Chapter 590: Four Kage's Siege? (6k)

: mayiwsk

The Land of Earth.

A border town.

As soon as Doto, leading a squad of elite Kumogakure jonin, entered the town, a ninja wearing the uniform of Iwagakure immediately approached.

"Please follow me," the Iwa-nin said calmly.

There had been quite a few frictions between Iwa and Kumo in recent years, so simply treating Kumo-nin normally was already a clear conscience for him; maintaining full respect was truly impossible.

Doto nodded slightly and followed, having no objection to the Iwa-nin's attitude.

He didn't care for the Iwa-nin either.

If it weren't for the intelligence presented by Iwa being so intriguing, Kumo would not have attended a conference hosted by Iwa.

The group followed the Iwa-nin and soon arrived at a building guarded by many ninjas.

Doto noticed that among them were not only Iwa-nin, but also Suna-nin and Kiri-nin—meaning three of the great villages had arrived, with only Kumo missing.

"For the sake of order in the meeting, only two escorts are allowed inside," the guiding Iwa-nin reminded.

"You two, come with me. The rest stand by," Doto said to the two strongest members of the squad.

In theory, Iwa should not dare to cause trouble for three great villages at once, but better safe than sorry; stronger escorts were always better.

Then Doto entered the building and was led to the conference room.

Upon entering the conference room, the first person Doto saw was Kitsuchi sitting in the main seat.

Normally, based on Kitsuchi's seniority, he wasn't quite qualified to host this meeting.

However, since Kitsuchi was the discoverer of the intelligence, Onoki helped him secure the opportunity.

Although rather straightforward in personality, he was still his own child, so he couldn't let him be treated unfairly.

Doto shifted his gaze right and saw a kunoichi with delicate features wearing a Suna headband.

He immediately recognized her as the Suna hero of Sunagakure, Pakura, a renowned Scorch Release ninja in the ninja world.

Sensing Doto's gaze, Pakura gave him a cold look in return.

Kumo's raid had caused Suna considerable suffering, costing no small price to drive Kumo out of the Land of Wind.

Doto didn't mind; with the Third Kazekage missing and Suna leaderless and in civil war, it would have been foolish for Kumo not to strike.

Next, Doto shifted his gaze further right, to a solemn-faced Kiri-nin.

Doto quickly searched his memory and soon found his information: Suiho, the jonin class leader of Kirigakure.

"It seems both Kiri and Suna take this intelligence seriously," Doto thought inwardly.

Both Pakura and Suiho held significant positions in their respective villages, and attending the meeting was itself a statement.

Seeing that Kumo had arrived, Kitsuchi looked around, reviewed the script in his mind, glanced at the papers in front of him, and began:

"Since you've all come here, you must be interested in cooperating to eliminate Hasumi no Uzume and crush Konoha's ambitions of domination."

After saying this, the two Iwa-nin behind Kitsuchi began distributing some materials to the representatives of each village.

"Regarding Hasumi no Uzume's strength, I can say very responsibly that there is no exaggeration whatsoever. Inside are photos of the battlefield after his fights. Please take a look," Kitsuchi continued.

Eliminating Hasumi no Uzume was a major point of this plan—the most central goal.

Cooperating to destroy Konoha was unrealistic. Although the four great villages working sincerely together had the power, the problem was that true sincere cooperation among them was impossible.

Each of the five great villages possessed extremely deep foundations, including some powerful yet inhumane jutsu.

For example, Konoha's Edo Tensei not only required the sacrifice of the living but also disrespected the deceased under its control.

After Hashirama Senju learned of this jutsu, he ordered it sealed and forbidden.

However, this prohibition was not absolute; in true life-or-death situations, who would care about humanity or not? Protecting Konoha would come first.

If Konoha truly fought desperately, who would be willing to go head-to-head with them? The alliance would naturally dissolve.

So, from the very beginning, Onoki's goal was merely to kill Uzume and then suppress Konoha.

Dodai took out the photos distributed by Iwa, and his pupils instantly contracted.

To make other ninja villages understand the seriousness of the matter, the Iwa-nin had taken the photos very seriously, with close-ups, bird's-eye views, and all kinds of shots.

To better show the extent of the destruction, many photos had an Iwa-nin standing on them, using the height of the person as a comparison to the battlefield damage.

