Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

Just then, a thunderclap suddenly resounded in the sky, and a huge war god flew in at dawn accompanied by lightning, landing not far from the crowd before slowly dissipating.

Uchiha Touko slowly walked over, carrying the severely injured and unconscious A in one hand.

"Fifth Hokage!" Upon seeing Uchiha Touko, the Konoha ninjas' faces lit up with fervor, and they spontaneously made way for him.

Uchiha Touko, carrying A, walked slowly and expressionlessly to the surrounded Cloud Village troops.

"Are you waiting for him to avenge you?" Uchiha Touko coldly said, casually tossing the charred body of A in front of the group of Cloud Village members who were determined to put up a last-ditch resistance.

"Lord Raikage?" The temporary commander of Kumogakure stared in disbelief at the scene before him. Their invincible Raikage had fallen just like that? And yet, the other man's clothes didn't even look dirty?

"Touko." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded to Touko Uchiha.

"I'm sorry, Third Hokage, this has happened. But don't worry, I will definitely bring Konohamaru back." Uchiha Touko turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi and said.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded.

After looking around, Uchiha Touko's Sage Mode sensory abilities completely covered a radius of one thousand meters. After a few minutes, Uchiha Touko spoke loudly: "Listen up, you guys hiding in the shadows. I'll only count to three. If you don't show yourself, then you Cloud Village can wait to be chosen as the Fifth Raikage."

As soon as Uchiha finished speaking, an eerie silence fell over the surroundings.

“3!” Uchiha Touko held up three fingers.

"2!"

"1!"

After counting, Uchiha Touko drew the Swift Lightning from his waist, raised it high, and instantly lightning flashed across the sky. The blade of Swift Lightning, filled with lightning, transformed into a giant lightning sword 3 meters long. Uchiha Touko decisively slashed Swift Lightning down fiercely at the unconscious A and the remaining Cloud Village members behind him.

"Wait a minute!" At this moment, the person who had been hiding in the shadows with Konohamaru finally couldn't hold back any longer and appeared, shouting loudly.

The Thunder Greatsword stopped just centimeters from Ai's nose, and the leaping lightning above added more wounds to Ai's face.

"So you've finally decided to come out?" Uchiha Touko said with a sneer. "I thought you were ready for the election of the Fifth Hokage in Kumogakure."

"Release Lord Raikage, or this brat won't live either," the newcomer said, grabbing Konohamaru by the neck.

"Konohamaru!" Hiruzen Sarutobi exclaimed in alarm upon seeing his grandson.

"Lord Hokage..." At this moment, Aburame Shiki came to Uchiha Touko's side and whispered a reminder. Although he didn't say it explicitly, Uchiha Touko understood what he meant. If they used Konohamaru to exchange for the Raikage, Konoha would be at a huge loss.

However, Uchiha Touko nodded and said, "Want to trade Konohamaru for this guy's life? Sure."

Chapter 219 The Significance of the Will of Fire

"Then, hand over Konohamaru now." Uchiha Touko coldly looked at the other party, indicating that he should hand over the person.

"Do you think I'm a fool?" the Cloud Village ninja shouted, carrying Konohamaru. He seemed to think that raising his voice would give him more courage. "Now, escort us to the border. After the Raikage crosses the border safely, I will naturally release this brat."

"Are you threatening me?" Uchiha Touko narrowed his eyes. The sky, which had just begun to darken, darkened again, and lightning flashed in the clouds.

"Don't move!" At this moment, the Cloud Ninja who was holding Konohamaru raised his other hand, holding an already activated explosive tag. "This explosive tag is already activated. As soon as my chakra disappears, this brat will be blown into the sky with me."

“Interesting.” Uchiha Touko sheathed his Lightning Blade, nodded, and said, “Let’s go then.”

At this moment, the sealing team stepped forward, intending to apply a chakra-sealing technique to the remaining Cloud Village members.

