Public Outrage, Konoha Mobilizes a Ninja Army Against Sunagakure

Public Outrage, Konoha Mobilizes a Ninja Army Against Sunagakure

Seeing that Minato and Uchiha Mikoto were so exhausted they could barely stand, the sentry ninja quickly brought over water and dry rations.

The sentry post's captain said to the three of them,

"My name is Xia Mu Xiao Zuo, captain of this sentry post. Please tell us in detail about the enemy you encountered so we can relay the intelligence back to the village."

"No problem."

After resting for a while, Minato began recounting what had happened.

Chiyue sat to one side, too lazy to say anything.

To be honest, he was exhausted too. Most of it was because he had helped Minato and Uchiha Mikoto shoulder the burden along the way.

If he hadn't been worried about causing unnecessary trouble, Chiyue would have wanted to chop those three burdensome officials down with a single slash.

Why did they have to get so fat for no reason?

They couldn't run themselves and had to be carried, nearly exhausting everyone else to death.

"You wiped out a jonin squad?"

When they learned that Chiyue had single-handedly wiped out a jonin squad, the sentry ninja were all stunned.

One by one, they stared at Chiyue with incredulous yet somewhat suspicious looks.

"This is the enemy jonin's corpse. Send it back to the village, and you should be able to gather quite a bit of intelligence from it."

Chiyue took out the Sealing Scroll.

The captain on duty hurriedly opened the scroll to verify it. Once he saw the corpse's face clearly, he confirmed both the identity and the authenticity of the intelligence.

Minato had not lied. There were merely some discrepancies in the process.

A jonin squad had indeed been wiped out. They had died at Chiyue's hands, and they had died in utter confusion.

They would never have dreamed that they would fail so inexplicably.

Not just them—even the Third Kazekage was still wondering how he had fallen for it.

Not only had he been injured, he had nearly embarrassed himself.

Fortunately, the Sunagakure ninja had arrived only after he dispelled the Genjutsu.

If they had arrived a step earlier, the Third Kazekage would truly have died of social embarrassment.

The deceased had been confirmed as Red Ghost, a Sunagakure jonin, without a doubt. But how had Chiyue killed him?

The captain on duty said apologetically,

"Although I do not wish to doubt you, I need to verify whether this is true. Please understand."

"I understand your position, senior."

If someone falsely claimed battle merits and was found out, Chiyue would be in trouble, and so would the captain on duty who had helped relay the intelligence.

Chiyue closed his eyes. The instant he opened them, the captain on duty fell silent as he looked into his Three-tomoe Sharingan.

How old was this kid? Was he a genius of the Uchiha Clan?

But was he really from the Uchiha Clan?

Since when had the Uchiha Clan produced a white-haired one?

The Three-tomoe Sharingan was enough to prove the truth of everything Chiyue had said.

No one would doubt the Sharingan's ability to control Genjutsu. No one in the entire ninja world would question that.

"I will immediately send the intelligence and Red Ghost's corpse back to the village. You have worked hard. Get some proper rest. The village will not forget your contributions."

With ninja hawks serving as specialized messengers, the intelligence scroll would not take long to reach Konoha.

The mission of Chiyue's group of three was officially complete. They could finally rest.

After learning that Sunagakure's ninja army had surrounded the camp and that Chiyue's group had rescued them all the way out, the three officials from the Land of Fire's Daimyo Residence were overwhelmed with gratitude.

"Whew~~~"

Finding them irritating, Chiyue directly pushed Minato, the diplomat, forward to deal with them.

Uchiha Mikoto jumped onto a tree branch and sat beside him. Tilting her head as she looked at his youthful profile, she smiled gently.

"Chiyue, once word of this gets out, the clan will probably try to persuade you to return to the Uchiha Clan."

"I can just ignore them."

Chiyue spread his hands. "It's not like they can force me to return to the clan and change my name if I refuse."

The Uchiha Clan was a massive landmine—anyone who touched it would be unlucky. Chiyue had no interest in wading into that mess.

Hearing this, Uchiha Mikoto smiled faintly and did not try to persuade him.

She respected Chiyue's choice. Whether he wanted to return to the Uchiha Clan or not, she would stand firmly by his side.

The ninja hawk carried the intelligence scroll back to Konoha at top speed, and the scroll was delivered to the Third Hokage's desk.

The entire Hokage's Office Building immediately erupted into chaos.

Upon receiving the news, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura rushed to the Hokage's office at once.

"Hiruzen, is the news true? Has Sunagakure really invaded?"

At that moment, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had completely lost the composure expected of elders. They hurried over in quick, frantic steps, not even bothering to knock before barging in.

"The intelligence is accurate. There can be no mistake. It seems the Third Kazekage personally led a surprise attack on the Fire Country."

The Third Hokage's face was grim as he handed the intelligence scroll to them.

"Lord Hokage."

