Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Beigen was a man with thick eyebrows. His appearance was quite ordinary, but his thick eyebrows left an unforgettable impression. After hearing Dilu's explanation, his expression became extremely complicated. He hesitated for a moment, then finally let out a helpless sigh, "Alas! Asuma... alas!"

The assassination of the Third Hokage was no secret in the Land of Fire.

Moreover, as the daimyo's personal guards, they knew that the assassination of the Third Hokage was not so simple. But to be honest, if it weren't for their companion Sarutobi Asuma, they wouldn't care about such things at all. They weren't Konoha ninjas, so what did the internal struggles and infighting of Konoha have to do with them?

"But without Asuma's support, it will be difficult for us to fight against Kazuma and his men."

Another guest spoke up. Chengma was much more handsome than Beigen. He had a cross-shaped scar on the right side of his face. He said with a wry smile, "There are only five of us, while Ma and the others have six... If a conflict breaks out, we won't be able to stop them."

The Twelve Guardian Ninjas, as the name suggests, consist of twelve people.

The disagreement split the faction into two groups: a radical faction and a moderate faction. Interestingly, each faction had six members. The radical faction was led by Kazuma, while the moderate faction was led by Sarutobi Asuma. This balance in numbers also reflected a balance in strength, as neither faction could gain the upper hand, thus maintaining the peace that had been maintained.

However, the situation has changed now.

For some reason, Kazuma's actions have become increasingly aggressive and flamboyant lately. He has begun to openly promote his theory that the Hokage is useless and that Konoha should be placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Daimyo. It should be noted that the Daimyo's residence, as the capital of the Land of Fire, is home to a large number of nobles and dignitaries, which in turn attracts a large number of ninjas from all over the country.

Let me explain here.

The Land of Fire has only one ninja village, Konoha. This is the result of the one-village-one-country system established by the First Hokage and the Fire Daimyo. However, in addition to Konoha, the Land of Fire also has a large number of ninja clans and 'ninja villages'.

The term "ninja clan" is easy to understand: a group of ninjas bound by blood ties.

However, not all ninja clans can pass on their lineage on their own. As early as the Warring States period, ninja clans had already gathered together to form what is known as a 'ninja village'. Strictly speaking, a ninja village is an evolved version of a ninja village. The original ninja village only had ninjas, no ordinary people, and naturally, no commoner ninjas were born there.

That's roughly the situation. It's not just the Land of Fire; similar situations exist in other countries as well. The most typical example is the Land of Water. In addition to internal strife, the Mist Ninja are also constantly clashing with various ninja villages and clans in the Land of Water.

Currently,

Kazuma has been constantly contacting and persuading these ninja villages and clans, and it seems that he has made considerable progress. After all, not everyone likes Konoha. Some of these ninja villages and clans are self-sufficient, while others rely on the services of nobles and merchants to make a living. Konoha, as a powerful competitor, is naturally not something that people like.

Of course, there are also ninja villages and clans that choose to befriend Konoha. For example, Hakumine Village, where Hokane and his friends come from, has a very close relationship with Konoha, which has influenced their ideology and put them on the opposite side of Ma. The same applies to Chiraku, and the relationship between the Fire Temple and Konoha is even better.

"Do you really think Kazuma and the others would dare to make a move?"

Beigen felt that Chengma was exaggerating a bit.

The conflict between the radical and moderate factions is not a recent development. Similar disputes arose shortly after the formation of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas, and the confrontation between the two factions has lasted for several years, but it has always remained at the level of mere sparring.

"Why wouldn't they dare? Kazuma and the others aren't even afraid of being enemies with Konoha, so why wouldn't they dare to attack us?" Naruma's rebuttal silenced Kitane. What he said made sense. Kazuma and the others were becoming more and more high-profile. To be honest, if they continued like this, they would eventually attract Konoha's attention, but they still did it.

This makes it easy to imagine that Kazuma has probably made a certain decision.

A decision that could completely change the previous stalemate, and what's worse is that the moderates have lost their leader. Originally, even if there was a conflict, it was a 50/50 chance, but now it has instantly become 20/80. The impact of losing Sarutobi Asuma is far more than just a numerical decrease.

Once the balance is disrupted,

It often results in a one-sided outcome.

"Dilu, do you have any ideas?"

Beigen looked towards the land.

