Born in Sunagakure, dedicated to antagonizing Konoha for decades

In their village, there were veterans from three dynasties, but most were commoners. Very few ninjas had survived from the first generation to the present. Looking at this imposing old man with his enviable eight-pack abs—a sight that would make many young people envious—they couldn't help but feel a surge of youthful exuberance. Although they didn't recognize him, they were certain he must have been a formidable figure in his youth...

"These are all things from the past and not worth mentioning. I fought alongside the First Hokage before he even founded the village. You might not believe it, but back then I was someone who could go toe-to-toe with Madara. You don't know who Madara is, do you? He's the ancestor of the current Uchiha clan! The legendary 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh of the ninja world back then was me."

Originally, I wanted to support Danzo, but I didn't expect Silvers Rayleigh's look to be so appealing. I was a little surprised. Looking at the group of young people around me who were full of curiosity and eagerly waiting for me to brag, I couldn't refuse them in the spirit of educating people, could I?

"The First Kingdom! What an imposing name, 'Pluto'..."

Although they had never heard of this code name before, looking at this burly little old man with such an imposing title, the young people around them actually thought it made perfect sense. With that physique and that aura, they simply couldn't believe it was a lie! Their gazes towards him changed from looking at an ordinary little old man to admiring a reclusive and powerful figure.

There are truly hidden masters among ordinary people!

"Sigh...! The First Hokage was good in every way, except for two flaws. First, he was afraid of his wife. He was like a mouse before a cat when he saw Mito, a complete coward! Second, he had no prominent breasts. Just think about it, when the First Hokage founded Konoha, how powerful was our Konoha's lineup back then? The First Hokage, the ancestors of the Uchiha clan, plus me and the Second Hokage—this lineup, I'm not bragging, but even Hiruzen Sarutobi's grandmother as the starting lineup could have established a dynasty! But the First Hokage let go of the opportunity to establish a dynasty, and instead..." He believed in the power of family love, yet he went to help other countries build villages. Don't you think that's a terrible waste? Ever since then, I've been disheartened and withdrawn from worldly affairs. Until many years ago, when I heard that our advisor Danzo wanted to lead Konoha to the moon, those words reignited my passion. I thought I'd live to see that day, but instead, that brat Hiruzen Sarutobi became Hokage. Sigh! So close! If advisor Danzo had become Hokage back then, Konoha's fate would have been different…!

Even as he continued to play his tune, Masato didn't forget his original intention. In the end, he eagerly steered the conversation towards Danzo, who was about to leave but seemed to linger on like a car driven by an old man.

"What a pity! I remember now, it seems that it really is true. What was the name of the First Hokage and an ancestor of the Uchiha clan again? I forgot, but the two of them were almost invincible."

"Yes, I reckon that if we had wanted to establish a dynasty back then, as this Lord Hades said, it would have been a piece of cake. The First Lord was just too awesome, too invincible!"

Shinto's words immediately resonated with the older generation of people in the crowd who were young back then. They were not natives of Konoha, but people who came to Konoha when it was accepting refugees. Although they were just ordinary people and did not understand what kind of lineup it was, they all came to Konoha to settle down and become residents because Konoha was too invincible. Therefore, they had a deep impression of Senju-sama's invincible figure.

However... these old men and women actually forgot his idol's name, which made Masato a little unhappy!

Is my idol's name really that hard to remember? (▼へ▼メ).

581. White Fang: That's the bastard!

"Haha, you flatter me, sir. I have to go see Hiruzen, so I'll be going now...ヾ(^?^)?"

Danzo was overjoyed and touched to be the center of everyone's attention, but he still put on a humble demeanor, said something modest, and turned to leave with light steps.

If it weren't for the fact that so many people were too embarrassed to do so, he really wanted to rush up and hug this somewhat boastful old man and give him a couple of kisses.

These are true fans! They stayed by his side even during his lowest point, always holding onto his hopes, and are still helping him gain popularity!

I'm so damn touched...!

........

"Pluto??? Silvers Rayleigh? Where have I heard that name before? (⊙_⊙)?"

Not far from the crowd listening to the story, a group of Konoha ninjas maintaining order were also listening intently. When they heard the name "Silbaz Rayleigh," the white-haired man in the center of the group frowned. He couldn't find that bastard Shiki and hadn't noticed his son's changes, so he temporarily led the team to Konoha Hospital to maintain order.

