Chapter 160: Pre-war Preparations and Grass Ninja Village

"Prepare to forward letters to the others! I believe the other ninja villages cannot possibly watch Konoha completely crush us just like that!"

Tutai's expression was calm as he spoke. After hearing this, Killer Bee also nodded.

This was also the backup plan Cloud Ninja Village had prepared from the start: in the event that framing Iwagakure failed and they were instead discovered by Konoha, then Cloud Ninja would have no choice but to drag the other ninja villages into the water.

Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha possesses the strongest power; among the Five Great Nations, the Land of Fire likewise possesses the strongest national power, and its population is nearly the sum of the other four nations combined!

Once the Universal Chakra Plan is implemented, it is obvious that the Land of Fire will produce the most geniuses and increase in strength the fastest.

Konoha's strength and foundation were already ranked first among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and when combined with the geniuses emerging from the Land of Fire, it truly gained the momentum to unify the entire Ninja World.

Regarding this kind of matter, Tutai and Killer Bee believe that not only can they not endure it, but the other three ninja villages absolutely cannot endure it either, so although they might be reprimanded by Konoha, they will absolutely not suffer any truly heavy damage!

"Good, I will send letters to the other three ninja villages."

"There is one more thing, Lord Raikage. Iwagakure has offended Konoha just like us; for this matter, we cannot let our family take the fall alone!"

Although they had long been prepared to drag other ninja villages into the water, there is a science to the depth of the submersion.

Some people might at most get their shoes wet from the waves, while others have the chance to be dragged into the water pool together; clearly, Iwagakure is the one that has the chance to be dragged into the water pool as well.

Even if the four great ninja villages were to resist Konoha together, there is still the distinction between contributing more and contributing less. Mist Ninja Village and Sunagakure would at most send some troops to the border lines to contain Konoha's strength; when it comes to truly fighting Konoha with real blades and guns, aside from Cloud Ninja, one still has to look to the Rock Ninja!

"Onoki is cunning and treacherous. Although the Rock Ninja harbor evil intentions just like us, they haven't actually caused any real damage to Konoha, so they aren't Konoha's primary target..."

Therefore, even now, Cloud Ninja Village has not recovered from the losses of the Third Shinobi World War—in fact, it has only been three or four years since the Third Shinobi World War, so it is normal for Cloud Ninja to not have recovered yet.

And Cloud Ninja's losses were far greater than in the original story, and most importantly—A, who had not yet become the Fourth Raikage at the time, died!

The Raikage and the Raikage's successor perishing in a single battle caused the entire Cloud Ninja to be in turmoil for a long time. Killer Bee had sufficient strength, but after all, his prestige and connections were far inferior to his foster brother's, and he was also a jinchuriki; just sorting out internal affairs took a lot of time.

Under these circumstances, small ninja villages had no right to refuse at all. The only ninja village leader who dared to resist was named Hanzo of the Salamander, and as a result, he was taught a lesson in turn by Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure, and the Land of Rain also became the country with the worst security environment.

However, this time, among the two battlefields selected by Konoha, the Land of Frost was one thing, but the Land of Grass was a place Uchiha Feiyu deliberately chose.

But those small countries, regardless of whether it is the Land of Rain or the Land of Grass, are almost all in a state of misery. Especially for small countries that possess ninja villages, because the major ninja villages want to prevent trouble before it happens and weaken the strength of these small ninja villages, they are even more likely to become battlefields.

Therefore, it can be clearly seen in the manga that the citizens within the Five Great Nations can basically still survive, and countries like the Land of Fire can even have a little quality of life.

Being able to restore administrative order and settle internal chaos in such a short time is all thanks to the originally united atmosphere within Cloud Ninja and Killer Bee's outstanding strength!

"Not bad, I will handle this matter immediately!"

Never expected that Konoha would actually declare war on two ninja villages directly; an army of 2,000 was sent directly to the Land of Grass and the Land of Frost, invading the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth.

Hmm? You ask why entering the Land of Grass and the Land of Frost counts as invading the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth?

"Lord Raikage, the damage we caused to Konoha is one aspect, but at the same time, the threat we pose to Konoha is not as great as that of the Rock Ninja!"

So now, if we are talking purely about threats, Iwagakure is definitely a greater threat to Konoha than Cloud Ninja Village.

Iwagakure and Cloud Ninja Village both brought out their own plans, yet beyond their imagination, Konoha had already begun to act before their plans could be implemented.

