Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Yakushi Nonou bowed her head deeply to Nara Suzaku.

"I told you not to worry! Senpai Nonou, I will achieve my goal even if it costs me my life," Nara Suzaku promised once again.

[Chapter 199 The Threat of Konoha]

"Crunch—crunch—" That was the sound of footsteps on the snow. The patrolling Iwa ninjas walked along the edge of the camp according to their fixed route. They stared wide-eyed, watching the surroundings warily. However, Kurotsuchi didn't think there was any need to be so nervous.

The Konoha ninjas will not initiate a fight at this time!

after all,

They all sent envoys, and they were members of the Nara clan.

"Duoduoduo!!"

The shuriken struck the bullseye marked on the wooden stake with pinpoint accuracy, causing the snow on top of the stake to slide down from the impact.

"He's too strong."

The hoarse, low voice came from behind.

Heitu turned around and saw a tall man wearing a straw hat, a red mask, and red armor. He also had a gourd-shaped object on his back, which was integrated with the armor. However, this object was not a decoration; it was a steam-powered armor made by the village's skilled craftsmen.

The man wearing this steam armor is none other than the renowned "Steam Ninja" of the ninja world—Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.

"Uncle Han".

Heitu greeted them politely.

"When throwing a shuriken, don't use all your strength. Leave some reserve so you can deal with unexpected situations. Remember, your defense is weakest when you're attacking. If you're not confident of winning with one blow, then whether you're throwing a shuriken or engaging in close combat, always remember to save some strength."

"Oh! I understand."

Black Earth obediently agreed.

There was no explanation as to why she threw the shuriken in such a venting manner because she was sulking. She had wanted to stay in the tent to listen to her grandfather's conversation with the Konoha envoy, but her grandfather kicked her out. Feeling unhappy, she came to the training ground to vent her frustration.

"Uncle Han, the Konoha envoy has arrived, aren't you going...?"

"I am not interested."

Han shook his head decisively.

"That kind of thing is the Tsuchikage's job. My duty is to fight. Kurotsuchi, you don't need to worry about those things now. No matter what you want to do in the future, what you should do now is to lay a solid foundation and concentrate on your training."

I got a lecture.

Heitu looked distressed, but could only obediently nod and agree.

If it were her father, Huangtu, Heitu would definitely have said something back, but who told her it was Uncle Han! She had never seen Han smile in her memory. Although Han had never said he had sternly reprimanded her, looking into Han's seemingly emotionless eyes, she immediately lost the courage to argue.

but,

Kurotsuchi kept saying "okay," but her mind couldn't help but wander. Yesterday evening, the envoy from the Cloud Ninja traveled a long way to get here, and today at noon, the envoy from the Leaf Village arrived one after another. The intelligent girl keenly sensed the impending storm.

perhaps,

Something big is about to happen.

Just then, an Iwa ninja rushed over, saying, "Lord Han, the Tsuchikage has ordered you to go see him immediately." The Iwa ninja who arrived in a hurry brought an urgent order, and Kurotsuchi's eyes widened, a feeling of excitement rising in her heart. Sure enough, something big had happened.

"What happened?"

Han asked aloud.

"I was unaware of this; I was merely following orders to convey Lord Tsuchikage's commands."

The Iwa ninja who delivered the order shook his head.

"I see."

Han didn't ask any more questions. Since even the messenger didn't know why he was being summoned, it must be something serious! Thinking of the Cloud Ninja envoy and the Leaf Village envoy who had arrived one after the other, the matter must be related to these two groups. He set off, and Kurotsuchi, who had been watching him, followed behind him like a little tail.

Han frowned, but ultimately did not speak to drive them away.

Because of his status as a Jinchūriki, even though he made great contributions to the village and earned the reputation of "Steam Ninja," he could not change the villagers' fear and discrimination against Jinchūriki. Han had few friends in the village, and only a few people were not afraid of him, and Kurotsuchi happened to be one of them.

otherwise,

He wouldn't go around giving advice to people when he has nothing better to do.

