Kurama Guards the Nation's Gates! (5,200-Word Medium-Long Chapter)

In the Ninja Continent, the terrain becomes increasingly higher the further northwest you go.

Nestled in a mountain range with steep slopes and towering peaks, Iwagakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, is located. Surrounded by numerous rocky mountains forming a top-secret natural fortress, and combined with Iwagakure's signature Earth Release Ninjutsu, the entire Iwagakure is as impregnable as a fortress of iron.

Throughout the various Ninja World War, no village's forces have ever been able to reach the mountains near Iwagakure.

It is precisely because of its natural geographical advantage that Iwagakure is easy to defend and difficult to attack, which is why they are able to control the initiative in the war.

Even if the Iwagakure troops at the front are at a disadvantage, once they retreat to the village, the enemy will need at least ten times more troops to attack Iwagakure's main camp than in a direct confrontation. This is a price that no village can afford to pay, including Konoha, the strongest Shinobi World.

Faced with Kirigakure's sudden attack on the Kirigakure Uzumaki Clan, Iwagakure immediately convened High-Level Meeting to discuss the benefits they could gain from the incident.

The Tsuchikage Building is entirely constructed from Oishi. The stone from the Earth Country has always been of the highest quality in the entire Shinobi World world.

In the conference room, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, sat at the head of the table.

His eldest son, Huang Kitsuchi, Elite Jonin from Iwagakure, sat to his left, while on the other side was an advisor elder from Iwagakure.

Compared to the eve of the Third Shinobi World War, there were far fewer Elite Jonin present. Many of the Iwagakure elites he had personally trained, such as Mazu, Firelight, Oishi, Sumashi, and Higashi Deathman, had died in the war against Konoha.

The Battle of Kannabi Bridge was the most devastating battle ever fought by Iwagakure.

"The Kirigakure's warships have already sailed to the waters near the Land of Whirlpools, and war between them and the Uzumaki Clan is inevitable. I would like to hear everyone's opinions on how we, the Iwagakure, should respond."

Ōnoki said in a deep voice, looking at the ninjas present.

"Konoha has already sent troops to help the Uzumaki Clan. Without the intervention of other villages, Kirigakure is bound to lose. Why don't we take this opportunity to attack Kirigakure as well?" suggested the advisor elder of Iwagakure.

"That makes sense."

"This is the safest approach."

"We can also take this opportunity to gain some benefits and at the same time deepen our alliance with Konoha."

"I agree."

The advisor's suggestion quickly gained traction, as helping the side with the greater chance of victory was a sure-fire way to win. After the Third Shinobi World War, Iwagakure had suffered considerable losses, so this approach carried the least risk.

"I think there's a lot of risk involved in doing this," Kitsuchi said after a moment of contemplation.

Ōnoki nodded, and the room fell silent. Kitsuchi continued, "The Fourth Kazekage has sent an envoy to Kirigakure, and Sunagakure will formally cease hostilities and form an alliance with Kirigakure."

The relationship between our village and Sunagakure is currently quite tense. If we attack Kirigakure, we are very likely to be attacked by Sunagakure again.

If we are attacked from both sides, even if we win the war, we must consider whether the gains will outweigh the losses.

We must understand that we are quite far from Kirigakure. If we travel by land, we would have to cross multiple countries, which would inevitably arouse suspicion from Kumogakure and Konoha.

"Although the sea route is shorter, naval warfare is the least our forte among the Iwagakure ninja."

"Kitsuchi Tu makes a good point, but should we give up this rare opportunity?" The advisor elder was somewhat unwilling.

"If we don't deal with Kirigakure, are we supposed to go after Konoha? After all, it's been confirmed that the Yellow Flash is seriously injured and unconscious, and our ninja..."

Iwagakure from Jōnin a suggestion.

However, before he could finish speaking, the surrounding ninjas all turned their gazes to him.

"."

Although Konoha suffered heavy losses in the Third Shinobi World War, it was still a victorious nation. As its prestige increased, it was able to receive more missions, and the Fire Country Daimyo would allocate more funds, so its strength recovered the fastest.

At this point, Iwagakure has no chance of winning in a one-on-one fight, and they also lack the ability to start a new round of the Ninja World War.

Even without the Yellow Flash, Konoha is still the strongest ninja village among the Great Nations.

"What you all say makes sense, but your vision is limited to the great powers and you haven't noticed what's around us."

Ōnoki suddenly spoke up.

"Lord Tsuchikage, what do you mean?" The Jōnin somewhat puzzled.

