Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

After the battle ended, news of it spread like wildfire throughout the ninja world.

The entire ninja world was immediately shaken by the news from the battlefield. Whether it was Konoha or other ninja villages, everyone was shocked by the news. Many people immediately began to have deep doubts about it.

However, the truth is the truth, and no matter what, it cannot be changed.

Not to mention that this truth involves the rise of a young Kage-level powerhouse and the fall of a veteran Kage-level powerhouse.

Kirito Tohsaka quickly became a key research subject for major forces in the ninja world, and his name also quickly became known to the world.

Meanwhile, in the gold exchange, the bounty for Touka Kirito multiplied many times overnight, reaching a total of one billion yen.

The following evening, in the Hokage Building, in the Hokage's office.

As the third generation looked at the latest intelligence report from the battlefield, the wrinkles on his face deepened rapidly, revealing a profound sorrow.

The information is about Kirito, and it records the various battle achievements he made on the battlefield yesterday.

Of all these achievements, the most important was capturing Shukaku.

The Third Hokage was undoubtedly very pleased with this achievement, as it was strong proof of Konoha's increased strength.

The deterrent power of one tailed beast is ultimately different from that of two tailed beasts. Moreover, one of the tailed beasts is already usable thanks to Kirito's efforts, which will undoubtedly greatly enhance Konoha's strength, making it only a matter of time before they defeat Sunagakure.

However, because Kirito stole the tailed beast from Sunagakure, he received protest letters from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and Takigakure today. The Kage of these villages accused Konoha of violating the tailed beast distribution agreement set by the First Hokage and demanded that Konoha return the One-Tailed Beast to Sunagakure.

The Third Hokage could not ignore the protests from these ninja villages, because if not handled properly, Konoha would immediately become the target of everyone's criticism.

"Sigh~, Kirito, you've really given me a huge problem this time."

The third generation put down the intelligence data in his hand, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and said with a troubled expression.

Chapter 194: Tsunade's Choice

The Third Hokage inwardly cursed the shamelessness of the protest letters sent by the various ninja villages. The First Hokage had assigned tailed beasts to these villages with the intention of balancing their power and seeking peace, but after the First Hokage's death, the leaders of these villages tore up the agreement.

They actually have the audacity to use this discarded agreement to criticize Konoha; it's utterly shameless.

The Third Hokage scoffed at these village leaders, despising them immensely. If he could, he would definitely send a cryptic letter to the village leaders to subtly criticize them.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do that; he had to find a way to handle the situation.

The fact that people from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Takigakure all sent protest letters to Konoha on the same day is clearly not a coincidence. These guys must have communicated in private and then joined forces to put pressure on Konoha.

To be honest, the third generation is under tremendous pressure right now.

If it were just two or three ninja villages doing this, such as Sunagakure, Kirigakure, and Takigakure joining forces, the Third Hokage could have completely ignored it. But since Iwagakure and Kumogakure were also involved, he had to be on high alert.

The battle between Konoha and Sunagakure is on the verge of victory, but as things stand, Konoha is still far from achieving peace, as Iwagakure and Kumogakure are clearly eyeing Konoha covetously.

"How should I handle this? It's really giving me a headache."

Three generations racked their brains but couldn't come up with a good solution, adding to their worries.

It's clearly impossible for Kirito to return the Tailed Beast to Sunagakure.

Putting aside whether he can return the Tailed Beasts to Sunagakure, if he demands that Kirito hand over the Tailed Beasts, it's questionable whether he can continue as Hokage.

Kirito is now undoubtedly a hero of Konoha. His deeds, such as snatching the One-Tailed Beast from Sunagakure, killing Ebizo, and various merits he made on the battlefield, have been unearthed and widely publicized in the village, inspiring and uplifting countless people in Konoha.

Kirito has made such a great contribution and it has been publicized. He is no longer a newly graduated ninja, but a powerful ninja with great prestige in Konoha.

If he, as the Hokage, were to do anything detrimental to Kirito now, he would immediately face a huge backlash, and might even be branded as a traitor by the people of Konoha, thus being forced to step down.

Moreover, the information he received from Orochimaru confirmed that Kirito was indeed a Kage-level ninja, had broken through to the mysterious realm in Lightning Release, and possessed a powerful Lightning Release movement ninjutsu. Now, having obtained the One-Tailed Beast and become its Jinchuriki, his strength had been further enhanced.

If Kirito personally disagrees, no one in Konoha can force him to hand over the One-Tailed Beast.

