Discussion

"No, Naruto is Minato's child!"

After a moment of surprise, Jiraiya voiced his objection.

"That's right, Naruto is also the Lord Hokage's disciple!"

After Jiraiya finished speaking, Fugaku immediately echoed him, adding in his mind, "That's Sasuke Uchiha's teammate."

In this world, you need not only ability, but also connections.

"You two, the Naruto you're talking about is Kushina's child, right?"

Clearly, Naruto's background is not only related to Jiraiya and Fugaku, but also to Tsunade.

Tsunade, not wanting an answer from the two of them, continued.

"But Konoha now has more than just Naruto as a Jinchūriki!"

Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged a glance before Jiraiya began to speak.

"Tsunade, you mean...?"

Before Jiraiya finish speaking, Tsunade, seeing that the two understood her meaning, spoke directly.

"That's right, Konoha has already been drawn into the vortex of war, and can't care about anything else now!"

Fugaku and Jiraiya chose to remain silent and said no more.

After some discussion, everyone reached a consensus on the arrangements for Utakata.

However, none of them could compare to Konoha's original F4; they couldn't pull off the mysterious act of hurting their own people and pleasing their enemies, or severing themselves in every major battle.

The group decided to send Utakata, not back to Kirigakure, as that would be no different from handing him over to the enemy.

Of course, if things get critical, Utakata's sacrifice is inevitable.

Tsunade takes on this task, Utakata will be sent to Shikkotsu Forest.

Firstly, because the Saiken and the Katsuyu are roughly the same species in appearance, Shikkotsu Forest would not likely reject them.

Another reason is that Tsunade and Jiraiya understood each other's feelings simply by exchanging a glance.

Tsunade's hemophobia is still not cured, so she is destined not to achieve anything on the front lines. Keeping an eye on Utakata is just right for her.

They then made other arrangements, determined to confront the enemy head-on; they couldn't wait for the enemy to reach Konoha's doorstep.

As for the attacking force, the White Zetsu Army is manageable; Konoha has enough resources to handle them.

The problem is Obito's Undead Army. No matter how strong the Konoha Ninja are, they can only buy time; they can't possibly stop them completely.

Whether he's strong or not is another matter, but his inability to die is the biggest problem, because people always get tired.

When things reached a stalemate, Fugaku opened a scroll containing information about the Impure World Reincarnation and placed it on the table.

Jiraiya, who possessed a certain naive moral fastidiousness, directly voiced his opposition.

However, after reading Tsunade's eyes flickered, and she had some other thoughts.

Seeing their reactions, Fugaku spoke up.

"Gentlemen, this isn't a discussion, it's a notification!"

"Fugaku, do you really think you're Hokage?"

Jiraiya immediately launched a personal attack.

"No, Jiraiya, you've misunderstood. I was one of those who were notified as well."

After responding to Jiraiya, Fugaku continued in a lighthearted manner.

"You may have some misunderstanding, thinking that the current center of power in Konoha is in this office, but that's not actually the case."

"Among the Lord Hokage's many arrangements, the armed forces are under the control of the Konoha Military Police Force, but for some special reasons, the Konoha Military Police Force is temporarily under the command of Kabuto Yakushi!"

Tsunade and Jiraiya were slightly taken aback, clearly unfamiliar with the name, though Tsunade was somewhat familiar with the surname Yakushi.

However, the two then felt as if they had heard the name somewhere before.

"Chunin Ninja Exams."

Fugaku's subtle hint finally allowed Tsunade and Jiraiya to pinpoint the source of their sense of familiarity.

Then, deep doubt filled their eyes: how could someone who had only been Chunin for two years manage to master the power of Konoha?

Fugaku noticed Tsunade and Jiraiya's confusion and then explained.

"You two can roughly understand him as Danzo, but he is more trusted than Danzo. The Chunin Ninja Exams were just a mission he accepted!"

Upon hearing this, Tsunade and Jiraiya instantly understood.

"Where is this Kabuto Yakushi? Can I meet him?"

Tsunade asked, her voice trembling with emotion. Jiraiya, witnessing this scene, seemed to vaguely guess something, and the light in his eyes began to dim.

However, his anger quickly reignited. All of Jiraiya and bold nature vanished in front of Tsunade, making him appear timid and cowardly.

The biggest reason was that Jiraiya believed that the living could never defeat the dead, which was a completely unfair duel.

However, at this moment, Jiraiya seemed to see a glimmer of hope for a fair fight.

Fugaku didn't understand why the two of them were looking at him with such hope, but he still didn't choose to hide it.

"Kujiro set off this morning and has likely already reached the enemy's location."

Tsunade and Jiraiya's eyes dimmed slightly at almost the same time, but they both breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the two soon realized that something was amiss with what Fugaku was saying.

Could this Kabuto Yakushi possibly fly?

Jiraiya and Tsunade, as top-tier ninjas, possessed remarkably good intuition.

Above the airspace of the Land of Fire.

The back of a creature with an off-the-charts style, resembling a White Phoenix.

The blond-haired boy asked the gray-haired youth.

"Kabuto, you said you were going to use this in the Land of Fire, right? Hmm?"

"That's right!"

Kabuto spoke solemnly to the handheld camera lens in Deidara's right hand.