This Rotten Old Man Was Bad to the Bone

If they were really discovered then, they definitely wouldn't be able to beat over a hundred of them. He was the heir to this country, yet he hadn't even had the chance to oppress the people, and the gun at his side hadn't even been drawn. If he died just like that, it would be truly pathetic.

"Mm. When the time comes, the Clan Head and Clan Elders just need to take the Explosive Tags and blow them up in large swathes. Put some Explosive Tags on the ground around the area too, to draw their attention," Xun Uzumaki explained. "I estimate there won't be many shinobi guarding the ships, and they won't stay for long."

After all, they were one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages!

When wiping out a small nation full of the old, weak, sick, and disabled, they certainly wouldn't believe Uzushio Village's shinobi could howl their way through the defenses, much less believe that...

Someone would be crouching in the grass, preparing an ambush!!!

And that was their advantage. As long as the Land of Whirlpools remained careful and cautious, and didn't stupidly charge forward shouting, "For glory!" just to throw away their lives, they would have a chance at victory.

Xun Uzumaki sighed. If they won this time, it would truly be a victory bought with money.

If not for his Sea Salt Production Method, and the salt he had secretly sold, they probably could not have gathered that much money. After all, in ancient times, salt was extremely valuable.

But Xun Uzumaki did not dare sell too much. If others discovered that the Land of Whirlpools possessed vast quantities of salt, Kirigakure probably would not be the only one attacking. The Five Great Shinobi Villages would likely move together. Don't doubt it—profit moved people!

Why did shinobi carry out missions? For profit!!

Why did Ninja World Wars happen? Wasn't it also for profit!!

And as for Konoha, they probably would not act openly. They would only shout about Generational Friendship and mutual exchange, and then...

Those foolish Uzumaki Clan higher-ups would be so touched that they handed their techniques over to Konoha.

Or after the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed, Konoha would step forward to condemn the Four Great Ninja Villages, then accept the Land of Whirlpools' inheritance as its ally.

The thought irritated Xun Uzumaki. There was something he wanted to say, though he did not know whether he should say it.

Sooner or later, he would deal with them.

When Hashirama Senju sold the Tailed Beasts, why did the small shinobi villages not approach the Land of Whirlpools, but instead go to Takigakure? Was it because the Uzumaki Clan was not small enough, or because the Land of Whirlpools had no money?

Xun Uzumaki made a guess inwardly...

On one hand, it was probably because Hashirama thought they were good brothers. With Konoha protecting them, Uzushio Village did not need one. After all, if Uzushio Village got one, wouldn't it be the same as Konoha getting one?

Holy shit, look at that. Since ancient times, people had thought the Land of Whirlpools belonged to Konoha!

On the other hand, Xun Uzumaki guessed Tobirama had pulled some dirty trick. The Uzumaki Clan possessed immense Chakra and life force capable of suppressing Tailed Beasts. If Uzushio Village had a Jinchuriki, wouldn't that mean a Whirlpool Kage could emerge? What would happen to him, the big brother, then? If his brother were around, he might not dare act out of consideration for his sister-in-law. But if his brother were gone...

Who would care about you! Don't doubt it. He was someone who even dared harm the clansmen of Uchiha, Hashirama's close friend and fellow founder of the shinobi village! If he had not used Uchiha clansmen for human experiments, how could he possibly know that when an Uchiha awakened the Sharingan, a sinister Chakra would appear in their mind?

Could it be that the Uchiha told him? Or that the Uchiha willingly offered up their clansmen for research?

Don't joke around!

Therefore, to ensure that only Konoha could possess Jinchuriki and no other shinobi villages could, he would definitely resort to underhanded means. That was also why, early on, the other shinobi villages lacked knowledge of Sealing Jutsu and had not yet received help from the Uzumaki Clan, so Uzumaki Mito was the only Jinchuriki.

And for the other shinobi villages to obtain Jinchuriki, they would definitely make a trip to the Land of Whirlpools. If they could make a deal, that would be fine. If they could not...

