NOVEL NEXT Chapter 93: Ohnoki’s Little Plan!
Kaede began preparing his army.
In truth, there wasn't much preparation needed—against the current Konoha, he alone was enough to sweep through it.
The troops were for Tsunade and Naruto.
Think about it—the new Hokage of Konoha and the son of the Fourth Hokage, the hero, personally watching as Konoha's greatest enemy force marched in and ultimately destroyed Konoha.
For Sarutobi Hiruzen and those other old fools, and for those ignorant Konoha civilians, how much despair would they feel in their final moments under such an arrangement?
"Is everything ready?"
Kaede sat at the head of the hall. Behind him stood the three Snake Princesses, while in front sat the Great Elder, Mifune, Naruto, Tsunade, and Orochimaru.
The Great Elder smiled. "The troops are fully assembled."
"Good!" Kaede also smiled.
Then he looked toward Tsunade and Naruto. "Rest assured, your revenge begins now! Sarutobi Hiruzen and those old immortals will get what they deserve, and the ignorant people of Konoha will reveal their true, ugly nature!"
Tsunade and Naruto both nodded.
In Tsunade's eyes, there was a mix of vengeful satisfaction and a faint trace of pity for the civilians.
Naruto's gaze, however, was pure. His immense killing intent could not be concealed!
Before this, Kaede had taken him to Mount Myōboku.
With the blessing of the God Tree, Naruto had temporarily borrowed the power of the Nine-Tails.
Now, he had the strength to exact his revenge with his own hands!
Thus, a hundred of Kaede's elite Uchiha, five hundred elites from the Hidden Waterfall Village, and one thousand four hundred elite samurai led by Mifune of the Land of Iron—two thousand in total—set out for the Iwagakure front.
Meanwhile, the situation at the Iwagakure battlefield was quite interesting.
Last time, when the Hidden Cloud and Jiraiya joined forces, Mizukage Suikamon took the opportunity to persuade Sunagakure to ally with Konoha.
As a result, Sarutobi Hiruzen was completely isolated.
First, during the battle with Sarutobi, Danzo had suddenly struck with his men, catching Iwagakure off guard and handing them their first defeat.
Before they could respond, Sunagakure started causing trouble from behind.
If Ohnoki hadn't arranged for a group to stay behind before the war began, Iwagakure's stronghold might have already been toppled.
Ohnoki was furious when he learned of this.
However, after Sarutobi Hiruzen allied with Sunagakure, Iwagakure no longer dared to resist outright.
So he swallowed his pride and recalled their estranged Four-Tails jinchūriki, Rōshi, to deal with Sunagakure's forces.
The battlefield fell into a stalemate, and the land Iwagakure had once occupied was slowly being lost.
Most importantly, Sarutobi Hiruzen had abandoned all mercy—he wanted to use this opportunity to cripple Iwagakure completely, perhaps even erase it entirely.
With no other choice, Ohnoki had written that letter requesting aid.
…
At the conference table, Ohnoki looked tired as he turned to his son.
"How far are the Uchiha reinforcements?"
Kurotsuchi replied immediately, "They've reached the border of the Land of Waterfalls. They should arrive today!"
"Good!" Ohnoki's spirits lifted.
"Have our men get ready. Tomorrow, we'll launch our attack on Konoha!"
Kurotsuchi nodded, but worry appeared on his face.
"Father… if we cooperate with Uchiha Kaede, will we really be able to walk away unscathed?"
"In this time alone, he's clearly aiming to bring every power in the shinobi world under his control—and he's gathering all the tailed beasts as well."
Hearing this, Ohnoki closed his eyes and sighed.
"I know. We've already tried to stop him before. I even wrote to Sarutobi Hiruzen, proposing that we end this war and join forces against Uchiha Kaede."
"But he had the messenger I sent killed outright. It's clear he intends to fight us to the bitter end."
"As for Sunagakure, I don't know what benefits they got from Konoha, but they chose to ally with them."
"With enemies on both sides, the future of Iwagakure is grim."
His lips trembled slightly as he looked at Kurotsuchi.
"When Uchiha Kaede arrives, I'll give him all the Fire Country territory we've recently taken as payment for his help."
"We'll go back and focus on developing ourselves for a while, and then…" Ohnoki's tone turned cold. "We'll find a way to contact the other villages. The Uchiha cannot be allowed to remain!"
Kurotsuchi's eyes widened. "Father…"
Ohnoki sneered. "I have no intention of letting Uchiha Kaede's ambition run unchecked. His power is great, but the other villages won't sit back and let him grow. Now go make preparations."
Kurotsuchi nodded and left to give the orders.
…
In Konoha's camp, Danzo strode straight into Sarutobi Hiruzen's tent.
"Hiruzen, the Iwagakure forces are attacking again!"
Hiruzen, busy with paperwork, abruptly looked up.
"What? Ohnoki didn't respond to my letter?"
Danzo smirked. "Looks like he thinks he can withstand our alliance with Sunagakure. Ridiculous."
"This…" Hiruzen sighed, slumping into his chair.
He had been willing to negotiate, even planning to use Minato's method—offering some of the Land of Fire's territory—to secure Iwagakure's cooperation against Uchiha Kaede.
After all, with Jiraiya and the Hidden Cloud already defeated, Uchiha Kaede was their greatest threat.
And Kaede had shown no sign of hiding his ambition—he was clearly the next target.
But his letter to Ohnoki had vanished without a trace.
Hiruzen couldn't understand how a shrewd man like Ohnoki couldn't see that Uchiha Kaede was the greatest threat to all the villages right now.
Danzo spoke again. "Hiruzen, give the order. Let's use this chance to drive Iwagakure completely out of the Land of Fire!"
"Go ahead," Hiruzen said heavily. "We'll just have to wake Ohnoki up the hard way."
Danzo left Hiruzen's tent, announced the attack order, and returned to his own quarters.
Sitting down, he reached into his robes and pulled out two letters.
One was from Ohnoki to Hiruzen, the other from Hiruzen to Ohnoki.
Danzo glanced at the oil lamp on the table and placed both letters into the flame.
"Heh… end the war now? Did anyone ask for my opinion?"
A cold smile spread across his face. "And you really think Uchiha Kaede will fear an alliance of all the villages?"
"Ohnoki, Hiruzen… you've both grown old and forgotten the kind of world-shattering power that the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara once wielded!"
The letters burned to ash.
Danzo whispered to himself, "It's almost ready… that technique will be complete soon. Uchiha Kaede wants to unify the shinobi world? He's given me a new idea. Konoha will flourish in my hands."
In the dim glow of the lamp, a smile appeared on Danzo's face.
Yes—he had intercepted and killed both messengers from Ohnoki and Hiruzen.
He would not allow a united front against Uchiha Kaede before his own plan was complete.
And when the time came, he would eliminate the other villages and let Konoha rule the world.
(End of Chapter)
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