Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

At this moment, inside the sealed space, Naruto looked up at the Nine-Tails behind the sealed gate.

Instead of lying down and sleeping as usual, Kurama sat up and looked down at Naruto.

"Kid, stop overthinking. I can feel your negative emotions, and they're keeping me up at night," Nine-Tails said after a moment of silence.

"I'm sorry, Kurama-nii-san," Naruto said apologetically. "Also, thank you for the previous battle."

"Hmph, I just don't want my Jinchūriki to die such a disgraceful death," Kurama said with a cold snort.

"Nine-Tails, tell me, why must chakra be used in war, as a weapon for mutual slaughter?" Naruto suddenly sighed and asked.

Nine-Tails' gaze sharpened, his thoughts traversing time. He remembered that once, a fool just like the silly boy before him had asked him a similar question: Why, when the Sage of Six Paths founded the Ninja Cult with the intention that chakra could become a bond of communication between people, enabling them to understand each other, did chakra end up as a weapon for people to kill each other?

Back then, Kurama was carefree, living a life of eating, sleeping, and beating up Shukaku whenever it was unhappy. So, Kurama couldn't answer the question posed by that boy back then.

But thousands of years later, when faced with the same question from Naruto, Kurama recalled his experiences over those thousands of years and found that he still couldn't answer it.

"I don't know," Kurama said in a deep voice. "In my long lifespan, I have witnessed countless instances of you humans killing each other. You humans always say that we tailed beasts are the embodiment of calamity, but what I have seen over the past few thousand years is that in order to increase the efficiency of slaughtering our own kind, humans have spared no expense in spending a long time and effort to transform chakra into more powerful ninjutsu."

It has to be said that Naruto now is really like that boy from back then. They are both kind-hearted and also just as... naive.

"Is there really no way to get everyone to give up the war?" Naruto muttered to himself.

“Even powerful figures like Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage of your village, and Madara Uchiha, couldn’t completely solve this problem. Although they brought a brief period of peace, the flames of war in the ninja world reignited after they left,” Kurama said. “You humans are such a strange race.”

Hearing this, Naruto fell silent again. After a while, Naruto left the sealed space without saying a word.

"Hey bro? Naruto? Hey? Are you alright?" Deidara waved his hand repeatedly in front of Naruto.

"Brother Deidara." Naruto, looking somewhat tired, greeted him after snapping out of his daze, only to find himself atop Deidara's flying clay bird. "This is..."

“Hey, kid from the Uchiha clan, you don’t seem to be in a good mood, so I asked you to take you back to the village first,” Deidara said.

"Um, thank you," Naruto said, forcing a smile.

"Why are you being so polite with me!" Deidara slapped Naruto on the shoulder forcefully. "By the way, bro, you saw my performance last night, right? Wasn't it amazing!"

It would have been better if Deidara hadn't been mentioned, because the mere mention of it brought to mind the horrific images of enemies being engulfed by the explosions Deidara created, their final moments filled with horror.

"Big brother, do you remember how many people you killed yesterday?" Naruto asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Who knows?" Deidara shrugged. "Anyway, they were all enemies who were blown up. If they can become part of my art, they can die without regrets."

Chapter 221 Battle on the Front Lines

At the border of the Land of Hot Water, the sky, which had been perfectly clear just moments before, was suddenly covered with dark clouds. The Konoha ninja army spontaneously made way for him, and Uchiha Touko stepped forward unhurriedly, arriving at the front of the Cloud Village army. Behind him, the Fifth Hokage's divine robe fluttered in the strong wind.

"They're here." Killer Bee and Yugito looked solemnly at Uchiha Touko as he slowly approached. However, when Killer Bee saw the figure of the person Uchiha Touko was carrying, he also showed surprise.

"Big brother?" Upon seeing Ai covered in charred wounds, Killer Bee immediately wanted to rush out, but Yugito stopped him.

“Killer Bee, calm down. The Raikage is in their hands now, we can’t act rashly,” Yugito said.

"They're both here." Uchiha Touko glanced with interest at the two ninjas in front of him, who were arguably the strongest in Kumogakure besides A, and then turned to the Kumogakure member holding Konohamaru hostage, saying, "Alright, we can begin the hostage exchange."

At this moment, the other party was already covered in sweat. After all, he had to hold hostages while maintaining the activation of the explosive tags, and he also had to travel under the death stares of a group of Konoha ninjas.

