I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 615 No wonder he once said that if they couldn't be confidants, how could they possibly fall in love?

Smoke less.

On the rooftop of the Hokage Building, Tatsuma, having finished his morning work, came here for a stroll after lunch and caught Shinnosuke secretly smoking there.

"Brother Chenma!"

Upon seeing Tatsuma, Shinnosuke immediately stood up straight, but he couldn't bear to put down the cigarette he was holding. Instead, he looked at it, took two deep drags, and then threw it on the ground and stomped it out.

"What happened?"

Tatsuma walked over to Shinnosuke and looked at the young man with a melancholy expression. Shinnosuke sighed and said, "Tatsuma-nii, do you think it's good for a man and woman to keep their distance before committing to a relationship?"

"What happened? Did you fail to confess your feelings? Didn't you send flowers a few days ago? Why are you only doing this now?"

"Yeah. She thanked me happily back then, and I didn't realize it until yesterday when I found out she misunderstood. She thought I was congratulating her on finding a guy she liked, but... that guy won't be me."

As he spoke, Shinnosuke unconsciously took out a cigarette again, and even followed some strange etiquette, first offering it to Tatsuma. Tatsuma politely declined, and only then did Shinnosuke put the cigarette pack to his mouth and take one.

"Sizzle~"

The lighter's gears turned, a wisp of flame appeared, and Shinnosuke took a drag. As he put the lighter and cigarette case back into his pocket, he said, "She said we're too familiar. She considers me a confidant."

"What's the girl's name? Nanako?"

Tatsuma asked casually, and Shinnosuke froze, then coughed from the smoke. He looked at Tatsuma incredulously and said, "How did you know? My parents..."

Tatsuma's gaze also turned somewhat strange, and he casually explained, "Don't forget that I also led the Anbu for a period of time, so I still know your information very well."

"Oh, that's true."

Shinnosuke lowered his head, somewhat embarrassed by being seen through. After a while, he said, "Tatsuma-nii, do you think I should give up? Or... just be her confidant?"

"How can people who can't be confidants fall in love? If you fall in love with someone without knowing them well, then it's definitely not because of love, but something more direct, like lust at first sight."

She didn't accept you, perhaps because she was worried about the change in your relationship. After all, as a close friend, she could never lose you, but a romantic relationship has a high probability of failure, and after failure, it usually ends in disgust.

Tatsuma patted Shinnosuke on the shoulder, and Shinnosuke's melancholy expression gradually faded. He asked, "So... she doesn't dislike me, but is afraid of losing me?"

"I was just saying maybe."

"So she liked me that much that she was willing to endure not being with me so as not to lose me."

I said maybe.

"Thank you, Brother Tatsuma!"

Shinnosuke looked at Tatsuma with gratitude, then flipped over the railing, jumped down from the Hokage Building, and ran quickly in a certain direction, forgetting even to put on his mask.

"Still too young."

Tatsuma looked at the anxious Shinnosuke, patted the railing, did a few standing push-ups, and gazed at the street scene of Konoha, as well as the Hokage Rock behind him, which was covered by scaffolding and black cloth.

There's no one working there anymore, because the work has already been done. All that's missing now is Tatsuma's succession ceremony. On the day of his succession, the black cloth and scaffolding will be removed, and the new Hokage Rock will be revealed to everyone.

There are many such renovations in the village. For example, the Hokage Building has undergone extensive painting work on its exterior walls, making it look brand new. The streets have also been renovated. Although nothing has changed, it looks much newer.

All of this was done over the past year without the village knowing anything about Tatsuma's or when he would wake up. Perhaps this was a sign of trust—trust that Tatsuma would wake up and take over the work of Hokage.

Tatsuma didn't postpone his Hokage position for these reasons; even a heartless man has his limits.

"Teacher! A meeting is starting!"

The door to the rooftop opened, and Shisui peeked out and greeted him. Tatsuma nodded and walked downstairs to the conference room, where many people were already seated.

Tatsuma sat next to Hiruzen Sarutobi, flanked by the old and new high-ranking members. On Hiruzen Sarutobi's side were the three elders, including Akimichi Torifu, as well as the Ino-Shika-Cho trio from the Shika-Tomo generation, and the high-ranking members of the Sealing Team and the Medical Department.

On Tatsuma's side were Minato, Tenpu, Sento, Shikaku and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, as well as Kushina, Nono, and others.

Tatsuma didn't immediately eliminate dissidents and replace all the high-ranking officials with his own people. Rather, the village's succession was too orderly, and Ino-Shika-Cho were all thinking of shifting the blame to their children.

The leaders of functional departments like the Sealing Team and the Medical Department are no longer as capable as the younger generation; they've reached the age where they understand what dignity is.

Knowing full well that staying in their current position will only lead to them being pushed into a deputy position or even further by younger people, and then retiring in a lower position with their post-retirement benefits being reduced at any time.

Therefore, it would be better to step down to younger people while they are still in their positions. This way, they can maintain their reputation and receive the same salary as regular employees. They would be happy to accept this kind of "respectability".

Chenma sat down, and Lu Yuan and his son Lu Jiu stood up and began their introduction. Lu Yuan was the main speaker, while Lu Jiu was responsible for presenting the materials.

"The war situation has become quite clear recently. The Sand Village has fallen into complete internal strife, and the Uchiha forces are ready to retreat."