Ōnoki explained, "Neither standing idly by nor attacking Kirigakure or Konoha is in our interest. According to intelligence from our spies in the Land of Land of Fire, the reinforcements Konoha sent this time are mainly composed of Iwagakure Uchiha Clan ninjas. Do you know what that means?"

No sooner had Ōnoki finished speaking than a Jōnin responded:

"This means that Konoha attaches great importance to the Uzumaki Clan, so it sent the Uchiha Clan's elite troops to support them, which shows that Konoha and the Uzumaki Clan are true Mutual Defense Alliance. After all, in the previous war, the Uchiha Clan severely damaged the Kirigakure forces."

Ōnoki: "."

"This shows that Konoha was not genuinely helping the Uzumaki Clan, but was forced to provide aid to avoid affecting its reputation." Kitsuchi pondered for a moment before replying, "Because the Uchiha Clan has always been at odds with the Konoha High-Level, they were sent to the Kirigakure Battlefield during the Third Shinobi World War."

It's important to know that most members of the Uchiha Clan are skilled in Fire Style. Combined with the Sharingan and Genjutsu, this is why the saying in the Shinobi World goes, "In a one-on-one fight, you'll definitely have to run away."

The Kirigakure Army's Water Style counter Fire Style, and large-scale Hidden Mist Technique can perfectly counter Sharingan and Genjutsu. The Hyuga clan's Byakugan is the most effective weapon against the Kirigakure Army, but very few Hyūga ninjas go to the Kirigakure Battlefield.

The Uchiha Clan was able to defeat the Kirigakure forces primarily because of their overwhelming overall strength. However, the Uchiha also paid a heavy price for this victory.

"Kitsuchi is right." Ōnoki nodded, his face showing approval. He truly deserved to be the eldest son he had carefully nurtured.

With that, Ōnoki stood up, his body slowly rising into the air, and he arrived at the center of the huge map hanging on the wall behind him. He pointed to the Land of Rain, which is located at the junction of the Three Countries, and then shifted to the left, "The place where we can really profit this time is the Demon Country!"

"Demon Country?"

"The land of Priestess?"

"This is a neutral country. If we send troops to the Demon Country, it will cause international problems."

"The land of Demon Country is barren, so there seems to be no need to plunder it."

The crowd discussed amongst themselves, wondering what benefits they could gain from the Demon Country.

Actually, the most crucial reason is that the Demon Country is a neutral country and also a military buffer zone between the Earth Country Land of Wind.

Given the strength of Iwagakure, it might not even take an hour to conquer the Demon Country. However, after the conquest, the Earth Country Land of Wind would be on the same side. At that time, any small friction could easily lead to conflict or even war, which is something that neither the Land of Wind nor the Land of Earth wants to see.

Small countries exist in the cracks between major powers. It's not that major powers don't want to or lack the ability to invade small countries, but rather that once they invade a small country, there will be no military buffer zone. If war breaks out, it will either be in their own country or on the territory of the opposing major power, and the war will escalate rapidly.

Unless a major power has the capability to destroy another major power, a military buffer zone is always necessary.

In the current Shinobi World, no ninja village has the ability to directly destroy other ninja villages, not even Konoha.

"The Demon Country is not the same as it used to be." Ōnoki said in a deep voice, "According to intelligence, a Pharmaceutical Company called ' Serpent Spirit ' has emerged in the Demon Country in recent years. In just a few years, this Pharmaceutical Company has become a large Medical Group spanning several countries, and the profits it makes every year are astonishing."

The medicines they developed, as well as the Medical Ninjutsu scrolls, were all unique to Konoha before, and some of them were even unknown to Konoha, which is very suspicious.

In peacetime, this wouldn't be a problem, but if another Ninja World War were to break out, these would be strategic resources, potentially even tipping the scales of victory or defeat.

"Lord Tsuchikage, are you saying that Konoha is supporting this Medical Group behind the scenes, preparing for war in advance?"

Everyone was shocked upon hearing this.

Although the Five Great Shinobi Villages all rely on mission commissions and funds allocated by the daimyo to operate, they all have their own industries to varying degrees, although not many, which can only be considered as a slight supplement to 'household expenses'. If they could achieve true self-sufficiency, then the daimyo would have sleepless nights.

The Five Great Shinobi Villages each have a population of 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands, and their standing ninja armies number in the tens of thousands. It is unrealistic for them to be completely self-sufficient.

Konoha's actions are extremely dangerous; they could even be seen as preparations for the next Ninja World War, which should make people wary.

