Naruto Online: Hyuga Branch Family? Let's go all out!

Chapter 160 The Strongest Ninja Village: Iwagakure

After killing the Kazekage, Sasori patted his behind and went to school.

The Sand Village was completely dumbfounded.

The Sand Village Guard knew that the Kazekage was out. Although they didn't know where the Kazekage had gone, they knew roughly when he would return.

The agreed time passed and he still hadn't returned.

At first, the guards didn't think much of it; perhaps something had delayed them.

But when they didn't return for a month or two, the guards immediately sensed something was wrong.

Then news came from Chiyo's side that her grandson had also gone missing.

Because of his rebellious nature, Sasori didn't even respect his own Kazekage, let alone his grandmother. He didn't tell Chiyo when he went out, so naturally no one knew where he went.

The two of them disappeared together. No one thought that Sasori killed the Third Generation and then defected. Instead, they thought that the two of them might have encountered a powerful enemy and died in battle together!

Despite their speculations, Sunagakure still dispatched a large number of ninjas to search for the person first.

As soon as Sunagakure moved, Iwagakure was the first to notice something was wrong.

As for the reason...

Sunagakure has always missed Konoha, and Iwagakure has always missed Sunagakure as well.

As for why you can't forget it, just look at the map.

The highlands of the Land of Earth are better than those of Sunagakure, but not by much.

They were all equally poor, with scarce resources and very few plains suitable for farming. Moreover, due to the dry weather, even if they did grow crops, the yield was not high.

Moreover, their irrigation levels are not high.

Such a country naturally dreams of invasion and expansion; otherwise, with a large population, famine would occur, and it would be impossible to survive.

The Land of Earth's two major neighbors are the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.

Logically, the Land of Earth should have attacked the Land of Fire, since the Land of Wind was so desolate that taking it would have been pointless.

However, the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth are separated by the Land of Bears and the Land of Birds.

As you can tell from their names, one country has bears and the other has birds.

There must be bears and birds in places with mountains and forests!

So even if destroying the Land of Wind only results in a desert, as long as we gain the Land of Bears and the Land of Birds, it's still a worthwhile investment.

"You said all the Sunagakure ninjas scattered like headless flies, as if searching for something?" Onoki looked at the report in front of him, his face full of surprise: "What are they searching for?"

"Our people are still investigating!"

"Find the results as soon as possible!" Onoki waved his hand and added, "Bring in Koto!"

"yes!"

A moment later, Huang Tu, a burly man with an honest-looking face and wearing a red headscarf, appeared in front of Onoki.

Upon seeing his son's innocent smile, Onoki felt a surge of anger.

How could someone as smart as me have given birth to an idiot?

Huang Tu is certainly not a fool; on the contrary, he is a very trustworthy ninja. But that's not enough!

He couldn't learn the Dust Release technique passed down from the Tsuchikage, and he was completely clueless about strategy and politics.

Oh well, it's my own child!

"Take a look at this, and then tell me your thoughts!" Onoki handed over the document and asked.

Huang Tu took the document, glanced at it, thought for a moment, and then asked, "Could it be that Sunagakure is planning to start a war?"

"How so?" Ohnoki asked.

"Look, Sunagakure is looking for something. They've clearly lost something!" Huang Tu said. "What could possibly make nearly 7% of the ninja from an entire village mobilized to search for it? It must be something extremely valuable!"

Onoki nodded: "So, what do you think is missing?"

"One tail!" Huang Tu said with certainty.

"Huh?" Onoki was taken aback, then suddenly realized.

Yes, what else besides the One-Tailed Beast is worth the whole village searching for?

So, one of them is missing?

"But this might just be a smokescreen!" Huang Tu said. "If it were truly lost, the search wouldn't be this elaborate. They should have quietly sent out several small teams to search discreetly!"

"The fact that the whole village has turned out like this is more like telling people from other villages that one of our fish is missing!"

"And then lure us into invading?" Ohnoki asked.

"That's possible!" Huang Tu nodded. "But it's also possible that the One-Tailed Beast from Sunagakure really is missing, and the Third Kazekage didn't think too much about it and just sent people to search for it!"

Onoki nodded, then looked at his son with a strange expression: "How did you figure that out?"

"Uh," Huang Tu scratched his head awkwardly, "I don't know, maybe it's because I've been reading?"

