This Water Shadow is very strong, but overly cautious.

And this is something that everyone in Konoha knows.

The three ninjas can have their current status, except for Tsunade, the other two can reach this point today, which is inseparable from Sarutobi Hiruzen.

In other words, the "Three Ninjas" is actually a "golden signboard" created by Sarutobi Hiruzen and the four-person group behind him.

At a time when Konoha is full of talented people, the reason why the three ninjas have the opportunity to lead the army alone to fight against the famous Hanzo of the Salamander in the ninja world is inseparable from the strong support behind Sarutobi Hiruzen.

And whenever the three ninjas achieve something, do you think the people of Konoha will directly praise them for how excellent they are?

wrong.

The first thing everyone would say is that it was thanks to the Third Hokage’s good teaching that he was able to cultivate three such outstanding apprentices.

Therefore, no matter what honor the Sannin obtains, the Third Hokage, as their master and guide, will also benefit from it.

With the support of the three ninjas, Sarutobi Hiruzen's position as Hokage will only become increasingly stable.

That’s not all. Once Tsunade and the other three grow up and truly enter the upper echelons of Konoha, they can also assist Sarutobi Hiruzen in suppressing major ninja clans such as the Hyuga and Uchiha clans, forming a constraint.

These are Sarutobi Hiruzen's plans and the benefits he can gain.

The same is true from the perspective of the Three Ninjas.

First of all, without Sarutobi Hiruzen's kindness, regardless of Tsunade's wealth and power, Orochimaru and Jiraiya would probably still be in some unknown corner at this time.

Secondly, from a long-term perspective, Sarutobi Hiruzen is now only fifty years old, and his strength has gradually declined from his peak and is on a downward slope.

Even though Sarutobi Hiruzen was getting stronger with age, and nothing unexpected happened, he held the position of Hokage for another twenty years.

What happens next? To whom should his legacy be passed?

It's almost a no-brainer that he must be one of the three disciples who are the political extension of the Third Hokage!

Even twenty years later, the three ninjas at that time were only in their forties, still in the prime of a ninja, and fully capable of shouldering the responsibility of Hokage.

In other words, from the perspective of the three ninjas, as long as Sarutobi Hiruzen can continue to hold the position of Hokage, the position of the Fourth Hokage will sooner or later be their turn.

In this way, there is no conflict of interest between the two parties.

Therefore, on the surface, the three ninjas and Sarutobi Hiruzen share the same fate.

It can be said that when Sarutobi Hiruzen sent the Sannin as the commander-in-chief to go to the Land of Rain to fight against Hanzo of the Salamander, he had already placed all his chips on the Sannin.

It is precisely because of this that the three ninjas have the people, money, and supplies they need.

Sarutobi Hiruzen handed over all his most elite team members to the three ninjas.

After much effort, the Rain Country turned the war situation from passive to active, and victory was not far away.

But at this moment, Hatake Sakumo suddenly appeared and became an existence that Sarutobi Hiruzen could not tolerate.

Chapter 478: The Kite That Cannot Be Retrieved

Therefore, on the surface, it seems that Hatake Sakumo defeating Sunagakure is a good thing.

But in fact, because Hatake Sakumo moved too fast, it was not good news for Sarutobi Hiruzen and the Sannin.

Especially for Sarutobi Hiruzen, the "threat" posed by Hatake Sakumo seems to be imminent.

There is no other reason, it is very direct, because at this time Hatake Sakumo is already able to threaten Sarutobi Hiruzen's position as Hokage!

At first glance, this statement seems absurd, because Hatake Sakumo was sent by Sarutobi Hiruzen to lead the army, and he also served as the ANBU chief, a close confidant of the Hokage.

No matter how you look at it, Hatake Sakumo should be Sarutobi Hiruzen's confidant, so how could he compete with Sarutobi Hiruzen for the position of Hokage?

In any case, Sarutobi Hiruzen should not be afraid of Hatake Sakumo.

But the tricks involved are far from as simple as imagined.

There are several factions within Konoha.

The largest faction is naturally the "Hokage faction" that started with Hashirama Senju and has been passed down from generation to generation.

