Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 227 New Fog Concealment Mode

PS: (One chapter today, regular updates will resume tomorrow.)

The rain has stopped and the sky is clear.

After her desires subsided and reason returned, Chiba Megumi finally remembered the words the Hokage had said to her before she left work, which seemed to differ from the Hokage she knew now.

"Brother Hiruzen, didn't you say you were too busy to come?"

The beautiful woman propped herself up on the inside of the sofa with one hand, slightly raised her upper body, and looked at Li Yao curiously.

Upon hearing this title, Li Yao shook his head. The Third Hokage really knows how to play the game.

He laughed and said, "I can come and do whatever I want, so what if you have a problem with that?"

"No objection." The beautiful secretary leaned against Li Yao's chest again, her breath sweet as orchids, and whispered, "Then... will Brother Hiruzen come again in the future?"

Li Yao laughed and said, "Come on, I'll come and feed you every night from now on."

Even if I don't come now, my lightning clone will come and guarantee that you will get pregnant with my precious child, giving me an extra useful physical body.

Li Yao added in his mind.

He was very satisfied with the large body of his son in the root base, and he would be happy to have a few more spare bodies.

Chiba Emi's mistaking of Li Yao for the Third Generation is naturally the effect of illusion.

With Li Yao's current genjutsu abilities, it would be easy for Chiba Emi to mistake him for the Third Hokage, and his chakra could even influence Chiba Emi indefinitely without anyone noticing.

Because Li Yao changed his genjutsu chakra to be the same as Chiba Megumi's chakra, and the chakra fluctuations he emitted were also the same.

In this way, even in the Byakugan's eyes, Li Yao's genjutsu chakra is the same as Chiba Megumi's chakra.

With the same chakra, no one would suspect that Chiba Megumi was under a genjutsu.

Even Chiba Megumi herself couldn't realize it.

In this way, Li Yao had the means to do whatever he wanted.

A single night of helping someone up is worth a hundred days of kindness.

A happy and busy night has passed, and a new day has begun.

The Hokage's secretary went to work early without going to sleep.

"Remember, don't reveal what happened in this room, and don't talk about it when you're alone with me. Be exactly the same as before when you're out in public."

On the sofa, Li Yao spoke to Chiba Megumi, the Hokage's secretary, who was about to leave for work.

Chiba Megumi smiled sweetly and said, "I understand, Hiruzen-nii."

As soon as Chiba Emi stepped out, her alluring gaze instantly turned serious, and she concealed everything that had happened the night before.

After the beautiful woman left, Li Yao also left.

He traveled underground and soon arrived at the Sarutobi clan's territory.

Last night, he had already located the Sarutobi clan's location using his third-generation perception.

It was still early, and many members of the Sarutobi clan were still in bed.

Beneath the seemingly peaceful family compound, numerous basements lay scattered like stars. It wasn't just the Sarutobi clan; along the way, Li Yao discovered that many family residences had numerous secret rooms beneath them.

Each secret chamber is inscribed with a corresponding sealing incantation, which serves to solidify the walls and prevent others from controlling them with earth magic, and also acts as a warning.

However, none of these challenges could faze Li Yao.

Li Yao, whose body had become spatialized, ignored these sealing techniques just as he ignored the perception barrier, and entered each secret room to investigate without being discovered.

soon.

Li Yao found the sealed book in the secret room beneath the third generation's study.

After opening it and confirming that it was the Book of Seals, Li Yao put the Book of Seals into the Blackwater Space, and then returned to the house of Hokage's secretary, Chiba Megumi.

The Third Hokage, unaware that his Book of Seals had been taken, was frowning as he looked at the Kirigakure intelligence report he hadn't finished reading the night before.

"Fire Prisoner, have Danzo come here for a moment."

"Yes."

A voice sounded from the shadows, and the ANBU ninja who had received the order had already left.

The third generation leaned back, but... the familiar feeling of being surrounded didn't come.

He turned his head in surprise. His hot secretary, who usually rushed up behind him and embraced him with her great bosom when he leaned back, was not there. Instead, she stood aside, fulfilling her duties as a secretary.

"Is it just my imagination?"

"I feel like Hye-mi looks more radiant now, but her eyes are no longer moist."

