Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

This answer bluntly told Tsuchita that the current Cloud Ninja were, in Sogen's eyes, an absolute weakling. If the Cloud Ninja dared to renege on their debts, he wouldn't hesitate to use brutal means to collect them. The ninja world wasn't a world that valued the rule of law; the will of the strong was the rule of the ninja world.

How was the "one country, one village" system established?

It was precisely because Hashirama Senju was strong enough that when even Madara Uchiha was defeated by him, there were no more decent voices of opposition in the ninja world. Don't be fooled by the arrogant demeanor of the First Kage at the first Five Kage Summit; they simply knew that Hashirama Senju was a person who liked to follow the rules.

Otherwise, if Madara Uchiha had succeeded in becoming the First Hokage, how many people would have dared to show off in front of him?

Unlike Hashirama Senju, who liked to preach theories and rules, Madara Uchiha always preferred to fight if he disagreed. If you could beat me, then whatever you said was right. If you couldn't beat me... well, you might as well dig a hole and bury yourself.

"However, I think with Mr. Tsuchida in the Cloud Ninja, it's unlikely that they would renege on their debts, right?"

Zongxian smiled and looked at the earthen platform.

"It was just a casual question. Of course, we Cloud Ninja would not break our promise." Tsuchida said righteously, putting on an air of complete shamelessness, as if those who tried to steal the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the Hyuga clan's Byakugan were not Cloud Ninja at all.

"However, there are many things that cannot be taken out now. They will have to be packed up and sent over after we return to the village."

Tu Tai said very sincerely.

"I understand, I understand!"

Zongxian nodded repeatedly, indicating that he fully understood the difficulties faced by the Yunren.

And that is indeed the case. For example, the Amber Purification Bottle on the list is kept in Kumogakure! Although there are people in Kumogakure who have mastered the secret technique 'Heavenly Delivery Technique', the problem is that this Miss Mabui is the Raikage's secretary and is also on the front lines, so she can't immediately deliver the Amber Purification Bottle, which is thousands of miles away, to Sogen.

"Anyway, I'm not in a hurry. As long as the items are delivered within the agreed time, that's fine."

Zongxian is now acting like a perfect gentleman.

"but."

Tu Tai frowned immediately; this was the kind of turn of events he feared most.

"However, as far as I know, Turtle Island is far out at sea and has no fixed location. It is constantly moving... It is quite difficult to find. So, Mr. Tsuchida, do you think we should find someone to help guide us now and take Turtle Island to the waters of the Land of Fire?"

"this······"

“I don’t think there can be any problems with this. It can’t be that only a specific person can find Turtle Island, and that person is still in Kumogakure. It can’t be that much of a coincidence, right? Hmm, it can’t be that complicated, Mr. Tsuchida, don’t you think? This matter definitely won’t be that complicated.” Zongxian muttered to himself, not giving Tsuchida a chance to interrupt.

Listening to Zongxian's self-questioning and answering, Tutai's face twitched slightly, and his brows furrowed even more.

Finally, when Zongxian stopped, Tsuchida sighed inwardly and said with utter helplessness, "This matter still requires the Raikage's order, but the Raikage is right here, so there shouldn't be any problems, um, there definitely won't be any problems. What do you think, Xi? Let him lead the way." Seeing that Zongxian's smile was fading, Tsuchida had no choice but to abandon his evasive nonsense and give a clear answer.

"hope? Is that the blond guy from earlier? No problem, anyone can lead the way, as long as they can accurately guide our people to Turtle Island."

Zongxian's smile didn't disappear; instead, it became even brighter.

Tu Tai forced out a helpless, bitter smile.

Turtle Island... Don't be fooled by his seemingly easygoing demeanor when he's trying to comfort Ai. His inner pain is no less than that of the Raikage. How can the Cloud Ninja, who are used to eating without excreting, bear such humiliation as to hand over their treasures?

But now that we're at a disadvantage, we have no choice but to accept it!

From now on, Turtle Island will bear the mark of Konoha and will no longer be the treasure of the Cloud Village.

"hope is a sensory ninja, he will lead your people to Turtle Island accurately, so you can rest assured, Uchiha clan leader. Now that things have come to this point, I would not do anything stupid that would harm others or myself. Driving away the Iwa ninja is my most important goal right now."

"That would be for the best! To be honest, I've had enough of this war. If I could, I wouldn't want to eat military food again. So... Mr. Tsuchida, please don't force me to go back to the battlefield. If that happens... I won't be as merciful as I am now!"

Zongxian smiled and spoke in a gentle voice the words that made Tudai's eyes twitch.

[Chapter 223. The Theft Case]

All the captured Cloud Ninja were returned, including the two Jinchuriki; none were spared. Not everyone was satisfied with this outcome, with many feeling that it was like releasing a tiger back into the mountains. However, such comments were not enough to change the result. Those individuals only dared to discuss it in private; no one dared to say such things to Sogen's face.

