I have a bunch of relatives who want to become Hokage.

No, I don't smoke.

"You don't even smoke in this line of work? Are you a newbie?"

"I'm your outside help. If it weren't for the fact that the Root paid a hefty price, nobody would have come to this place. What would a shadow clone like you want a cigarette for?"

"My wife is very strict, so I can only use Shadow Clone Jutsu to hit her. Also, be careful, the Prajna Clan is not normal; they like to stick explosive talismans on themselves."

After saying that, the teahouse owner exploded into a cloud of mist with a "bang".

Chapter Two: The Prajna Clan Wants to Change the Information Again

Following the teahouse owner's advice, Uchiha Shingen continued northward.

As the vegetation gradually thinned and eventually disappeared, Uchiha Shingen entered a region of loess hills.

He roughly understood what the teahouse owner meant by the valley.

It's actually just gullies in the loess landform.

In this environment, earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of escape technique) is the most convenient for stealth movement. However, there are many ravines and the ground is broken, so earth-遁 can still be used without it.

Moreover, the weather cooperated, and it suddenly started raining, which greatly facilitated Uchiha Shingen. Taking advantage of the terrain and the cover of the rain, he finally found the location of the Hannya group.

As the teahouse owner said, the Prajna community's level is really just so-so.

Uchiha Shingen quickly located their stronghold.

They built a simple camp next to a hill, and although there was a watchtower, it was practically useless in this weather.

Their attire was just like the name of their organization.

Everyone was wearing a ghost mask, which looked quite intimidating at first glance.

When Uchiha Shingen sneaked into the mountain stronghold, the Hannya members on the watchtower were completely unaware.

The camp was truly rudimentary. Due to the rain, there was water everywhere, and as the rainfall intensified, it even formed a stream. Uchiha Shingen used a water-style technique to disappear into the stream and continued deeper into the camp.

After looking around, he realized there was a reason why the camp was so simple.

The true stronghold of the Prajna community is in the loess hills, where cave dwellings are everywhere.

The camp was only on the outer perimeter, used for guard duty.

Unfortunately, their anti-submarine warfare capabilities are far too outdated compared to the current state of the five major villages.

There isn't even a barrier.

It's very simple; Uchiha Shingen has already figured this place out completely.

The Prajna assembly was not very large, totaling about seventy or eighty people.

In terms of skill level, there are about ten Chunin, one Jonin, and the rest are all Genin.

However, these genin were all veterans who had served for many years. Regardless of their skill level, their actions showed that they were seasoned veterans.

The Hannya Clan is not a ninja organization from the Land of Stone. They were chased by Konoha and fled all the way here. These seventy or eighty people are probably the last elite members of their organization.

With these people dead, the Hannya Clan, as a ninja organization, vanished.

Uchiha Shingen lay in wait for most of the night and discovered that the core members of the Hannya Clan were gathered in the largest cave, which was brightly lit and filled with the sounds of arguing.

Uchiha Shingen didn't hear it very clearly, but it was something like "secret realm," "activation," or "entering."

They may have actually discovered some secret place.

However, Uchiha Shingen did not have high expectations for this. This world is neither too big nor too small, but the three secret realms with Sage Mode inheritances are probably the most powerful, with each of the Sannin having their own nameplates. Otherwise, in all these years, no fourth secret realm with Sage Mode inheritances has appeared.

For Uchiha Shingen, a secret realm without the inheritance of sage techniques was truly of little value.

Having confirmed that these were the members of the Prajna clan, Uchiha Shingen left a Flying Thunder God seal here, withdrew, and returned to the camp area.

During the tea ceremony, the patron said he wanted to wipe out the entire family, so we couldn't let anyone escape.

Speaking of which, Shimura Danzo looks very serious, but he has quite a full range of tea-tasting skills and knows the basic routines. It makes sense, considering that as an intelligence expert in Konoha, he fought on the front lines a lot in his early years and has experienced all kinds of situations. It's impossible for him to lack experience in this area.

Unfortunately, times have changed, and his techniques are outdated, far inferior to Uchiha Yakuma's.

Uchiha Yakumi and the others have been making plans and are now on par with the younger generation.

Using Water Release to remain hidden in the puddles, Uchiha Shingen lay in ambush at the spot where the Hannya ninja patrol changed shifts.

When three Hannya ninjas who were changing shifts passed by, Uchiha Shingen made his move.

Several water needles suddenly shot out from the stagnant water in the mud, piercing the throats of the three men.

Before they could fall, a gust of cold air swept over them, freezing them in place. From a distance, it appeared that the three people in the rain had merely stopped.

After finishing this round, Uchiha Shingen immediately used Water Release to move to the next location and, following the same pattern, "froze" another group of Hannya disciples in place.

From start to finish, it only took a few minutes, and there were no living people left on the ground of the camp.

Except for the people in the watchtower.

But it didn't take much effort. Uchiha Shingen no longer needed to hide. He revealed himself and blasted the watchtower to smithereens with a powerful fireball.

Just as the Hannya ninjas stationed above jumped out in time, a flash of light appeared in mid-air, and his head was severed from his body.

The Three-Body Technique is indeed a must-have for experts to show off, but if you're not an expert, you really shouldn't try to use any on-the-spot substitutions or clones.

