Uchiha's personal opinion

At the same time, envoys were sent to request negotiations with the shogunate in order to sign a peace treaty that would last forever.

But will this actually force the shogunate to back down?

In truth, Onoki had no idea what to expect.

……

By the time Uchiha Tokumitsu returned to Konoha, it was almost dawn.

However, after exchanging a few pleasantries with Sakumo Hatake and the others, indicating that he was fine, he returned to the headquarters of the Namakawa Stock Exchange, which was next to the police department.

In the main hall of the exchange, a group of wealthy merchants and noble descendants who had fled from the Land of Earth and the Land of Thunder had already gathered.

They have one thing in common: they are bondholders!

However, due to the excessive looting and internal strife in Kumogakure and Iwagakure, most of the wealthy merchants' sons who fled in panic only held a small portion of the family's purchased bonds; the rest were either looted or burned to the ground.

The people in charge of the Namakawa Stock Exchange also didn't know how to handle the situation.

"Lord Tokumitsu!"

As Uchiha Tokumitsu entered the exchange's main hall, the descendants of wealthy merchants who had been whispering amongst themselves knelt down in unison, wailing and weeping.

"Please, Lord Deguang, save the Land of Earth from its dire straits!"

"General, please do us justice!"

"...My lord, save me!"

Cries mixed with various pleas echoed in the exchange's lobby.

"...Gentlemen, please hear me out!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu listened for a moment before slowly speaking.

The lobby fell silent instantly.

"The atrocities committed by the daimyo of the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning show that they are truly unworthy of their title of ruling over the land and protecting the people..."

"The Shogunate is aware of the tragedies suffered by your families!"

"Although it is not wise to wage war out of anger, it is imperative to punish injustice!"

As Uchiha Tokumitsu's tone changed, the descendants of wealthy merchants in the hall felt their hearts rise and fall.

"Now that Onoki of Iwagakure is threatening Takigakure, I will soon lead the shogunate's ninja army north to settle the score with them!"

"Victory!"

The lobby erupted in cheers!

"As for the bonds your families purchased on the stock exchange..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu stretched out his hands and pressed them down, signaling everyone to calm down for the time being.

Soon, the lobby fell silent again.

"All the named bonds will be inherited by the children of the respective families!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu solemnly stated, "Regardless of whether you bring the original receipts for the registered bonds, as long as your identities can be confirmed, the registered bonds purchased by your respective families will be fully inherited by them!"

"Lord Deguang is truly righteous!"

The descendants of the wealthy merchant knelt down and bowed in submission once again.

The reason they traveled all the way to Konoha to beg for this is precisely because of this.

"In addition to these, there are also bearer bonds..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu paused.

The descendants of the wealthy merchants looked even more delighted!

Bearer bonds are only judged by the document itself. Even if the head of the family secretly buys them, the younger generation will not know. So they had long given up hope. But now, after hearing what Uchiha Tokumitsu said, it seems that there is still a chance!

"All bearer bonds will be thoroughly reviewed. If there are no notes, we will start tracing them based on exchange records. If we can find the owner, they will all be returned!"

Uchiha Tokumitsu solemnly promised, "However, due to the special nature of bearer bonds, this may take a long time. If any of you hold family heirlooms, you can also hand them over to the exchange for supplementary investigation..."

"Furthermore, to avoid unnecessary losses for everyone, the stock exchange will suspend the redemption of bearer bonds effective immediately!"

"Long live!"

The lobby erupted in cheers once again!

"Righteousness lies in virtue!"

"Righteousness shines through virtue!!!"

Chapter 458 Old but Still Strong

"Lord Deguang, the village now has five fully-equipped standing columns and fifteen fully prepared reserve columns ready to go into battle at any time!"

The next morning, Hatake Sakumo approached Uchiha Tokumitsu and spoke to him.

Overnight, Uchiha Tokumitsu's reputation for "righteousness" spread throughout Konoha once again. Hatake Sakumo, as the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was naturally aware of the "Tokumitsu Declaration" at the Nakagawa Stock Exchange.

This time, he did not try to stop the deployment of troops. Instead, he quietly arranged for his Reform Society ninjas to compile statistics on the standing ninja army. At the same time, he urgently mobilized the Reform Society ninjas and stuffed them into the reserve column. In one night, he completed the personnel allocation of fifteen reserve scaffold columns.

"This time, we'll only take five standing columns into battle. In addition, the shogunate's direct ninja army has been notified to head north. Furthermore, the ninjas of the joint anti-terrorism force are still confronting Onoki's allied forces. In terms of numbers, we have an absolute advantage."

"Uchiha Tokumitsu said."

"It's time for the younger generation of the village to go to the battlefield; after all, they can't stay cooped up in the village forever..."

Sakumo Hatake offered a tactful and persuasive suggestion.

"Since you've brought it up, then take ten more reserve corps."

Uchiha Tokumitsu did not refuse.

The standing column has about 500 people, while the reserve column has only about 200 people. In total, Uchiha Tokumitsu recruited as many as 4,500 ninjas from the village this time.

In addition, more than 5,000 ninja troops directly under the shogunate had been dispatched from Fubo Castle in the Land of Whirlpools overnight and had now roughly reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Waterfalls; and the headquarters of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Force stationed in the southern region of the Land of Waterfalls also had a thousand troops—and this does not even include the counter-terrorism ninjas scattered in various places who rushed to reinforce after hearing the news; so Uchiha Tokumitsu's ninja army this time easily exceeded 10,000.

