Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 79 Battle Preparations

After learning of the disastrous defeat at the Konoha front, Obito and the others were quite depressed and soon left.

As for Uchiha Hiyu, he returned to Root to ask his former teacher a question—he had a premonition that he would soon have to go back to the battlefield.

Although there will definitely be a lot of gains on the battlefield, allowing my blood pool to open more stores, neither the Iwa ninja nor the Kumo ninja can compare to those weaklings like the Suna ninja.

Even among Kage-level ninjas, there are differences in skill level. Rasa's abilities are far inferior to those of the Third Raikage and the Third Tsuchikage, whose power far surpasses that of the weakened Sunagakure.

To put it simply, although the Ninja World War often starts with the Sand Village, in reality, the Sand Village is always just a supporting character, and the Mist Village is even more of a bystander. The main characters on this battlefield are always the Leaf Village, the Rock Village, and the Cloud Village.

Naturally, Konoha always suffers the heaviest casualties and faces the most crises when it clashes with Iwa and Kumo.

If it weren't for the long-standing feud between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, and the fact that Onoki was a notorious sixth-ranking figure among the village kage with absolutely no credibility, making it impossible for the two villages to even join forces without achieving a synergy of less than 2, Konoha would probably have collapsed during the last Shinobi World War.

Upon returning to Root, Uchiha Hiu met Orochimaru. Today, Orochimaru was not conducting experiments in the laboratory, but was wearing a combat vest and organizing his ninja tools.

Orochimaru was holding a white cloth and gently wiping the Kusanagi sword in his hand. When he saw Uchiha Touu walk in, a smile appeared on his face:

"Judging from your expression, it seems you also know something about it?"

"I ran into a classmate on the way, Asuma from the Hokage's clan. I did hear some rumors... I heard that Konoha suffered a big loss at the hands of Kumogakure this time?"

"It's not just a huge loss, it's a complete humiliation! The Third Raikage personally took action, bringing along his own son, who was already considered the next Fourth Raikage and had earned the title of 'A,' plus an Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. The next generation's...

"Three Kage-level shinobi teaming up... It's fortunate that the one on the Cloud Ninja front is Jiraiya's disciple who learned the Flying Thunder God Technique. If it were anyone else, whether it were me, Jiraiya, or even the old man, we would probably all have lost our lives!"

"Even though Jiraiya's apprentice Minato Namikaze escaped with his life using the Flying Thunder God Technique, the entire Konoha Cloud Ninja front was almost completely wiped out, with only a dozen or so rescued by Minato using the Flying Thunder God Technique."

"So this time... Konoha didn't just lose 3000 ninjas, but almost all of them were wiped out. Of the more than 4000 ninjas on the entire front, only a dozen or so returned!"

"That's ruthless... Have the Cloud Ninja gone mad? They're even abandoning their own homeland. Aren't they afraid the Iwa Ninja will rip them off?"

In the past, when the Cloud Ninja and the Rock Ninja fought against Konoha, they would almost always leave a Kage-level ninja to guard their home base, just like how the Third Hokage of Konoha would not be transferred away from Konoha.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi has a lot of flaws and has gradually transformed from a ninja into a politician, you can't really say that he's afraid of death or going to the battlefield—these days, none of the Kage are afraid of death.

There are various reasons why he doesn't go to the battlefield, but the biggest reason is that Konoha is fighting on all sides. Once he, as the Hokage, leaves Konoha, it is easy for other ninja villages to raid his base.

Although Cloud Village is not located in the center of the continent like Konoha, a place of constant warfare, it is still quite formidable compared to other ninja villages due to its tough and brutal approach to foreign powers and its greedy and savage nature.

In particular, Iwagakure is the sworn enemy of Kumogakure. Theoretically, even if Kumogakure were to go to war with Konoha, they would definitely leave enough manpower to guard against Iwagakure.

That's why Uchiha Tou felt something was off about the current situation. Did the Cloud Ninja even abandon their own base?

"I don't know the specific reasons either, but it's clear that a certain level of mutual trust has been reached between the Cloud Ninja and the Iwa Ninja. I wonder how Onoki managed to persuade the Cloud Ninja barbarians?"

Orochimaru spoke calmly, then stuffed the Kusanagi sword in his hand into the mouth of a large snake. He then stretched out another hand, and nine slender silver snakes crawled out from his wrist. The silver snakes interlocked, forming a silver snake sword that was both eerie and beautiful.

While Orochimaru was inspecting the Silver Serpent Sword, Uchiha Touyu frowned, sensing that something was amiss.

In the original story, during the later stages of the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha was already showing signs of decline. However, the Iwa ninja pulled a stunt and directly attacked the Cloud ninja led by the Third Raikage.

The Cloud Ninja didn't expect that the sixth brother of the Iwagakure would betray them so quickly, but the Iwagakure Ninja also didn't expect that the Third Raikage of the Cloud Ninja would be so powerful!

After a three-day, three-night battle, the Iwagakure suffered heavy losses of tens of thousands of ninjas, and the Cloud Ninja's strongest ninja, the Third Raikage, was also exhausted and died while covering the rear. Neither of the two great ninja villages gained any advantage, but it allowed the Leaf Village, which was on the verge of collapse, to recover.

It can be said that that was the real turning point of the three Shinobi World Wars in the original work. The sparring between the AB brothers and the Yellow Flash, as well as the battle at Kannabi Bridge, can only be considered as the aftermath of a strategic failure.

Judging from the fact that the Third Raikage held off 10,000 Iwa ninja troops for three days and three nights, he may not have been aware of the Iwa ninja's sudden actions, but he was definitely on guard against them.

However, this time, the Third Raikage led his entire army to invade Konoha, a choice completely different from the Third Shinobi World War in the original story. The only explanation is the butterfly effect brought about by Uchiha Touya.

After pondering for a long time without figuring out the reason, Uchiha Hiu simply put the question aside and turned to another matter—could Konoha withstand the surprise attack from the Cloud Ninja?

Jiraiya has to keep an eye on Iwagakure and can't spare the time to participate in the battle, and he might even need reinforcements.

Aside from him, the only other top fighters left in Konoha are the Third Hokage, the Yellow Flash, Orochimaru, himself, and perhaps Danzo Shimura could be considered half of them.

Judging from the data alone, it seems that Konoha still has the upper hand, but it's hard to say in an actual fight.

The strongest fighting force in Konoha right now is probably the Third Hokage, who hasn't completely fallen out of his prime. This legendary "strongest Hokage" probably wouldn't have a high chance of winning against the true strongest Raikage.

This is because the Third Hokage has never appeared in his true peak condition in the Naruto manga, so Uchiha Touyu has overestimated him as much as possible. Otherwise, Uchiha Touyu thinks the Third Hokage would definitely have been utterly defeated by the Third Raikage.

Among the remaining powerful figures, apart from the Yellow Flash, Danzo, Orochimaru, and himself, they all had their own agendas.

Orochimaru might still contribute more, but if he encounters a disadvantageous situation, he will definitely run away. Danzo is even more unpredictable and might pull some dirty tricks.

(End of this chapter)