Uchiha's personal opinion

After a moment of shock, Orochimaru finally regained his composure and respectfully bowed to the White Snake Sage.

However, it was precisely because of the White Snake Sage's words that Orochimaru's greed for the ninja clan's bloodline limit was reignited.

Although he sensed the change in his inner emotions, Orochimaru remained unmoved and did not attempt to correct his own mindset, because he discovered that the obsession he needed to maintain at all times had been restored to its original state due to greed.

"Here, take this..."

The White Snake Sage waved his hand, and a snake fang-shaped pendant floated to Orochimaru's front.

"Since you've developed greed for Indra's descendants, then this item is just what you need..."

Orochimaru took the snake-fang-shaped pendant into his hand and felt a chill enter his mind, which suddenly made his mind more resolute.

Upon closer inspection, countless almost invisible incantations and runes seemed to float faintly on the snake tooth pendant, appearing and disappearing endlessly.

"This is a fang I had before I achieved immortality. It's not of much use, but it can at least free you from the effects of ordinary illusions and will be beneficial for your cultivation of the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique..."

The White Snake Sage said slowly, "Orochimaru, I hope you won't disappoint me..."

"Yes, sir..."

Orochimaru took a deep breath, bowed, and took his leave.

……

"Mount Myoboku may see a rebound."

The minutes and proposals formed at the meeting were quickly passed by both houses of parliament after deliberation and voting. However, Sakumo Hatake was still somewhat worried. "Tokumitsu-kun, should the village be specifically prepared to avoid being attacked?"

"Although we may not necessarily be so hostile to Mount Myōboku... since Sakumo-kun has made the suggestion, I will have the police department assemble the rapid response units from headquarters and various district police stations, so that we can provide support and response should any changes occur."

After thinking for a moment, Uchiha Tokumitsu agreed with Hatake Sakumo's suggestion.

"While it's certainly reasonable to eradicate those toads illegally lurking in the village, I still have some questions..."

Sakumo Hatake tentatively asked.

"Please speak, Mr. Sakumo."

Uchiha Tokumitsu didn't mind at all.

"Does Lord Deguang seem to have some reservations about the three holy lands? Why is that?"

"I asked Hatake Sakumo."

"These mere monsters and strange creatures dare to call themselves a holy land and immortals..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu scoffed, "Especially Mount Myōboku, they actually dared to interfere with the ninja world's future with their so-called prophecies, attempting to replace the ninjas' struggle with the will of a different kind. They are truly courting death. Sooner or later, their clan will be wiped out, their lineage will be exterminated, and all descendants will be wiped out, so that everything in this ninja world will belong to the ninjas!"

“De Guangjun is indeed ambitious.”

Sakumo Hatake sighed, "I've also heard Jiraiya talk about the so-called savior of Mount Myōboku, but I didn't take it seriously at the time, and I never imagined that it actually contained the implication of an alien interfering with the ninja world..."

Although he did not understand what a "demon" was, judging from Uchiha Tokumitsu's radical approach of "exterminating his clan, destroying his lineage, and eradicating his descendants," it is clear how deep his prejudice was against the so-called sacred land for summoning beasts.

Having said that, Hatake Sakumo stopped insisting and, after chatting for a while, got up and left.

He also had to urge the House of Representatives' subordinate agencies to inform all registered ninjas of the village's notification that Mount Myōboku was an enemy force. However, this task was related to the village's basic stance and policies, so it needed to be carried out secretly. Therefore, Hatake Sakumo planned to personally oversee the task.

……

"This godforsaken place! I feel like I'm going to get moldy!"

In a large mansion in a small town in the eastern part of the Land of Rain, conservative Uchiha ninjas who had been exiled there by Uchiha Himon gathered around a bonfire to warm themselves and dry their clothes.

For Uchiha ninjas who specialize in Fire Release techniques, the Land of Rain, which is plagued by constant rain, is definitely the most hated place.

