I am the new Hokage of Konoha.

But after a fierce battle, the Sand Ninja paid a heavy price and only managed to leave two alive.

As for Itachi, who is the most crucial one, he didn't even manage to touch a shadow of a person.

This infuriated the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, and other high-ranking Sand Ninja who learned of it afterward. They immediately dismissed Kazama from his position as lord of Kazama Castle and imprisoned him to await further punishment.

Meanwhile, at the Leaf Village headquarters in the Land of Rivers, Tsunade, dressed in a dark Leaf Village combat uniform that accentuated her mature and alluring figure, laughed heartily and patted Itachi on the shoulder, saying:

"here you go!"

Despite the pain in his shoulders, Itachi managed a weak smile.

Unaware of her own embarrassment, Tsunade then stroked her fair chin, her face full of amusement:

"Most of the supplies were destroyed at once. That guy Luo Sha will be heartbroken."

"Keep stalling!"

"Anyway, our Konoha clan is big and powerful! Let's see how long those poor Sand Ninja can hold out!"

Chapter 251 Minato's Second Encounter with the Iwa Ninja

Unlike their proactive approach against the Cloud and Mist Ninja, Konoha's strategy on the Sand Ninja front was to hold their ground and delay.

This is not only because Konoha's forces cannot cover all sides when facing invasions from the five great nations at the same time, but also because of the terrain of the Land of Wind.

Looking at the map alone, among the five great nations, the Land of Fire has the richest land, but the Land of Wind has the largest territory.

Although most of it is desert and Gobi, precisely because of this, any enemy wanting to invade the Wind Kingdom would undoubtedly have to make extensive preparations in advance to cross the Wind Kingdom's long and barren interior.

Konoha launched the war too hastily and naturally did not make sufficient logistical preparations.

Furthermore, there was not much to gain in the Land of Wind, so Konoha did not deploy heavy troops on this front. The task given to Tsunade was simply to use the terrain of the Land of River to hold off the Sand Village's offensive and wage a war of attrition.

In this respect, without the pressure of a long supply line to attack the Land of Wind, and only needing to hold off the Sand Ninja and wage a protracted war against them, the Land of Fire's national strength, even if it only severes a portion of its resources, would be enough to wear down the resource-poor Land of Wind.

As for the impact of the ongoing war on the Land of Rivers, Konoha had no interest in knowing more.

After all, this is the benefit of keeping enemies outside the country's borders.

They can play freely now.

Konoha initiated the Fourth Shinobi World War based on this idea.

Not only when facing the Cloud Ninja, Mist Ninja, and Sand Ninja, but also when facing the Iwa Ninja, the Konoha ninja took the lead in entering the Land of Grass to prevent the battle from spreading into the Land of Fire.

The only exception is the Land of Iron, which is completely adjacent to the Land of Fire.

Thanks to Tsunade's bold planning and Itachi's incredible prowess, the Sand Village ninja, who had suffered heavy losses in logistical supplies, could only launch a three-pronged attack.

If they fail to break through Konoha's defenses after their initial three attacks, they will be exhausted in a short time.

With Tsunade, who has extensive experience fighting Sand Ninja, leading the effort, and Itachi Uchiha, who has awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, assisting, there were almost no surprises.

The Sand Village side can be put aside for now.

At the same time.

Just as Konoha was already making progress on multiple fronts, the strongest force of the Five Nations Alliance, Konoha's true main force, a massive army of 15,000 ninjas under the leadership of Hokage's assistant, Minato Sanami, had arrived here in batches on the newly laid railway to the Land of Grass.

As soon as Minato Namikaze stepped off the train, he immediately dispatched a Konoha army unit to Kusagakure to force the Kusagakure ninja to take their positions.

Although the latter has always appeared harmless, as the commander, Minato would not tolerate having a force that does not belong to him crouching behind him while he is about to clash with the Iwa ninja.

"Kushinaga, I'm entrusting Kusagakure to you," Minato instructed his wife beside him.

With the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki posing a threat, the Grass Ninja should know what choice to make.

"Do not worry!"

After so many years of peace, Kushina, who usually only had fun racing cars and teasing Naruto, rubbed her hands together with great enthusiasm.

She didn't think too much about it; she just thought she had finally gotten to the point where she could fight.

What she didn't expect was that when she excitedly led the Konoha ninja to Kusagakure, the Kusagakure ninja took a look at the Konoha's formation outside and quickly chose to defect.

"That's it?" Kushina looked very disappointed when she heard the news.

The leader of Kusagakure Village, who witnessed this scene, was filled with lingering fear.

Fortunately, they surrendered early. Judging from Konoha's attitude, they were clearly preparing to take action!

Therefore, when facing Kushina, he was even more respectful and said, "Please rest assured, my lord, the intention of the Grass Ninja to surrender is absolutely 100%. If Konoha makes any requests afterward, the Grass Country and the Grass Village will provide 100% support in terms of all resources and personnel."

After the Grass Ninja Fighting Faction in Hozuki Castle was wiped out by the Cloud Ninja, only the Modest Faction remained. The Grass Ninja who chose to lie low were already mentally prepared.

Resisting is impossible; it would be like throwing an egg against a rock.

Regardless of which side arrives first, they will quickly seek refuge with them.

Now that Konoha had arrived first, they naturally assumed the roles of lackeys, just as they had prepared, determined to show their new master their loyalty.

Seeing the Grass Ninja's attitude, Kushina couldn't say anything more. She could only wave her hand with little interest and hand over the rest of the work to the Konoha personnel who were with her.

Afterwards, with the defection of the Grass Ninja, Konoha's plans in the Land of Grass became even more successful.

