Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

After saying that, Uchiha Touko suddenly raised his voice and asked, "Miss, do you know how much a C-rank ninjutsu costs in the village?"

Although Uchiha Touko was asking Mei Terumi a question, he had already turned to look at the crowd in the tavern who were looking at him.

"Five hundred thousand taels! A full five hundred thousand taels!" Uchiha Touko held up five fingers. "This is the price of the most basic Hidden Mist Technique in the village! This amount of money would require a genin to complete two hundred missions without eating or drinking! A genin fresh out of the ninja academy could die at any moment during this process!"

"But what about those ninjas from bloodline clans?" Uchiha Touko slowly walked to the center of the crowd. "They are born with powerful bloodline ninjutsu. The ninjutsu we have to save up for with our life savings is nothing compared to theirs. But what have they done? In order to prevent us from having any ability to threaten them, they have tightly controlled the ninjutsu, making us risk our lives countless times just to obtain even the most basic ninjutsu. And yet, they expect us to be grateful to them!"

"That's not all!" Uchiha Touko clenched his fists in front of his chest. "In the face of war, they are clearly stronger because they have mastered bloodline limit ninjutsu, but they send us to the battlefield to die! They hide in the rear, afraid to face Konoha's Blue Reaper, while sending us wave after wave to the blade of that bloodless sword!"

"Who made our village like this? Was it the Land of Fire? Konoha? Or that Blue Reaper Uchiha Touko? None of them! So who exactly led our village to this state? And who should be held responsible?" Uchiha Touko stood in the center of the gaze and shouted loudly.

"It's those bloodline clans!" At this moment, someone in the crowd, influenced by Uchiha Touko's words, stood up and shouted loudly.

"Yes! It's those bloodline clans!" Uchiha Touko shouted!

"It was us ordinary, average-talented commoner ninjas who built this village!" Uchiha Touko clenched his fists. "Yet they occupy high positions! They enjoy the fruits of our hard work! But we have to beg them for even the most basic ninjutsu! Is that fair?"

"This is unreasonable!" The atmosphere in the tavern grew increasingly frenzied under the instigation of Uchiha Touko.

At this moment, Terumi Meijin behind the bar was already numb, while Black Zetsu, who had come with Uchiha Touko, was even more terrified.

……

Chapter 134 Fourth-Order Tactics

Only now did Black Zetsu finally understand why Uchiha Touko was able to single-handedly pull the Uchiha clan out of that mess and bring them to where they are today.

Although Uchiha Touko's current strength is still far inferior to that of Uchiha Madara in the past, Uchiha Madara did not have the ability to incite a large number of people with just a few words. No, neither did any reincarnation of Indra or Ashura.

"Friends! This is a war! A war that is about to break out! Those oppressors will perish in the war!" Uchiha Touko's shadow clone said passionately, completely stirring up the emotions of the entire tavern.

Mei Terumi, sitting behind the bar, was completely dumbfounded. She was starting to regret it. Why did she even talk to this person? What did he want?

"Are you all going to just sit here drinking aimlessly? Do you want your future children to end up like you, graduating from the Ninja Academy only to have to risk their lives for a mere C-rank ninjutsu? Now! Let's take action! Overthrow the mountain weighing us down! This village belongs to you! It belongs to me! It belongs to every ninja who fights for the Will of Water! For a brighter future for Kirigakure, let's slaughter all the bloodline clans!"

"Slay all the bloodline clans! Glory belongs to Kirigakure!" The emotions of the ninjas in the tavern had been stirred up. Uchiha Touko shouted as he walked out of the tavern.

The gathered crowd spontaneously parted to make way for him. Uchiha Touko arrived at the tavern entrance and once again raised his arm! "Rebuild the glory of the Will of Water! Today!"

"Today is the day!" Under Uchiha Touko's passionate speech, the crowd in the tavern was filled with excitement. With the added boost of a little alcohol, everyone in the tavern quickly followed in the footsteps of Uchiha Touko's shadow clones.