"That makes sense. Find a way to hype up the threat of Iwagakure, so that Konoha also pays attention to this old rival of ours; that way, Konoha's target won't just be fixed on us."

And it wasn't just against one ninja village, but directly attacking two ninja villages at once!

However, in the minds of the Rock Ninja and Cloud Ninja villages, the most likely scenario was that Konoha would launch an active attack on one ninja village. Otherwise, with over 6,000 ninjas, even with many reserves under the Universal Chakra policy, there would be a high risk of a generational gap.

After several years of recovery, Konoha's ninja force, which originally had only 2,000 people, has now recovered to about 6,000. Compared to its peak, this is naturally a huge gap, but it does have the confidence to launch some small-scale wars.

What Tutai said is the unvarnished truth. This is not the original story; although the Rock Ninja's losses in the Third Shinobi World War were indeed heavy, those were only losses at the grassroots level, while not a single powerhouse died.

I have to say, Killer Bee, a rap baby, after being beaten by reality for a period of time, has gradually realized some political maneuvering methods; at least he is no longer the simple youth he once was, and he has even put aside his hobby of rapping.

Sorry, these so-called small countries are themselves battlefields for the major powers; the vast majority of battles occur within these small countries. Even during the Ninja World War, it was rare for ninja troops to enter the other party's territory.

Back during the Ninja World War, Uchiha Feiyu sent one of the four Primordial Treasure Boxes in his hands to the Land of Grass, and incidentally handed over some Blood Qi Pills he didn't need to the leader of the Land of Grass who had defected to him, directly causing three Shadow-level powerhouses to appear in the Land of Grass.

Those Blood Qi Pills were themselves refined using Grass Ninja, and even the so-called Hunyuan Treasure Box was created by the Box of Ultimate Bliss. At that time, Uchiha Feiyu could be said to have gotten something for nothing, just conveniently creating a leek garden for himself.

But although Uchiha Feiyu didn't pay much attention to it, after several years of development, the current Grass Ninja Village has still greatly increased in strength. The number of ninjas hasn't increased much, and has even decreased slightly, with fewer than 2,000 ninjas, but among these 2,000 ninjas, the vast majority are Chunin, and there are nearly 200 Jonin.

This quantity can almost rival the number of Jonin and Chunin in Konoha during its normal peak period. Unfortunately, in this atmosphere of refining people into medicine—a proper demonic sect atmosphere—Grass Ninja Village no longer has room for Genin to grow, and even in the current peaceful times, the number of ninjas is decreasing.

Anyway, Uchiha Feiyu's Hunyuan Treasure Box accepts all comers. Whether you go outside to capture some rogue ninjas or wandering ninjas, or you secretly capture members from other major ninja villages, or you even start directly from within Grass Ninja Village, as long as you bring the captives over, Uchiha Feiyu can refine pills for you.

Undoubtedly, in this situation, attacking the ninjas of one's own village is definitely the most convenient and fastest way. Even if the three ninja village leaders have restrictions on this, there are policies above and countermeasures below; as long as you label those weak ninjas as rogue ninjas or spies, you can still refine them.

In this atmosphere of internal strife, the strength of the Grass Ninja Village ninjas has indeed advanced by leaps and bounds, but the mortality rate has also greatly increased, and various factions have even emerged, each viewing the other as a stepping stone for advancement.

It can be said that the current Grass Ninja Village, purely in terms of internal strife, absolutely tops all ninja villages.

Land of Grass, Grass Ninja Village.

A spatial vortex instantly emerged from the void. Uchiha Feiyu, wearing a mask and followed by Tsunade, walked out of the Kamui Space.

Last time, Uchiha Feiyu flattened the entire Grass Ninja Village, destroying almost more than half of the entire village. Several years have passed, and the Grass Ninja Village, which was once like half a ruin, has recovered almost completely.

It's just that the number of ninjas walking in the village has decreased a lot, and each one is in a hurry, fully equipped, with vigilant eyes and murderous intent overflowing.

These ninjas keep a certain safe distance from each other; even ninjas who should belong to the same squad have absolutely no tacit understanding, replaced by endless indifference and wariness.

"Who are you!"

As Uchiha Feiyu and Tsunade suddenly appeared, several Grass Ninja Village ninjas immediately surrounded them, their eyes flashing with suspicion and uncertainty.