Anyway,

After releasing the prisoners, the Fourth Raikage immediately chose to withdraw his troops and return to the Land of Lightning. The army split into two, with one group, led by Tsuchida and Killer Bee, heading ahead day and night towards the Iwa ninja who had not yet left the Land of Lightning.

The Fourth Raikage led another unit to cover the rear, clearly to guard against Konoha's reneging on their promise and launching a sneak attack from behind.

Zongxian ignored the Cloud Ninja's pointless actions. He had already made his point clear. If Mr. Tsuchida was a truly intelligent man, he wouldn't disappoint. Even if the Cloud Ninja dared to resort to any tricks, he would naturally give them the consequences they deserved.

War is an excellent catalyst.

Soldiers who have been on the battlefield are completely different from those who haven't. This rule also applies to ninjas, and it's no exception for Zongxian. This year, with his frequent use of the Mangekyou Sharingan during his campaigns in the north and south, he has become increasingly adept at mastering this power.

In addition to the various gains along the way, such as the Flame Fan, the Banana Fan, and the Kusanagi Sword: Sky Sword, although the Kusanagi Sword was Shisui's trophy, it had also passed through the hands of Sogen. The most important of these was the Flame Fan, a fan made from the branches of the Divine Tree, which showed him the right path.

The Mangekyou Sharingan is no longer the highest point that can be reached.

After the clouds and mist clear, even higher peaks appear before our eyes. The future is not limited to the present; we have a much broader future ahead of us!

After the Cloud Ninja withdrew, the Konoha ninjas did not leave the Land of Hot Springs immediately. Instead, they stayed in this country with many hot springs to recuperate. The Cloud Ninjas were eager to go back and drive away the Iwa Ninja bandits, and they rushed back tirelessly. However, the Konoha ninjas did not have such great pressure and there was no need for them to rush back to the village.

Although this battle did not last very long, at least compared to the previous Shinobi World Wars that lasted for several years, the intensity of the war during this short period was no less than that of the previous Shinobi World Wars. Both the Konoha ninjas and their allies, the Kirigakure ninjas, were quite exhausted.

This fatigue is not only physical, but also mental.

The Land of Hot Springs is a famous tourist destination, and soaking in hot springs is an excellent way to recuperate... This is only one of the reasons. Another reason why Konoha did not withdraw its troops was Turtle Island. Before leaving, the Cloud Ninja left behind a small team, a team led by the Cloud Ninja Jonin, Nozomi.

hope's team has only one mission: to lead the Konoha ninjas to Turtle Island and then take over the island.

The army cannot retreat before achieving this important goal. If they cannot find Turtle Island and the Cloud Ninja are just playing tricks, then the army will head north and march towards the Land of Lightning. This is not a decision made by Sogen alone, but an order received after consulting the Hokage.

then,

The Konoha ninjas stayed in the Land of Hot Springs and enjoyed the hot springs there!

By the way, there were many Konoha ninjas who went to take over Turtle Island with Hei's team. The leader was Jiraiya, the second-in-command was Uchiha Shisui, and the team members included Hyuga, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Inuzuka. It can be said that almost all the powerful clans of Konoha sent people to join.

Such a luxurious lineup is entirely due to the term "perfect Jinchuriki".

Despite the fact that the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and the Two-Tails Jinchuriki suffered defeats at the hands of Sogen and Shisui, this does not diminish people's attention to Jinchuriki. Apart from Shisui being sent away by Sogen, everyone, including Jiraiya, was after the secret to achieving the perfect Jinchuriki.

Especially Jiraiya,

After learning about Turtle Island, the Toad Sage, who had been somewhat lost after visiting Mount Myōboku for some reason, suddenly perked up. Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and if the secret on Turtle Island that can create a perfect Jinchūriki is really reliable, then Naruto will definitely use it in the future!

······

"Done! We're done!"

Zongxian put down his pen, stood up and walked around the room a couple of times, stretching to loosen his stiff muscles. Just then, the office door opened, and Uchiha Futaba walked in carrying a wooden tray, filling the room with an enticing aroma.

My stomach made a "gurgling" sound.

Hunger erupted in that instant.

He glanced at the wall clock; the short hour hand was already pointing to the top. He knew immediately, it was already this late! Sigh! This damned work makes even my sense of time blurry when I get busy! Zongxian raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What's for lunch today? This taste... is it pork soup?"

"It's stewed pork."

Futaba Uchiha placed the plate on the table.

Lifting the lid to keep it warm, you find a bowl of rice, a bowl of stewed pork, a plate of cucumber side dishes, and a bowl of steaming miso soup. The alluring aroma explodes like a bomb the moment the lid is lifted, stimulating Zongxian's salivary glands to secrete a large amount of saliva!

