Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Jiraiya was taken aback for a moment.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say. What should be done with the captured spies? According to the practices that had developed in the ninja world over the past few decades, spies were most likely executed after all the intelligence had been extracted, right? A small number who still had some use would be kept imprisoned indefinitely.

At least that's how most of the spies captured by Konoha were dealt with, and there's never been any news of anyone coming to rescue them.

"Have you given up?"

Yakushi Nonou understood the unspoken answer from Jiraiya's silence.

She wasn't disappointed; her calm demeanor suggested she had expected this. It seemed that for spies like them, no matter which village they came from, they were used and then discarded, like tools that would be thrown away once they were no longer useful.

"Lord Jiraiya, perhaps there is a chance to save them."

The one who spoke was Suzaku Nara, who had been sitting silently next to Jiraiya.

“Suzaku, explain in detail.”

Jiraiya suddenly turned his head and looked at Suzaku Nara.

"According to our plan this time, if things go smoothly, we might have a chance to make an exchange with the Iwa ninja. Just like the Iwa ninja captured our people, the village also recently swept out a lot of spies and informants from various villages. Of course, the premise is that those spies are still alive by then."

Suzaku Nara revealed his thoughts.

This wasn't a particularly ingenious plan; it was simply a hostage exchange. There were precedents for this, but the problem was that those were prisoner exchanges during the Fourth Shinobi World War, not spy exchanges. No one could guarantee that those spies might still have some secrets that hadn't been uncovered.

"This matter is probably not going to be easy."

Jiraiya frowned.

"We can give it a try; it might work!"

Suzaku Nara seemed to have a lot of ideas, clearly having a plan in mind and believing that this was not entirely impossible.

Jiraiya glanced at Suzaku Nara but didn't press the matter. He then looked at Nono Yakushi and said, "If you want to stay, then stay for now! But I will report your situation to the Hokage. Your fate depends on the Hokage's decision. Don't act rashly before the Hokage's orders arrive."

"I understand! Lord Jiraiya, thank you for your understanding."

Yakushi Nonou did not push her luck and sincerely thanked Jiraiya.

"Go and rest!"

Jiraiya waved his hand.

He didn't think he had done anything worthy of gratitude. Compared to the contributions Yakushi Nonou made to the village, the village's return to her was pitifully small. He was just a little sad; it shouldn't be like this!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The Land of Hot Water

Unlike the tense, pre-war atmosphere in the Land of Grass, the atmosphere in the Land of Hot Springs was serious but not overly tense. The flames of war between Konoha and Kumogakure were practically burning on this land. The hot spring ninja had gone from initial tension to numbness, and now to anticipation...

They hoped that the ninjas of Konoha would drive away the ninjas of Kumogakure, allowing the Land of Hot Springs to return to its former peace and tranquility.

Konoha's ninjas suffered defeat after defeat under the onslaught of the Cloud Ninjas. To be honest, many of the Hot Spring Ninjas had already given up hope, believing that the Land of Hot Springs was doomed this time. They thought that Konoha was no match for the Cloud Ninjas, and that the Hidden Hot Springs Village would probably be wiped out of the ninja world. A small group of radicals even plotted to defect to the Cloud Ninja camp.

Fortunately, their leader, Salt Spring, was a capable man. He promptly detected the disloyalty of his subordinates and decisively used violence to punish that small group. Afterwards, reinforcements such as Uchiha Shisui arrived in time to stop the retreat, preventing the balance of the war from tilting in favor of the Cloud Ninja and allowing Salt Spring to maintain control over the Hot Spring Ninja.

up to now,

Another wave of reinforcements arrived, but the number was still small, only a mere thousand.

Yan Quan sat in the tent, sighing inwardly.

"All we need to do is drive the Cloud Ninja away!"

He thought this to himself silently, while his eyes would occasionally glance at the young man sitting in the main seat who was speaking. He was really young, looking to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. However, he had heard from the ninjas of Konoha that this young man was already the Hokage's assistant and also the head of the Uchiha clan!

He was genuinely astonished when he first heard about it. A clan leader who was only fifteen or sixteen years old was already quite rare, but to have the Hokage as an assistant was simply unbelievable!

However, because of this

On the contrary, this filled Shizuku with awe for this young man. During this period, he had come into contact with people such as Hyuga Hiashi, Aburame Shiki, and Uchiha Shisui. Without exception, these people were all very powerful figures, and the Hokage's assistant who could make these people willingly obey orders must be even more powerful!

In his opinion,

The weak cannot command the strong.

Only the stronger can command the strong!

This logic, though simple, is also very practical.

