I, who just wanted to be lazy, was forced to become the Hokage.

Chapter 389 The Dagger is Revealed When the Map is Unfolded!

Yagura's words caused the other Kage present to frown.

The reason why the five great ninja villages gathered together for the Five Kage Summit was largely due to Madara Uchiha's attack on the Third Hokage and his brothers.

However, all five major ninja villages have now gathered together.

Even if Madara Uchiha possessed extraordinary abilities, he should never have been a match for the combined forces of the Five Villages and the Five Kage.

Search, pursue, kill, and at the same time, look for the whereabouts of the previously mysteriously disappeared Third Generation.

This is the true plan of the Five Kage.

However, when the Five Kage Summit began, Kirigakure, the initiator of the summit, claimed that they had no information whatsoever about Madara Uchiha's movements.

How are we supposed to hunt down that remnant of the old era?

We can't just search endlessly throughout the entire ninja world, can we?

Hiruzen Sarutobi pressed further, "Was there not even a trace of Madara Uchiha found within the Land of Water?"

The four villages of Konoha, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure occupy the Ninja Continent.

The mist-shrouded land is isolated overseas, and it also adheres to a policy of isolationism.

Logically speaking, the village most suitable for Madara Uchiha to hide in over the past few decades would probably be Kirigakure.

Of course, it is also very possible that Madara Uchiha secretly infiltrated some small countries to avoid being seen by the ninjas of larger countries.

But Kirigakure... is indeed a suspect!

At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi was thinking about more than just the Third Mizukage defeating Madara Uchiha.

Furthermore, there is the story of the mysterious annihilation of the Land of Whirlpools and the Uzumaki clan in the early years!

The Whirlpool Clan has an ancient bloodline and a long-standing tradition.

The clan's ninjas not only possess an innate, enormous amount of chakra, but also master mysterious and powerful special sealing techniques.

Looking at the entire Warring States period.

The Senju and Uchiha clans are naturally the two strongest "polar" groups.

However, the overall strength of the Vortex Clan is roughly only below that of these two super clans!

Otherwise, after the world order of the five great ninja villages was formally established at the end of the Warring States period, the Uzumaki clan would never have been able to occupy the entire Land of Whirlpools with the power of the clan alone!

The very foundation of the Land of Whirlpools' existence lies in the immense power of the Whirlpool clan.

However, this powerful ninja clan was suddenly wiped out during the ninja village era.

Previously, when Hiruzen Sarutobi dispatched Nara Rinkei and Minato Namikaze to Takigawa Country to hunt down Madara Uchiha, he also found a lot of information on the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques in Madara's personal collection.

Based on this, Hiruzen Sarutobi concluded that the destruction of the Uzumaki clan was definitely related to Madara Uchiha!

But no matter how strong Madara Uchiha was, he was still just one person.

Moreover, as an "old relic" who has lived since the Warring States period, Madara Uchiha's strength has certainly declined significantly compared to his peak.

How could an elderly Madara Uchiha possibly annihilate almost the entire Uzumaki clan and the Land of Whirlpools in such a short time? And even prevent the Uzumaki clan's ninjas from sending out messages?

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not believe that Madara Uchiha could do that.

In his view, Madara Uchiha was the mastermind behind the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools.

But the culprit wasn't just Uchiha Madara!

There must be a powerful force supporting them from behind!

Considering the geographical location of the Land of Whirlpools...

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that Kirigakure was quite suspicious.

But coincidentally, Kirigakure was the initiator of this Five Kage Summit...

If Kirigakure really colluded with Madara Uchiha, they probably wouldn't have gone so far as to publicly self-destruct...

This was precisely what puzzled Hiruzen Sarutobi at that moment.

He probably never imagined that the Third Mizukage, who was supposed to have "repelled Madara Uchiha's attack," was actually "controlled by Madara Uchiha using genjutsu for decades!"

Should we say that Madara Uchiha was too powerful, or that the Third Mizukage was too weak?

"no."

Upon hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's question, Yagura Karatachi shook his head.

He was fully aware of the connection between the Third Hokage and Madara Uchiha.

The former was merely a pawn in the latter's illusions...

Why Madara Uchiha suddenly released his genjutsu control over the Third Hokage is something Yagura Karatachi doesn't know.

However, it is an indisputable fact that during this period he dispatched Kirigakure ninjas to search for Madara Uchiha's whereabouts throughout Kirigakure and the entire Land of Water, but they found nothing.

The enmity between Kirigakure and Madara Uchiha is irreconcilable.

Even setting aside the humiliation of the third generation being controlled by others.