However, the remaining Cloud Village ninjas did not want to surrender. Just as one of them drew his weapon to resist, a bolt of lightning struck down precisely from the sky, turning him into a charred mess.

"What are you doing?" the man holding Konohamaru hostage roared.

“You only said you would exchange Konohamaru for your Raikage, it has nothing to do with these people,” Uchiha Touko said. “I just dealt with a few prisoners who didn’t want to be captured properly.”

"You..." The man who had taken Konohamaru hostage was speechless for a moment, but still said angrily, "Of course I'm including my companions. If you don't want this brat to get into trouble, take them all back to the Land of Lightning."

"Do you think I'm too easy to talk to?" Uchiha Touko said coldly. "At most, we'll trade one for another, or we'll just kill the hostages and then our two countries will go to war."

“You…this brat is the grandson of your Third Hokage,” the other party said through gritted teeth.

At this moment, everyone's eyes turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen wanted to say something, but considering that Touko Uchiha was the real decision-maker here, if he backed down now, it would put Touko Uchiha in a disadvantageous position in this negotiation. So he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and said, "Konohamaru is my grandson, and he will be a Konoha ninja in the future. Every member of my Sarutobi clan is ready to sacrifice themselves for the village."

At this moment, Uchiha Touko slowly spoke up: "The reason I am willing to exchange your Raikage for Konohamaru is not because he is the grandson of the Third Hokage, but because our Will of Fire tells us that we, these leaves, can turn into firelight to illuminate the tender shoots of the village when needed, but that does not mean that you can make unreasonable demands on us without any bottom line. Konoha has never been afraid of war!"

The expression on the face of the person holding Konohamaru hostage changed several times. He originally wanted to use Hiruzen Sarutobi to stir up internal conflicts in Konoha, but what he did not expect was that Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had previously turned a blind eye to their demand for the Hyuga clan to hand over their clan leader because he did not want the war to continue, suddenly became tough when faced with his kidnapped grandson.

At this moment, the morale of the people of Konoha was also boosted by Uchiha Touko's words.

Sacrificing so much to save a child from Konoha is a completely different matter from saving the grandson of the Third Hokage.

Uchiha Touko's words made some ninjas from ninja clans in the crowd, especially the Hyuga clan who had suffered similar treatment, think that if their children were to encounter such a situation in the future, the Hokage would spare no effort to protect the children of the village.

No one in the Konoha ninja present doubted this point. After all, since Uchiha Touko took office, a series of policies he had issued, such as prohibiting ninja academy students from graduating early and revising village rules to forcefully set the conscription age at 12 during wartime, all demonstrated his attitude: with him in Konoha, there was no need for children to go to the battlefield.

"Take them all to the border first. We can discuss the prisoner exchange after the Raikage returns to the Land of Lightning! Until then, you must ensure their safety," the man holding Konohamaru hostage said, sounding somewhat threatening but actually weak.

“Okay, let’s go then,” said Uchiha Touko.

After sealing the prisoners' chakra, the Konoha members bound their hands, lined them up, and followed Uchiha Touko and the Third Hokage toward the border.

However, at this moment, Sasuke and Neji found Uchiha Touko.

"Teacher, Neji and I will stay here," Sasuke said. "Naruto seems a bit off."

"Naruto's condition is not right?" Upon hearing this, Uchiha Touko looked in the direction of Naruto. He saw the boy leaning against a giant, burnt-down tree, his expression blank and his eyes lifeless. Even Deidara's constant waving of his hand in front of him could not wake him up.

"Is it because of the battlefield?" Uchiha Touko looked at Naruto and understood. After all, when he first went to the battlefield, his performance was not much better than Naruto's.

Sasuke and Neji benefited from their family traditions and received the most standard ninja training before becoming disciples of Uchiha Touko. They also possessed naturally stable mental states, making them more adaptable to the battlefield.

However, Naruto, who is kind-hearted by nature, will naturally have his worldview greatly impacted when he suddenly sees this cruel battlefield. This is similar to how Uchiha Touko, who received nine years of compulsory education in his previous life and whose moral standards far exceeded those of the ninja world's insects, could not accept the cruelty of the battlefield.