Among the six moderates, if Sarutobi Asuma is the number one, then Chiriku is the second-in-command. Since Sarutobi Asuma chose to stay out of it, they could only rely on Chiriku.

"I want to go to Konoha."

"Go to Konoha?"

Naruma raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Are you going to contact Konoha to deal with Kazuma?"

"It's hard to say exactly how to deal with it, but we absolutely cannot let Kazuma and the others run rampant like this. If we let them act recklessly, I'm afraid there will be irreparable consequences. Since we are powerless to stop Kazuma and the others, we can only rely on the power of Konoha."

Di Lu said seriously.

[269. Chapter 267 The Radical Faction Among the Twelve Guardian Ninja]

What were Jiraiya and Kitane talking about? Were they blaming themselves for running away? Or were they discussing how to fight against Kazuma and the others...? Sarutobi Asuma didn't want to think about it, forcing himself to focus on the drink in front of him, numbing his mind, emptying his head, and refusing to think...

"Boom!"

A large beer mug smashed in front of him.

Sarutobi Asuma paused for two seconds, his somewhat sluggish brain finally reacting. He looked up at the hand holding the beer glass and saw Kazuma's unpleasant face. However, he didn't get angry, but coldly asked, "Kazuma, what are you doing here? Looking for a drink? Or looking for trouble? If you're going to drink, pay for it yourself. I'm not treating. If you want trouble, let's do it another time. I'm not in the mood to play with you today!"

"neither."

Kazuma stood to the side, looking down at his opponent who had given him a headache for a long time. He was filled with mixed feelings. When the Twelve Guardian Ninja were first formed, he looked down on Sarutobi Asuma, a spoiled brat who had gotten in by relying on his father, the Hokage.

However, Sarutobi Asuma later proved with his own fists and feet that he was not the kind of useless bum who was all show and no substance, and caused Kazuma a lot of trouble in the following years.

but,

That's all in the past.

Sarutobi Asuma is no longer an obstacle in his way; Konoha has moved this stumbling block aside.

"Asuma, would you like to join us?" Kazuma extended a sincere invitation.

"Join us?"

Sarutobi Asuma let out a mocking laugh, looking at Kazuma as if he were a fool. "Get lost! If you're going to die, don't drag me down with you. I have no interest in committing suicide with you."

It's expected that Ma wouldn't get angry even after being criticized. If he were convinced as soon as he opened his mouth, that would be a problem.

He stared intently at Sarutobi Asuma. "I know you dislike the current state of Konoha. In that case, why not join forces with us and wipe out Konoha? If you are willing to obey the Daimyo's orders, it's not impossible for you to succeed as the Sixth Hokage!"

These words,

To be honest, Sarutobi Asuma did feel a flutter in his heart for a few seconds.

Become Hokage!

This is the dream of many Konoha ninjas. Sarutobi Asuma also had the same dream of becoming Hokage when he was a child, dreaming of becoming a great Hokage like his father... However, later on, the relationship between father and son became tense, and the rebellious Asuma even chose to leave Konoha and come to the Daimyo's mansion, becoming one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.

after that,

The father's mysterious death dealt a heavy blow to the family, and their dreams were completely shattered.

"Kazuma, don't bother me. Go die if you want! I can't be bothered with you, and you shouldn't bother me either." Sarutobi Asuma rejected Kazuma's invitation again. His hesitation only lasted a few seconds; Kazuma and his group were ignorant and fearless.

Even if they had learned about Konoha's strength through various channels, it was still difficult to understand why Konoha was able to win time and time again in the Shinobi World Wars and achieve miracles of defeating the many with the few!

As a child who grew up in Konoha and the young master of the Hokage family, Sarutobi Asuma knew very well how powerful Konoha was.

Even though they suffered heavy losses in the Third Shinobi World War and the subsequent Nine-Tails attack, Konoha was still the strongest violent group in the shinobi world. To be an enemy of Konoha... even getting a whole corpse was a pipe dream. He was unwilling to die in vain, and to die with the stigma of betraying the village.

Moreover, no matter what, even if he harbored resentment because of his father's death, Konoha was still the hometown where he grew up.

There he had friends, relatives, and many familiar faces.

"I'll say it one last time, Ma, don't bother me. I won't interfere in your affairs, but you shouldn't bother me either, otherwise... I don't mind going to find Di Lu and the others to join forces and fight you to the death."

