Revitalizing the Uchiha clan starts with becoming a Kage.

This was in that era.

The most profound impression that the Kage of the various ninja villages had of Madara Uchiha.

In particular, the 'Mangekyou Sharingan' deep within his pupils truly brought an extremely shocking inner impact to the First Tsuchikage, the First Mizukage, the First Kazekage, and the First Raikage.

Therefore, this important information is preserved in the top-secret intelligence records of their own ninja village. Although Tsuchitai can be 100% certain that Shoji, Fugaku, and Shisui are definitely not as good as Uchiha Madara back then, based on the existing intelligence, these three who are not as good as Uchiha Madara are not ordinary ninjas!

Those who participate in the war must be at least Jonin level!

Moreover, only elite Jonin with exceptional strength are qualified to participate in the siege battle. Given the terrifying 'Chakra Giant' (I don't know much about the Susanoo Records from the outer villages), if Chunin or Genin rush in, they'll just be easy prey for the enemy to mow down!

Even if we can predict that the amount of chakra it consumes will be enormous, and even someone as strong as the Third Raikage would be exhausted to death, and Shoji, Shisui, and Fugaku would certainly be no exception, the true enemies of Kumogakure are Konoha and Iwagakure!

What price would Kumogakure have to pay to take down the Uchiha clan? The village's two Jinchuriki, the tailed beasts, are still in a period of rapid adaptation and growth!

"Furthermore, the intelligence also indicates that Iwagakure has already dispatched an advance force to meet up with the Uchiha clan. It's too late for us to intervene. Raikage-sama, it's time for us to consider what to do next!"

Tsuchikage looked at the Fourth Raikage, A, with a solemn expression and spoke in a low voice.

"Humph!"

The Fourth Raikage, A, let out a cold snort with an unpleasant expression.

But he didn't say anything more and silently sat back down.

He knew that what he said was unrealistic, and even without Tsuchikage's advice, he would not have done it. Tsuchikage's words were just to give this Raikage a way out.

Ultimately, the Hidden Cloud Village has not recovered from the trauma of the Third Shinobi World War. In addition, in the past six months, it has also engaged in dozens of small-scale clashes with the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Hot Springs region, resulting in several hundred Hidden Cloud ninja being killed or seriously injured.

All I can do is vent my anger!

In the original story, it wasn't until six or seven years after the end of the Third Shinobi World War that Kumogakure fully recovered and had the confidence and courage to put strong pressure on Konoha regarding the 'Hinata Hyuga kidnapping case,' forcing Konoha to hand over 'Hitagi Hyuga Hiashi'!

In this lifetime, at this point in time, let alone the question of whether the Uchiha clan is strong or not, the Hidden Cloud Village doesn't have the corresponding power to actually do anything.

"Send someone to Konoha to check the situation first. Now that the Uchiha clan has joined Iwagakure, Konoha is definitely the most restless. If possible, we should reach an agreement with Konoha first. We absolutely cannot let that damned Tsuchikage get away with this so easily!"

After all, he can inherit the title of 'Shadow'.

After a brief moment of anger.

Having regained his senses, the Fourth Raikage made the right choice.

"Yes!"

Tsuchikage glanced at his Raikage, who was still just entering his prime, with a look of satisfaction on his face. After bowing in response, he immediately left to carry out his Raikage's orders.

If the Fourth Raikage and the Hidden Cloud Village still had the confidence and courage to be angry...

The village of Sunagakure, located in the far southwest of the continent, and the Fourth Kazekage—Rasa—could only feel fear.

141. Their respective attitudes and responses (Third update)

In the five great ninja villages.

The weakest village is Sunagakure, which is almost a consensus in the ninja world. In fact, Sunagakure had already shown signs of fatigue at the beginning of its establishment. However, at that time, everyone was in the early stages of establishing their power, and only Konohagakure was dominant (undoubtedly one against four, and with a 100% crushing victory. It's just that the First Hokage was too naive. Otherwise, if Madara Uchiha had followed his approach, the chaotic world would have been pacified long ago).