Sakumo Hatake frowned. "Silbaz Rayleigh" was a strange name. He felt like he had heard it somewhere before. He tried to recall the history of Konoha, but he couldn't remember such a person. His father had told him a lot about the history of the village when he was young, and there were many records in his family, but he was sure that there was no such person. Moreover, the name was very strange. If there was such a person, he would definitely remember him. Don't doubt the memory of this top student.

But there was clearly no such good person, yet he did vaguely recognize the name. And while the old man's story might have been a bit exaggerated, about 70% of it was true; he must have been someone who experienced that period of history. But he just couldn't remember where he'd heard it before, which was rather strange...

"Lord Sakumo, do you know this old man?? (⊙_⊙)?"

Minato Namikaze, who was listening intently beside Sakumo Hatake, noticed his furrowed brow and asked curiously.

To be honest, he was a top student. He had read almost all of Konoha's history over the past few decades, as long as there was written record. If such a strange name appeared, he would definitely remember it. However, he had no recollection of it in his mind. But seeing Lord Sakumo's expression, it didn't seem fake.

Could it be that Konoha really has such a formidable person?

Good heavens! He teamed up with the First Hokage, so his seniority is even higher than the Hokage's!

"...I'm not sure either. I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before, but it must have been many years ago, so I can't remember it right now. Perhaps...there really is such a person in Konoha..."

Hatake Sakumo shook his head, saying uncertainly, "The more I observe this old man, Sir... what's his name?, the more familiar he becomes with his words and actions; it's like..."

correct!

"It's that bastard! (▼he▼メ)"

As if remembering something, Hatake Sakumo gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath amidst the bewildered gazes of the young people around him, before disappearing from the spot in a flash.

........

"Have you had enough, Silvers Rayleigh? (ー_ー)ノ"

Just as Shinto was about to continue bragging to the young Konoha members around him about the title "Dark King" Rayleigh, Hatake Sakumo suddenly appeared beside him, speaking expressionlessly.

He remembered!

No wonder people say he has such strange attributes with that name. Damn, isn't that the name that Golden Lion bastard used when he first came to Konoha? It's been over twenty years! Since then, this guy has been committing crimes under the identity of his cousin, Hatake Gosho. If it weren't for the name being so strange and so memorable, he would have completely forgotten about it...

"Hey? Isn't that White Fang... Look! A UFO!"

Seeing White Fang appear beside him, he knew his identity had been exposed again. Masato suddenly pointed to the sky and exclaimed as if he had discovered something amazing. The people listening to the story around him looked up in the direction he was pointing.

call out!

The next second, Masato disappeared into the crowd.

"No... Hmm? Where is everyone? (⊙_⊙)?"

Everyone looked up and saw nothing in the sky. The next second, they realized the old man who had been boasting about his dark complexion was gone...

"Ding ding ding...!"

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm trying to distract you from the public's attention. Don't you feel ashamed?"

In the distant grove, a figure carrying the "Uchiha Greatsword" blocked several rounds of White Fang's attacks, looking rather aggrieved.

"...So you're about to leave too, right? ヽ(ー_ー)ノ"

Looking at that shameless little expression, if he could break through his defenses, he really wanted to stab him a few times.

He already knew the outcome of the matter. The main purpose of the Hokage's attempt to pin a hat on Danzo was to deal with him and create a sensational news story to divert the villagers' attention. However, the effect was not very good, and the guy even made a bigger fuss about it, which led to the current situation.

His affairs have absolutely nothing to do with that bastard, okay?

His boss suffered a stroke because of this bastard, and now this bastard is shamelessly trying to take the credit for it.

That's utterly shameless! If it weren't for the fact that this place isn't far from the village center, and he was afraid that if he joined forces with this bastard, they might destroy Konoha, he really wouldn't want to let this bastard go.

"What you're saying? Guests are guests, after all. I'm a guest of Konoha, a major contributor to your GDP growth. There's no reason to turn me away, really... Alright, alright, now that you're alright, I'm relieved. I have some things to take care of at home, so I'll be going now. Tell my nephew I'll come see him again next time..."

He had originally intended to chat for a bit, but seeing the Konoha ANBU underlings surrounding him, each with a face full of deep hatred, and with White Fang's ancestral short blade crackling with electricity as if ready to fight, he decided to avoid further straining the relationship. After waving goodbye, Shinto flew away into the distance, transforming into a streak of light on the horizon.

"...Lord Sakumo, are you just going to let this guy go?"

Watching the figure disappear into the horizon, a young recruit who had just joined the Dark Division mustered his courage and, somewhat unwillingly, came up and asked.

