Across the borders of the various nations.
Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru were driving away the spies of the major hidden villages according to the original plan.
A person's name casts a shadow, just as a tree does…
Strictly speaking, the title "Sannin" was not exactly an honorable one.
But gradually, it had become a resounding designation.
The spies of the various villages, upon seeing Orochimaru and the others from afar, fled with all their might.
The territories governed by the smaller hidden villages were, in essence, buffer zones tacitly permitted by the major hidden villages.
Fighting here would not trigger any diplomatic issues; only by escaping back within one's own national border would it be regarded as a war-initiating provocation.
"The time is almost up…" Orochimaru narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Sunagakure spy ahead; he had already forced him all the way into the Land of Rain.
In the end, he stopped at the border of the Land of Wind.
Before long, just as Hiruzen had anticipated, Sunagakure also summoned a ninja of equivalent standing.
The one known as the "Scorch Release User," possessor of the Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai—Pakura.
Within Sunagakure she enjoyed considerable prestige. She was a powerful rising force, regarded as on par with Rasa and a strong contender for the position of Fourth Kazekage.
"Orochimaru, ahead lies the territory of the Land of Wind. What are you trying to do?"
"We have signed a truce agreement. Don't disgrace your sensei—he is a Hokage who inherited the First Generation's spirit. This is your personal action, isn't it?"
With her arms crossed, Pakura's bearing was in no way inferior to Orochimaru's as she spoke in a righteous tone.
These words left Orochimaru momentarily stunned.
What did she mean, I'm disgracing my sensei? This is exactly what my sensei told me to do!
"What do you mean?" Orochimaru gave a light cough and asked.
"Don't force me to report to the Third Kazekage and lodge a complaint with the Third Hokage about your conduct. Withdraw at once!"
Pakura let out a cold laugh as she said: "The Third Hokage is renowned throughout the shinobi world as a lover of peace. Even when fighting the Hidden Cloud to that extent, although all sides supported him, he still reaffirmed the First Generation's spirit and was unwilling to initiate war."
"You can't deceive me. The Third Hokage would not indulge you in chasing our ninja like this."
After hearing these words, Orochimaru carefully sized Pakura up.
He was astonished to find that she seemed to be serious.
Regardless of what kind of internal propaganda Sunagakure maintained, to hold such an understanding…
It was certain—this was a fool who had some strength but absolutely no brain!
There were even rumors outside that this woman had the potential to become the Fourth Kazekage…
Orochimaru could only say that there was no possibility.
With such infantile intelligence, she would be fortunate not to be stabbed in the back by her own people during internal struggles…
In the old Konoha, if someone dared to declare competition for the Hokage position and offended Danzō, at Pakura's level…
She wouldn't last a month—she'd end up with eighteen kunai in her back and be declared a suicide on the spot.
On the other hand, Orochimaru also sighed at Hiruzen's reputation.
"Honest man," "lover of peace," and now yet another—"bearing the First Generation's legacy."
Reputation was something one could neither see nor touch, and it seemed to have no tangible effect.
It couldn't fend off powerful enemies, nor could it increase one's strength, yet it was like an invisible "poison," accumulating in people's hearts—who knew when it would suddenly exert an extremely strong effect.
'My sensei is indeed an honest, decent man, but he isn't a shinobi who can be described so simply…'
Pakura being slow-witted was certainly one reason.
But if it weren't for Hiruzen's reputation, it would have been impossible for her to form such a strange notion.
"Nothing to say anymore? Let me advise you—spend less time mixing with Shimura Danzō…"
"You want to become the Fourth Hokage too, don't you? You should cherish your reputation. If you're always walking around with people like that, be careful—you might end up suffering backlash."
Seeing Orochimaru deep in thought, an idea flashed through Pakura's mind.
This was a good opportunity to drive a wedge into Konoha's relationships!
Back then, Orochimaru had indeed spent a period of time hanging around with Danzō in Root—this was a fact…
"Thank you for the reminder." Orochimaru smiled faintly.
As if he needed you here to sow discord?
He and Danzō had long since made it an open, table-flipping fight!