Hatake Sakumo, the current head of the Hatake family, a small ninja clan, was noticed by Sarutobi Hiruzen and promoted because of his outstanding abilities, and took the position of Anbu Minister.

From this perspective, Hatake Sakumo, who was born into a small ninja clan and was promoted by Sarutobi Hiruzen, is also a member of the "Hokage system".

But the reason is actually very simple. Even people from the same "Hokage series" are divided into distant relatives and close relatives.

There is no doubt that compared with the three ninjas, Hatake Sakumo 827 is just a very marginalized chess piece in Sarutobi Hiruzen's hands.

This can be seen from his position as the Minister of Konoha An.

After all, Konoha's Anbu is not the same as Kirigakure's Anbu, and he holds power second only to the Mizukage.

On the contrary, the Konoha Anbu is an extremely marginalized figure among the village's senior leaders.

The positioning of Konoha's Anbu is actually very awkward. It has Danzo's Root organization above it and the Uchiha clan's security forces below it, sandwiched in the middle, seeming to be neither up nor down.

Because both Danzo's Root and Uchiha's security forces have overlapping functions with Anbu.

The Dark Department is essentially an organization that exists to help the Shadow deal with some shady matters.

To do some tasks such as assassination, aftermath, guarding the village and some orders passed down by private individuals.

At present, the relationship between Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo is obviously not as tense as it will be in later generations, and the small group of the four Hokage is generally harmonious.

Therefore, Sarutobi Hiruzen now trusts Danzo relatively more.

He would leave all the "dirty work" to Danzo without any scruples.

This is equivalent to directly stripping away an important function of the Anbu. The establishment of Gen is tantamount to using the resources that originally belonged to the Anbu to start a new business and steal the Anbu's work.

As for some "hard work", such as patrolling, village defense and public security, they are all undertaken by the security force led by the Uchiha clan.

The security force was an idea devised by the Second Hokage in order to divide and win over the Uchiha clan.

From a big picture perspective, the establishment of the security force did divide the Uchiha clan and successfully isolated the Uchiha from other departments and institutions of the village.

But some are happy and some are sad. Those who are happy are naturally the senior leaders of the Hokage department, and those who are sad are naturally the Anbu chiefs of Konoha.

Because the security forces are responsible for public security and the power to guard the village, which was also snatched from the Anbu.

Therefore, after the division between the two generations of Hokage, the power of the Anbu was completely divided into three parts.

The "dirty work" returns to the root.

The "hard work" is done by the security forces.

Only the remaining odds and ends will be the turn of the Anbu.

And if you think about it, you know that the "Dark" department, a department named after dark, is supposed to do dirty and tiring work. The work in hand is neither dirty nor tiring, so what's the point of being a dark department?

From this, we can imagine the embarrassment of Konoha's Anbu and the position of Hatake Sakumo, who is in charge of the Anbu, in Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart.

That’s not all. There is another important reason why Sarutobi Hiruzen has always deliberately distanced himself from Hatake Sakumo.

That is Hatake Sakumo, who joined Sarutobi Hiruzen's team halfway through his career.

Hatake Sakumo, unlike Mito Kado En and the other four, does not have a close relationship with Sarutobi Hiruzen as a "second-generation disciple".

Nor is he like the three golden ninjas that Sarutobi Hiruzen has been painstakingly cultivating, and he has a master-disciple relationship with Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Hatake Sakumo joined Sarutobi Hiruzen's army midway through the war.

The reason why he joined Sarutobi Hiruzen's army was because Sarutobi Hiruzen valued his strength and wanted to recruit him for some use.

Under such circumstances, Sarutobi Hiruzen naturally could not completely trust the flag bearer Kisakumo.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had no other choice but to send Hatake Sakumo to lead the army to fight against Sunagakure.

Otherwise, we can't send Danzo or Uchiha Hinata, right?

The "internal threat" Danzo, and the "external threat" Hyuga Uchiha, at most Hatake Sakumo, who only had some hidden dangers, naturally were nothing.

And in Sarutobi Hiruzen's plan, the Rain Country, which has a large supply of materials and many elite troops, should end the war first.

As for Hatake Sakumo, as long as they can hold back the Sand Ninja, they will win.

