Uchiha's personal opinion

The Takigakure envoy quickly explained, "Besides, do you have any evidence that Jiraiya is hiding within our country? We can certainly help you eliminate him or expel him from the country."

"It's baseless!"

"Uchiha Shiina said coldly."

"Ah, this..."

Upon hearing this, the Takigakure envoy broke out in a cold sweat.

"Of course, the benevolent Lord Tokuko also knows that although there are bad people within Takigakure, most of them are old friends of Konoha..."

Uchiha Shiina changed the subject: "So things aren't entirely hopeless..."

"Please give your instructions, Lord Shiina!"

The Takigakure envoy quickly bowed and asked.

"With this treaty signed, Konoha and Takigakure will remain friendly nations..."

The implication is that if you don't sign, you're on your own.

The Takigakure envoy shakily flipped through the pages, and was immediately drenched in sweat.

The terms and conditions in the treaty were so harsh and numerous that they were beyond imagination!

"Three days..."

Uchiha Shiina held up three fingers. "Takigakure has three days to think about whether to sign the treaty, but they also need to think carefully about the consequences."

"If there is still no reply by the deadline..."

"Then don't say you weren't warned!"

Chapter 319 War on Terror

The fate of Takigakure sent chills down the spines of other ninja villages.

In a very short time, the ninja forces from the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Fire Gate Shogunate, and the United Company quickly forced a medium-sized ninja village with considerable strength to its knees and beg for mercy. In the eyes of other ninja villages, this was nothing short of demonic bullying!

Most importantly, Taki Shinobu had absolutely no chance to fight back!

The border troops fled without a fight, and the militant ninja army was easily defeated. Although the losses were not significant, the long-peaceful Takigakure ninja were terrified.

Even the tailed beasts, which they regard as the ultimate weapon, dare not appear before the Uchiha clan, who are renowned throughout the ninja world for their Sharingan.

This war is unwinnable!

After sending envoys to Iwagakure and Kumogakure for help to no avail, the Takigakure leadership finally resigned themselves to their fate.

—There's no way to defy fate. The Seven-Tails of Takigakure might be somewhat intimidating against other ninja villages, but if used against the Uchiha clan... it would be like throwing good money after bad. So it's better to just surrender and let the Uchiha clan do as they please; maybe they can even gain some pity and preserve some of the interests of the higher-ups.

"...Kirigakure has been defeated, so it's not shameful for us to surrender."

A high-ranking member of the Takigakure organization said this.

Although these words sounded shameless, they were like heavenly music to the dejected high-ranking members of the Takigakure ninja.

"That's true..."

"To be honest, although Takigakure is the sixth ninja village, our actual strength is still far inferior to Kirigakure. That being said..."

"Losing to the Uchiha, the strongest clan in the ninja world, is not shameful!"

"It is an honor for Takigaku to contribute to Lord Tokuko's investigation of the traitor Jiraiya!"

Thus, the Takigakure leadership reached a consensus and quickly changed their attitude. On the last day of the ultimatum issued by Uchiha Shiina, they once again dispatched envoys to the Uchiha Ninja Army command center.

As for the Takigakure fighting faction that was put under guard after their defeat, the higher-ups regarded them as a burden. Many active surrenderers even denounced them as sinners who destroyed the friendship between Konoha and Takigakure, clamoring to hand them over to the Uchiha Ninja Army for disposal in order to maintain the "long-standing friendship" between the two villages.

Fortunately, the current leader of Takigakure was somewhat sensible. After hesitating for a long time, he finally decided to consider the feelings of the village's lower-level ninjas and refused to hand over the martial arts faction.

Even so, when news of the high-ranking officials sending envoys to sign the surrender agreement spread to the Takigakure headquarters, the Takigakure ninja were plunged into deep despair.

……

"There is no hope left for this village!"

The leader of the Takigakure martial arts faction, Tani-suke, summoned his Jonin subordinates to a secret room.

"Lord Tani-suke, let's rebel!"

A Jonin from Takigakure excitedly said, "The village is in an uproar right now. As long as we raise the banner of righteousness, everyone will surely follow suit, and it will be a piece of cake to overthrow those corrupt and incompetent leaders!"

"When a thousand people are of one mind, they have the strength of a thousand; when ten thousand people are of different minds, they are of no use at all!"

"The fact that the top leadership is unpopular is the perfect opportunity for us, the militant faction, to seize power!"

