Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

“Yes, he and I are both human…” Fu admitted, but before she could finish speaking, Mikoto interrupted her.

"Alright, since there's nothing else, let's all sit down and have some snacks. Let's all get along well," Mikoto said.

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

……

In the Hokage's office, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Inoichi, who had rarely left their clan territory since Uchiha Toko's coup, were summoned by the Hokage today.

"Chief Nara, Chief Yamanaka." After the two entered the office, Uchiha Touko greeted them with a smile.

"Greetings, Fifth Hokage." The two bowed to Uchiha Touko.

"No need for such formalities, please have a seat." Uchiha Touko invited the two to sit down, then went to a cabinet to take out tea leaves. While brewing the tea, he said to them, "Long time no see, how have you two been lately?"

"It's not bad, I guess. It's rare to have some free time. Apart from my wife nagging me every day, these days have been the life I've always dreamed of," Nara Shikaku said with a smile.

“I can’t compare to him. Although I’ve put aside my official duties, the family business has expanded a lot recently, and I have to keep an eye on it,” Yamanaka Inoichi said.

Uchiha Touko only stripped the three clans of their power in the village, but did not impose any restrictions on other aspects of the three clans. With the relocation of the Land of Fire's capital to Konoha, the Nara clan, which ran a medicinal herb business, was not in a bad situation. After all, their medicinal herbs and prescriptions were exclusively for ninjas, so the influx of a large number of nobles did not have a significant impact on them, unless they were willing to stoop to selling aphrodisiacs. However, given the Nara clan's level of complacency, this was highly unlikely.

The Yamanaka clan's flower business and the Akimichi clan's restaurant business both benefited after the Land of Fire moved its capital to Konoha, and the scale of their businesses expanded considerably.

"It seems you've all been doing well lately, which puts my mind at ease," Uchiha Touko said with a smile.

"What does the Hokage have to tell us that he has summoned us here today?" Nara Shikaku asked.

"Heh, you can't hide it from the Nara clan chief after all." Uchiha Touko poured a cup of tea for each of them. "I called you two here today because there is something I need your help with."

"Please give your instructions, Fifth Hokage." The two nodded in unison.

"Nara clan chief, what is your opinion on the current state of the war between Iwagakure and Takigakure?" Uchiha Touko asked.

"Iwagakure and Takigakure?" Nara Shikaku stroked his chin and analyzed, "If we only consider the strength of both sides, Takigakure could only hold out against Iwagakure for two weeks at most, and that's assuming Takigakure uses its tailed beasts."

"The Jinchuriki of Takigakure is currently in Konoha," Uchiha Touko said.

“Then it would be difficult to last even a week.” Nara Shikaku spread his hands and said, “The leader of Takigakure is so weak that even qualifying as an elite Jonin would be a struggle in a major ninja village. Not to mention that Iwagakure has combination ninjutsu, a powerful weapon on the battlefield. Whether it’s high-level or mid-to-low-level combat power, Takigakure is no match for Iwagakure.”

"What if Takigakure had outside help to hold off Iwagakure's high-ranking forces, and Konoha also provided them with combined ninjutsu, plus logistical support from the Land of Fire?" Uchiha Touko asked with a smile.

"This..." Nara Shikaku frowned slightly upon hearing this, and at the same time quickly began to calculate.

“If we follow the conditions you’ve given, then Takigakure should be able to hold out for a long time and still retain the possibility of a counterattack.” Nara Shikaku pondered for a while before giving his answer. “However, if, as you say, our Land of Fire fully supports Takigakure, even if Takigakure manages to hold out in this war, we won’t benefit from it.”

"The obvious benefits are few, but the hidden interests behind them are enough to tempt every ninja village." Uchiha Touko shook his head with a smile. Although Nara Shikaku was extremely intelligent, his perspective on problems had always remained that of a ninja. Or rather, he had never imagined that war could be played like this. This form of proxy war was indeed a bit beyond the scope of the ninja world.

"Clan Chief Nara, you might want to read these before making a judgment." Uchiha Touko handed Nara Shikaku the contract he had signed with Iwata Sawaki, as well as the specific plan he had discussed with Gato.

To ensure the war proceeded as he envisioned, Uchiha Tokō needed the assistance of a master strategist. Therefore, it was indeed time to utilize Nara Shikaku, a war strategist who had experienced the Third Shinobi World War.

Therefore, after finalizing the plan, Uchiha Touko did not intend to hide anything from Nara Shikaku and revealed all the current information to him.

