Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

However, the sea is not unclaimed territory.

The Misty Village is far from the mainland, living in a remote corner. Naturally, they have long regarded the sea as their territory. Anyone passing through their territory must follow their rules and pay a toll in order to pass safely.

The Cloud Village has always been the one to take from others; when have they ever been taken from? They scoff at and completely disregard the rules set up by the Mist Village on the sea.

One person demands that others follow their rules, while the other ignores the rules of others.

It was quite natural for the Hidden Mist and the Hidden Clouds to start fighting each other.

At this time, Kumogakure, which had been rampant on the mainland, suffered a great loss. The sea is different from the land. The sea is the domain of water-style ninjas, and Kirigakure happens to be the ninja village in the ninja world that is most skilled in water-style ninjutsu, and the number of water-style ninjas is also the highest in the ninja world.

The Hidden Cloud Village excels in Lightning Release and is somewhat effective against Water Release, but that's only relative. At sea, the Hidden Mist Village, which can perfectly utilize the terrain, can use a single Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique to blind the Hidden Cloud Village ninjas and then toy with them like monkeys.

Amegakure is also skilled in Water Release techniques. If they could use the Mist Concealment Technique normally in the Land of Rain, their situation might not be as difficult as it is now.

Because of the unique heavy rain weather in the Land of Rain, the technique of concealing mist lacks the conditions for use in the Land of Rain, as the heavy rain will quickly dispel the mist.

The people of Kumogakure are all very stubborn. Even after suffering great losses, they still refuse to bow down to Kirigakure. Over the years, they have been fighting Kirigakure to the death at sea, but they have lost more often than they have won.

Because of this, the enmity between Kumogakure and Kirigakure is considerable.

However, in recent years, Kirigakure has been busy with internal strife and has not paid much attention to Kumogakure. Kumogakure is happy to see this and does not want to cause trouble for Kirigakure. Instead, it takes the opportunity to expand its own influence at sea. The two sides have been getting along peacefully in recent years.

However, the Third Raikage never expected that Kirigakure, which had been fighting amongst themselves at home, would suddenly intervene in the war between Kumogakure and Amegakure, and that they would launch a sneak attack right from the start, thwarting Kumogakure's chance to crush Amegakure in one fell swoop.

As a general-type commander, he knew very well that once a good opportunity like tonight was missed, it would never come again.

For today's all-out attack, he and his good secretary, Ellie, did a lot of work, using various small-scale battle victories to gradually boost the morale of the Cloud Village ninjas, and constantly bringing up Hattori Masanari's attack on the Cloud Village to incite the Cloud Village ninjas' desire for revenge, making them hold their breath to destroy the Rain Village.

Unfortunately, today's defeat has shattered our spirits and resulted in heavy losses.

On the contrary, Amegakure not only defended the village but also received favorable reinforcements. Seeing the hope of victory, morale was stabilized, and their fighting strength was definitely stronger than before.

"Damn the Hidden Mist Village, I will never let them get away with this."

With this thought in mind, the Third Raikage's resentment towards Kirigakure intensified, and he instinctively punched the desk in front of him, shouting angrily.

The Nth generation of the headquarters desk has sadly passed away once again.

"Dad, calm down. The most important thing now is to defeat Amegakure. Even if Kirigakure really intervenes in our war with Amegakure, the forces they send will definitely not be many, and they will definitely not send Kage-level experts. They can only launch a sneak attack once. Now that we have reacted, they can't do it again."

Seeing that his father was about to go berserk, the future Fourth Raikage quickly said something.

"Hmph, call me Lord Raikage, you brat."

Upon hearing this, the Third Raikage punched his son hard on the head, seemingly showing him no respect.

However, with his son's reminder, he calmed down a bit and then looked at the arcane Elui on his left.

The Cloud Village's attack has been thwarted, casualties are unknown, and morale is not optimistic.

Finally, the recent events in the Land of Wind also weighed on his mind.

The situation of the hidden ally, Sunagakure, is not optimistic.

In fact, the reason why Kumogakure has been able to suppress Amegakure so smoothly recently is largely due to the efforts of Sunagakure. Although Sunagakure has taken away a lot of benefits as a result, it is precisely because of Sunagakure's involvement that Konoha and Iwagakure have not acted rashly.

But now that the Third Kazekage is dead, and more than two thousand ninjas have been lost, Sunagakure has truly suffered heavy losses tonight. In order to stabilize the situation in the Land of Wind, Sunagakure's elite troops deployed to the Land of Rain will definitely have to be recalled to defend the area.

Even more devastating is that Chiyo, the only Kage-level shinobi in Sunagakure, is currently at Konoha's headquarters, her fate unknown.

Once Chiyo dies, their secret alliance with Sunagakure will truly become a mere formality. At that time, if Kumogakure were to attack Konoha again, they would have to bear the pressure from Konoha alone.

