"I heard you could think from a Hokage's perspective ever since you were little."
Xuanye withdrew the hand he had been tapping against Hiruzen Sarutobi's head and spoke at an unhurried pace.
"Then let me ask you, as your captain: what did you make of Lord Hokage's grand speech just now?"
"Speak up, and go into as much detail as you can. If your analysis is good, I'll make an exception and promote you to deputy leader of the third squad."
Deputy squad leader?
Uchiha Cong, who had just regained consciousness and was still sprawled on the ground, looked utterly bewildered.
Since when did the Konoha Military Police Force appoint deputy leaders for individual squads?
It wasn't just Uchiha Cong who was puzzled. Every police officer present knew perfectly well that this was a title their captain had made up on the spot just to mess with someone!
The problem was that Uchiha Itachi, the undercover agent, and Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't know that!
Holy shit!
This was the promotion opportunity of a lifetime!
The higher he climbed, the deeper he could infiltrate the Police Force's inner circle!
Hiruzen Sarutobi could barely contain his excitement and repeatedly signaled Uchiha Itachi with his eyes.
His meaning couldn't have been clearer: Analyze the hell out of it!
The more detail, the better!
Use this chance to firmly establish yourself in the Police Force!
Uchiha Itachi, however, sighed deeply inwardly.
Lord Hokage, he really has you pinned to the ground and completely outsmarted this time. How can you still not realize it?
But caught in the middle of it, what could he do?
Xuanye wanted him to elaborate, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was desperately signaling him to perform well.
As a professionally trained triple agent, a ninja tool held hostage by the greater good who had long since cast his personal integrity aside, he could only nod silently.
"Reporting to Lord Hokage!"
Uchiha Itachi took a deep breath, his expression more solemn than ever.
"The war you were worried about just now simply won't happen! It's nothing more than a bluff by Kumogakure. Your fears are completely groundless!"
What do you mean, groundless fears?!
I was teaching you to consider the bigger picture!
Hiruzen Sarutobi's aged face instantly darkened like the bottom of a pot. He was about to reprimand him when he inadvertently caught sight of the Fourth Raikage twitching on the ground like a dead dog.
A sudden flash of inspiration struck the old fox, as though he had grasped the most fatal flaw in today's incident!
This is bad!
I absolutely cannot let Uchiha Itachi keep following this line of reasoning!
"Silence! I told you to-"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to interrupt him by force, but Xuanye's icy voice drowned him out.
"Keep going."
Those words sounded casual, yet carried an absolute dominance that permitted no challenge!
"Actually, Lord Hokage, what you should be considering right now isn't how to guard against Kumogakure starting a war."
Uchiha Itachi gritted his teeth and could only steel himself and continue his analysis.
Lord Hokage's crushing defeat in today's war of words was already a foregone conclusion.
To preserve his undercover identity, he could only follow Xuanye's reasoning and undermine the Hokage.
Hopefully, Lord Hokage's skin is thick enough to withstand this devastating blow.
Meeting Hiruzen Sarutobi's murderous gaze, Uchiha Itachi delivered his conclusion with utter sincerity:
"Kumogakure's supreme leader, Lord Fourth Raikage, has already had all four limbs broken and been taken alive by us..."
"As Konoha's Hokage, what you should be considering right now..."
"Is drawing up an astronomical list of war reparations as quickly as possible and demanding a ransom from Kumogakure!"
Some things were just that curious.
When ordinary people's thinking reached a blind spot and they habitually followed the crowd, it often took someone who could think outside the box to jolt them awake with a single remark.
Uchiha Itachi was clearly a genius capable of that kind of intuitive leap.
Otherwise, he could never have gone on to carry out such an outrageous, worldview-shattering act as slaughtering his entire clan and killing his own kin for the greater good.
That was also why Xuanye had insisted on calling him out by name to answer.
At that moment, spectators and ninja crowded layer upon layer around Konoha's entrance.
Very few could see the true nature of today's conflict at a glance.
"On the surface, Captain Xuanye's decision to severely injure the Raikage today might seem excessively reckless. In reality, however, it poses no risk whatsoever to Konoha and could even bring us immeasurable benefits."
Uchiha Itachi paused briefly, gathered his thoughts, and continued his methodical analysis.
"In the history of the Shinobi World, there have indeed been precedents for a village's Kage personally leading a delegation into enemy territory for negotiations."
"But that approach itself carries an extremely deadly risk!"
"The most representative example is our own Second Hokage, Lord Tobirama Senju..."
Tobirama Senju!
He was an indisputable hero who had brought Konoha to the height of its prosperity!
But how had he died in the end?
The entire Shinobi World knew perfectly well.
Blindly overconfident in his own strength, the Second Hokage had ventured into the Land of Lightning for an alliance ceremony with only a handful of youngsters, including Hiruzen Sarutobi.
On the way back, he had been ambushed by Kumogakure's Kinkaku and Ginkaku Force and lost his life along with the Second Raikage of that time.
That bloody historical lesson had long since proved how foolish it was for a village's Kage to recklessly put himself in danger!
