Uchiha's personal opinion

"After multiple rounds of close reconnaissance, it's confirmed to be him?!"

This puzzled Uchiha Tokumitsu.

First Ryuchi Cave, then Jiraiya—are these remnants of Akatsuki planning to cause some trouble in the Land of Swamp?

Moreover, this series of events seems so reasonable and coincidental! Logically speaking, it's almost impossible to find fault with it!

But if it seems fine, it means there must be a big problem going to happen!

Because it all happened so coincidentally.

Whether it was the snake riots, the caravan's assistance in repelling the snakes, or the Byakugan ninjas of the anti-terrorist forces discovering Ryuchi Cave's snake den in the ninja world, everything seemed too smooth and too deliberate.

The most surprising thing is that Jiraiya was able to be tracked down by a Chunin-level ninja.

"..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu rubbed his temples and thought for a moment.

"Red Guard First Division, prepare for battle!"

"Notify Uchiha Shiina that he must seal the rogue ninja Jiraiya in the swamp within one day, and then activate the sealing formation!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu plans to personally take charge this time!

Whether it was Jiraiya or Ryuchi Cave deliberately revealing a flaw and secretly making preparations, Uchiha Tokumitsu didn't care at all.

Previously, all beings were equal under the Tailed Beast Ball. Now, after completing the Five Elements Cycle, Uchiha Tokumitsu's last weakness has been made up, especially his combined ninjutsu, which is modified from the Five Elements Great Combo, has immense power.

Under such circumstances, his intervention is actually the safest course of action.

Even if he doesn't personally fight on the front lines, his mere presence is the best encouragement for the counter-terrorism forces!

Since you're actively seeking death...

"Then I, your humble servant, will personally grant your request!"

Chapter 368 It's getting anxious! It's getting anxious!

Is it really necessary to be in such a hurry?

Deep within the swamps of the Land of Swamps, the sage Fukasaku couldn't help but ask Jiraiya again.

"……if not?"

Jiraiya, whose snake-like eyes gleamed with a green, eerie light, casually asked a question in return.

"I just feel that a direct confrontation might be too hasty?"

The immortal sighed and said.

"Should we just stay holed up in the mountains and wait for the Uchiha traitors of the Shogunate to figure us out and send a large force to annihilate us?"

Jiraiya's tone and expression no longer showed the respect he once had for Fukasaku. He said nonchalantly, "If we're going to fight, let's fight big! Let's crush the shogunate in one fell swoop!"

"We must demonstrate the might of the two holy lands! We must defeat the Shogunate so that they dare not look north! We must make the red-eyed Uchiha tremble at the mere mention of the names of the two holy lands!"

"Regardless of the final outcome of this battle, as long as we can achieve a draw or better against the Shogunate's ninja army, then our future endeavors will have a convincing start!"

"Hiding in the mountains won't do any good! The shogunate will only grow stronger, and as time goes on, we'll be seen as terrorists by those foolish civilians!"

The immortal was speechless.

Jiraiya's words were one of the main reasons he was able to persuade the great sages of the two holy lands to be willing to lay bare their resources and confront the shogunate and Konoha's forces in the ninja world.

"...And there's Iwagakure and Kumogakure, we should contact these two opposition factions in Konoha."

After a while, Fukasaku said in a low voice, "If we add the strength of the two great ninja villages, we should be even more confident..."

"Until we achieve some results, Kumogakure and Iwagakure won't take us seriously."

Jiraiya stood up, dusted himself off, and said, "Instead of delivering ourselves to their doorstep and being kidnapped and sent to the shogunate for a reward, we'd rather win a resounding victory and then wait for them to come begging to us!"

"I'll go check on the battle formation first. Immortal, you should rest for a bit."

"It doesn't matter if you can't figure it out, just keep thinking about it."

After Jiraiya finished speaking, he turned and left.

The immortal's mouth opened and closed, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

What's wrong with Jiraiya...?

It felt that Jiraiya had become a bit abnormal since he had stayed in Ryuchi Cave for more than three months. In the past, he had always been incredibly respectful to it! Why was he being so neglectful now?

"It seems you're plotting something rather complicated!"

Jiraiya was walking through the swamp when suddenly a beautiful, talking snake lowered its head from a tree and said to him with a grin, "And it's quite well-planned; it seems like there's really something going on."