Before the two could inspect the contents of the scroll, an Anbu ninja appeared in the Hokage's office.

He handed the Third Hokage a newly obtained intelligence scroll.

The Third Hokage hurriedly opened it. After reading only a few lines, he shot to his feet in shock.

"It really was the Third Kazekage leading them personally!"

The corpse of Red Ghost, whom Chiyue had killed, had been delivered to Konoha inside the Sealing Scroll.

The Intelligence Department extracted the secrets from his brain, confirming the speculation that the Third Kazekage had personally led the attack.

"This..."

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura's expressions turned ugly. They were even somewhat incoherent. "How dare he?"

After so many peaceful years, Sunagakure had launched an undeclared war and made a surprise attack on Konoha.

Their ninja army had already entered the Land of Fire.

It was fortunate that Chiyue Squad had delivered the intelligence in time. Otherwise, Konoha would still be completely in the dark.

The enemy would have reached their doorstep, and they still would not know what had happened.

Judging from the intelligence they had obtained, Chiyue's group had indeed rendered great service, especially Chiyue.

He had killed Red Ghost, allowing the Intelligence Department to extract a great deal of valuable intelligence from his brain.

Red Ghost's corpse had arrived at just the right time.

"Calm down."

The Third Hokage frowned as he glanced at Utatane Koharu, who seemed flustered.

The enemy had already invaded the Land of Fire. What use was panicking now?

They should think of a countermeasure and figure out how to deal with the aggressive enemy.

"Should we negotiate peace with Amegakure?"

Mitokado Homura offered a suggestion.

Compared with Amegakure, Sunagakure concerned him more.

Even if Amegakure's military strength had grown, its foundations were weak. Despite having Hanzō, the ninja hailed as a demigod, few people took Amegakure seriously.

The Five Great Ninja Villages still placed greater importance on opponents of equal standing.

Sunagakure clearly carried far more weight than Amegakure.

"That will be difficult."

Negotiating peace was not a bad idea, but Konoha's war with Amegakure was currently deadlocked. Both sides were fighting back and forth, neither willing to yield. Negotiations were simply impossible at this time.

Only after a winner had been decided, or after Amegakure could no longer hold on, could they negotiate peace.

If Konoha went to Hanzō seeking peace talks just because Sunagakure had attacked, Konoha would inevitably suffer a huge loss.

That was not an outcome the Third Hokage wished to see.

Nor would Hanzō, who was stationed on the front lines, agree to peace talks.

"No matter what, we must first drive Sunagakure's people out of the Land of Fire. We cannot allow them to plunder within the Land of Fire."

Sunagakure was poor and lacked everything, while the Land of Fire was a huge piece of fat.

Even if they could not occupy the Land of Fire's territory, all manner of resources would still be Sunagakure's targets.

If Sunagakure's ninja were allowed to cause trouble throughout the Land of Fire, the country would fall into chaos.

The daimyo would definitely not be able to sit still.

Utatane Koharu's words made sense. The Third Hokage nodded slightly. He also agreed that Sunagakure's people should be driven out first.

"Issue a mobilization order. Assemble a ninja army immediately. No matter what, drive Sunagakure's people out! No matter the cost!!"

The Third Hokage, still in his prime, was a hero among ninja, not the old man who would later always seek peace and make concessions.

At this time, not only was his strength at its peak, but he was also full of resolve.

If he decided to fight, then he fought. There would be no hesitation.

"I'll make the preparations." Mitokado Homura rose and left.

Utatane Koharu also said, "I'll mobilize supplies from the logistics department and make sure everything is ready before the army departs."

The Third Hokage nodded expressionlessly and lowered his head to look at the intelligence scroll on the desk.

The notice was issued overnight, and all of Konoha was thrown into an uproar.

Sunagakure had actually started an undeclared war and directly attacked the Land of Fire. Their army had already entered the Land of Fire!

How could this be tolerated?

For a time, countless villagers cursed furiously, and countless others gathered outside the Hokage's Office Building, shouting.

They urged the Third Hokage to send troops and drive Sunagakure's people out.

Once the mobilization order was issued, all of Konoha sprang into action.

Ninja from every clan began gathering and joining the army according to their allotted proportions.

Compared with the numerous civilian ninja, Konoha's backbone had always been the ninja of its clans, large and small.

These were the people who allowed Konoha to maintain its position as the leader of the Five Great Nations.

Sometimes, quantity could not replace quality.

Take the Uchiha Clan, for example.

The Uchiha Clan alone had more than thirty jonin.

Meanwhile, Konoha as a whole had only a few hundred jonin, meaning Uchiha jonin accounted for roughly one-tenth of Konoha's total.

Even more frightening was that if an Uchiha jonin fought a civilian jonin one-on-one, the latter would have almost no hope of winning.

Unless they were geniuses like Orochimaru or Jiraiya.