Inoichi, who was standing to the side, also walked over, patted Choza's shoulder, and said quietly:
"You didn't see it? The two advisors, Homura and Koharu, have already taken Danzo's side. We just need to做好 our own part."
Hearing Shikaku and Inoichi's words, Choza let out a sigh. "I just feel that, when the current situation is still unclear, Danzo is already thinking about scrambling for credit and profit. It's really a bit…"
He didn't finish the sentence, but Shikaku and Inoichi both understood what he meant.
The two of them exchanged a look, the same helplessness flashing in their eyes.
Right now, with the power of Root as his foundation and the support of Homura and Koharu, Danzo quickly gathered a large number of shinobi and led them toward Hiruzen's position.
At this time, not only were Konoha's ninja regrouping, but the forces of Mist, Sand, and Sound were also slowly coming together.
Gradually, the entire battlefield coalesced into four major forces.
One was the Mist-nin division stationed at Konoha's main gate. Another was the combined force of Sand-nin and a very small contingent of Sound-nin.
As for Konoha's side, it was split into two units: one led by Hiruzen, and another led by Danzo.
When Hiruzen saw Danzo appear at the head of a large group of Konoha shinobi, his eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't say anything.
Likewise, Danzo merely met Hiruzen's gaze for a moment and said nothing.
The two of them simply unleashed their forces at the Sand-nin ranks at the same time, launching their attack.
With Shukaku, the One-Tail, gone, and Orochimaru completely phoning it in on the sidelines, the Sand division found itself utterly outmatched in the face of Konoha's full power and was driven back again and again.
Helpless, the Sand-nin could only retreat toward Konoha's main gate.
"So this is Konoha's strength? It really is scary."
Suigetsu stood on one of the pillars of Konoha's main gate, watching the Sand-nin forces from the Hidden Sand continuously losing ground and retreating in their direction, speaking with a tone of genuine admiration.
"You don't exactly look scared."
At some point, Kimimaro had appeared behind Suigetsu, his tone calm.
The sudden voice from behind made Suigetsu jump. He turned to look at Kimimaro, his face full of resignation.
"Can't you at least make a sound when you show up? Coming back this fast… looks like things didn't go so smoothly for you."
After saying that, Suigetsu glanced at Haku, who was also standing not far away.
"Yeah. Konoha's reaction speed was much faster than we expected. Before we could even begin, Konoha's shinobi had already found us. The Byakugan (White Eye) really is a troublesome ability."
Kimimaro frowned slightly, his voice tinged with guilt and disappointment.
"Don't worry about it. What you two were supposed to do wasn't even part of the main plan. Whether it succeeded or not doesn't have much impact on Yuto-sama anyway."
Seeing Kimimaro's guilty and dejected expression, Suigetsu spoke in an offhand, casual tone.
...
Hidden Cloud Village.
Near the central mountain range.
Bee, his nose and face swollen and bruised, looked at the Fourth Raikage A in front of him, whose chakra was practically boiling over.
"No more, no more…"
Bee kept shaking his head, and even his usually quirky, sing-song way of speaking had turned completely normal.
Hearing this, the Fourth Raikage A dispersed the Raiton (Lightning Style) chakra around his body, his voice carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.
"You've been slacking off in our joint training lately!"
Slacking off?
Bee's mouth twitched. Anyone would slack off if they had to train every single day.
"A, you've got something on your mind lately, haven't you?"
Bee looked at the Fourth Raikage with a curious expression.
Normally, the two of them only sparred once every so often.
But recently, the time between their training sessions had gotten shorter and shorter. By now, they'd already trained together two days in a row.
If you told Bee that the Fourth Raikage A had nothing on his mind, he absolutely wouldn't believe it.
Hearing Bee's question, A was slightly taken aback, then flexed his fist.
"Looks like the training still isn't enough. Otherwise, you wouldn't still have the energy to worry about me."
Bee's face stiffened, and he hurriedly stepped back a few paces.
Just as A was about to move in again, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the distance.
With a few quick leaps, Mabui appeared in front of the Fourth Raikage, taking a deep breath to steady herself.
Her expression solemn, Mabui spoke to A:
"Raikage-sama, we've received news!"
A's spirits immediately lifted. He was just about to speak when he suddenly remembered Bee at his side and turned his head to look at him.
Bee's eyes were full of curiosity. He really wanted to know what had happened, but since A clearly had no intention of telling him, he naturally wouldn't pry.
Dusting the dirt off his clothes, Bee waved casually to Mabui and turned to walk away in another direction.
Only after Bee's figure disappeared did A turn his gaze back to Mabui.
"Raikage-sama, the Hidden Mist really has made a move!"
Mabui said, her face full of excitement.
A's eyes lit up, and a rare expression of excitement appeared on his rugged face.
"Didn't think the Hidden Mist still had the guts for this—actually daring to strike directly at Konoha. Seems I really underestimated them."
With that, A strode off toward the Raikage's office.
As he walked, he asked, "Any other intel?"
Mabui hurried along behind him and continued:
"It's not just the Hidden Mist. The Hidden Sand has joined in attacking Konoha as well. And it seems both villages have deployed their bijuu (Tailed Beasts), while Konoha was caught completely unprepared."
At this point, Mabui paused for a moment, then went on:
"We don't have any information beyond that. If I'm not wrong, the spies we planted in Konoha have probably already been wiped out."
"Sand-nin and Mist-nin launching a joint offensive against Konoha… interesting."
The smile on A's face was impossible to hide as he spoke in an excited tone.
"So what should we do next? Are we going to help Konoha, or…"
Mabui asked gravely, but stopped halfway through the sentence.
"Why would we help Konoha? How could we possibly let such a good opportunity slip by for nothing? Since Mist and Sand have already joined the war, there's no reason for us Cloud-nin to sit it out."
A's voice turned icy. He stopped walking, lifted his head, and looked in the direction of Konoha.
"Besides, if we're lucky, we might even wipe Konoha out completely."
Mabui trembled slightly, her voice carrying a hint of nervousness.
"The Fourth Shinobi World War…?"
"Compared to a real Shinobi World War, this doesn't even count."
"If we really do manage to destroy Konoha, then for the next fifty or sixty years there probably won't be any chance of a ninja war breaking out. After all, a territory as big as Konoha's would take a long time to digest."
A's voice held both domineering confidence and a chilling coldness.
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