REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!Chapter 81: The Fourth Great Ninja War Erupts
"What did you say?"
"Konoha has been destroyed?"
Ōnoki glared with his clouded old eyes at the ANBU ninja reporting to him, nearly laughing from sheer exasperation.
"Do you really think I'm senile?"
"That's Konoha!"
"The strongest shinobi village in the world!"
"During the previous three Great Ninja Wars, even when four nations attacked the Land of Fire together, Konoha didn't fall!"
"Who could possibly destroy Konoha?"
"Earlier you reported that the prestigious Uchiha clan was somehow wiped out by a single rogue ninja, Uchiha Itachi—that was already hard to believe. Now you're saying even Konoha itself has been destroyed!"
"I think whether Konoha's been destroyed is debatable, but our Iwagakure intelligence department definitely needs to be destroyed!"
The ANBU ninja kept his head lowered, nearly swearing oaths.
"Lord Tsuchikage, I know this intelligence sounds incredibly absurd, but both our spies inside and outside Konoha have all sent back this same message."
"To ensure accuracy, I specifically dispatched someone to make a trip to Konoha to verify the truth."
"According to the intelligence officer's report, Konoha has been razed to the ground. The entire village has vanished. At Konoha's former site, only a massive meteor remains."
"Fortunately, our spy was clever—when he encountered danger, he ran immediately. He never fought desperately for Konoha and actually survived because of it."
"Hsss..." Ōnoki immediately sucked in a sharp breath, his voice beginning to tremble. "Is what you're saying true?"
"Absolutely true, Lord Tsuchikage!"
"Oh right, spies from several other shinobi villages also appeared near Konoha. But right now, Konoha's people are busy with disaster relief and have no time to deal with them."
"Konoha's losses this time are truly devastating. The specific casualty numbers for shinobi and civilians simply cannot be tallied. We could only see corpses laid out in rows, every household in mourning, wailing everywhere."
"Excellent!" Ōnoki slapped his thigh and abruptly stood up. Then with a "crack," his back gave out.
"Ah, ow ow ow..." Ōnoki clutched his lower back with both hands, but couldn't care less about the pain. His face filled with excitement as he shouted: "Quick, summon all the village's jonin for a meeting! We must seize this golden opportunity and swiftly invade the Land of Fire—grab everything we can!"
"Oh right, who did this? Was it those barbarians from the Land of Lightning?"
"No, Lord Tsuchikage. According to reliable intelligence, the one who destroyed Konoha was the Land of Rain!"
"What?!" Ōnoki's eyeballs nearly popped out. "Hanzō the Salamander is already old—how could he possibly still have such capabilities?"
"It wasn't Hanzō the Salamander!" The ANBU ninja hastily explained. "According to the latest information, Hanzō the Salamander was killed years ago. The current ruler of Amegakure is an organization called 'Akatsuki,' led by someone named Nagato—a powerful shinobi possessing the same eyes as the Sage of Six Paths!"
"What?!" Ōnoki was even more shocked. "Even if a tiny nation has one or two powerful shinobi, how could that possibly be enough to destroy Konoha?"
"It's not just one or two. Allegedly, this Akatsuki organization has gathered many S-rank rogue ninja from various nations, including Orochimaru—originally one of Konoha's Sannin—as well as Uchiha rogue ninja Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Itachi, and Uchiha Yasushi."
"But other intelligence indicates that on the battlefield that day, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Yasushi ended up fighting each other."
"All participants at the scene of their battle died. Only distant witnesses provided some intelligence. The specific circumstances still require further confirmation."
"That still doesn't explain destroying the entire village!" Ōnoki stroked his beard, still half-believing.
"Allegedly, all three awakened the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan."
"What?!" Ōnoki was shocked yet again, suddenly recalling the days when he'd been dominated by the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara.
That overwhelming Wood Release and the towering Susanoo were nightmares in the hearts of all shinobi from his generation.
"Additionally, intelligence mentions that the Nine-Tails appeared twice on that day's battlefield but was ultimately crushed by a massive meteor falling from the sky."
"All shinobi who participated in that day's battle, when mentioning Akatsuki's leader Nagato, invariably used the same vocabulary to describe him—a god!"
"All shinobi believe Nagato possesses godlike power—absolutely not the kind of might humans can wield!"
"Hmph, too exaggerated!" Ōnoki dismissed this with a skeptical curl of his lip. "A bunch of youngsters who've never seen the world simply don't understand how terrifying truly powerful shinobi are!"
"I don't believe this Nagato can surpass Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha!"
"But none of this matters anymore. We don't need to concern ourselves with them—just focus on attacking the Land of Fire and securing benefits first."
"The Rain Country matter can wait until later!"
"Yes!"
After receiving orders, the ANBU ninja immediately notified all jonin in the village. Before long, the jonin council convened.
Naturally, after learning the relevant intelligence, all jonin immediately passed the war motion against the Land of Fire unanimously.
Shinobi villages were inherently military organizations. Once the war mobilization order was issued, this war machine immediately began operating at high speed. Soon, figures shot out from Iwagakure like lightning, rushing toward Kusagakure.
The Land of Fire and Land of Earth didn't share borders—separated by the Lands of Rain, Grass, and Waterfall. To wage war, they had to pass through these countries.
Previously, whenever the Five Great Nations warred, these small nations were caught in the middle, unable to offend either side.
Foreign shinobi armies crossed borders whenever they wanted, fought battles on their territory whenever they pleased. To prevent information leaks, they never notified in advance—at most informing afterward.
Even when Hanzō the Salamander was around, he couldn't completely prevent this situation.
Though he was a demigod, his village's overall military strength was far inferior to the Five Great Nations. He simply didn't dare casually wage war. He could only turn a blind eye to these matters—as long as the Five Great Nations didn't go too far, he pretended not to notice.
But after the battle at Konoha, the Land of Earth no longer dared treat the Land of Rain as a small nation.
Achieving the feat of destroying Konoha—even the other four great nations couldn't confidently claim they could accomplish that!
Though this didn't create fear of the Land of Rain, at least they wouldn't easily provoke them during such a critical wartime period.
Besides, without the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass could still provide passage. No need to needlessly provoke a powerful enemy of unknown capabilities.
Being fellow great nations, the other countries had similar thoughts to the Land of Earth. After confirming the intelligence's authenticity, every nation's first reaction was to kick them while they were down and take advantage of the chaos!
The Fourth Great Ninja War had erupted!
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