Strategic Objectives

"Now that we've decided on a response, let's discuss which ninja village—or which two ninja villages—we should concentrate our forces on and attack first."

After calming Jiraiya down, the Third Hokage immediately raised another topic.

After a brief silence, Danzo was the first to speak.

"Sunagakure can be our first target for a surprise attack. Compared to the other three ninja villages, Sunagakure's strength is undoubtedly much weaker." Danzo was the first to propose a strategic objective.

After hearing Danzo's words, the others only needed a moment's thought before agreeing.

"That's feasible. We can concentrate our forces and swiftly crush the weakest, Sunagakure, thereby intimidating the other three great ninja villages." Mitokado Homura nodded, becoming the first to agree with Danzo's view.

The others nodded as well.

Danzo grew even more pleased with himself. He realized that since he had lost the position of Hokage due to a momentary lapse in judgment, today could be called the proudest day of his life. After all, he had earned the recognition of everyone present, hadn't he?

With that, Danzo's ambitions slowly began to swell.

"However, that still won't be enough. Crushing Sunagakure alone would only intimidate the other three great countries for a while. Once they recovered, if all three countries attacked Konoha at once, they could still inflict enormous losses on us." Jiraiya bluntly voiced his opinion.

"Jiraiya has a point. Crushing Sunagakure alone still isn't safe enough. We need to choose another target for a surprise attack." Utatane Koharu said, a thoughtful look appearing on her face.

"The remaining three great countries are all about equally strong. It won't be easy to choose." The Third Hokage spoke with a headache.

"The Third Raikage of Kumogakure and the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure are both personally powerful. Ordinary ninja would have a hard time stopping either of them. But Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen are each at least jonin-level in strength, and with those seven specially forged ninja swords, they could hunt Kage-level experts together without any problem. That's also quite troublesome." Jiraiya analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the remaining three great ninja villages.

Some might say that Kirigakure was far weaker than Iwagakure and Kumogakure, but that would be wrong. This was before Obito controlled the Fourth Mizukage and implemented the Bloody Mist. The bloodline ninja clans in the village were still alive and well.

Leaving aside the Hozuki Clan, which had produced the Second Mizukage, even the Yuki Clan and Taketori Clan were still at their peak.

Some people might not know which clan the Taketori Clan was. But if it were put another way—the Kaguya Clan—then most people would surely recognize it.

That was right. It was the clan Kimimaro Kaguya came from in the original story.

At around fourteen years old, even while gravely ill, Kimimaro could still fight Gaara to a standstill. If not for Bloodline Disease, he might very well have defeated the not-yet-fully-grown Gaara during that period of the original story.

Before contracting Bloodline Disease, Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku had ranked even higher in Orochimaru's mind than Sasuke's Sharingan.

Beyond that, there were many other ninja clans, large and small. Aside from Konoha, Kirigakure could be said to have the most bloodline ninja clans and secret technique ninja clans.

During the early days of Konoha's founding, it had become the place where most ninja clans unwilling to submit to the Uchiha Clan and Senju Clan relocated. They had essentially been driven out to sea by Konoha's two founding pillars.

Although Kirigakure lacked an overwhelmingly powerful expert capable of deciding everything with a single blow—the Third Mizukage was merely an ordinary Kage-level fighter—the number of mid-tier experts there at this time far exceeded that of Iwagakure and Kumogakure.

"After giving it some thought, I think our second target should be Kirigakure!" Jiraiya was ultimately the first to offer his view.

"Oh, Jiraiya, explain. Why Kirigakure?" As expected, the Third Hokage, who liked to puff out clouds of smoke whenever he got deep in thought, lit up another cigarette.

The others all looked curiously at Jiraiya, wanting to hear what insight he had.

Jiraiya waved his right hand in distaste, fanning away the smoke drifting before his nose, then walked over to the map of the ninja world in front of everyone.

"My reason for choosing Kirigakure as the second target is geography."

The moment Jiraiya said that, a glint appeared in everyone's eyes.

They seemed to have understood part of why Jiraiya had chosen Kirigakure.

"Ahem, I'm sure everyone sees it now. That's right—since the three ninja villages are about equally strong, we should choose the one whose geography benefits us the most."

After pausing and seeing that everyone was still listening intently, Jiraiya did not drag things out and directly explained his reasoning.

"Iwagakure and Kumogakure are separated by only a few small countries. If we fail to swiftly crush one of them, the other could react and send reinforcements, putting us at a disadvantage. Moreover, the Third Raikage and Third Tsuchikage are both powerful and troublesome figures. There's no need for us to confront them head-on. Attacking either of those two countries would make no difference."

Jiraiya picked up the untouched tea on the Third Hokage's desk and drained it in one gulp, casually grumbling, "It's tea, not sake. What a bore."

Just as the Third Hokage darkened his face and prepared to explode, intending to make this brat Jiraiya understand the consequences of stopping halfway through a sentence, Jiraiya continued.

"Kirigakure is different. They're isolated overseas. If we can send two or three Kage-level experts leading an elite strike team on a direct decapitation raid, we can absolutely take them by surprise and seize victory. And Iwagakure and Kumogakure won't even be able to send reinforcements."

