Legend of the Phantom God of the Ninja World

Uchiha Fucheng's sudden outburst caused Utatane Koharu's expression to darken.

She and Mitokado Homura glared at Uchiha Fucheng with wide, angry eyes.

"Clan Head Uchiha Fucheng, watch your tone. This is a decision made by the village's high command."

Fucheng looked at them with an indifferent expression and clapped his hands lightly.

"Oh? A decision by the village? Then I really must have a word about this."

Without waiting for them to retort, Uchiha Fucheng directly activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

With an incomparably cold gaze, he stared at Sarutobi Hiruzen and the two Konoha elders sitting in the center.

Fucheng looked displeased. "During the last war against the Sand Ninja, the Uchiha clan was supposed to dispatch 192 ninja, with no less than 25 of them being Jonin.

In reality, the number of ninja we dispatched was 310, with over 37 Jonin.

Even the acting clan head, Uchiha Fugaku, and I, the current clan head, participated in frontline combat.

Did the village ever provide compensation for that kind of extra conscription?"

Just as Utatane Koharu muttered, "Other clans suffered great sacrifices as well," Fucheng glared her into silence with his Sharingan.

Fucheng calmly recounted more precise data.

"By the time the Sand Ninja surrendered, 116 of the 310 Uchiha ninja had been killed in action. During this conflict, our acting clan head, Fugaku, was nearly killed, and I, the current clan head, nearly lost my life twice. The mortality rate for the ordinary Genin extra-conscripted from the Uchiha clan exceeded 50%."

Snap!

Fucheng closed his folding fan with a crisp sound and pointed the tip of the fan ribs at Utatane Koharu, shouting, "May I ask, Elder Utatane, what was the casualty ratio for your Utatane Clan during the war against the Sand Ninja?"

"Me? I?!" Utatane Koharu broke into a cold sweat, rendered speechless.

Uchiha Fucheng's outburst on the spot made the atmosphere of the Konoha ninja clan meeting bizarre.

Yet, facing the formidable Uchiha Fucheng, Sarutobi Hiruzen ultimately backed down.

The entire conscription quota was calculated based on the previous standard of 190, with a 70% discount applied.

Furthermore, because Uchiha ninja had the highest number of Jonin kills during the last war against the Sand Ninja, the quota was reduced by an additional 30 ninja.

The final number of dispatched personnel was set at 103, and they agreed to Uchiha Fucheng's principle of centralized deployment.

They consented to the establishment of an Uchiha unit under Fucheng's direct command.

The other clans naturally had no objections.

Any clan with a modicum of insight knew that Uchiha Fucheng's individual strength was likely greater than that of dozens of ordinary Jonin.

With Uchiha Fucheng personally in command, sending fewer Uchiha ninja was of no great consequence.

As for Uchiha Fucheng's side, this allowed the Uchiha clan to obtain a rare period of rest and recuperation.

103 ninja was a much smaller scale than the previous 310.

It meant far fewer people would have to sacrifice their lives.

Because the scale of the conscription was smaller, Uchiha Fucheng could manipulate things internally.

First, he excluded Uchiha Obito's father from the list; to protect Obito's healthy mental state, he would let his parents "lay low" for a while.

Second, Uchiha Kagami's son, Uchiha Shisui's father, Uchiha Shinji, was also excluded from the list of combatants for this expedition.

After all, Uchiha Shisui would be born in three or four years, and since his father had such pure blood, he would let him "lay low" as well.

Third, there were those Uchiha Genin who were too weak and too young.

Fucheng decided that for this mission, he would "bring as few Genin as possible" to avoid the horrific tragedy of the last time, where half of the Uchiha Genin were wiped out.

As for the final headcount, which would be slightly lower than the 103 required by the Konoha high command, Fucheng had his own methods.

He simply counted the converted Misaka Sisters toward the total.

The Misaka Sisters, who currently possessed the [Electro Master] lightning-based superpower, had decent combat capabilities in their own right.

At the very least, they were on the level of elite Chunin.

