Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

Under Kakashi's genjutsu, the Sharingan pattern resembling the Fuma Shuriken quickly appeared in the Two-Tails' eyes, and then it lowered its head.

Kakashi turned to Uchiha Touko, shrugged, and said nothing more.

"Get out of here." Seeing this, Uchiha Touko removed the sealing technique from the Two-Tails and waved to Kakashi, signaling him to get lost and stop getting in the way.

Kakashi's lips twitched slightly, but he knew this wasn't the time to joke around with Uchiha Touko. After opening a spatial portal beside him, he and the Two-Tails disappeared into the center of the battlefield.

At this moment, Uchiha Touko also raised his head, looking at the thunderclouds in the sky that had grown so large that they covered the battlefield for several miles. The thunderclouds created by the Third Hokage's combination ninjutsu were larger than any of the Lightning Release: Kirin Uchiha Touko had ever used before. The thunderous power contained within them was so great that even Uchiha Touko was secretly shocked. If he were to use Kirin Uchiha, would there be any survivors in the Cloud Village on this battlefield?

"The old man is quite efficient." Uchiha Touko turned his head and glanced at Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was bombarding him with combination ninjutsu. Sarutobi Hiruzen also felt Uchiha Touko's gaze and nodded at him.

The next moment, Uchiha Touko's Susanoo rose from the ground, its wings flapping, and its body slowly ascended into the air, arriving below the thunderclouds.

After Kakashi returned to the village with the tailed beasts, Inuzuka Jacques, who took over command of the battlefield, ordered a full retreat.

For a moment, the pressure on the Cloud Village troops on the front line was greatly reduced. However, seeing this situation, Xi's face showed a look of horror. According to the intelligence they had gathered on Uchiha Touko, if the Lightning Release: Kirin was successfully activated, they would all perish here.

"Lord Hokage! We are willing to surrender, please show mercy!" At this moment, Xi disregarded the lightning that could fall from above at any moment, took the initiative to stand on higher ground, and shouted at the top of his lungs. With the Raikage's life or death unknown, they had already lost a Jinchūriki. If all of their forces were to perish here, it would be something that Kumogakure simply could not afford.

Therefore, no matter the cost, Xi must do everything possible to save the lives of the Cloud Village members currently on the battlefield.

"Oh? Are you willing to surrender?" Uchiha Touko looked down at Xi, his eyes flickering slightly.

If he could, he wouldn't want to start a full-scale war with Kumogakure at this time. After all, if the two sides were to enter into a full-scale war, then that old codger Onoki and Mei Terumi, who was determined to reclaim the rightful inheritance of Kirigakure, would not waste the opportunity. In that case, it would directly lead to the Fourth Shinobi World War.

With Konoha's current strength, even if war were to break out now, Uchiha Touko would be confident of winning the Ninja World War and unifying the Ninja World. However, this would contradict his plan to accumulate strength, quickly conquer the Ninja World, and then gather the power of the Ninja World to fight against the alien crisis that may appear in the future.

If a war breaks out now, the entire ninja world will inevitably suffer heavy losses. Even after unifying the ninja world, Uchiha Touko will have to spend a considerable amount of time cleaning up the mess. He hasn't forgotten that besides Kaguya, who is sealed on the moon, there is also a member of the Otsutsuki clan lurking in the shadows, watching them with predatory eyes.

Therefore, faced with Xi's voluntary surrender, Uchiha Touko also temporarily stopped what he was doing, looked down at Xi, and coldly said: "Want to surrender? Fine, have your people put down their weapons and then accept the chakra seal."

"Alright, please give us some time, Hokage!" Xi nodded hurriedly as he looked at the increasingly violent lightning in the thunderclouds. The most urgent task now was to preserve the lives of these ninjas as much as possible.

"You only have 10 minutes, or you can go talk to me using my Lightning Release: Kirin." Uchiha Touko said slowly, his back to the lightning.

"Yes, thank you for your mercy, Hokage." Xi said, while simultaneously issuing the order to lay down their weapons.

Upon receiving the order, the white ninjas in the Cloud Village immediately laid down their weapons and lined up in formation, while the black ninjas seemed rather unconvinced by the order given by Xi.

"We've lost so many brothers, and Lord Raikage and Lord Killer Bee are both seriously injured. Are we just going to surrender like this?" A black elite Jonin from Kumogakure said, his face covered in blood.

Faced with the current unrest among his men, Xi felt utterly helpless. He couldn't help but miss the days when the Hidden Cloud Village was united regardless of skin color. But since rap culture became popular in the Land of Lightning, Xi realized that things could never go back to the way they were before.

