At this very moment, an online Five Kage Summit is underway.
"Hokage, what are your plans for this war?"
During the televised conference, Whitestone appeared somewhat humble on the screen.
He hasn't removed the word "agent" from the title of his Tsuchikage's title yet.
"This time, besides taking down Madara, I also plan to wipe out the Land of Water Land of Wind in one fell swoop. What do you two think?"
Since this was a dialogue between leaders of major countries, Meikyō abandoned his usual casual demeanor and spoke with a serious expression.
"Destroy the Land of Water Land of Wind?"
The Fourth Raikage's mouth agape; what he originally intended to say about how to distribute the spoils after their annihilation turned into:
"Although we have more troops than them, in this kind of war of annihilation, the other side has the advantage of home ground and their will to resist will definitely be more tenacious. It is possible that we will suffer heavy losses."
As for losing, the Fourth Raikage hadn't even considered it.
If we really lose, then we're definitely finished.
If they win, following Konoha Uchiha Meikyō will at least make them nominally one of their own. If Konoha cares about its reputation, Kumogakure won't be so easily destroyed.
In his youth, the Fourth Raikage might have dreamed of leading Kumogakure to surpass Konoha and become the dominant force in the Ninja World. But now, the Fourth Raikage only wants to preserve Kumogakure, wait until Uchiha Meikyō's generation dies of old age, and hand over the future to the next generation.
Just like during the time of the First Hokage.
"It's alright. As long as we integrate our forces properly, we can easily wipe out these two ninja villages."
The Fourth Raikage and Whitestone felt a chill run down their spines.
Unite our strengths!
"I don't know what you mean Hokage..."
Mifune, who hadn't said much, asked.
"It's very simple. Since we are dealing with two enemies, Suna and Kirigakure, let's just send half of our forces from each village. To the west, Konoha will send 10,000 ninja, Iwagakure will send 7,000, Kumogakure will send 6,000, for a total of 23,000 to attack Suna. Since Madara is in the Golden Wheel Mountain Range, I will personally lead the team."
"I wonder if the three thousand samurai of the Land of Iron will be able to accompany the Hokage on his expedition? Every samurai hopes to witness the pinnacle of swordsmanship in the history of the Ninja World."
Mifune bowed his head earnestly before Meikyō.
"Okay, then the remaining 23,000 men will be led by Konoha's former Hokage Dan Katō, to attack Kirigakure. As for the exiled ninja villages formed by the Fifth Mizukage and the Fifth Kazekage, they will serve as guides for the army and be incorporated into the vanguard."
The Five Kage Summit, in theory, is a meeting of equals for the Kage, but at this moment, it seems to have become a Meikyō show by the Fifth Hokage, Myokyō.
The Tsuchikage and Raikage still have considerable power and can barely say a few words, while the Mizukage and Kazekage, being the only ones without any support, simply sat there without saying a word.
The Admiral of the Land of Iron seems to have become a fan of Meikyō —or rather, all the samurai in the Ninja World who pursue the way of the sword regard Meikyō, the unprecedented number one swordsman, as their idol.
The final agreement reached was that four of the Five Kage would gather in the Land of Wind, destroy Sunagakure, and attack the Golden Wheel Mountain Range.
Dan Katō, Tsunade, and Torifu Akimichi, as leaders of Konoha on the eastern front, attacked the Land of Water together with the Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumī, and the Aotsuchi of Iwagakure.
Pakura and Mei Terumī once held high positions in their respective ninja villages, making them ideal candidates to act as guides.
The deployment of the Iwagakure and high-level combat forces from Kumogakure to the western front serves two purposes. Firstly, it allows Dan Katō and his forces in the east to easily suppress these enemies. Secondly, the western front is home to Madara and Bhiruho, making the enemy stronger. This allows the Raikage and other combat forces to play a greater role, while also weakening the strength of these two villages.
Do the Raikage and the others have any objections?
I want it, but I don't dare to have it.
A strange thing is happening in Sunagakure.
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa, disappeared yesterday along with a member of the Akatsuki Organization Hiyori three Jonin squads. Afterwards, the Sunagakure intelligence team found a large number of traces of battle at a certain location, including the Fourth Kazekage's Gold Dust.
The conclusion is already quite clear.
The Fourth Kazekage Rasa, has met with misfortune.