A flicker of doubt crossed the Third Hokage's mind, but he quickly dismissed it, as the current situation facing Konoha left him no time for anything else.

Soon, Danzo arrived.

Chiba Emi walked out automatically and closed the door behind her.

When Danzo comes, it's always because he has some secret mission to tell her that she can't hear; she's used to it.

In the office, the Third Hokage asked Danzo to look at the intelligence on Kirigakure first.

"So fast... No, this... How could this be?"

After reading the intelligence, Danzo was completely distraught, feeling that his previous understanding had been overturned.

Two years ago, the Daimyo of the Land of Water was wiped out, and the Third Mizukage of Kirigakure was attacked and killed by a mysterious person, plunging the entire Land of Water and Kirigakure into chaos.

If it weren't for the fact that the Second Shinobi World War had just ended and all the major ninja villages needed time to recover, and that the Land of Water, located in the ocean, was notoriously difficult to invade, the Land of Rain would have already been besieged by the other five great nations.

Even without attacks from other major powers, the chaotic Land of Rain should have greatly weakened the Hidden Mist Village.

However, the truth is that six months after the death of the Third Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tails who was able to perfectly control the Tailed Beast, ended the chaos in Kirigakure with his overwhelming strength and took the seat of the Fourth Mizukage.

Up to this point, everything is still normal.

What followed was beyond Danzo's comprehension.

The nobles of the Land of Rain were fighting tooth and nail for the position of Daimyo, leaving them no time to attend to Kirigakure and halting their financial support to the village.

After the start of the Ninja Village era, the five great nations' noble groups had long since reached a consensus that matters concerning the nobles should be left to the nobles, and ninjas should not interfere.

Otherwise, we would return to that chaotic Warring States period, where daimyo of various states had no choice but to frantically pay ninjas to attack each other in order to avoid being assassinated by ninjas.

Nowadays, all that is needed is to allocate some government funds each year to maintain a stable position, which saves a lot of money for the nobles and dignitaries of various countries.

Therefore, even though the nobles of the Land of Rain racked their brains, no one dared to ask Kirigakure for people.

Otherwise, if the unspoken rules are broken, the other four great nations will spare no effort to destroy the Rain Kingdom, and the nobles within the Rain Kingdom certainly don't want that to happen.

Logically speaking, without the financial support of the noble groups of the Land of Rain, Kirigakure should be like Sunagakure, unable to buy various ninja tools and conduct research and development of various ninjutsu due to lack of money, and its overall strength should be declining day by day.

However, despite lacking funds, Kirigakure, under the leadership of the Fourth Mizukage, took control of various production resources and sold them themselves. They built their own roads and used storage seal scrolls to transport goods, even though they lacked ships. Each ninja could carry seven or eight storage scrolls, making the transport of goods faster and safer than by ship.

He would then distribute the money he earned from his business to the village's ninjas as rewards for completing missions.

And so, by sheer chance, Kirigakure stumbled upon a path of peaceful development that was different from the bloodshed.

With money, the mission is safe.

Unbeknownst to many, in the short term, the amount of various ninja tools and explosive tags purchased by Kirigakure has far exceeded that of Kirigakure in the past.

You could even say that.

Kirigakure completed its preparations for the next war in less than a year and a half, or even two years.

They can launch an attack on the Land of Fire at any time, while Konoha is not yet prepared with the resources to fight another Shinobi World War.

This is fatal.

If Kirigakure really attacks...

Konoha, forced to fight, will be in a very dangerous situation. In the past, they could rely on their vast territory and abundant resources to stall for time, but this time they will face being dragged down by the enemy.

"How is this possible?"

Danzo did not understand.

In his mind, ninjas were meant to plunder through constant battles, not to personally engage in operations and management.

However, everything that happened in Kirigakure suddenly gave him a sense of panic that his peaceful life had been disrupted.

"We must not let Kirigakure continue like this; we must destroy it." Danzo's eyes flashed coldly. His first thought was not to imitate, but to destroy Kirigakure's model.

It is always other ninja villages that imitate Konoha's model; Konoha would never imitate the model of other ninja villages.

"It's up to you," the Third Hokage said. That was why he had summoned Danzo.

He and Danzo shared the same idea: when faced with the unknown, destruction is the only option.

(End of this chapter)