"This is an order!" At this moment, Xi had no choice but to be tough, otherwise once the lightning in the sky fell, all of them, regardless of whether they were black or white, would be turned into charred corpses.

"Hmph, you white people think you can seize power while the Raikage is injured? Don't even think about it!" the black elite Jonin said through gritted teeth.

"Shut up! Do you want everyone to die with you?" Xi shouted angrily.

"Do you still think A can continue to be the Raikage?" At this moment, a white man said through gritted teeth, "If he hadn't provoked Konoha, we wouldn't be in this situation."

"You bastard, have you forgotten the Will of Lightning?" the black Jonin roared back defiantly.

"Shut up, all of you!" At this moment, hope was also furious about the dispute caused by skin color. She gritted her teeth and forcefully stopped the argument. "Now that the Raikage is not here, I am the supreme person in charge of this war! We are surrendering now to preserve the village's fighting force for the future of the village! So, now you all put down your ridiculous skin color differences and obey orders!"

After Xi Zhen became enraged, this person, who had always served as the Raikage's deputy, forcefully took over command of the army based on his usual prestige. Then, under the watchful gaze of Uchiha Touko in the sky, the remaining Cloud Village soldiers laid down their weapons.

At this moment, Uchiha Touko also released Susanoo and landed on the ground. After forming a series of hand seals, he set up a large-area sealing technique array on the ground, signaling the other party to line up and step forward.

He sighed, then led the team onto the sealing formation. In no time, a series of sealing runes wrapped around his body, sealing all his chakra.

Xi also had some knowledge of sealing techniques, so the moment he was sealed, he began to examine the sealing runes on his body. However, after some exploration, he could only shake his head with a wry smile. His sealing technique skills were not bad, but at this moment he couldn't even understand the runes on his body.

After the remaining Cloud Village troops had accepted the seal, the Konoha ninjas stepped forward to receive the prisoners.

Without Uchiha Touko's guidance, the cumulonimbus clouds in the sky turned into a torrential downpour after a brief flash of lightning and thunder, carrying away the blood from the battlefield.

At this moment, Uchiha Touko and Sarutobi Hiruzen also arrived in front of Hi.

"You must be Hii, the one that A called his right-hand man, nice to meet you," Uchiha Touko said coldly.

"I should be the one saying it's a pleasure to meet you. Konoha's Azure Lightning Dokko truly lives up to its reputation." Although Xi was covered in sealing runes and couldn't use any chakra, and was also handcuffed, he still maintained the most basic manners when facing Uchiha Dokko.

"To be honest, I thought you guys were going to just retreat." Uchiha Touko sized up the person in front of him, then said with a smile.

“I am not good at running,” Xi said, shaking his head. “Besides, I don’t think we can escape the range of your Lightning Release ninjutsu in a short time.”

"Heh, you're much smarter than your Raikage," Uchiha Touko laughed. "If you were the Raikage of Kumogakure, I think none of this would have happened."

Faced with Uchiha Touko's almost provocative question, Hii ​​chose to quietly skip the topic, after all, he didn't want to become like Takagi Seiman of Kumogakure.

"What does Lord Hokage intend to do with us?" Xi asked.

"Hehe, that depends on the sincerity of your Land of Lightning," said Uchiha Tokō. "In any case, you can stay in the prison of the Land of Hot Water for a while."

Seeing this situation, Xi could only remain silent.

Soon, the group of Cloud Village prisoners were taken to the prison in the Land of Hot Water. After throwing the Two-Tails into the Tailed Beast Protection Area within the territory, Kakashi came to the Land of Hot Water to guard the group of prisoners.

As for whether the Two-Tails will cause trouble after arriving at the protected area, the combination of Saiken, who has been eating and drinking well in the Tailed Beast Protected Area recently, and Fu and Chongming, who are currently serving as rangers in the Tailed Beast Nature Reserve of the Land of Fire, will teach the little sister some manners.

After Kakashi took over the guarding of the prisoners, Uchiha Touko returned to Konoha overnight.

If Kumogakure wanted to exchange these prisoners for them, it would simply be a matter of ceding territory and paying reparations. But these things couldn't be resolved in a short time. On the contrary, Uchiha Tokō had more important things to do right now.

This was, after all, the first military conflict Konoha had experienced since he took office. Although they had won a great victory, the special identity of the person who sparked the conflict meant that if Uchiha Touko did not handle the post-war affairs properly, it could easily lead to unrest within Konoha under the manipulation of some people with ulterior motives.

Therefore, after returning to the village, Uchiha Touko immediately ordered that the names of the ninjas who sacrificed their lives in this military conflict be engraved on the Konoha Heroes Monument, and announced that a public memorial service would be held for the ninjas who sacrificed their lives three days later.

