To Kill a Snake, Strike at Its Vital Point / The Precious Friendship Between Uchiha Shingen and Orochimaru

"Let's talk about supplies," Uchiha Shingen said. "This time, we've brought nobles from the four countries of Yu, Shimo, and Rai. The nobles from Land of Hot Water, who are in our controlled territory, have already started their journey home. As for the rest, we need to send them back. If so many people stay too long, it will be disadvantageous for us."

"Supplies are still relatively plentiful for now," another Konoha Ninja said. "Our forces are limited this time, so the consumption of supplies is less. However, the supply reserves were previously operated on a scale of 10,000 people, and they were all transported by sea, using ports in the south, so we are not afraid of being intercepted."

"That's settled then. We'll send the nobles from the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Land of Hot Water back first." Uchiha Shingen made the decision. "I'll lead the team. If the Sound Ninja Village doesn't withdraw after receiving the people, I'll take care of the Sound Village first. When I leave, Lord Hizashi will temporarily handle all affairs. Shisui, you and your clan members must obey Hizashi's orders."

The Cloud Ninja can fight in a scattered formation because their Kumogakure is far away in the Land of Lightning.

The Sound Village is right next door. If we don't retreat, he'll destroy our house. Let's see if Orochimaru feels sorry for us.

"I understand, Shingen- nii, don't worry," Uchiha Shisui said.

"Well, after returning these nobles, we'll send the nobles from Frost and Lightning Kingdoms to South Gate City to probe the strength of the Cloud Ninja Army." Uchiha Shingen made a chopping motion. "We're outnumbered, so instead of guessing, let's fight and test their strength."

Diplomatic and close-range attacks—this is truly the wisdom of our ancestors, and it's timeless.

Chapter Four: To Strike a Snake, You Must Hit Its Seven Inch Point

Uchiha Shingen always felt that it was unreasonable for Hidden Leaf Village not to treat the other four villages like dogs, given the star power of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.

After spending two cycles of Hokage, he realized that this was entirely caused by the Ninja World War.

Because every time things went around in circles, there was always something related to Leaf Village, so he never missed it.

After all, besides redistribution, the Ninja World War also served an important purpose: balancing market supply and demand.

Because Hidden Leaf Village has the strongest money-making ability, everyone always wants to mess with Leaf Village.

It's like they're taking turns bleeding out Leaf Village.

This resulted in Hidden Leaf Village having the highest number of deaths each time.

Too many deaths and fewer key personnel will lead to losses after the war.

This time, Uchiha Shingen felt that Leaf Village had a good chance of breaking this cycle, allowing Leaf Village to have fewer deaths while other places had many.

In fact, Senju Hashirama's original plan was to concentrate most of the ninjas in one ninja village, forming a dominant power structure.

However, things didn't go as planned. The Hokage Continent was not small, and the other ninja clans were not fools. As soon as Leaf Village was established, they immediately saw the benefits and began to copy it.

After Uchiha Madara's death, the power structure of the Ninja World officially changed from one superpower to one superpower and four strong contenders.

Once Senju Hashirama, they'll immediately become one of the top five.

An industry without super-big shots is immature.

Uchiha Shingen felt that the national village system had been in place for decades, and everyone was a mature ninja; it was time for the industry to mature as well.

After the meeting, Uchiha Shingen immediately set off.

They didn't bring many people; they didn't even bring Jonin.

It was purely symbolic to bring a small detachment of troops, mainly to prevent any fools from disrupting the march.

The Sound Ninja is not the Cloud Ninja. When fighting the Cloud Ninja, Uchiha Shingen Cloud Ninja cannot go off alone and act recklessly. Although the Cloud Ninja's talent pool has been severely reduced, their overall combat prowess is still there. If they are shameless enough, they will not give him a chance to clear the field. Instead, they will send their main force to the rear, and it is entirely possible to use their numerical advantage to strike the Leaf Village Ninja army in the rear.

This is what Musou fans hate the most.

The Fourth Shinobi World War in the original timeline was different; the objective was clear, and everyone had no choice but to unite, which suited Uchiha Madara, allowing him to have a blast.

However, this timeline involves normal ninja warfare, making this approach too risky.

Uchiha Shingen also considered summoning Matatabi and then rushing through the coastal passage to Kumogakure as quickly as possible.

However, given the nature of the Cloud Ninja, they would definitely go for a desperate one-for-one trade, sacrificing the Cloud Lightning Gorge and using the entire village's strength to launch a strong attack on the Land of Fire via ancient roads and sea routes. Before Uchiha Shingen even reaches the Cloud Lightning Gorge, the Cloud Ninja army might already be in the Leaf Great Forest.