With so many of them here, and Lord Sakumo leading the vanguard, he felt that even if Golden Lion was a formidable fighter, they could wear him down and kill him here.

The higher-ups have promised that whoever can kill the Golden Lion will be promoted to the top. This is an irresistible temptation for these ambitious young people. They don't want to reach the peak right from the start; they're in this business not wanting to be the boss!

582. The burlap-headed guy guessed it again.

"Sigh... This guy's defense is even stronger than the Third Raikage's. We can't fight him head-on until we find a way to break through his defenses. Besides, we're not far from the village center, and if we really fight, our losses will be huge..."

Looking at these young members of the Anbu, Hatake Sakumo could understand their feelings. After all, no one wants to spend their whole life as a lowly underling and achieve nothing, especially young people. It's good that they have ambition, so he could only patiently explain to these underlings.

If the Golden Lion were so easy to deal with, given his hate-inducing lifestyle, he would have been killed long ago. He wouldn't be living such a carefree life now...

.....

"Lord Azabu, Hiruzen Sarutobi is hospitalized, and Konoha is currently overwhelmed with its own problems. Should we go to the Land of Fire and pull off a heist?"

With Hiruzen Sarutobi hospitalized, the current situation in Konoha is almost common knowledge. In Kumogakure, far away in the Land of Lightning, after beating up Onoki and reaping considerable benefits, the future Fourth Raikage seems to see a glimmer of hope.

Jungle farming is a quick way to make money and requires no cost, making it very addictive. So, after learning about the situation in Konoha, the future Fourth Raikage, young and impetuous and already addicted, couldn't wait to run to the Raikage Building to ask their strategist, Azabu Big Head. He's just like his father; despite his big, burly appearance and equally fiery temper, he's quite thoughtful.

Knowing that asking his father for help would be useless, and that his father needed to consult with Big Head Mabu on this matter, he went directly to Big Head Mabu to volunteer for the task.

"...It's too late now. If we had gone when White Fang failed his mission, there would have been a chance, but now the chances are slim. The most difficult person to deal with in Konoha has never been Hiruzen Sarutobi, but White Fang. If we had acted when White Fang was being ostracized by the villagers after his mission failed, we would have had a chance. But now, although the villagers seem to be targeting Hiruzen Sarutobi, they have actually freed White Fang. Although Hiruzen Sarutobi is hospitalized, it will not affect the normal operation of Konoha at all. I didn't expect them to use such a radical method to resolve this matter."

After thinking for a moment, the man with the big head in burlap shook his head and said...

After hearing the news that White Fang had failed his mission and was ostracized by the villagers of Konoha, he was thinking about how Konoha would handle this matter, so he hadn't thought about this problem. Now that he thinks about it, he feels a little regretful. However, the bonus from the Five-Tails raid has already been delivered by the bounty hunter Kakuzu. This makes him recognize Kakuzu's professional skills, and he is not too disappointed about missing this opportunity, since the Five-Tails is indeed quite fat.

When news spread in Konoha that Hiruzen Sarutobi had cheated on Danzo Shimura, he guessed that the White Fang incident had been resolved. He didn't know much about Danzo Shimura, but he had heard a little about him.

The popular saying in the ninja world, "Which village doesn't have one or two Shimura Danzos?" fully demonstrates Shimura Danzo's role and status in Konoha.

As for Hiruzen Sarutobi, he knew him all too well. Their archives contained a huge amount of information about Hiruzen Sarutobi, which analyzed him very clearly. Although Hiruzen Sarutobi was a womanizer, it was undeniable that he was a qualified Hokage. He would never do something that would ruin the atmosphere by turning against his own village's advisor for a girl, especially since Danzo Shimura was his childhood friend.

Therefore, in his view, their actions were merely an attempt to divert the attention of the Konoha villagers from the impact of the White Fang incident.

In his view, although the desired effect had been achieved, the method was a bit too radical, which is why it was exploited by Shiki and led to the current situation. However, White Fang's role in Konoha is far greater than that of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage. Now that White Fang has been freed, if they were sent to the Land of Fire to hunt, the chance of encountering White Fang would be as high as 80%. A and Killer Bee are the future of Kumogakure, and if they were to encounter White Fang, they might very well perish there.

Don't think that Killer Bee can boast about borrowing the power of the Eight-Tails. White Fang is someone who can emerge unscathed from Shiki's sea of ​​swords. It would be a waste if those two kids got stabbed.

"You mean the whole Hiruzen Sarutobi incident was staged by them?"

The others didn't understand, but the Third Raikage understood what Azaburo meant. After all, they had been teaming up for many years, and the Third Raikage knew his strategist quite well.