Based on his understanding of Kirito, he knew that Kirito would never agree to such an outrageous request. This kid usually seemed peaceful, friendly and generous, but in reality, he was very vengeful, as evidenced by the fact that all the students at the Ninja Academy who offended him were severely beaten by him.

Asking Kirito to hand over Shukaku would be tantamount to asking him to die. How could he possibly agree to that? If the village really made that decision, Kirito might immediately turn against the village.

Forcing his own 11-year-old Kage-level ninja to betray Konoha, especially a genius ninja who had made great contributions, was something the Third Hokage was never thinking. How could he possibly do such a thing? If he did, he would definitely be abandoned by everyone.

However, if Konoha doesn't hand over the One-Tailed Beast, it risks being besieged by the major ninja villages.

These ninja villages are clearly wary of Kirito's growth and fear that he will lead Konoha to become even stronger in the future. That's why they joined forces to put pressure on Konoha. If they fail this time, their next step will probably be to join forces to deal with Konoha, weaken its strength as much as possible, or even expel it from the village altogether.

"An 11-year-old Kage-level powerhouse who has also obtained the power of a Tailed Beast. It's no wonder that such talent and potential makes the major ninja villages fear him. When Kirito grows up, he may become a ninja as powerful as the First Hokage. After all, the bigger the tree, the more the wind will blow against it."

The Third Hokage was filled with emotion as he reflected on Kirito's current age and strength.

It is fortunate that Konoha has produced such a genius, but it is unknown whether Konoha's current strength can support Kirito's growth.

Things are different now.

Thinking back to the time when the First Hokage was alive, Konoha was so powerful. But since the First Hokage died, Konoha has been on a downward spiral, and no powerful ninja capable of suppressing the ninja world has been born since. Only now can we see a glimmer of hope.

However, other ninja villages certainly wouldn't want Konoha to produce another ninja god, allowing Konoha to continue to dominate them; they might even fear Konoha's retaliation.

After all, these guys immediately broke the agreement and attacked Konoha after the First Hokage's death, so they must have something to hide.

In order to stop Konoha, other ninja villages are very likely to unite and attack Konoha before Kirito grows too big to be controlled. They will only feel at ease if they cripple Konoha.

If such a thing were to happen, what should Konoha do?

Was it to protect Kirito?

Or should we protect the rest of Konoha?

This is a tough choice.

"This matter is too big, seriously affecting the future of Konoha. I can't make a decision on my own; I must discuss it with others."

After pondering for a while, the three generations still couldn't make up their minds, so they decided to convene a conference of all ethnic groups to discuss the matter.

The future of Konoha should be decided by everyone in Konoha.

……

Meanwhile, underground in Konoha, in the former Root headquarters, now the new Root headquarters, in the office of the Root leader.

Mitokado Homura, the new leader of Root, also looked at a piece of information with a distressed expression. The information was also about Kirito, but unlike the information in the Third Hokage's hands, this information was about Kirito's interpersonal relationships.

You don't know until you investigate, and what you find is shocking.

Through this intelligence, he discovered that most of the young ninjas who had recently risen to prominence in the war in Konoha had direct connections with Kirito. Many of them were Kirito's close friends from his time at the Ninja Academy, or even his followers.

Among these people, the best ones, such as Daio Umino, Yukimi Yuhi, Takeshi Shiranui, Karen Hyuga, and Fuu Uchiha, have actually all reached the level of Jonin.

The remaining people all possessed the strength of Chunin, and most of them were elite Chunin.

After graduating from ninja academies, these young ninjas underwent trials of blood and fire, and quickly grew into elites among their peers. Today, many of them hold important positions in the military or become captains of ninja squads.

"It's true that a new generation is replacing the old. At this rate, Konoha will soon be this kid's domain."

Mitomon En sighed.

The future belongs to young people, and as someone who has been through it all, Mitokado Hōjō knows this very well.

Now that he saw the contents of this intelligence report, he immediately sensed that Konoha was about to undergo another change of dynasty, and a huge upheaval was about to begin.

Because most of the Kirito followers mentioned in the intelligence reports were ninjas from commoner backgrounds or from small ninja clans, and there were none from the Sarutobi, Shimura, or Ino-Shika-Cho clans.

How could Mitokado not understand the implications of this information?

If Kirito hadn't recently done something earth-shattering, revealing his Kage-level strength, he probably wouldn't have thought much of it. But now that he's become the new leader of Root, replacing Danzo as the Third Hokage's right-hand man for handling the dirty work, he can't help but think more about it.

The people mentioned in this intelligence report are Kirito's forces in Konoha, and this force is growing rapidly, already showing signs of becoming unstoppable.

