Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

The reason why the Hidden Cloud Village went so crazy in the Land of Rain was because of Kirito's rampage in the Hidden Cloud Village.

Hanzo now regrets it; he regrets agreeing to Kirito's plan to raid Kumogakure to establish his authority.

Kirito remained silent, not immediately answering Hanzo's question, but instead turning his gaze toward Amegakure.

Because of the atrocities committed by the Hidden Cloud Village throughout the Land of Rain, a large number of refugees from all over the Land of Rain are now pouring into Amegakure.

At this moment, there is no place in the Land of Rain safer than Amegakure.

Although Amegakure is large, the sudden influx of nearly a million refugees made it extremely crowded. As a result, many more refugees were excluded from Amegakure and eventually formed a large temporary camp.

The Land of Rain is a country plagued by disasters. For a long time, most of the capable citizens have fled the Land of Rain, leaving behind only those who are not capable or who are reluctant to leave their homeland.

Perhaps this is why the people who remain are generally very resilient. They are like weeds on barren land; as long as they are given a little sunshine and rain, they can continue to grow vigorously.

Therefore, although most of the people in the refugee camp outside Amegakure were dressed in rags, their spirits were still very good, and there was still a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

"Look at those people below, and you'll understand whether what I did was right or wrong."

Kirito used his Byakugan to take in the situation in the refugee camp, and then spoke to Hanzo.

When Hanzo heard Kirito say that, he felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.

How could Kirito not understand what he was saying?

The news of Hattori Masanari leading fifty Amegakure ninja in a surprise attack on Kumogakure had already spread throughout the Land of Rain. This naturally boosted the morale of the Land of Rain. The reason why Amegakure had not yet been defeated by Kumogakure was because Hattori Masanari had lifted their spirits.

Many people from the Rain Village and the Rain Ninja believe they still have a chance of victory and have not completely lost hope in the war.

However, when the strength of the two sides is severely unbalanced, the improvement of morale cannot determine the outcome of the battle; it only increases casualties.

"Hanzo, do you think that if I hadn't launched a surprise attack on Kumogakure, Kumogakure wouldn't be dealing with the Land of Rain the way it is now?"

Seeing that Hanzo remained silent, Kirito knew that Hanzo did not agree with his words, so he asked in return.

The purpose of the Cloud Village's invasion of the Rain Country was already common knowledge.

They simply intend to boost morale by stepping on Amegakure's shoulders, making it easier to deal with Konoha.

But war is not something that can be easily controlled. As the battle raged on, the Cloud Village's objectives began to change.

Because they discovered that the Land of Rain was richer than they had imagined, their original plan of defeating Amegakure to boost morale and attack Konoha changed to focusing on plunder.

This was foreshadowed. After breaching the Rain Fortress on the border, the Cloud Village began to plunder wealthy border towns on a large scale, like a locust swarm passing through. Several wealthy border towns were destroyed by them, and it is unknown how long it will take to rebuild them.

"At least it won't be as ruthless as it is now."

Hanzo retorted.

"So you're planning to make Amegakure live on their knees?!"

Kirito said coldly.

“I didn’t say that. I just think we shouldn’t use such extreme methods to deal with Cloud Village. Admit it, you’re wrong. Cloud Village is not Konoha. Fighting them will only make them more ruthless. You know very well that we Rain Village are small and can’t outlast them.”

Hanzo stepped forward, angrily grabbed Kirito by the collar, and shouted insults at him.

"I never thought that the man who dared to draw his sword against Konoha would become like this. You really are getting more and more cowardly as you get older. Hanzo, so what if you can't outlast him? You can't lose the spirit of Amegakure."

Do you think the three major powers around us will let us develop our strength in peace? Even if Kumogakure doesn't attack Amegakure now, Iwagakure, Konoha, and Sunagakure will attack us sooner or later.

If we fail to teach Kumogakure a lesson this time, making the other ninja villages understand the bloodthirstiness of Amegakure and the price of thoroughly provoking us, if Amegakure loses its fighting spirit, we will have no chance of resisting Iwagakure, Konoha, and Sunagakure in the future. Is this the Amegakure you want to see?

