The entire ninja world already knew that Sunagakure had lost its jinchuriki and that he was now even being placed under house arrest in Konoha.
Because of Rasa's series of foolish operations, Sunagakure had suffered great losses.
With Chiyo, Pakura, and a group of elders fanning the flames, more and more people started to become dissatisfied with Rasa as the Kazekage.
Now at Sunagakure's high-level meetings, there was always someone opposing him.
With no way to get Shukaku back, Rasa could only continuously go out to search for gold and bring the earnings back to the village as achievements.
Even though the number of people dissatisfied with Rasa had increased, his position as Kazekage was still rock solid.
The grudge between Iwagakure and Sunagakure had always existed, and Iwa ninja had long infiltrated Sunagakure.
While he was out digging for gold in the desert, naturally Rasa also killed quite a number of Iwa nin.
One month ago, Rasa, chasing some Iwa nin, entered the buffer country of the Country of Stone, located between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.1
When they were being chased, the Iwa nin used a massive earth-style jutsu.
It completely reshaped the battlefield.
But precisely because of that, a gigantic ore vein was discovered in the Country of Stone.
The vein was mainly gold ore, and also rich in associated minerals.
Gold was still a precious metal in the ninja world. It had many uses but was in short supply and extremely expensive.
The value of this vein was at least several tens of billions.
Rasa immediately chose to occupy the mine.
And knowing they couldn't keep such a fortune, the Country of Stone simply merged into the Land of Earth.
For this sky-falling fortune, Sunagakure and Iwagakure began an undeclared war.
In just half a month, in the territory of the Country of Stone, large numbers of ninja were constantly fighting over the mining rights.
The eyes of the entire ninja world were quickly drawn over there.
———
No matter how fierce the fighting outside was, at the border of the Land of Rivers, the Uchiha still conscientiously carried out Rengoku's missions.
The fact that the Uchiha had few people was top secret, so the exploration speed was never fast.
After such a long time, they finally found the underground ruins Rengoku was looking for at the Land of Rivers' border.
"We've found it! We've found it!"
"Lord Norihiko! Please look, isn't it here!"
Uchiha Norihiko trembled, used a few body flicker techniques in a row, and arrived at a valley.
This valley looked absolutely ordinary, nothing special about it.
"Where?"
Uchiha Torakichi threw a stone, and the stone actually passed straight through the cliff bottom.
"This place is fake!"
Norihiko carefully approached the bottom of the cliff.
It was as if he passed through a thin membrane, a barrier, and the scene before his eyes changed.
Below was a very deep gorge, shrouded in mist, and an ancient temple appeared down below.
He formed hand seals.
"Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
A continuous stream of fireballs was fired toward the ruins below.
It was mainly for illumination, to confirm the buildings below.
Norihiko took out the map he carried and compared it.
"This is the place."
A gleam flashed in Norihiko's eyes. This was already his third rotation of searching for this temple.
He hadn't expected that this junior from the clan would be a lucky star.
Norihiko took out a notebook, opened to the page marked in red, and wrote down the situation here.
He formed hand seals.
Bang!
A ginger cat wearing a vest was summoned.
The cat was round and plump, with a round head, it looked very cute.
But when it opened its mouth, it spoke in a middle-aged voice.
"Oh, Norihiko, what do you need at this time?"
Norihiko sealed the note into an envelope, "Kikutaro, this is an urgent letter. Make sure you deliver it to the clan leader as fast as possible."
Hearing that it was for Rengoku, Kikutaro immediately put the letter into the vest.
"Leave it to me," And with a bang, he disappeared.
Not many in the Uchiha clan had talent for summoning, and most of them were of the ninja cat line.
As for the crow line, crow genjutsu, crow substitution, those required very high eye power and chakra control.
So crow users were few.
Using the ninja cats to deliver messages was already very fast.
From the Cat Realm back to the clan only took half a day.
"You really are a lucky kid."
After taking care of things, Norihiko, who rarely joked, actually praised Torakichi.
Torakichi scratched his head and laughed, "Since we've found the ruins, does that mean we don't have to stay here anymore?"
Norihiko and his team had suffered a lot in this rocky and sandy Land of Rivers.
Both of them were covered in dust.
"Once the clan leader arrives, we should be done."
———
[Konoha Village]
All authority over the ninja school was now completely monopolized by Rengoku.
Whatever happened in the school, it would take quite a while before any information leaked out.
When the Ino–Shika–Cho trio got home, their families learned that their squad leader was actually Uchiha Fugaku.
Originally, the previous generation of Ino–Shika–Cho had some ties with Fugaku.
But childhood ties were very different from now.
Fugaku was now a Mangekyou Sharingan user, one of the strongest in the ninja world.
The three clans of Ino–Shika–Cho all sent gifts to the Uchiha clan to express their gratitude, and told their children to absolutely behave under Fugaku-sensei.
After the Ino–Shika–Cho matters were all settled, only then did the Third Hokage receive the relevant information.
Hearing about Rengoku's squad divisions and squad leaders, the Third Hokage felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
No wonder Rengoku had previously refused when he offered to step down. With this group of early graduates, he had basically monopolized all of the heirs of Konoha's major clans.
And their instructors were all Uchiha.
Once these children grew up over the next two years, there was no doubt which clan they would lean toward.
If he did nothing, being sidelined would only be a matter of time.
'Now that tensions are high between Iwagakure and Sunagakure, can this maybe become a turning point?'
The Third Hokage pondered, but could only keep sending people to find out how far Sunagakure and Iwagakure had gone.
After all, if two of the Five Great Ninja Villages really started fighting, it could easily become the fuse for the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Two years ago he sent Hayama to brainwash Kakashi but Hayama ended up tragically dying in an accident.
While the Third was still considering whether Kakashi had been brainwashed or not, Kakashi, because of the incident of Rin's grave being dug up, went to the Uchiha.
After returning, Kakashi applied to withdraw from the Anbu.
He then began taking some difficult missions to temper himself and improve his strength.
He never visited the memorial stone again.
The Third Hokage wondered if Kakashi had been stimulated by the Uchiha.
But once suspicion had taken root, the Third Hokage would no longer entrust Kakashi with particularly important matters.
This kind of recon mission, however, could be given to him.
"Someone come!"
A masked Anbu quickly entered.
"Bring Kakashi, Tenzo, and Asuma here."
"Yes!"
After the Anbu left, the Third Hokage said to Sarutobi Ishishu in the shadows, "You also go to the battlefield and take a look at the situation."
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