"The Fourth Raikage today made precisely the same fatal mistake."
Uchiha Itachi's tone was calm, as though he were stating an objective fact.
"He was blindly confident in his own strength. He even tried to intimidate Konoha with force as soon as he entered the village, openly destroying public facilities."
"Due to a severe lack of intelligence, he drastically underestimated our Police Force's strength. He has no one but himself to blame for his current predicament!"
At this, the surrounding Konoha ninja nodded, expressing strong agreement with Uchiha Itachi's analysis.
"Stop twisting the issue!"
The not particularly quick-witted Mitokado Homura failed to grasp the deeper implications and continued questioning him loudly and relentlessly:
"Even if we have the Raikage as a hostage right now, those people in Kumogakure are all warmongering lunatics! Who can guarantee they won't launch an all-out war against Konoha to avenge him?!"
"Advisor Mito, since you know the Raikage is a hostage, you should understand that his life is now in our hands."
Uchiha Itachi gave Mitokado Homura a bitter look, a trace of helplessness in his voice.
"Kumogakure has always revered military strength, and the Raikage's prestige within the village is supreme. As long as the Raikage is alive, Kumogakure's forces will never dare act rashly."
Those words were practically a finger pointed straight at Hiruzen Sarutobi's nose as he was cursed out.
They were both village Kage, yet the Raikage could keep his subordinates completely obedient.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't even keep a senior advisor in line as Hokage. His authority was being ground into the dirt!
Hiruzen Sarutobi trembled with rage, his aged face turning the color of pig liver.
What made it even more humiliating was that these devastating words had been spoken in public by the undercover agent he had personally planted!
"Even if we concede that the Raikage really does order a war, does Kumogakure actually have the resources to fight an all-out war against Konoha?"
Uchiha Itachi took a deep breath and looked with a complicated gaze at Uchiha Genya, who stood beside him with his arms crossed.
In truth, he hadn't come up with this flawless chain of reasoning himself.
It had come from a few casual pointers Captain Xuanye had given him during a chat at the Police Force a few days earlier.
"Kumogakure also suffered brutal attrition during the Third Shinobi World War. Moreover, its border clashes with Iwagakure have never stopped, and its casualties have likewise been severe."
"Although its overall losses were somewhat smaller than Konoha's, Kumogakure's underlying resources simply cannot compare with ours."
"Especially when their delegation is behaving with such arrogance and aggression, this conclusion becomes even more indisputable."
Uchiha Itachi's voice rang out at the village entrance, firm and forceful.
"If they truly wanted to fight and had the strength to wage war, why would they go to all this trouble to come to Konoha for negotiations?"
"There is only one truth: Kumogakure cannot afford this war either!"
"They're only acting so tough to extort more benefits at the negotiating table, deliberately putting on a show of being ready to go to war at any moment!"
Uchiha Itachi delivered his verdict with absolute conviction.
"The most direct evidence is that our Police Force has repeatedly arrested and beaten members of Kumogakure's delegation. We've even arrested their chief envoy and Jinchūriki!"
"Yet Kumogakure still hasn't declared the negotiations broken down and declared war on Konoha!"
"That fully proves they don't dare break with Konoha completely! Their repeated restraint exposes precisely how weak they are!"
"Konoha cannot afford to fight, but Kumogakure can afford it even less!"
"This is purely a psychological contest!"
"And if we also consider the earlier matter of Advisor Mito's suspected intelligence leak..."
Uchiha Itachi cast Mitokado Homura a meaningful glance.
Kumogakure dared act so arrogantly entirely because a mole had revealed that Konoha was outwardly strong but inwardly weak.
The Fourth Raikage might have looked like a brute with muscles for brains, but he was actually a ruthless man whose rough exterior concealed a shrewd mind.
Unfortunately, for all his calculations, he had overlooked the one unpredictable variable that was Uchiha Genya!
"In light of all the above, it is my humble opinion..."
"That Captain Xuanye's severe wounding of the Raikage today will not bring war upon Konoha at all. Instead, it has secured Konoha the absolute strategic initiative in the coming negotiations!"
Having finished his summary, Uchiha Itachi turned to Xuanye.
The man still wore a nonchalant expression, as though he had anticipated everything.
Then he looked at the Third Hokage standing opposite them...
Uchiha Itachi sighed helplessly inwardly.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's fists were clenched tight, and his aged face was hideously contorted, ugly beyond measure.
Of course Xuanye could understand how the old fox felt at that moment.
Publicly backstabbed by the undercover mole he had personally planted-the face-slapping was so vicious that even Sarutobi's own mother probably wouldn't recognize him!
With Uchiha Itachi's thorough analysis,
The mood at the scene instantly reversed!
Every accusation and concern directed at Xuanye vanished in an instant!
In the eyes of the entire village, this normally arrogant and overbearing Police Force Captain had now become Konoha's great hero, riding alone to his lord's rescue!
As long as they held the Fourth Raikage, Kumogakure would have to obediently empty its coffers to pay the ransom and bow in submission to Konoha!
Now that was a true hero of great merit!
The light of Konoha, Uchiha Genya!
Before you continue