Konoha: Uchiha, I get stronger by causing trouble.

Chapter 277 The Battle of the Strongest Fourth-Generation Kage Among the Five Great Nations

"That's the illusion!"

When Akimichi Choza saw Chiga's signature ninjutsu, a look of surprise flashed across his face. He still vividly remembered how Chiga had used this genjutsu to destroy the base.

Furthermore, Chiga at that time needed the blessing of divine magic to be able to do it.

Looking at Chiga's relaxed and carefree demeanor, he knew that if Chiga were to unleash this illusion technique with all her might, its power would be even more terrifying.

Facing a thousand people alone might not be a problem.

"What a terrifying illusion!"

"Konoha Phantom Crow, isn't that the Uchiha clan ninja who stole the Three-Tails?!"

"Yes, he single-handedly defeated our Lord Yagura and took the Three-Tails!"

"I'm suddenly a little glad we're allied with Konoha!"

Hearing the shrill and desperate screams, the Mist Ninja's face showed horror. It turned out that there was such a terrifying boy in this team led by the Yellow Flash.

As the Cloud Ninja fell one by one, only a few of the fifty-odd Cloud Ninja remained standing.

At this moment, Minato said to Chiga, "Leave one alive; I need to get some information from him."

Upon hearing this, Chiga nodded, lowered his hand seals, and ended the illusion.

At this moment, only the Cloud Ninja Commander remained standing.

Freed from the illusion, the Cloud Ninja Commander felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders, but lingering fear remained on his face, and his mind was still reeling from the shock.

Akimichi Choza approached the Cloud Ninja Commander, swung his fist at the defenseless commander, and quickly broke both of the commander's arms before dragging him in front of Minato.

Knowing his fate was likely already known, the Cloud Ninja commander weakly said, "Damn it, kill me if you want, I won't reveal a single piece of information!"

"Sorry, that's not up to you!"

Minato said calmly, then glanced at Chiga: "Please, Chiga."

Chiga stepped forward, lifted the head of the Cloud Ninja Commander who was like a dead dog, and with a glare of his Sharingan, he subdued the man.

"Ask away!"

Before long, under Minato's questioning, the Cloud Ninja commander revealed important information about their defensive deployments, supply depots, and supply routes in the Land of Hot Springs.

With these, it will be much easier for the Watergate team to carry out sabotage in the rear.

It seems that this Cloud Ninja commander holds a high position within the Cloud Ninja ranks and possesses detailed intelligence.

After gathering this information, Minato thought for a moment and then suddenly asked, "Where is Yuzuki A from your Kumogakure village located?"

"I don't know. Lord Yuzuki Ai is the captain of the mobile unit, and their actions are not under the command of headquarters."

Upon hearing this, Chiga began to recall who Yuzuki Ai was.

The person that Minato singled out to ask must be a powerful ninja.

"Minato-senpai, you didn't come to the Land of Lightning's front lines just to cause trouble for the Fourth Raikage candidate, did you?"

Chiga thought for a moment and roughly understood who Yuzuki Ai was—the future Fourth Raikage, Ai.

Similar to the Uchiha clan's brother complex, the Hidden Cloud Village also has a pair of close male friends passed down through generations.

Each newly appointed Raikage is called "A", and A needs to find a "Bi" who can work perfectly with him.

This pair is also known as the AB pair.

"You guessed it."

Upon hearing this, Minato readily admitted it, saying that he was already a candidate for the Fourth Hokage, and all he lacked was prestige, so there was no need to be modest.

Meanwhile, the new generation of the AB duo is active on the front lines, and the Mist Ninja has almost no way to deal with them, making them a very powerful duo.

Therefore, the Mist Ninja requested Konoha to send a powerful squad to deal with the AB combination.

As an ally of the Mist Ninja, Konoha still has enough high-end combat power.

Sakumo Hatake, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and others—if you just randomly bring any of them over, I can't say for sure they could deal with the AB duo, but they should be able to hold them off without much problem.

However, after much deliberation, Hiruzen Sarutobi still managed to bring Minato over.

Hiruzen Sarutobi certainly wouldn't let go of such a good opportunity to ascend to the throne of the Fourth Hokage by stepping on the Fourth Raikage candidate.

This is why Minato came to the Land of Lightning's front lines.

As for dragging Chiga along, that's because the other party is a bit shameless; they're actually a pair.

Furthermore, the other member of the group is the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and it's said that he's a Jinchuriki who can control the Eight-Tails.

That's why they brought Qianhe over as a backup plan.