If one counted their special stealth ability to tunnel underground, the sisters of the Misaka Network could all be considered Special Jonin with a specialty in reconnaissance.

Even so, Fucheng was not satisfied.

The day before the expedition, he took Mikoto and the Misaka Sisters to circle around Konoha once more, capturing White Zetsu with ruthless efficiency.

This massive sweep drove Black Zetsu into a dead end!

Aside from the White Zetsu currently merged with him, the only three reconnaissance White Zetsu remaining under his command were all converted into members of the Misaka Network during Fucheng's sweep.

Black Zetsu looked up at the sky and cursed, "Who did this? I'm going to vomit, this is absolute bullshit!"

Black Zetsu discovered that all three White Zetsu had lost contact, and he was so angry he was about to explode.

He smashed everything he could get his hands on.

Misaka Sisters 0001 through 0013—a total of thirteen identical-looking "Mikotos."

Even Fucheng felt deeply shocked as he looked at them.

Fortunately, Mikoto no longer felt that initial awkwardness; otherwise, spending every day with the Misaka Sisters would have made her quite reserved.

In a remote village within the Land of Rain.

Nearly four hundred Rain Ninja had just set up camp here.

They were unaware.

Hidden in a mountain hollow not far away, the vanguard of the Konoha forces lay in wait.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya had both returned to the base from the capital of the Land of Rain.

They had been closely monitoring the enemy forces near the Land of Rain for two weeks now.

Based on current intelligence, the troops dispatched by the Land of Rain truly regarded Konoha as their primary opponent.

On the side of the Sand Ninja from the Land of Wind, there were only a small number of elite units being deterred by the high-end combat power of the Land of Rain.

Orochimaru and Jiraiya had discovered that Salamander Hanzo was very likely lurking on the side of the Sand Ninja.

He intended to use a surprise attack to defeat the Sand Ninja with his elites first, then lead his army back to strike at Konoha.

Orochimaru and Shimura Danzō shared a similar line of thinking: take advantage of the fact that the Land of Rain's experts were spread thin to launch a direct sneak attack on the capital of the Land of Rain.

Once they finished their internal sabotage and destruction, even if Hanzo defeated the Sand Ninja, he would have neither the supplies nor the funding to wage a war of attrition against Konoha.

Regrettably, this strategy was rejected by their teacher, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen worried that excessive destruction of the Land of Rain would cause it to lose its function as a buffer zone between the great nations.

Rain Ninja who had lost their homes and wealth would likely be driven to desperation, turning their conflict with Konoha into a fight to the death.

Jiraiya agreed with this sentiment; after all, Konoha was the one currently wearing shoes.

Forcing the Land of Rain into becoming "barefoot" with nothing left to lose would bring no benefits to Konoha.

If nothing else, a Hanzo without attachments or concerns would be far more difficult to deal with than a Hanzo who was busy protecting the Land of Rain.

Hadn't there been rumors circulating about the "Ten Great Phantom Gods of the Ninja World"?

Fugaku with a condom, Itachi in peak health.

Teuchi with his eyes open, Kaguya as a young maiden.

Naruto drinking fresh milk, Jiraiya with full intelligence.

Chiyo in a swimsuit, Might Guy who kicks heads.

Hidan who raises mosquitoes, Deidara who only fights in the air.

See, these were the public judgments that aligned with normal logic.

Applying this to Salamander Hanzo:

It was the Salamander Hanzo who had the Land of Rain to worry about who was the one with restricted combat power.

If he had no attachments or weaknesses in the Land of Rain and only sought to kill and destroy, Salamander Hanzo's combat power would be significantly stronger than the average Kage-level ninja.

As for the Konoha side, they did not want Hatake Sakumo to accumulate any more merit.

Further war honors would make the Konoha White Fang the most prestigious Hero of Konoha.

Therefore, the commander of this offensive force against the Land of Rain had become Tsunade!

This final battlefield of the Land of Rain would also become the place where Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade would make their names!