Furthermore, is it really the right thing for Kumogakure to be targeting Konoha now?

That guy from Konoha named Kirito Tohsaka is so powerful, he even killed the Third Kazekage. With such a strong ninja in Konoha, does Kumogakure really have any hope of winning?

He had never fought the Third Kazekage, but he knew about the Third Kazekage's strength from his son.

His son inherited his bloodline's advantages; although his physical abilities were not as good as his, he was faster.

In terms of strength, his son is now considered quite good among Kage-level powerhouses, but he still lost to the Third Kazekage.

According to his son's indignant description, the Third Kazekage was not only extremely powerful in Magnet Release ninjutsu, but also quite skilled in Wind Release and Earth Release ninjutsu. He could fly and burrow underground, and his tactics were shameless. He was a very reliable ninja. His son had no chance of winning by relying solely on Lightning Release Chakra Mode; at most, he could only guarantee not to be defeated.

If they fight to the death and refuse to retreat, it will surely be his son who dies.

But even such a strong person ultimately died at the hands of Kirito Tohsaka. He couldn't imagine whether he could defeat this Konoha genius.

Because of the defeat of Sunagakure in the Land of Wind, and now that Kirigakure has intervened in the war in the Land of Rain, he has to face the fact that the plan for Kumogakure to join forces with Sunagakure to defeat Konoha is most likely to fail.

"Everyone, I have just received some new information. Just as we launched our all-out attack on Amegakure, a new situation has arisen on the battlefield in the Land of Wind. Konoha's new frontline commander in the Land of Wind, Kirito Tohsaka, led the Konoha ninjas in a conflict with the Sand Village's frontline garrison and ultimately won. More than two thousand Sand Village garrison soldiers were killed in action, and the Third Kazekage who went to provide support was also killed."

When Elui saw the Third Raikage looking over, she knew what he meant. She coughed and then solemnly recounted the major events that had occurred in the Land of Wind that night.

Upon hearing this news, the Cloud Hidden experts at the headquarters all changed their expressions drastically, quickly realizing that their current situation was somewhat precarious.

The fact that these people were able to come to the headquarters for a meeting naturally meant that they had gained the trust of the Third Raikage. Ever since the war between Kumogakure and Amegakure began, they knew that Kumogakure had secretly allied with Sunagakure. The original condition for the alliance was to obtain Hattori Masashige's head.

However, Hattori Masanari's strength far exceeded their expectations, making him extremely difficult to kill. As a result, the alliance terms ultimately fell through. Sunagakure wisely modified the alliance terms, no longer requiring Hattori Masanari's head, but instead demanding a share from the Land of Rain.

It was for this reason that Sunagakure began to intervene in the war in the Land of Rain, and outwardly opposed to the Land of Clouds, they secretly joined forces with Sunagakure to deal with the Land of Rain.

Judging from the current situation of the war in the Land of Rain, their cooperation between Kumogakure and Sunagakure was actually quite smooth and pleasant. It's just unexpected that this pleasant cooperation would come to an end so quickly.

As expected, the thousands of elite Sunagakure ninjas who came to the Land of Rain will definitely leave, as it will be impossible for them to share the pressure from Amegakure and neighboring Iwagakure and Konoha.

"Lord Raikage, Sunagakure has been completely defeated. Their peace talks with Konoha are over, and given Sunagakure's current strength, it's unlikely they'll join us in fighting Konoha."

"I never expected that the Third Kazekage would die at the hands of that Konoha genius named Kirito Tohsaka. Without the power of Sunagakure, it will be very difficult for Kumogakure to continue fighting Konoha. Konoha is not comparable to Amegakure. If we force a war with Konoha, we will definitely suffer heavy losses."

"Lord Raikage, let's launch another all-out attack on Amegakure tomorrow, lest things get complicated. Once we've destroyed Amegakure and taken all the treasure, let's go back."

……

After a moment of silence, the group of powerful figures from Yunyin began to express their opinions.

Most of them wanted to defeat Amegakure as soon as possible and then go home.

The Land of Rain is richer than they imagined. They have made a fortune by plundering the Land of Rain these past few days. Now they find that Konoha is much more difficult to deal with than they thought. It is a tough nut to crack. If they insist on going down there, they will definitely break their teeth. Naturally, they do not intend to fight Konoha to the death. They only want to destroy Amegakure, make one more fortune, and go home.

As for continuing to fight Konoha, we'll talk about that when they're short of money again.

Besides their desire to protect their homeland, the main reason they became ninjas was their yearning for power, authority, money, and fame.

Now that they have money, once they completely defeat Amegakure, they will have fame and can return to the village in glory. As for power and authority, they will soon have them after they have digested the money and the merits gained from this war with Amegakure.

