"Old hag, if you're getting on in years, go home and wait to die. Don't come here looking for attention."
Ensei Uchiha launched straight into a furious tirade, showing not the slightest respect for her.
"The Third Shinobi World War only ended recently. Which village didn't suffer heavy losses?"
"You're worried the other four villages might join forces to attack Konoha. Do you think they aren't worried Konoha might launch a preemptive strike?"
"Some wars can be avoided, but others have to be fought! And they have to be fought fast and hard!"
"Only when you've beaten someone until they're scared and learned their place will others dare not bully you..."
"If we keep giving in, we'll grovel to Kumogakure today, Iwagakure tomorrow, and then Kirigakure and Sunagakure will come knocking the day after."
"Everyone in the Shinobi World knows the Land of Fire is a juicy prize. Given the chance, anyone would take a bite."
"Do you think pretending to be a coward for a while will make everything all right?"
"Dream on! They'll only push their luck and demand more and more."
"..."
Standing on his chair, Ensei Uchiha pointed at Konoha's assembled leadership and gave them a thorough tongue-lashing. Many times, they tried to argue back, but they had no idea where to begin.
Although Ensei Uchiha's words were harsh, everyone present had to admit that he made a lot of sense.
Though his reasoning seemed to go beyond the usual bounds of a shinobi's thinking, there was no denying that Ensei Uchiha was right.
But... no one wanted war to come.
Especially the shinobi who had already lived through several Shinobi World Wars. They longed for peace every waking moment.
"Remember! If you seek peace through war, peace will endure. If you seek peace through peace, peace will perish."
Ensei Uchiha delivered those words with fiery passion.
Unfortunately, most of the shinobi present didn't understand what he meant, much less grasp the principle behind his words.
It couldn't be helped. The Ninja Academy taught them things like ninjutsu.
In truth, most shinobi in the Shinobi World could be considered illiterate. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many fools around.
But it didn't matter whether they understood.
Ensei Uchiha could direct their actions and guide their will.
In fact, Ensei Uchiha's actions since last night could already be considered a power grab.
By rights, Hiruzen Sarutobi shouldn't have allowed something like that to happen. Yet he hadn't made a move. Not only had he tacitly approved of Ensei Uchiha's actions, but at times he had even offered help of his own accord.
Otherwise, did they really think all the shinobi of Konoha would be so obedient?
Ensei Uchiha found Hiruzen Sarutobi's behavior puzzling too.
Was the old man really planning to make him the next Hokage?
Whenever something didn't make sense, Ensei Uchiha never let it trouble him. At his current strength, he should be able to protect himself.
As for everything else, he would leave it to fate.
After the jōnin meeting ended, preparations for wartime began across Konoha.
Supplies, medical equipment, and the like were already being sent to the front lines.
More important, of course, were the troops. Hiruzen Sarutobi had planned to prepare for a conventional war, but Ensei Uchiha had rejected that approach.
The coming battle with Kumogakure wasn't going to be a war of attrition. They were going to strike like lightning, and the sooner the battle ended, the better.
So nearly everyone Ensei Uchiha brought with him this time was a jōnin.
Shinobi were high-offense, high-speed, and low-defense fighters.
Even a jōnin could easily meet with disaster amid a web of jutsu if they were caught in an enemy encirclement.
After all, most jōnin could dodge jutsu, but they couldn't withstand them head-on.
Many times, a jutsu performed by a Genin could be just as deadly as one performed by a jōnin.
That was why wars in the Shinobi World tended to stretch their battle lines over long distances.
Unless they were staking everything on a single gamble, shinobi rarely joined forces in organized units.
"Ensei, I've put nearly half the village's jōnin in your hands. Don't let anything go wrong, or else..."
Before they left, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with deep concern.
That was what he said, but jōnin from the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan alone made up nearly half the troops setting out.
So Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't actually sent many of his own people.
Konoha had plenty of strength in reserve. Otherwise, Shimura Danzō wouldn't have dared let the Uchiha Clan be wiped out in the original story.
"Quit nagging. We're definitely going to win this war."
"Even if things take a turn, I'll use Izanagi to change reality."
Ensei Uchiha brushed him off with a couple of casual remarks, then led the troops out.
Ensei Uchiha was going in person this time. It was a war, after all, and Shadow Clones were of limited use in an environment as complex as that.
Of course, Ensei Uchiha wanted to take charge of this war in order to test a few things.
Ever since he realized the power in Shisui Uchiha's left eye had been completely depleted, Ensei Uchiha had felt an unshakable sense of danger.
It was an awful feeling, knowing something was wrong but being unable to figure out what.
Konoha was too quiet, and quiet places made people let their guard down.
So, after waiting for a while, Ensei Uchiha decided to leave the village for a time.
There was a chance he might run into danger, but dangers he could see were much easier to deal with than whatever lurked in the shadows.
As it happened, Itachi Uchiha's recent troubles kept Shisui Uchiha tied up, and Ensei Uchiha wanted to use this opportunity to see if he could get some of the Eight-Tails' and Two-Tails' Chakra.
Cloning the Byakugan and Sharingan was merely a stopgap. Ensei Uchiha's ultimate goal was to measure himself against Kaguya Otsutsuki—and even surpass her.
For that, he would need many things, which he could only gather bit by bit.
The journey was peaceful. With more than two hundred jōnin in their ranks, they encountered virtually no fools bold enough to pick a fight with them.
They continued until they were near the Land of Lightning's border. Only then did Ensei Uchiha have his people set up camp and wait for the time he had specified to arrive.
Any unit with sensor ninjas would be able to detect the arrival of several hundred jōnin at the border.
So Kumogakure learned of it soon after.
At the time, its delegation had only just returned to Kumogakure, and they hadn't even finished reporting the intelligence they had gathered in Konoha.
A unit made up entirely of jōnin traveled fast, after all.
The Fourth Raikage was known for his hotheaded, brawling ways, but with several hundred jōnin massed at the border, even he managed to suppress his anger for once.
Meanwhile, Kumogakure's strategists launched into heated discussions. Many of its spies in Konoha were also activated and called into action.
A few days later, on the eve of the deadline Ensei Uchiha had set, the Fourth Raikage arrived at the Land of Lightning's border with Killer B and Yugito Nii.
They had deployed two Tailed Beasts, on top of the Raikage himself.
It seemed Kumogakure was under pressure too and didn't want the war to drag on.
At the same time, large numbers of Kumogakure shinobi rushed to the front lines, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
But Ensei Uchiha, who was preparing to direct the battle at the front, had turned his attention to Konoha, keeping a close watch on the Uchiha Clan after his departure.
As it turned out, his premonition had been right.
On the second night after he left Konoha, several Anbu shinobi quietly slipped into his Laboratory.
After those Anbu left, something strange showed up as well.
Could it have been White Zetsu?
Unfortunately, aside from the equipment, Ensei Uchiha had long since moved everything else out of the Laboratory. Whoever came, they wouldn't find anything.
Fortunately, those people had only investigated and hadn't damaged anything.
Otherwise, Ensei Uchiha would have had to test out the Third Generation Self-Destruct Fly's power.
Before you continue