There is no help for it; Space-Time Ninjutsu is almost a legend in these small countries and absolutely belongs to the highest-level tier of ninjutsu. A ninja who can skillfully use Space-Time Ninjutsu should at least be a Quasi-Shadow.

The Grass Ninja are not completely ignorant; of course, they saw that Uchiha Feiyu was using Space-Time Ninjutsu, and it was precisely because of this that these Grass Ninja were so vigilant instead of rushing up immediately.

Uchiha Feiyu casually took out a token from his hand. The sealing array on the token formed a complex pattern, emitting a strange chakra fluctuation. As soon as the several ninjas saw this token, their expressions changed drastically, and they knelt down respectfully.

"Greetings, my lord! May I ask what your instructions are?"

"Take me to see your leader!"

"Yes, understood!"

Watching the respectful demeanor of these ninjas, Uchiha Feiyu had no expression, but Tsunade was quite surprised:

"The atmosphere here in Grass Ninja Village isn't great, but their strength is actually quite good. They are so respectful to you; it must be because you helped them improve their strength, right!"

"It's not just for that reason; I killed quite a few ninjas here back then."

"I remember now. I recall Konoha once received intelligence that Grass Ninja Village seemed to have been breached by a mysterious ninja a few years ago... but that was during the Ninja World War, and Konoha didn't pay much attention to it."

"Looking at it now, so it was you, this evil Uchiha brat, who did it!"

Tsunade said with a hint of teasing; Uchiha Feiyu raised an eyebrow, though he didn't pay much mind to it:

"It was indeed my doing. After suppressing the entire Grass Ninja, I used Genjutsu to control the three current leaders of the Grass Ninja Village, and then I left behind the Hunyuan Treasure Box."

"It's a pity... over this period of time, the value of the Land of Grass has been squeezed dry; whether it be wandering ninja or rogue ninja from the underground, they have all been picked clean by this bunch."

"In fact, ever since the Ninja World War ended, the returns the Grass Ninja Village brought me have plummeted..."

The result of killing each other is that there is no trust whatsoever between the ninja, making it very difficult to unite and cooperate for hunting. Under these circumstances, the only way out for the Grass Ninja Village is to directly launch a war, relying on large-scale warfare to continue the path of sustaining war through war.

However, in order to keep the resources flowing, Uchiha Feiyu suppressed the Grass Ninja Village's idea of launching a war—in fact, this was easy to do, because aside from the upper echelons who could see these problems in the development of the ninja village, the lower-level ninja would not care about so much at all, only pondering how to get more captives so they could obtain more Blood Qi Pill.

"In this situation, rather than letting the Hunyuan Treasure Box continue to stay in the Grass Ninja Village, it would be better to move it to another place. As for these Grass Ninja Village ninja, it would be even better to just drag them to the battlefield to be sacrificed together."

"Anyway, this bunch of ninja has already developed to the point of killing each other,"

The words Uchiha Feiyu spoke were cruel, but the two Grass Ninja leading the way in front seemed as if they had not heard his words at all.

In reality, they indeed had not heard them at all, because Uchiha Feiyu had already used Genjutsu to manipulate their hearing, so naturally, they would have no reaction.

"It just so happens that the number of Konoha ninja is not high right now; taking this bunch to the battlefield to make up the numbers will also avoid making other ninja villages suspicious."

"By the way, for the Konoha ninja you send to the battlefield, get a list for me when the time comes. Those ninja without potential, ninja suspected of being spies, and ninja who are not very obedient—I will sacrifice them too when the time comes."

Uchiha Feiyu spoke in an understated manner; a trace of guilt flashed across Tsunade's face, yet she still nodded without hesitation:

"Alright, I understand. What is the specific number needed?"

"We cannot let the other two ninja villages discover anything wrong... If in a seemingly evenly matched war, not a single Konoha ninja dies, or fewer than three digits of ninja die, even a fool could think there is a problem."

"The number for the sacrifice... let's set it at around 300 people. Sacrificing 300 of those ninja who have no potential or have some problems on each battlefield will not affect the development of Konoha."

After hearing this number, Tsunade muttered once more about the evil Uchiha brat, but she did not offer any rebuttal.

Uchiha Feiyu looked back at the somewhat sorrowful Tsunade and spoke:

"Didn't you already know this result right from the beginning?"

"Don't think so much; if not for my help, the number of Konoha ninja sacrificed would only be higher."

(End of chapter)