Heh heh!!!

The tremendous advances in Sealing Jutsu across the nations later on were probably related to the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools.

Xun Uzumaki seriously suspected that this was also why Konoha had resorted to dirty tricks and stood by without helping. They probably thought one Uzumaki Clan was enough—just enough to make Jinchuriki—and it could only be Konoha's Uzumaki Clan. To prevent other villages from getting the rest, the Land of Whirlpools could just go to hell!!

After all, Kirigakure had imported two Tailed Beasts from Konoha!

Could they possibly just put them in the village as decorations?

So even if they did not yet have Jinchuriki, they would definitely make a move in order to obtain Sealing Jutsu and Uzumaki Clan members.

It was not their territory anyway. Once they saw that the situation was wrong, they could simply destroy it and directly unleash nuclear weapons. What would the Land of Whirlpools do then?

Motherfucker!

They did not have any Kage-level powerhouses right now! When the time came, they could only have the Clan Elders use the Reaper Death Seal.

After all, once this technique trapped someone, there was no solution!

Didn't that old Third Hokage know the Reaper Death Seal later on?

If Kushina taught the Fourth Hokage, then who taught the Third Hokage?

There was no need to say it. He definitely stole it. This rotten old man was bad to the bone. He probably waited silently until Kushina and the Fourth Hokage died before appearing to painstakingly raise that foolish Prince Naruto.

What deep scheming!!

And to undo the Reaper Death Seal, one first had to obtain Death God's Mask. The mask was still in the Uzumaki Clan shrine and had not yet fallen into Konoha's hands.

See? This was a classic case of killing you, forcibly taking your wife, and seizing your property!

But trapping a Tailed Beast was easier said than done. Aside from Mito, the Uzumaki Clan currently had no Kage-level shinobi. If Jonin could seal Tailed Beasts, what would they have needed Minato for back then?

They could have simply made a group of Jonin learn the Reaper Death Seal, then have them charge howling across the battlefield and use the Reaper Death Seal on their enemies!

Trading one Jonin for a Kage-level shinobi from another village, or a Tailed Beast—what a bargain!

Xun Uzumaki shook his head. It seemed he truly had to prepare defenses against Tailed Beasts.

Otherwise, if Kirigakure threw out two Tailed Beasts and let them roll around, wouldn't they be finished?

What were Tailed Beasts?

They were masses of Chakra!!

Even if these Molotov Cocktails were thrown at them, they would probably just roll around, lose a layer of skin, and be fine.

If all else failed, they would truly have to pile up lives. Otherwise, if they let down their guard and the Land of Whirlpools was really destroyed, he could only flee everywhere. Not only would he have to hide from the other shinobi villages, he would also have to hide from Konoha, because...

One Jinchuriki was enough.

And without much confidence, Xun Uzumaki did not want to face Konoha either. That place was full of freaks with cheat abilities. He could not afford to provoke them!

"We only need to pour this gasoline over Kirigakure's ships," Xun Uzumaki said to the Clan Elders and Clan Head. "Then Fire Style Ninjutsu will do the rest."

The ships of this era were still wooden ships. This gasoline fire should be able to burn them, right?

If it could not burn them, they would truly have to fill the gap with their lives. No matter what, this batch of ships had to be kept here.

"What should we prepare over the next few days?" The Clan Head nodded and asked. "Do we just wait here?"

"No. First, we need to make some Decoys for them." Xun Uzumaki thought for a moment before speaking. After all, there were still one hundred million Explosive Tags waiting ahead for them.

They could not let them escape. And why had they told all the citizens to hide?

It was to make it look like the people of the Land of Whirlpools were fleeing in disaster!

So some clothes, luggage, and other things had to float on the water, while all sorts of clutter had to be scattered along the roads to create the appearance of refugees fleeing. This was a major undertaking!

After all, an entire nation was fleeing...

And they could not just throw things around randomly. They also had to pay attention to the route. Their main goal was to use these things to lure Kirigakure's people into the blast zone!