However, now that even Rasa can become Kazekage in Sunagakure, and the One-Tail Shukaku was given to Uchiha Madara, there is no one left to be the One-Tail Jinchuriki. This means that in the vast Sunagakure, no elite member can be found who is capable of succeeding as Kazekage.
So the elders of Sunagakure started doing some crazy things.
They want to put Scorpion in the position of Kazekage.
Although he was Rogue Ninja from Sunagakure and even poisoned the Third Kazekage, Sasori's roots were in Sunagakure, which is as righteous as can be.
After all, his grandmother was Chiyo, and his parents were high-ranking officials in Sunagakure. As a result, some people claimed to be his parents' former subordinates and wanted to help Sasori become the Fifth Kazekage so that they could further improve their own status.
Moreover, as Uchiha Madara's second-in-command scientist, Sasori was seen by outsiders as having Madara's great trust in him. For Sunagakure, which was currently subservient to Madara, it would be even better if Sasori could become one of their own.
Inside a huge underground laboratory in Sunagakure.
"Lord Scorpion, those people are here again."
Sasori's most trusted subordinate, the Jonin Yura, who had been controlled by Sasori's Puppet Manipulation of Sand more than a decade ago, Jonin now Yura waiting outside the door and spoke to Sasori.
"At this point, if they're still preoccupied with power struggles, it means this village is beyond redemption. Tell them, we won't see them."
Scorpion, hiding himself within the Hiruko, coldly refused.
"Yes, Lord Scorpion, but these people also put in a lot of effort for the materials needed for that thing you've been making these past two years. If..."
"I don't need those things anymore."
Scorpion coldly raised his head and looked ahead.
"Where is Lord Scorpion? We need to see Lord Scorpion!"
"Yura, quickly call Lord Sasori out! This is terrible!"
Something big is happening!
Just then, a chorus of shouts came from outside the door.
A cold glint flashed in Scorpion's eyes, Yura lowered his head upon seeing this.
"Gate of Opening! I want to see what these guys want from this place!"
Yura Sasori's instructions, Yura quickly ran to open the door.
"Tell me, what exactly happened? If your explanation doesn't satisfy me..."
Scorpion didn't finish his sentence, but the cold glint of the needles on the puppet scorpion's tail, which was raised high behind Hiruko, already indicated what the unspoken half of the sentence was.
"Lord Sasori, it's terrible! Konoha has attacked with the help of Iwagakure and Kumogakure!"
An elderly man wearing a white cap said hastily.
"And they have a lot of people, probably twenty or thirty thousand!"
"And that traitor Pakura led the way for them!"
"And the samurai of the Land of Iron!"
The old guys behind them followed and explained the matter together.
"Has Konoha... attacked?"
Upon hearing this, Scorpion couldn't help but look at the secret weapon he had prepared for a long time behind him.
It was a giant puppet that was in Perfect Susanoo.
"This thing will come in handy, but it might not be enough on its own. I need to go and see how Ban is doing with his preparations."
"As for those ninja armies, you can take charge of arranging how to deal with them."
Scorpion casually pointed at someone, then turned and left.
The group of old men from Sunagakure looked at each other in bewilderment.
"It seems to be going a little too smoothly. We haven't even deployed our real elite troops yet, but the advance of the vanguard has already exceeded our estimates by more than double."
In the Command Room, Nara Shikaku frowned as he looked at the telegrams coming from all directions.
"What, are you worried that the enemy is deliberately feigning weakness to lure us in deeper?"
Jiraiya, with his legs crossed, munched on a piece of dry rations while chuckling as he asked Nara Shikaku question.
Nara Shikaku nodded upon hearing this.
"That's not entirely surprising. Suna lost the One-Tail Jinchuriki, Fourth Kazekage Rasa, is already dead. There are no other formidable figures left. Our forces and the average combat strength of our ninja units are all above theirs, so it's normal that we were able to move so quickly."
The Third Hokage, wearing that old-fashioned armor, stood to the side and spoke calmly.
"I still feel something is not right. Sunagakure is one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Even if Rasa suddenly died, they should have someone like Whitestone who could step up temporarily. It shouldn't be like this now. Moreover, although we are advancing very quickly, Sunagakure's main force has not suffered any major losses so far."
Nara Shikaku shook his head, his eyes fixed on the map.