After reading the information provided by Uchiha Touko, Nara Shikaku was filled with shock. Uchiha Touko's actions had completely exceeded his imagination as a ninja.

After a long pause, Nara Shikaku finally said, "If that's the case, then Konoha can gain the greatest benefit in this war without losing a single soldier."

Nara Shikaku put it relatively mildly, but this contract was essentially a blood-sucking pump for Takigakure. From the perspective of national interests, Takigakure was a loser no matter the outcome of the war, as long as Iwata Sawaki signed this contract.

"The premise is that this war can continue indefinitely, right?" Uchiha Touko laughed.

“That’s right.” Nara Shikaku nodded. If we look at it this way, for Konoha, the best course of action is to keep this war going for as long as possible.

"That's why I called you here," Uchiha Touko said.

“As you both know, I only participated in the Third Shinobi World War as an ordinary soldier, so I have no experience in how to control the situation of a war,” Uchiha Touko said.

When Yamanaka Inoichi heard Uchiha Touko's words, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. An ordinary soldier... what ordinary soldier could have the record of killing hundreds of enemies in a single battle?

"So, what does the Hokage want us to do?" Nara Shikaku asked.

“I plan to have you lead an elite squad to the battlefield in the Land of Waterfall to provide support. You will have full command of this unit,” said Uchiha Touko. “Of course, considering our current non-aggression pact with Iwagakure, the identity of this squad must be kept strictly confidential. At the very least, they cannot wear Konoha headbands. The same goes for you Ino-Shika-Cho; do not make a move unless it is a matter of life and death.”

"Are we going to support Takigakure?" Yamanaka Inoichi asked.

“No, what the Hokage means is that we will act as a third party on this battlefield, helping whoever is at a disadvantage,” Nara Shikaku said.

“That’s right, exactly.” Uchiha Touko nodded. “Because of our contract with Iwagakure, the village cannot directly support your operations this time. So, I don’t expect you to achieve great results, but you must ensure your safety, understand?”

“Understood.” Nara Shikaku nodded. “Then, I wonder which unit the Hokage intends us to take out?” Nara Shikaku pressed. “It can’t be our own clan’s ninjas, can it? Although I’m more confident in commanding our own clan’s ninjas, it would be hard to explain if we used our clan’s Ino-Shika-Cho battle technique.”

“I plan to have you take the Sarutobi clan ninjas with you. Among the village's current ninja teams, only those who are strong yet lack distinctive features, so their identities won't be exposed,” Uchiha Touko said.

“If it’s them, that’s good,” Nara Shikaku said. “However, Hokage-sama, are you sure I can command them?”

Although the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and the Sarutobi clan have basically stopped interacting after Hiruzen Sarutobi exhausted their past friendship, on the battlefield, if there is any rift between soldiers and commanders, the consequences could be extremely fatal.

"You can rest assured about that. Besides you, I also plan to have Asuma lead this team," Uchiha Touko said.

“That solves the problem,” Nara Shikaku said.

With the young head of the Sarutobi clan present, there was no fear that these Sarutobi ninjas would disobey orders, and for Nara Shikaku, controlling Asuma was not a difficult task.

"When do we leave?" Nara Shikaku asked.

“Three days from now,” Uchiha Tokō said. “You can also escort our first batch of support to them.”

……

After the Third Hokage retired, the previously strained relationship between father and son improved significantly.

Of course, the main reason was that the Third Hokage swallowed his pride and personally stepped in to help Asuma propose marriage to Kurenai Yuhi.

After getting engaged to Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma, like a middle-aged man who has reached a certain age and settled down, did some work as a Jonin in the village.

However, after receiving Uchiha Touko's order, he readily accepted the mission.

Three days later, under the cover of night, the group disguised themselves as wandering ninjas and left Konoha.

During these three days, Onoki's mood was not so good.

At the start of the war, Iwagakure achieved remarkable results on the first day, but in the following days, their forces clearly stalled in advancing the front lines.

Their invincible combination of Earth Release ninjutsu met its match on the battlefield.

Although the time it took for the Takigakure ninjas to practice the combination ninjutsu style Lightning Release: Kirin taught to them by Uchiha Touko was very short, and even though they used nearly a hundred ninjas to unleash this ninjutsu, its power was far less than the original version, it was still the Lightning Release style that was most effective against Earth Release.

What disgusted Onoki and the frontline commander, Kyoto, even more was that the Takigakure ninjas suddenly became incredibly wealthy, throwing explosive tags at anyone they saw as if they were free.

