I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 768 Talent has its time limit, just like beauty has its blooming season.

"Uchiha brat!"

In the jungle, a solemn voice rang out. On the ground, a person who was slowly moving forward stopped, pulled up his hood, and covered his face even more completely.

"Nidaime-sama."

A figure suddenly appeared on a tree ahead, looking at the person completely shrouded in a hood, and said, "Just as the Fourth Hokage guessed, you are indeed not dead, but you haven't returned to the village either. Why?"

"Maybe it's because they don't want to be protected, I can't really say for sure."

"Raise your head."

Itachi, with his head bowed and back bent, said with great dissatisfaction.

Upon hearing this, Itachi hesitated for a moment before slowly raising his head, his hood slipping down to reveal his face.

Compared to a few months ago, he was much paler and weaker, with one eye tightly closed and the eyelid showing an abnormal concavity, while the other eye was a Mangekyou Sharingan, but not his own Mangekyou Sharingan.

"That eye...it belongs to Uchiha Shisui?"

Undeterred, Tobirama Senju met the gaze of the Mangekyou Sharingan with a slight smile and asked. Itachi nodded, a hint of guilt on his face.

"Where do you plan to go now, to find the caster of the Impure World Reincarnation?"

Seemingly out of consideration for Itachi's feelings, Tobirama Senju didn't press the matter further, but instead asked a different question. Itachi nodded and said, "I observed several battlefields."

Although the Allied Shinobi Forces had developed a countermeasure against the Impure World Reincarnation, it was only to seal the reanimated body at the very end.

During the battle, a great price must be paid to create an opportunity for sealing. There have even been instances where a team paid a heavy price to defeat a reanimated person, but an accident occurred to a member of the sealing team, allowing the reanimated person to escape.

Furthermore, we don't yet know exactly how many Edo Tensei candidates the enemy has prepared, so it would be better to strike at the source and eliminate the caster directly.

Itachi truthfully stated his thoughts, and Tobirama Senju nodded in approval, saying, "The fact that you were able to find this place on your own means that you have pinpointed the enemy's location."

Upon hearing this, Itachi seemed somewhat puzzled and asked, "Second Hokage, have you also found traces of the caster?"

Tobirama Senju nodded, held up two fingers, and said, "To be precise, I located the caster two hours ago."

"Huh? Then why didn't you subdue the caster? Did he have some kind of tight defense?"

Itachi asked, puzzled, but Tobirama Senju shook his head and said, "It's because not enough people have died yet. I'm talking about our Allied Shinobi Forces."

Why? Isn't that right?

"Your strategic vision and talent can support you in coming up with and executing the strategy of capturing the leader first, but it is not high enough to reach the level of a true shadow."

War inevitably results in death; this is not a price to pay, but a pursuit.

"I don't understand."

Itachi shook his head. The Kage he knew shouldn't be like this, and the Third Hokage wasn't like this either. The Third Hokage always pursued peace and should have minimized the impact of war.

Seeing Itachi's reaction, Tobirama Senju was somewhat disappointed. As expected, this Uchiha Itachi was too exaggerated. Judging from the current situation, Itachi was not even as good as his younger brother, who was said by outsiders to be inferior to his older brother in every way.

The thought of his "disciple" brought an unnatural smile to Tobirama Senju's face, because the disciple was very promising, at least in Tobirama's eyes.

Not only in terms of ninjutsu skills, but also in the absorption and understanding of his philosophy, it is very much in line with Tobirama Senju's intentions.

Tobirama Senju asked Sasuke a similar question, but more directly, asking what the goal would be if Sasuke were to command this Shinobi World War.

Sasuke gave his answer without hesitation: first, to defeat all enemies and demonstrate the power of Konoha; and second, to remember to preserve the strength of the main force and weaken the strength of allies during the war.

Then, at the end of the war, they kidnapped all the ninjas in the ninja world, redistributed the spoils of the ninja world, allowing Konoha to become the dominant power, and even making other ninja villages continuously generate profits for Konoha.

Of course, when Tobirama Senju pressed him on how to achieve this goal, Sasuke's answer couldn't even be described as mediocre; it should be called naive.

But thinking about it, it's obvious that someone who has never participated in a large-scale war could offer any useful solutions for a large-scale war.

However, in terms of ambition for the big picture, it was something that his more outstanding older brother, Itachi Uchiha, could not match.

Tobirama Senju never corrected the arrogance of the Uchiha clan. In the past, it was believed that "what Heaven wants to take, it must first give." If he wanted to target the Uchiha, he had to first let them become arrogant.

But now, he needs Sasuke's arrogance, only arrogance centered on the village's interests. This kind of Uchiha is the kind of Uchiha Konoha needs.

However, Sasuke's current strength is not yet commensurate with his ambitions, which is also the direction that Tobirama Senju has been working on recently, but unfortunately, there is not enough time.

But it doesn't matter. When the war ends and he leaves, he can create a plan that suits Sasuke. As long as he follows the plan step by step, Sasuke can grow into the Uchiha that the village needs.

As for Itachi Uchiha, if the Uchiha clan still existed, he might have had strategic value. But now, Itachi has been abandoned, abandoned by the times, and abandoned by Tobirama Senju.

Looking at Itachi, Tobirama Senju said, "You don't need to understand, because you're not the Hokage. You just need to obey and be a ninja the village needs."

Itachi felt somewhat frustrated because no high-ranking official had ever said such a thing to him before, but he did not refute it, after all, Tobirama Senju was the Hokage.

His silence only made Tobirama Senju more dissatisfied, but he didn't say anything more, as there was no need to waste words trying to appease him.

After composing himself, Itachi asked, "So what do I need to do now? Or rather, how many people need to die to be enough?"

"A reduction of 10% to 15% is not enough to cause the Allied Shinobi Forces to mutini and flee, but it can make them realize the cruelty of this war."

Then deal with the Impure World Reincarnation, give the Allied Shinobi Forces a little reward, trick them into continuing to fight, lose the same number of soldiers, and then carry out another suspension and motivation.

After three rounds, the war should be over. On the battlefield, two Fourth Hokage are in charge of managing the situation, and Konoha's losses can be minimized.

When the war ends, Konoha will undoubtedly become the strongest ninja village, maintaining that position for at least another ten years. These ten years are the time we, the Hokage, are buying for Konoha's future.

Ten percent of the 100,000-strong Allied Shinobi Forces is 10,000 men, and that's three rounds of casualties. Hearing this, Itachi's heart was filled with complex emotions. After a long while, he closed his eyes and said, "Second Hokage, please take command of me from now on."

"Okay, here you go."

As he spoke, Tobirama Senju tossed out a bottle. Itachi caught it and discovered that inside the transparent glass bottle was another eye. He looked at Tobirama Senju in astonishment.

"I dug this out from Danzo a few years ago. It's an asset of the village, and I'm lending it to you temporarily."

"I understand. I will not let these eyes down."

Itachi nodded vigorously, took out the eye that was exactly the same as the Mangekyou Sharingan in his eyes, and inserted it into his empty eye socket.

"Brother Shisui, you must also be happy to see Konoha become stronger and more prosperous, right?"

(End of this chapter)