Even someone as intelligent as him couldn't have guessed that the internal situation of Sunagakure was actually more chaotic than he had imagined.
Sasori was too lazy to get involved. It would be fine if Suna could independently and temporarily recommend a capable person that most people would trust. But he randomly pointed to someone who just happened to be not very good at battlefield command. In this critical moment, the others were all wavering and thinking about preserving their strength.
This has led to the situation that Nara Shikaku is currently facing.
The Sunagakure appeared to be on the verge of collapse, but in reality, its main force remained intact, making it seem like a strategy to lure the enemy deeper into its territory.
"Why worry so much? Anyway, our forces are twice as strong as theirs. We can just crush them head-on. If we're really worried about anything, I'll be there to back us up."
Meikyō waved his hand at Nara Shikaku and said decisively:
"If there really is a problem, then it would be more appropriate to let Kumogakure and Iwagakure the fall."
"They should be able to tell that we did this on purpose, right?"
Jiraiya scratched his head and said.
"Then let Shisui take an elite force with him. With his abilities, he can protect people even if something unexpected happens."
The four-nation alliance of Konoha, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and the samurai of the Land of Iron reached the heart of the Land of Wind in just a few days.
Over the next two days, the organization of the Sand Ninja seemed to improve a bit, but soon, under Madara's orders, they abandoned the Sunagakure, which occupied a natural stronghold, and instead all fortified themselves at the foot of the Golden Wheel Mountain Range, which border the Land of Demons to the north.
"How is the situation?"
Uchiha Madara sat on Hashirama Senju's coffin lid, resting his chin on his hand, and asked Sasori.
"Nearly half of the ninjas in Sunagakure have died, and the remaining ones are in low spirits. Some even want to surrender to Konoha, but I have suppressed them all."
Sasori spoke to Uchiha Madara in that cold, indifferent voice typical of puppets.
What he meant by "suppress" was to kill.
In fact, Suna was already on the verge of collapse two days ago, which forced Sasori to come out and quell the situation, killing a group of people on the spot.
Two days later, he killed another group.
"These ninja villages are nothing more than products born from Hashirama's failure. As failures, they can be used as tools and then discarded. However, once the new world is established, I will give them a suitable place."
Uchiha Madara turned around and looked at the Ten-Tails, who was slowly waking up, and said in a deep voice.
"The Ten-Tails is now close to entering the first stage of its revival. Although it has already gained some combat power, the amount of Three-Tails Chakra it has obtained is still too little. Therefore, I will first temporarily transform it into the God Tree, and then absorb a large amount of Natural Energy the Golden Wheel Mountain Range, which is rich in natural energy, so that the Ten-Tails can grow strong enough to become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki."
Uchiha Madara pondered for a moment, then turned back to look at Sasori.
"How's that war puppet you made doing now?"
"The resources of the Land of Wind and the Land of Water have been largely used up, and the construction is now basically complete."
"What about the energy issue you've been bringing up before?"
"The Mōryō you captured from the Land of Demons, although it has a lot of energy, is ultimately just a monster born from the fusion of a priestess's evil thoughts. However, I used the technology I obtained from Shinnō some time ago to transform it from something that could only absorb priestesses' evil thoughts into something that can absorb all evil thoughts. Now, because of the great war in the Ninja World, it is growing rapidly, and it will definitely have power even greater than the Perfect Susanoo!"
"I hope you succeed. Also, remember to have the last group of Sunagakure people mark themselves tonight."
"I see."
The scorpion slowly walked out and left the place.
Uchiha Madara turned his head and looked at the other side of the mountain.
A power that even he found extremely strong was slowly awakening.
Bhiruho slowly opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling.
"Kekkei Tōta... So that's how it is? Ōnoki's Chakra isn't much, but I'm different. I possess five Kekkei Genkai and Hashirama Senju's cells, which greatly enhance my Chakra. Now I have Dust Release for offense, Steel Release for defense, and Dark Release and Wood Release that are good for both offense and defense. Plus, with my Sharingan that can coordinate with other abilities, I might not be any worse than Madara now."
Bhiruho stood up from the bed barefoot and covered his chest with his hand.
"There's no rush. Although I've already obtained power almost equal to Madara's, and with the Impure World Reincarnation First Hokage, my strength might even surpass Madara's, but the Cursed Mark Madara placed on my heart with his Rinnegan is a problem..."