It was only because Hiruzen was there that the struggle between the two could be considered a healthy form of mutual oversight, kept within a framework of "fighting without breaking."
"I am here not as a private action, but on behalf of the Hokage and Konoha to invite you to go to Kusagakure."
"We discovered a large number of ninja they were detaining privately in Kusagakure. We have already broken through their defenses and classified the trapped personnel. Among them are some Sunagakure ninja."
"We need you to claim them, and to confirm the amount of Kusagakure's current funds that will be used as compensation to Sunagakure."
Pakura listened, her head full of question marks.
Since when did the shinobi world have humanitarian rescue?
And for another hidden village, no less…
And what did it mean that Kusagakure had already been breached?
It wasn't that Pakura thought Konoha couldn't take Kusagakure, but wasn't this a bit too fast!
Pakura turned her head to look at the Sunagakure spy, her gaze puzzled.
The intelligence she had received was that Konoha had suddenly pressed in from the direction of Kusagakure, but had not sent a large force to attack Kusagakure—rather, they had pursued the spies all the way…
"Less than an hour at most, Pakura-sama!" the Sunagakure spy reported.
"He's lying. An hour ago, everything in Kusagakure was completely normal…"
Orochimaru gave a chuckle.
In truth, he didn't know what Kusagakure looked like right now either, but these were all orders from the Hokage.
All departments had taken them on—so there wouldn't be a problem…
"If you don't come, we'll automatically treat Sunagakure's ninja and the compensation as forfeited…" Orochimaru said with a light laugh.
"At this very moment, Jiraiya and Tsunade should also be going to inform Iwagakure and Kumogakure. We won't go and abduct Sunagakure's ninja, but they might not be so restrained…"
Pakura frowned. In other words, the "Sannin" hadn't participated in this operation?
"Go report to the Third Kazekage-sama." Pakura instructed the spy.
After that, Pakura called over a squad of Sunagakure ninja from the border, and together with Orochimaru hurried toward Kusagakure.
She wanted to see for herself…
'What exactly is Konoha up to?!'
At the same time.
Tsunade and Kitsuchi, as well as Jiraiya and Dodai, each carried out similar conversations.
The forces of the three major hidden villages all rushed toward Kusagakure at top speed.
They all wanted to know how Konoha had managed to break through Kusagakure in such a short time.
Such infiltration and blitzkrieg capability was frightening.
If what had happened was true, it meant they had lost important intelligence regarding Konoha…
If they didn't get to the bottom of this matter, then if a war with Konoha ever broke out one day, they would certainly suffer a great loss!
In fact, present-day Konoha had not gained anything "extra."
Aside from the Flying Thunder God Technique, it was merely preventing internal friction, integrating and releasing its existing resources…
But even so, it was already astonishing.
This was also what Hiruzen often said to Danzō—"Konoha's foundation is simply too thick…"
When the various groups finally arrived at Kusagakure, they witnessed a shocking scene.
The ninja imprisoned by Kusagakure had been divided into separate sections. They sat cross-legged on the ground in an orderly manner, forming one square formation after another.
At the front of each formation stood a placard marking their affiliated hidden village, such as Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and so on…
In another area lay the corpses of Kusagakure ninja, along with some prisoners squatting with their heads held—most of them were members of the "Grass Flowers," also known as the dove faction.
Konoha had absolutely no interest in the rotten land that was the Land of Grass; the cost of governing it far exceeded the benefits.
It was enough to make them feel pain and install a new leader who feared Konoha…
In the very center were placed Kusagakure's records and assets. Among them had originally been one or two somewhat interesting sealing techniques, but Danzō had already taken those away.
What remained were basically common goods.
Only one or two items were somewhat interesting, left out as a façade of "fairness, justice, and transparency."
But even those had already been copied by Fugaku and the others.
'They did this job very properly… very convincingly…' Pakura couldn't help but think to herself.
In less than two hours, Konoha had not only turned Kusagakure upside down but had also neatly organized the prisoners and refugees by category.
The degree of organization involved was frightening.
Dodai's eyes flashed. As Kumogakure's strategist, he thought of more than Pakura did…
In an instant, Dodai understood Hiruzen's intention.
