Undercurrents

Several days passed, and to everyone's surprise, the forces from Cloud Village did not launch another offensive.

Later, for reasons unknown, they began to retreat and withdraw. This discovery left the people of Konoha ecstatic, as it signaled that Cloud Village had abandoned its goal of continuing the conflict, and peace was about to descend once more.

The reason for Cloud Village's retreat, however, had a great deal to do with Hyuga Lan.

Originally, the Fourth Raikage had intended to rally his troops over those two days to launch another major battle against Konoha Village to test their resolve.

But the news of an attack on his own village interrupted the plans he had already set in motion.

Looking at the intelligence report delivered to him, it showed that Cloud Village had been attacked by an unknown ninja using Magnet Release, suffering heavy losses.

Not only had an elder been killed, but a great deal of precious data and weaponry had been lost. The Fourth Raikage, already known for his volatile temper, flew into a rage upon seeing this information.

Magnet Release: Iron Sand?

Was there any need to guess the identity of such a person?

Aside from the former Third Kazekage of Sand Village, he had never heard of anyone else mastering such an ability.

This matter definitely had to be related to Sand Village.

Thinking of this, the Fourth Raikage wished he could immediately rush to Sand Village and wreak havoc to vent the hatred in his heart.

Since his home base had been attacked, if he chose to stay here and wear down the people of Konoha, he would be a highly irresponsible Raikage.

Therefore, without further consideration, the Fourth Raikage abandoned the plan to continue attacking Konoha and turned back to Cloud Village to take command, which led to the retreat of the Cloud ninjas that day.

As the supreme commander on the Cloud Village front, Jiraiya saw the retreat and assumed his own proactive strike plan had taken effect, making the people of Cloud Village realize that destroying Konoha was unrealistic, thus ending the war.

This assessment could not be called entirely wrong, but if Hyuga Lan had not been pulling the strings behind the scenes, even if this war had eventually subsided, it would not have happened so quickly.

Soon, everyone began to celebrate, preparing to return to the village after observing the situation for a while longer.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Stone ninjas led by Onoki could not gain any advantage against the Konoha ninjas led by the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. After several fruitless battles, they were forced to choose a temporary ceasefire.

When the news of Cloud Village's retreat arrived, Onoki first cursed the Fourth Raikage roundly.

Afterward, upon learning that Cloud Village's stronghold had been attacked due to its weak defenses, Onoki, fearing a similar fate, could not be bothered with anyone else and left the front lines first to return to his village and take command.

Without Onoki's leadership, the ninjas of Stone Village were forced to retreat to the Land of Earth, stationing themselves within their own borders as if to respond to any potential attacks from Konoha at any time.

Facing the retreating Stone Village, the currently battered Konoha had no desire to pursue their advantage. After all, being able to repel the invasion was already a rare victory for a Konoha currently beset by crises.

What Konoha needed most right now was to stop the war and buy time to recover, not to reignite the flames of conflict.

So, after confirming that Stone Village would not attack again in the short term, the Third Hokage also chose to retreat and return to the village.

When the Third Hokage returned to the village and received the intelligence report from Jiraiya, he finally learned the truth behind the sudden turn of events in the war.

"Magnet Release: Iron Sand? Could it really be the Third Kazekage? Did he not die after he went missing?"

The mysterious disappearance of the Third Kazekage had once been the fuse for the Third Shinobi World War. Now, this culprit who had sparked the war had appeared so brazenly in Cloud Village and attacked them.

This left the Third Hokage somewhat bewildered. Was this mysterious person who could use Magnet Release: Iron Sand truly the former Third Kazekage?

If it really were the Third Kazekage, then how would the current Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, conduct himself when facing his predecessor?

The Third Hokage shook his head at the thought; he would leave such taxing matters for Rasa to worry about. He had no time for such things right now.

The Third Hokage began to continue reviewing the intelligence. When he saw that Shisui had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and used the power of Susanoo to block the Fourth Raikage, the Third Hokage involuntarily clenched his fists.

Mangekyo Sharingan?

That cursed power had actually appeared once again within the Uchiha Clan. This was truly a headache-inducing matter.

As a student of the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju and having been long influenced by him, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a deep-seated wariness toward the Uchiha Clan, which had once produced Madara Uchiha.

Especially given the Nine-Tails Incident that had occurred not long ago, the sight of the Nine-Tails being controlled by a Sharingan was still fresh in his mind.

To be able to control the Nine-Tails, an ordinary Sharingan would certainly find it difficult to achieve.

According to the report, Shisui had only been forced to activate Susanoo in a moment of crisis to save Hyuga Lan from the Fourth Raikage.

In other words, Shisui had actually awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan long ago, but had simply never revealed it.

Could the Uchiha who used the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails that night have been Shisui?

However, as the Third Hokage recalled Shisui's past conduct in his mind, he could not help but feel that his guess was inaccurate.

As a descendant of his former comrade Kagami Uchiha, the Third Hokage had always held high hopes for Shisui.

Through the promotion of the Will of Fire, he had made the young man value the village deeply. Such an excellent heir to the Will of Fire did not seem like the type to use the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails and destroy Konoha.

He would wait until Shisui returned to question him carefully.

Thus, the Third Hokage began issuing orders for the Konoha ninjas facing Cloud Village to return to the village in batches.

Just like that, half a month later, Hyuga Lan and his group finally withdrew from the front lines and returned to the village.

As Hyuga Lan walked through Konoha Village, he noticed that the atmosphere in the village seemed a bit off.

Logically, they had blocked Cloud Village's invasion for the village, and everyone should have been lining the streets to welcome them as heroes. Why were the villagers looking at them with such strange expressions?

After observing carefully, Hyuga Lan realized that the person the villagers were staring at with odd eyes was not him, but Shisui, who was walking beside him.

Shisui noticed the problem as well. After a clansman walked over to explain the reason, he listened to the news, his eyes widening in shock before he broke into a cold sweat, looking utterly terrified.

It turned out that over the past few days, a rumor had been spreading extensively throughout the village.

The identity of the mastermind who controlled the Nine-Tails half a year ago, caused the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, and led to the tragic demise of many villagers had finally been pinned down: it was none other than the Uchiha Clan's genius, Uchiha Shisui.

This was because he had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, a power that had not appeared within the Uchiha Clan for many years.

Since only the Mangekyo Sharingan could control the Nine-Tails, many villagers who were unaware of the truth believed the rumor the moment it surfaced, leading to the scene unfolding today.

Unable to sit still after learning this information, Shisui could no longer spare the time to dine with Hyuga Lan and the others, and instead rushed toward the Hokage Building alone.