The rooftop platform of the Hokage Building.
The Third Hokage stood with a dark expression, watching the Hidden Leaf ninjas busy fighting fires in the streets and alleys.
This sneak attack by the Sky Ninjas might not have caused heavy casualties, but the property damage was immeasurable.
As far as he could see, at least several blocks had been burned to the ground.
Danzo, seeing this, urged again: "Hiruzen, what are you still hesitating for? Those Sky Ninja remnants have tasted success, they will definitely launch a second and third wave of air raids. If you don't act now, the village will be destroyed in your hands! So give me a ninja army and let me deal with the Sky Ninja remnants!"
The Third Hokage shook his head: "There are no longer enough personnel in the village!"
"What!?"
Danzo looked incredulous.
The Third Hokage no longer concealed it and briefly explained Tsunade's departure with the main force.
"You are truly foolish!" Danzo struck the ground hard with his cane and said: "By doing this, even if you solve the Akatsuki organization, our Hidden Leaf will be greatly weakened. How will we deal with the aggressive Hidden Mist and Hidden Rock then?"
The Third Hokage said: "We have no choice!"
Danzo snorted coldly: "You are too naive. If I were Hokage, I would use this god-given opportunity of fighting the Akatsuki organization to properly weaken the other four villages. Once the Akatsuki organization is dealt with, our Hidden Leaf can easily dominate the ninja world!"
The Third Hokage looked at Danzo and sighed.
Danzo would never understand what cooperation meant. If they followed Danzo's way, the Ninja Village Alliance would have absolutely no chance of defeating the Akatsuki organization!
No, it was doubtful whether the Ninja Village Alliance could even be formed.
After all, Danzo in the original timeline was the fool who dared to directly activate 'Kotoamatsukami' at the Five Kage Summit.
Swish...
Just then, an Anbu arrived in front of the Third Hokage using the 'Body Flicker Technique' and reported hurriedly: "Third Hokage, Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto have breached the village and are heading towards the Hokage Rock!"
Danzo exclaimed: "What!? Why is that guy joining the fun at a time like this!"
The Third Hokage sighed: "What should come has come! Danzo, let's go, let's go..."
Danzo's expression changed: "Hiruzen, maybe we should avoid them! Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto, plus the 'Impure World Reincarnation' bodies of the First, Second, and Fourth Hokage under his control, our chances of winning now are not great!"
The Third Hokage was stunned, not expecting the consistently tough Danzo to say such words, and frowned: "This is the Hidden Leaf, where else can we retreat to?"
Facing the Third Hokage's gaze, Danzo became somewhat angry from embarrassment: "The village still relies on us. If something happens to us, what will happen to the village?"
"Decide for yourself!"
The Third Hokage said no more, directly tearing off his robe to reveal the combat gear he had already put on underneath, then his figure flashed, rushing towards the direction where Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto were attacking.
The Anbu on the platform all glanced at Danzo, then followed the Third Hokage without looking back.
Danzo's face turned green and red at this moment.
What just happened felt like back then when the Second Hokage led them to break out from the Hidden Cloud Village encirclement. At that time, the elite ninja army led by Kinkaku and Ginkaku was chasing closely behind. Someone in the team needed to step forward to cover the rear so others would have a chance to escape back to the village.
As a result, he hesitated out of cowardice.
It was precisely that time he missed the position of Hokage!
Now facing a life-and-death juncture again, just like back then, he and the Third Hokage once again made two completely opposite decisions.
"Hiruzen, you are truly a fool! The village cannot be without you and me, don't you understand such a simple principle?"
Seeming to have convinced himself, Danzo hid the shame and anger on his face and began to ponder how to seize power in the village if the Third Hokage died in battle.
On the streets.
"Choji, the cleanup of the ruins in this area is left to you. be careful when using the 'Expansion Jutsu', don't demolish the intact houses around."
"Lee, that area is yours!"
"Kiba, you are responsible for that block!"
Shikamaru was assigning tasks to his peers while checking the block map.
Not far away, Ino and Sakura were treating the villagers who didn't make it to the shelters in time.
Although there was an early warning, there were still quite a few villagers who didn't make it to the shelters in time, so a small number of casualties were inevitable.
Sasuke walked on the street with a dark face.
These were streets familiar to him. He could accurately say which shop's dango was delicious and which shop's barbecue was affordable, but now many had turned into ruins, and even the fires had not yet been completely extinguished.
Seeing Sasuke, Shikamaru hurriedly stopped what he was doing and rushed over: "Sasuke, is everything okay over at your Military Police Building?"
Sasuke shook his head: "It's fine."
Because of long-term exclusion by the Hokage faction, although the Military Police Force sounded like one of the core institutions in the village, the location of the Military Police Building was close to the original Uchiha clan grounds, and as everyone knew, the Uchiha clan grounds were in a corner of the village.
So the first wave of Sky Ninja attacks did not affect the Military Police Building.
Shikamaru considered his words and asked tentatively: "Does Shinji have any preparations over there? The Sky Ninjas gained an advantage in this sneak attack, I'm afraid there will be a next wave soon!"
Unlike his peers who were still immersed in anger or sentimentality, Shikamaru was very clear-headed.
From this Sky Ninja sneak attack, he saw many problems, such as the village's unusually empty defense. So if he were the Sky Ninja commander, he would also launch a second wave of offensive as soon as possible while the Hidden Leaf was empty.
Thinking that Shinji actually sent only Kimimaro alone to destroy the Sky Ninja fleet, Sasuke's expression was a bit strange, but it was hard to say anything, so he could only reply: "Don't worry, if the Sky Ninjas come again, I will take action!"
Boom boom boom...
Suddenly, a burst of explosions came from the distance!
Immediately after, painful wails, panicked shouts, etc., came one after another.
The peers who were helping to clear the ruins and treat the wounded all turned their heads in unison, looking towards the direction where the explosion sound came from.
Swish swish swish...
At this time, several fully armed Anbu quickly swept past from the eaves, rushing towards the direction of the explosion sound.
Sasuke hurriedly stopped one person and asked: "What's going on?"
"It's Orochimaru, you guys go to the shelter quickly!"
After speaking, the Anbu bypassed Sasuke and caught up with his companions!
"What!?"
"Orochimaru attacked the village again?"
"What do we do now?"
The peers looked at each other in dismay for a moment.
In the previous Chunin Exam battle, Orochimaru had already turned the village upside down. At that time, even the Third Hokage was seriously injured and lost an arm.
Now the village was not only empty but also just suffered an attack by Sky Ninjas, with considerable losses. It simply couldn't withstand Orochimaru.
Let alone other peers, even Sasuke, who hated Orochimaru deeply, was somewhat panic-stricken.