"Then let's intercept and kill the surrender envoys now!"

The other injured Taki ninjas made a move to get up.

"Nonsense!"

The leader of the militant faction, Gu Zhu, angrily retorted, "Do you really want to start a civil war in the village?"

"Of the nearly four thousand ninjas in the village, how many will support us? Those cowards dare not fight against the Uchiha ninja army, do you really think they wouldn't dare to fight us?"

"And those cowardly bullies from Iwagakure and Kumogakure are completely unreliable now!"

"Only by accumulating strength and biding our time can we make a comeback in the future! Acting rashly will only bring about utter disaster!"

After Gu Zhu finished his rant, the secret room fell into a deathly silence.

"...Lord Tani, what should we do?"

After a long silence, someone finally broke it.

"Let's gather our ninja army and leave the village!"

Gu Zhu's words shocked everyone present: "Only in this way can we have a future!"

"The ninja world is so vast, where could we possibly find a place to belong..."

A Jonin from Takigakure hesitated before speaking.

"Head north! Rebuild a new Takigakure!"

Gu Zhu said very firmly, "As long as we stay in the country but not in the village, we will have the opportunity to receive ninjas who gradually understand the true nature of the village leaders who sell out the village for personal gain. With this shift in power, we may still have the possibility of restoring order!"

"If I leave the village... what if the village interferes?"

The Jonin under his command were still somewhat hesitant.

"Then fight!"

Gu Zhu's tone grew even colder, "As long as we prepare for civil war, then civil war will not actually happen!"

"Gentlemen! Please trust me one more time!"

Gu Zhu's tone became incredibly sincere.

The group of martial arts Jonin from Takigakure looked at each other in bewilderment.

There's no need to talk about fighting the Uchiha clan, since they've already been easily defeated once. If they wanted to rebel against the corrupt high command, they could just start an uprising in the village. But what kind of nonsense is this so-called "leaving the village but not the country" thing? Are they just gathering together so that the Uchiha ninja army can wipe them out in one fell swoop?

"Lord Tani-suke! We'll go with you!"

A Jonin from Takigakure resolutely stood up and shouted.

"Rebuild our new Takigakure!"

Then several more Jonin stood up and shouted.

"This is outrageous!"

"It's better not to stay in this lousy village!"

"If the higher-ups dare to stop us, we'll fight!"

Inspired by several "pioneers," the previously hesitant Jonin of Takigakure finally gritted their teeth and made up their minds.

Gu Zhu secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Luckily, we arranged for someone to stay in the office beforehand, otherwise it would have been a real problem...

……

"We are going to wage a war against terrorism across the entire ninja world!"

Inside the Speaker of the House of Representatives' office, Uchiha Tokumitsu spoke to Hatake Sakumo.

What is counter-terrorism?

Sakumo Hatake humbly sought his advice.

"As the name suggests, it is about opposing terrorist attacks."

Uchiha Tokumitsu explained.

"...But what does counter-terrorism have to do with Takigakure?"

Sakumo Hatake picked up the contract signed between the shogunate and Takigakure on the table and flipped through it again.

Aside from not directly taking over the ninja villages, almost everything in the Land of Waterfall was open to the shogunate and the United Company.

The shogunate can establish military bases and conduct military operations independently within the territory of Takigakure, and the ninja army's deployment of Takigakure ninjas is not subject to questioning or interference; caravans under the United Company enjoy tax-free treatment, and the gold yuan is treated as equivalent to the currency of Takigakure...

Come to think of it, even the Land of Grass, which has been completely reduced to a vassal state of the Uchiha clan, didn't suffer such a severe loss of its own rights!

"The geographical location of Takigakure may become the second source of anti-Konoha sentiment after the Land of Rain."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said matter-of-factly and confidently, "So, we must save them now before they go completely down the wrong path!"

"Although Takigakure lost its sovereignty, they gained protection!"

Upon hearing this, Hatake Sakumo felt a headache coming on.

He had never understood where Uchiha Tokumitsu's strange and unreasonable domineering logic came from, since there had never been such a precedent in the ninja world!

"Sigh... Taki Shinobu has already signed..."

What's most incomprehensible is that the higher-ups at Takigakure were actually willing to sign such an extremely harsh and treasonous agreement.

"Therefore, I plan to establish a standing ninja army in the Land of Waterfall for long-term counter-terrorism operations..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu had a beaming smile.