Uchiha's personal opinion

"With the power of the ninja world, once it is unified, will our holy land be able to rest peacefully for even a single night?"

"..."

After the Toad Sage's clone finished speaking, the Ryuchi Cave Temple returned to a deathly silence.

Princess Tianxin and Princess Jitanjin exchanged glances in private, but both were somewhat puzzled.

Although they both have long lives, what the Toad Sage said was far beyond the scope of the curriculum.

"...So you mean my bloodline just died in vain?"

After a while, the voice of the White Snake Immortal echoed in the temple again.

However, although his words were extremely cold this time, they lacked the chilling killing intent he had before.

"revenge!"

The toad sage's clone bowed to the main body of the white snake sage seated above, saying, "Revenge is imperative!"

How to get revenge?

The White Snake Sage's tone remained indifferent, but it secretly relieved the Toad Sage's clone.

It seems she listened to advice...

However, the Toad Sage's clone did not dare to be negligent and hurriedly said, "Contact the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Stone Village in the ninja world, unite the power of ninjas, and launch a concerted attack to annihilate the wicked Uchiha clan!"

"Indra's bloodline must be completely eradicated!"

"If Yu Yi could know this in the afterlife, and knew how you schemed against his junior, I don't know whether he would laugh or cry..."

The White Serpent Immortal wavered slightly, but still relentlessly mocked, "By cooperating with you once, my Dragon Earth Cave has lost a goddess, and countless giant serpents of all kinds have perished..."

"Myoboku Mountain is quite something, they just slipped away and ran, treating my Ryuchi Cave clan as scapegoats, huh!"

The White Snake Ancestor's tone grew increasingly stern and fierce.

"This defeat was not due to a lack of skill, and I think the White Snake Immortal should understand that as well."

The Toad Sage's clone raised his head and said, "The root of everything is that the giant serpent of Ryuchi Cave devoured the family of an Akatsuki member, thus causing him to betray us..."

"Are you accusing me?!"

The White Snake Immortal was immediately enraged, his snake eyes narrowing into slits as he stared intently at the Toad Immortal's clone, who was giving a passionate speech.

This is something it has been trying to avoid.

The incredibly proud White Snake Immortal could not accept that the deaths of his direct descendants and countless giant snakes from Dragon Earth Cave were caused by a mere "sacrifice"!

And that humble little person's one little act of willfulness actually brought such a terrible disaster to Ryuchi Cave!

This is so ridiculous it's laughable!

Even the Toad Sage's clone remained silent.

It was also quite helpless.

Even when Jiraiya, who had fled back to Mount Myōboku, told it about the origins of the battle, the Great Toad Sage still couldn't believe it.

In its eyes, how could a mere mortal, so lowly as to be in the dust, possibly harm the sacred land dedicated to the great cause of "restoring order" in the ninja world?

So what if someone dies? Why drag others down with them?

That was the precious power that Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave had accumulated over countless years! And it was all wasted in one fell swoop, resulting in total annihilation!

The Akatsuki's ideals have been forgotten by those lowly mortals!

The Toad Sage was equally furious, feeling that the ninja world was corrupt and utterly filthy!

"...And how do you plan to compensate us?"

The White Snake Sage's words interrupted the Toad Sage's clone's contemplation.

"Princess Ichikishima's death was due to her being trapped in a time-space confinement and thus perishing..."

The toad sage's clone pulled a scroll from his sleeve and gestured to the white snake sage, saying, "This is the secret repository of the talisman techniques of Mount Myōboku, including talismans that can shatter the void..."

The White Snake Immortal's heart fluttered.

"I offer this as an apology, hoping that Ryūchi-dō and Myōboku-san can work together to uphold justice!"

The toad sage's clone coaxed patiently, "After this is accomplished, you'll get seven and I'll get three!"

Chapter 355 Preparations for the Festival

Uchiha Tokumitsu returned in triumph with his troops after a great victory.

The loyal villagers of Konoha turned out in full force to welcome their invincible ninja army back.

In this battle, the number of casualties reached over three thousand, and the number of those blasted to smithereens by the two Tailed Beast Balls was countless. But no matter how many casualties were actually killed, compared to the negligible number of casualties suffered by the Konoha Allied Forces, this was an undeniable great victory!

After the battle, according to the staff's statistics, the total number of casualties among the Konoha ninja forces and the Rain Ninja elites who assisted in the battle was more than 1,300, of which more than 800 died directly in battle, and nearly 100 were seriously injured and had to retire even after recovery.

The high death rate also reflects a problem: the shogunate's medical resources were still somewhat weak.

Even though the Shogunate's ninja army valued medical ninjas, the level of medical ninjutsu was still somewhat lacking due to the lack of leaders. Moreover, when facing the venom of the giant snakes in Ryuchi Cave, even Orochimaru's specially made snake medicine proved ineffective. As a result, many of the ninjas who died in battle suffered from worsened injuries and even died due to the lack of timely treatment.

Therefore, before Uchiha Tokumitsu and his group returned to Konoha, a special notice from the Governor's Office was sent back to Konoha.

