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

But that's just how it is.

The Uchiha library contained many Lightning Release ninjutsu, but Uchiha Shingen didn't learn them all.

Although he was greedy, he wouldn't learn ninjutsu indiscriminately. Besides, he had a more suitable teacher to learn about lightning release techniques.

It all depends on whether they come or not.

After tidying up, he left the cultivation room and went home to take a shower.

It was still early today, so he decided to go for a walk outside.

After changing into casual clothes, Uchiha Shingen left the clan's territory.

It had been a long time since he had simply strolled around like this. The last time was out of curiosity, when he explored the entire Hidden Leaf Village to measure its size.

Walking along the commercial street, browsing the shops from time to time, he felt very comfortable in this relaxed atmosphere.

Although I suggested to Fugaku Uchiha that he leave himself an escape route, who would want to leave Konoha unless it came to that...

This could be considered a downside of saving Minato Namikaze's family. If they were still those same old men and women, ten years later, Shingen Uchiha would be fully confident that he could send them all to a nursing home in one fell swoop.

But compared to this so-called disadvantage, the advantages are far outweighed.

On the way, I also ran into colleagues from the garrison. They were all acquaintances, so we greeted each other. Those who were shopping continued shopping, and those who were going to work continued going to work.

Suddenly, a commotion arose from behind.

Uchiha Shingen, with a grilled squid in his mouth, glanced back.

A ninja pushed through the crowd and hurried through the street. Judging from his attire, he had just returned from outside the village, but he looked anxious.

What happened?

Chapter Nine: Pre-Battle Mobilization

There may truly be a principle in this world that things will turn into their opposites when they reach an extreme.

Since its establishment, Konoha Village has stood in the ninja world as the "strongest". When the village was founded, the combination of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha directly overwhelmed the entire ninja world. However, not many years later, the two powerful figures fell out, and the latter wanted to destroy Konoha.

With the passing of the God of Shinobi, the First Shinobi World War, a grand parade of shinobi, began. It wiped out the second generation of each village, and the shinobi clans suffered heavy losses. As the center of the storm, Konoha experienced what it meant to be the target of everyone's attacks. The more enjoyable the boasting before, the more painful this battle was.

The Second Shinobi World War saw the rise of commoner ninjas, but the intensity of the war also increased to a level that was incomparable to the Warring States period due to the surge in the number of ninjas from various countries.

During the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha even opened up three fronts during its most difficult period.

They thought this was the end, and everyone could just rest on their laurels and enjoy the mission quotas they earned. But after only a year, the Nine-Tails went berserk and almost stormed into the village to carry out a demolition. If it weren't for a freak in the Uchiha clan, this would have been a success. But the Shimura Danzo case that followed made everyone realize just how corrupt their village was.

The three ninjas thus disbanded.

Peace still has not come to this village. The disappearance of the three ninja has once again stirred the ambitions of the northern neighbor.

The news of the Cloud Ninja's southward march spread throughout Konoha Village in less than a day.

It couldn't be kept secret. Konoha Village had always had a large transient population and was located in the most prosperous area of ​​the continent. The Cloud Ninja army had already begun its operation, and the news spread in Konoha Village at the same speed as when the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, received the report.

He didn't even need to listen to the whole report.

"The barbarians from the plateau are coming!" Someone yelled this in the street, the sound so loud it could be heard into the Hokage's office.

As for the nickname "Shit Barbarian," no one knows who came up with it, but it spread like a contagious disease throughout Konoha in about half a year. Now, many Konoha people refer to Cloud Ninja as "Shit Barbarian."

This is just too catchy...

"Is war already unavoidable...?" Minato Namikaze stood by the window, looking at the street.

The villagers were discussing it, their faces full of worry.

The Land of Fire, occupying the most fertile land on the continent, possesses the strongest national power and military strength in the Naruto world. However, this also presents a major headache—it has no territorial needs from other countries, so it is always the one that gets attacked.

Every time the Land of Fire is attacked, the Hidden Leaf Village is also attacked.

To avoid war, Konoha Village must possess sufficient deterrent power.

One of Danzo Shimura's important tasks during his lifetime was to monitor the ninja world, and he would take various measures to deal with any incidents that undermined Konoha's deterrent power.

Even so, it did not prevent the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars.

Invading the Land of Fire is a common desire of all nations.

There's no such thing as not doing it, only when to do it.

The Land of Lightning's desire for the Land of Fire's territory is common knowledge. If it weren't for the Land of Earth as a nemesis, the number of military conflicts between the two countries would at least double.

Since taking office, the current Raikage has fully supported the expansion of Kumogakure's military power. After the Third Shinobi World War, Kumogakure, which suffered relatively few losses in the war, has become almost on par with Konoha in terms of military size.

Although they lost a Raikage, that Raikage single-handedly overwhelmed the 10,000-strong Iwa ninja army that wanted to raid their base. In that battle, Iwa ninja lay dead everywhere, and almost all the Iwa ninja who participated in the battle developed Raikage phobia.

Now, having learned of the disbandment of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, the Raikage could no longer suppress his ambition and launched an invasion of the Land of Fire.

However, Konoha Village only received the news after the Cloud Ninja army had already officially set off south. This shows that the consequence of Root being in charge of overseas intelligence work for many years is that the Anbu has basically lost the ability to handle this function.

To be fair, since the Third Hokage took office, the size of the Anbu has been expanding, but its quality has been declining.

The undercover agents have become accustomed to the relatively comfortable and easy work within the country.

This was one of the major changes that Danzo Shimura's death brought to Konoha, resulting in a sharp decline in its ability to gather intelligence from outside the village.

Minato Namikaze seemed to understand a little better why Danzo Shimura had said those words to him back then.

They weren't talking about who came to do the dirty work, but this.