After finally selecting Minato as the Fourth Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi was worried that something unexpected might happen, and then they would have to struggle with who should become Hokage again. Just thinking about it was troublesome.

"This is interesting. The Fourth Raikage candidate versus the Fourth Hokage candidate... It seems this battle will be the key to victory!"

Chiga chuckled lightly, still interested in watching the battle.

"We've gathered enough information. Chiga, release him from the control and hand him over to the Mist Ninja. We need to travel light; it's not appropriate to bring a prisoner."

Upon hearing this, a hint of fighting spirit flashed in Minato's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

Upon hearing this, Chiga nodded and dispelled the illusion.

Perhaps because he had said too much, the Cloud Ninja commander looked like he was ready to die.

"Thank you for your help, Lord Yellow Flash. Otherwise, we would all be dead here."

The ninja stepped forward and thanked Minato.

He then took the prisoner from Chiga's hands and looked at Chiga with a conflicted expression.

The Hidden Mist Village respects the strong and greatly admires Minato's reputation on the Iwa ninja front.

As for dealing with Chiga, that's more complicated.

The path to growth for Uchiha Chika was also paved by the Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) ninja.

The title of Konoha Phantom Crow was earned on the battlefield by the Sand Ninja, but it was the Kirigakure Ninja who made Chika famous throughout the ninja world.

Former Commander Yagura Karatachi is still redeeming himself for losing the Three-Tails and being forced to ally with Konoha; he has no chance of becoming the Fourth Mizukage.

He even boasted that he would seek revenge on Chiga and take back everything he had lost, but he never seemed to accept any missions near the Land of Fire.

It's easy to imagine how much Chiga hurt him back then.

After saying goodbye to the group of Mist Ninja, Minato's team sat down on the battlefield to adjust their condition.

They lit a campfire and had a hot dinner; this might be the last decent dinner they'd have for the next month.

The infiltration mission was extremely dangerous, and every step had to be taken with extreme caution.

Forget about starting a fire to cook; when moving forward, someone even had to stay behind to cover up any traces.

While eating, Choza Akimichi asked, "Captain Minato, what's next? Should we go find the AB team first?"

Minato thought for a moment, then said, "Let's continue according to our plan! Instead of going through the trouble of searching for them, let's make them come to us!"

"Isn't this too risky? The opponent is, after all, a candidate for the Fourth Raikage, and has the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki to help him. If we are surrounded, we will only be able to run for our lives."

Inuzuka Jacques replied upon hearing this.

Minato explained with a smile, "Although I also really want to settle things with the AB duo, the ultimate goal of our mission is to relieve the pressure on the front lines of the Mist Ninja."

"Sabotaging supplies and disrupting the rear of the Cloud Ninja were all actions taken for this purpose."

"Dragging the AB combination back to the rear of the Cloud Ninja would be more effective in relieving the pressure on the front lines for the Mist Ninja."

"Furthermore, in situations where space-time ninjutsu is used, encirclement is ineffective against us, so the location of the battlefield is not important."

"They can't stop us from leaving!"

After hearing Minato's explanation, Inuzuka Jaw nodded, indicating that he understood.

At the same time, Inuzuka Jacques and Akimichi Choza could also sense Minato's confidence in his own strength from his words.

He is sunny, kind, polite, and powerful.

How could anyone be dissatisfied with such a Fourth Hokage?

Furthermore, now that they have become Minato's guards, the two clans, relying on this bond of kinship, should be able to secure a place for themselves in Konoha Village in the future.

For a moment, both of them wanted to abandon that old geezer, the Third Hokage, and devote themselves entirely to Minato's embrace.

Thinking of this, the two of them couldn't help but look at Qianhe, who hadn't said a word.

The Uchiha clan really had foresight, recognizing Minato so early on and using all the resources they could mobilize within the clan on him.

They went all in on the Watergate scandal.

At first, they thought the Uchiha clan was desperately seeking out Minato, a commoner.

But unexpectedly, Minato, who was born into an ordinary family, surpassed powerful competitors such as the Legendary Sannin of Konoha and Sakumo Hatake to become a candidate for the Fourth Hokage.

Although some of these competitors failed to become the Fourth Hokage due to their own problems.

It seems I need to talk to the people in my clan about how to ease tensions with the Uchiha clan.

Choza Akimichi and Jacqueline Inuzuka exchanged a glance, and he casually remarked, "Chiga, that genjutsu you used earlier was powered by the Sharingan, wasn't it?"