"That's roughly it. White Fang's status in Konoha is too high, and he has never failed a mission in all these years. This failure has a huge impact on Konoha. Often, rumors are more terrifying than actual battles. White Fang is also a proud person at heart. Under the influence of these rumors, he might not be able to hold on and do something foolish. So, in order to help White Fang get into trouble, they created this incident to reduce the impact of the White Fang incident on Konoha. So, although we don't know what Golden Lion did that caused Hiruzen Sarutobi to be hospitalized, this incident has already achieved its purpose. Now, not to mention Konoha, there are few people in the ninja world who care about White Fang's situation. This has completely rescued White Fang from those rumors. Going to the Land of Fire now would be too risky."

"Moreover... if I'm not mistaken, Iwagakure is also planning this. We might as well wait and see what Iwagakure does first."

Azabu, one of the most intelligent people in the ninja world, is no joke. He has almost completely reconstructed Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others' plans in his mind and even concluded that Iwagakure will not make a move.

"Yes, Azabu's analysis makes sense. Sometimes you have to know when to stop. Besides, Kakuzu has already given us enough of a share of the profits. There's no need to take this risk. As a ninja, the first thing is to control your desires."

The Third Raikage somewhat agreed with Azaburo's analysis and took the opportunity to educate his son.

This son is practically a carbon copy of him. Back in the day, he was also an impulsive young man who did a lot of foolish things. Fortunately, he had the support of the second generation of his family to keep him in check. Only after he came to power did he gradually learn to control his temper. But many absurd things had already been done, and it was too late to regret them now. That's why he didn't want his son to follow in his footsteps.

road.

Besides, knowing Onoki as he did, he knew that a cunning and shrewd old fox like Onoki wouldn't let such a good opportunity slip by. Therefore, he also felt that Onoki would definitely send someone to the Land of Fire to assess the situation. Things had already come to this point; if things went smoothly with Iwagakure, then they could act later. Taking less was always better than running into White Fang...

583. Onoki's son was killed.

"Lord Tsuchikage, a distress call has come from Huangtu. He is being hunted down by White Fang on the border of the Land of Fire. Most of his men have been killed by White Fang, leaving only him and Wenya. However, they are now trapped in the Land of Fire and cannot come back!"

On this day, while Onoki was still reveling in the celebration of Hiruzen Sarutobi's admission to the ICU, there was a loud "bang." Tsuchiki, who was always polite and would knock before entering the room, rushed in and said nervously.

Although both Tumu and Azabu have intelligence points above 95, making them "beast-level" (meaning highly skilled), there's still a significant difference between them. For example, Azabu had already guessed that White Fang wasn't deeply involved in Konoha's internal strife. Even though Hiruzen Sarutobi was hospitalized, Konoha, despite some apparent unrest, wouldn't be affected by White Fang's presence. While Konoha's leadership seemed somewhat mediocre without Hiruzen Sarutobi, maintaining Konoha's safety and stability was still possible with White Fang's cooperation.

So when the future Fourth Raikage went to volunteer to fight in the jungle, Azaburo's powerful analysis instantly dispelled the future Fourth Raikage's idea of ​​fighting in the jungle.

Tsuchimaki, whose intelligence was capped at 95, didn't consider this aspect. After listening to Onoki's plan, he simply continued Onoki's plan without taking into account the actual situation in Konoha. He didn't even consider whether the plot of Hiruzen Sarutobi poaching Danzo Shimura was orchestrated by Konoha itself. So, when Onoki miscalculated Konoha at the beginning, Tsuchimaki followed suit and formulated a series of plans for the Land of Fire raids for the group that was about to set off.

On the other hand, the two had very different positions in their respective villages. Although the Raikage was rough and had a bad temper, he had always listened to Azaburo's advice over the years. He was not like Onoki or Hiruzen Sarutobi, who were greedy for power and did everything himself. So among the few smart people in the ninja world, only Azaburo truly became the second-in-command and had some decision-making power.

Regardless of whether it's Nara, the big-headed leader of Konoha, or Tsuchiki, the leaders of Iwagakure, mostly play the role of giving advice to Hiruzen Sarutobi or Onoki in their respective villages, the final decisions are still made by Hiruzen Sarutobi and Onoki themselves.

Onoki is a very assertive person, and as he gets older, he becomes more and more stubborn. He often ignores Tsuchiki's constructive suggestions because they differ from his own ideas. So even if Tsuchiki can think of this aspect, it is difficult for him to persuade Onoki.