If a full-scale war were to break out, the shogunate's direct ninja army would have some troops stationed at Fubo Castle that could be mobilized, as well as various border defense forces and garrison camps, all of which were formidable ninja forces. In addition, there would be conscripted ninjas mobilized from places like Kirigakure, Kusagakure, and Amegakure, so the number of ninja forces could easily exceed 40,000.

And this is far from the limit!

Therefore, with such overwhelming strength, if it weren't for the ever-present troublesome Mount Myōboku causing trouble both openly and secretly, Uchiha Tokumitsu would have already marched north and completely wiped out Iwagakure and Kumogakure!

However, Onoki's overbearing behavior this time just happened to be a mishap. The task force responsible for opening the Myoboku route had just crushed the combined forces of Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave, and they were unable to attack for the time being. This gave them a chance to give Kumogakure and Iwagakure some reinforcements!

……

"Another new ninja army has arrived..."

Looking towards the distant shogunate's garrison, Huang Tu couldn't help but groan.

Ohnoki had been standing on the treetop all night.

His gaze was also fixed on the shogunate's ninja army camp, where ninja troops were constantly being deployed and stationed.

In just one night, the anti-terrorism force camp, which originally had more than a thousand people, was expanded. Various large-scale war tools and sealing techniques were deployed, instantly erasing the numerical advantage of the Iwagakure and Kumogakure allied forces and demonstrating an overwhelming technological advantage on the battlefield.

As for the number of people, due to this hasty deployment, after Akatsuchi led two thousand allied ninja troops stationed in the northern part of Takigakure across the border, Onoki only took four thousand hastily assembled ninja troops south. In addition, five thousand ninja troops from Iwagakure headquarters were gathering in the rear, and Kumogakure was also urgently assembling ninja troops.

But before his eyes, the joint anti-terrorism force, which originally numbered only a little over a thousand, rapidly swelled to six thousand overnight, and ninja armies bearing the banner of the shogunate continued to enter the camp and quickly deploy into formation.

Moreover, these ninja troops were not lightly armed forces like those of Iwagakure. Various new ninja tools were constantly emerging on the Shogunate's battlefield. Even as a veteran ninja who had lived through the late Sengoku period, Onoki could not discern the specific uses and destructive power of those giant ninja tools from their appearance. However, he was certain that, judging from the intensity of their chakra fluctuations, these would be extremely terrifying weapons in war.

Onoki considered using his Dust Release technique to launch two attacks at the distant Shogunate camp, but ultimately refrained from doing so.

Shaking off the dew, Onoki glanced sideways at his eldest son, Koto, who was intently observing the shogunate camp below.

This deployment of troops perfectly illustrates the problems between the two sides.

Because there was absolutely no possibility of information leaks this time, even Onoki himself did not know that he would make such a rash decision before he received information about Mount Myōboku and made up his mind.

Therefore, judging from the speed at which the ninja army was assembled and mobilized, the shogunate had clearly overwhelmed Iwagakure and Kumogakure.

Onoki sighed softly, feeling utterly exhausted.

The world is changing so fast that he's starting to feel a bit overwhelmed.

The current Iwagakure ninja army can be considered to be at its peak since the village's founding. Both their ninjutsu and individual skill levels far surpass those of the past. However, compared to the Shogunate...

As the saying goes, "Comparing people is a recipe for disaster, and comparing goods is a recipe for disaster"; this saying perfectly describes Onoki's feelings at this moment.

What should we eat for breakfast this morning?

Out of the blue, Onoki said something.

The loess below seemed oblivious, still intently recording the banners of the Shogunate's ninja army.

Hey! I'm talking to you!

Onoki said to his eldest son with great dissatisfaction, "What were we having for breakfast today?"

"what?"

Huang Tu then realized what was happening.

He thought it was just a hallucination.

"Meat tea, pancakes, and things like that..."

Huang Tu also said uncertainly.

After all, the Land of Earth doesn't have any famous dishes, and Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village) values ​​frugality. Whether in the village or elsewhere, the ninjas' menus have remained largely unchanged.

"They've already invaded the Land of Waterfalls, why don't they come up with a different tactic!"

Onoki said with dissatisfaction, "Since there are so many waterfalls and rivers in Takinogo, go and have Akatsuchi arrange for more people to catch fish! I want to eat fish!"

"Yes……"

Although Huang Tu was very puzzled, he still obediently teleported back to the camp.

After the loess had gone far away, Onoki jumped down from the tree, slumped to the ground, looking blank and exhausted.

My mind is more tired than my body.

As someone who came from the late Sengoku period, Onoki witnessed Hashirama Senju's unparalleled power in suppressing the ninja world and pacifying the chaotic world. He also witnessed Madara Uchiha's domineering attitude that only cared about Hashirama. He gradually grew from a young ninja into the leader of a ninja village. From the establishment and rise of Iwagakure to its growth and the emergence of the idea of ​​conquering the ninja world, all of this was closely related to Onoki.

It can be said that although the first two Tsuchikage forged the Hidden Stone Village, the soul of Hidden Stone Village was bestowed upon it by Onoki.