The other four major ninja villages are almost equally matched.

Sunagakure is slightly weaker, but only to a limited extent. Apart from Konoha, it can fight any other ninja village. The worst-case scenario is a 40/60 split. But this seems to be Sunagakure's first and last glory.

Since the deaths of the first Kage of each clan for various reasons, the First Shinobi World War, which broke out during the reign of the second Kage, marked the beginning of the formal decline of Sunagakure. The village, which was already quite barren compared to other countries, was further weakened by the repeated defeats, which plunged Sunagakure into an endless vicious cycle. It was unable to cultivate truly top-tier shinobi, and the level of its core strength was significantly lacking.

If the quality is bad, then so be it.

The number is still not comparable to that of the other four major ninja villages.

Especially before the Third Shinobi World War, after the Third Kazekage of their own village disappeared in the most bizarre way, and after their village was severely hit by Konoha in the Third Shinobi World War, Sunagakure officially fell behind the other four great shinobi villages.

From the highest-ranking 'Kage' to the lowest-ranking ninja.

They are incomparable to the other four great ninja villages.

Whether the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, truly possessed the strength of a 'Kage' is questionable, not to mention that the number of Sand Village ninjas had plummeted to below 10,000. It can be said that this period was the weakest time for the Sand Village.

As the Kazekage, Rasa was well aware of this.

The border pressure was already immense.

Now, even though Konoha has lost one Uchiha, it can still completely crush Sunagakure. And Iwagakure in the north has become extremely terrifying after gaining a huge Uchiha clan.

At least when Rasa heard the news, he was even more upset than the Fourth Raikage.

That expression was absolutely priceless.

Between unease and turmoil.

Rasa gritted his teeth and summoned his most trusted confidant, Maki. While reinforcing the defenses of the northern fortress, he also tasked Maki with leading a group to Konoha Village, which was still nominally an 'alliance' between the two great nations.

Rasa wanted to see if he could get anything useful from Konoha, even just information!

It can be said that at the same time, the two Kage, A and Rasa, who had reached a certain tacit understanding, both set their sights on Konoha. This was a completely predictable development, since once Iwagakure accepted the Uchiha clan, as long as there was a period of adjustment and no adverse reactions occurred between the two sides, Iwagakure's strength could definitely leap to become a top existence in the ninja world.

At a time when the Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Sand Village must bear the corresponding pressure.

The village of Konoha is the one we need to worry about the most.

Whether it was the Uchiha clan's inherent hatred towards Konoha, or the Iwagakure's menacing and oppressive attitude towards their superiors.

All of these factors are enough to make Konoha the biggest target of attack.

Yes.

In this respect, every move Konoha makes is crucial.

A focused gaze.

The merging crowd.

The Land of Fire, Central Region, Konoha Village.

Inside the newly built Hokage office building, located beneath the massive Hokage Rock visible from the straight avenue leading to the main gate.

"Hiruzen! I've said it before, the Uchiha clan must be eradicated completely. Your previous decision to stop the pursuit was the most foolish thing you could have done. Now the Uchiha clan has joined forces with Iwagakure! How are you going to handle this situation!?"

In the usual Hokage office, Danzo Shimura's familiar, gloomy, and cold voice emanated from within.

The Uchiha clan entered Iwagakure.

Konoha received the definite news earlier than Kumogakure and Sunagakure.

After all, there were elite ANBU units deployed in the border region of the Land of Grass from the very beginning. The actions of the Uchiha clan and the arrival of the Iwa ninja forces could not have been kept secret from the ANBU's reconnaissance.

And it was at this moment that the feedback came.

Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane arrived together at the Hokage's office building. Danzo, now a one-armed hero, stood in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi and spoke in an extremely cold tone.

"After the Uchiha clan and Iwagakure merge, Iwagakure's strength will increase dramatically, which is certainly not good news for Konoha."