If he were to turn back, not only could the Kumogakure use the Heavenly Transfer Technique for long-distance communication, but with so many Cloud Ninja, if even half of them escaped, the Land of Fire would be engulfed in flames.

Still a loss.

Once you reach the level of the five major villages, proceeding cautiously step by step is truly the safest course of action.

But the Sound Ninja was different; Uchiha Shingen had absolute faith in Orochimaru.

Based on their interactions over the years, he was quite certain that Orochimaru had never intended to train the Sound Ninja as a battlefield ninja army.

He was Orochimaru's assistant, collecting materials and building secret bases—he was incredibly professional at all of these, handling everything from laboratory work to other tasks.

But in warfare, he's on par with Kusagakure.

In contrast, the nobles of the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Hot Water were in a much better mood.

Can I go home now?

Uchiha Shingen personally escorted them back to their respective territories one by one.

During this process, with these hostages... I mean, VIPs, he managed to get a general understanding of the situation in the western border of the Land of Hot Water.

Simply put, the plains area has effectively become a no-man's-land.

The scouts from Cloud Ninja and the Leaf Village operate in this area, but they do not occupy any key locations.

Leaf Village is short of troops, while Cloud Ninja is worried that too few people will make it difficult to defend, while too many people may be targeted by concentrated fire. Now lacking high-end combat power, Cloud Village has changed from its past arrogance to caution.

In this situation, the nobleman's journey home was very smooth.

After seeing off the nobles of the Land of Hot Water, Uchiha Shingen led the noble delegation from the Land of Rice Fields to the border between the Land of Rice Fields and the Land of Hot Water.

The Sound Ninja are already waiting here.

Compared to the small number of Konoha Ninja, the Sound Ninja's team was quite impressive.

The presence of over a thousand Sound Ninja filled the mountains and fields, giving the nobles of the Land of Rice Fields a great sense of security.

It's not that I don't feel safe with Leaf Village ninjas; the leader is Uchiha Shingen, a ruthless character who can wipe out an entire village single-handedly.

But that's just how nobles are; they often like to put on a show.

Since they were willing to spend more money for a show, the ninjas generally didn't care about such things.

Uchiha Shingen first ordered his accompanying squad to assemble, and then walked alone towards the other side.

The mountain range that stretches from north to south from the Land of Lightning is now part of the foothills in the area bordering the kingdoms of Yu and Ta.

A gentle breeze blew, and the Sound Ninja stood motionless, showing that Orochimaru hadn't given them nothing in return.

At least his posture is acceptable.

This is Orochimaru; he pays close attention to the part about the business image that investors care about most.

It was only because Uchiha Shingen knew the background of Sound Village that he felt the other party had the air of Leaf Village and was worth spending money on at first glance.

Instead of sending out Chibaku Tensei.

"Is this Lord Shingen?" The commander of this Sound Ninja army looked to be around forty years old, the kind of person whose edges had been worn down. "We've come to welcome the nobles of the Land of Rice Fields."

"Alright, let's hand over the duties." Uchiha Shingen glanced at the densely packed Sound Ninja behind him. "As Leaf Village's commander in the northern theater, let me ask you this: are all the troops you've mobilized to the border here?"

"Yes, this mobilization is solely for escorting the nobles," the middle-aged Sound Ninja said with absolute certainty. "The Sound Village is an ally of Leaf Village and would never be an enemy of Leaf Village."

"Then why don't you join Leaf Village's team?"

"Sound Village is small and weak, and unable to provide support," the middle-aged man replied instantly.

"Alright, but please tell Orochimaru that I can let bygones be bygones for the trouble he caused Chunin Ninja Exams, but if he ruins my plans this time, I'll blow up his entire lab. I know which projects are still under development."

To kill a snake, strike its vital spot.

To defeat Orochimaru, you have to attack his labs, specifically those labs that are in the research phase and about to produce results.

Orochimaru, upon hearing the word "laboratory," immediately jumps up, revealing his Achilles' heel without any attempt to conceal it.

"Shingen, that's not a good way to put it." A thin figure rose up beside the middle-aged man. Orochimaru, with his pale skin, was as sinister as ever, but now, there was anger in his tone. "I fulfilled my promise Chunin Ninja Exams. Instead of delivering the supplies, you're going to blow up my lab?"

"I thought you wouldn't come out." Uchiha Shingen looked at him. "Want to talk?"

"Okay." Orochimaru turned and walked to the back, and the Sound Ninja quickly made way for him. "It's too crowded and noisy here, let's find another place."