"Announcement regarding the establishment of the Konoha Military Hospital and the training and rotation of medical ninjas?"

The lengthy and bureaucratic headline of the announcement gave Tsunade, who was in charge of Konoha's medical system, a headache.

"...Simply put, the plan is to rotate medical ninjas from Konoha Hospital to various standing ninja armies, while medical ninjas serving in the ninja armies will also have to return to the village hospital regularly for further training."

Rope Tree took the imperial edict, glanced at it, and then analyzed and summarized its contents.

"Standardized residency training..."

For some reason, whenever Tsunade saw this "coined word" by Uchiha Tokumitsu, she felt the endless malice hidden within it.

"I have a feeling that little brat is trying to harm me!"

Tsunade said this.

……

The scale of the campaign to exterminate the Land of Birds was comparable to any major battle during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The scale of the participants, the secrecy surrounding the ninja army's deployment, and even the final battle results were enough to silence the ninja world.

No one would underestimate the military strength of Konoha or even the Shogunate, but it was unexpected that Konoha and the Shogunate would still maintain such a formidable standing ninja army even after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War.

What truly terrified the leaders of Iwagakure and Kumogakure was Konoha's and the Shogunate's mobilization and deployment capabilities.

The massive mobilization of thousands of ninja troops went unnoticed by both major ninja villages!

Even after Iwagakure sent envoys to Konoha, the envoys' reports made Onoki think that the "border conflict" was just a "minor matter" deliberately created by Uchiha Tokumitsu!

Even in his secret communication with the Third Raikage of Kumogakure, Onoki patted his chest and said that there was no trouble at the border and that the main theme of the ninja world was peace for the time being!

Then, after the news of the extermination operation was reported to various countries in the ninja world, Onoki felt like he had been slapped in the face!

Although Iwagakure actively withdrew from the Land of Birds, which was traditionally within its sphere of influence, and although Konoha's western border troops did indeed move north, the gathering of thousands of ninja soldiers and two tailed beasts went completely unnoticed by the spies left in the area!

Onoki felt that either there was a major problem with the intelligence system, or his own intelligence personnel were indeed too incompetent!

Otherwise, it doesn't make any sense at all!

……

For Uchiha Tokumitsu, the greatest gain from this battle was not the hundreds of ninja snakes and ninja frogs he captured, but the Sage Mode essence he obtained after killing Ichikishima-hime.

After being refined by the Firelight Lord, the Sage Art essence that returned to Uchiha Tokumitsu's body, along with the Sage Art chakra characteristics that had been completely obliterated from Ryuchi Cave, was extremely pure.

The direct effect of the Sage Art's origin is to elevate Uchiha Tokumitsu's perception and control of natural energy to a whole new level.

Compared to this gain, the boost to combat power is less important.

Most importantly, if Uchiha Tokumitsu were willing, he could even melt down his own Sage Mode source power and share a portion of it, allowing others to also gain the ability to sense natural energy and even refine Sage Mode chakra!

This also means that after the sacred particles were about to be exhausted, Uchiha Tokumitsu once again obtained a treasure that was enough to allow the clan to leap forward again as a whole.

"Holy lands are all treasures..."

After returning to the police headquarters office from the triumphant ceremony, Uchiha Tokumitsu sighed.

Orochimaru, who came to the office with him, had eyes full of longing and curiosity about Uchiha Tokumitsu's gains in this battle.

Of course, he wouldn't say it out loud.

Even if I don't get the most direct benefit of Uchiha Tokumitsu's share, it would be good if I could have a few ninja snakes and ninja frogs to use for experiments!

If all else fails, allocating more funds as research funding wouldn't be a bad idea!

Orochimaru doesn't want much!

Standing to the side, Uchiha Shisui kept glancing sideways, feeling that Orochimaru was acting a bit strange at this moment.

Although he was determined to leave the country to escape the dark history of "taijutsu training", Uchiha Tokumitsu still pulled him back from his position as adjutant of the western border army after the war. Shisui, who did not have the courage to say no, had no choice but to obediently return to the village with the army.

What do you want?

Uchiha Tokumitsu also saw Orochimaru's desire, so he asked directly.

"I'm very curious..."

Orochimaru couldn't resist the urge to wash his face with his tongue, so he stuck out his long tongue and licked his face in front of everyone.

"If I'm not mistaken, the giant serpent you slew should be Princess Ichikishima, one of the Three Goddesses of Ryuchi Cave..."

"Maybe so~"

Uchiha Tokumitsu remained noncommittal.

However, apart from the three goddesses, there should be no other "person" in Ryuchi Cave who possesses power comparable to the armored Susanoo.

"...Could you send some Ninja Tabi or Ninja Frogs to the lab?"

Although Orochimaru was filled with longing, he remained somewhat rational at the last moment and did not reveal what he truly desired.

“The snakes or gnats with Sage Chakra can be kept and a portion of the village’s research institute can be allocated to them for research.”

Uchiha Tokumitsu agreed to Orochimaru's request: "In addition, in view of your contributions, I will allocate funds in the name of the joint company for special research on the Ninja Snake and Ninja Frog."

"I am extremely grateful!"