Seeing this, Black Zetsu quickly followed, and Mei Terumi behind the bar also hurried to catch up. After she climbed over the bar and went out of the tavern, she looked at the direction the large crowd was heading.

"This direction? The Kaguya clan?" Mei Terumi's heart trembled upon seeing this. Recently, her organization had received intelligence that the Kaguya clan was preparing a rebellion against the Fourth Mizukage's Blood Mist Village policy. They were currently trying to stop it, but now, if so many agitated civilian ninjas actually surrounded the Kaguya clan's territory, it would be tantamount to directly breaking off relations.

"Judging from his attire, that guy is at most a Chunin, right? How dare he do that?" Mei Terumi gritted her teeth and chased after him.

Uchiha Touko, leading a group of civilian Kirigakure ninja, surrounded the Kaguya clan's territory. He took the lead and, after forming hand seals, fired a Water Fang Bullet at the plaque at the entrance of the Kaguya clan's territory.

"How dare you!" Just then, the Kaguya clan ninjas who had received the news gathered together. Seeing Uchiha Touko's offensive act, the leader was immediately enraged and raised his hand to shoot a bone spike at Uchiha Touko.

Uchiha Tokko neither dodged nor evaded, and with his White Zetsu body he took the hit head-on. He was knocked back several meters and landed next to the group of Kirigakure ninja he had brought with him.

At Uchiha Touko's instruction, White Zetsu Tobi simulated spitting blood.

"Are you alright?" A Kirigakure Jonin, seeing this, quickly squatted down and asked.

"Fellow countrymen! Don't worry about me! Revolutions have always been accompanied by bloodshed and sacrifice. Today, I will start with you! For the Will of Water, kill them!" Uchiha Touko pretended to be on his deathbed, spitting out blood as he spoke.

After saying that, Uchiha Touko coughed up a mouthful of blood, tilted his head to the side, and closed his eyes.

"Damn it! You bloodline ninjas deserve to die!" The death of Uchiha Touko's clone instantly ignited the anger of the civilian ninjas present, and a melee broke out.

Meanwhile, Tobi took advantage of the chaos to bring Uchiha Touko's shadow clone out of the crowd from underground, where it reunited with Black Zetsu.

"Is this what you meant by escalating the conflict?" Black Zetsu looked at the battlefield not far away, which was already a river of blood, and said in surprise. He had to admit that although he had been secretly stirring up the conflict between the chakra reincarnations of Ashura and Indra for thousands of years, Uchiha Touko's actions were still amazing. He had managed to create a melee involving hundreds of ninjas in less than an hour.

"Is that difficult?" Uchiha Touko chuckled. "The ninjas of Kirigakure have accumulated a lot of discontent under the high-pressure policies of this Blood Mist Village. All I did was help them release their emotions, nothing more."

Black Zetsu looked at Uchiha Touko, his eyes flickering slightly. After a moment, he finally asked, "What you seek? Is it truly peace?"

"Was the ancestor pitying them?" Uchiha Touko asked, squinting.

"No, I just feel that your methods and your ideas are not quite consistent." Black Zetsu said with some difficulty. He had begun to doubt whether someone like Uchiha Touko could really be controlled with lies like Uchiha Madara.

"This is merely a necessary step on the path to peace," Uchiha Touko said coldly. "Their current identities are all enemies on our road to unification. The more of them die now, the less harm our comrades will suffer on the battlefield in the future. In any case, once we reach the new world created by the Infinite Tsukuyomi, they will all be resurrected and live happily in a new world without war and suffering, right, ancestor?"

"Alright, I understand." Black Zetsu gave Uchiha Touko a deep look, then nodded. "So, what should we do now?"

"Now?" Uchiha Touko looked at the battlefield not far away, where the Hidden Mist's Anbu were arriving one after another and beginning to control the situation, and said with a light laugh, "Of course, we're going to see our Fourth Mizukage. Lead the way, ancestor."