This was a thorough show of military deterrence—a "display of muscle" to the major hidden villages.
What Konoha had obtained was far more than what was displayed on the platform.
But Dodai could not say anything.
Because Konoha now held the moral justification of "rescuing the ninja of other nations." At a glance, he saw more than a dozen ninja who clearly had the standard appearance of Kumogakure.
That could not be faked.
Moreover, they had even taken out Kusagakure's money and ninjutsu and pretended to divide them among the victimized villages…
This step of concession almost completely eliminated any pretext for making trouble.
Kitsuchi's thoughts were much simpler. What he needed to do was carefully remember all the details at the scene, then return home and report them to his Tsuchikage father, and afterward carry out whatever decision was made.
Kitsuchi tightly embraced an older Iwagakure chūnin.
"Brother, I thought you were dead!"
"Those despicable hyenas ambushed me… they nearly drained all my chakra…"
The Iwagakure chūnin said with a laugh, "But thank you… thank you for coming to pick me up. I can go home now!"
He had originally wanted to thank Konoha, but it really wasn't appropriate, so he swallowed the words in time.
This Iwagakure chūnin had once taken Kitsuchi along on missions when Kitsuchi was young, so the two could be considered friends despite the difference in age.
"Please send the ninja of those smaller hidden villages back along the way…" Orochimaru said slowly.
"Konoha's opinion is that the militant faction who advocated imprisoning ninja of the major hidden villages committed unforgivable crimes, so we have helped you clean them up."
"The peace faction of Kusagakure will remain to maintain order in the Land of Grass."
"As for these ninjutsu and funds, Konoha will take thirty percent, and the remaining four major hidden villages will each take ten percent."
"Of the remaining thirty percent, twenty percent will be evenly distributed among the other small hidden villages, and ten percent will go to the dove faction of Kusagakure to rebuild their homeland."
"This is the Hokage's opinion."
Dodai thought for a moment and nodded. "We will accept this for now, but we reserve the right to make further changes. I will return and report to the Raikage."
"Your Konoha launched troops rashly. Although what you did cannot be considered a bad thing, it is still…"
Orochimaru sneered.
"If Kumogakure hadn't hired Kusagakure to infiltrate Konoha, we wouldn't have caught so many hyenas."
"Without the intelligence in their heads, we might still be kept in the dark by Kusagakure. Open your eyes wide and see whether there are any of your ninja among those they imprisoned!"
"How does Kumogakure even have the face to speak? Take your people and get the hell out!"
Dodai's face turned alternately green and pale.
Although public opinion in the shinobi world could not kill anyone, the previous condemnation of Kumogakure had been cleverly shifted onto the Third Mizukage.
But it still had some impact.
If Orochimaru kept pressing this point, the aftermath would be troublesome.
Kusagakure imprisoning Kumogakure ninja, yet also being hired by Kumogakure?
"Sorry, I spoke too much."
"I have always admired the Third Hokage-sama. Please do not misunderstand."
"Our Kumogakure has always loved peace. Someone must have set this treacherous scheme in motion." Dodai adjusted his mindset, said a few diplomatic words, and after preparing to complete the handover, planned to leave quickly.
The way the other ninja were looking at him had already changed…
"Wait. Take the compensation you deserve before you get out. Konoha upholds the Will of Fire."
"The Will of Fire does not belong only to Konoha—it belongs to the entire shinobi world."
Orochimaru suddenly felt inspired and said this sentence: "This is what the Hokage-sama has always advocated. I hope you remember it."
Dodai frowned. He actually saw one or two Kumogakure ninja nod subconsciously.
"Thank you for the guidance…"
Dodai made up his mind that after returning, he must make strong compensation to these ninja; otherwise, they would all become future destabilizing factors for Kumogakure.
Even if it interfered to some extent with Kumogakure's current economy, it was still something that had to be done.
Pakura nodded thoughtfully.
It belongs to Konoha, and also to the shinobi world?
She did not think too deeply about it. She only felt that if something was good, Sunagakure should learn from it—perhaps it could be brought up…
Crossing the river by feeling Konoha's stones—creating a "Will of Sand" would be good as well!