Looking at the scene that seemed to have been bombarded by a meteor, Dodai's expression could not help but turn solemn.

From the founding of the first ninja village, Konoha, to the present, the era of hidden villages had only been a few decades; most ninja still remembered an invincible strongman named Hashirama Senju.

With Hashirama Senju as a unique example, the combination of the words Wood Release and young super genius was hardly reassuring.

Suna might not care, but for Kumogakure, which wanted to replace Konoha's position, a second Hashirama Senju appearing was absolutely unacceptable.

Their Cloud Village had been lying low for decades. If there was another Second Ninja God, Hanyū Muzuki, wouldn't that mean another few decades of frustration?

"Tell me how to cooperate quickly. Our Cloud absolutely cannot sit idly by while Konoha commits evil deeds!" Dodai said in a low voice.

Hanyū Muzuki had to be killed, even if it cost a somewhat greater price, otherwise it would have a terrible impact on Cloud's strategy for the next few decades.

"Evil deeds? You Cloud-nin have the nerve to use that word?" Pakura could not help retorting.

Moreover, Pakura had dealt with Muzuki once and knew he was an open and broad-minded person.

If she had known this meeting was about plotting to assassinate Muzuki, she wouldn't have come.

Muzuki had once given her a way to live. Although Pakura would not betray her village for Muzuki, she was also unwilling to join other villages in committing a dirty act against Muzuki.

Suna could make a move against Muzuki, but that person could not be her.

"Madam, do not be blinded by past grudges. Remember why we came to this meeting today." Dodai did not retort, speaking calmly.

The most important task right now was to eliminate Muzuki; other matters could be set aside for now.

"Heh, it's not because of grudges. I just find your words very funny." Pakura mocked unceremoniously.

It sounded nice—Cloud invaded Suna, not the other way around. Of course Dodai could calmly urge her to let go of hatred.

Kitsuchi had a bit of a headache. Just as he was about to mediate, a Suna-nin standing behind Pakura spoke up.

"Pakura, don't forget the village's mission." Yashamaru said with a smile.

He was sent by Rasa to monitor Pakura, on one hand to prevent her from causing trouble, and on the other to be ready at any time to take over cooperation.

Pakura gave Yashamaru a faint glance and did not speak again.

She hated Rasa, but her impression of this brother-in-law of Rasa was acceptable, and she was willing to give him face.

"Your Sand Village really is interesting." Mizuhiro hadn't expected there to be such entertainment at the meeting—a guard of a village representative giving opinions to the ninja representative.

Pakura did not respond, and Yashamaru just smiled without speaking.

Not hitting a smiling face, Mizuhiro did not continue on that topic.

"Seems like Suna hasn't recovered from its internal turmoil. Truly I chose the wrong opponent back then. If I had targeted Suna, perhaps the outcome wouldn't be what it is now," Mizuhiro thought to himself.

Naturally, Mizuhiro felt some regret about the current situation of the Mist Village.

Over a thousand ninja had been captured by Konoha, including Yagura, a Mizukage candidate, which put Mist in a very passive position.

"The cooperation is actually simple. Right now our Iwa-nin force is still facing off against the Konoha ninja force in the Land of Grass. Hanyū Muzuki is among the Konoha ninja force in the Land of Grass." Kitsuchi began explaining Iwa's cooperation plan.

"Our Iwa Village will act as the bait and vanguard, engaging the Konoha ninja force in battle."

"The Konoha ninja force is weak. Without Hanyū Muzuki's help, they would certainly be no match for us Iwa, so Hanyū Muzuki will definitely step in."

"Your villages only need to dispatch some elite squads to lurk in the Land of Grass, and then take this opportunity to surround and kill Hanyū Muzuki, leaving him forever in the Land of Grass."

In fact, Iwa had already drawn up a detailed four-village joint plan, but that required confirming cooperation first to divide the work, so Kitsuchi only covered the core.

"Our Cloud Village is willing to cooperate." Dodai immediately stated his position.

Cloud had held a high-level meeting regarding this conference, and the result of the discussion was that they absolutely must kill Hanyū Muzuki and not give him any more chance to grow.

