The Hashirama was merciless; Little Six's cheek swelled up at a visible speed.
But as soon as he finished playing, he regretted it.
My younger brother is an adult; I shouldn't have...
But the trouble he caused this time was far too great...
The Land of Land of Lightning is a rugged place, and conflicts are often resolved through duels between the strongest.
It's rare for a ninja army to be deployed like in the Land of Fire, charging together in a relentless, all-out battle.
Therefore, the basic combat strength of the Cloud far exceeds the existing military reserves of the Konoha.
There's no way around it; among the Five Great Nations, the Land of Fire's Family are the most fond of fighting, often escalating into deadly battles involving the entire Family.
To be honest, even if Konoha were to risk everything, it could only manage a ninja force of seven thousand men.
If the two sides are really going to war, they can't just abandon their home territories, can they?
Furthermore, the Cloud Army can launch attacks from both land and sea simultaneously, meaning that defense would require even more troops.
Even if Hashirama personally went to the battlefield, he could at most open up a situation at a certain point, but he would not be able to defend against the extremely long battle line that stretched for thousands of miles by himself.
This is a war between nations, a contest of the best of the best, and it puts even greater emphasis on the reserves of logistical personnel and grassroots strength.
"Sigh." With a deep sigh, Hashirama pushed open the door, leaving behind a faint warning before departing. "From this day forward, you are not to step out of the Family's gate without my order."
After saying Hashirama, Hashirama hurriedly went to the Hokage Building, not wanting his younger brother to become a victim of the war.
Inside the room, Tobirama remained silent. He never expected that Kumogakure would pull such a trick on him.
Yes, he did send people to plunder the Land of Lightning.
He needed a large number of ninja corpses for his research on the Impure World Reincarnation.
We can't very well attack our own country; if we did, the Senju Clan's reputation would be truly ruined.
The journey to the Land of Water is long and fraught with the risk of capsizing, so the only viable target is the Family in the Land of Lightning.
The terrain there was treacherous, and the connections between the Family were not close enough, so he wasn't worried Family the risk of being exposed.
Unexpectedly, the first thing they did after establishing the United Hidden Village was to settle scores with me.
If I had known this would happen, I should have been more careful.
"War? Hmph, Konoha will not fear you." Tobirama had made up his mind. If Cloud dared to make a move, he would definitely go all out to atone for his sins.
Then I'll let them see for themselves why I'm looting corpses for research.
Hokage Building.
Hashirama hurried up the stairs and bumped into the leisurely Madara Uchiha.
"Spot." He looked somewhat sad.
Initially, he wanted to establish a Hidden Village, a paradise far removed from war.
Unexpectedly, he ultimately couldn't escape the quagmire of war, and the whole affair was even instigated by his younger brother.
As the eldest brother, Hashirama felt that his younger brother's mistakes were his own.
Now, when I see my friends, a sense of guilt keeps rising in my heart.
"Was I wrong?" Hashirama questioned himself for the first time.
"What's the panic?" Madara shook his head and patted his friend's shoulder. "The Cloud Village is nothing to us."
"Let's go, let's hear what Kyosuke has to say first."
"Um."
Soon, the two arrived at the top-floor office and found the First Hokage fast Hokage.
Madara Uchiha: "..."
Hashirama Senju: "..."
"You've arrived." At the desk, Kyosuke's Shadow Clone was reviewing documents.
"Sit down, what are you standing there for?"
Suppressing the urge to unleash a Fire Release on him, Madara Uchiha stared at the Shadow Clone and said, word by word, "You bastard have taken over the sofa, where are we supposed to sit? On the floor?"
To make himself comfortable, Kyosuke deliberately put several sofas together, and sure enough, he slept quite comfortably.
"... I'll wake him up right now." The Shadow Clone smiled sheepishly and dispelled the Ninjutsu on his own.
The next second, Kyosuke, who was fast asleep, jumped up from the sofa. "What's going on?!"
Kyosuke glanced at the two of them with sleepy eyes, coughed, put the sofa back in its place, and wiped away the footprints on it.
"You've arrived! Please have a seat."
"You just said the same thing."
"... Don't be so harsh. You'll scare the kids if you always have that stern face."
Before Madara Uchiha, Kyosuke quickly switched to serious mode and began discussing the current crisis. "First of all, we definitely can't hand over these people."
"Let alone the head of the Konoha Military Police Force, even if it were just the guards standing watch at the main gate, we wouldn't hand them over." His words were resolute, putting Hashirama's mind at ease.
"Then shall we begin the fight?" Madara asked.
"A force of seven thousand men..." Kyosuke fell into deep thought. He understood that defending against an enemy invasion would be extremely difficult.
As the defender, Konoha would need to deploy several times the manpower to perfectly defend the entire front line.
Otherwise, we can only try to fix things after the fact, going wherever there are people available.
Therefore, we must not adopt a passive defensive approach in this battle.
After explaining his idea, Madara Uchiha immediately gave it his full approval. "I agree with your plan. We cannot allow the war to spread to the Land of Fire."
"Take the initiative, ignore the scattered soldiers, and aim for the enemy's joints to kill them with a single blow."
"But..." Hashirama hesitated, clearly wanting to resolve the conflict in a relatively peaceful way.
Seeing this, Kyosuke patiently explained, "When someone bullies you, you must fight back and not back down, otherwise they will bully you even more."
"The Land of Fire has fertile land, suitable for long-term settlement and development. If we don't act this time, then next time it will be the Land of Wind or the Land of Earth."
"I'm asking you, are we going to keep backing down forever?"
Before Hashirama answer, Kyosuke rose from his seat, his gaze sweeping across the bustling street outside. "Remember, our kindness and friendship should always be reserved for our own people."
"To fight darkness, words alone are not enough; we must use fire."
"We don't want to get bogged down in war in the future. This time, we not only have to fight, but we have to win decisively."
"Isn't the Land of Lightning very strong? They boast that their military strength is the best in the Shinobi World. Then let's specifically target them."
"We will use the countless bones of the Kumogakure to deter any force that might want to attack us."
A single punch can ward off a hundred!
The unusual activity in Cloud quickly attracted the attention of the entire Shinobi World.
No one expected that the Raikage would want to launch a large-scale war against other countries so early in the village's history.
Konoha quickly responded.
We can't hand over anyone. If you want war, then let's see who prevails in war.
A great war is about to break out!