Sitting upright on the sofa, Mitokado Homura shook his head slightly and sighed helplessly.

Although Mitokado Homura had previously agreed with Hiruzen Sarutobi's conservative decision, abandoning the pursuit of the Uchiha clan was indeed a prudent move, given the troop movements in Iwagakure and Kumogakure and the underlying tensions within the villages.

However, at that time, Mitokado Homura really did not expect that the Uchiha clan would choose to join Iwagakure. To put it bluntly, it was not within their expectations at all. In their view, the Uchiha clan, which was so proud, would not join other ninja villages since they had chosen to leave Konoha.

Isn't this just making things difficult for yourself?

Therefore, at that time, they all thought that the Uchiha clan would return to the survival mode before the ninja village and find a small country to live independently. In this way, as long as the situation in Konoha stabilized, they would still have many opportunities to destroy the Uchiha clan.

This is their source of confidence.

However, the most unexpected outcome occurred.

If you joined Sunagakure, it would be fine, but you happen to be one of the most feared villages in Konoha, Kumogakure and Iwagakure.

"This is indeed something to be wary of, but there's no need to worry too much. We all know the Uchiha clan's nature. Whether Iwagakure can truly merge with the Uchiha clan is still an unknown. That Third Tsuchikage is just gambling!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi still wore a deep, enigmatic expression, and didn't really pay attention to Danzo Shimura's 'clamor,' speaking in a calm tone as before.

In any case, at this time, Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that the Uchiha clan was inherently unruly, especially Uchiha Shoji, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Fugaku, and others, who had been thoroughly labeled by Hiruzen Sarutobi as 'hypocritical and pretentious' and 'treacherous and cunning'.

This Third Hokage had long believed in his heart that Danzo's actions were only a 'secondary factor,' and that the inherent evil of the Uchiha clan was the 'primary reason.'

They simply didn't believe that the Uchiha clan and Iwagakure would coexist peacefully.

142. Decision

From his perspective.

Iwagakure will inevitably face the same situation as Konoha once did, and conflicts and intense clashes between the two are bound to erupt.

That will be Konoha's chance.

This is Hiruzen Sarutobi's personal opinion. Regardless of how 'correct' this opinion is, the personal subjective will it contains is so vivid and strong that Hiruzen Sarutobi did not realize it when he made another mistake in the future.

It can only be said that this has already penetrated to the very core of Hiruzen Sarutobi's being, to some kind of 'essence'!

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, who were standing nearby, were in the same situation.

Danzo was no different.

He was even more convinced than Hiruzen Sarutobi that the Uchiha clan was inherently evil. He just wanted to verbally provoke Hiruzen Sarutobi, since his current situation in the village was not good. Although the Root organization had not been abolished, it was indeed restricted by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Although Danzo is the type of person who will not turn back even after hitting a wall, he does need to be a little more 'well-behaved' at this stage.

"Hmph! This is just personal speculation. Putting aside everything else, Hiruzen, have you figured out how to deal with the Mangekyou Sharingan of Uchiha Shoji, Uchiha Fugaku, and Uchiha Shisui? This is a big problem!"

Ultimately, it was driven by a deep-seated greed. Despite Danzo's cold and hostile attitude towards the Uchiha clan, treating them like ferocious beasts and scorpions, a pure sense of jealousy was at play deep within him.

In Danzo's view

Powers like the Sharingan and Wood Release.

It was destined to be prepared for him, Shimura Danzo. Leaving aside his ancestors, in this world, only he, Shimura Danzo, was qualified to possess this power.

have to say.

Regarding 'confidence'.

Danzo Shimura is truly comparable to Madara Uchiha. Judging from his twisted and insane mentality, it's hard to say whether he has some Uchiha blood in him. After all, in the original work, the more extreme and insane a person's personality is, the more talented they are in the Uchiha clan.

Our ancestor was Indra.

Later came the strongest person in the history of the Uchiha clan—Uchiha Madara.