Uchiha's personal opinion

Uchiha Tokumitsu also shared his thoughts.

Sakumo Hatake excels at breakthrough operations, making him the perfect candidate to command the small but highly capable first combat echelon.

Uchiha Tokumitsu's Fire Release and Susanoo are known for their extremely wide coverage and destructive power, making them absolutely invincible for crushing weaker opponents.

If the first combat echelon is blocked from breaking through the enemy's first line of defense, it should immediately retreat to cooperate with the second echelon to quickly complete the annihilation of the enemy, and then jointly launch the next wave of offensive.

"It's still a bit too risky..."

Hanzo the Salamander pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "This tactic is prone to being outmaneuvered by the enemy when facing a strong foe due to setbacks in the attack..."

In particular, Uchiha Tokumitsu's tactical plans did not include a reserve force, so if an unexpected situation occurred, it would severely test the combat awareness and coordination of each ninja unit.

"Therefore, I intend to ask Mr. Hanzo to take command of the third combat echelon in order to create a favorable environment for the breaching operation."

Uchiha Tokumitsu laughed and said, "As long as we can stabilize the two flanks, there will be no problem in breaking through the middle and annihilating the enemy."

"...That's not entirely impossible."

To be honest, even Hanzo the Salamander was tempted.

The Konoha Ninja Alliance is an elite ninja force that has been tested and honed through the Kirigakure campaign. Their individual combat strength and teamwork are far superior to those of the Amegakure Ninja. Naturally, Hanzo of the Salamander had no reason to refuse to lead such a ninja force into battle.

Moreover, covering the flanks was a simple matter for him; he could basically stop a ninja army by simply summoning the salamander Ibuki and spraying poison gas.

"Have you heard anything from the advisor, Mitomon, in your village?"

After observing the ninja army's drills for a while, Hanzo the Salamander continued to ask questions.

"It should be soon..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu was also uncertain, "However, Iwagakure will land on the northern peninsula of the Land of Frost the day after tomorrow. Hopefully, Kumogakure will continue to be tough then, otherwise we will lose a good opportunity to directly attack their homeland..."

"Isn't the Fire Gate Shogunate planning to directly participate in the war?"

Hanzo the Salamander asked the question that concerned him most.

Because his Rain Ninja Army had been transferred to Uchiha Himon's command.

"Not needed for now..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said, "Anyway, we're going to give the Frost Country battlefield to Iwagakure anyway, so let them fight it out. We'll call them over when we attack the Land of Lightning."

As for Uchiha Tokumitsu of the Sarutobi Shogunate, which was led by Sarutobi Shinnosuke, he was not even mentioned.

For this ninja training exercise, Uchiha Tokumitsu simply sealed off the area around the training zone, while leaving the surrounding area completely unchecked.

Even when spies from Kumogakure came to spy on them, Uchiha Tokumitsu simply had them driven away.

The reason for doing this, besides improving the coordination of the ninja army through exercises, was also to deliberately convey a message to the Hidden Cloud Village: that the Tokugawa Shogunate's ninja army was far more valiant and skilled in battle than the Sarutobi Shogunate's, and was definitely not an easy target to deal with.

So, if we follow this line of thought, the easiest target among the three shogunates would naturally be Sarutobi Shinnosuke's subordinates.

Uchiha Tokumitsu was already anticipating the Hidden Cloud Village's counterattack after the mediation failed.

Chapter 223 War Clouds Gather

"I brought decades of peace, but the Hidden Cloud Village still chose war!"

As he prepared to leave Kumogakure, Mitokado Homura spoke to the Kumogakure elders who had come to see him off.

After the talks in the Raikage's office broke down, Mitokado Homura held several rounds of negotiations with various factions in Kumogakure, which gave him the illusion that mediation was possible.

Although I was initially very unenthusiastic about this so-called mediation, if I could force the notoriously tyrannical Cloud Village to submit under such harsh conditions, it would greatly enhance the reputation and prestige of the Hokage lineage.

