T.L Note: Hey guys, I'm back. The semester exams went well, thanks to all of your well wishes.
By the way, there is a public POLL going on on my Ko-fi Page, everyone can participate in it and cast your votes in the poll regardless of membership. It's about a new Jujutsu Kaisen Fanfiction I am thinking about for quite some time. It's NOT a translation, but my own, so I would like you guys to participate in that poll and share your views.
Thank you, now please enjoy the chapter.
*****
"...That's the basic situation. Everyone, prepare to move out!" In front of the Konoha gate, Nara Shikaku briefly explained the mission, then decisively waved his hand, leading a thousand Konoha shinobi to the border.
Two days prior, the Konoha higher-ups had already issued a protest to Kumogakure. If Kumogakure did not withdraw the Kumo shinobi who had entered the Land of Fire, Konoha would take strong measures.
The Fourth Raikage, Ai, who was in power in Kumogakure, was a strong and volatile person. He completely ignored Konoha's protest. Instead, he gathered a large number of shinobi in his village. Once he had thoroughly investigated Konoha's true strength, the Fourth Raikage would declare war on Konoha.
The information that the Nine-Tails was sealed within a baby's body was somehow acquired by Kumogakure.
The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki being a baby meant that the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki could not appear on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Kumogakure's Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, Killer Bee, and the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Yugito Nii, had both undergone training at the Waterfall of Truth and gained initial control over their tailed beasts.
Especially Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki, who had even befriended the Eight-Tails and could use its power without restraint.
The two jinchūriki of Kumogakure were their village's confidence.
In contrast to Kumogakure, Konoha at this time was experiencing a decline in talent. The Sannin had successively left, and the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, had died on the night of Nine-Tails riot. The only remaining Kage-level shinobi in all of Konoha was the Third Hokage, and perhaps a few older generation shinobi.
Facing such a Konoha, the Fourth Raikage was incredibly excited and made the decision to go to war. If it weren't for the strong intervention of Kumogakure's higher-ups, Kumogakure and Konoha would have already started fighting.
The Fourth Raikage stubbornly wanted to launch a war to seize the strategic resources and land of the Land of Fire. However, Kumogakure's higher-ups suggested first ascertaining Konoha's true strength, as among the Sannin, only Orochimaru was a defector, while Jiraiya and Tsunade had only left the village.
If they rashly started a war, these two might return and appear on the battlefield.
It was precisely because of this decision that the Kumo shinobi infiltrated the Land of Fire.
Having their territory invaded was undoubtedly an extremely humiliating matter. Konoha's reaction to this invasion would also influence Kumogakure's subsequent decisions.
If Konoha directly sent shinobi to fight Kumogakure, both sides might gradually exercise restraint due to concerns about the other's strength. But if Konoha's reaction was even slightly weak, Kumogakure might very well launch a full-scale war against Konoha.
In the original story, the Hyuga Hinata abduction incident occurred, meaning that from the end of Minato's battle against the AB combo, Kumogakure and Konoha temporarily ceased large-scale battles. Then, until Hinata's abduction, during those several years, Konoha and Kumogakure continued to have small conflicts.
It wasn't until Konoha handed over the body of Hyuga Hizashi that the two great ninja villages formally signed a 'peace treaty'.
This was undoubtedly a humiliation for Konoha, but at that time, Konoha was suffering from a decline in talent, and with a lack of sufficient high-level ninjas, they indeed lacked the strength to fight the Kumogakure.
However, the current Konoha was different. Due to the existence of Asahi, the Nine-Tails did not cause too much damage to Konoha. Aside from Minato's and Kushina's death, Konoha's combat strength remained mostly at the level it was when the Kumogakure ceased hostilities.
In terms of high-level powerhouses, Asahi was also among them as him having mastered Sage Mode, greatly increased his strength. The current Konoha was fully confident in fighting against Kumogakure.
However, because Asahi proposed the tactic of 'feigning weakness to lure the enemy deeper', Konoha did not appear overly aggressive at first. The thousand shinobi led by Shikaku merely set up defenses at the border of the Land of Fire and did not expel the Kumo shinobi who had entered the Land of Fire.
