The conference room doors slammed shut, and the departing footsteps of Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two companions gradually faded away.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the spacious conference room grew rather strange.
Then Gengetsu immediately spoke.
"Now that the irritating people have left, let's continue the meeting."
"This time, Konoha's objective is occupation."
His words left everyone in the conference room utterly puzzled.
Occupation?!
Occupy what!?
After all, Kumogakure's army of five thousand elite ninja, accompanied by two Tailed Beasts, had already broken through three of Konoha's defensive lines and invaded the Land of Fire!
Konoha was facing a crisis of survival. The most pressing issue was how to hold the defensive lines and drive the Kumogakure Ninja out of the Land of Fire.
Yet now, Gengetsu, the Fifth Hokage, actually said that the objective of this meeting was occupation?
Occupation of what?
Seeing the confusion on their faces, Gengetsu continued with an explanation.
"I know what you're all thinking..."
"You believe that with a powerful enemy upon us, we should focus entirely on defense..."
"But have you considered how many troops the Fourth Raikage pulled out of Kumogakure for this invasion?..."
"The Fourth Raikage brought nearly all the elite ninja in the Land of Lightning with him this time. The Land of Lightning itself is now completely exposed..."
Gengetsu paused, then continued in an extremely aggressive tone.
"In that case, we'll strike directly into the heart of the Land of Lightning!..."
"With the number of ninja Konoha has, we may not be able to occupy the entire Land of Lightning, but occupying half of it this time is perfectly possible..."
As his words fell, the conference room went silent. Everyone stared at Gengetsu in disbelief.
At that moment, Hyuga Hiashi stood up and could not help asking Gengetsu a question.
"Fifth Hokage! What you said is true, but the Kumogakure Ninja have already invaded the Land of Fire. They're getting closer and closer to Konoha!..."
"Shouldn't we defend against the Kumogakure Ninja's invasion first? If we can't even hold the Land of Fire, how can we talk about occupying the Land of Lightning?"
Hyuga Hiashi's concerns reflected the thoughts of every clan head present.
Defense was the most urgent matter. Wasn't running off to occupy someone else's territory putting the cart before the horse?
Faced with Hyuga Hiashi's challenge, Gengetsu did not grow angry. Instead, he gave a cold laugh.
"Defense? The Kumogakure Ninja are just a bunch of trash. I'll deal with them."
Gengetsu spoke dismissively, his tone brimming with the arrogance unique to the Uchiha Clan.
Clearly, Gengetsu did not take these five thousand elite Kumogakure Ninja seriously at all.
In Gengetsu's eyes, with his current power, he could deal with the mere Kumogakure Ninja very easily.
Compared with defeating the Kumogakure Ninja, Gengetsu was more interested in occupying the Land of Lightning and completely redrawing the map of the Shinobi World.
But the others had no idea just how much confidence Gengetsu had.
When they heard that Gengetsu intended to deal with all the Kumogakure Ninja alone, every clan head in the conference room was shocked. Their eyes widened as they sucked in sharp breaths.
"Alone?!"
"Lord Fifth intends to face an army of five thousand Cloud ninja alone?!"
"How could that possibly be done?!"
They all knew that Gengetsu had awakened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan and possessed tremendous strength.
But however powerful he was, Gengetsu was still only one person!
One person against an army of five thousand fully armed Cloud ninja, including the Fourth Raikage and the Jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails and Two-Tails!
No matter how they looked at it, Gengetsu facing them alone seemed like courting death!
Uchiha Fugaku was the first who could no longer sit still. He immediately stood and loudly tried to dissuade him.
"Fifth Hokage! Please don't act rashly! Those are five thousand elite ninja, along with the Raikage and two Tailed Beasts! Even with the Mangekyō Sharingan, your chakra is limited! Going deep into enemy lines alone is far too dangerous!"
Uchiha Fugaku had staked his entire clan's fate on Gengetsu. If anything happened to Gengetsu, the Uchiha Clan would undoubtedly face a frenzied purge at the hands of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.
Next, the heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans hurriedly stood as well, earnestly trying to persuade him.
"Yes, Fifth Hokage! Please let us lead our clans' elite ninja into battle alongside you!"
"We of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans are willing to serve as the vanguard and share your burden!"
"Please reconsider! Konoha cannot do without you!"
There was no helping it. Their clans had now firmly sided with Gengetsu, their interests bound together.
Moreover, after Gengetsu became Hokage, they had indeed gained considerable benefits and authority.
Thus, for both personal and practical reasons, they did not want anything to happen to Gengetsu, much less watch him go to his death.
Looking at the desperately anxious clan heads, Gengetsu waved a hand, cutting their appeals short.
"Enough. You don't need to say any more! I'll deal with the Kumogakure Ninja!"
"What you need to do is prepare to occupy the Land of Lightning!"
"I don't want us unable to occupy the territory we conquer because we lack ninja!"
Faced with Gengetsu's absolute confidence and firm orders, the clan heads complied, though they remained deeply worried.
"Yes!"
All the clan heads straightened in unison and loudly acknowledged Gengetsu's orders.
After the meeting ended, word of what Gengetsu had said soon reached Hiruzen Sarutobi, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura.