"...Don't you want to think about what you're saying?"

Jiraiya stopped in his tracks, frowned, and rebuked him: "A great battle is imminent, yet you utter such words that please your enemies and pain your own people. What are your intentions?"

"Don't think that just because you're the messenger of the White Snake Ancestor I won't punish you, Tuanjin Princess!"

"I was just saying it casually~ There's no need for such a big reaction~"

Princess Tsuratsu smiled and coiled her snake tail back up into the tree, no longer speaking to Jiraiya.

"Humph!"

Jiraiya snorted coldly and swaggered away.

In fact, it wasn't just Fukasaku and Tazatsuhime; the ninjas from the other two holy lands, including Snake and Greninja, didn't quite understand why Jiraiya had suddenly changed his ways and started aggressively seizing territory to wage positional warfare against the Shogunate and even Konoha.

It's important to understand that since Uchiha Tokumitsu rose to power, almost every battle he won was a large-scale, head-on positional war...

As Jiraiya swaggered past, the intelligent snakes and frogs exchanged glances, but none of them could explain what was going on.

"teacher!"

A little boy with orange hair ran up to Jiraiya, panting.

"Yahiko~"

Jiraiya's face broke into a rare smile, and he casually ruffled Yahiko's messy hair.

"The fortifications and traps on the south side are all completed. I'll organize Greninja to set up traps on the west side in a bit..."

"...Be careful, don't overwork yourself."

Jiraiya's eyes flickered slightly, but he still smiled and said.

"it is good!"

Yahiko nodded heavily.

"Oh, right, teacher..."

Just as he was about to continue with his work, he suddenly turned around and said, "...If we defeat the shogunate this time, can we rescue Konan and the others?"

"...Then we might have to capture a few prisoners."

Jiraiya laughed heartily.

"it is good!"

Yahiko nodded again, then ran off with renewed energy.

"Ugh……"

Watching Yahiko skip away, Jiraiya sighed deeply.

We have to find a way to send the child away; we can't let him die with us and a bunch of other people who will be buried with him...

……

"Are those outcasts gathering in ever-growing numbers?"

When Uchiha Tokumitsu led his troops to the headquarters of the joint anti-terrorism force in Takigaki Country in secret, his first reaction upon hearing the latest report from Uchiha Shiina was that something must be wrong.

"Yes."

Uchiha Shiina nodded and said, "Currently, five squads have been deployed throughout the Land of Swamp to defend against the overflowing Ninja Snakes and Ninja Frogs, but according to intelligence from the reconnaissance squads... the number of those aliens is increasing."

"At the same time, twelve detachments are deployed around the perimeter of the Swamp Country, awaiting orders for the next operation."

Uchiha Shiina paused, then added, "The reason we only deployed five squads was initially because we were worried it would alarm those outcasts, that they would flee at the first sign of trouble, so..."

There must be something fishy going on here...

Uchiha Tokumitsu felt even more uneasy.

The reason he only brought one squad of the Red Guards was mainly because he was worried that making too much noise would alert the enemy, so he chose to travel light.

But judging from the current situation...

"It seems those aliens want to fight us head-on."

Uchiha Shiina whispered, "According to the Byakugan ninja's reconnaissance report, various fortifications and traps have been being built deep in the swamp recently."

"Have the three columns of the United Company assembled in the Land of Rivers come here immediately!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu nodded and gave the order to his attendant ninja.

Since that's the case, then I won't hold back.

"In addition, ten detachments have been transferred from Fubo City, and eight more detachments have been sent from Wuyin..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu quickly issued orders to begin mobilizing troops from all over the ninja world.

"As for the Rain Ninja... let's hire a squad of Water Demons; they might come in handy."

One by one, the attendant ninjas received their orders and left.

"Should we mobilize the village?"

Unable to contain his desire to show off, Uchiha Shisui spoke up.

"The anti-terrorism force is just like the village's ninja army; it's not time to mobilize the entire population."

Uchiha Shiina quickly explained on behalf of Uchiha Tokumitsu, "Besides, it's not worth the village going all out for a mere outsider."

"Hmm...then let's bring over another disciplinary camp!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu pondered for a moment, then gave the order again.