Sarutobi Asuma refused with an uncompromising and firm attitude.

One of his hands was already inside his ninja tool pouch.

If this guy Ma continues to cause trouble, he won't hesitate to use violence to reason with him.

"All right!"

Kazuma sighed regretfully, "Since that's the case... then I won't bother you any longer, Asuma. Have a pleasant night!" After saying that, Kazuma turned and left. It was indeed a pity that he couldn't persuade Sarutobi Asuma to join their group, but it was also expected. In fact, he had been trying his luck from the beginning. If he succeeded, it would be a pleasant surprise, and even if he failed... that would be perfectly normal.

Step outside the tavern,

His companions were waiting for him at the door.

"It failed?"

Seeing Kazuma emerge, the man carrying a katana went to meet him.

"Half and half. My invitation was declined, but he also made it clear that he wouldn't interfere in our affairs, so it wasn't a wasted trip," Kazuma replied.

"Could he be lying to you? Maybe he's worried about being ganged up on by us, so he agreed verbally but will later go back on his word and turn against us? To be on the safe side, I think it's better to kill him now." The white-haired, fox-faced man holding a katana exuded murderous intent.

"Kogitsunemaru, behave yourself."

He glanced coldly at his companion, who was never very well-behaved and always did things out of line.

"Don't cause me any trouble. Sarutobi Asuma is no longer a problem for us. Attacking him now will not do any good and will only bring us trouble. The Daimyo has been very optimistic about him recently. He can no longer return to Konoha. The Daimyo's mansion is his final destination. Even if he hasn't figured it out yet, sooner or later he will be one of us."

"Tch! How boring."

The man with the rather cute-sounding name Kogitsunemaru suppressed his murderous aura, but his handsome fox-like face revealed visible displeasure.

"I can't touch this, I can't touch that. When can we finally have a proper, satisfying battle with Ma? I've had enough of this boring life. If I continue like this, I'm afraid my sword will become dull."

"Come on, come on!"

He jumped onto the roof of the small building opposite the tavern, stood on the ridge and looked out at the bustling city, and murmured, "It won't be long before the operation... begins soon, as long as the right opportunity arises."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Jiriku's decision to go to Konoha was not a spur-of-the-moment impulse, but a final decision made after careful consideration and discussion with his companions. To be honest, they did not believe that Kazuma and his group alone could pose any threat to Konoha. If Konoha were so easy to deal with, it would have been destroyed long ago.

Their concern is that Kazuma's thoughts and actions might influence His Majesty.

Undeniable,

Kazuma's arguments were extremely tempting, especially for the Daimyo. The idea of ​​completely taking control of the ninja's power, rather than maintaining a partnership-like relationship with Konoha, was a tremendous temptation.

However, this was unacceptable to Di Lu and his group.

They firmly believe that the one-country-one-village system is correct and suitable for the current era, and that excessive concentration of power in one person's hands is not a good thing in their view.

If Your Excellency is indeed misled by Kazuma and the others, the trouble that will ensue will not be a trivial matter of internal division among the Twelve Guardian Ninja, but a major problem that could destabilize the entire Land of Fire and even the entire ninja world.

If the "one country, one village" system is undermined,

The ninja world might regress to the chaotic Warring States period, to that dark age filled with bloodshed and violence.

Jiriku first asked the daimyo for leave, then parted ways with Kitane, Naruma, and the others, and went to Konoha alone. His actions could not have been kept from Kazuma and the others. To be precise, after Jiriku asked the daimyo for leave, Kazuma and the others had already learned about this through secret channels.

then,

Kazuma realized it.

The opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived.

"This is our chance. Once that bald man leaves Daming Prefecture, we can join forces and take him down!"

The speaker was Kogitsunemaru, a man with a beautiful fox face who was an extreme radical among radicals. No matter the mission, his solution was always to eliminate the opponent and solve the problem at its source.

Once, when the Fire Lord sent them to escort a nobleman to the countryside for recuperation, Kogitsunemaru, in order to ensure that nothing went wrong along the way, chose to slaughter all the bandits, thieves, and wandering ninja gangs along the route, leaving a trail of blood.

"The immortal talent of the Fire Temple is troublesome. If we really fight, at least three of us will have to work together, otherwise Jiriku might escape." In this corridor facing the garden, the six radicals sat or stood. They had gathered together because of the news that Jiriku had left the Daimyo Prefecture.