Takigakure certainly doesn't have the financial strength, and considering the combined Lightning Release ninjutsu that appeared on the battlefield before, it's obvious to Onoki who is supporting Takigakure behind it.

Of course, what truly changed the course of the battle was the addition of the Akatsuki organization. On the battlefield a day earlier, Huang Tu had the opportunity to kill Iwata Sawaki, the leader of Takigakure, but the appearance of a purple-haired woman in a red cloud robe directly changed the situation. After joining the battlefield, Konan saved Iwata Sawaki and took over all the explosive tag traps set by Takigakure. Under her control, these explosive tags seemed to come alive, causing heavy losses to Iwagakure on the front line in just a few breaths. Even Huang Tu was seriously injured in the attack.

"Damn Akatsuki! Have they forgotten who was providing them with financial support before?" Onoki slammed his fist on the table in anger. "And that damned Uchiha Touko, he's only sending supplies instead of troops! How infuriating!"

"Lord Tsuchikage, please calm down," said one of the ANBU members in the Tsuchikage's office.

"Bring me Uchiha Touko from Konoha!" Onoki took a deep breath and turned to give the order.

Soon, Onoki and Uchiha Touko's video conversation resumed.

"What's wrong with Tsuchikage? Why are you so angry after just a few days? Is the situation on the battlefield not looking good?" Uchiha Touka asked with a smile, looking at Onoki's slightly flushed cheeks.

"It seems the Hokage isn't showing much respect for our alliance," Onoki said after taking a deep breath.

"Oh? I wonder what you mean by that, Tsuchikage? Our Konoha directly rejected the alliance request from the Land of Waterfall. Isn't that enough?" Uchiha Touko said with a smile.

Chapter 165 The Five-Tailed Cicada Stalks the Pear, Pain Follows Behind

"Takigakure's military equipment and supplies were all provided by your Konoha, right?" Onoki questioned directly.

"Mr. Tsuchikage, regarding this matter, Takigakure purchases all their goods from Konoha at market prices. These are normal business transactions. We can't just stop doing business because you're at war," Uchiha Touko said, spreading his hands.

"Takigakure bought these ninja tools at market price?" Onoki narrowed his eyes upon hearing this. Given Takigakure's extravagant use of explosive tags on the battlefield these past few days, who would believe that Uchiha Touko was telling him that these ninja tools were purchased at market price? At Takigakure's current rate of use, even their Land of Earth couldn't withstand such extravagance for long, let alone Takigakure.

“Yes, at most, our village’s ninja tool supplier gave us a 20% discount because of the large quantity,” Uchiha Touko said. “I swear in the name of all the Hokage that Konoha has never provided any substantial support to Takigakure. If the Tsuchikage doesn’t believe me, he can send someone to Konoha to check the contracts that Takigakure has purchased ninja tools from.”

Since Uchiha Touki had already said so much, Onoki couldn't press him any further. Otherwise, if he really pushed Uchiha Touki to the limit and Konoha got involved in the whole war, the outcome would be uncertain.

“In that case, I hope that Your Hokage will not forget our peace agreement,” Onoki said.

"Of course, we also hope that His Majesty the Tsuchikage will remember our agreement that your army will remain calm when the battle lines are pushed to the border of Konoha," said Uchiha Touko.

After Uchiha Touko finished speaking, he hung up the video call.

As per his agreement with Chongming, Uchiha Touko began to teach Fu the techniques to master the power of the tailed beasts. However, at crucial moments, both of them held back, leaving Fu in a state where she seems to be able to learn, but actually faces many difficulties in practice. During this long learning process, Naruto and Sasuke's group also began to form friendships with Fu. Fu never expected that the friendships she sought in Takigakure would be so readily available in Konoha.

As the days went by, Fu's initial idea of ​​quickly mastering the Seven-Tails' power and returning to the village slowly crumbled.

The mercenaries who were sent to the battlefield by Uchiha Touko performed many outstanding feats after arriving at the battlefield and becoming familiar with the environment. When they first arrived at the battlefield, Iwagakure had no intelligence. With Shikaku's superb command and the Sarutobi Army's superb combined fire-style ninjutsu under Asuma's leadership, they directly wiped out an Iwagakure team. Furthermore, the surviving member that Shikaku deliberately left behind revealed all the secrets in his brain under the secret technique of the Yamanaka clan, and used secret means to send this information directly to the Takigakure command post.

Upon learning of this, Onoki flew into a rage, since the traces of the battlefield were all caused by fire-style ninjutsu, and everyone in the ninja world knew which family possessed the strongest fire-style ninjutsu.

