So That Was It!

Kumogakure.

The ninjas in this village had already learned of what happened in Iwagakure; in such a short span of time, the entire village had been defeated.

"Uchiha Brahman! Has this guy lost his mind?"

The Fourth Raikage, A, stared at the intelligence regarding Uchiha Brahman. He did not yet know that Sunagakure had also fallen—it was finished.

And now, he was heading straight for their Kumogakure.

"Lord Raikage, the ninjas in the village have finished assembling. We have yet to receive news from the other hidden villages!"

At that moment, an Anbu appeared before A and reported.

"Hmph. Since Uchiha Brahman dares to do something like this, he shouldn't blame us for igniting a new Great Ninja War!"

A nodded and said in a deep voice.

Uchiha Brahman had gone too far.

If it had merely been a coup—a commoner from the Uchiha clan rising to become the Hokage of Konoha—they would have at most watched from the sidelines. Only if they discovered that Uchiha Brahman was a fraud, a weakling, would they have invaded the Land of Fire. Even if he had controlled the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, turning Konoha from a military organization—where he, as the head of the village, was nominally required to obey the Daimyo's orders—into the ruler of the Land of Fire, they would have just watched.

They would have at most issued a condemnation, continued to observe, or perhaps even followed suit, kicking their own country's Daimyo off their throne and having ninjas serve as the rulers.

After all, someone had already demonstrated for them what would happen if the Kage of a village became the ruler of a nation.

What would happen? Nothing at all!

The Daimyo were too weak.

If a ninja village became the governing body of a country, would they still need to take on missions for money?

Ha, they would just print their own currency.

However, Uchiha Brahman should never, ever have laid a hand on the Daimyo of other nations.

He had even caused other nations to dissolve. What was even more outrageous was that before the dissolution, those Daimyo, who held little real power, had actually revoked the legitimacy of their ninja villages. Under normal circumstances, such a thing would have been impossible to happen.

But it had happened.

Now, within the Empire, they were no longer ninja villages; they were illegal dens of bandits that were not under the control of the Empire!

An illegal gathering point where a group of ninjas congregated without obeying the laws of the Empire!

"Damn it, he had to choose this time! That old geezer Ōnoki, the ninjas of Iwagakure are truly useless! To be defeated in such a short amount of time! Trash!"

A cursed. He truly could not understand how, as fellow ninjas, Uchiha Brahman had managed to defeat the entire Iwagakure in such a short time. It wasn't "ninja-like"; it completely defied common sense.

If Konoha were this strong, then what was the point of the previous Great Ninja Wars? Konoha could have crushed them all as a single village.

"The only possibility is this!"

A took out a golden syringe that had been sitting on his desk and held it up. The sunlight shone through the golden liquid inside; the entire serum radiated a kind of sacred light, as if it were seducing A into injecting it.

This was the path to sainthood, the only truth. As long as he injected it, he could obtain anything.

Zzzzt~

A massive amount of electricity surged over A's hand. The next moment, the syringe was disintegrated and destroyed by the current.

"It must be because of this thing!"

A said. Aside from this, he could not think of any other way Uchiha Brahman could have defeated Ōnoki.

Of course, it wasn't that Uchiha Brahman defeating Ōnoki was bizarre or absurd—Ōnoki was human, not a god, and he was old, so being defeated was normal.

What was truly absurd was that Uchiha Brahman had defeated him in such a short time. The man was the Kage of Iwagakure, and he possessed a powerful strength that surpassed the Kekkei Genkai: the Kekkei Tōta! He was no mere nobody!

Yet, such a powerhouse had fallen in such a short time!

A did not believe Uchiha Brahman was truly that strong, because it wasn't "ninja-like." It defied common sense and felt too much like fantasy—it was as absurd as a genjutsu.

Who did he think he was? The legendary God of Shinobi?

Then, there was only one possibility.

This damn Sacred Blessing Serum!

By now, they had basically confirmed that Uchiha Brahman was relying on this thing to control the Daimyo and even the other ninjas in Konoha.

Extending lifespan, strengthening the physique, increasing chakra, and even regrowing severed limbs or reconstructing flesh...

What was this? This wasn't a serum; it was a legendary elixir!

Yet, such a good thing—something that the wealthy and powerful had once dreamed of but could never obtain—was now available at an extremely cheap, almost free price. As long as you were a person, even if you were a cripple or mentally disabled, you could easily obtain a dose.

Was this charity?

Who would believe that!

Although the Daimyo of the Land of Fire claimed he had created it, did they, as ninjas, not know what kind of people these nobles were?

If they had such a good thing, how could they possibly let those lowly commoners, who were like wild dogs, use it?

This was all a conspiracy by Uchiha Brahman. He wanted to use this thing to control the entire ninja world!

To be honest, when A first learned of this serum and saw its effects, he had wanted to give himself a shot, but he had held back in the end. As a leader of a village in his prime, he simply dared not use something of such unknown origin.

Even if one were to use it, they would have to thoroughly investigate the nature of this serum before doing so.

Now, that is exactly where the problem lies!

"That guy Ōnoki, he likely used this thing!"

A said in a deep voice. He was young and could resist temptation, but an old man might not necessarily be able to withstand it.

This was no deceptive health supplement; it was a miraculous medicine that could truly extend one's lifespan. With just a single injection, even an old man on the verge of death could be reborn and live for several more years.

In that case, it all made sense. Uchiha Brahman had relied on this item to defeat Ōnoki—no, not defeat, but control him. From the moment Ōnoki injected the Sacred Blessing Serum, Iwagakure was already finished.

"No wonder!"

A sighed, a look of realization flashing in his eyes. No wonder indeed!

Not long ago, the four great ninja villages had been in contact with each other, planning to launch a ninja world war to kill Uchiha Brahman. Yet, not much time had passed before Uchiha Brahman suddenly led the ninjas of Konoha out to begin invading them.

"So that was it. At that time, you had already been controlled, Ōnoki. No, perhaps you weren't controlled yet, but Uchiha Brahman must have learned of our plans through Ōnoki!"

The more A sorted through the facts, the more he thought, and the clearer it became.

"It is precisely because of this..."