Chapter Five: The Precious Friendship Between Uchiha Shingen and Orochimaru

Orochimaru, who had been complaining about how inconvenient the place was, walked quite a distance.

Uchiha Shingen and he climbed the hill.

Looking down from here, under the azure sky, the distant mountains stretch endlessly, winding through the thin mist. More than a thousand Sound Ninja are scattered across the meadow below, their dense black dots seeming to be devouring something. The noble caravan, on the other hand, resembles a black ribbon winding across the ground.

The ruthless ninjas and the leisurely nobles reflect the true nature of this world.

The wind blew on Orochimaru, but his Kakuzu flutter. Every move he made seemed to be a way of distancing himself from the world.

"Shingen, you actually agreed to lead troops. What are you planning to do?" Orochimaru asked Uchiha Shingen, looking at his subordinates below. "You already knew I had obtained the Senju Muzoku Impure World Reincarnation of Senju Muzoku, didn't you?"

No, you didn't. If I were to use the Impure World Reincarnation, it wouldn't be like this.

"The Hokage wants me to lead a team, how can I refuse?" Uchiha Shingen looked at Orochimaru, "We're all acquaintances, let's be frank. I want to take down the Kumogakure. Can I borrow some of your men? You've been raising the Sound Village for so many years, you should be able to spare a few thousand soldiers, right? I'm talking about capable ones."

"If I refuse, you'll blow up my lab?" Orochimaru retorted.

"That's a good idea, I'll take that suggestion."

Orochimaru thought to himself that he should have agreed to Danzo's suggestion and taken care of the Uchiha Clan Danzo back then; things might be much easier today.

"So, they've pushed you out to lead the troops? Is the Uchiha Clan trying to run for Hokage?"

"The clan leader is already serving as the Hokage's assistant; it's understandable that he wants to advance further."

Uchiha Fugaku to Hokage?

Does he even deserve it?

Orochimaru considered himself to know Uchiha Fugaku quite well, and he felt that Uchiha Shingen's statement was rather meaningless.

"You've already forgotten what you just said? Is this your honesty?" Orochimaru sneered. "You just want to push you to the Hokage position. What are you pretending for in front of me?"

Uchiha Shingen immediately frowned.

"Orochimaru, we've been working together for so long, have I ever lacked anything during our transactions?"

"No, what does that have to do with you wanting to become Hokage?"

"Then why did you curse me to become Hokage?"

Orochimaru: "... So you don't want to be one?"

"If you were me, would you be happy? Let's not even talk about whether I could become Hokage. If I actually did become Hokage, wouldn't I blow up a few of your labs for the sake of celebration?"

"Yes, there's really no need to Hokage." Orochimaru immediately reached a consensus with Uchiha Shingen.

Only a dog would become Hokage.

"Let's get down to business. Just tell me if you're willing to lend someone or not."

"It's not that we can't lend it." Orochimaru looked north, "But as you know, although Sound Village is my village, it still has to support so many people. If there's a war, the cost of funds and materials will be very different."

"You just want money, don't you?" Uchiha Shingen waved his hand. "There's a war going on now, and money is needed everywhere. I don't have any, but I'll give you half of the spoils."

Orochimaru's eyes lit up.

However, he then made his signature licking motion.

"The retaliation from Cloud Village afterward will also be troublesome. Leaf Village didn't attack Sound Village because they thought Sound Village was useful, right?"

"A ninja like you, are you afraid of retaliation?"

"That's not how it works. Didn't you come to me asking for help too? Otherwise, you could have handled it by yourself, couldn't you? It's the same principle."

"Alright, I'll give you a reason, it'll be absolutely solid."

"Tell me," Orochimaru, also eager to know how compelling a reason Uchiha Shingen could give him.

"Your village is just a cover anyway. I'll blow it up. That way, we can explain it as the Sound Village having no choice but to obey me to survive. You can appeal to Leaf Village afterwards."

Orochimaru: "... That's quite a tough one. You know it would take a lot of money to rebuild this facade, right? Besides, now several villages know I'm the leader of Sound Village. If I do this, I'll lose face."

Does Orochimaru care about his reputation? Of course he does.

For someone like him and the things he does, having a lot of influence makes many things easier.

After all, he does unconventional work, and the more unconventional the work, the more useful his reputation is.

Uchiha Shingen didn't care about Orochimaru's pride, but he wanted Orochimaru's brain.

"I have another project here, do you want to get it done?"

"That depends on the project. Each matter should be handled separately." Orochimaru said seriously, indicating that he was impartial.