This completely threw his plans into disarray.
He was not ready yet.
Minato had not been elevated by him yet.
Minato's strength and reputation had not yet met the mark.
The Hidden Stone Battlefield had originally been the stage he had reserved for Minato to build his reputation.
The Hidden Cloud side was the same.
For now, Hidden Cloud indeed showed no signs of starting a war.
But reports from there said that A, the Third Raikage's son, had gradually gained the upper hand in the struggle among the various factions.
Within the next year, A would basically secure victory and become the **Raikage.
The man was a fighter to the bone, and after suffering a setback at Konoha's hands last time, he would sooner or later find an opportunity to start another war for revenge.
By then, Minato should have built up enough prestige at the Hidden Stone Battlefield, and could move on to the Hidden Cloud Battlefield for another round.
Once his reputation had accumulated enough, the conditions would be ripe.
I can push him into office as the Fourth Hokage.
The game I laid out can then be brought to its conclusion.
At that point, the Hokage's real power will still be firmly in my grasp.
But Uchiha Yan's move had smashed it all to pieces.
"Should I... expose Hidden Cloud's intentions ahead of time and force them to fight Konoha again?"
After pondering for a long time, the Third Hokage ultimately shook his head with a sigh. "It's too late. In Hidden Cloud's current state, they absolutely can't make a move against Konoha within a year."
"Ugh... I'll have Koharu and Homura come up with something."
He directly sent an Anbu operative to summon Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.
When the intelligence was delivered to them,