When he arrived at the front line, his back was soaked with sweat, but even so, he kept holding Konohamaru by the neck.

"You should escort Lord Raikage across the border first!" the man roared.

"Is this the procedure for exchanging hostages?" Uchiha Touko narrowed his eyes. Under Uchiha Touko's gaze, the person holding Konohamaru hostage trembled uncontrollably.

"Now, quickly send Lord Raikage across the border, or I'll make this brat pay with his life!" the other party shouted, blustering but cowardly, while lifting Konohamaru up.

"Konohamaru!" Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted anxiously.

"Alright, let's do it your way then." Uchiha Touko chuckled and tossed the A in his hand at Killer Bee and Yugito like trash.

From behind Killer Bee, an octopus tentacle stretched out and curled up Ai, pulling him back into the formation.

"Big brother!" Killer Bee cried out anxiously, seeing the unconscious A. "Medical ninja! Medical ninja!"

The next moment, after seeing that the Raikage had safely returned to the formation, the man holding Konohamaru hostage suddenly revealed a fanatical expression on his face.

"Damn Konoha, die!" With that, the opponent withdrew the chakra from his hand, and the explosive tag, which was already in an activated state, instantly lit up with a blinding white light. From the beginning, he had no intention of returning alive. After seeing the Raikage safely return to the Land of Lightning, he made the choice to fight to the death without thinking.

However, the next moment, Uchiha Touko suddenly appeared in front of him. With a gentle stroke of his right hand, which was wrapped in chakra, he set up a complex sealing technique. The flames from the exploding tags instantly subsided and were gathered into the rune hand in Uchiha Touko's hand.

The next second, Uchiha Touko dragged Konohamaru back to the front line, leaving only a headless corpse behind.

“Sealing Technique…” Yugito looked at Uchiha Tokō with a very solemn expression. According to the information they had, Uchiha Tokō was not skilled in genjutsu, which was why they, as Jinchūriki, could stand in front of him with peace of mind. But the sealing technique that Uchiha Tokō was showing was even more effective at restraining Jinchūriki than genjutsu.

After all, even with the illusions of the Mangekyou Sharingan, they could still gamble on the possibility of a perfect Jinchuriki and Tailed Beast working together to resist it, but sealing techniques had always kept them firmly under their control.

Uchiha Touko threw the still unconscious Konohamaru to Sarutobi Hiruzen. After catching Konohamaru, Sarutobi Hiruzen carefully checked his beloved grandson's condition. Seeing that Konohamaru was only unconscious because the effects of the strong sleeping potion hadn't worn off, he breathed a sigh of relief. After handing Konohamaru over to a clansman nearby, Sarutobi Hiruzen also came to Uchiha Touko's side. With the two Hokage standing at the front, the morale of the Konoha side suddenly soared.

Compared to just witnessing their own Raikage being thrown back into the Cloud Village army like a dead dog, their fighting spirit had already diminished.

Then, A, who was receiving treatment from a medical ninja in the Hidden Cloud Formation, had his right arm instantly explode into a cloud of blood mist.

"Uchiha... Touko!" Killer Bee gritted his teeth and glared at Uchiha Touko when he saw his brother suddenly suffer a heavy blow. The next moment, he drew his sword and charged at Uchiha Touko.

As Killer Bee ran, his chakra surged continuously, and in no time, an octopus with a bull's head appeared before everyone.

Uchiha Touko looked at Killer Bee, who had entered his tailed beast form and was heading straight for him, and said expressionlessly without dodging or avoiding him, "I could have resolved all of this within the territory, but do you know why I brought it here to resolve it?"

Uchiha Touko's eyes surged with ocular power, which, after mixing with chakra, transformed into a jet-black martial god. With a single punch, he slammed the charging Gyu-oni into the ground. The jet-black martial god looked down at the Cloud Village members before him and coldly said, "Because I want you to witness firsthand the miserable state of your Raikage, and then I will show you the consequences of provoking Konoha."

The enormous, jet-black war god raised its two long swords high. In an instant, thunderclouds gathered, and Susanoo's two exclusive divine weapons, Futsu-no-Mitama and Ame-no-Habakiri, were fully charged in the lightning. They unleashed two sword beams, one on the left and one on the right, powerful enough to cleave the sky, sweeping towards the Hidden Cloud Formation.

Upon seeing this scene, the Gyūki, who had been knocked to the ground by Susanoo, quickly got up and retreated, blocking the way for the Cloud Village army.