After hearing the report on the meeting, Utatane Koharu made no attempt to hide the mockery on her face as she spoke coldly.
"Gengetsu actually intends to fight an army of five thousand Cloud ninja alone? And occupy half the Land of Lightning? Who does he think he is?"
"What an utter pipe dream!"
Mitokado Homura shook his head repeatedly as well, his face full of disdain.
"Young people these days gain a little strength and lose all sense of their limits. How could he possibly stand against Kumogakure's elite army alone?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi also took a deep drag on his pipe, exhaled a thick smoke ring, and then said:
"The Kumogakure Ninja have already invaded the Land of Fire. Instead of considering how to deploy our forces against them, he's discussing how to occupy the Land of Lightning. What a joke."
"As expected, Gengetsu isn't suited to being Hokage at all. That arrogant, conceited nature of his will only bring disaster to Konoha!"
Utatane Koharu immediately followed up.
"Sarutobi is right! Gengetsu is doomed this time!"
"Once he dies on the front lines and Konoha is left leaderless, gripped by panic, they'll finally realize who can truly keep things under control."
"As expected, we're the only ones who can save Konoha!"
Mitokado Homura spoke with pride on his face as well.
The three exchanged smiles, as though victory were already assured.
Now they only needed to wait for news of Gengetsu's death, and they could seize control of Konoha once more.
Within the Land of Fire.
At a defensive fortress less than a hundred li from Konoha.
This fortress had originally been an important stronghold established by Konoha along the border.
But now, it was completely surrounded by Kumogakure Ninja.
Several hundred Konoha ninja trembled behind the fortress walls, staring in horror at the scene outside.
Before their fortress stretched a dense sea of people.
More than five thousand Kumogakure Ninja surrounded the entire fortress like a black tide, leaving no gaps and exerting an invisible pressure.
"Damn it, what's going on?! How did the Kumogakure Ninja invade the Land of Fire?! How did our warning barrier and hidden sentries fail?!"
"The Kumogakure Ninja seem to know our defensive deployments! They avoided every trap precisely and drove straight into our heartland!"
"Have we requested help?! When will reinforcements arrive?!"
"We've already sent requests for help! But there's been no reply yet!"
"..."
Inside the fortress, every Konoha ninja looked grim, sweat continuously running down their foreheads.
They knew full well that their mere several hundred Konoha ninja were no match for an attack by so many Kumogakure Ninja.
They might die here today.
Despair spread wildly through the fortress.
Just then, a burly man covered in bulging muscles stepped out from the very front of the Kumogakure Ninja ranks.
It was none other than Fourth Raikage A!
Dazzling Lightning Release Chakra Armor blazed around the Raikage, blue arcs of electricity crackling violently around him. He raised his head, glared at the fortress ahead, and roared.
"Konoha ninja, where is your Fifth Hokage?! Tell him to get the hell out here right now!"
"I'm going to slaughter him!"
The Raikage's voice was tremendously loud, like rolling thunder.
After the Fourth Raikage's voice fell, Killer B jumped out beside him and began repeatedly cursing Gengetsu in a very strange rap.
"Yo, yo! Konoha's Hokage is a turtle hiding away! Killing our delegation-what a stupid crook's play!..."
"Today, my Raikage brother brought me to beat him down! Show him how hard Kumogakure's fists pound! Fool! Bastard!"
Though Killer B's rap was comical, combined with the Eight-Tails' chakra faintly emanating from him, it still exerted tremendous psychological pressure.
Then a Cloud sensory ninja quickly approached the Raikage, dropped to one knee, and reported.
"Lord Raikage, I've investigated. The Hokage isn't in this fortress. There are only a hundred ordinary Konoha ninja inside."
Hearing this report, the Fourth Raikage snorted coldly, a cruel gleam flashing through his eyes.
"He isn't here? Then attack! Destroy this fortress! Leave no one alive!"
At the Raikage's command, all the Kumogakure Ninja went wild and charged toward the fortress.
"Charge! Attack!"
"Destroy the fortress! Slaughter these Konoha ninja!"
"Kill them! Kill them all!..."
Countless Kumogakure Ninja roared as they charged wildly toward the fortress.
More than five thousand Kumogakure Ninja charging together made for an extraordinarily spectacular sight, their momentum overwhelming.
Faced with the Kumogakure Ninja Army surging toward them like a tsunami, every Konoha ninja in the fortress was terrified.
Some had even closed their eyes, preparing to meet death.
At that critical instant.
"Susanoo! Yasaka Magatama!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three enormous red tomoe fell from the sky like crashing meteors, slamming directly in front of the charging Kumogakure Ninja formation!
The violent explosions unleashed a savage shock wave that spread in every direction, hurling countless clods of earth and fragments of stone into the air.
The dozens of Kumogakure Ninja at the very front were blasted to pieces by the powerful impact before they could even scream.
This sudden attack forcibly halted the Kumogakure Ninja Army's advance.
All the Kumogakure Ninja stopped in their tracks, staring in shock at the center of the explosions.
The Konoha ninja inside the fortress also poked their heads out, unable to help looking over.
As the smoke cleared, a figure wearing the Hokage's ceremonial robe appeared there.
Before you continue