Now that Kirito has demonstrated astonishing power, these people in the intelligence network will find their leader and will become a force led by Kirito. As a new force in Konoha, they will surely challenge the old forces of Konoha in the future.

His interests were already inextricably linked with those of the Third Hokage, and if Kirito were to reshuffle the power structure of Konoha in the future, he would certainly not be able to escape it.

"This kid is terrifying. He must have started secretly looking for helpers and making plans while he was in the ninja academy. He truly deserves to be called a genius of sealing techniques. He's got a sharp mind. But he's still too young. He couldn't resist jumping out as soon as he had some strength."

Across from Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu spoke with a gloomy expression, a hint of fear flashing in her cloudy eyes.

After learning about Kirito's astonishing actions on the battlefield yesterday and seeing the information in Mitokado Homura's hands, she couldn't help but feel a sense of fear.

She genuinely felt that Kirito was terrifying, and facing such an opponent felt even more stressful than facing Danzo.

At such a young age, he is already a Kage-level powerhouse, possessing the ability to single-handedly kill veteran Kage-level powerhouses like Ebizo and suppress Shukaku. What's most terrifying is his deep mind, maturity, and wisdom. Such an opponent is truly terrifying, and it would be extremely unwise to be his enemy.

"He had no choice but to step out. Hiruzen's mission for the White Fang squad forced him to reveal his strength. Think about it, the White Fang squad's mission was to infiltrate Sunagakure and kill the ninja who knew Magnet Release: Gold Sand. It was much more difficult than killing Ebizo and sealing the One-Tailed Beast on the battlefield. They would most likely fail."

If the mission had failed, their ninja squad would most likely have been wiped out. But now, he has killed Ebizo and sealed Shukaku within his body, becoming a hero of Konoha. Our Konoha is about to defeat Sunagakure. So the White Fang squad naturally no longer needs to risk going to Sunagakure to kill their mission target.

Now that kid is a Jinchūriki, even Hiruzen wouldn't let him risk his life in Sunagakure. This kid isn't just young and impulsive; he's cunning and calculating. If you still treat him like an immature brat, you'll definitely suffer a great loss later.

When Mitokado Homura heard Koharu Utatane say that Kirito was too young, he immediately corrected her.

When Koharu Utatane heard Homura Mitokado's explanation of Kirito's actions on the battlefield, her mouth dropped open. Her apprehension towards Kirito deepened, and a worried expression appeared on her face. She sighed and said, "What should we do now? This kid is clearly in league with the Senju clan. Once he grows up and gains power, will there still be a place for the two of us in Konoha? That old woman from the Senju clan and the Konoha princess have long disliked us."

Between the Senju clan and the Third Generation, the Third Generation's side originally had the advantage because they had more people and more Kage-level experts than the Senju clan.

But when Kirito revealed his Kage-level strength and gained the power of the One-Tailed Beast, everything changed.

The Senju clan originally had no Kage-level shikigami, but now they have a mysterious Kage-level shikigami and Kirito, which has greatly increased their strength.

Furthermore, Tsunade is a ninja with the potential to become a Kage-level ninja. It is estimated that in a few years, after honing her skills or successfully mastering a new and powerful ninjutsu, she will naturally become a Kage-level ninja.

As for the Third Hokage, there are currently three Kage-level ninjas: the Third Hokage, Torifu, and Orochimaru. She and Mitokado Homura together can also be considered one. Jiraiya is a ninja who has the potential to become a Kage-level ninja in the future.

On the surface, they have the advantage in the number of top experts, but in a real fight, they might not be able to win.

Their only advantage is that they have an overwhelming number of Jonin.

However, this advantage is only temporary, and the future is uncertain.

Because of the variable that Kirito appeared.

Tsunade didn't know how to use her advantages to win over the strong people in the village who were neutral or hadn't taken sides, but Kirito was different. He had clearly started building his own team during his time at the Ninja Academy, and many of his followers had already grown up.

Now that he has made a name for himself and demonstrated amazing strength and potential, he will surely attract more outstanding ninjas in the future.

In addition, Kirito's relationship with the Uchiha clan is clearly unusual, and he may even be able to gain the support of the Uchiha clan.

Therefore, in Xiaochun's opinion, their current situation is not optimistic.

"So what if we know? This kid is no longer a weakling who can be easily manipulated. He's a chess player capable of overturning the chessboard. If we dare to play dirty tricks, do you believe he'll dare to attack us right away?"

Mitokado Yan smiled wryly.

"He dares! Does he really want to betray Konoha and become an enemy of the entire village?"

"Turn to bed," Xiaochun said sternly.