"Reading books?" Onoki hesitated for a moment, thinking that Huang Tu had indeed been frequently reading a book called "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" lately.

This book also has brain-boosting effects!

However, the book's power probably isn't that great.

He said Huang Tu was stupid, but he wasn't really stupid. How could a stupid person learn to use the Explosion Technique?

He's just a bit simple-minded.

This book might have been the key to my son's enlightenment!

"Reading more books definitely has its benefits!" Onoki nodded and asked, "You just said that Sunagakure wants to start a war, why is that?"

"That's also a possibility!" Huang Tu said. "As I said before, if the One-Tailed Beast were truly lost, Sunagakure should have searched for it secretly, not with such fanfare. So this search might just be a show!"

"Go on!"

"Right now, they're only searching within the Land of Wind. If they find it, that's fine. But if they don't, is it possible they'll consider entering the Land of Earth or the Land of Fire to search?"

Onoki nodded, understanding what Huangtu meant.

The Sand Village might use the excuse that we lost important items to enter the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire.

Neither they nor Konoha would agree to such an unreasonable demand.

Wouldn't that mean the group would start operating?

The Sand Village can now legitimately invade other countries!

However, even so, when did it become so troublesome for the nations of the ninja world to want to start a war?

Why not just attack directly?

"What do you think we should do?" Ohnoki asked.

"Strike first to gain the upper hand and keep the enemy out of the country!" Huang Tu gestured with his hand.

"That makes sense!" Onoki nodded.

Although the Land of Earth did not seek out Onoki, Onoki also sensed that life was not easy for him.

Because merchants from the Land of Fire have begun to influence the market in the Land of Earth, the complaints from various suppliers in Iwagakure naturally reached Ohno Mokuji.

Fortunately, the Land of Earth has been preparing for war all these years and has never stopped. If it wants to go to war, it can do so at any time!

After Huang Tu left, Onoki quickly retrieved the ninja registration documents and began to review the Land of Earth's war preparedness.

Because the Land of Earth is not good at offense due to its Earth Release techniques, it often takes two or three people to kill one enemy ninja. Therefore, the prototype of the human wave tactic existed as early as the Warring States period.

Because Earth Release is better at defense, Iwagakure ninjas have an extremely high survival rate on the battlefield.

The preference for outnumbered attacks and the high survival rate are two factors that have led to an extremely large number of surviving ninjas in the Land of Earth.

With more ninjas, there are naturally more offspring, and Onoki doesn't deliberately suppress other ninja clans in the village.

Over the decades, Iwagakure has naturally become the village with the most ninjas in the entire ninja world.

You wouldn't believe it until you looked it up, and what you found was quite shocking.

Onoki was astonished to discover that the Land of Earth had a staggering 1.6 officially registered ninja!

Note that this refers to ninjas who are currently employed!

In fact, there are many more ninjas that haven't been counted!

For example, those who have retired, those trained by their families, and those who are not registered within the ninja system.

There should be seven or eight thousand of these people in total!

In other words, the war potential of the Land of Earth is actually around 2.5 people!

"This, this, this..." Onoki suppressed his excitement and sat down, then pulled out some data from other villages to investigate.

Konoha has never had a strong sense of crisis, and its various systems have remained largely unchanged since the village was founded. It has also never introduced any policies to encourage ninja training or reproduction.

Therefore, the number of ninjas in Konoha is the easiest to estimate.

During World War II, the three ninja led a force of 2500 men, and Sakumo Hatake led a force of 1500 men, for a total of 4000 men.

Of these 4000 people, nearly 1000 were lost in the war. After years of recovery, the total number should be able to recover to 4000.

To be conservative, let's say five thousand.

These are all the active-duty ninjas of Konoha.

Of course, Konoha's war potential is not limited to this. Konoha has many ninja clans, and their ability to hide people is even more ruthless than that of Sunagakure.

Each of the major ninja clans could provide four or five thousand ninjas.

Five thousand plus five thousand equals ten thousand.

I have 25,000, you only have 10,000.

And it doesn't stop there.

Although Konoha has the Uchiha clan, they were assigned to the security force.

There hasn't been a war for decades. How many people have reached the third level of the Jade Realm? Can we even gather ten?

