Chapter 346: The Anti-Konoha Alliance
At the same time, Onoki, sitting in Iwagakure, also met with the Ninshu envoy.
Unlike the others, this Ninshu member had no ties to the Land of Earth, so he had no choice but to confront the leader directly.
Staring at the gleaming golden Ninshu Decree embedded in his desk, Onoki rejected the man's demands without hesitation.
First, Onoki didn't believe the Ninshu could truly persuade the other villages to join forces. Second, even if they could, there was no way Onoki would hand over command of his military to someone else. Who knew if they would turn around and bite him the moment they got the chance?
Even though Onoki coveted the rich lands of the Fire Country, he knew his priorities. As for the "principles" the Ninshu envoy spouted, the worldly-wise Onoki dismissed them with a snort.
The man had been prepared to use force to persuade the stubborn Onoki, but news from his companions changed his mind.
"Anti-Konoha Alliance?" Looking at the personal letter from Killer B of the Cloud Village, Onoki finally believed the Ninshu envoy.
Sizing up the calm man before him, Onoki was astonished that even in this era, the so-called Ninshu still possessed enough influence to easily mobilize various factions. This realization shifted Onoki's thinking.
Since the various factions intend to unite, why shouldn't I take advantage of this opportunity... However, I absolutely cannot surrender command of the army.
With this in mind, Onoki stated his conditions.
First, Iwagakure would join this "Anti-Konoha Alliance," but as stated before, Iwagakure would retain full control over its own troops.
Second, the Ninshu must guarantee that no other faction would take advantage of the situation to attack Iwagakure.
As long as the man could agree to these two conditions, Onoki would join the crusade against Konoha.
"The Tsuchikage's requests are reasonable. On behalf of the Ninshu, I accept," the man said with a faint smile, then proceeded to explain their original plan.
Konoha, Hokage's Office.
"...Hereby initiating an alliance to expel the chaos-bringer Uchiha Kyosuke and his accomplice, the Hidden Leaf Village."
Reading the alliance declaration—or rather, the declaration of war—sent by the Cloud, the people of Konoha weren't surprised in the least.
Having long prepared for war, they feared no challenge. In Konoha's view, since they had defeated a coalition of the Four Great Nations once, doing it a second time was only natural, even with the involvement of the so-called Ninshu.
In this war, Konoha intended not only to cripple the Four Great Nations but also to dig three feet deep to find the Ninshu's base and wipe them out. They had that confidence now.
Putting down the declaration of war, Kyosuke exchanged a smile with Minato Namikaze, who sat in the Hokage's seat. Then, they simultaneously turned their gaze to the group standing nearby.
"Saori, Cho, Shisui, Duy," Minato called out their names one by one, smiling. "This foreign war is entrusted to you."
The four nodded solemnly. Seeing this, Kyosuke asked, "Have you discussed the specific division of labor?"
"Tch. The ancestors of the Minazuki and Kaguya clans? I'm very interested in meeting those two," Hyuga Saori said without hesitation, choosing the strongest enemy faction, the Mist forces.
With two Ninshu members backing the Mist Village, only Hyuga Saori's personal involvement could put Kyosuke and Minato at ease.
"I heard the creator of the Lightning Release Armor has appeared. I like that kind of head-on battle," said Might Duy, the oldest of the four. Having transplanted Hashirama cells and drastically enhanced his physical constitution, even Kyosuke couldn't accurately estimate his current combat power.
He was the perfect choice to deal with the powerhouse rumored to have beaten the Eight-Tails unconscious.
Seeing that the Mist and Cloud were taken, Kyosuke looked at the remaining two.
"Sensei, Lord Hokage," Uchiha Shisui said respectfully. "Although the Stone is powerful, the Tsuchikage is old. My speed is enough to deal with his Dust Release, so I will handle the Stone."
"Good," Kyosuke nodded with a smile, approving the assignment.
That left Uchiha Cho, who had remained silent until now, to take on the Sand Village—the faction everyone considered the weakest.
Even if Mr. Mon could mass-produce his puppetry technology in a short time, it couldn't hide the fact that the Sand lacked high-end powerhouses. Cho, having mastered the basics of the Rinnegan, was more than capable of handling them.
With the commanders decided, the next step was allocating the secondary combat forces.
Uchiha Fugaku with his awakened Sage Body; Kakashi, who had reached the peak of Elite Jonin and become a veritable second "White Fang"; Might Guy, capable of opening the Sixth Gate; Yamato, with his greatly enhanced Wood Release; and Anko, who had returned from Ryuchi Cave having mastered Sage Mode—all were formidable assets.
It's worth mentioning that facing Konoha's existential crisis, the retired Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had volunteered to go to the front lines. However, Minato persuaded him to stay.
Firstly, Hiruzen was getting old and didn't need to exhaust himself running around. Secondly, keeping him in reserve provided a trump card for unexpected situations. If any front struggled, they would have to rely on him then.
Taking these considerations into account, Hiruzen reluctantly accepted their advice, though he insisted he would personally go to the front lines if any real problems arose.
With this, the deployment for the war was complete.
Mist Front: Commander Hyuga Saori, with Kakashi Hatake and Uchiha Fugaku as assistants. Kyosuke considered this front the most secure. regardless of what tricks the two unknown Ninshu members had, the current Saori could defeat them.
Cloud Front: Commander Might Duy, with Might Guy, Yamato, and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio as assistants. Based on intelligence from Cloud informants, this battle likely wouldn't drag on too long. Eight Inner Gates vs. Lightning Release Armor was destined to be a head-on clash.
As for the two powerful Jinchuriki, Killer B and Yugito Nii, Yamato and the others would have to stall them until Duy defeated the Ninshu member, after which they could be taken down one by one.
Stone Front: Commander Uchiha Shisui, with Anko (now capable of Sage Mode) as assistant. This front would focus on stalling the enemy. Even though Shisui's Body Flicker countered the turret-like Onoki to some extent, defeating him would be difficult given Onoki's vast combat experience.
Kyosuke's only request for Shisui was to pin the Stone forces at the Fire Country border and wait for reinforcements.
Sand Front: Commander Uchiha Cho. Under Kyosuke's guidance, she had fully unlocked the power of the Rinnegan. A mere Sand Village could be crushed by her alone, so Kyosuke didn't assign any additional high-end combat power to her.
No matter how exquisite Mr. Mon's puppetry was, against the power of the Rinnegan, it was nothing more than scrap metal. Furthermore, Kyosuke had prepared a secret "gift" for the Sand. Whether they would like it or not was of no concern to him.