"As far as I know, this Medical Group is probably closely related to the Uzumaki Clan. To be precise, the people behind it are probably Yagami Shiraha and Kushina Uzumaki, since Yagami Shiraha was the true inventor of the Medical Ninjutsu scroll." Ōnoki speculated, "We can take advantage of the opportunity of the war between Kirigakure and the Uzumaki Clan to test the Demon Country."

"Is the reason given that the Demon Country is attempting to gain independence and is hiding Forbidden Technique of mass destruction?"

People quickly realized what was happening.

"In that case, we should take advantage of the situation and try to control this Pharmaceutical Company. Even if the Pharmaceutical Company in the Land of Demon Country is controlled by Konoha or the Uzumaki Clan, they are currently at war and their defenses are definitely insufficient. At the very least, we should try to obtain the drug formulas and the methods for making Medical Ninjutsu scrolls, which would be of great significance to the village."

I agree!

I agree!

"No." Ōnoki shook his head.

"Why, Lord Tsuchikage?" Everyone was dumbfounded. Was the usually radical Third Tsuchikage being so conservative this time?

Ōnoki explained, "If this Pharmaceutical Company is controlled by Konoha, we can use the excuse of not knowing about it beforehand to obtain the drug formula and the method for making Medical Scroll, since Konoha can't do anything about it anyway. But if the Uzumaki Clan is controlling it, then we can't do that."

"Why? No matter how strong the Uzumaki Clan, they are still much weaker than Konoha."

Many Iwagakure from Jōnin cannot understand this.

Ōnoki continued, "Because if the Demon Country is the one controlling the Medical Group in the Land of the Uzumaki Clan, then they are very likely accumulating funds in order to rebuild the Land of Whirlpools."

Intervening rashly would lead to a complete falling out with the Uzumaki Clan.

Regardless of whether the Uzumaki Clan successfully establishes a nation or whether the Uzumaki Clan continues to exist, as long as Yagami Shiraha and Kushina Uzumaki are still alive, Iwagakure cannot be the first force to offend them.

As long as the Uzumaki Clan still exists, Yagami Shiraha and Kushina Uzumaki still have hope of rebuilding their country, they will all have some reservations.

Two leaders with their own clansmen behind them are one and two isolated individuals who have no scruples.

I'm confident I could First Shinobi World War of them alone, but if I faced both of them together, I'd probably have no choice but to run away.

In Iwagakure, there are probably very few people who could survive an encounter with two people working together.

After Ōnoki explained it this way, everyone immediately understood.

Just as all the major ninja villages relentlessly hunt down missing-nin, sometimes a village will also take action when it encounters missing-nin from other villages.

However, if they encounter S-Rank Missing-nin, they will rarely pursue them relentlessly in most cases.

It's not that we lack the ability, but we're afraid of pushing them too far.

With the Uzumaki Clan still around, the threat posed by Yagami Shiraha and Kushina Uzumaki would actually be much smaller, because they would have to take care of their clan members.

Without the Uzumaki Clan, the unbridled revenge of two top-tier Kage Level ninjas would be unbearable even for the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

"Let's send someone to probe first and see how Konoha and the Uzumaki Clan react. Iwagakure is located in the mountains, with rugged roads, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. At the same time, it's also difficult to trade with the outside world. This is a good opportunity for the Serpent Spirit Corporation to establish more commercial connections with the outside world. Achieving this basic objective is enough. Of course, if the other side backs down, that's when we can gain more benefits. Let's see how the battle is going at the front first, and then make further decisions."

Ōnoki made a decision.

Everyone admired Ōnoki's wisdom.

After all, the current strength of the Uzumaki Clan is only due to the individual strength of Yagami Shiraha and Kushina Uzumaki. After the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, although the Uzumaki Clan was rebuilt, its foundation was insufficient.

The reason why the Five Great Shinobi Villages dominate the Shinobi World is because they are an alliance of various Ninja Clan that have been passed down from the Warring States Period.

Konoha is home to various Ninja Clan, including the Senju, Uchiha, Hyūga, Sarutobi, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, and Aburame.

The Kumogakure Cloud Village is dominated by the Yotsuki Clan, but it is ultimately due to the legacy of the Ninja Clan that the village is so powerful.

It is virtually impossible for the Uzumaki Clan, which has been wiped out, to rise again and stand on equal footing with the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Unless another powerful Ninja Clan migrates to the Land of Whirlpools and rebuilds the Uzushiogakure, there is still a slight possibility.

