Chapter 104: Jiraiya’s Plan, Konoha Shinobi Shocked

At the border of the Land of Fire, in the region adjacent to the Land of Grass.

This time, the Hidden Stone Village had brought the Hidden Grass Village along with it and invaded the territory of the Land of Fire.

Although the Konoha shinobi had quickly moved to intercept them, the battlefield was still within the Land of Fire.

Inside the Konoha army’s camp.

"Lord Jiraiya, your battle arrangements are a little too conservative."

Nara Shikaku sighed.

Jiraiya was the overall commander responsible for intercepting the combined forces of the Hidden Stone and Hidden Grass Villages.

But how should he put it?

Jiraiya’s own strength was quite impressive, but when it came to commanding an entire war, there were simply too many problems.

He was overly cautious when arranging his own forces, and when attacking the enemy, he was also far too softhearted.

As a result, the battle had dragged on until now, with the enemy still inside the Land of Fire.

If they could not drive the enemy out of the Land of Fire as soon as possible, the Land of Fire would suffer enormous losses, and even the daimyo would have complaints.

Moreover, their exchange ratio so far was terrible.

The number of shinobi lost by both sides was almost equal!

But!

It had to be known that although Konoha’s shinobi were inferior in numbers to the combined forces of the Hidden Stone and Hidden Grass Villages, their overall quality was much higher!

Maintaining an essentially equal exchange ratio under these circumstances meant that Jiraiya, as the overall commander, bore a great deal of responsibility.

"There are simply too many Stone shinobi, and some of your ideas, Shikaku... aren’t very suitable either."

Jiraiya said helplessly.

For example, Nara Shikaku would sometimes suggest that some Konoha shinobi be used as bait to lure the enemy deeper into their territory, after which they could concentrate a large number of shinobi and wipe out the enemy.

But if they did that, those Konoha shinobi used as bait would have little chance of surviving!

He simply could not accept such tactics.

Deliberately assigning his own people to missions where they were certain to die was something he could never bring himself to do.

"Lord Jiraiya, this is war!"

Nara Shikaku said seriously.

The legendary Konoha Sannin, Jiraiya, was actually this naive.

Shikaku was almost speechless.

Seriously, what were they doing right now?!

No wonder Jiraiya had not even been considered in the selection for the Fourth Hokage.

In Nara Shikaku’s opinion, among the Konoha Sannin, only Orochimaru possessed the talent to command a battlefield.

As for Jiraiya, he was better suited to serve as a high-level combat force.

Jiraiya shook his head, still insisting on his own opinion.

He had his own shinobi way.

If possible, he did not even want to participate in a war.

Why couldn’t everyone just sit down and have a proper discussion?

"The Hidden Stone already has more people, and they’ve also allied themselves with the fairly powerful Hidden Grass Village. Being able to hold them back until now is already pretty good."

"If we want to end this war as soon as possible, we may have to see whether the situation on the Hidden Cloud’s side can be resolved quickly."

Jiraiya shook his head as he spoke.

But how easy would it be for the Hidden Cloud side to end the war quickly?

Neither the Fourth Raikage nor Killer B, the Perfect Jinchūriki, was easy to deal with.

Back when Konoha still had Minato, he had been able to hold the two of them back by himself.

Now, they could only send that brat Uchiha Reiji to deal with the Hidden Cloud.

Hearing this, Nara Shikaku also wore a worried expression.

Uchiha Reiji was certainly powerful, but expecting one person to defeat the Hidden Cloud’s A-B Combo would still be somewhat difficult.

Moreover, although the Hidden Cloud had fewer shinobi than the Hidden Stone, their forces were all elite.

They would have to wait a while for news from the Hidden Cloud side.

"Let’s not talk about that anymore. Shikaku, there’s something I want to ask you."

Jiraiya’s expression became serious.

"Regarding the night of the Uchiha coup, I feel that there are some things that don’t add up."

"First, I went to the Uchiha clan compound. All the traces of battle were concentrated around the outer perimeter of the compound."

"And then there was the Sarutobi clan. When I arrived at their compound, I saw that a red-colored barrier had been erected around it."

"Perhaps because of that barrier, not a single member of the Sarutobi clan managed to escape. They were completely wiped out."

Nara Shikaku immediately understood what Jiraiya meant.

"You’re saying that although the Third Hokage ordered the extermination of the Uchiha clan, the Uchiha clan had already made preparations?"

They had prepared defenses around their clan compound beforehand, eliminating all the people who came to carry out the extermination operation outside the clan compound.

Then Uchiha Reiji controlled Uchiha Itachi and arranged for people to establish a barrier around the Sarutobi clan compound, with Uchiha Itachi carrying out the extermination of the Sarutobi clan.

As for Uchiha Reiji, he simply acted as the leader on the surface!

All of this had clearly been arranged in advance.