Kirito shoved Hanzo aside and mocked him.

"Doing this will only hasten Amegakure's descent into the abyss; those great ninja villages will not let you off the hook."

Hanzo rushed forward and punched Kirito hard in the face, cursing loudly.

"Let them come. Even if you die, I won't die."

Kirito retaliated without hesitation, delivering a powerful punch to Hanzo's face and knocking him to the ground.

For a moment, the two most powerful people in Amegakure fought like children, repeatedly punching each other in the face until both of them collapsed with bruises and swelling.

“Masashige, Amegakure is doomed. Iwagakure and Konoha are unwilling to help, and Sunagakure is taking advantage of our misfortune.”

Hanzo lay on the ground, rain streaming down his face. He covered his face with his hands and said in pain.

With no reinforcements in sight, and knowing that Amegakure was already short of troops, Hanzo saw no hope of victory and was on the verge of despair.

"I never intended to rely on them. At this point, it's already good enough that Iwagakure and Konoha haven't taken advantage of our misfortune. But let's not jump to conclusions. I've contacted Kirigakure, and I think there's a good chance. As long as Kirigakure is willing to help, we still have hope."

Kirito remained unmoved when Hanzo told him that Iwagakure and Konoha were unwilling to intervene, and offered words of comfort.

Upon hearing that there was hope on Kirigakure's side, Hanzo immediately scrambled to his feet and excitedly exclaimed, "Really?"

"Yes, there's a high probability that Kirigakure will make a move, because Kumogakure is very close to them. I even deliberately flaunted my wealth in front of them. I'm sure they absolutely don't want Kumogakure to swallow up Amegakure's wealth and grow stronger, thus threatening themselves."

Finally, a major battle is needed within Kirigakure to reshuffle the deck.

Kirito nodded in feigned agreement, trying to boost Hanzo's morale.

Kirito, through his White Zetsu clone, impersonated Hattori Masanari, who established the Abomination Clan in Amegakure for intelligence gathering. Combined with the Night Organization's intelligence network, he had a better understanding of the current chaotic situation within Kirigakure than in his previous life.

With the support of the Daimyo of the Land of Water, the Blood Mist Faction, having discarded Kage-level combatants, is now powerful enough to rival the Anti-Blood Mist Faction.

If the Third Mizukage is not determined to carry out the purge, the Blood Mist Faction will seize power sooner or later.

This is the helplessness of the Shadow of the Village. Both sides are his flesh and blood. He has power, but he is bound by various things and cannot easily take action. He can only secretly eliminate dissidents behind the scenes using various excuses.

"That's good, that's good. As long as Kirigakure makes a move, we really have hope."

Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Hanzo seemed relieved and said with a look of relief.

During Hattori Masanari's absence, all the pressure from the Land of Rain fell on his shoulders. He thought he could handle it, but the power of Kumogakure truly intimidated him.

The reason is simple: in this war, his greatest personal advantage could not be fully utilized on the battlefield. The Third Raikage was too strong, and his ninjutsu was very effective against him. His most proficient assassination techniques were completely useless against the opponent's lightning armor.

At most, he could only hold back the Third Raikage on the battlefield, and even that required risking his life.

Moreover, the Hidden Cloud Village is different from the Hidden Leaf Village. The people of the Hidden Cloud Village are very united and full of fighting spirit.

Faced with such an opponent, Hanzo saw absolutely no hope of defeating Kumogakure.

"Go and rest for a while. I'm back. You can share half the pressure with me. I will lead the people of Yuanbu to assist you with all my might."

Seeing that Hanzo was finally relieved, Kirito patted him on the shoulder and said sincerely.

After saying that, he turned and left.

Hanzo watched Kirito's retreating figure, a strange light flashing in his eyes. Finally, he closed his eyes and shouted, "Don't die!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Kirito used the Body Flicker Technique and disappeared from the spot.

"I hope you made the right choice."