Unfortunately, all of this was a facade created by the Hidden Cloud Village to buy time to divert the ninja army south.

However, when the news that Iwagakure had sent 3,000 troops into the northern part of the Land of Frost to spy on the Land of Lightning across the sea reached Kumogakure, the entire village erupted in chaos.

The Cloud Village members, who had previously been playing along with Mitomon Enki, immediately dropped their pretense and transformed into the most radical pro-war faction.

Meanwhile, Mitokado Homura, whose information was relatively limited, quickly contacted the Northern Shogunate through a pre-prepared summoning beast. While confirming Iwagakure's movements, he unexpectedly learned another piece of information—

Two days ago, the Northern Shogunate under Sarutobi Shinnosuke had already begun small-scale skirmishes with the southward-bound Kumogakure ninja army in the Land of Rice Fields. In other words, the so-called multi-factional communication was just a delaying tactic by Kumogakure.

Furthermore, according to reconnaissance reports, the number of Yunyin who moved south reached as high as five thousand.

Thus, the two pieces of information, delivered to different audiences, simultaneously shattered the already precarious peace talks.

Upon learning the truth, Mitokado Homura was naturally furious and immediately led his troops to leave.

"This is not the kind of peace that Kumogakure wants..."

The Cloud Village elder shook his head. "No one would agree to such harsh mediation conditions. Even the current Raikage, if he signed such an agreement, would have a new Raikage breaking the treaty and issuing a war order tomorrow..."

"So what?"

Feeling like he'd been tricked, Mitokado Homura said expressionlessly, "This is the will of Konoha. Kumogakure can only accept it or not, but the consequences of that choice will be drastically different."

After saying this, Mitomon Homura led his troops to leave.

"The will of Konoha?!"

The usually composed elder of Kumogakure broke down on the spot: "Since when has Konoha been able to so brazenly boss around the powerful Kumogakure!"

War will tell you the answer!

Mitomon En uttered a harsh remark and then led his troops away in an instant.

The Cloud Village elder wanted to order Mitokado Homura to be captured on the spot, but in the end he couldn't make up his mind and could only watch helplessly as Mitokado Homura left.

Konoha never intended to mediate in the first place...

Elder Yunyin also understood.

But what should Kumogakure do in the face of the upcoming siege by the three major ninja villages?

Even if the attacking Konoha and Iwagakure are temporarily repelled, wouldn't the two great ninja villages conduct a second mobilization in addition to the ninja forces already deployed on the border?

Once a war begins, no one knows how it will end.

The Hidden Cloud Village, which has long promoted militant ideology internally and pursued expansionism externally, is beginning to reap the bitter fruits of its backlash...

……

With Iwagakure entering the fray, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, also adjusted his strategic objectives accordingly.

Originally, he only intended to incite war to deplete the direct forces under Uchiha Tokumitsu and Hatake Sakumo, but this time, he no longer intends to be a "ninja" hero.

The Sarutobi clan's private army, which had already been assembled, immediately headed north to join Sarutobi Shinnosuke's shogunate.

The Shimura, Mitomon, and Utatane clans also brought out their most treasured ninja forces and handed them over to the Northern Shogunate.

Akimichi Torifu did not cause any trouble this time, and the Ino-Shika-Cho clans smoothly passed their internal resolution to participate in the war, and organized their clan ninja armies to await the village's official order.

Akimichi Torifu has not forgotten the death of the Second Generation Senju Tobirama.

Even the Hyuga clan organized a team of sixty branch family ninjas, who were sent to fight against the shogunates of Uchiha Tokumitsu and Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

This time, none of the Konoha ninja clans showed any fear of battle; they were all delighted at the prospect of war, hoping to make a fortune for their clans through the conflict.

There was no way around it; the Uchiha clan's gains in the Kirigakure campaign were simply too great, and all the Konoha ninjas who saw it couldn't help but feel envious.