The orange-red flames were equally clear through the rain, and the loud noise alerted the enemies inside the cave.

A figure darted out from within.

This was exactly what Uchiha Shingen wanted to do.

Overcoming the limitations of distance, he vanished from the camp and appeared before an enemy who had just run out of the cave, beheading him with a single blow.

A veteran genin is still a genin; genin-level experience is meaningless in the face of absolute differences in rank.

As the small katana was swung, the members of the Hannya sect ate their bento boxes.

This environment was far too convenient for Uchiha Shingen; his Flying Thunder God Seals were now scattered throughout this valley.

Did you think he was using the Instantaneous Movement technique? No, this is the authentic Flying Thunder God Slash.

The Hannya ninjas couldn't react at all; every time Uchiha Shingen appeared, one person's head flew into the air.

In the blink of an eye, everyone except the Hannya Jonin was slaughtered by Uchiha Shingen as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

This Jonin wasn't faring much better; his arm was badly injured, the wound so deep you could see the bone. He almost lost his entire arm to Uchiha Shingen, and that was only because Uchiha Shingen didn't aim for a vital spot.

There are differences even among Jonin; there's nothing that can be done about it.

As the old saying goes, chakra level does not represent combat strength, and different organizations have different standards for judging Jonin.

The five great ninja villages have the most stringent standards for judging Jonin in the ninja world, and according to these strict standards, Uchiha Shingen is one of the top Jonin in Konoha.

"Who are you?" the Jonin of the Prajna Sect asked timidly.

He couldn't be forceful, and he knew he was doomed, but he wanted to die knowing why.

"Hand over the information about the secret realm." Uchiha Shingen didn't waste any words with him. At this distance, the Jonin of the Hannya Sect could also see those scarlet eyes.

“The Uchiha clan!” He gritted his teeth. “I’ll give you the information, but Konoha must spare the rest of us.”

“There’s no one left, only you.” Uchiha Shingen shook his head. “You’re dead. We don’t care about the information about the secret realm; it was just something we happened to find.”

“You’ll care, but I’m not talking about the people here, you know what I mean.”

"That depends on your sound system... oh no, I mean, on the value of your intelligence. To be honest, if you hadn't brought this on yourselves, Konoha wouldn't have bothered with you." Uchiha Shingen decided to give this person some face. "That's how the rules are in the ninja world. If you get too cocky, you'll get hurt."

"Ryuchi Cave, we've found its location and how to enter." The Jonin of the Hannya Sect didn't keep them in suspense and revealed everything in one sentence.

"Ryuchi Cave?" Uchiha Shingen was taken aback. "You know the consequences of lying again, right? The rest of you will really be wiped out."

"It's true, Ryuchi Cave is right here, and we've already figured out how to get in."

Chapter Three: The First Meeting of Konoha Village in September

According to the rules established since the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the highest decisions of Konoha Village are made by the Hokage, his assistants, and advisors.

The team members would each summarize the work of their respective departments, and then discuss it together at a team meeting, which normally takes place every three days.

The sun shone brightly in Konoha Village that day, and the weather was excellent.

In the Hokage's office, the first office meeting of the ninth month of this year was held.

There were no newcomers among the attendees; they were all familiar faces.

Hokage, Minato Namikaze, 24 years old, representing the Jonin team, which is the main body of the Konoha Ninja Army's regular army.

Former Hokage, current Hokage's assistant, Hiruzen Sarutobi, 57 years old, represents the Anbu, Education Department, Medical Department, and Interrogation Department outside of "Root".

Former Hokage's assistant, now an advisor and elder, Shimura Danzo, 57 years old, represents "Root".

The current advisory elders, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, are 57 years old and represent the administration department.

The meeting didn't have the leisurely atmosphere of everyone drinking tea and reading newspapers. On the contrary, the old men were full of energy and worked hard to fight for the interests of the departments they represented.

After all, according to the old rules, the 20 billion taels of compensation from the Land of Water were split equally between the Daimyo's residence and Konoha, and 10 billion taels had already been deposited into the administrative department's account.

How to divide these 10 billion taels is up to the people present.

If it weren't for this, the meeting would have ended long ago.

However, although Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado are in charge of the administration department, they don't have the final say on how the money is used.

It was Minato Namikaze, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Danzo Shimura who had the final say.

However, Minato Namikaze withdrew from the battle early on, after all, his request was simple and reasonable - any ninja who died in the war must receive an extra compensation, and it must be provided immediately.

Nobody objected.

So Minato Namikaze contentedly entered spectator mode.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura remained to continue the fight.

Their conflict mainly centered on the allocation of funds for the covert operations.

"Hiruzen, you have to give me this 100 million," Shimura Danzo said. "The Anbu people are just hanging around the village every day, what do they need so much money for?"

“The Anbu also has missions within the Land of Fire.” Hiruzen Sarutobi refused to back down. “Now that the war has just ended, it’s not appropriate to make any big moves in overseas operations. That would only make things worse. Don’t forget that ‘Root’ is also an Anbu.”

"Nonsense, nothing will happen as long as there are enough funds. Things will only go wrong when there are no funds." Shimura Danzo's cane went up and down, and Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura unconsciously moved their butts away to keep their distance.