Upon seeing this, Hanzo's eyes gleamed with a sinister light, and he murmured to himself.

The next moment, he waved his hand, and two Amegakure ANBU members exuding a fierce aura appeared in front of Hanzo, staring coldly at him.

Hanzo looked at the two Amegakure ANBU members and remained silent for a moment.

Suddenly, a flash of dark blue light appeared.

Blood spurted from the necks of the two Rain Village ANBU members, who stared at Hanzo with incredulous eyes. One of them pointed at Hanzo, trying to speak, but instead spat out blood bubbles and collapsed with a look of resentment.

"It's your fate that you've seen hope again."

Hanzo stared expressionlessly at the two corpses rapidly losing their life force before him.

He then made contact with a seal and used some kind of fire-style ninjutsu to burn the two corpses to ashes.

……

Meanwhile, in the Land of Wind, at the Konoha temporary battlefield headquarters in an oasis.

Kirito put down a newly issued order from Konoha and said somewhat displeasedly, "What exactly is the Third Hokage trying to do? Instead of letting us press our advantage and attack Sunagakure, he's making me stay here quietly. This is really difficult."

Through the White Zetsu clone, he already knew about the Sand Village's invasion of the Land of Rain.

Upon receiving the news, his first action was to request the Third Hokage to send troops to attack Sunagakure.

The Sand Village has been badly beaten by him recently, and they can only passively defend themselves. Now they actually have the mind to steal chickens from the Land of Rain. They simply don't take him seriously.

Since Sunagakure still dares to recklessly split its forces to invade the Land of Rain, he certainly won't miss this good opportunity to teach Sunagakure a lesson.

To be honest, with his current abilities, he might not be able to wipe out Sunagakure single-handedly, but he could certainly inflict serious damage on it.

The reason is that the One-Tailed Shukaku inside him hates Sunagakure very much, and will actively provide chakra whenever it hears of an attack on Sunagakure, so he doesn't have to worry too much about chakra consumption.

Unfortunately, although he was determined to teach Sunagakure a lesson, the Third Hokage rejected his request to send troops, citing that Sunagakure had already sent people to Konoha to discuss the matter, and it was not advisable to further escalate the conflict between Konoha and Sunagakure.

"That was a brilliant move, Sunagakure, using peace talks to avoid being attacked."

Kirito manipulated the sand to create a sand sculpture of Sunagakure on the ground and sneered.

The next moment, he stomped on the sand sculpture of Sunagakure and crushed it with his foot, his eyes flashing with ferocity.

Chapter 213: Kirito's Little Group

"They fight when they want to fight, and they negotiate when they want to negotiate. The Sand Village really has a lot of influence. And our Hokage is as good-tempered as ever."

After Kirito stomped on and crushed the sand sculpture of Sunagakure, he muttered to himself.

The next moment, a cold voice rang in his ears: "So what do you want to do? This is the Hokage's order."

Then, Orochimaru slowly emerged from the shadows in the room.

"Lord Orochimaru, didn't you go back on your orders? Why are you back again?"

When Kirito saw Orochimaru appear, he didn't answer Orochimaru's question, but instead pretended to be surprised.

Not long ago, Orochimaru received an order from the Third Hokage to step down as the front-line commander of the Land of Wind and return to report on his work. Meanwhile, Kirito Tohsaka was temporarily appointed as the new front-line commander due to his outstanding contributions.

However, Kirito secured this new appointment himself, rather than having it issued by the Third Hokage. Initially, he was given orders to assist another soon-to-be-appointed frontline commander and to obey them completely.

As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

Unfortunately, some people don't understand that there's another part to that statement: the greater the reward, the better.

Talking about responsibility without discussing benefits is just being a scoundrel.

Kirito is not a simple-minded sword. Before gaining his approval, his pride makes it impossible for him to completely command others.

For example, the Third Hokage was somewhat unhappy with the Hokage's orders because the other party still seemed to treat him like a child who could be easily satisfied, and the only reward for the responsibilities he received was a sum of money that was not too much.