At that time, Uchiha Touko, under the great stimulation, directly activated the two-tomoe technique, but it took him nearly a month to gradually get used to the battlefield with the companionship and guidance of his clan elder Uchiha Kaito, who was both his teacher and father.

Having experienced this before, Uchiha Touko understood that lecturing was pointless at this point. Having Sasuke and Neji, his childhood friends, accompany him and let him figure things out on his own would likely be more effective.

So, Uchiha Touko nodded and said to Sasuke, "Alright, then you and Neji can stay here. Also, you're in charge of cleaning up the battlefield. Make sure that the bodies of all the fallen comrades in the village are returned to the village as intact as possible."

"Understood!" Sasuke nodded vigorously.

……

Uchiha Touko led the Konoha army swiftly toward the border.

At noon, Uchiha Touko led his army across the Land of Hot Water and arrived at the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Lightning.

Kakashi was already leading Konoha's border troops, confronting the Cloud Village, which was stationed along the border.

At this moment, the two Jinchuriki of Kumogakure have arrived on the battlefield, but Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan is something they are very wary of.

After all, their intelligence only stated that Uchiha Tokō couldn't use genjutsu, but that didn't mean that other Mangekyou Sharingan users couldn't use genjutsu.

Although Killer Bee and Yugito are both perfect Jinchūriki, the Mangekyou Sharingan is too special, and they dare not gamble on whether Mangekyou Sharingan-level genjutsu can work on perfect Jinchūriki.

……

Chapter 220 Naruto's Doubts

The battlefield, which had just experienced a major battle, was now bathed in the light of a new day. This once lush forest was now a scene of devastation after yesterday's bloody fighting.

The morning mist clung to the canyon like a shroud, and the broken lightning blade was stuck in the remains of a giant cedar in this battlefield. The remaining lightning chakra on the blade was still flickering faintly, scorching the bark with charred spiral patterns.

The land washed away by the torrential rain three days ago has been stained dark brown again, and the blood in the gullies has congealed into translucent amber.

The crow's claws dug into the hollow eye sockets of a Konoha ninja. The Konoha Chunin's throat was completely severed by the ninja sword, and the broken trachea was crawling with milky white maggots.

He clutched half of the Cloud Shadow Headband until his death, the metal edge deeply embedded in his hand bones—perhaps the last trophy left to the world by an enemy before he snapped their neck.

Neji chased away the crows, laid his companion's body flat, and waved to the group that came to collect the body.

The stream carried the scroll covered with sealing talismans eastward, and blood foam gathered in the eddies to form a bizarre human face. Downstream in the shallows, the charred corpse of a Cloud Village Jonin knelt in the river, seven still-burning explosive kunai stuck in his back. His hands were in the "Never" seal, which is usually the second to last seal in Lightning Release ninjutsu. But what ninjutsu he wanted to use is probably an eternal mystery.

A crater tens of meters in diameter on the ground was filled with honeycomb-like holes, the result of hundreds of explosive tags detonating simultaneously.

Ribs blown away by the shockwave lodged obliquely in the crack, with half a tattered green vest hanging from it. A severed hand clung tightly to the crevice, its fingernails stuffed with blue and white strips of cloth—from a Cloud Village ninja who had tried to block the explosion with his own body.

A soft rustling sound of papers turning over suddenly came from the pile of decaying leaves. A gentle breeze blew by, revealing the scene below. At the very bottom, the Konoha Chunin had not yet closed his eyes. His pupils reflected the Cloud Village headband that had been melted by the raging fire, and molten metal droplets were slowly sliding down the enemy's distorted mask.

The wind swept through the thicket of metal thorns made of thousands of thorns, emitting a mournful sound similar to that of a shakuhachi.

In the center of the battlefield, the Konoha Special Jonin, whose chest had been pierced by Lightning Release: False Darkness, still stood tall. His spine was impaled in the scorched earth by lightning-struck wooden nails. His left hand remained in a hand seal position, and the earth spear extending from the fingertips of his right hand formed a precise symmetry with the enemy's heart.

