Ninja cats: We're not familiar with Konoha's Uchiha

The Third Kazekage clasped his hands together, causing the black cube to surge and drastically change shape, transforming into a crisscrossing tree network structure, revealing sharp, long black thorns.

Moreover, more black particles began to converge, strengthening and amplifying the already vast network of black thorns in the tree.

Hiruzen's gaze sharpened, but he showed no fear whatsoever.

His hands Hand Seals, and his entire body emanated a scorching heat. Beside him was the Ruyi Jingu Adamantine Staff, transformed from the Enma, guarding his true form.

The other four physical clones completed Hand Seals at the same moment, their sharp gazes piercing the Third Kazekage in the sky.

"Five Elements - Great Combo!"

"Magnet Release: Iron Sand World Method!"

Five different types of power—rock flow, lightning, flood, hurricane, and sea of fire—merged together in a near-perfect manner, forming a magnificent, world-destroying torrent that crashed straight down upon the overwhelming black thorn net shooting down from the sky.

The sound of the explosion echoed throughout the forest, and the shockwave from the blast ripped and snapped the surrounding trees, sending debris and dust flying everywhere, creating a large and alarming vacuum zone.

The Third Kazekage, flying in mid-air, was somewhat unsteady and breathing rapidly.

The Iron Sand around him had disappeared; it had been blasted into countless pieces during the head-on collision, and it would take considerable effort to gather it back together.

The Iron Sand armor covering his body was also falling off in a rustling sound.

If he hadn't used the pre-stored Iron Sand within his body to form armor at the last moment, he probably wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed from the impact.

Even so, he was still injured as a result. The terrifying impact created by the combined effects of the five Release Technique caused him excruciating pain in his chest, and blood flowed uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth.

Hiruzen below also took a deep breath, but overall he was still intact and not bleeding.

With just a slight adjustment, he regained his calm and composed demeanor.

The difference in strength between the two sides is immediately apparent.

"Retreat!"

The Third Kazekage decided not to linger there and ordered the Hidden Sand Village below to withdraw from the battlefield.

He sensed something was very wrong if the fight continued.

The Hokage's strength exceeded his expectations.

Unlike Hanzo's clever method of avoiding the Iron Sand World Method, this was the first time he had seen someone directly tear apart his Iron Sand World Method.

Even the Third Raikage couldn't do that, since he wasn't good at area attacks. As long as he couldn't quickly break through the layers of Iron Sand World Method's attacks, he would inevitably be restricted in his movements.

"Chase!"

Hiruzen coldly uttered a single word, swung the Enma sword, and charged forward again, splitting the heads of several Hidden Sand Village like smashed watermelons.

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Heavenly Dao Palace, Hisoten.

In a Japanese-style courtyard, Izayoi, who had just finished her training, taken a bath, and changed into a white kimono, sat on the veranda.

One hand gently kneaded the soft fur of a cat, while the other picked up the secret report that had just been sent from Nightview City.

The contents of this secret report were naturally not about the joint attack on the Land of Fire by the Hidden Sand Village Hidden Rain Village.

Even when Hidden Sand Village hired 'experts' from the Black Market, Izayoi knew that Hidden Sand Village was likely to take action against Konoha.

The previous confrontation with Hidden Rain Village was just a performance, a facade put on to lower Konoha's guard and facilitate the troop redeployment.

Leaving aside Hidden Rain Village for now, Hidden Sand Village lived up to expectations, taking advantage of Konoha's carelessness to conquer several towns in the southwest of the Land of Fire in one fell swoop, seizing countless supplies.

However, this advantage only lasted a few days before Hidden Sand Village faced a strong counterattack from Konoha.

The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, personally led troops to support the southwest, and then more and more Konoha Ninja were transferred from Konoha headquarters to support the southwest.

Hidden Sand Village also continuously dispatched troops, converging in the southwest, attempting to tear a breach there.

Not only in the southwest, but Hidden Sand Village also joined forces with Amegakure through the Land of Rain Hidden Rain Village launch a fierce attack on the western and northwestern sides of the Land of Fire.

Just like the situation in the southwest, they took advantage of Konoha's carelessness and achieved good results. However, once Konoha reacted, the combined forces of Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Rain Village were somewhat overwhelmed.