"I don't know when I'll be able to go back..."

The conservative Uchiha ninjas were full of complaints.

"The Fire Gate must be fed up with you guys... so they're just trying to avoid seeing you altogether."

An older Uchiha Jonin chuckled self-deprecatingly: "These days, it's the era of radicals holding all the power, so naturally, we dissidents are not well-received."

"We are Uchiha too! Why are you treating us differently!"

A young Uchiha ninja muttered in dissatisfaction.

"It is said that even the power of the police department has been taken over by General Deguang. Apart from having the empty title of chief, the clan chief's faction can't even control a single company..."

Another Uchiha ninja suddenly joked, "Don't let our displeasure fool you, those guys holed up in the village are actually having a tough time too~"

"Speaking of which, I wonder if Fugaku will even be able to succeed to the throne."

The Uchiha ninjas immediately started gossiping.

"Be careful!"

The older Uchiha Jonin frowned and interrupted the younger group's gossip.

"Set up the guard posts and then rest..."

The Uchiha Jonin sighed, "No matter how unhappy those direct descendants are, they're still better off than us... Besides, who knows how much longer we'll be stuck in this damn rainy environment..."

Thinking about their current situation, the conservative Uchiha ninjas lost all interest in gossip. They quietly packed up their dried clothes, assigned shifts for guard duty, and then went to rest.

Although they were located within the Land of Rain and were unlikely to encounter enemy attacks, the Uchiha ninjas still meticulously set up both visible and hidden sentry posts, and several ninjas with sensory expertise volunteered to participate in night patrols.

The older Uchiha Jonin was also deeply comforted by this.

Although the conservative faction is now weak, the clan members generally maintain unity within the faction, which is a rare virtue for the Uchiha, who are known for their bravery, fighting spirit, and worship of the strong.

However, as the saying goes, "the devil is always one step ahead of the saint." Although they had carefully set up nighttime sentries and used sensory ninjutsu to probe the surrounding area, the conservative Uchiha ninjas had not noticed that a noisy rain frog on a big tree outside the door had been watching the movements of the conservative Uchiha ninjas inside the house.

Chapter 315 The Night Raid on Mount Myōboku

Ten kilometers away from the small town where the conservative Uchiha ninjas gathered, Jiraiya hid in a tree hollow, his expression unusually complicated.

According to the initial plan of the hermit Fukasaku of Mount Myōboku, the intention was to organize the Greninja of Mount Myōboku to attack the Hidden Shogunate of the Land of Grass. However, according to Jiraiya's intelligence, the Hidden Shogunate was too powerful, and a direct attack would likely result in extremely heavy losses for the Greninja of Mount Myōboku.

However, just as Jiraiya was assembling the Greninja troops to set up a few border outposts as a formality, the intelligence Greninjas suddenly discovered that a group of Uchiha ninjas had arrived in the eastern part of the Land of Rain.

Jiraiya initially thought that the Uchiha clan had discovered his existence and sent people to kill him, but after the intelligence ninja frog conducted a thorough investigation, it was discovered that they were just a group of exiled Uchiha dissidents.

"Lord Jiraiya, they only have thirty-odd people... we can easily wipe them out!"

Kosuke the Frog, standing nearby, encouraged them.

Jiraiya's expression became even more complicated.

Even though he has now been classified as a rogue ninja, he doesn't actually want to take action against the Konoha ninjas.

Uchiha Tokumitsu was ruthless, but he couldn't be unjust; the Konoha ninjas were all his brothers!

"Lord Jiraiya! They are Uchiha! Evil Uchiha!"

Kousuke Gamabunta continued to incite: "They're the ones who kidnapped Tadashi Gamabunta! He's the one who listens to you the most!"

Jiraiya's resolve began to waver.

"Did you see that? The latest intelligence is that Konoha has legalized the dissection of toads through the Uchiha's puppet, the Two Houses!"