With some difficulty, Sasuke separated the body of a Konoha ninja wearing a Konoha headband, who was entangled with a Kumogakure ninja, from his opponent. This Konoha Chunin, with his abdomen pierced, still managed to use his last breath to plunge a kunai into his enemy's chest. The two died entangled together in this way.

After Sasuke laid the body flat, he reached out and closed the person's eyes. Then he signaled to the body collection team that had come from Konoha to properly preserve the body and bring it back to Konoha for burial later.

"Naruto, don't just stand there. We need to collect our comrades' bodies and bring them back to Konoha before noon," Neji said softly as he approached Naruto.

"Neji, is this war?" Naruto stood up, his lips pressed tightly together. After a while, he managed to say with difficulty, but after taking only two steps, his foot suddenly slipped.

Naruto staggered backward, his heel crushing half of his ribs. The stench suddenly became thick and sticky, like snakes crawling into his nasal cavity and coiling around his stomach. He covered his mouth tightly, and the whimpers that leaked out between his fingers startled the crows that were pecking at the brains.

Two different styles of headbands gleamed coldly amidst the pile of corpses. The Konoha ninja at the very top, lying face up, had a kunai with cloud patterns pierced into his right eye socket.

"Ugh!" Sour water mixed with the leftover instant noodles he had eaten as a midnight snack before setting off last night splashed onto the scorched earth burned by lightning. Naruto's trembling fingertips sank into the mud and touched something wet and stringy—half of an intestine wrapped with explosive tags was hanging in the gap of a corpse's leg armor.

Sasuke's kunai suddenly appeared in front of him, the tip of the blade slicing away the bluish-purple organ.

"Don't move around carelessly." Sasuke glanced around at the surroundings. "Stepping on an explosive tag trap would be troublesome."

"Are you alright?" Neji patted Naruto's back and asked with concern.

Naruto jerked his head up, his azure eyes flashing with bloodshot veins: "Why...why are they tearing people to pieces?! I'll tell you!"

The screech startled the crows that were pecking at the mangled carcass hanging on a tree branch twenty meters away. The crows scattered at the sound, and black blood trickled down from the severed neck of the headless torso.

"Whether these people are our comrades or enemies, whose fathers or sons are they? They should have family members waiting for them at home, but now they are all dead here!" Naruto roared excitedly.

“You’re right, but that’s war.” Sasuke glanced at his best friend, who was now completely emotional, shook his head, and said, “Our teacher said that war is a continuation of politics. As long as there are dirty politicians in this world trading their interests, war will never stop.”

Before Sasuke could finish speaking, he suddenly saw Naruto rushing towards a collapsed earthen wall.

Naruto was digging through the collapsed earthen wall with his bare hands, trying to drag a wounded Cloud Village soldier whose legs were trapped under the wall out.

Neji's expression suddenly changed drastically. He stepped forward and stopped Naruto, urgently reminding him, "Are you crazy? He has explosive tags hidden in his sleeve!"

"But he's still alive!" Naruto's face glowed with a golden light in the rising sun. "Hold on!"

He haphazardly wrapped medical bandages around the wounded man's still-bleeding wound, completely unaware that the man's left hand was gradually gathering chakra.

The dull thud of a kunai slicing through flesh mingled with a burst of lightning. Sasuke coldly pulled out the purple lightning bolt piercing Naruto's heart. The gleaming blade reflected Naruto's frozen expression—he had only been pulled away by Neji and had only suffered a minor arm injury. "This is what you wanted to save."

"I..." Naruto's left arm, which had been slashed, slowly recovered after a puff of smoke appeared. Neji put him down, and Naruto collapsed to the ground again, muttering repeatedly, "Why did this happen? I was trying to save him."

“The teacher is right, the ninja system in this world is seriously flawed,” Neji couldn’t help but say at this moment.