Chapter 481: The Late Attendee, Konoha

The moment the Third Mizukage, Gui, removed his final fig leaf, the originally fragile temporary alliance between the three nations of Lightning, Earth, and Water instantly became unbreakable.

The three men, having lost something of great importance, exchanged glances, their eye sockets actually beginning to turn slightly red.

The kidney in the prime of his life,

Little Right, who had kept him company and relieved his loneliness day and night,

And a head of thick, jet-black hair.

Any one of these things was a precious treasure that every man regarded as his own life.

Uchiha Madara's overflowing rage vanished instantly upon seeing Gui, who had turned into a "Mediterranean" (balding), his aura shrinking; a rare look of sympathy appeared on his iceberg-like face, his gaze unconsciously drifting to the side, with a faint hint of evasion.

He could endure losing a kidney; he didn't use it anyway.

Losing an arm didn't have much impact either; the Susanoo had four arms, which was perfectly sufficient to satisfy his need to "reduce the enemy to ashes."

But hair...

He truly could not accept becoming a "Mediterranean." Even being completely bald with not a single strand left would be fine—at least it could add a bit of critical hit chance.

But to have only the middle patch go bald, set off by that one stubborn lone strand, made it look even more pathetic.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

The three, having exposed their own secrets, joined forces to question the silent Uchiha Madara and his companion. They had truly racked their brains to occupy the moral high ground.

"I have nothing to say."

What else could Uchiha Madara say?

Even though he had already learned through other channels that the attacker was definitely not Haxi Lama himself,

tracing the source back, the tragic encounter of the three losing their precious items really did have something to do with Konoha.

"Then you admit that the attackers were created by Konoha, right?"

Onoki seized the opportunity and questioned him sternly; he absolutely could not let his kidney be sacrificed in vain.

"This..."

"This matter has nothing to do with Konoha."

Here, just as Uchiha Madara revealed a hint of embarrassment, Senju Tobirama stood up abruptly.

"You mastermind, you're still quibbling here. Those attackers are definitely your handiwork, just to eliminate the other four Ninja Villages and unify the Ninja World."

Looking at the righteous-faced Senju Tobirama, Onoki was so angry his half-kidney throbbed with pain, and he mercilessly dumped a big pot of "shit" onto the other party's head.

"Hmph! If our Konoha wanted to unify the Ninja World, why would we need to resort to such petty tricks?"

With absolutely no intention of taking the blame, Uchiha Madara snorted coldly, his overwhelming pressure permeating his body, pressing down on the grandstanding Onoki until he couldn't breathe.

"What do you want to do?"

Onoki's prematurely aged face turned beet red, and suppressing the fear in his heart, he shrank behind the equally tense Jin Jiao, only then did his complexion improve slightly.

"To deal with you bunch of trash knights, I alone am enough; there is no need for Haxi Lama to take action at all."

"You!"

Hearing themselves described by Uchiha Madara as "trash knights" without faces, instead of the Tailed Beast Knights who dominated a region, the three glared with wide, angry eyes.

"What, do you want to start the Second Knight War?"

Uchiha Madara was not intimidated in the slightest, maintaining his arrogant posture with arms crossed, looking down at the three furious men as if they were nothing more than blades of grass.

"You think I'm afraid?"

Jin Jiao stood up, his knuckles cracking, his face full of flesh and war intent. He wasn't afraid of Uchiha Madara, who was also a Tailed Beast Knight.

During the First Knight War, if it hadn't been for the sake of Uchiha Gin, he and his brother could have fought Uchiha Madara to the death—not seeking victory, but seeking no regrets.

"Oh?"

Seeing someone dare to question him, Uchiha Madara's expression sank, and his eyes gradually became stained with a terrifying scarlet hue. Seeing this, Jin Jiao curled his mouth into a grin, his entire body surging with scorching Tailed Beast Chakra. His massive ox eyes transformed into vertical pupils, and he glared back without yielding an inch.

The two auras collided, whipping up terrifying ripples visible to the naked eye within the conference room. Onoki and Gui frowned; this was not what they had discussed.

It was clearly agreed that the subordinates would just fight a little to make a point; they didn't say they would take action themselves!

Battles between Shadows were reckless; if someone were to have an accident due to insufficient strength, the already confusing situation might fall into chaos again.

"Lord Raikage!"

"Lord Hokage!"

Onoki and the other spoke at the same time, blocking the two glaring men, their expressions extremely serious.

"Everyone, let's talk this over. Both of you, please think twice!"

"You two, stop putting on an act, let's all go together!"