"...That's roughly the plan. Does anyone have any opinions?" Just as Yan Quan was lost in thought, Zong Xuan had already given a general explanation of the plan, and then looked around to ask for everyone's opinions.

Silence fell inside the tent.

This is not to say that Zongxian's plan was so perfect that no one could find any fault with it, but rather that the plan itself was incomprehensible to most of the people present, and they even couldn't help but worry that the Hokage's assistant was being a bit arrogant and conceited.

"Cough cough!"

Hiashi Hyuga cleared his throat, breaking the silence in the tent. As the highest commander before Sogen's arrival, he had to speak first, "Um... with the Hokage assisting you, our forces are not as abundant as those of the Cloud Ninja. At this time, it may be a bit beyond our capabilities to launch a proactive attack!"

Yes,

Zongxian's plan was not to build an impregnable defense as everyone imagined, but to attack!

[Chapter 183. The Sharingan Originates from the Divine Tree]

"Yasui, how many people do we have now?" Faced with the doubts of the people in the tent, Zongxian did not give a direct answer. He turned his gaze to Nara Yasui. This young man from the Nara clan was not as mature and capable as Nara Suzaku, but he lived up to the name of the Nara clan's strategist.

"Including the thousand men the Hokage brought with him and the troops of the Yu Ninja, the total is over four thousand seven hundred," Nara Shizuku replied in a deep voice. Since the last battle when they abandoned the Kusatsu Mountains, the Cloud Ninja had not launched any large-scale offensives, but the battle between the outposts of both sides had never stopped.

The fighting never ceased for a single day in the border area between the Yuhe Plain and the Kusatsu Mountains. Every day, both sides suffered losses of at least thirty or forty men, and sometimes as many as fifty or sixty. As these losses accumulated day by day, by the time Zongxian arrived, the combined forces of Konoha and the Yushi ninja had dwindled from nearly five thousand to nearly four thousand.

Even with the thousand men brought by Zongxian, the total number is still less than five thousand.

Among them are more than a thousand Tang ninja, whose meager fighting strength is... just thinking about it is worrying.

"Of the 4,700 people, how many are genin? How many are chunin?"

"There are 2,939 Genin, 1,622 Chunin, and a total of 197 Jonin."

"You're accurate to the single digit? Truly a rising star of the Nara clan." Zongxian praised Nara Shizuku's diligence, then asked, "So, approximately how many troops does the Cloud Ninja have?"

"Based on the intelligence we've gathered, we roughly estimate that the total number of Cloud Ninja troops in the Land of Hot Springs is currently over nine thousand." Nara Shizuku's expression was quite solemn when he said this number. The huge difference in troop strength felt like a boulder pressing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

"Nine thousand or more and four thousand seven hundred... that's almost double our strength! And if the Cloud Ninja needs it, they should be able to gather even more troops from the village, right? But we don't have any more reinforcements. To be honest, we can't expect the village to give us any more support in the short term. We can only rely on the troops we have to deal with the Cloud Ninja."

Hear this,

The atmosphere inside the tent suddenly became heavy.

The leader of the Hidden Hot Spring Village, Yanquan, immediately turned into a bitter face.

"With so few people, how can we defend against the Cloud Ninja's attack? If we disperse our forces, the Cloud Ninja will easily defeat us one by one. But if we concentrate our forces, how much territory can we hold? The Cloud Ninja can easily divide their forces and invade our country directly. At that time, we will all be called useless."

"Clan Chief Hyuga, it may sound harsh, but it's the truth. Our limited forces are barely enough to support the Cloud Ninja's attack. If we block this area, we'll leave other areas unattended. So, in my opinion, rather than being led by the nose by the Cloud Ninja, we should take the initiative and seize control of the situation."

There is no claim that a small force can stop a large enemy army in a ninja battle.

While the terrain wasn't entirely useless, its usefulness was truly negligible. Most importantly, the Konoha ninja who had retreated to the Yuhe Plain had virtually no place to defend, and the Kusatsu Mountains, which could barely be considered a dangerous area, were now the territory of the Kumogakure ninja.

"Hokage, we understand your reasoning, but... if the attack fails, we'll likely be powerless to even defend, and the Cloud Ninja will truly be able to advance straight into our territory." Hyuga Hiashi frankly expressed his concerns, a concern shared by almost everyone.

Everyone knows that being passively attacked will definitely lead to losses.

However, if they choose to take the initiative, they cannot simply send a few hundred or a thousand people. Such a small force would be like handing snacks to the Cloud Ninja. To disrupt the Cloud Ninja's formation, it would be difficult to do so without more than three thousand troops. But Konoha's total military strength is currently less than five thousand. If they were to send three thousand or even more people to launch an attack, any slight mishap would be a catastrophic disaster for their entire army.