Even if they didn't have the opportunity to gain the power to cede territory and establish a rule, everyone had the desire to make a fortune through war.

In particular, the Uchiha's affiliated ninja clans became wealthy after the war, which made the other ninja clans, who were originally on par with them, especially envious and jealous.

Even those who have fallen so low as to join the Uchiha clan can make a fortune, so I can do it too!

It was under the influence of this ideology that the Konoha ninja clan began to collectively petition the Hokage Building, advocating for war to avenge the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju!

Even the Senju clan, who had been quietly accumulating strength behind closed doors, were alarmed.

Tsunade never expected that her great-uncle, who had been dead for decades, would still be used as a figurehead at this time...

Admittedly, the Cloud Village is a formidable opponent with formidable combat strength, but so what?

The Hidden Mist Village, which the Tokugawa Shogunate conquered, was most skilled in the Water Release technique, which could counter the Uchiha clan's ancestral Fire Release!

But didn't they still fall to the Uchiha clan's ninja swords?

So, if the Uchiha clan could do it, why couldn't the Hyuga, Sarutobi, Shimura, Inuzuka, and Ino-Shika-Cho clans?

We can't just admit that the Uchiha clan is so much stronger than them, can we?

Thus, amidst the village's fervent atmosphere, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, disregarding the daimyo's secret opposition, brazenly issued a mobilization order for the ninja army, officially plunging Konoha into a state of war.

Meanwhile, driven by the war-fighting fervor of Konoha, Iwagakure also declared a state of war and dispatched an additional 3,000 ninja troops to Iwagakure stationed in the Land of Frost.

At this point, the number of Iwagakure ninja troops gathered in the Land of Frost alone reached six thousand, exceeding the five thousand Kumogakure ninja troops deployed to the south.

Meanwhile, within the various buffer states between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire, there are also Uchiha Tokumitsu's three thousand ninja troops and Sarutobi Shinnosuke's four thousand ninja troops.

Furthermore, reinforcements from Konoha are continuously arriving at the front lines, and the gap in strength between the two sides continues to widen.

Brubi and Ai, who were leading the army south, were completely dumbfounded.

Although they had enough confidence in the strength of their own ninja army, they were not so arrogant as to ignore such a large gap in strength and stubbornly insist on having the confidence to win.

Don't forget, along the eastern and northern coasts of the Land of Lightning, Kirigakure is launching attacks day and night, tying down nearly half of the Cloud Village's ninja forces.

Even after repeatedly sending messages back to the village seeking reinforcements, all they received was the Third Raikage's order to hold their ground and await further aid.

The Third Raikage remained steadfast in executing the original battle plan: to locate the main force of Kirigakure in a short time, strive to decisively defeat them in a major battle, and deter the Konoha and Iwagakure ninja forces in the south.

……

"War is inevitable..."

Inside the Tokugawa Shogunate's ninja army camp, Uchiha Tokugawa sighed.

Just after the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, issued the mobilization order for the ninja army, Tokumitsu Uchiha ordered his ninja army's reconnaissance ninjas to infiltrate the Land of Lightning to investigate the strength and weakness of the Hidden Cloud Village's defenses.

Meanwhile, the three combat echelons executing the breaching tactic have entered their designated positions, ready to launch a swift and decisive attack.

War clouds gather once again over the northern part of the Ninja World Continent, and war is imminent.

At this tense moment, Hyuga Hizashi led the Hyuga branch family ninjas who participated in the battle to Uchiha Tokumitsu's shogunate camp.

Uchiha Tokumitsu remained extremely polite to the second son of the Hyuga clan head and the future head of the branch family.

"This is the first time Konoha has launched a war against another major ninja village..."

Hyuga Hizashi sighed.

Under his Byakugan, Uchiha Tokumitsu's military formation was laid out in full view. Although he was not good at leading ninja forces in battle, he could still judge Uchiha Tokumitsu's battle intentions by observing the chakra fluctuations.