Chapter 601.The Main Theme Is Attack and Leave

—Shahzaam, Jacob Mooe, kevin Williams, Jose Sierra, Pasang Sherpa, Acedia, kurtis newman, Nhoxious, Little Sand, Alin Kadas, sediaz, Targaryen, King Scales, Kurgarraz.

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Onoki was completely unaware of any of this.

He was currently rejoicing that the supplies had arrived just in time. Once the battlefield stabilized, he would be able to convene the Five Kage Summit on behalf of the Stone Ninja Village.

Using the influence of the Five Kage Summit, he would forcibly bring the war to an end and make the Cloud Ninja Village slink back to their hole.

Anyway, his Stone Ninja Village had already been reduced to this state. They would simply lie flat and give up struggling, but the Cloud Ninja Village would not get off easy either—they would gain absolutely nothing from this.

Just think about how infuriating that would be.

Onoki’s plan was sound, but he had not anticipated that a special squad, led by Killer Bee, would circle around from the sea to the rear and infiltrate the Land of Earth.

Onoki, whose home had been raided, was still fantasizing about how to join hands with the other villages to force the Cloud Ninja Village into a ceasefire.

Little did he know that the people of the Cloud Ninja Village were doing exactly what the Leaf Village had once done—and doing it even more ruthlessly than the Leaf had.

The Leaf Village had originally come to plunder, so they would not deliberately destroy things or kill too many people.

But the Cloud Ninja Village was different. They were purely driven by destruction, with plundering being merely a side errand. Moreover, their numbers were few, so it was impossible for them to actually carry away much.

Few people meant they could not take much with them.

They could use sealing scrolls to store things, but the question was—was it worth it?

Thus, the Cloud Ninja Village’s plan underwent a change: take what could be taken, destroy what could not.

When it came to destructive power, Killer Bee was far more formidable than Orochimaru.

When in doubt, launch a Tailed Beast Ball and bulldoze straight through.

If the Leaf Village relied on an overwhelming number of powerful individuals, then the Cloud Ninja Village simply borrowed the power of the Tailed Beasts.

Under Killer Bee’s assault, the defensive forces of any town and all manner of military installations were mere decorations. There was nothing that a single Tailed Beast Ball could not solve—and if there was, then two would do the trick.

Killer Bee, who had been cooped up in the village and had not been out to stretch his legs in a long time, was like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins.

He turned the Land of Earth upside down.

The most ruthless part was that, in order to maximize their gains, the Cloud Ninja Village would not casually leave survivors.

This led to the squad wreaking havoc within the Land of Earth for several days before the Stone Ninja Village finally discovered them.

By this time, Onoki, seeing that the battlefield situation had stabilized, had already dispatched people to various villages to convene the Five Kage Summit in the name of the Earth Shadow.

As it turned out, the messengers had only been sent out in the morning, and by the afternoon, a thunderbolt from the blue struck.

"Cough, cough!!!"

Onoki, dark-skinned as he was, nearly spat out a mouthful of blood. If he had not weathered countless storms in his life, he probably would have coughed up three liters of blood.

This move by the Cloud Ninja Village was vicious beyond measure, stabbing directly at Onoki’s heart.

What infuriated Onoki even more was that by the time he reacted and was about to send people to hunt them down, the ANBU ninja sent to investigate returned with a piece of news that nearly made him faint on the spot.

The people who had infiltrated the Land of Earth and caused trouble had already withdrawn.

Even if the Stone Ninja Village wanted revenge, they could not find anyone to take it out on.

They could only deduce from the intelligence clues left at the scene that one of them was the Cloud Ninja Village’s Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee.

While the Cloud Ninja Village and the Stone Ninja Village were locked in their contest, Kazuki paid no attention to any of it.

First of all, Onoki had already issued the Five Kage Summit on behalf of the Stone Ninja Village, and the location of the Five Kage Summit was naturally set in the Land of Iron, a neutral country.

Upon learning of this, the Land of Iron responded immediately.

After receiving the notification, Kazuki began making arrangements for matters in the village. After all, he needed to travel to the Land of Iron to attend the Five Kage Summit, and no one knew how long the summit would last.

Before matters were settled, it would be difficult for the Five Kage to leave unless they directly tore off all pretenses and walked out.

Tearing off all pretenses and walking out was no small matter.

It meant butting head with the other four villages. Whether one could withstand that pressure was something that had to be carefully weighed first.

Now that the Five Kage Summit had been initiated, Kazuki issued orders for the frontline camp and the people on the battlefield to gradually pack up their things and withdraw to the village.

The war was destined to end, so why keep so many people outside?

Everyone should come back—those who had missions to carry out should carry them out, and those who were meant to retire in the village should continue their retirement. No more wandering around outside.

The Third Hokage was certainly very displeased with him, but Kazuki was not worried that the Third Hokage would take advantage of his absence when he left for the Land of Iron to cause trouble.

Because no one would pay him any attention.

Even if he wanted to stir up trouble, it was possible that what had happened to the Uchiha back then would fall upon the Sarutobi clan instead.

Back then, Uchiha Madara had stubbornly insisted on leaving and causing trouble, but no one in the Uchiha responded.

Why?

Because everyone had finally managed to live peaceful days, and now their leader wanted to start causing trouble again, completely disregarding the clan’s development and survival.

Tell me, under such circumstances, who would be willing to go cause trouble with you?

Madara was overly confident, believing that the clan members would all stand by his side, but the result was a rather miserable fall.

In truth, the Uchiha were not devoid of fighting spirit. If Madara had used some tactics and employed a bit of indirect maneuvering, the Uchiha would absolutely have risen up to follow him out of the Leaf Village, even if it meant going to war with the Leaf.

Unfortunately, Madara was a proud man and did not want to resort to such underhanded tricks.

It would make him feel as though he were following in the footsteps of Senju Tobirama.

After all, Tobirama loved nothing more than engaging in all sorts of shady dealings.

So Madara simply threw the choice in front of his clan members and let them decide: either follow me and fight it out with the Leaf, or sever all ties from this point on.

Such a hardline attitude and sudden choice—no one could accept that.

At the very least, you could have tried to rally people first.

The result was predictable: the Uchiha did not follow in Madara’s footsteps, and Madara drew a line between himself and the Uchiha from then on.

By the same logic.

If the Third Hokage wanted to cause trouble, he would first have to ask whether the Sarutobi clan agreed.

Not many people in the village would cooperate with the Third Hokage. Under such circumstances, the clan members who had finally caught their breath and were enjoying a few peaceful days would certainly not follow the Third Hokage into risk.

Without the clan’s assistance and with few people in the village willing to help, even if the Third Hokage jumped out, it would be useless.

Moreover, the Third Hokage and Uchiha Madara were different types of people.

The Third Hokage valued the development of his clan and would not casually drag his clan into danger.

Madara had no such concerns. In his view, as long as the goal was achieved, any sacrifice was worth it.

Although the Uchiha tended toward a neurotic personality, the successive inheritors of Indra’s chakra were more cold-blooded than ordinary Uchiha.

This could be seen from Madara and Sasuke.

"Old man, are you still angry?"

Jiraiya poured the Third Hokage a cup of sake, then downed a cup himself.

With the sake in his belly, he looked at the silently brooding Third Hokage and felt his teeth ache.

How on earth had this damn mission fallen on his head?

Kazuki, you too—if you’re going to be Hokage, then be one. I know you were forced into becoming Hokage, but don’t be so half-hearted about it.

Becoming Hokage without doing anything at all—that’s hard to justify.