United Against a Common Enemy

News of Mu Yue's impending succession as Hokage spread rapidly not only through Konoha and the Land of Fire, but soon reached countries large and small throughout the surrounding regions.

All Five Great Ninja Villages had intelligence networks scattered across the ninja world, so once the news broke, the other four villages received reports from their intelligence operatives one after another.

Land of Earth, Iwagakure.

"They completed the Hokage election so quickly. No wonder Konoha hadn't made a move—they had been planning this all along." Ōnoki came to a realization after reading the intelligence report.

Iwagakure had played no small part in spreading the news of Hiruzen Sarutobi's defeat at Sōsuke's hands across the ninja world in such a short time.

To Iwagakure as it was now, Konoha was a major problem, while Ninshu was a minor one. Nothing would have pleased them more than seeing those two problems turn on each other.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. Konoha gave no response at all, even though its people had practically caused an uproar over the news.

"While this can mitigate the impact to some extent, the price is far too great. Could Hiruzen Sarutobi have suffered grave injuries in that battle that cannot be healed?" Ōnoki sank into thought.

Having Mu Yue, who currently had the greatest momentum, succeed as Hokage was indeed a good move—but that was from Konoha's overall perspective.

For Hiruzen Sarutobi himself, though, this decision was a tremendous loss. He had not only surrendered the Hokage's authority, but also left people with the impression that he had resigned to take responsibility.

If it had been Ōnoki, he would most likely have played dead and done nothing. He would neither respond nor hand over his position.

Ōnoki thought for a moment, then carefully reviewed the