The Third Raikage felt a chill in his heart when he saw that most of the people here did not intend to continue the war with Konoha.

He originally intended to use Amegakure as a sacrificial offering before attacking Konoha, to train his troops and boost morale. However, after stealing a batch of Amegakure's belongings, although he gained a lot, it actually greatly diminished his subordinates' desire to attack.

The Third Raikage knew very well what kind of village Kumogakure was; it was a den of bandits, only more professional and powerful than the average one.

Since it's a den of bandits, the ninjas trained here are naturally all bandits.

Robbers are only motivated to plunder when they are poor. Once their pockets are full, naturally not many people will be willing to risk their lives to fight others.

With Konoha in such a predicament and Sunagakure being an unreliable ally, none of the bandits under his command, who had already made a fortune off Amegakure, wanted to fight Konoha to the death anymore.

This is really a difficult situation.

As a Kage, his vision was certainly not as short-sighted as that of his band of bandits. He knew that Konoha was at its weakest point right now. If they didn't start a war with Konoha now, once Konoha recovered, Kumogakure would no longer be a match for Konoha and would only be able to defend passively.

Because that Konoha genius named Kirito Tohsaka will only get stronger and stronger in the future.

"Shut up, you bunch of idiots! The boss hasn't spoken yet, what are you all arguing about?"

The future Fourth Raikage suddenly activated Lightning Release Chakra Mode, unleashing an astonishing aura as he roared.

The next moment, he let out a scream as the Third Raikage punched him in the face, sending him crashing through the wall of the command post and flying out.

Then, he heard the Third Raikage's cursing voice: "You disrespectful brat, get out of here. This is none of your business."

Upon seeing this, the group of powerful Cloud Ninja at the headquarters exchanged glances and then wisely shut their mouths.

If the Third Raikage dared to beat up even his own son, what chance would they have?

"Let's call it a day. Go back and get some rest, but don't sleep too soundly. New combat missions could come up at any time."

The Third Raikage remained silent for a moment, but ultimately did not say anything about the need for everyone to launch an attack on Konoha. Instead, he decided to send his men back first.

If morale is low, it's difficult to lead a team.

He must find a way to boost morale and keep his men motivated and justified in attacking Konoha.

Soon, only the Third Raikage, Elui, Burubi, and the future Fourth Raikage who had returned remained in the headquarters.

"Lord Raikage, do we really still want to continue attacking Konoha?"

When the Fourth Raikage returned, Brubi, who had been sullen and silent since earlier, finally spoke up and asked.

He was starting to lose interest in the battle, as the Eight-Tails within him was becoming increasingly difficult to control. He had committed too many killings recently, which had generated a lot of negative emotions in his heart, making it difficult for him to remain as calm and composed as he had been in the Cloud Thunder Gorge.

He spends most of his time suppressing his murderous intent to avoid accidentally going berserk.

His current terrible state was seen by many Cloud Ninja in the military camp. Once again, he saw many eyes that regarded him as a monster. The fear, disgust, and hatred in his eyes were like knives stabbing into his heart, leaving it riddled with holes.

He's been acting strangely lately, often imagining various scenarios of his own death.

He didn't hate it at all; on the contrary, he felt a sense of relief.

He knew this was a very dangerous phenomenon, meaning he had suicidal tendencies and was experiencing significant psychological problems.

But he couldn't tell anyone about this pain; he could only keep it to himself.

As the Jinchūriki of Kumogakure, he had to continue to endure.

"Is the Eight-Tails about to be out of control again?"

Upon hearing Brubi's words, the Third Raikage instantly understood the meaning behind them and asked with concern.

"If my brother wants to fight, I can hold out for a while longer, but I probably won't be able to fight at full strength. The Eight-Tails has been getting more and more unruly lately, and I'm actually afraid that I'll be a hindrance when I run into Kirito Tohsaka."

Seeing that the truth could not be hidden from the Third Raikage, Burubi said with a heavy heart.

"What are you saying, big brother? What do you mean by dragging us down? These are not unfounded issues. As long as you cooperate with Dad, taking down that Kirito Tohsaka will definitely not be a problem."

The Fourth Raikage spoke loudly, his voice filled with confidence.

When Brubi heard what the Fourth Raikage said, he rarely showed a smile, but the smile was a little stiff and unnatural.

Brubi hasn't laughed in a long time, and now she feels a bit unfamiliar with how to laugh happily.

"Idiot, if you can't speak properly, then don't speak."

The Third Raikage punched the Fourth Raikage hard on the head again, scolding him, then turned to Brubi with a serious expression and said, "Brubi, you are an important fighting force for our Kumogakure. If you really can't hold on, don't force yourself. Your survival is more important than defeating Konoha."

"Don't worry, I can still hold on."