I am the most popular character in Naruto!

correct!

We've found the contradiction!

Onoki's gaze fell on the first scroll that Hikari had taken out.

The Land of Lightning launched a full-scale attack on their side, and the Raikage himself took to the field.

Is this reasonable?

This is not reasonable at all!

No Kage from any country would personally go to fight against ninjas from another country unless two situations arise.

The first scenario requires a resounding victory to start the game.

The second type requires absolute strength to hold the rear.

Neither of these options is suitable for the current situation.

The Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning have been fighting for quite some time now, so starting another battle at this point wouldn't make much sense and would have limited impact on overall morale.

At most, it will only serve to motivate the ninjas of the Land of Lightning. Once Onoki makes an appearance, the morale of both sides will be brought back to the same level.

And the second...

There hasn't been a situation where we need to cover the rear yet!

The contradiction lies here: since neither of the two scenarios applies, why did the Third Raikage personally take action?

unless……

There's a problem with one of the intelligence reports.

With his years of experience, Onoki accurately and incisively identified the problem.

"Hmph, Nara Shikaku..."

He held the last piece of intelligence, the challenge letter from Konoha, and sneered.

"The little kid is a bit too hasty after all."

"The Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning are joining forces?"

"If that's the case, then we should just crush them with our army. Why would we send the Raikage into battle?"

Onoki tapped his index finger on the table, speculating about the truth: "If we rule out the alliance between Konoha and Kumogakure, then it must be Konoha stirring up trouble, trying to get Iwagakure and Kumogakure to start a war."

"So if I were him, what would I do?"

Deducing Nara Shikaku's strategy from the current situation is neither too difficult nor too easy.

After pondering for a long time, until Huang Tu had already left to coordinate the army, Onoki suddenly slammed his fist on the table and picked up the first scroll.

"I see!"

"Damn it, it's a multi-pronged scheme!"

All intelligence is useful; all information is a clue!

Onoki couldn't help but marvel at the intelligence and strength of Konoha's strategist, Nara Shikaku.

"Hell..."

He hurriedly shouted, "Anbu!"

"Bring Huang Tu here immediately! Our situation is extremely dangerous!"

……

swish swish

Three figures darted out from the woods and stopped in a clearing.

"Blind eyes!"

Hyuga Hizashi immediately activated his Byakugan, and after confirming that there were no ninjas within several kilometers, he nodded to Chiaki and Minato.

"Rest for five minutes."

Qianqiu nodded slightly and spoke.

Minato let out a long breath, found a rock to sit on, and rested to recover his chakra.

Hyuga Hizashi dutifully checked again with his Byakugan before finally taking a break.

"In the future, take a break."

Chiaki reached out and pressed her hand on her blood-stained scarf, which then transformed into Kuriyama Mirai with a "bang" and fell into Chiaki's arms.

"call……"

Mirai tossed her short, brown hair, adjusted her red-rimmed glasses, and nestled close to Chiaki, asking, "Where are we?"

"We're almost at the center of the battlefield. The strategist's plan is going very smoothly."

Chiaki tenderly tidied Mirai's fluffy short hair, and Mirai squinted her eyes and hugged Chiaki, looking very comfortable.

"The strategist's plan is truly brilliant."

Hyuga Hizashi remarked with a sigh, "I can't believe I thought of using the impulsive nature of the next AB duo from the Land of Lightning to set a trap for them, so that they would destroy the Land of Earth's food supplies."

"And just as the strategist predicted, the Third Raikage received the false information he was given and rushed to the Land of Earth to save his son."

Chapter 281 An Encounter

"This is called deceiving the real thing with a fake."

Minato nodded in agreement, "By weaving a small amount of crucial false information into a large amount of true information, both sides will be thrown into chaos, thus triggering a war between them, and ultimately the third party can reap the benefits."

Real news? Fake news?

Looking at the future with wide, bewildered eyes, she found analyzing this situation a little difficult.