Chapter 225 Reactions from All Parties

By this time, many other forces in the ninja world had also figured out what had happened inside Konoha.

Upon receiving the news, Onoki immediately locked himself in the quiet room of the Tsuchikage Building and pondered over the chessboard all night. To be honest, he didn't understand what A was thinking, daring to directly provoke an Uchiha who possessed the Complete Body Susanoo.

"Father, should we still send troops to aid Yunyin?" After waiting all night, Huang Tu took the initiative to enter the quiet room. However, as soon as he spoke, he saw on the chessboard in front of his father that his king was already surrounded by the enemy. Within three moves at most, it would be a dead end.

"Has the situation become this dire, Father?" Huang Tu hurriedly asked. He knew that Onoki liked to use shogi to sort out his thoughts when facing difficulties, but even during the Third Shinobi World War, when the Kannabi Bridge was blown up and their army had major problems with replenishment, the chessboard that Onoki set up was far less dangerous than it is today.

At this moment, Onoki also came to his senses, looked up at the yellow earth, and then instructed: "In the name of Iwagakure, issue a statement in the ninja world, strongly condemning the actions of Kumogakure, and then send a message of condolence to Konoha."

"As for aiding Kumogakure... let's forget about it. If we join in, it will be the Fourth Shinobi World War. If we hadn't experienced the war with Takigakure, we could have tried to seize some benefits from it, but now..."

Onoki shook his head, his face full of helplessness: "More importantly, in the current ninja world, no one can stop Uchiha Tokō."

"Has Uchiha Touko really become this powerful?" Huang Tu was somewhat puzzled.

"Fighting two battles in one night, first severely injuring A, and then defeating two tailed beasts single-handedly, this kind of strength has already exceeded the scope of a Kage." Onoki sighed, "I have only seen two people who have such strength, one is Hashirama Senju, and the other is Madara Uchiha."

“Decades later, the Uchiha clan produced another figure like Uchiha Madara, but the ninja world could no longer find another Senju Hashirama to stop him,” Onoki said.

“However, Father, this Fifth Hokage seems to be a peace-loving person. After all, according to the intelligence, they not only accepted the surrender of Kumogakure, but also did not launch a counterattack against the Land of Lightning. It seems that they want to let this matter end here,” Huang Tu said at this moment.

"Heh, a love of peace?" Onoki shook his head as if he had heard something unbelievable, and said with a wry smile, "If the Fifth Hokage's surname was Senju, then I would really believe that he loved peace. But his surname is Uchiha."

“Uchiha…” Huang Tu nodded upon hearing this. “It is indeed hard to believe that they pursue peace with this surname.”

"No, the Uchiha clan does pursue peace." Onoki corrected his son at this moment. "The strong members of this clan throughout history, after reaching a certain level of strength, must have thought about the ultimate question of peace."

"Huh?" Huang Tu looked surprised upon hearing this.

“Take Madara Uchiha back then, for example. What he sought was to end the chaos of the Warring States period and usher in an era of peace. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have started the current era of ninja villages together with Hashirama Senju,” Onoki said. “However, not everyone can accept the Uchiha clan’s conclusions about peace.”

"We no longer know the specifics of Madara Uchiha's plan, but if his plan were truly acceptable to people, even the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, wouldn't have stopped him," Onoki sighed. "The same goes for Tokyo Uchiha now. I believe that he, with the blood of the Uchiha clan flowing through his veins, is pursuing long-term peace, but no one can predict the impact his plan will have on the ninja world."

If Uchiha Touki were here, he would probably have to admit that sometimes the person who understands you best is actually your opponent. Onoki's understanding of the Uchiha clan probably far surpasses that of most people in the ninja world.

Throughout the ninja world, most people's impression of the Uchiha clan is that they are powerful, cold-blooded, and extremely dangerous.

However, Onoki was able to see the Uchiha clan's deeply hidden core beneath this facade. The last outsider to understand the Uchiha clan so well was probably only Tobirama Senju.

However, it is precisely because of his understanding of the Uchiha clan that Onoki is able to better understand the danger hidden beneath the peaceful facade currently displayed by Uchiha Tokkou.

To put it bluntly, if the Uchiha clan were just a bunch of fanatical warmongers, then Tobirama Senju wouldn't have been so wary of them. But the fact that every now and then a madman with superhuman strength would emerge from this clan, and that madman would always be thinking about grand topics like world peace, made them extremely terrifying.

"So, is there really no way to stop him?" Huang Tu, after understanding the matter under his father's guidance, also felt a chill run down his spine.