Although I am old, I can still fight without any problem. My Dust Release is no less powerful than the Three Tomoe Sharingan, or even the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Is the White Eye a strong detective?

That's only effective in small-scale wars. I don't divide my forces and just send the whole army at once. So what if you see me?

Jinchūriki?

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki of Konoha has just passed away, and a new one has not yet grown up, while our two Tailed Beast Jinchuriki have already grown up and are at their peak strength.

In comparison, the Land of Earth has the advantage in every aspect!

Doesn't this mean that the Land of Earth's strength has surpassed that of Konoha?

"And there's Kumogakure!" Onoki suppressed his excitement and began to assess the strength of Kumogakure.

Although the Hidden Cloud Village has a Lightning Release Armor, this technique is exclusive to the Raikage lineage and other ninjas do not know it.

Lightning Release ninjas, who are not good at defense, have an extremely high mortality rate on the battlefield. In addition, the Land of Lightning is not good at growing crops.

Therefore, the situation in Kumogakure and Sunagakure is similar: they have a number of ninjas, but not many!

Moreover, since the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning are old rivals, Onoki actually knows more about the strength of the Hidden Cloud Village!

"The number of registered ninjas in Kumogakure should be around six thousand. Because the ninja clan power in Kumogakure is extremely weak, even if there are hidden ninjas, there are at most one or two thousand. Therefore, Kumogakure's total war potential is only around eight thousand, which is not as good as mine!"

You don't know until you calculate it, and you'll be shocked when you do. Onoki suddenly had an exciting idea.

"Our Hidden Stone Village is the number one ninja village in the ninja world!"

Upon realizing his own strength, Onoki's thoughts instantly changed.

With such strength, how could I be satisfied with the mere Land of Wind, Sunagakure!

I want the Land of Lightning, and I want the Land of Fire too!

Even more so, our nation might just be able to unify the world!

If there is anyone in this world who has the ambition to unify the world, it is Onoki!

Because Onoki was once thoroughly defeated by Madara Uchiha, and in the worldview of the ninja world, those who are defeated often admire and learn from the person who defeated them.

Onoki was very familiar with Madara Uchiha's philosophy and began to imitate it without realizing it.

Of course, if you ask him, he will definitely deny it, and might even curse Madara Uchiha.

He's a twisted Madara Uchiha fan.

With the change in strategy, the previous plans also need to be changed.

Ōnoki stood beside the map on the wall, mentally outlining his strategy.

First of all, we still need to fight Sunagakure.

However, taking over the Land of Bears and the Land of Birds would suffice. With these two places, Iwagakure would have sources of food and minerals, and would no longer have to worry about logistics.

There's no need to enter the Land of Wind, because it would be pointless. We'd have to divide our forces to defend it, which isn't worth it.

Moreover, taking over only the Land of Bears and the Land of Birds has another advantage: it creates the illusion that the Land of Earth is weak.

If our Land of Earth can be driven back from invading Sunagakure, doesn't that mean our Land of Earth is weaker than Sunagakure?

We'll launch a surprise attack when everyone stops taking the Land of Earth seriously.

In this battle, I will take over Konoha Village!

However, Kumogakure is also a problem.

The Night Moon Clan isn't very bright, but they'll always try to hinder my attacks.

We still need to reserve some troops for the Cloud Village.

The battle between Kumogakure and Iwagakure will likely take place at sea, as it requires crossing the ocean. Therefore, they probably won't bring any genin who can't walk on water.

He will only lead one elite squad.

If I can keep this elite force, even without it, taking over the Land of Lightning isn't impossible!

First take the Fire Country, then the Thunder Country. With the resources of the three countries combined, the Wind Country and the Water Country will be a piece of cake.

"In my lifetime, I might just be able to unify the world!" Onoki thought excitedly, then looked up at the sky with a resentful expression.

Madara, did you see that?

What you couldn't do back then, I'm going to help you achieve!

I'm not that short guy anymore!

Although I am old and not tall, I will eventually stand at the pinnacle of the ninja world!

Where were you then?

"Ninja World Asura, tch!"

There was an error in the previous text. The three countries near the Land of Rain are the Land of Wind, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Lightning. Therefore, the Land of Wind is not the one that attacks the Land of Fire.

However, this is a minor issue and not important.

(End of this chapter)