He would only offer a few pointers to Heitu; otherwise, he would ignore everyone else.

They arrived at the large tent in the center of the camp, lifted the curtain and went inside. A warm current rushed onto their faces. The charcoal brazier in the tent was burning brightly. There were eleven people inside: Onoki, Koto, Bunga, and the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Rōshi.

He was a middle-aged man with red hair and a red beard, and he had a stern face. Anyone could tell that he was in a bad mood.

In addition,

There are also seven middle-aged and elderly people, the youngest of whom are over forty years old. Without exception, they are all leaders in the current army, and even in the village, they are basically prominent figures. Among them, three are the heads of large families in Iwagakure!

"Han, sit down!"

Onoki looked up at Han, who had entered the tent, and pointed to an empty seat next to him. However, when he saw Kurotsuchi following behind Han, he couldn't help but frown. Kurotsuchi's pitiful appearance made him unable to harden his heart.

The reason Kurotsuchi wasn't allowed to stay earlier was because the person she was talking to was an envoy from Konoha. Keeping Kurotsuchi would give the impression of disrespect. They were discussing serious matters! What kind of nonsense is it to let a child listen in? Even as the Tsuchikage, there are many things one cannot do arbitrarily!

But now they're all from the village.

There's no need to be so strict.

Seeing that Onoki didn't say anything, Huangtu suddenly reached out and beckoned. Kuroto ran over in a flash and stood next to Huangtu.

"Cough cough!"

Onoki cleared his throat, looked around at everyone present, and said, "Now that everyone is here, let's get down to business! Just now, Huangtu and I met with the envoys from Konoha and learned some things... Not long ago, Konoha and Kumogakure clashed again in the Land of Hot Springs. However, this time Konoha did not retreat as before. On the contrary, it was Kumogakure that suffered the loss. The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki was captured alive by Konoha!"

One stone stirs up a thousand waves.

"The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki has been captured alive?"

"How is this possible? Didn't the Cloud Ninja boast that their Jinchuriki are perfect Jinchuriki?"

"Is the news accurate, Lord Tsuchikage?"

The cacophony of sounds echoed inside the tent.

Everyone except Onoki and Kyoto was stunned by this news. Since the establishment of the Five Great Ninja Villages, it seems that there has never been a case where the Jinchuriki of one village was captured alive by ninjas from another village... Wait, it's not that it hasn't happened. It is said that in the war between Konoha and Kirigakure not long ago, the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure, who was the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tails, was captured alive by Konoha.

Even though Konoha and Kirigakure joined forces to control the news after forming an alliance, they had clearly missed the best time. The news eventually spread, and even the Iwa ninja, who were furthest away from Kirigakure, heard about it.

However, most people have deep doubts about this matter!

Such outrageous news is hard to believe without any solid evidence.

"The news can be confirmed to be true." After the noise inside the tent subsided and everyone had recovered from the initial shock, Onoki said slowly, "It's not just the Konoha ninja who said this; even the envoy from the Cloud Ninja mentioned it yesterday."

Hear this,

Many people were confused.

It's understandable that the Konoha envoys were boasting about their victory in the Land of Hot Springs to put pressure on themselves, but what were the Cloud Ninja trying to achieve by honestly admitting their defeat?

"Knowing this situation, we now face two choices. One is the request from the Cloud Ninja envoy to continue the joint attack on Konoha. According to the Cloud Ninja envoy, a strong Konoha is not in our interest."

"The second option is to end the war with Konoha, and as compensation, we can join forces with Konoha's ninjas to attack Kumogakure. This is what the Konoha envoy brought."

Two choices,

One option is to join forces with the Cloud Ninja, and the other is to join forces with the Leaf Village... To be honest, neither is a good choice. The Iwa Ninja and the Cloud Ninja have a feud, and they also have countless grudges against the Leaf Village. If possible, they do not want to cooperate with either of them.

"Of course, we should continue attacking Konoha!"