What followed was a whirlwind of activity.

Within a minute, the dishes on the plate were all empty, and Zongxian rubbed his stomach and leaned back in his chair to rest.

"Futaba, did anything interesting happen today?"

After finishing his meal and work, he was too lazy to cultivate for the time being. As for taking a nap... it wasn't good to sleep right after eating, so he casually asked Uchiha Futaba, who was clearing the table. As the highest commander of the army, he had a lot of work to do every day, while also taking care of his own cultivation. He was so busy that he didn't have time to listen to any gossip.

That is, now that the war is over,

With his workload reduced significantly, Zongxian finally had time to listen to gossip news.

“Nothing interesting happened, but I heard that something happened to the corpse disposal team. They’re still investigating, and if they can’t handle it, they’ll probably send trouble over soon.” Uchiha Futaba’s answer made Sogen raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"The morgue crew?"

Zongxian muttered the name, then looked up at Uchiha Futaba, "Futaba, are you sure it's the corpse disposal team that's in trouble? What could possibly happen to them? Isn't their job to dispose of corpses? Could it be that those corpses have come back to life?"

This is a true corpse disposal team, not a covert operation using that name.

As a proper corpse disposal team, their job is to collect corpses, preserve intact corpses, and piece together incomplete corpses as much as possible. When they return to the village, the corpses of Konoha ninjas will be buried in the cemetery, while the corpses of Kumogakure ninjas will be sent to various research institutions in the village, including Konoha Hospital, as experimental materials.

Logically speaking, the problems with the corpse disposal team's work are that the workload is huge, the working environment is harsh, and they have to deal with corpses all year round, which tests a person's psychological quality. After all, not everyone likes to be with dead people all day long. Even ninjas, who all have more or less blood on their hands, still have many who don't like dealing with corpses.

In short, the body disposal team is notoriously obscure and rarely appears in gossip news.

"I'm not too sure either. I heard it from the cooks when I went to get food. Apparently, a body from the mortuary has gone missing."

The body has disappeared?

Zongxian narrowed his eyes.

That's interesting!

Although most corpses have legs, they generally can't run away. Since they couldn't have run away on their own, does that mean they were robbed? Was it someone from the body disposal team? Or someone else in the military? Or perhaps an outsider?

There are too many possibilities, and without reliable evidence, it's impossible to determine the answer.

but,

Futaba is right. If the corpse disposal team can't handle it themselves, it will most likely be sent to his desk. After all, ninja corpses have extremely high value. There are always people or forces buying ninja corpses on the black market. Not to mention those 'celebrities' whose corpses are worth tens of millions, even the corpses of ordinary genin can sell for forty or fifty thousand.

If the bodies of Konoha ninjas were to be found, on a small scale, it wouldn't be a big deal. There are tens of thousands of Konoha ninjas, and every year there are those whose bodies are never found. But on a larger scale, if the body of an important figure in the village were to go missing, it could very well lead to the leakage of information about the village... Such matters can be big or small, depending on the specific circumstances.

It was afternoon.

The matter eventually escalated. After discovering the missing body, the mortuary team first conducted an internal investigation, but found nothing. They obviously did not have the authority to investigate their colleagues outside the mortuary team, and because the matter had become quite a big deal, many people outside the mortuary team already knew about it, so they dared not keep it a secret.

"...Is this your investigation result? You've ruled out the possibility of an inside job within your body disposal team..." Zong Xuan flipped through the report in his hand, shook his head, "Apart from that, there's nothing else you've found. Did you really not find even the slightest clue?"

Zongxian stared at the head of the corpse disposal team standing in front of him, a middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in the standard Konoha ninja attire. He was also a special jonin, whose combat skills were not great, but he was extremely skilled at sewage stitching and repair, and he had managed to become a special jonin with this skill.

"Um, Assistant Hokage, we... um, we really... only know how to handle corpses. We, we're not good at investigations at all." The nearly fifty-year-old head of the corpse handling team was so frightened by Zongxian's oppressive gaze that he could barely speak!

If he were younger, or less timid, he might have peed his pants on the spot from fright.

"I see."

Zongxian straightened up, his body which had been leaning forward.

He could tell that the head of the body disposal team wasn't the quick-witted type; he was a typical technical talent who had gotten the position entirely through his skills. Fortunately, the body disposal team wasn't a highly sought-after job, so there was no competition, allowing this honest, technically skilled person to become the leader.

"I thought it was a small matter... but I didn't expect it to be a big deal."

Zongxian was a little troubled.

The number of stolen corpses was considerable, nearly a hundred in total. This was because most of the corpses were sealed into scrolls after being processed, which saved a lot of storage space. At the same time, there was no need to worry about the corpses rotting away while they were sealed in the scrolls for a long time.