Chapter 26: Not Your Wish (Part 2/Revised)

The Cloud Shinobi followed Danzo's lead, beginning to denounce the Uchiha.

"That's right. The issue now is no longer just about the crime, but whether Konoha intends to choose peace or war. We Cloud Shinobi are willing to accept the loss regarding the curfew, but even if we were the ones who broke the rules first, the fact that a peace envoy died in Konoha Village is as solid as iron! According to the rules, killing a peace envoy for any reason is equivalent to a public declaration of war!"

"May I ask, Uchiha Clan Head, does your behavior represent Konoha Village declaring war on the Cloud, or is it the personal action of Uchiha Nanshu?!"

"If the Uchiha Clan insists on the claim that their own people are innocent, then we Cloud Shinobi can only assume that the Uchiha Clan intentionally murdered the Cloud envoy to sabotage the peace between our two villages."

"We Cloud Shinobi have suffered such humiliation that we must receive the compensation we are entitled to; the culprit must be handed over for the Cloud to deal with! Otherwise, the Raikage will absolutely not let this go. Konoha, prepare to bear the wrath of the entire Cloud Ninja Village! When that time comes, the flames of war will once again burn every inch of the Land of Fire, and the peace Konoha has worked so hard to achieve will come to an end!"

The Cloud Shinobi turned to look at the Third Hokage, who had remained silent, and said, "For Konoha, is it really the right choice to push the entire village into hell just to protect a murderer?"

The Third Hokage's hand holding his pipe paused slightly, and a cold glint suddenly flashed in his otherwise murky eyes. The topic of war was undoubtedly the Third Hokage's Achilles' heel. His old face, already exhausted and weary from feeling powerless, took on an even more sorrowful expression. His aged gaze swept back and forth between the faces of the Cloud Shinobi and Uchiha Fugaku, seemingly weighing the pros and cons of which choice would be most advantageous for Konoha.

Choosing to hand over Nanshu would further provoke the Uchiha, greatly increasing the possibility of triggering a civil war. But if he didn't hand him over, the Cloud side would not let it rest, and it might even lead to a war between the two villages. A headache, indeed. The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe continuously, his brows knitting tighter and tighter.

The key point lay with Uchiha Nanshu; if it weren't for Fugaku protecting him so desperately, this matter would likely have ended long ago.

Hand him over, or not?...

And just as the Third Hokage was suffering from a splitting headache, a sudden exclamation erupted in the room.

Nanshu was seen silently walking behind Fugaku, then grabbing a wooden chair and lifting it up.

"—Whoosh!"

The chair, flying through the air, smashed straight down in front of the Cloud Shinobi. The fragile wooden chair collided with the solid ground, and the chair shattered into countless pieces on the spot!

"—?!"

Such a familiar scene left everyone present stunned, and then they focused their gazes on Nanshu, who had thrown the seat.

"You've been shouting about starting a war since just now, as if your Cloud Ninja Village is so impressive."

Nanshu casually threw away the wooden stick in his hand; it was a leg that had been ripped off when he threw the chair due to the excessive force.

The Cloud Shinobi recovered from their initial shock and, in a fit of rage, pointed at Nanshu's nose and shouted, "A mere criminal dares to be arrogant!"

Nanshu ignored the provocations of these Cloud Shinobi, treating them as nothing more than buzzing flies.

In reality, he had already regained his composure.

The anger, anxiety, and unease he had felt earlier when betrayed by Hyuga Hiashi had all vanished.

Looking back on it now, he had actually been too naive all along.

In this cruel and cold-blooded ninja world, he had actually been using the worldview of his previous life to handle affairs... No wonder Clan Head Fugaku said he was naive and childish; wasn't he? That set of social experience that allowed one to get along harmoniously in another world was like a sitting target in this world where strength is supreme.

It was his own blind confidence that gave others the opportunity to hurt and use him.

"You've been clamoring about war, war, war since just now... as if you have so much confidence."

"If I remember correctly, the Third Shinobi World War ended so long ago, yet the conflict between you Cloud Shinobi and the Rock Ninja Village has not been resolved to this day. The Cloud has almost exhausted its material and financial resources just maintaining border conflicts. Although the Raikage has a violent temper, he is very brainy. At such a critical time, I don't believe your Raikage would dare to open a second front."

"My brain was muddled by your anger earlier, and I almost didn't react, but thinking about it carefully, one can understand: Konoha Ninja Village is the village with the deepest foundation and the strongest combat power. Yet, even a powerhouse like Konoha was severely damaged in the Third Shinobi World War; how could the other villages possibly be unscathed?"

(It should be noted here that when Kishimoto wrote this plot, it was based on early Naruto settings before 2010. The grievances between the Rock Ninja and Cloud Ninja were settings from Shippuden and various supplementary novels, so the plot here clearly has major loopholes in the early stages.)

(Here, it is set that the Nine-Tails Disaster caused a large number of village ninja deaths, leading to Konoha's shrinking strength, severe manpower shortages, lack of self-confidence, and poor intelligence-gathering capabilities. What Nanshu is showing now is the precious intelligence capability of a transmigrator—a nearly 360-degree blind-spot-free bug. In fact, this is his true golden finger.)