Old Purple slammed his fist on the table. "Lord Tsuchikage, is there any need to discuss this? The envoy from Kumogakure is right. If we don't take this opportunity to strike a blow against Konoha's arrogance, who knows how many more years we Iwagakure will have to remain dormant once Konoha rises to power again!"

“Senior Shiki, Konoha has become strong. Even the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki has been captured alive. It’s obvious that the Cloud Ninja knows they are no match for Konoha, so they want to drag us down with them. We don’t need to go through fire and water for the Cloud Ninja. Taking advantage of this opportunity to end the war with Konoha is the best strategy.”

"What nonsense are you spouting? Huang Tu, do you know what you're saying? Are you saying we're no match for Konoha?"

"How you interpret it is your prerogative, but I firmly oppose continuing the war with Konoha! Fighting Konoha will only bring harm and no benefit to us Iwa ninja! The Konoha threat theory that the Kumo ninja talk about is nothing but a pile of dog shit in my opinion!"

Huang Tu firmly stated his position.

Old Ziqi's eyebrows stood on end. If Huangtu weren't Onoki's son, he would have loved to give this spineless coward a good beating with lava right now. He was so scared of Konoha that he didn't dare to fight back. It was a disgrace.

"Old Zi, Huang Tu, you two shut up. I already know your opinions. Now it's the other people's turn to speak."

Onoki spoke up, stopping the argument between Rōshi and Yōtsuchi.

Then he turned his gaze to the rest of the people inside the tent.

Lao Zi and Huang Tu remained silent for the time being, but no one spoke up either. Everyone was pondering the matter, which was quite perplexing! According to their personal opinions, most people supported Konoha continuing the war; if it weren't for their support, the war with Konoha wouldn't have started!

However, everyone sitting here needs to consider more than just their own pleasure; their decisions also involve the life and death of their people and companions!

They originally thought that Konoha had lost the Third Hokage and Danzo of the Dark Village had also fallen, so they wanted to take advantage of the situation and try to make a big profit from the Land of Fire and Konoha. But now Konoha has proven with the Cloud Ninja that they are not as weak as they thought.

This makes one hesitate.

I couldn't help but recall the three Shinobi World Wars. It seemed that each time they tried to take advantage of Konoha's weakness, but Konoha proved time and time again that it was not as weak as it looked. Instead, it repeatedly defeated the Iwa, Kumo, Suna, and Kirigakure ninjas!

"Wenya, what do you think?"

Seeing that everyone remained silent, Onoki directly called out names.

"I agree with Senior Shiki's opinion. Regardless of the outcome on the Cloud Ninja's side, we currently hold the advantage in our battle against Konoha. They are only holding on with petty tricks. As long as we concentrate our strength, we can definitely crush them in one fell swoop."

Wenya clenched his fists, avoiding Huangtu's disappointed gaze.

He simply refused to believe that Konoha was truly invincible. Just when they were about to achieve a great victory in the Third Shinobi World War, the Yellow Flash turned the tide, leaving countless Iwa ninja frustrated and heartbroken. Their resentment made them lose their appetite, and this resentment has not subsided to this day.

Old Zi muttered under his breath, "At least he has guts!"

Onoki, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, as steady as a rock, making it impossible to discern his attitude.

He waited until Wen Ya finished speaking before calling on Han's name, "Han, what's your opinion? Should we unite with Konoha? Or cooperate with Kumogakure?"

Han's expression was obscured by a straw hat and mask, making it difficult to discern his attitude from his face. His hoarse, deep voice rang out, "I have no objections, Tsuchikage-sama. You can give me your orders directly. I will do my utmost to carry out any order, whether it's fighting against Konoha or launching a surprise attack on Kumogakure, it doesn't matter to me!"

That sounds like flattery.

However, no one was too surprised. Han had always been like this, even before he became the Five-Tails Jinchuriki. Perhaps it was precisely because of his loyalty to the Tsuchikage and the village that he was chosen as the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.

"You brainless blockhead!"

Old Zi cursed.