On the other hand, Kumogakure is exhausted from fighting Iwagakure and Kirigakure. According to our intelligence, Kumogakure even intends to launch a large-scale campaign in the Land of Earth in order to achieve a victorious conclusion to the current phase.

On the Iwagakure side, the main force has also been transferred to the eastern battlefield. However, recently, a certain number of Iwagakure ninja have been sent to the Grass Country battlefield, presumably to conduct a final test.

Kirigakure. Because Kirigakure joined the war relatively late, its main forces only arrived at the battlefield one after another. According to the reconnaissance of the Hyuga team, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were discovered among them.

Based on information passed down by fishermen at the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, we suspect that Kirigakure secretly transported the weakened Three-Tails to the eastern coast of the Land of Fire, seemingly failing to learn from past defeats.

When talking about the Kirigakure operation, Shika Yuan hesitated, because the various actions taken by Kirigakure made him somewhat unsure of himself. If the Kirigakure had an advantage, then doing so would be understandable.

However, in the past year, due to the presence of Tenka, Minato, and Kushina, they did not gain any advantage. They only temporarily occupied the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools and were not even able to completely block the Land of Whirlpools' intelligence network.

Many people frowned, but Tatsuma remained calm, as if he were the only one present who had not been out of touch with the information from the past year.

After digesting the current situation information, everyone's eyes, including Hiruzen Sarutobi's, fell on Tatsuma.

"Let the Uchiha begin their retreat to the southeast. Since they are inexplicably confident, let them be confident for a while longer. Inform the Hyuga forces that they can make an appropriate retreat and vacate the battlefield."

Using the same trick again is not a difficult operation for us. We will let the main force of the Mist Ninja land in the Land of Fire, and then lift the seal on the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools to block the main force's retreat route.

Meanwhile, the war between the Mist Ninja and the Cloud Ninja seems to have partly involved the Land of Hot Springs. The Land of Hot Springs has always been a friendly ally of our Land of Fire, and we cannot stand idly by and watch the Land of Hot Springs fall into war.

As for Iwagakure Village.

Tatsuma frowned, looked at the sand table, and formed the Snake Seal. The sand table map, which was originally the entire ninja world, rapidly expanded, showing the terrain at the junction of the three kingdoms of earth, grass, and fire.

"Whether it's a comeback or a desperate struggle, I think this battle will be more intense than we anticipated. I've seen the Earth Country's battle reports over the past year, and they've been constantly replacing their personnel."

From the commanders to the genin who participated in the battle, almost everyone was replaced. The Iwa ninja who are now entrenched in the Land of Grass are no longer the same force that lost courage due to repeated defeats.

Therefore, I think we need to take this battle very seriously.

Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair, remaining silent. His cautious attitude towards the Iwa ninja suited him well, but...

Tatsuma's arrangements for Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure were a bit too aggressive for Hiruzen Sarutobi. Who knew if Sunagakure was feigning discord and internal strife just to find an opportunity for Konoha to underestimate them?

As for the Mist Ninja, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, the main force, and the Three-Tails—each of these should be taken seriously by Konoha. Yet, Tatsuma was thinking of "using the same old tricks."

When he first used that scheme, Kirigakure only sent out about two thousand advance troops, which he could barely accept, but now...

Then there's the Cloud Ninja, those warmongers, whom Hiruzen Sarutobi least wanted to deal with. Originally, the ceasefire agreement was signed properly, with both sides agreeing not to interfere with each other, and the Cloud Ninja did their best to keep that in mind.

Now that Konoha is suddenly intervening first, even though it's not a direct attack on the Cloud Ninja, it's still impossible to completely prevent the Cloud Ninja from taking advantage of the situation and breaking the agreement, all under the guise of rescuing the Land of Hot Springs.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that he was being too conservative, or rather, he didn't believe he could coordinate all of these things at the same time. But Tatsuma was different, so Hiruzen Sarutobi chose to keep quiet and trust Tatsuma.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent. Koharu Utatane and the others, despite their concerns, dared not speak easily. As for the younger generation, none of them were afraid.

Minato nodded and said, "As for the Iwa ninja, we have the teacher and the others facing us, so we shouldn't have too much to worry about. The only thing we're concerned about is that the Iwa ninja are coming from the southwest of the Land of Grass, passing through the Land of Rain."

They've done this intermittently over the past year, and perhaps this time they'll favor this route even more. In addition, the Iwa ninja's supply transport routes must also be cut off.

As he spoke, he took out a senbon (a type of Japanese stick), then tossed it, and it landed precisely on a spot on the sand table. He continued, "Kannabi Bridge, if we can resolve this, then we've already won more than half the battle."

After ninjas like Onoki and Kyoto, who were proficient in large-scale earth-style techniques, were transferred to the eastern battlefield, the existing logistics forces of Iwagakure were completely insufficient to establish new logistics transportation routes.

I think this route should be cut off when the Iwa and Kumo ninjas officially start fighting, so that even if the Iwa ninjas want to provide support, they will lack manpower.

If our teacher and his troops can eliminate the Iwa ninja forces in the Land of Grass on the main battlefield before the battle between Iwa and Kumo ninja is decided, then victory will almost certainly be ours.

The last concern was the route guarded by Jonin Leaf Scroll and others at the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain.

After Minato finished speaking, he looked at Tatsuma, who nodded and, at the opportune moment, asked, "It seems you already have an idea?"

"That's right."

(End of this chapter)