The Leader

So far, although Shiro's abilities have been questionable, Shiro has not done anything detrimental to the village.

Furthermore, with the existence of White Fang, the Third Hokage and the others still chose to continue to trust Shiro.

This is why Shiro still chose this path, even though he knew that becoming a genius risked being Danzo and coveted by Danzo.

Furthermore, Shiro initially only showed some talent, which is nothing special in Konoha. Konoha is never short of geniuses!

Therefore, after being taken in as an apprentice by Sakumo, Shiro's actions became slightly more aggressive, but none of them caused any harm to the village; on the contrary, they benefited it.

For example, the Hawk Plan, which arises because of the Flying Bird, will further enhance the village's strength, instantly increasing its mobility and tactical options.

Therefore, considering Sakumo's influence, the Third Hokage chose to ignore Shiro's secret.

Of course, these are Taichi could not know, and even Shiro himself only had some guesses.

Immediately after hearing Taichi's words, they looked at Shiro with eyes full of admiration.

"No wonder Homura values him so highly." Heiichi thought quietly, watching Shiro's retreating figure.

A little while later, Shikaki and Shiro finished recording the other side's distribution together.

Shikaki put the scroll away and said, "Let's go, let's enter the city first and see if the enemy's formation has changed. That's all we can see for now."

"Learn."

With a reply, Shiro piloted Giant Bird No. 2 towards the city. However, as he approached the purple barrier, Shiro slightly reduced his speed. He didn't know if this barrier was a specialized type, and it would be quite embarrassing if he collided with it...

However, it was clear that Shiro was overthinking things. This barrier seemed to only work on the puppets, Shiro did not feel anything unusual when they passed through it.

Who is it?

They couldn't possibly have missed the shot Shiro fired, but even though the target was their enemy, they wouldn't let their guard down.

Shiro and the others had no objections to this. They were just doing their job, and the dignity of the Great Ninja Village should still be maintained. Therefore, Shiro immediately manipulated Giant Bird No. 2 to land.

"Bang!" After landing, Shiro released the spirit communication, and everyone walked out of the white smoke together.

"Don't worry, we are ninjas from Konoha. We've come to provide support at the request of you, um, Shrine Maiden. This is the mission scroll."

The soldiers exchanged glances, and the leader said, "Sorry, this isn't something we can decide; we need to consult with our superiors."

"It's alright, but please hurry, the situation doesn't look good."

"Yes." After saying that, he ran towards the city center.

A short while later, several samurai arrived, following the soldier.

"You must be the ninjas of Konoha Village? I am the captain of the Shrine Maiden's guard. Please follow me."

Thank you for your trouble.

On the way to the palace, Mizuki subtly changed her pace, walked up to Taichi and Shiro, and softly asked, "Is this really the royal city? Why does it look even worse than our Konoha?"

"It's probably because of the war. Wars in villages rarely affect the village itself; they're usually resolved at the border."

"That's right, that's why the village exists. Besides, with our Uchiha Clan here, who would dare to cause trouble in Konoha!" Taichi said this with great arrogance.

However, Shiro was curious to know whether he would still be able to say those words when Madara attacked.

However, Shiro didn't refute him, after all, Konoha was really strong now, and fighting Third Shinobi World War times against four was no joke.

As the captain of the Shrine Maiden's guard, his strength was naturally not low, so even though Shiro and the others were talking very quietly, he still heard them.

However, he didn't say anything, because it was true that the Land of Demons was indeed not strong.

"Ahem." Nakamura naturally heard it too, so he coughed lightly to remind Shiro and the others.

Upon hearing Nakamura's reminder, Shiro and the others felt embarrassed to continue their conversation and quietly made their way to the palace.

"Shrine Maiden lady, the ninjas of Konoha have arrived."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work."

"Greetings, Shrine Maiden. I apologize for being a little late."

"It's alright, everyone, please follow me. The people from the other ninja villages are already waiting in the meeting room."

"Yes, Shrine Maiden."

After saying this, the Shrine Maiden got up and led everyone to the meeting room.

Walking behind the Shrine Maiden, Shiro looked at the little girl beside her. He remembered her name was... well, Shion's mother...

After all these years, who would remember the name of an extra, especially one who only appeared in a few scenes? Shiro only knew that the other person was Shion's mother, and that was it.

Soon after, Shiro and his group arrived at the meeting room, and sure enough, the other ninja villages were already there.

Furthermore, Shiro also spotted familiar faces among them: Rasa from Sunagakure and Kitsuchi from Iwagakure. However, judging from their seating arrangements, Kitsuchi was leading the group...

That's normal, though. Even though Shiro fought him to a near draw, that was only because he held back.

Given the circumstances at the time, the champion had already been decided, and there wasn't much difference between second and third place. Therefore, Kitsuchi was much more casual about it.

Judging from the Kirigakure group seems to be from the Hozuki Clan. The one from Cloud Village is a big, dark-skinned guy. Hmm, seeing him, Shiro thinks Taichi's Nintaijutsu can be upgraded...

After they came in, Shiro and the others sat behind Nakamura.

"Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin, let me first explain the background of our opponent."

"Shrine Maiden lady, that's not urgent. The most important thing right now is the puppets. Your Land of Demons has a way to seal that evil thing away. The priority now is to find it, right?"

"Easy for you to say, but how are we supposed to find them? Those things are tough and regenerate quickly; we can't even leave the house. Did Konoha really send an idiot like you?"

"Don't worry, we already have some clues. We just got information about their distribution, and you all can see that they are puppets, right?" Nakamura wasn't angry; that's Cloud Village Kumogakure is, it's normal.

"I know what you mean, but it's impossible to calculate the other party's location based on this. The amount of calculation required is too great." The leader of the Sunagakure Village was a puppeteer, so he was the first to react.

He wasn't optimistic about Nakamura's plan; if puppeteers were so easy to deal with, Sunagakure would have given up long ago.

"Just because ordinary people can't do it doesn't mean the Nara Clan can't. However, we still need to confirm one thing: has the opponent's formation changed?"

Upon hearing that the calculations were made by the Nara Clan, the others swallowed their objections, as the Nara name was quite prestigious among them.

Then, everyone turned their attention to the Shrine Maiden...

Thank you Guangfu and Young Master Jie for the monthly tickets. Also, just a quick reminder: please give me a recommendation ticket! (ω)