"A fair offer. I'll accept it on behalf of the Third Kazekage for now; we'll coordinate the rest later."
"Iwagakure is the same."
After publicly displaying Kusagakure's assets and ninjutsu, Orochimaru discussed the follow-up matters with the representatives of the major hidden villages.
They preliminarily signed the "Convention on Non-Interference in the Kusagakure Region During Peacetime Between Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha."
Although it was almost as meaningless as a peace treaty, having it was still better than not having it.
They also issued a warning to the dove faction of Kusagakure: if similar actions occurred again, it would mean the destruction of the village and the fall of the nation…
"What about these Kirigakure ninja? No one here is heading the same way as them…"
Before leaving, Pakura chatted with Orochimaru. "Don't tell me they'll end up detouring to Konoha!"
"They won't. Every Konoha ninja is very valuable…"
"It isn't so easy to join Konoha."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Notify the Third Mizukage to send someone to pick them up. Though I've heard things are rather unstable over there—but that can't be helped."
"My sensei does have some friendship with the Third Mizukage. Wherever they came from, they should return there…"
Pakura nodded. The last time the major hidden villages mocked the Third Mizukage…
It was clear that Hiruzen had still held back and had not kicked someone while they were down.
"Valuable? What does that mean?" Pakura asked in confusion.
"You'll find out. After all, Sunagakure's spies certainly won't fail to be sent to the Land of Fire." Orochimaru waved his hand, too lazy to say anything more to Pakura.
He still had many matters to deal with after returning to the village…
"Hmph. Valuable? Since when is there such a thing as an 'valuable' ninja…"
Pakura spat. "Acting mysterious!"
...
A few days later.
After Konoha identified the rescued ninja, it notified the various ninja clans and family members to come and claim them.
Tobirama and Shio were among them; the procedures that needed to be followed still had to be followed.
Konoha now prioritized procedure.
Fugaku, who was responsible for maintaining order, smiled as he comforted the family members who were crying tears of joy, while also pacing back and forth like some kind of street loafer.
In this operation, the Uchiha had also taken part, and he felt a strong sense of accomplishment.
"Kid, have you decided on your name yet?"
Fugaku walked up to Tobirama and asked with a chuckle, "What Uchiha-whatever are you going to be called?"
Tobirama shot him a glance. "I don't plan to join the Uchiha Clan. I'll live as an independent shinobi—can't I do that?"
Fugaku smiled. This kid was really stubborn!
But when he saw Tobirama's face after it had been wiped clean, Fugaku's smile froze.
No…
He blinked hard.
It was simply like Uchiha Izuna had come back to life from the clan records!
Although the face still looked a bit youthful due to age, and some details didn't match everywhere, with an added sharpness.
But at first glance, it was basically impossible to tell the difference!
"No, you have to join the Uchiha!" Fugaku shouted, losing his composure.
"Why? Does Konoha also do this forced stuff?"
Tobirama sneered, pulling his hand away from Fugaku's.
Fugaku still wanted to say something, but when he saw Hiruzen and Danzō walking over in the distance, he cried out in his mind that things were bad.
He could recognize Uchiha Izuna…
And these two, Senju Tobirama's disciples—there was a good chance they also had some impression of Uchiha Izuna.
Fugaku hurriedly said, "Remember this: the Uchiha are always your own people. I will absolutely not harm you—our bodies both carry the blood of a single ancestor."
"In a moment, if anyone tries to take you away, you must not go. Wait until I go back and get the clan genealogy!"
"No—I'll find Clan Head Isshin to talk to you. Wait for me. You must wait for me!"
Fugaku bolted toward the clan district in a flash, moving even faster than his usual limit.
Tobirama neither affirmed nor denied; he shook his head and looked toward Danzō.
This was the first time he had seen his own disciple.
And with that single look, displeasure surged in Tobirama's heart.
What kind of getup was this of Danzō's?
Neither human nor ghost, with such a big bandage wrapped around his head, yet with even a slight sense, one could tell he wasn't injured…
So, was it to constantly advertise his own toil, merit, and sacrifice?
It was simply stupidity written all over his face!
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