Daring to question his strength—it seemed he had been too gentle these past few years, giving these petty people the illusion that they could touch his tiger whiskers.

"Don't mess around, we didn't come here to start trouble."

Just as the atmosphere reached its limit, a figure appeared behind Uchiha Madara and said coldly,

"Huh? When did you get behind me?"

As everyone knew, Uchiha Madara's back defense index was negative; the sudden voice truly gave him a big fright.

"Big brother's matter hasn't been resolved yet, can you please not add to our troubles?"

Senju Tobirama glared at Uchiha Madara with a look of "iron not becoming steel," then whispered the stakes of the matter to him.

It was true that Konoha was strong now, but once they went to war with the other villages simultaneously, they would inevitably enter a long-term tug-of-war,

which would be fatal for Konoha, currently in a stage of vigorous development.

Unless you, Uchiha Madara, had the ability to take on ten thousand alone and could single-handedly fight the Four-Nation Allied Forces, he, Senju Tobirama, would absolutely raise both hands in favor of war.

"Understood."

Glaring fiercely at Onoki and the others who were in cahoots, Uchiha Madara lowered his hands, and the bloodthirsty scarlet in his eyes faded away.

In his heart, Senju Hashirama was undoubtedly the most important; as for these stinking fish and rotten shrimp, he would have plenty of opportunities to handle them later.

"Everyone, let us return to the main topic. Konoha can guarantee that the attack incident was absolutely not our doing. Not only that, we are actually investigating this matter as well."

Seeing Uchiha Madara being so reasonable, Senju Tobirama felt relieved, stepped forward, and said loudly,

"You are investigating too?"

Onoki captured the information revealed in Senju Tobirama's words; the surprised expression on his face did not seem fake. In such a serious occasion, the Konoha side had no need to make up lies to cover things up.

"To tell you the truth, my big brother lost contact with us during a trip, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day."

After much consideration, Senju Tobirama decided to announce the disappearance of Senju Hashirama to the world. The reason he had hidden this news before was because he was worried that ill-intentioned people would take advantage of Konoha's weakness to provoke them.

But the situation was different now; the leaders of several major Ninja Villages had been attacked, and the murderer's spear was pointed directly at the missing Senju Hashirama. Konoha had already become the target of public criticism.

The only way to clear their suspicion and shift the conflict now was to let these people know the truth.

"What?"

Jin Jiao and Gui, upon hearing this news, both revealed extremely shocked expressions. Only Onoki wore a thoughtful look.

"Sure enough, I knew it earlier..."

He had guessed long ago that Senju Hashirama might not be in Konoha, or even that he might not be in this world. For this reason, he had even specifically coerced the leader of the Takigakure to go to Konoha to probe, but the scheme did not succeed, and he even lost a pawn he had cultivated for many years.

Onoki felt hatred in his heart now!

If he had known this news earlier, he would have roped in other Ninja Villages to declare war on Konoha, taking advantage of their empty combat power to capture the fertile and rich land of the Land of Fire in one fell swoop, leaving a legacy for future generations.

In Onoki's mind, since Senju Hashirama could suppress Uchiha Madara to become the First Hokage of Konoha, it meant his strength was definitely ranked first in the Land of Fire.

This perception was not groundless. In the years Onoki had been a Tailed Beast Knight, his relationship with the Four-Tails had not been without progress; he could occasionally chat a few words with the furious red gorilla inside the card,

and he had successfully obtained some information from the other party's fragmented words. Compared to the red-eyed Uchiha Madara, the Tailed Beasts were even more afraid of Senju Hashirama, who rode the Wood Human.

Finally, after integrating the known information, Onoki reached a conclusion:

Senju Hashirama > Uchiha Madara.

Of course, this didn't mean they weren't afraid of Uchiha Madara, but compared to the combination of Senju Hashirama + Uchiha Madara,

facing a single Uchiha Madara, the three families still had the confidence to cope. Perhaps they would have to pay some price, but Konoha with only one Hokage would definitely be defeated.

"Why is your mouth so big? Why tell them this?"

Looking at the crowd with different expressions after learning the secret, Uchiha Madara questioned Senju Tobirama with displeasure.

"It can't be hidden anymore, might as well admit it generously."

Senju Tobirama knew very well that the next demand of this three-nation alliance would definitely be to have Senju Hashirama, the suspect, come out to prove his innocence. If they continued to hem and haw and talk around the point, it would only increase their own suspicion.

After saying this, Senju Tobirama turned to look at the crowd, his expression quite solemn.

