

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan's expression became quite interesting. Even he couldn't have come up with such an excessive and considerate plan for the people. His pen flew across the paper as he recorded all of Chen Ma's words.

With his brain, he could remember and relay what Chenma said today without needing the help of paper and pen; he mainly relied on taking notes.

A general's character determines the type of soldiers he commands, and the attitude of each individual towards the outside world influences the attitude of the entire village.

As a position that requires intensive interaction with the film, Lu Yuan, or rather the person holding this position, must have a thorough understanding of the film's style in order to carry out the work effectively.

For example, Nara Shikamaru had a firm grasp on the Third Hokage's attitude, and any point he raised would be agreed upon by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

However, the next Kage, who is currently Sakamoto Tatsuma (who is not yet a Jonin), has a style that is completely different from Hiruzen Sarutobi's, so he must familiarize himself with Tatsuma's style as soon as possible.

Even if he doesn't stay in the position of strategist for long, the notes he compiled will be of great benefit to his successor, who will likely be the inheritor of his bloodline.

It's only right for a father to be busy for his son.

After noting down Tatsuma's words and adding simple annotations, Shikagami looked up again and continued, "What if other ninja villages, such as Iwagakure and Kumogakure, or other ninja organizations, also want to join the war?"

"Konoha does not want to see war break out and firmly opposes it. Therefore, it will use all available resources to stop the spread of war!"

"So, should we accelerate pre-battle planning to deal with other ninja villages? And strive to use our superior numbers to defeat the weaker ones?"

"Um."

Both of them could clearly foresee that after the news of the incident in Sunagakure spread, Iwagakure and Kumogakure, who had been eyeing the village covetously, would slow down their pace. Even if they launched an attack, they would initially focus on small-scale probing.

Tatsuma's meaning is to go all out, rather than engaging in a back-and-forth battle. This might anger other ninja villages, but it might also make them hesitant to act against him, after all...

The person being besieged was not flustered at all, nor did he conserve his strength at all, which, in a sense, could be intimidating.

After all, Konoha isn't some weak and withdrawn kid from a school bullying incident; he himself is the school bully, and a timid and hesitant school bully will quickly lose his prestige.

The best approach for Konoha right now is still its consistent high-profile, aggressive strategy. However, this puts a heavy burden on Konoha's internal structure. Even though Konoha has developed quite well in the past few years, it can't muster much fighting strength in less than a generation.

As far as the five great nations are concerned, the number of ninjas in Konoha is perhaps only slightly higher than that of Sunagakure, which has been impoverished year after year and is getting poorer each year, and Kirigakure, which is constantly embroiled in internal strife and has been dealt two major blows by Tatsuma.

Compared to Kumogakure, which barely contributed to the Second Shinobi World War, and Iwagakure, which didn't participate directly at all, Konoha was at a disadvantage in terms of the number of ninjas.

What Konoha is facing now is not a war between any of the major powers' hidden villages, but a state of siege, so it is simply impossible to launch a high-profile attack.

Only in the early stages of the war, when everyone was still testing the waters and hadn't yet broken off relations, could they take advantage of the numbers to bully the weak. Once all the other ninja villages joined the war, Konoha would be caught in a shortage of personnel.

During the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha struggled to cope with Sunagakure, Amegakure, and Kumogakure, which harassed them from time to time. However, Konoha managed to control the war situation well enough to prevent Kumogakure and Iwagakure from finding a good opportunity to join the war on a large scale, which allowed Konoha to barely manage to mobilize the entire war effort.

But now.

Lu Yuan put away his notebook, his expression very serious, and asked, "Chenma, have you thought about how this battle will turn out?"

Tatsuma pursed his lips and said, "If necessary, I wouldn't mind sending the five great nations back to the beginning of their village's founding. I can guarantee how badly Konoha would be damaged, and the other ninja villages wouldn't fare any better."

The ninja world is extremely unbalanced right now. Sunagakure and Kirigakure are clearly lagging behind, while Iwagakure and Kumogakure have grown so powerful that even Konoha can hardly keep up. Without a major war, no one can focus on developing.

And I believe that if everyone starts from the same point, Konoha will only run faster and fly farther.

"What did the village look like when it was first built?"

Lu Yuan sighed. He had seen what the village was like at the beginning. Everyone was poor, but it was able to develop steadily for a long time. Perhaps it had the deterrent effect of Hashirama Senju, but its weakness did make people lose the courage to expand outwards.

He understood what Tatsuma meant: a reshuffling, a reshuffling of the ninja world. After all, after several decades and two ninja wars, the distribution of resources in the ninja world had indeed become somewhat unbalanced.

If Tatsuma chooses to succeed peacefully, then what he will inherit is an old and outdated structure, surrounded by external enemies, where he will be subject to others' control in whatever he wants to do.

He now clearly intends to take over a piece of property, even if it has become wasteland, and rebuild it from the same starting point as the other wasteland owners, each relying on their own abilities.

It's hard to say what will happen outsiders, but the damage to Konoha will be unimaginable, and countless ninjas will sacrifice themselves as a result.

From the perspective of historical records and the long river of time, Tatsuma is undoubtedly the "culprit," but looking at the present and the future, Tatsuma is also creating a better development opportunity for Konoha, so Shikamaru cannot blame him.

With a sigh, Lu Yuan asked, "What about the command of each battlefield? How should it be arranged?"

"Send my teachers to the Northwest. They have a wealth of experience, especially Lord Orochimaru, who has built up his own power in several small countries in the Northwest. They are the best candidates."

As for Sunagakure, they are not a concern. Their internal strife will exhaust them, allowing the Uchiha clan to deal with them. With the help of the Inuzuka and Aburame clans, they can hold the line by fighting in the forest.

As for Kumogakure, I'll handle that. The Hyuga clan will deal with Kirigakure, and together with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, we'll fight the Kirigakure ninja who have the least information."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan said with concern, "But according to our assessment, the battlefield in Kumogakure will be the most difficult. If you could withdraw and move to other battlefields, you might be able to reduce Konoha's losses."

"However, in the same way, we will not achieve the goal of consuming the Hidden Cloud Village. I don't like to get easy scores. I don't just want to get high scores. I also want to answer questions that others can't answer and get scores that others can't get."

"It should not be the generals who charge into battle."

"Isn't it even more ridiculous for a general to be forced to stay in the rear, praying not to be checkmated by other pieces?"

(End of this chapter)