Taking the Initiative to Meet Them? That's Practically Seeking Death!

Meanwhile, inside the Hokage Office on the top floor of the Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu stood side by side before the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the direction in which the Uchiha and Hyuga allied forces had departed.

Smoke filled the office.

"Hokage-sama."

Mitokado Homura held the intelligence scroll delivered by ANBU, adjusted his glasses, and began his report.

"According to our covert agents' investigation, the Uchiha have split their attack into two groups."

"The first group is the force that just left the village. Uchiha Lu Ming is personally leading forty-three elite Temple members as the vanguard to strike the defensive line."

"After that, Fugaku Uchiha will lead most of the clan's Military Police Force as the second echelon."

Mitokado Homura paused.

"Hizashi Hyuga will lead an elite Byakugan unit to fully coordinate with the Uchiha, handling long-range reconnaissance and enemy detection."

Upon hearing this deployment, Utatane Koharu slammed her palm against the windowsill beside her.

"That fool Hiashi actually dared to place his bets on the Uchiha."

Utatane Koharu gritted her teeth, her aged face filled with deep concern and apprehension.

"The Uchiha and Hyuga are Konoha's two strongest great clans. Once they develop coordination on the battlefield and form a complete alliance, they'll become impossible to rein in within the village!"

"By then, our leadership's orders will be nothing more than scrap paper before those two great clans! This is shaking Konoha's very foundation!"

Faced with Utatane Koharu's fury, Mitokado Homura merely chuckled.

"Koharu, you're overthinking it."

Mitokado Homura turned around.

"On the surface, their joint expedition looks immensely imposing, but in truth, this is exactly the situation Konoha Leadership most wants to see!"

"What do you mean by that?"

Utatane Koharu frowned.

"Think about it. They're facing Kumogakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages!"

Mitokado Homura sneered as he analyzed the situation.

"Kumogakure has deep foundations and a powerful army."

"No matter how strong the Uchiha and Hyuga are, confronting a major shinobi village with the strength of only two clans will inevitably cost them dearly!"

"If the two clans are defeated, or suffer devastating casualties on the battlefield, their fragile alliance, formed in a moment of impulse, will completely fall apart."

"Not only that, we can use Kumogakure's blade to greatly weaken the strength of those two great clans!"

Mitokado Homura tightened his grip on the scroll.

"Once they exhaust their foundations, won't they have to obediently submit to our leadership's control in the future?"

"For Konoha Leadership, this brings nothing but benefits!"

After hearing Mitokado Homura's words, Utatane Koharu's furrowed brow eased somewhat.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage standing in the middle, had yet to speak in agreement.

He took one drag after another from his pipe.

"This isn't as optimistic as you two think."

Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, shattering Mitokado Homura's pleasant fantasy.

"Hiruzen, do you think the Uchiha can win?" Utatane Koharu asked, her face full of disbelief.

"I know very well that the Uchiha's 'Temple Formation,' combined with 'Lightning Release: Myriad Lightning,' creates a terrifying blanket bombardment powerful enough to destroy entire organized shinobi units."

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned around, walked to the Hokage's desk, and braced both hands against it.

"But Kumogakure has far more than an ordinary shinobi army!"

"They have the Fourth Raikage A, whose speed is unmatched in the Shinobi World. They have the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, who can perfectly control the Tailed Beast's power. They even have the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito Nii!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi listed Kumogakure's trump cards one by one.

"Strategic-level powerhouses like them cannot be easily erased through numbers and wide-range bombardment alone!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes, and the image of that blond young man surfaced in his mind.

"Back when the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was still alive, he fought the A-B Combination during the Third Shinobi World War."

"Even a peerless genius like Minato personally admitted to me that Kumogakure's foundations were troublesome, that the two Jinchuriki's dominance on the battlefield was nearly unsolvable, and that this battle would be extremely difficult!"

At the mention of Minato Namikaze's assessment from before his death,

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu both fell silent.

If even the Fourth Hokage had found those enemies troublesome, how could the Uchiha possibly contend with them through the strength of one clan alone?

"However, Minato also said back then that as long as we could severely damage their core combat power, we could make Kumogakure pay the price and ease Konoha's crisis."

Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his eyes again and looked out the window.

Reason told him that against the Raikage and two Jinchuriki,

with Kirigakure of the Land of Water still watching the border like a tiger,

the Uchiha's chances of victory in this battle were exceedingly slim.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that things were not so simple.

He recalled Lu Ming's arrogant, domineering bearing at the banquet and those unfathomably deep Mangekyō Sharingan eyes.

That young man was only sixteen years old,

yet he was not only deeply calculating, but also ruthless and decisive. He never did anything foolish without confidence.

"Uchiha Lu Ming dared to mobilize troops with such fanfare and even claimed he would keep the Eight-Tails as a pet..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi gripped his pipe tightly, cold sweat seeping into his palm.

"He still has a trump card capable of overturning the entire battle!"

Elsewhere, at the border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire.

The gale howled, and dark clouds pressed overhead.

The Fourth Raikage stood bare-chested, his muscles hard as steel.

Violent blue lightning leaped wildly across his body, crackling with piercing intensity.

He was leading several thousand fully armed Kumogakure elite troops, rushing toward Konoha at full speed!

"Raikage-sama!"

Darui, Kumogakure's trusted subordinate, carried a massive blade on his back as he hurried alongside the Raikage and reported loudly.

"We've just received top-secret intelligence from our spies. The Uchiha Clan, led personally by their new clan head Uchiha Lu Ming, has taken the initiative to leave the village and meet us in battle!"

"Hahaha! Taking the initiative to meet us? That's practically seeking death!"

Raikage A let out a wild laugh and swung his fist, shattering a huge boulder beside him into pieces.

"A mere Uchiha clan thinks awakening a few pairs of Sharingan makes them invincible?"

"Today, I'll personally crush the head of that brat called Lu Ming and let them know what happens when they provoke Kumogakure."

Though the Raikage spoke with utter contempt for the Uchiha's provocation and dismissed Lu Ming as worthless,

as the leader of a village and a battle-hardened veteran, he remained cautious in action and did not let his guard down.

"Pass on my orders!"

Raikage A stopped, turned toward the vast Kumogakure army behind him, and roared.

"The entire army is to halt its forced march and deploy defensive formations on the spot. The Lightning Release units will take the front and form a joint defensive barrier!"

Darui froze for a moment.

"Raikage-sama, aren't we going to rush over and crush them directly?"

"Idiot!"

The Raikage shot Darui a glare.

"According to intelligence from Konoha spies, the Uchiha possess an extremely large-scale bombardment ninjutsu called 'Lightning Release: Myriad Lightning.' Its power is immense!"

The Raikage narrowed his eyes and stared at the gorge ahead, the only route leading into the Land of Fire. Lightning Release chakra burned around his body at full force.

Based on the intelligence concerning the time the Uchiha had left the village and their marching speed, he rapidly simulated the battle in his mind.

"Everyone, stay alert and raise your chakra."

The Raikage shouted, predicting that the Uchiha vanguard was about to arrive.