If the Third Mizukage had not been controlled by Madara Uchiha, Kirigakure would never have entered the so-called "Bloody Mist Era"!

Yagura's resentment towards Madara Uchiha was like a river, flowing endlessly.

"I suggest that each ninja village select a certain number of sensory ninjas to form a special sensory team to hunt down Uchiha Madara."

After a moment of contemplation, Yagura began to speak.

"In addition, the isolationist policy of the Water Country has been abolished."

"I am willing to accept this sensory team and initiate a large-scale search operation within the Land of Water!"

Yagura's words drew sidelong glances from the other shadows in the conference room.

Allowing sensory ninjas from other villages to enter the country to conduct searches...

This is no easy task.

The slightest carelessness could lead to the leakage of national intelligence.

It seems that Kirigakure harbors deep resentment towards Madara Uchiha...

To be honest.

The three villages of Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure are all unsure whether their Third Hokage was truly killed by Madara Uchiha, which led to his mysterious disappearance.

The most crucial reason is that none of the three villages of Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure have been able to obtain any information about Uchiha Madara, nor have they discovered any trace of this old-era ninja's activities.

The information that "Uchiha Madara attacked the Third Hokage" was only released by Kirigakure, and Konoha followed suit.

The other three villages were completely baffled by matters concerning Uchiha Madara.

Moreover, the current ruler of the various ninja villages is basically the Fourth Hokage.

Whether it was Rasa, Old Purple, or Troy, they were all deeply shocked and furious by the mysterious disappearance of the previous generation of Shadows.

But just how shocked, how angry...?

It's really nothing special.

Anyway, none of the villages have found the Third Generation Leader yet, nor have they found the reason for his disappearance.

Since Kirigakure and Konoha have taken the initiative to bring up Uchiha Madara as a suspect.

Luo Sha and his group were naturally happy to see this happen and went along with it.

Finding a suspect and making him a target is better than finding nothing at all.

At this moment, when Rasa, Ooshi, and Troy heard what Yagura Karatachi said, they suddenly realized that their village could take this opportunity to openly investigate relevant intelligence information about other villages.

This is truly... a delightful surprise!

"I agree."

"I have no objection."

Me too.

The three of them, including Rasa, all agreed with Yagura's suggestion.

Regardless of whether Madara Uchiha was the one who attacked and killed the Third Hokage.

Each village should take a stand on this matter!

Forming a joint sensing force... is a pretty good idea.

"I agree with the Mizukage's suggestion, but..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, then changed the subject.

"There's no need to rush into the Land of Water to conduct a search."

"According to the intelligence gathered by our village, during the war, Madara Uchiha showed traces of himself in the following countries: the Land of Grass, the Land of Waterfalls, and... the Land of Hot Springs."

The Battle of Kannabi Bridge in the Land of Grass.

The Land of Waterfalls, a base for waterfalls.

Land of Hot Springs, Obito Uchiha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi briefly recounted the few pieces of intelligence Konoha possessed, emphasizing the last point.

"Therefore, if we are to launch a search operation, I suggest we start by conducting the search within the Land of Hot Water."

Konoha has a lot of information!

Could they have some other intelligence?

Like what was mentioned before... Madara Uchiha's corpse?

Yagura's eyes flickered for a moment before he decisively agreed to Hiruzen Sarutobi's suggestion.

The other three shadows had no objections.

If they send their own ninjas into other major powers, they might face interference from those powers.

Could it be a small country like the Land of Hot Springs?

Which of the five major powers present would care?

Furthermore, the search operation in the Land of Hot Springs can be used to hone the joint sensory units of various villages, preparing them for future operations.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Yagura Karatachi, and the other Kage continued their discussion about Madara Uchiha before moving on from the topic of this old-era ninja.

The Five Shadows Summit thus entered its next phase.

Madara Uchiha's clandestine actions were a major trigger for this Five Kage Summit.

However, the most crucial and important part of the Five Kage Summit was not Madara Uchiha.

After nearly three years, the Third Shinobi World War finally came to an end.

The so-called Five Shadows Conference was actually a peace meeting to discuss postwar interests!

After several years of war, each village suffered varying degrees of damage.

Even Kirigakure, which was the last to participate in the war, suffered heavy losses because of someone.

As for the villages of Kumo, Iwa, and Sago, even their own third-generation leader and their own nuclear weapons were destroyed!

Konoha suffered the least damage in the war and plundered the most.

At this moment, after the discussion about Madara Uchiha concluded, Hiruzen Sarutobi became the target of everyone's criticism.

The hot-tempered Lao Zi was the first to speak.

"Third Hokage, when will Konoha return the Five-Tails to Iwagakure?!"

(End of this chapter)