(Additionally, the Third Hokage hoped to avoid war at all costs to focus on the village's recovery, which is why he wanted to grit his teeth and acquiesce to the Cloud's threats. From this, one can also see that the Third Hokage could give up almost everything for the safety of the village, which is why the Hyuga branch family in the original plot suffered such bad luck and was forced to hand over the corpse of the branch family head.)

"The Sand Ninja were defeated and are cowering in the Land of Wind, and the Rock Ninja Village signed a peace treaty with Konoha after their failure at the Battle of Kannabi Bridge."

"And currently, the Cloud Ninja Village and the Rock Ninja Village are still fighting at the borders over the hatred left over from the Second Shinobi World War, with thousands of ninja troops slaughtering each other on the border line between the two countries. If you say our Konoha's strength plummeted after the Nine-Tails Disaster and the death of the Fourth, then what about the Cloud and Rock, who have been in constant conflict since the end of the Third Shinobi World War?"

"In reality, you are more fragile than anyone else, and even more afraid than anyone that Konoha might join forces with the other side to deal with you! Although the Rock Ninja Village had the strength to continue fighting after the failure at the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, they chose to negotiate because they had to mobilize more power to the Cloud front. The same goes for the Cloud; they have used almost all their strength to compete with the Rock at the border. Even if the intensity of the fighting has decreased now, I don't believe the Raikage would dare to offend Konoha and start a war at this time."

"And even if a war started... I am very curious how you would guarantee that Konoha wouldn't join forces with the Rock to deal with the Cloud together? Although your two sides have the intention to pause border disputes, once you fight Konoha and Konoha is willing to join forces with the Rock Ninja Village, can you Cloud Shinobi guarantee that the Rock will keep their promise and not kick you while you're down?"

"No, you know the temper of the Third Tsuchikage very well. That stubborn old man who can fly would tear up the agreement and restart the war against you without hesitation. Onoki of the Two Scales is not someone who keeps his promises."

"At that time, Konoha would join forces with the Rock to invade the Cloud from two directions simultaneously. Regardless of who wins or loses—for you Cloud Shinobi, that would be a catastrophe, and even if you won, you would inevitably pay an extremely painful price."

"I hadn't reacted before and was led by the nose by you, but now I want to ask clearly—is your Fourth Raikage really willing to bear such a huge risk to start a war with Konoha? And furthermore, can you represent the Raikage's will to declare war on Konoha?"

"In your warehouses, which are so poor they are almost empty, how many supplies are left to support you in fighting another war!?"

Finally, Nanshu seemed to have an epiphany, realizing how a true transmigrator should utilize the ability of foresight. The true advantage of a transmigrator is the mastery of the future that transcends the system itself, the understanding of intelligence, and the ability to see the entire Naruto plot from beginning to end at a glance (no Boruto settings; I can't stand that stuff!), being able to see through the future that no one else can judge in advance.

And the future is that the border conflict between the Cloud and the Rock never stopped; it only varied in scale but was never truly peaceful.

Nanshu stared coldly at the Cloud Shinobi, whose faces were ugly, his voice echoing throughout the entire conference room.

"..."

The Third Hokage lowered the brim of his hat; he knew Nanshu's words were actually aimed at him. But as the Hokage of Konoha, his primary duty was to ensure the stability and prosperity of the village and to avoid all threats of war as much as possible. Especially in the current special environment, even if Nanshu's words were very moving, the Third Hokage still leaned toward smoothing things over to avoid unnecessary disputes.

However, Fugaku valued this youth so much that he did not hesitate to imply a threat. If the Konoha high-ups dared to suppress him by force, they would have to risk the rebellion of the entire Uchiha clan, and the loss would likely outweigh the gain.

To avoid an external war and trigger internal strife? No, the Third Hokage would not allow it.

A sharp gaze swept over Nanshu's young and somewhat immature face. The Third Hokage felt that Nanshu had a bit of Itachi's shadow, but he stood more firmly on the Uchiha's side than the latter; otherwise, perhaps...

Several glints of unclear meaning flashed in the Third Hokage's eyes, and it was unknown what he was thinking about again.

"Sarutobi!"

For Danzo, the fact that his old friend sitting next to him had a slight change in expression meant that the situation was bad. He knew this old friend and rival of his far too well; Danzo could guess exactly what any of his subtle expressions represented without a single error. Now it seemed that it was nothing more than Sarutobi Hiruzen's old habit acting up again: retreating in the face of battle, unwilling to decisively eradicate these pests.

Danzo's face immediately turned gloomy. He knew that continuing to let the Uchiha make trouble would likely ruin his plans. If Sarutobi Hiruzen really listened to that Uchiha brat's rhetoric, he might truly choose to resist the Cloud to ensure the internal balance of the village. In the end, Sarutobi Hiruzen was just weak, indecisive, and always wavering at critical moments!

Why was it so hard to get him to make up his mind to eradicate the Uchiha!

And what was wrong with these Cloud Shinobi losers? They went to such great lengths, yet they showed weakness because of a few words from a brat? Danzo thought angrily.