What Sarutobi Hiruzen never expected was that Hatake Sakumo was so powerful!

He defeated the Sand Village in just a few moves.

Now, the taste has changed immediately!

Sarutobi Hiruzen had no choice but to continue thinking backwards from this angle.

This time when Hatake Sakumo returns to Konoha, his reputation in the village will inevitably reach a peak due to his achievement of defeating the Sand Village head-on.

Even if the subsequent three ninjas defeated Hanzo of the Salamander, they could not be compared with Hatake Sakumo.

One weak step leads to weaker steps.

Sarutobi Hiruzen understood this principle very clearly.

Moreover, there are three Sannin, while Hatake Sakumo is just one.

How can a Sannin like this fight against Hatake Sakumo?

And Hatake Sakumo will inevitably step directly to the forefront from an unknown and transparent Anbu minister.

In this case, would Hatake Sakumo want to "go one step further" at that time?

Because you have to know that Hatake Sakumo, who has the strength of a Kage, is fully capable of succeeding the throne of Hokage!

And through the battle with Sunagakure, he also gained enough fame.

Which Konoha ninja wouldn't want to be Hokage?

In the short term, Sarutobi Hiruzen can still stabilize the situation, but over time, Hatake Sakumo's reputation will become stronger and stronger, while Sarutobi Hiruzen's reputation will become increasingly weak.

What else can he use to stop Hatake Sakumo from taking the throne then?

This is not over yet, maybe he won't be able to wait until that time.

Now that Hatake Sakumo has stepped to the forefront, will some marginal forces that have long been excluded by Sarutobi Hiruzen come to Hatake Sakumo, and then, since Hatake Sakumo is in the limelight, will they directly push him to the top?

For example, Uchiha, Hyuga, or even Danzo? !!!

No one expected the situation to develop like this, not even Sarutobi Hiruzen himself.

But since things have already happened, Sarutobi Hiruzen had to prepare for the future and choose to strike first.

Thinking of this, Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes felt a little cold.

Ordering the Rain Country battlefield to speed up the process and get rid of Salamander Hanzo as soon as possible is only a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution.

In order to deal with everything thoroughly, it is necessary to "eradicate" it directly at the root.

Where the kite flies depends on the person flying the kite.

If the kite flies too high and cannot be retrieved, the kite flyer can only choose to cut the rope directly.

Because continuing to try to control an uncontrollable kite will only waste time.

It’s better to cut the rope and look for the next new kite.

A hint of depth flashed in Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes, and he once again took a puff on the pipe in his hand.

Soon after, the Hokage's office was filled with smoke.

Chapter 479: Man proposes, God disposes

The war between Sunagakure and Konoha could not be hidden from the eyes and ears of other forces in the ninja world.

Firstly, it cannot be concealed at all. Secondly, the most crucial point is that Konoha never thought about concealing it at all, but chose to make it public.

After all, the war between Konoha and the Rain Shinobi has not yet subsided, and the news of Sunagakure's defeat can also put a certain amount of pressure on Hanzo of the Salamander.

As expected, the news that Sand Village elder Chiyo took the initiative to seek "peace talks" with Konoha White Fang soon reached the nearby Rain Country.

"Drip drip drip"

The weather was still rainy and gloomy. In such damp and cold weather, any ninja from a foreign country would probably find it unbearable.

But for the Rain Ninjas who have grown up under the rain for generations, this kind of weather feels particularly familiar.

In the Land of Rain, in a hidden valley, the atmosphere at this moment was faintly depressing.

Countless ninjas wearing vinyl raincoats knelt on the ground, all facing one direction with solemn expressions.

There was no sound in the air except the sound of raindrops falling.

A Rain Ninja raised his head slightly and looked forward, a look of faint worry in his eyes.

This was the second time that Hanzo of the Salamander had assembled a large-scale combat force, not long after the last night raid. The news of Sand Village's defeat was now known to everyone within the Rain Ninja Clan.

How could they not know that the reason why the Rain Shinobi could maintain the situation had a lot to do with the fact that the Sand Village tied up a large amount of Konoha's combat power in the battlefield of the Wind Country.