Promoting the Konoha threat theory, and talking about the Hidden Mist Belt!

As the leader of the Root organization who had access to intelligence, he was naturally aware of how outsiders viewed him, but so what?

After him, it is easy to judge his faults;

It is difficult to be in his position and to do his work.

The leader of the Root is not someone that just anyone can become.

He believed that his contributions to Konoha were unparalleled, so he could not accept being trampled on to rise to power by others, especially members of the Uchiha clan.

"What a pity, it's all because you have the blood of the inherently evil Uchiha clan flowing through your veins."

As Shimura Danzo looked at the intelligence in his hand, he kept thinking about how to deal with the Uchiha clan.

As a master of intrigue who also rose to power, Shimura Danzo immediately discerned the evil nature of the Miroku cult. At first glance, he assumed it was Hozuki Shingetsu's doing, but then he realized something was amiss.

The doctrine of justification by faith meant that Hozuki Shingetsu, who was far away in Kirigakure, could not command these people. If he were to send a "Buddha's disciple" out of the village, it would be too easy for Konoha to notice him.

It's impossible for Hozuki Shingetsu to do a good deed for free and give Konoha a highly cohesive force, right?

After ruling out Hozuki Shingetsu, he then tried to link it to the Uchiha clan—wasn't this bloody ritual practice something the inherently evil Uchiha clan would do?

Furthermore, with the Uchiha clan controlling the Konoha police force, this kind of thing couldn't be easier for them.

But he immediately dismissed the idea.

It is nothing more than the doctrine of justification by faith.

Because of this doctrine and because the Maitreya sect does not have a leader, Shimura Danzo had no idea who was behind all of this.

Because of this large-scale publicity, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that someone is pushing it from behind the scenes.

However, he quickly came up with a solution—wouldn't it be fine if he became the "Buddha's disciple"?

Who cares what the people behind the scenes want to do? As long as they firmly control this organization, then whatever they do is just a matter of a word from them.

Although he only knew about it from books and did not investigate it in depth, Shimura Danzo clearly recognized the potential contained in the Miroku sect—a power that could shake Konoha.

Those commoner ninjas who banded together for warmth under the doctrines of the Miroku sect all belonged exclusively to Hiruzen Sarutobi, a power he could not touch!

How could he not be drooling over it?

Thus, under his orders, the Miroku sect in the Konoha region was quickly brought under the control of Shimura Danzo.

With Danzo Shimura backing them up, the Miroku Cult's sphere of influence expanded rapidly, like an inflating balloon, and by the end of the year, they had successfully taken over half of the area surrounding Konoha.

In addition, nearly a hundred civilian ninjas joined the organization, making the Miroku Cult increasingly powerful.

Even so, Shimura Danzo was still worried that Hiruzen Sarutobi and others would notice, so he deliberately slowed down the expansion. Otherwise, the territory of his Miroku sect could have doubled!

However, Shimura Danzo soon stopped worrying about it.

Because Mito Uzumaki was about to face the end of her life, and Konoha was busy with the Nine-Tails' transfer and sealing ceremony, no one was paying attention to the affairs of the Miroku Cult.

Moreover, Mito Uzumaki's death also revealed one thing:

The Second Shinobi World War is about to begin!

Chapter 103 The Three Kingdoms Alliance

Although Mito Uzumaki's life has not yet come to an end, the transfer and sealing of the Nine-Tails must be carried out while Mito Uzumaki still has some leeway.

In other words, once the date for the transfer of the seal is set, Mito Uzumaki's life will be on a countdown.

As the pillar of Konoha, the life and death of Mito Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, is no longer just a matter for her or even the entire Konoha; it is a major event that the entire ninja world is paying attention to.

With the old Nine-Tails Jinchuriki gone and the new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki yet to mature, now is the perfect time to attack Konoha.

This is something that even Konoha itself is well aware of.

Therefore, the moment the Nine-Tails sealing and transfer ceremony was confirmed, the entire Hidden Leaf Village became outwardly relaxed but inwardly tense. The Hidden Leaf Village's war machine had already quietly started operating and was actively preparing for war.

Although Konoha used many methods to cover up the handover of power between the old and new Jinchuriki, the other ninja villages were not fools. By simply calculating the intervals between Mito Uzumaki's appearances, they could tell that she was no longer alive.

As for whether Konoha might have done this intentionally, making Mito Uzumaki fake her death to lure people in... given Mito's age, if that were really the case, Konoha's Nine-Tails transfer ritual would probably have to be performed on the battlefield.

Therefore, all the ninja villages also made preparations for a major battle, and the entire ninja world was suddenly in a state of panic.

Well, except for Kirigakure.

Under Hozuki Shingetsu's command, they are frantically producing all kinds of war materials, preparing to sell them at high prices and make a fortune from the war.

He even went so far as to remove Mito Uzumaki from the top spot on the Heavenly Ranking and put Hiruzen Sarutobi in the spot, adding fuel to the already heated situation.

And so, at this moment when the situation was becoming increasingly tense, the Second Shinobi World War finally broke out.

However, to the surprise of all nations, the initiator of this Second Shinobi World War was not any of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, but rather... Amegakure (Hidden Rain Village).

March of the 34th year of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist Village), the 35th year of Konoha

Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure and a "demigod" of the Salamander, has officially declared war on four of the Five Great Ninja Villages: Kumogakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha!

All of this dates back to when Mito Uzumaki had just passed away.