Ninjas are professional tools of war, and even genin (lower-ranking ninjas) possess a high level of combat skills and awareness.

During the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha's defense forces were reduced to only four men by the Iwa ninja, yet they did not collapse and flee. To create a miracle of defeating nearly ten thousand enemies with only a few dozen or a few hundred men would require monsters like Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha who roamed the shinobi world.

otherwise,

It's best not to daydream like that.

The Third Raikage was able to fight against 10,000 Iwa ninja single-handedly because the top Iwa ninja didn't participate; they simply used numbers to wear down the Third Raikage's chakra and stamina. However, the Kumogakure they are now facing not only the Fourth Raikage personally overseeing the situation, but also two Jinchuriki and a host of other skilled Kumogakure ninja…

If the 10,000-strong Iwagakure force back then had as many skilled fighters as the current Kumogakure forces, they could not only have killed the Third Raikage, but they could have easily wiped out all of the Third Raikage's subordinates as well.

"Furthermore, the Cloud Ninja haven't launched any attacks recently, which might be giving us time to launch a counterattack and annihilate us in one fell swoop. Of course, this is just my guess, and it does sound a bit alarmist... But I still think that launching an attack is too risky. Hokage, please think carefully before you act." Hyuga Hiashi spoke very sincerely.

"I agree with Lord Hiashi's opinion on the Hokage's assistance."

"Lord Hiashi shares my concerns. The Cloud Ninja have indeed been acting suspiciously lately! Their previous attacks were swift and ruthless, but they haven't made any big moves recently. It feels like they're up to no good!"

“That makes sense, that makes sense, I think the same way.”

One after another, the Jonin who participated in the meeting expressed their support for Hyuga Hiashi.

"I see! Hyuga clan leader, your concerns are not without merit... However, I do not like to be passively attacked. Also, I apologize, everyone, before the meeting even began, I had already dispatched an advance force to attack the Kusatsu Mountains."

As Zongxian finished speaking, a murderous smile appeared on his face. Looking at the astonished crowd, he continued, "If nothing unexpected happens, we will soon receive news of our victory in conquering Kusatsu Mountain. This meeting is just to give you all a heads-up, but it's also a good thing to be able to understand your concerns."

"However... I'm sorry to say this, but I have to say that your worries are meaningless. Even if we can't completely defeat the Cloud Ninja, as long as I'm here, the Cloud Ninja will never be able to turn around and devour us."

Zongxian said firmly.

If you were to ask why Zongxian has such confidence...

The answer is simple.

Among the thousand reinforcements that Sogen brought this time, there were two hundred Uchiha clan ninjas, including more than forty Jonin. Even Fugaku, the former clan head, was brought out by Sogen. The Uchiha clan had sent out its best and brightest.

Of course, this is only part of the source of confidence.

Most importantly, Zongxian has confidence in himself.

Since giving the Kirigakure ninja a hard time at the port of the Land of Water, he has basically not fought with anyone these days. When he spars with others in his spare time, he only touches on the point and has not even used the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan. However, he can clearly feel his training improving day by day.

Mastered the [Flame Fan].

This is equivalent to having the key to understanding the essence of the divine tree.

The mysteries contained within this branch, taken from the Divine Tree in its complete state, cannot be explained in just a few words. However, his greatest achievement so far in studying and comprehending the Flame Fan is confirming that the Sharingan, this bloodline limit, originates from the Divine Tree.

Unlike the Byakugan, which was inherited by the Hyuga clan from the Otsutsuki clan, the Sharingan is a bloodline limit that comes from the God Tree. Kaguya Otsutsuki ate the fruit of the God Tree and awakened the Rinne Sharingan. This power was passed on to her eldest son, Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Indra, the ancestor of the Uchiha clan, inherited Hagoromo Otsutsuki's 'Sage Eyes', which is the Sharingan.

Having confirmed that the Sharingan originated from the God Tree,

Zongxian also gleaned a wonderful method for perfecting the Mangekyou Sharingan from the Flame Fan.

Although he hasn't yet evolved his eyes to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan due to time constraints, he's just one step away from achieving it. He only needs to wait patiently, and it will come to fruition sooner or later. In addition, he has further improved his understanding of Yin Release and Yang Release.

To be honest,

Compared to his ancestor Madara Uchiha, who co-founded Konoha with the First Hokage, aside from his eyes not yet evolving into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, he honestly believes that in every other aspect, he is no less than his ancestor Madara Uchiha.