"Damn, as expected of a genius of the Uchiha clan, he has mastered the Sharingan so skillfully at such a young age."

"Yes, and your clan's Sharingan is really very practical. Not only can it be used to cast genjutsu, but it can also copy the opponent's ninjutsu and observe the enemy's situation. It's simply perfect."

After a series of awkward praises from Akimichi Choza and Inuzuka Gaku, the topic shifted to Uchiha Shisui.

"Oh, I heard that another genius has emerged from the Uchiha clan, Chika, is his name Uchiha Shisui?"

"Um."

"I've heard that this boy possesses a strange Body Flicker Technique, which, combined with his Sharingan, makes him very active on the Iwa ninja front!"

"I really envy your Uchiha clan; geniuses appear in every generation."

"And your Uchiha clan also does a very good job of educating your offspring. Shisui is only six years old now, and he has already become a genin, just like Kakashi back then."

"Speaking of which, Shisui happens to be the same age as a nephew in my clan, Chiga. Why don't you introduce the two of them?"

Despite his thick eyebrows and large eyes, Akimichi Choza is extremely meticulous.

It's already difficult enough to befriend Chiga; his strength and status within the Uchiha clan are too high, and his interpersonal relationships are already stable.

But Uchiha Shisui was different. He was young and graduated from the Ninja Academy early, so he didn't have many close friends.

"Well, that's not a big problem, it's just that Shisui already has regular teammates."

Choza Akimichi waved his hand dismissively and said, "Even if we can't be teammates in the future, being friends is still good!"

"Oh right, my dog—I mean, my little guy—really wants to be friends with Shisui too!"

Inuzuka Gakuya chimed in.

Chiga was a little confused. When did our Uchiha clan become so popular in the village?

"Alright, I'll have Chika ask Shisui about this when we get back."

"For now, we should focus on the task at hand."

Minato also seemed to want to see the Uchiha clan integrate into the village, so he made the decision for Chiga.

The Akimichi and Inuzuka clans are well-known ninja clans in Konoha, while the Uchiha clan is better off than the other two clans, with no disadvantages.

Two weeks later, Minato's squad, like a needle, pierced the back of the Cloud Ninja.

With the Flying Thunder God Technique at their disposal, the Cloud Ninja could only watch as Minato's team wreaked havoc before disappearing from their sight.

The losses were devastating.

Because of Minato's team, the Cloud Ninja had to shrink their territory to prevent their ninjas from becoming too scattered.

Raihidden Village.

"Damn it, a mere squad has turned our rear upside down. Are you all just sitting around doing nothing?"

After hearing the latest intelligence, the Third Raikage angrily slammed his fist on the table, smashing it to pieces.

"I'm sorry, but two members of this Konoha team are proficient in space-time ninjutsu. One is responsible for combat, and the other for teleportation. Our men can't keep up with their speed!"

The Raikage's assistant, already used to the Third Raikage's volatile temper, explained while tidying up the scattered documents.

"The two space-time ninjutsu users are Minato Namikaze and Chika Uchiha?"

The Third Raikage asked.

"Yes!"

"I see. That old man Hiruzen Sarutobi really has a lot of confidence. Isn't he afraid that Minato Namikaze will die in the Land of Hot Springs?"

After confirming who the visitor was, the Third Raikage immediately understood Hiruzen Sarutobi's plan.

This is an attempt to let Minato Namikaze step on their reputation as the Fourth Raikage to ascend to the throne of the strongest Fourth Hokage!

"Isn't he afraid that the Fourth Hokage candidate he painstakingly selected will die on the battlefield?"

The Third Raikage sneered. He had great confidence in the new generation of the AB duo and did not believe that Minato Namikaze would be a match for them.

"I'm afraid it will be difficult. Their Flying Thunder God Technique is too hard to counter! Even if they are no match for the AB combination, they can choose to retreat."

Raikage replied helplessly.

"That is indeed a problem!"

The Third Raikage pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "I remember one year when Konoha held the Chunin Exams, the Land of Earth also participated. They even used a sealing technique that could block the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

"Yes, Third Raikage. It's a pity that it was broken by brute force, otherwise there would have been a real chance to kill that Uchiha Chika during the Chunin Exams."

"Looks like we'll have to talk to Onoki. He earned the title 'Yellow Flash' by stepping over the corpses of those Iwa ninja; I imagine Onoki would be happy to share this sealing technique with us!"

As the Third Raikage spoke, he began writing a secret letter, preparing to hand it over to Onoki.

(End of this chapter)