Over the years, Konoha Village has never produced another intelligence expert comparable to Danzo Noshimura.

The intelligence network is still the same intelligence network, but its effectiveness is completely different.

But Minato Namikaze wouldn't dwell on that.

The Hokage Building issued orders swiftly, and various departments of Konoha Village began to mobilize. The propaganda department began to promote the strength of the Konoha Ninja Army to the villagers, assuring them that everything was within the Hokage Building's expectations and there was no need to panic.

Meanwhile, the envoy from the Hokage Building quickly contacted the various ninja clans and convened a war council.

The Tang Ninja Army can't hold off the Cloud Ninja Army for long. No, it should be said that once the Cloud Ninja Army enters the Land of Hot Springs, they can crush the Tang Ninja Army on the same day.

The eight great ninja clans reacted swiftly, without a single delay; they traveled faster than the messengers from the Hokage Building could return.

It's obvious who will run faster among a group of Jonin and a Chunin.

Less than half an hour after the Hokage Building issued the summons, the strongest and most ruthless group of people in Konoha had already gathered in the large conference room on the third floor of the Hokage Building to launch a war meeting.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was semi-retired, came.

The Uchiha clan was also present, including Uchiha Shingen.

As the host, Minato Namikaze first introduced the current situation to everyone. This decisive Hokage didn't mince words; after the introduction, he began to assign tasks.

According to the established practice of the battles between Konoha and Kumogakure, the Land of Hot Springs, with its relatively large area and long border with Konoha, would become the main battlefield compared to the small Land of Frost.

This does not mean that the Land of Frost will have an easy time, because the Raikage will not hesitate to demand that the Land of Frost provide war supplies.

In the Land of Lightning's system, the Frost Daimyo's status is only equivalent to that of a high-ranking nobleman, and he has little confidence when facing the Raikage.

Everyone knows that the Raikage and the Raikage are so close they're practically inseparable.

Anything related to the military, as long as it's Raikage's request, Raikage will fulfill it.

As for the Land of Hot Springs, the Cloud Ninja's method of action was ruthless plunder, scraping away every last bit of the land.

However, this also gave Konoha Village time to arrange and deploy its military forces.

The so-called arrangement and deployment of military forces is actually a competition between several major ninja clans.

Having experienced three Shinobi World Wars, the eight great ninja clans of Konoha have become very accustomed to this new war system. They have also found a balance between earning military merits and ensuring the survival of their clans. They do not reject national wars; on the contrary, they like them very much.

Nothing can be more meritorious than the contribution of the national war!

"Now, regarding the main task, please give your opinions." Minato Namikaze announced the start of the bidding process.

"The Sarutobi clan requests to lead the attack!" The Sarutobi clan's Jonin displayed an unwavering spirit, "Our clan excels in Fire Release, and in terms of brute force, we are not afraid of the Cloud Ninja."

Sarutobi, Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi are one group, and the other three ninja clans immediately expressed their stance and stepped forward.

The envoy from the Aburame clan remained silent. He stepped forward and adjusted his glasses.

Since everyone knew each other, they immediately understood what was meant—you guys aren't afraid of stuffing yourselves to death, I'll join in too!

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a happy puff of his cigarette. Danzo Shimura's death saddened him, but the atmosphere within the clan had changed. From being somewhat reluctant to be on the front lines, they were now filled with fighting spirit, something the old man had witnessed firsthand.

Back in the day, he was so fierce when it came to bidding that he had no friends. Danzo often argued with him about it. Now that the family has a successor, the old man is very pleased.

The only thing I'm a little worried about is whether the young people are getting a bit too cocky. The Yunren are ruthless and notoriously fearless.

However, with the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi families being longtime friends, it probably won't be too bad. After all, people need setbacks to grow.

"Sarutobi clan, you're going to make me laugh to death." The representative of the Uchiha clan was Uchiha Yakumi. "As for Fire Release, we still need to rely on the Uchiha. Fourth Hokage, let the Uchiha and Hyuga clans take the lead in this attack."

The Hyuga and Uchiha clans, as two major clans with prominent eyes, have a close rivalry both overtly and covertly. However, on the battlefield in Kirigakure, the two clans cooperate very well.

Therefore, Uchiha Yakumi signed up for both companies at the same time.

His actions greatly won the favor of the Hyuga clan representative, who gave him kind looks.

The Inuzuka clan was the only one left to remain silent. Their representative was quite worried, as they didn't have many advantages in this mission compared to the other clans.

But we still have to try, so he said, "We'll follow the Fourth Hokage's arrangements, anywhere is fine with us."

Uchiha Shingen stood behind Uchiha Yakumi, with Uchiha Shisui beside him. As an important fighting force of the Uchiha clan, he was also allowed to speak.

Driven by personal needs, he immediately added, "Fourth Hokage, I think we should form a special task force to assassinate lone Cloud Ninjas on the front lines, weakening their organization. My ninjutsu would be perfect for that."

“Shingen, I know you’re strong,” Minato Namikaze reminded him, “but don’t be careless. The Cloud Ninja are known for their fearlessness. I’ve fought them before, and they truly live up to their reputation.”

"Don't worry, Fourth Hokage, I'm perfectly fine." Uchiha Shingen expressed his gratitude, "I won't risk my own life or the lives of my comrades."

Fearless of death? That's what others told him before they fought the Mist Ninja.

And what happened? They were quite fierce at first, but then they all ran faster than the last!

Therefore, rumors should not be taken at face value.

The more stereotypical a story is, the further it is from the truth.

No sooner had Uchiha Shingen finished speaking than someone else spoke up.

The group of ninjas chattered amongst themselves, introducing their special skills to show that they were really suited to beating up the Cloud Ninjas.

In this timeline, at this moment, Konoha is truly not inferior to the Cloud Ninja.