"In that case, let's act now!" the Clan Head said. "Kirigakure's advance force will probably set out first. We need to move as early as possible."

"Captain, we're about to enter the waters of the Land of Whirlpools." A shinobi wearing a Kirigakure forehead protector stood at the bow and complained to his captain, "The war is almost over. Why are we starting another war?"

"Shut up, Dayou." The captain gave Dayou a cold glance. "As shinobi, all we need to do is carry out our mission."

"Got it, got it." Dayou waved his hand dismissively. "There's no one else here anyway. No one will hear us."

"Enough, Dayou." Another team member said helplessly, "We are only the advance force. We need to find a safe location for the main force to camp later, while investigating the Land of Whirlpools' current situation."

"But this is still war!" Dayou curled his lips. "This is enough. I hate war more than anything."

"The war is about to end. Konoha's victory is already plain to see. The Second Mizukage has not achieved any great results, and dissatisfied voices have long existed within Kirigakure." Another team member pushed up his glasses and looked at Dayou. "So, to reduce the dissatisfaction within Kirigakure, the Mizukage launched a strategy to invade the Land of Whirlpools. On one hand, the Land of Whirlpools greatly weakened itself by helping Konoha in the First Great Ninja War. On the other hand, it lies close to the Land of Fire. Once we take this place, we can contain the Land of Fire and monitor Konoha's movements."

And prepare for the next great war, he added silently.

"Ebisu, you're so boring." Dayou shook his head and said in a low voice, "Anyway, I just don't like war. War is truly..."

"It's too terrifying. Junpei's parents died in the war. And Yozon, Kaiko... th-they're gone too." At that thought, tears filled Dayou's eyes. He shouted, "So why start a war? Everything is clearly about to end, it's all about to end! Do you understand?"

"..."

At Dayou's words, the entire squad fell silent.

The captain sighed and said flatly, "This is what it means to be a shinobi, Dayou... do you understand?"

That was right. No one liked war, but shinobi had no choice.

"I don't understand. I hate war." Dayou roared angrily at the captain. "Why can all of you start wars so calmly? Why?"

"Shut up, Dayou." Seeing that Dayou had begun to lose his reason in his anger, the captain shouted, "Shinobi only need to know how to carry out their missions. There aren't so many whys."

"..."

Hearing the captain's words, Dayou calmed down. Especially at the captain's furious, cold tone, he understood that during war, one absolutely could not say anything that harmed morale. Especially with the other team members on this ship—his words had already made them somewhat depressed. If this continued... the captain...

Would definitely kill him.

"I don't understand. I don't understand anything." Dayou lowered his head, tears falling directly onto the deck as he spoke in a low voice.

Why did war have to exist?

"I see them." Holding a telescope, the Clan Head said, "Three ships, around a hundred people. This is Kirigakure's advance force."

"Do we take them out?" The Great Elder looked at Xun Uzumaki and asked. Everything was now following Xun Uzumaki's arrangements. If they took them out, they only had five people, so it would probably be troublesome.

Xun Uzumaki thought for a moment. Five people taking out over a hundred was indeed troublesome!

They did not have the means to fight them head-on. Furthermore, these hundred people had come to scout the route. If they were harmed, Kirigakure's follow-up forces would probably become extremely wary. But if they did not take them out and allowed them to wander around the Land of Whirlpools, they might discover everything they had prepared. That would be troublesome.

What should they do?

"Second Elder, go notify them. Have the shinobi behind us arrange a large group of people in front of the blast zone, not too far from it. Surround them and show them that the Land of Whirlpools is unafraid of death," Xun Uzumaki said. "There should be a lot of people, but they must not be too strong. Show weakness to the enemy. Do not kill too many of them—let them escape."

They could only make them wait on the outskirts. Then, together with the follow-up troops, they could welcome the fireworks the Land of Whirlpools had prepared for them.

The Clan Head frowned upon hearing this. Though he did not know what Xun Uzumaki intended to do, he did not ask. This was no ordinary time. The war had already begun, and at such a time, no one could question the commander.

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