Especially in the southwest, under the personal command of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, the recent battle situation in Hidden Sand Village has been quite poor.

Despite the ongoing stalemate in the southwest of the Land of Fire, given the current trend, it's only a matter of time before Hidden Sand Village is driven out of the Land of Fire Konoha.

According to the latest intelligence, the Third Kazekage was completely overwhelmed by the Hokage and could only rely on his aerial advantage to barely hold Hokage own and remain undefeated.

"..."

This greatly displeased Izayoi. While Konoha was indeed strong, Hidden Sand Village's advantage, given their surprise attack, could only be maintained for such a short time. Couldn't they have looked for their own shortcomings?

Have you been training diligently? Have you been researching Tailed Beasts weapons?

The Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Rain Village's staged attack on the Land of Fire pleased Izayoi greatly.

But Izayoi wasn't too happy that Konoha had so quickly turned the tables on him.

As a noblewoman from the Land of Night, she was certainly aware of the Land of Night's grand strategy against Konoha and the Land of Fire.

However, the Land of Night currently needs to keep an eye on the Hidden Cloud Village for the Iwagakure, and cannot spare too much power to suppress the Konoha.

Moreover, if the Land of Night wants to intervene in the conflict between Hidden Sand Village, Hidden Rain Village, and Konoha, it needs a reasonable entry point, and currently no such opportunity has been found.

After all, how could the Land of Night, inherently righteous, arbitrarily attack other countries without a legitimate reason?

"Go, deliver this letter to the Ninja Cat Clan, and have them use the Black Market to forge a cooperation agreement with Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Rain Village."

Izayoi finished writing a letter and handed it to the Ninja Cat she had just been kneading.

Since we can't interfere directly, let's try to cause trouble for Konoha from the sidelines.

The Ninja Cat Clan are arms dealers of the Uchiha Clan. Relying on the portion of the Uchiha Clan in the Land of Night, the Ninja Cat Clan has developed extremely rapidly in recent years, acquiring many sophisticated weapons that outsiders cannot obtain.

Moreover, the Ninja Cat Clan is extremely numerous and exceptionally skilled in intelligence gathering, making them naturally suited to roaming the gray areas of the Ninja World.

In this way, she would have room to intervene in the war waged by the Sandstorm Alliance against Konoha.

The plan was to have the Ninja Cat Clan sell weapons and medicines to Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Rain Village, and then have the Black Market cooperate with these two parties, offering them a preferential price to hire bounty hunters from the Black Market in large quantities.

Although the Black Market platform cannot compare to the Five Great Nations, it still contains many troublesome ninjas and Samurai, which can alleviate some of the pressure on the main battlefields of Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Rain Village, keeping Konoha mired in the quagmire of war.

As long as the portion belonging to the Land of Night is not severely damaged, bounty hunters, even if a batch dies, more new ones will flood in; there will be no shortage of desperate people willing to risk their lives for money.

This was originally a breeding ground deliberately created by a few major shareholders in the gray area of Ninja World to handle some matters that the major shareholders were not comfortable with showing their faces.

However, there are also differences between major shareholders.

Compared to other major shareholders, the Land of Night's initial status naturally gave it an advantage that outsiders did not possess, allowing for a deeper and more comprehensive penetration of the Black Market.

Even after the passing of the God of Shinobi, the Black Market market gradually recovered and became vibrant again, which was inseparable from the strong support of the Land of Night.

The Ninja Cat glanced at Izayoi, meowed, and stared longingly at Izayoi.

Here, eat and get back to work.

Izayoi rolled her eyes, went back into her room, and took out a can of premium cat food for it as payment for the errand.

The Ninja Cat who followed her into the Heavenly Dao Palace had all become so picky that they wouldn't even glance at anyone who wasn't a high-ranking catgirl.

Especially her wet nurse and head housekeeper Iori, after moving in, were waited on hand and foot, their bellies almost touching the ground when they stood up.

They always say they've worked hard for so many years and deserve to enjoy themselves.

Izayoi was very worried that the other person would take a few steps and then accidentally roll away in a round shape.

The Ninja Cat opened the can of food with satisfaction, ate all the premium cat food inside, and then went to the nearby fountain to rinse its mouth and wash its body.

Finally, he picked up the letter that Izayoi handed him with his mouth and disappeared into the courtyard with a few whooshes.