"Yataru!" Yugito shouted, completing his Tailed Beast Transformation. He transformed into a cat demon engulfed in dark blue flames. Together with Gyuki, he opened his mouth wide, and a jet-black Tailed Beast Ball rapidly condensed in front of them before flying one after the other toward the incoming lightning sword light.

A massive explosion resounded across the vast plains bordering the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Lightning. Although the two Tailed Beast Balls significantly reduced the damage of Uchiha Touko Slash, the hasty preparations were insufficient to completely block this attack imbued with divine might. The remaining lightning swept in, and the two Tailed Beasts, seeing this, could only stand in front of the army, using their bodies to block the attack.

The two enormous tailed beasts were slammed heavily onto the Cloud Hidden Formation. A huge wound appeared on the body of the Eight-Tails Gyūki, while the Two-Tails Matatabi was directly forced back to its original form.

Chapter 222 The War Begins

"Uchiha Touko, does Konoha intend to start a full-scale war with Kumogakure?" Seeing that his two Jinchuriki had suffered a great loss in the first exchange, Kumogakure's commander, Hijiri, quickly stepped forward and asked.

The massive Susanoo sheathed its sword, and Uchiha Touko coldly said, "By kidnapping Konoha's children within the Land of Fire, weren't you Kumogakure already prepared to wage war against Konoha?"

"Do you, the Hokage, have the right to declare a formal war between our two countries?" Xi said at this moment.

That's true. Generally speaking, between two countries, only the daimyo can announce the official declaration of war.

However, at this moment, in the Daimyo's palace in Konoha, Minamoto no Yukichi, who used to only give his teacher the final decision on major issues, was now shouting that he wanted to go to war with the Land of Lightning!

Despite the ministers' repeated attempts to persuade him, Gen Yuxie seemed determined to wage war against the other side, slamming his hand on his chair.

In the end, it was Miura Kazuo who suggested waiting for Uchiha Touko to return before making a decision, which finally persuaded the child to back down.

The reason why Genjiro Yukyo reacted so strongly, which was unusual, was mainly because the person who was kidnapped was Konohamaru.

Konohamaru can be said to be Minamoto no Miyabi's only friend of the same age. How close are the two? More than a year ago, this kid suddenly had a crazy idea and secretly wanted to grant Konohamaru a noble title. It can be said that if Miura Kazuo hadn't reported it to Uchiha Touko, and Uchiha Touko and Sarutobi Hiruzen had jointly stopped it, their Sarutobi clan would have produced a noble in this generation, and it would be the kind of hereditary title.

It could be said that after Hiruzen Sarutobi gradually became marginalized in the village, Konohamaru's words in the village might have carried more weight than Hiruzen's.

How could Genji be not furious that the Cloud Village dared to kidnap their Land of Fire's One-Word King?

……

Looking at the ambiguous smile on Uchiha Touko's face in the crystal head of Susanoo, Xi realized that she might have said the wrong thing. It seemed that Konoha's declaration of war by the Daimyo was really just a matter of a single word from the man in front of her.

Given the current situation, Yunyin is now trapped here, unable to advance or retreat.

If they fight, their Raikage of Kumogakure is no match for Uchiha Tokō. Their two Jinchūriki are like toys in front of his complete Susanoo. If they retreat, Kumogakure will probably have to pay a huge price to escape unscathed. Moreover, the initiative to fight or not fight is now completely in the hands of the other side.

"Konoha ninjas." At that moment, Uchiha Touko's cold voice echoed throughout the battlefield from within the crystal above Susanoo's head.

"At this moment, dark clouds are pressing in! The iron hooves of the Hidden Clouds, driven by greed and arrogance, are trampling the borders of peace and issuing the most despicable challenge to everything we cherish—our homeland, our loved ones, and the 'Will of Fire' passed down through generations!"

Uchiha Touko's voice suddenly rose in pitch, carrying the sharpness unique to the Uchiha clan.

"Did they think Konoha would become weak after experiencing pain? Did they think the previous Shinobi World Wars had broken Konoha's backbone? They were sorely mistaken!"

"Look around you! Look behind you! Look at the gazes of the Hokage of each generation fixed on the village! The First Hokage created peace with his unparalleled power, the Second Hokage laid the foundation with his iron fist and wisdom, the Third Hokage protected the flame with compassion, the Fourth Hokage forged a protective wall with his life... and me!"

At this moment, everyone in Konoha could see the figure inside Susanoo, and see the five large gold-embossed characters "Fifth Hokage" fluttering on the divine robe that moved without wind.