Qianqiu ruffled Wei Lai's short hair and said with a smile, "Actually, the strategist's plan is divided into three steps."

"The first step is to unite with the Land of Wind and cut off the Land of Earth's food and supplies through an agreement."

"The second step is to provoke the Land of Lightning and have the new AB combination attack the Land of Earth's food depot to cause chaos."

"The third step was to spread false information to both sides, making the Third Raikage believe that Konoha and Iwagakure had jointly kidnapped his son, while making the Third Tsuchikage believe that Konoha and Kumogakure had jointly launched a general offensive."

Future, with her beautiful golden eyes wide open, asked in surprise, "Can such a plan really succeed? It must be very difficult to implement."

"It is indeed very difficult."

Minato nodded. "The first step was alright; Chiaki and you guys had already completed it when you were at Kikyo Mountain."

Qianqiu recalled the telepathic exchange between the two charlatans within the main force of the Wind Kingdom, and couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

Was that already the start of the tactical offensive?

Or...

Going back a little further, before the Battle of Kikyoyama even started, could Nara Shikaku have already foreseen this step in his plans?

Holy crap, this charlatan is really not to be trifled with. Even I, the transmigrator who controls the original story, am getting a bit creeped out by him.

Could Nara Shikaku also be a time traveler?

I'll try it next time...

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, but Minato continued his explanation earnestly.

"The real difficulty lies in the second and third steps. The strategist must have prepared multiple plans, but the reason why this one was ultimately chosen is that the new AB combination actually accomplished the feat of burning down the grain depot, something the strategist did not expect."

"The key to the third step is to make the Third Raikage believe that his son is trapped. This is both difficult and easy."

Minato raised a finger. "According to intelligence, the Third Raikage is currently in a state of doubt and has personally gone to the front lines."

"What we need to do next, besides gathering battlefield intelligence, is to find ways to prevent the new AB combination from returning to the battlefield."

"Only by doing this will the Third Raikage completely believe us and launch an attack on the Land of Earth to seek to reclaim his son."

"As for whether Onoki of the Land of Earth believes the strategist's false information or not, that doesn't matter."

In the future, she clapped her hands in sudden realization, "Oh—"

"By then, the war will have already begun, and the Land of Earth will not have time to explain; they will have to fight."

"In the end, the fighting escalated, and neither side could stop."

"Yes, that's it!"

Minato snapped his fingers and said approvingly to Mirai, "You understand very quickly."

"Hey hey hey..."

Future scratched her head sheepishly, and Chiaki stretched and stood up from the rock.

"Alright, five minutes are up, let's go!"

Hyuga Hizashi and Minato nodded simultaneously, and Mirai quickly transformed into a blood-stained scarf and fell onto Chiaki's neck.

"Before setting off..."

"Blind eyes!"

Hyuga Hizashi activated his Byakugan again and began to survey his surroundings.

I have to say, this thing is really useful, and it's a bit addictive.

After the Byakugan user gets used to observing intelligence within a radius of several kilometers, they feel a little uncomfortable occasionally turning it off and always want to keep it on.

The Hyuga clan's exceptional insight grants them a wider field of vision, but having grown accustomed to such a vast field of vision, they always feel something is amiss when they return to a normal field of vision.

To give a vivid example, the difference between an average person's field of vision and an untrained eye's field of vision is like the difference between playing PUBG on a regular screen and playing PUBG on a large curved screen with a physical cheat.

Try asking curved screen users to switch back to a normal screen; they'll definitely find it uncomfortable and feel like their field of vision is restricted.

Just as Chiaki and Minato thought this was another of Hyuga Hizashi's old habits, Hyuga Hizashi activated his Byakugan, veins bulging on his temples, and said with difficulty, "Breaking news! The target is heading towards us! Extremely fast!"

"Four kilometers! Two kilometers! One kilometer!"

"???"

Chiaki and Minato looked at Hyuga Hizashi in bewilderment, and Hizashi immediately pointed in the direction, "Eleven o'clock! Two people! Our mission target! They're here!"