Even!

Nara Shikaku suspected that eliminating Danzō ahead of time and wiping out the Root organization might also have been part of the Uchiha clan’s plan!

Jiraiya nodded.

"Perhaps it goes even further than that."

"Perhaps even if the old man hadn’t done anything, the Uchiha clan would have eventually launched a coup anyway."

The ambitions Uchiha Reiji had revealed when speaking with him earlier were already unmistakable.

Abolish the Hokage system!

Become the one and only god!

With such ambitions, even if his teacher had done nothing, the Uchiha clan might not have remained an ordinary clan forever.

Nara Shikaku frowned slightly and retorted,

"Before that, Danzō had already led the entire Root organization in an assassination attempt against Uchiha Reiji."

"He even set up a barrier and attacked him directly inside the village!"

"It is difficult to say that the Third Hokage knew nothing about such a thing. And if the Third Hokage did know, then the Uchiha clan was forced to launch its rebellion ahead of schedule."

In Nara Shikaku’s opinion, the fundamental cause of the conflict between the two sides was that Sarutobi Hiruzen had grown old and weak and could no longer guarantee his position as Hokage, so he continuously suppressed the major shinobi clans.

The Uchiha clan was unwilling to be suppressed and chose to resist.

There was nothing inherently wrong with that.

At most, completely exterminating the Sarutobi clan had gone too far.

However, if it had been motivated by a desire for revenge against Sarutobi Hiruzen, then such an action could still be reluctantly understood.

"No. I may not be certain about the other Uchiha, but Uchiha Reiji definitely had the intention of launching a coup from the very beginning."

Jiraiya’s expression became solemn.

He then told Nara Shikaku about Reiji’s plans for the future that Reiji had previously revealed to him.

Nara Shikaku was completely dumbfounded!

He had always been puzzled by one thing.

Uchiha Reiji had successfully led the Uchiha clan in a coup, yet he seemingly had no intention of becoming Hokage.

Now, he finally understood!

He didn’t want to become Hokage because he wanted to become a god!

Being Hokage was not enough.

He wanted to become a god who possessed absolute power!

"Uchiha Reiji... has he gone insane?"

Nara Shikaku muttered in shock.

Did he really think that because he could activate Susanoo and kill Sarutobi Hiruzen, he was invincible?

Did he really believe that he was comparable to Uchiha Madara in his prime?

No.

Even Uchiha Madara in his prime had never dared to claim that he would become the one and only god, right?

"Now that he’s taken the initiative to intercept the Hidden Cloud, perhaps after suffering a setback on the Hidden Cloud’s side, he won’t think that way anymore."

"I’ve already exchanged letters with Tsunade. I told her that I hoped she would return to the village and take up the position of Hokage."

Jiraiya sighed.

This was what he believed to be the best arrangement at present.

For the current Konoha, having Tsunade serve as the Fifth Hokage was the most appropriate choice.

As for Uchiha Reiji, after suffering a setback, he probably would no longer harbor such a childish idea of becoming the god who established the order of the world.

If Uchiha Reiji later decided that he wanted to become Hokage, Jiraiya would firmly oppose him!

Someone who had indiscriminately slaughtered the entire Sarutobi clan, regardless of whether they were innocent or not, could never become Hokage as far as Jiraiya was concerned!

"Tsunade-sama..."

Nara Shikaku nodded.

Compared with the Uchiha clan, who were always prone to causing trouble, Tsunade, as a member of the Senju clan, was still a much better choice.

Suddenly, a commotion came from outside the tent.

Jiraiya and Nara Shikaku exchanged glances, both feeling somewhat puzzled.

They stood up and walked outside, only to see the Konoha shinobi gathered in a noisy crowd.

The voices were chaotic.

"For real? The battle on the Hidden Cloud side is already over?"

"The entire Hidden Cloud army was annihilated, and even the Fourth Raikage was killed?"

"That can’t be true... You’re saying Uchiha Reiji did this?!"

In the middle of the Konoha shinobi stood a ninja who had just arrived to deliver a message.

The messenger rolled his eyes.

"Why would I lie to you? Everyone who went out to intercept the Hidden Cloud has already returned to Konoha."

"The Fourth Raikage’s corpse is still in the village, and the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki was captured by Lord Reiji. He even became Lord Reiji’s summoning beast!"

"And I also heard that afterward, Lord Reiji brought the Eight-Tails to the Hidden Cloud Village and intimidated them, telling the Hidden Cloud to prepare its terms for surrender and come to Konoha to negotiate peace!"

Boom!

After receiving confirmation once again, the Konoha shinobi present completely exploded into an uproar!

The battle on the Hidden Cloud side had not only already ended, but Reiji had even brought a Tailed Beast directly into the enemy village to flaunt his power!

Meanwhile, their side had not even managed to drive the enemy out of the Land of Fire!

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