At the same time, the Konoha higher-ups also used some special channels to allow the Kumogakure to obtain information about Asahi.
He learned the Flying Thunder God Technique, inherited Tsunade's Chakra Enhanced Strength and medical ninjutsu, and that he possessed combat strength not inferior to Namikaze Minato. The most crucial point was that Asahi was less than sixteen years old currently.
Upon hearing the intelligence about Asahi, the Fourth Raikage was roaring with laughter.
Bang!
With a punch, he shattered the desk in front of him. The Fourth Raikage roared, "Is this brat Senmei Asahi the only remaining high-level shinobi in Konoha? Does Sarutobi Hiruzen intend to have this brat fight our entire village?! Give the order, immediately attack the Land of Fire!"
"Raikage-sama!" Mabui, the Raikage's secretary, calmly pushed up her glasses upon hearing this, then said earnestly, "According to the intelligence we've gathered, this Senmei Asahi once released the Three-Tails in the heart of Kirigakure and also cooperated with Namikaze Minato to intercept the Iwagakure's five thousand shinobi unit. His strength should not be underestimated."
"Hmph! How powerful can a barely sixteen-year-old brat be? Konoha truly has no one left. This is a god-given opportunity. Kumogakure will defeat Konoha in one fell swoop!" the Fourth Raikage roared.
"Furthermore, we still haven't ascertained the whereabouts of Tsunade and Jiraiya. If a war breaks out, these two might return to provide support," Mabui said.
"Hmph!" The Fourth Raikage snorted and fumed for a while, then angrily said, "Don't make me wait too long!"
"Yes!"
Compared to Kumogakure's covert investigations, Konoha also began to get busy. Within a week after Shikaku departed with the first batch of shinobi, nearly three thousand Konoha shinobi, either openly or covertly disguised as mission-takers, left Konoha and secretly arrived at the front lines, where they went into hiding.
As Konoha's home ground, the Land of Fire's environment was intimately familiar to Konoha. Planning an ambush within the Land of Fire could be accomplished with their eyes closed.
During this period, Konoha also continuously spread news that Jiraiya and Tsunade had secretly returned to the village. Although no one had personally seen them appear in Konoha, this news still forced Kumogakure to take it seriously.
The legendary Sannin of Konoha had an extremely strong reputation in the ninja world. Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade had all experienced the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars as front-line veterans and commanders, and they themselves were powerful Kage-level shinobi capable of directly confronting a Great Village's Kage.
Compared to the Sannin, Asahi's reputation was more due to his age of less than sixteen, making him known throughout the ninja world as a 'genius'. For the true higher-level individuals, they had not yet recognized Asahi's status as a 'strong individual'.
Under these circumstances, as long as Tsunade and Jiraiya did not return to Konoha, Kumogakure would dare to launch a war.
And Konoha shinobi's admiration for Asahi only made the Kumogakure believe that Konoha was experiencing a decline in talent and was no longer the Konoha once known as the 'greatest ninja village'. This was because the Third Hokage had placed a gag order on Asahi's battle with the Nine-Tails, forbidding anyone from spreading the information until the conflict with the Kumogakure was over.
Meanwhile, at the border of the Land of Fire, Shikaku led a thousand shinobi to set up camp, facing off against the Kumogakure.
War was on the verge of breaking out.
*****
Support me on my Ko-fi page to keep me motivated to continue uploading chapters.
https://ko fi.com/rroy28 (put a "-" between "ko" and "fi")
I have added Uncensored NSFW Illustrations in my Discord server, available only to paid members.
I am working on the following projects:
✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: Uchiha's Intelligence Dealer
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
✓ Naruto: Who Made Him a Ninja?
✓ Bleach: In My Second Reincarnation, I Became The Ninth Kenpachi
✓ To Love-Ru: Spoiler Route [R-18]
✓ Naruto: The Accidental Incubus [R-18]