However, when confronted by Onoki's questioning, Uchiha Touko frankly invited him to send someone to visit the Uchiha clan's territory to prove his innocence.

"So, you mean that this group of ninjas who can use powerful combination fire-style ninjutsu are not from Konoha, right?" Ono Muga was practically grinding his teeth to powder, but that was the truth. According to the information he had gathered, the other party had not shown any other abilities besides fire-style ninjutsu, such as the Sharingan.

"Of course, didn't I already say? If you don't believe me, you can send people to visit our Uchiha clan's territory at any time," Uchiha Touko said with a smile.

It can only be said that the private army trained by the Third Hokage was indeed secretive. Few people in the entire ninja world knew of the existence of this Sarutobi Army. Now, if Uchiha Touko destroys the ninja numbers of these people, they will become unregistered ninjas again.

"So, did these large numbers of Fire Release ninjas just appear out of thin air?" Onoki asked, barely suppressing his anger.

“That’s hard to say,” Uchiha Touko said meaningfully. “The ninja world is so big, maybe it’s just some ninja from some organization who wants to help the weak. Just like the Akatsuki organization that’s currently on the battlefield between you and the Land of Waterfall.”

"Heh, Hokage, you're quite the joker," Onoki said through gritted teeth. He was certain that this Fire Release ninja team was connected to Konoha, but he just couldn't find any evidence.

"If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now. I still need to instruct my disciples today." Uchiha Touka said with a smile as he ended the call with Onoki.

As for the possibility of the Sarutobi army being caught by Iwagakure, Uchiha Touko believed that with Nara Shikaku's intelligence, such a possibility was extremely slim. After all, what Shikaku needed to do was not to lead the Sarutobi army to victory in this war, but simply to act as a troublemaker on the battlefield. If Nara Shikaku were to be exposed under such a huge information gap, he would truly be unworthy of his title as Konoha's strategist.

Under the influence of various factors, this war, which almost the entire ninja world believed would be a quick victory for Takigakure and a fast break by Iwagakure, unexpectedly fell into a stalemate.

Although Takigakure was constantly suppressed by Iwagakure's forces on the main battlefield, Takigakure was not without the power to fight back. With the help of Akatsuki and the assistance of Sarutobi's army led by Shikaku Nara, Takigakure planned several successful counterattacks, and news of attacks on several towns on the border of the Land of Earth kept coming in.

In this war that the entire ninja world was watching, Takigakure's tenacity was remarkable, but Iwagakure was undoubtedly caught off guard.

As one of the five great ninja villages, Takigakure is a powerful village with military strength aiming for third place and striving for second. Before the war began, both Onoki and Uesugi Hideyoshi, the daimyo of the Land of Earth, expected the war to end within a week. Not only them, but everyone in the ninja world except for Uchiha Tokkou thought so. However, Takigakure has managed to hold the Land of Earth back.

As the war progressed, the ninja tools and supplies that Iwata Zeki had purchased with the first batch of loans were quickly exhausted. However, Takigakure had no way out at this point. So, after the loans ran out, Iwata Zeki immediately rushed to Konoha to continue taking advantage of the situation. This time, he mortgaged several mines within the Land of Takigakure, and Uchiha Tokō naturally accepted them all.

Furthermore, although Takigakure withstood Iwagakure's attack, it was not without cost. The casualty ratio between the two sides was not even in the same league. Although the Chunin and Genin of Takigakure quickly mastered the Lightning Release combination ninjutsu provided by Konoha to the Land of Takigakure through life-and-death battles on the battlefield, the inherent difference in the quality of the ninjas meant that they often had to sacrifice several ninjas to kill a single Iwagakure ninja.

At this moment, Iwata Sawaki had become a gambler who had lost everything. All the eligible men in Takigakure, no, in the Land of Takigakure, who could extract even a little chakra, were captured by Takigakure to fill the gaps in their chakra. These men ranged from children who had not yet graduated from the Ninja Academy to middle-aged men in their fifties. They were all sent to the battlefield by Takigakure. After being taught some combination ninjutsu, they were directly pulled to the front line to resist the attack of Iwagakure.

Even Konan, the leader of the Akatsuki organization who came to provide support, couldn't stand this situation. During a war meeting, after hearing that Iwata Sawaki had sent another batch of ninja academy students who hadn't even graduated to the front lines, Konan couldn't help but question him: "Mr. Iwata, if I may be so bold, but if you do this, even if Takigakure wins this war, Takigakure will have no future."