-

The Land of Rain is located in the northwest of the Ninja World continent. Together with smaller countries such as the Land of Grass and the Land of Waterfall, it is geographically surrounded by the four great nations of Fire, Earth, Wind, and Lightning.

The country experiences constant rain with few sunny days, resulting in extremely limited arable land and very low domestic grain production, making it largely reliant on imports.

With limited land, an exhausted population, and low grain yields, this should theoretically be a classic scenario for a small country.

However, even the Five Great Nations do not dare to underestimate it in the ninja world, and people often praise it as the number one after the Five Great Nations.

Yes, this title used to belong to the Land of Whirlpools.

However, with the disappearance of the Land of Whirlpools and the Uzumaki clan's collective retreat to Kirigakure, this title has been pinned on the Land of Rain.

All of this stems from the man whom the ninjas call "demigod," Hanzo the Salamander.

As is widely known, Hashirama Senju is called the "God of Shinobi," a title used to describe his earth-shattering, inhuman power.

"Demigod" is what ninjas believe to be the limit that humans can reach, meaning "the man who is closest to God".

Under the leadership of Hanzo the Salamander, Amegakure developed rapidly after the First Shinobi World War.

In terms of both the quantity and quality of ninjas, it is undoubtedly the sixth ninja village in the current ninja world, surpassing Takigakure, which possesses the Seven-Tails and the Hero's Water.

Under these circumstances, several surrounding small countries also submitted to it and paid tribute. If nothing unexpected happens, the sixth largest country in the ninja world will be born in the blink of an eye.

Well, but if nothing unexpected happens, then something unexpected is definitely going to happen.

As beneficiaries, the five great powers would certainly not allow the birth of a sixth great power. The area where the Rain Kingdom is located was originally a buffer zone left by the four great powers of Fire, Earth, Wind and Thunder through tacit agreement. Now that this buffer zone wants to be unified and a sixth great power emerges, who would agree to that?

Besides, how come your title of "Hanzo the Salamander" is so awesome?

You skipped the title of "Shadow" and went straight for "God", right?

What do the Kage of the other five great ninja villages think?

Therefore, as the situation in the ninja world became increasingly tense, and when everyone clearly judged that the Second Shinobi World War was about to break out, the various ninja villages tacitly decided to set the battlefield in the Land of Rain and sent their vanguard forces into the Land of Rain.

This also applies to Konoha.

From a war perspective, keeping the enemy outside the country's borders is the best option. And while achieving this strategy, you can also give a good talking-to to the disobedient children around you. Why not?

So the people of the Rain Country are in big trouble now.

Since ancient times, soldiers have passed through like combs, while bandits have passed through like fine hairs. Expecting these ninja masters to behave themselves on your land is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Normally, if they just storm into your house and steal your food, that's the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is that they directly identify you as spies from an enemy country and slaughter your entire family.

That's right, identifying citizens of another country as spies on the territory of another country.

Hmm...it's like skipping the process and going straight to the result.

Originally, since the war had not yet truly begun, the various ninja villages were able to restrain each other unless they had a huge advantage in the battle, so the intensity of the struggle was not strong at the beginning.

But who can blame them when there's Hozuki Shingetsu, who loves to watch the drama unfold, living in Kirigakure, far across the sea!

Under his brilliant command, enthusiastic people from unknown regions would occasionally broadcast news throughout the entire ninja world, "announcing" the results of small-scale battles in the Land of Rain.

On a certain day of a certain month, the number X on the Cloud Village's Heavenly Ranking arrived in the Land of Rain, and the number X on the Stone Village's Heavenly Ranking fled without a fight;

On a certain day of a certain month, the number one on the Konoha rankings defeated the number X on the Earth rankings of a small ninja village in the Land of Rain, and entered the Earth rankings in a single day.

On a certain day of a certain month, the number X on the Hidden Cloud Village's ranking list fought a fierce battle with the number X on the Hidden Leaf Village's ranking list for a day and a night. The Hidden Cloud Village's number X emerged victorious and declared that the Hidden Leaf Village was nothing special, practically the number one weakling in the ninja world...

What was originally a peaceful encounter, with both sides exercising restraint and retreating, was transformed by Hozuki Shingetsu into a story of one side fleeing without a fight; a tentative battle was portrayed as a long and arduous struggle; one side being injured and another losing easily...

In short, they were trying every possible way to throw explosives into this already sensitive situation.

Ninjas rely on their reputation for a living. If their reputation is ruined, how will they take on missions and earn bounties in the future?

Therefore, given this situation, the intensity of battles within the Land of Rain has begun to increase, and it has gradually evolved to the point where, whenever they meet, one side will inevitably leave behind a corpse.

In this situation, the first to be unable to bear it were not Hanzo the Salamander, but rather the three ninja villages of Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure.

It's quite simple. Due to their sheer numbers, they encounter each other far more often than they encounter Konoha ninjas.

This led to Konoha, which should have been the common target of everyone's attack, instead retreating and watching them fight to the death.

Therefore, the Second Kazekage, Shamon, sent envoys to the villages of Kumogakure and Iwagakure to discuss an alliance. While taking the opportunity to sign a non-aggression pact, he also planned to use this opportune moment to cripple Konoha.

Through Hozuki Shingetsu's series of actions, Konoha has unknowingly become the "public enemy of the ninja world."

On the official list of top-tier combat power in the ninja world, Konoha's share has exceeded a quarter, and most of these quarters even make up the top 50%.