However, just as Minato was preparing to continue his invasion and gain some advantage in the Land of Earth, he was met with a head-on attack from the Iwa ninja.

Unlike the Cloud Ninja who were half-crippled before the war, the Mist Ninja who exhausted themselves, and the Sand Ninja who were relatively weak, the Iwa Ninja, who withdrew from the Third Shinobi World War early on, had accumulated considerable strength after years of recuperation.

The so-called problem of a lack of successors only applies to the top-tier ninja level.

In terms of ordinary ninjas, especially in large-scale legion battles, the strength of Iwagakure is arguably the greatest among the five great nations.

Even Konoha in the past suffered greatly in several battles against the Iwa ninja's large army, and were beaten in a very sorry state.

In terms of overall strength, the Iwa ninja are now second only to Konoha, which is the source of Onoki's confidence in becoming the commander-in-chief of the Five Nations Alliance.

Therefore, unlike other allies, the Iwa ninja, who had more cards to play, were initially caught off guard by Konoha, just like their other allies, under the leadership of the cunning Onoki.

But they quickly and decisively launched a counterattack.

Not only did Minato's several Konoha troops that had entered the Land of Earth suffer heavy losses, but they also fought back in disarray.

Iwagakure, exceeding Konoha's expectations, quickly assembled 20,000 Iwagakure ninja troops, who, under the personal command of the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, launched a fierce attack on Konoha's army within the Land of Grass.

"I have somewhat underestimated this Third Tsuchikage."

Inside the Leaf Village headquarters in the Land of Grass, Minato, who had just received news of the defeat of the troops that had entered the Land of Earth, frowned slightly.

As expected, experience matters.

Konoha wanted to replicate their achievements in other areas and take advantage of Iwagakure first, but they failed and ended up suffering a small loss themselves.

"Back then, being able to defeat the Iwa ninja was actually partly due to luck," Minato said, shaking his head.

Upon hearing this, Akimichi Choza, who had also experienced three battles against the Iwa ninja, said regretfully, "Indeed, if we hadn't seized the loophole in the Iwa ninja's logistics and cut off the Kannabi Bridge supply line, the consequences would have been hard to predict. Unfortunately, after the war, the Iwa ninja learned their lesson and devoted a great deal of effort to building bridges across mountains. Now, it is very difficult to repeat the victory of the Kannabi Bridge battle."

“That’s true,” Minato remarked.

The Battle of Kannabi Bridge was the battle that made him famous when he, then just an elite Jonin, personally pushed an Iwa ninja off a cliff.

Now that he is the commander-in-chief of Konoha, facing his old rivals again, the Iwa ninja must have some feelings.

After all, fatalism is still quite popular in the ninja world.

However, when the Battle of Kannabi Bridge is mentioned, Minato cannot help but think of someone who cannot be ignored.

Obito Uchiha.

One of his former disciples.

Yun Ting had already informed Minato and others about everything concerning Obito Uchiha after returning from the battle with Madara.

Minato was initially shocked, and then found it very incomprehensible.

He couldn't understand why the once kind and loving hot-blooded boy had become so unfamiliar, so cold-blooded towards his beloved teacher, Kushina, and so full of hatred for Konoha, the village that gave him birth and raised him.

Minato really wanted to ask Obito the reason in person, but he never had the chance.

"I just hope that there will be an opportunity in the future to help Obito see the error of his ways."

As a teacher, Minato has always felt guilty for not protecting Obito back then.

Therefore, after learning about Obito's current situation, he still wanted to try to see if he could persuade the other party to turn back.

A person who has always been willing to help elderly women since childhood, even if they change quickly, should still retain their deepest essence.

In addition, Kakashi probably has many questions he wants to ask him.

Minato looked at Kakashi, who was quieter than usual inside the tent.

At this moment, the opponent's Konoha headband was not pulled down diagonally as usual.

Inside the exposed left eye socket, which originally belonged to the Sharingan, a normal eye that had been reattached was listlessly staring into space, seemingly lost in thought.

His attire remained the same, except for a particularly eye-catching ninja sword that hadn't been seen for a long time and had finally emerged from its dusty sheath.

'Finally, I've returned to the path that suits me best,' Minato thought to himself.

As a top-tier ninja, how could Minato not see that the Sharingan, which outsiders so coveted, was not only not an aid to Kakashi, whose ninja talent was no less than that of his senior Sakumo, but rather a limitation to his development?

However, the stubborn Kakashi kept his Sharingan for Obito's sake.

Now that the true master has taken back the Sharingan, it must be a relief for Kakashi.

Kakashi will probably question Obito more in the future.

Minato shook his head slightly, then quickly returned to the main topic, having suppressed the matter of Obito:

"Now that the Iwa ninja are prepared, Konoha's strategy will shift to a more cautious approach. The Iwa ninja outnumber us by five thousand, and with their renowned battlefield-level combined ninjutsu, the pressure on us will be immense. However..."

At this point, Minato looked at the group of Konoha ninja present, his face full of confidence, and said, "This disadvantage is only temporary. Before long, the Hokage who will finish off the Cloud Ninja will arrive in person. When that time comes, it will be Konoha's time to counterattack."

The Hokage's prestige has now deeply penetrated the hearts of every Konoha ninja.

Hearing Minato's words, those present who knew Yun Ting's strength were naturally filled with anticipation.

In an instant, the pressure from the approaching 20,000 Iwa ninja troops vanished.

Chapter 252 Onoki's Vision

Just when everyone in Konoha was full of confidence.

Inside the Iwagakure military camp in the Land of Earth.