Gamakatsu Kosuke cried out again, "It's worse than dead now! It's just a pity that Mount Myōboku is sticking to its neutrality and can't declare war on Konoha, so it can't save Gamakatsu Tadashi who's in dire straits!"

It is only natural that I should act unjustly in return for his inhumanity!

Jiraiya's last thread of reason snapped completely with Gamabunta's tearful lament.

"To fight the Uchiha... we need at least three times the number of ninja frogs."

Jiraiya immediately changed his stance and began to calculate the force needed to annihilate the conservative Uchiha: "Moreover... we don't know if any of those Uchiha ninjas have the three-tomoe bloodline limit. If so, it will be quite troublesome."

"Lord Jiraiya... is it possible that your power is insufficient to kill a mere Jonin of the Uchiha clan?"

Kosuke Gamabunta was somewhat taken aback.

In its understanding, Jiraiya was already considered one of the strongest ninjas in the ninja world. It was only because he had no ninjas under his command who could form a force that he was forced to leave the village and become a rogue ninja by Uchiha Tokumitsu. Otherwise, the Myoboku lineage could have become a supporter of Konoha's orthodoxy as Jiraiya ascended to the position of Hokage.

"The Jonin of the Uchiha clan and the three-tomoe Sharingan are not necessarily the same thing..."

Jiraiya patiently explained to Gamabunta Kosuke, "Uchiha ninjas who awaken the three-tomoe Sharingan are definitely among the best of the Jonin, but not all Uchiha ninjas who reach the Jonin level can awaken the three-tomoe bloodline limit."

"Then... how many Greninjas do we need to gather?"

"It's a toad," Kosuke asked cautiously.

Jiraiya left the village alone, and since he didn't have many loyal subordinates in the past, he now only has a handful of so-called "Akatsuki" members under his command. They are simply not capable of undertaking the heavy responsibility of attacking the Uchiha ninja forces, so the only option is to draw Ninjaga from Mount Myōboku to participate in the attack.

As for letting Jiraiya attack a large-scale Uchiha ninja army on his own... Mount Myōboku is not that ignorant.

"One hundred and twenty ninja frogs, that's about four times that number. Any more and my chakra won't be able to hold up... Also, we should have Fukasaku select the elite ninja frogs to avoid any mistakes. Those Uchiha Sharingan are the best at finding loopholes."

Jiraiya considered for a moment and said, "Furthermore, in order to avoid making too much of a commotion and leaking information, Bunta is not suitable to participate in the battle... Please also inform Fukasaku and Shima, and we may have to trouble you two at that time."

As one of the commanders of the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya was naturally quite capable. He quickly figured out the personnel involved in the attack on the conservative Uchiha ninja army, and Gamabunta Kosuke also obeyed the order to dispel the summoning jutsu and return to Mount Myōboku.

"Konoha..."

In the now deathly silent tree hollow, Jiraiya suddenly gave a bitter smile.

"My hands are finally going to be stained with the blood of my fellow village ninjas..."

Jiraiya raised his left hand and examined it closely, seemingly looking for dirt in his palm.

"You forced me to do this... Uchiha Tokumitsu, you forced me to do this!"

Under the moonlight, its ferocious expression was inexplicably savage.

……

"It's time to change shifts."

In the mansion where the conservative Uchiha ninja army was collectively stationed, a sleepy Uchiha Chunin, who had just woken up, patted his companion on the shoulder.

"Is it time yet...?"

His colleague got up and changed shifts as instructed, saying, "This rain just won't stop, it's so annoying!"

"The Land of Rain, huh? That's normal."

The Uchiha ninja who was changing shifts casually said, "There's some mutton soup from the Land of Grass in the kitchen. You can go and have some to warm yourself up."

"Forget it, I'm just rotting away... I'll just take a soldier's ration pill and go to sleep."

The Uchiha ninja, who had left his post, staggered back into the mansion.