"He is the Fifth Hokage, who inherited this will and power! He is the guardian who carries the blood of the Uchiha and bears the name of Hokage! The Sharingan of the Uchiha can see through illusions, perceive the truth, and burn away all enemies that come against it! The Will of Fire of Konoha is never afraid of any storm; it will only burn more fiercely in adversity!"

"The lightning of Kumogakure? Let them strike! But remember, the Will of Fire of Konoha is enough to burn mountains and boil seas! Their arrogance will be shattered before our will to defend our homeland! Their ambition will be completely...buried by the kunai in our hands and the flames in our hearts!"

"Today, we fight not to conquer, not to plunder! We fight to protect! To protect the lights under the eaves, to protect the peaceful smiles of every child sleeping in the village, to fight for this land of fire that has borne all our laughter and tears!"

"I, the Fifth Hokage Uchiha Touko, hereby declare: Where the leaves of Konoha dance, the fire will never cease! And today, we are the flames that burn away our enemies! I will stand with you! My Sharingan will reflect the bravery of every warrior; my ninjutsu will pave the way to your victory!"

Uchiha Touko drew his Lightning Blade from his waist, its tip pointing directly towards the Hidden Cloud Village. The cold light reflected in his blood-red eyes as he unleashed a final, soul-shaking roar:

"Konoha ninja! Grip your weapons! Ignite your chakra! Let the enemy witness the true power of Konoha ninja! Today, some of you may die, but victory will surely be ours!"

"For Konoha—"

As soon as the words fell, a deafening roar erupted on the battlefield: "For Konoha! Hokage-sama!"

Their fighting spirit ignited like wildfire, instantly setting the hearts of every Konoha ninja on fire.

"What should we do? Is war about to break out?" Seeing this, an elite Jonin from Kumogakure couldn't help but ask.

“We have no other choice now,” Xi said with a wry smile. “Now, we can only hope that the chakra cannon can break through Susanoo’s defenses.”

“But, Lord Hiei, the chakra cannon hasn’t been tested yet…” the elite Jonin from Kumogakure said hesitantly, “And if we were to go to war, our morale would be…”

Before the elite Jonin of Kumogakure could finish speaking, Xi turned to look at the situation in his own ranks. Faced with the giant Susanoo that had defeated two of their Jinchuriki with a single blow, most of the Kumogakure members had a hint of fear in their eyes. Moreover, the white-clad soldiers in their ranks seemed to be wavering.

With racial tensions in Kumogakure escalating, these white ninjas see this conflict as entirely their incompetent black Raikage's fault for instigating trouble and failing to defeat the enemy. Now that war is about to break out, they, the white ninjas, are expected to fight for them. Why should they be expected to do so?

As a white man, Xi had once been approached by these white ninjas in the village who wanted to elect him as their leader. Xi knew all too well what these white men were thinking.

However, the current situation seems to leave them no room for hesitation. With the other side clearly unwilling to let them go, the Cloud Hidden Sect has no choice but to bite the bullet and accept the challenge.

For Uchiha Touko, starting a war with Kumogakure at this time is not a good choice. Judging from the current development speed of the Land of Fire, in three years at most, their unification war will be a one-sided affair. Konoha will complete the unification of the ninja world as quickly as possible, thus allowing the entire ninja world to preserve more living forces to deal with the possible alien crisis that may occur in the future.

However, with Kumogakure openly provoking Konoha, Uchiha Touko naturally had no reason to let them off the hook. First of all, the people of Konoha recognized him as the Fifth Hokage not only because his strength was indeed unparalleled in the entire village, but also because they believed that he could protect the village. Now that Kumogakure had extended its reach into their village and kidnapped the grandson of the former Hokage, if he could not make Kumogakure pay the price, it would be a huge blow to his reputation in the village.

"All troops, attack!" Uchiha Touko's cold voice resounded throughout the battlefield. Susanoo drew its long sword from its waist, pointing it directly at the enemy. The next moment, the Konoha ninja behind him, led by Kakashi, charged towards the Cloud Village's lines.

At that moment, a figure wielding a long staff swiftly flew out, overtaking Kakashi and arriving beside Uchiha Touko's Susanoo. After a series of leaps, the figure landed on the Susanoo's shoulder.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, turned to look at Touko Uchiha within the crystal above Susanoo's head and asked, "Touko, do you need me to create thunderclouds for your technique?"