……

Soon, White Zetsu Tobi and Black Zetsu brought Uchiha Touko to the Mizukage's office. The moment the two appeared, the Mangekyou Sharingan's tomoe mark appeared briefly in Yagura's eyes. Then, Yagura stood up from behind his desk and bowed respectfully to the two.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded outside the Mizukage's office. Upon seeing this, Uchiha Touko and Black Zetsu instantly concealed themselves.

Shortly after, several ANBU members entered the Mizukage's office and reported to Yagura Karatachi about the events that had occurred at the entrance of the Kaguya clan's territory that evening. Both sides suffered heavy casualties in the conflict; nearly half of the ninjas brought to the Kaguya clan's territory by Touko Uchiha were killed, and the Kaguya clan also paid the price of several Jonin under the siege.

"Fourth Hokage, all the ninjas involved in the tavern riot have been apprehended! According to them, the mastermind died in the conflict, but the Kaguya clan wants you to provide a reasonable explanation."

"An explanation? What kind of explanation do they want?" Uchiha Touko, controlling Yagura, said coldly, "Go back and tell them that if they want an explanation, they should come to my Mizukage's office in person!"

"Yes!" the ANBU member nodded. "Then, Mizukage-sama, what should be done with the ninjas who participated in the riot?"

"Deal with them?" Yagura Karatachi said. "Deal with what? They are all ninjas who responded to the village's Blood Mist policy and possess the Will of Water! I believe they will become even stronger after this bloody battle! Let them all go."

"I understand." The operative acknowledged the order and left.

After the ANBU member went to handle the matter, Uchiha Touko and Black Zetsu reappeared. At this time, Black Zetsu was somewhat curious.

"You plan to have the Mizukage help those civilians?" Black Zetsu said. "I must remind you, if Yagura appears in front of everyone, there's no guarantee that no one will notice anything amiss."

“Of course, if we want to throw Kirigakure into chaos, we have to help those guys,” Uchiha Touko said.

"But how can we help them?" Black Zetsu asked.

“Do nothing,” Uchiha Touko said.

"Do nothing?" Black Zetsu asked, somewhat puzzled.

“We can offer them all the support we can, except for helping them,” Uchiha Touko said.

“But what if they insist on asking us for help?” Black Zetsu said.

“Then let’s follow the fourth-tier tactics.” Uchiha Touko walked unhurriedly to the Mizukage’s desk and sat directly in the Mizukage’s office chair.

"Fourth-tier tactics? What are those?" Black Zetsu asked.

"This is a standard crisis response strategy that I summarized from Hiruzen Sarutobi's modus operandi," said Tokko Uchiha.

"The first step is to have the Mizukage claim that nothing happened."

"The second step is to say that something might happen, but we shouldn't take any action."

The third step was to say that perhaps we should take action, but there was nothing we could do.

"The last step is to say that maybe something could have been done back then, but now it's too late."

Black Zetsu: ...

After a long silence, Black Zetsu finally spoke slowly: "Isn't this... trying to smooth things over?"

"What else?" Uchiha Touko shrugged. "We're not really here to govern Kirigakure."

"Alright, Ancestor, we should go back now. Let Kirigakure run wild for a while." Uchiha Touko smiled at Black Zetsu, then deliberately dispelled his shadow clone.

……

In Uchiha Tokō's home, Uchiha Tokō, who was meditating and comprehending the energy of nature in the backyard, suddenly opened his eyes.

Afterwards, Uchiha Touko went to the ninja world map hanging in his house and pondered it carefully.

"There's no need to worry too much about the Land of Water for now. The main trouble comes from..."

Uchiha Touko's gaze fell on the top left and top right corners of the map.