However, most of the powerful Ninja Clan in the Shinobi World today are located in the Great Nations. Even if they do not belong to the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they will not be allowed to migrate to the Land of Whirlpools.

The Land of Whirlpools is located on a peninsula in the southeastern part of the Land of Fire. It is separated from the Land of Waves to the north and the nearest island of the Land of the Sea to the east by the Land of the Sea, and they are very close.

At dawn, a thick fog blanketed the area. On the beach facing the sea on the east side of the Land of Whirlpools, four enormous phantoms appeared and disappeared in the dense fog.

At that moment, faint conversations began to occur.

Three enormous serpentine Summoning Beast were coiled up, their six eyes staring at each other, their gazes occasionally drifting towards the Big Orange creature on the beach not far away.

"Hey, Boss Garaga, Aoda Qing She, why did Lord Shiraha summon me here?"

The White Serpent spoke first.

Following Shiraha, it transformed from an ordinary snake the size of a palm into a gigantic Summoning Beast sixty or seventy meters long, becoming one of the most important figures in Ryūchi Cave. However, the two people in front of it are the real bosses.

Garaga was the leader of the giant Summoning Beast in Ryūchi Cave. If it hadn't been so irritable from the start, Manda wouldn't have had a chance.

Now, thanks to Kushina's years of training, its strength has almost caught up with the Three Great Princesses.

As for the Aoda beside it, it was originally a new generation of strongmen in Ryūchi Cave. In recent years, it has also received special training from Shiraha, and its body length has grown from twenty or thirty meters to more than a hundred meters.

In front of the two bosses, the White Serpent still consciously played the role of the little sister.

"I don't know either. Logically speaking, since Lord Kushina has already released Lady Kurama, Lord Shiraha no longer needs to summon us to fight. However, as subordinates, we only need to follow orders." Aoda's gentle and magnetic voice rang out, appearing quite self-aware.

"You don't even understand this? This is called deterrence, you know?" After having his Reverse Scale removed, Garaga has returned to normal, but he is still quite impatient and speaks very directly, which is very similar to Kushina.

"The Third Mizukage of Kirigakure is one of the Five Kage of the Era. He is very strong. Can we defeat him?" White Serpent couldn't help but ask. It wasn't that it was afraid, but it hadn't fought much in recent years and was afraid of embarrassing Shiraha.

"You don't eat people, do you?" Garaga asked.

"I never eat it." The Aoda shook its head slightly.

The White Serpent shook its enormous head and said, "Lord Shiraha's orders forbid it, and I will not disobey them. I rarely even eat raw meat anymore."

"That's good. I don't eat people either. Otherwise, the Third Mizukage's mere nod wouldn't be enough for the three of us to share." Garaga said with a sneer, not taking the Third Mizukage seriously. After all, it was only half a step away from taking human form, and the Green Aoda was not much weaker than it. Although the White Serpent was much younger, its strength was similar to its former self. The three snakes working together would obviously have no problem dealing with the Third Mizukage.

"White Serpent, Garaga and I will lead the charge, so don't be afraid," Aoda gently comforted her.

"Listen up, you three! Don't try to take it from me. No one's going to lay a hand on you without my permission!"

The Kurama creature's deep, muffled voice rang out.

The Kurama, which had been lying on the beach pretending to sleep, raised its head and looked at Garaga, the Aoda, and the White Serpent. Its current size was less than forty meters, much smaller than the White Serpent.

"Yes!"

Even the most short-tempered Garaga consciously admitted that it was no match for the Kurama.

"Understood." Aoda nodded.

"Yes." Since both leaders had spoken, the White Serpent naturally had no objections.

"Someone's coming! Follow me!"

Kurama raised its head again, its two erect ears twitched slightly, then it got up and quickly ran south.

Rumble~

Although the three snakes and one fox had restrained themselves somewhat, their movements still caused the ground to shake violently.

On the other side, on the cliffs overlooking the sea, several Kirigakure Warship were anchored below, and a large number of Kirigakure Ninja took advantage of the thick fog to climb up the cliff.

They deliberately chose the steeper side of the terrain in order to infiltrate secretly and then create unrest in the Land of Whirlpools in batches.

At that moment, the ninjas who were about to reach the top of the cliff suddenly noticed a violent tremor coming from the top of the cliff, and four huge shadows appeared in the thick fog.

Immediately afterwards, a huge, smiling fox head, along with three giant pythons of different colors—red, black, and white—emerged.

"Ah--!"