"I suspect there is a secret organization that has been hidden for many years. They intend to disrupt the pattern of the entire Ninja World and take advantage of the chaos to do evil deeds."

"You think we will believe you? How can you prove that those attackers were not your handiwork?"

At this point, these people were still doubting Senju Tobirama, looking him up and down with questioning eyes.

"You didn't do less human experimentation on prisoners during the Warring States Period."

"That's right, that's right."

"I..."

The prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain.

Senju Tobirama rubbed his throbbing temples, his inner depression reaching its peak.

Could they not keep harping on those old, rotten things? He had turned over a new leaf for many years; now he only dared to use himself for experiments.

"You made up such a baseless organization just to clear your own suspicion."

Onoki and the three colluded, pointing their fingers at Senju Tobirama, who had a criminal record, which angered the white-haired man quite a bit on the spot. The coldness in his scarlet eyes showed he was holding a grudge this time.

"Look, I told you not to explain too much; just cleaning them all up would have settled it."

Looking at the frustrated Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Madara revealed a gloating smile.

On their way here, they had argued about their attitude for the meeting.

Uchiha Madara advocated for a hardline approach: finish saying what he had to say as soon as the meeting started, and beat anyone who didn't submit or believe until they did.

While Senju Tobirama advocated for peace as the foundation; after all, there was still a mysterious organization hidden in the dark, holding the trump card of the Clone Hashirama. If their major Ninja Villages fought internally, it would only let the mastermind behind the scenes reap the benefits.

"Our Konoha has no reason to do this. Breaking the hard-won peace agreement at will is not good for anyone."

"That's because you didn't succeed. If we all met with misfortune, Konoha would be the biggest winner."

The three sneered in unison. Although they didn't know why Senju Hashirama, who attacked them, didn't kill them directly but instead planted strange things in their bodies,

this did not prevent them from speculating about Konoha with the greatest malice.

The delusions of the weak; being strong is a crime.

Seriously, where did they get such persecution mania? If we really wanted your lives, our Konoha would have ten thousand ways to do it.

Senju Tobirama looked somewhat distressed at the triumphant Uchiha Madara.

Is it really only possible to take hardline measures?

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Just as both sides were in a stalemate, a series of urgent knocks on the door suddenly rang out. Everyone frowned slightly; who dared to disturb their important meeting?

Creak~

While they were thinking, the door to the conference room had already been opened. Several gazes instantly pierced toward the person entering, but they were blinded by a shiny bald head.

"Why are you here?"

As the dazzling light dissipated, Onoki looked in surprise at the familiar bald head walking into the conference room. The other party had clearly rejected their application for a three-party alliance; why were they rushing to the meeting now? Could it be that they wanted to take advantage of the chaos to get a piece of the pie?

"How can such a big meeting be without our Sunagakure?"

Shamon, whose complexion was slightly pale, raised his eyebrows, which didn't have a single hair, and asked in a mocking tone. As he spoke, his gaze swept over the injured F6 and Shi, and the expression on his face changed slightly.

"Looks like I missed a good show."

The Chiyo siblings, following behind Shamon, also poked their heads out with curiosity, looking around for something.

From Chiyo's disappointed expression, it could be seen that she hadn't found the person she wanted to find.

Did the unnamed curly-haired person who loved eating melons not come?

"I remember Lord Kazekage was still in a coma a few days ago. Did you find a miracle doctor?"

Jin Jiao sized up Shamon and found that his footsteps were floating and his aura was unstable, looking like someone who had just recovered from a serious illness, which coincided with the information they had obtained.

"Indeed, there is a miracle doctor, otherwise my old life would have returned to the Pure Land."

Shamon nodded generously and admitted it. On the other side, the sensible Mifune had already brought a chair. After placing it, he thoughtfully closed the door, allowing the meeting to continue.

After sitting in his own chair, Shamon looked around at the situation with a dark face. As he expected, the alliance reached by the Lightning, Earth, and Water sides was deliberately targeting Konoha.

"Is Lord Kazekage also here to hold us accountable?"

Seeing Shamon's expression with a faint look of displeasure, Onoki's eyes lit up, thinking he was also here to denounce Konoha.

Among those attacked, Shamon was the most seriously injured; it was said he almost lost his life.

"No."

Looking at Onoki, whose intentions were obvious, Shamon curled his lips in disdain, turned his head to look at Uchiha Madara and his companion, and a thick sense of gratitude appeared on his ferocious face.

"I am here specifically to thank the Konoha miracle doctor for saving my life, and by the way, to announce to everyone that Sunagakure will always be Konoha's solid ally." (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 482 =====