Jiraiya smiled and poured out everything he had wanted to say in one breath.

Then he quietly waited beside them for the Third Hokage and the Council of Elders to make their judgment.

Everyone present was intelligent. With Jiraiya's explanation, they all understood the point of choosing Kirigakure.

To sum it up: first, Kirigakure had no overwhelmingly powerful expert, so they did not have to fear being crushed by individual strength; second, if choosing Kumogakure or Iwagakure made no difference, they might as well choose the different option, Kirigakure; third, and most importantly, if they attacked Kirigakure, Iwagakure and Kumogakure could not reinforce it. But if they attacked Iwagakure or Kumogakure, those two could support each other, while Kirigakure might even launch a sneak attack from behind.

"Gentlemen, do you have any objections to Jiraiya's proposal of making Kirigakure our second surprise-attack target?"

The Third Hokage asked the members of the Council of Elders, though he had already made up his mind. Asking was merely a habitual formality.

"I agree."

"So do I."

"No objections."

The three of them naturally could not find anything to be dissatisfied with in Jiraiya's clear and logical analysis.

"Good. Then it's settled. Kirigakure will be our second target!"

The Third Hokage made the final decision.

"Next, summon back Orochimaru and Tsunade, who are gathering intelligence near the borders of Kirigakure and Sunagakure. The two of them are familiar with both countries. Once we obtain complete information about them, we'll launch our surprise attacks immediately."

The Third Hokage suddenly mentioned recalling Tsunade and Orochimaru. Thinking of his other two disciples, who had grown just as capable, the Third Hokage's heart filled with pride. Before even reaching forty, he had cultivated three Kage-level disciples in succession. He had every right to be proud.

The Third Hokage thought that he had not failed the teachings of his teacher, the Second Hokage, or the First Hokage. Unable to resist, he looked up once more at the portraits of the First and Second Hokage hanging in the office and fell into reminiscence.

His Will of Fire could finally be embodied through his three disciples, then carried forward and spread throughout the entire Konoha Ninja village!

"Jiraiya, you'll be the one to summon Tsunade and Orochimaru back... Hm? Where's Jiraiya?" When the Third Hokage emerged from his reminiscence and wanted Jiraiya to recall his other two disciples, he discovered that Jiraiya was gone!

Had he already told Jiraiya to do it while he was lost in thought just now?

"Ahem, Hiruzen, Jiraiya already left while you were staring blankly at the portraits of the First and Second Hokage." Mitokado Homura could not bear to see the Third Hokage remain confused, so he told him the truth.

Utatane Koharu and Danzo, on the other side, were also speechless at their Third Hokage's habit of staring blankly at the portraits of the previous two Hokage whenever the mood struck him.

"Jiraiya!!!"

The shout from the Hokage Building carried a great distance.

Everyone near the Hokage Building trembled in fear, all deeply impressed by Lord Jiraiya's ability to provoke the Third Hokage into such rage.

"Heh, the old man really is full of vigor. His voice is still so strong that I can hear his shouting clearly from this far away."

Jiraiya could not help using the little finger of his right hand to dig at his ear, then stopped bothering about his teacher.

He had only just returned to the village and had yet to properly enjoy himself.

He had not had time to drink any good sake, get close to any beautiful women, or visit the women's bathhouse. It had left him with no inspiration for writing novels.

He had been busy gathering intelligence on Kumogakure lately, and several installments of his Icha Icha Paradise novel had gone unpublished. His editor was pestering him relentlessly and searching for him everywhere.

Heh, he would have to be an idiot to run errands for the old man and summon back that stinking poisonous snake Orochimaru and Tsunade.

Couldn't a task like that be handled by casually sending a few ninja?

Thus, Jiraiya shamelessly skipped out on his teacher's assignment!

While his teacher was once again staring blankly at the portraits of the first two Hokage, of course he had to run. He refused to be caught and made into free labor the moment he returned!

As Jiraiya happily thought this over and prepared to head to the pleasure district for some sake, perhaps also to support the business of some lonely young ladies, he suddenly came to his senses.

Had he forgotten something?

Jiraiya racked his brain for quite a while, but with his mind currently filled only with sake and beautiful young ladies, he naturally could not remember what he had forgotten.

"Forget it, I won't worry about it. Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow. Today, beautiful young ladies, I'm here to support your business! Hahaha!"

The pleasure district was livelier and noisier than usual that day.

Poor Minato Namikaze did not know that on this day, his future teacher had abandoned him for the sake of beautiful young ladies.

And the talent Minato Namikaze displayed at the Ninja Academy spread throughout the entire Konoha Ninja village that very day.

Whether they were clan ninja or civilian ninja, all of them were astonished by Minato's talent.

In contrast, Hyuga Soji and Uchiha Homura, whom everyone had originally considered the two strongest candidates for first place in their class, were immediately drawn into the public debate.

Soji did not care about it. His original goal had never been fame. Now that someone else had a greater reputation than him, it was actually better. At the very least, he would not become the enemy's highest-priority target.

As for what Uchiha Homura might think, Soji had no idea.

Soji only needed to do his own things well. Let everyone else discuss whatever they wanted!