The remote and impoverished Land of Wind doesn't warrant much attention. After all, a place where a village's Kage has to personally go to the desert to mine for minerals just to keep the village running is a joke compared to the size of Konoha. Of the five great nations, the only ones that Uchiha Touko truly deserve his attention are the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth.

First, there's the Land of Lightning, those barbarians whose brains are all muscles and who believe that whoever has the bigger fist is right. Even Uchiha Touko himself wasn't sure how effective Uchiha Touko's methods would be. Without being able to take direct action, it would be quite difficult to plunge them into internal strife as well.

Then there's the Land of Earth. Compared to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Onoki is undoubtedly a more mature politician. He has Iwagakure firmly in his hands. Apart from the lack of successors, Iwagakure is now basically a monolithic entity. Toko Uchiha has very little room for maneuver, but it's not impossible for him to try.

If we want to throw the Land of Earth into chaos, then we need a trigger...

A small country located between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth...

[The Land of Rain... now is not the time to start a war with Akatsuki. Although the Land of Waterfall is a fence-sitter, its stance leans towards the Land of Fire, so we don't need to touch it for now. So, is the Land of Grass the only option left?]

“The Land of Grass…” Uchiha Touko’s eyes flickered slightly as he looked at the map. Judging by the time, Xiangling and her daughter should have already been kidnapped and used as blood packs. In that case, they would have a ready-made reason to send troops.

"However, while dealing with the Grass Village is a piece of cake, we'll need to plan carefully if we want to involve the Land of Earth as well." Uchiha Touko looked at the map and fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Uchiha Touko looked at the calendar next to the map and murmured, "I remember, two weeks from now is the day the Land of Whirlpools will be destroyed."

……

The next day, after the village's daily meeting, Uchiha Touko stopped Tsunade, who was preparing to return to the medical school after the meeting.

"Hokage-sama, unless it's something really important, it's best not to bother me. I have students waiting for me to go back to class," Tsunade said, turning around somewhat impatiently.

Uchiha Touko: ...

It's clear that Tsunade was unhappy that he had to come over for a meeting so early in the morning, as she usually went to a casino more than 100 miles away from the village to play until midnight after work every day. So, she didn't give the Hokage, who made her work overtime, a kind look. Moreover, Tsunade was the least respectful to Uchiha Tokatsu in the entire village. She would only show Uchiha Tokatsu a little kindness during the few days when the village allocated funds each month.

However, Uchiha Touko was helpless. After all, he had invited this old lady back himself, and currently only Tsunade in the entire ninja world had the ability to train a large number of qualified medical ninjas. Therefore, Uchiha Touko didn't pay much attention to the old woman's attitude and just took it as a sign of respect for the elderly.

"Um, Lady Tsunade, do you still have any news about the remnants of the Uzumaki clan?" Uchiha Touko asked.

As soon as Uchiha Touko finished speaking, Tsunade's expression changed, and she asked coldly, "Why is the Hokage suddenly asking about this? The Uzumaki clan was wiped out decades ago, wasn't it?"

It's no wonder Tsunade reacted so strongly. After all, this was her grandmother's maternal clan, and in the matter of the Uzumaki clan's extermination, Konoha was the one who wronged the Uzumaki. Now that Uchiha Touko suddenly brought up this matter, Tsunade couldn't help but think about it.

"That's right. As you know, decades ago, it was indeed our Konoha that abandoned the Uzumaki clan. But now, as the Hokage, after learning about this history, I want to do something to make amends to the village's most steadfast ally."

……

Chapter 135 The Young Clan Chief of the Whirlpool Clan

After hearing Uchiha Touko's thoughts, Tsunade also fell silent.

Since returning to the village, Tsunade has also taken the time to carefully study Uchiha Tokō in her spare time. Although almost all the ninjas in the village regard him as the sun of the village, Tsunade has also seen a lot of things from the clues.

At least, Uchiha Touko wasn't as virtuous and righteous as he appeared on the surface. However, the village was currently developing in a positive direction, so Tsunade didn't say much.