"Given the current situation, we can only hope that another Hashirama Senju will emerge in the ninja world," Onoki said helplessly, glancing down at the chessboard in front of him, which had already reached a dead end.

"The only good news is that this new-era Uchiha Madara isn't particularly ruthless," Onoki said. "If that day really comes, the people of the Land of Earth shouldn't suffer too much harm."

"Oh, right, let's remove the bounty on Deidara." Thinking of this, Onoki suddenly remembered his troublesome disciple and casually gave the order.

"I understand." Huang Tu nodded. After a while, looking at his father's somewhat desolate figure and the unsolvable chessboard in the quiet room, Huang Tu hesitated for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Father, when that day comes, will we, the people of Iwagakure, have no choice but to surrender?"

"Hands up and surrender? How could that be?" Onoki's eyes suddenly sharpened after hearing Huang Tu's question. "Even if we in Iwagakure have no chance of winning when that day comes, we will show them what our Will of Stone is. Our Iwagakure does not have scum like Takagi Seiman."

"Only in this way can the ninjas of our Land of Earth truly have a place in the new era." Onoki said, picking up the king that was surrounded on the chessboard, and with a resolute look in his eyes, he made a desperate move to charge forward.

……

In the Hokage's office in Konoha, Uchiha Touko stood by the window, watching the construction of the Konoha Heroes Memorial outside.

Inside the office, Nagato and Konan sat on the sofa, watching Uchiha Touko's back without saying a word to disturb him. Instead, they quietly drank the tea that Uchiha Touko had brewed for them.

"Please excuse my rudeness. I originally thought we could finalize the specific cooperation plan that day, but I didn't expect this to happen." After a while, Uchiha Touko turned around and said, and sat down in front of the two of them.

"Your Excellency Hokage is too kind. After all, no one could have predicted that Kumogakure would do such a thing," Nagato said. "However, I do have some questions that Your Excellency Hokage needs to answer for me. Why doesn't Your Excellency Hokage take this opportunity to launch a counterattack on the Land of Lightning? After all, for Konoha, with the Raikage seriously injured and one of Kumogakure's two Jinchūriki dead and the other wounded, Konoha is fully capable of taking advantage of this opportunity to occupy the Land of Lightning."

“Yes, Konoha is indeed capable of conquering the Land of Lightning right now,” Uchiha Touko said. “However, the Fourth Shinobi World War will follow immediately. Although I am confident that Konoha and our allies will be the final victors in this war, how many meaningless sacrifices will there be in the process? How many civilians will lose everything they have worked so hard for because of this hasty war?”

“I understand.” Nagato nodded. “I was naive. I shouldn’t have questioned your pursuit of peace before.”

It wasn't until he heard Uchiha Touko's answer that Nagato truly trusted everything Uchiha Touko had said before. Before he was fortunate enough to meet Jiraiya and become a ninja, he was a civilian who had truly experienced the pain of war. Therefore, after hearing Uchiha Touko's answer, Nagato also let down his last bit of defense and was ready to fully cooperate with Uchiha Touko.

"Hokage, in a while, I will send the Five-Tails to the Tailed Beast Protection Area in the Land of Fire," Nagato said at this moment. "After that, I wonder what your plans are for the Akatsuki organization?"

“For now, let’s keep your Akatsuki organization operating in the ninja world as mercenaries,” Uchiha Touko said with a smile. “After all, if your organization were to lay bare its full strength and openly cooperate with Konoha, that old man Onoki would get restless. Before we are fully prepared, it’s best not to provoke that old man’s fragile nerves.”

“Alright.” Nagato nodded, then glanced back at Konan.

Konan took out a beautiful little box from the sealing scroll she carried with her, and then presented it to Uchiha Touko with both hands.

"Please accept this," Nagato said with a smile, looking at Uchiha Touko.

"What is this?" Uchiha Touko opened the box with some curiosity. Inside, a light gold ring lay quietly. On the special chakra gemstone above the ring, the character "Wei" was engraved.

“This is the medium for casting one of the special abilities of the Rinnegan, the Illusionary Body Technique. With this, if you need anything from the Akatsuki, you can contact me at any time,” Nagato said. “As for the meaning of this code name, our Akatsuki's code names are all named after constellations or divine beasts. I think nothing can represent you better than the legendary Emperor of Stars, Ziwei Star. This is also our Akatsuki's sincerity.”

Chapter 226 Naruto's Abnormality

Uchiha Touko took the ring out of the box. The ring looked like a thumb ring, so Uchiha Touko put it on his right thumb and put a little chakra into it, which was like registering an account on the Akatsuki's video conferencing software.

"Mr. Pain, you're very kind," Uchiha Touko nodded and smiled.