"Cooperation is a weighty matter. Our side needs to ask for the Kazekage-sama's opinion." Yashamaru did not agree immediately.

Rasa had not given him the authority to participate in battle, only to analyze feasibility and report.

"I also need to report to the Mizukage-sama." Mizuhiro added.

The situation of Kirigakure was too awkward. Even if the Third Mizukage had given him authority, Mizuhiro wouldn't dare make a decision on his own.

"Then let me add a few more pieces of information," Huang Tu said after a moment of thought.

In Onoki's expectations, these great hidden villages wouldn't agree to cooperation so easily.

Huang Tu's task was to make the danger of Muyue as clear as possible, giving the great hidden villages a sense of crisis.

After the meeting ended, the representatives each used their own methods to contact their villages and report the meeting's status.

Yakura straightforwardly told Rasa that she wouldn't take this mission.

Rasa, who had learned from Yashamaru that this mission had a high chance of success, readily agreed to Yakura's request.

There were plenty of dangerous missions; there was no need to give Yakura a dangerous mission with a decent opportunity to earn great merit.

If Yakura got lucky and killed Muyue in a fluke, her reputation would undoubtedly rise another level, which would be very unfavorable to him.

"Kumogakure has already agreed, and Kirigakure will most likely agree too. This four-village alliance should be no problem," Rasa nodded to himself.

In the past two years, Kirigakure had lost a jinchuriki killed by Konoha and also lost five precious ninja swords; recently they seemed to have suffered another defeat. Rasa didn't believe Kirigakure didn't want revenge.

As for Sunagakure, Rasa wouldn't pass up an opportunity to kick a neighbor when they were down.

"This time, Konoha has no choice but to suffer a huge loss." Rasa couldn't help but smile.

This was the first time since the era of the hidden villages that four great villages had united against a single ninja village.

No matter how strong Konoha was, it couldn't withstand this.

In terms of strength, they were a four-village alliance—both in powerful individuals and ordinary ninjas, they far surpassed Konoha.

In terms of intelligence, they had formed a secret alliance; Konoha was completely unaware. They were in the dark, while Konoha was in the light.

Rasa couldn't think of a scenario where Konoha wouldn't lose.

In this situation, only the revival of Hashirama Senju could solve it.

With one True Several Thousand Hands, all the ninjas of the great hidden villages would settle down.

On the other side, the Third Mizukage, upon receiving Mizuhiro's intelligence, found it hard to make a decision for a while.

On one hand, there were his highly regarded junior and over a thousand Kirigakure ninjas; on the other hand, there was the chance to wash away past humiliation and inflict a major defeat on Konoha.

The Third Mizukage was not a naive optimist who thought he could strike Konoha while rescuing their own prisoners.

It could be done, but the likelihood of the plan succeeding was very low.

Because the prisoners had likely already been brought back to Konoha.

Once they eliminated Hanyu Muyue, Yagura Karatachi and the thousand Kirigakure ninjas would either be killed by angry Konoha ninjas or become bargaining chips for exchange.

It was too difficult to rescue so many ninjas from Konoha—if they couldn't beat the enemy, killing a prisoner was easy.

"No, I still have another option." A flash of inspiration struck the Third Mizukage.

Why was he resisting peace talks with Konoha? Was he dead set on fighting Konoha?

No, it was because Konoha was blackmailing them with hostages. Signing a treaty would cause Kirigakure to lose a great deal of wealth, leaving the Third Mizukage with neither money nor reputation.

If instead of cooperating with Iwagakure and the others, he told Konoha about their plans and demanded equal negotiations as a condition to become Konoha's ally,

then Kirigakure would not only avoid paying reparations, but Yagura and the others would be absolutely safe—they wouldn't be killed out of spite, and perhaps even the five lost ninja swords could be returned together.

The only downside might be that Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure would suddenly have a much worse opinion of Kirigakure.

But on second thought, that wasn't a problem either, because he would have Konoha as an ally. Kirigakure became a turncoat to help Konoha—Konoha couldn't just ignore them, could they?

This way, Hanyu Muyue, the second God of Shinobi, would not only pose no danger to Kirigakure but could even become a great asset.

"As long as Hanyu Muyue can withstand the combined forces of three villages, this choice is the best one." The Third Mizukage increasingly felt he should abandon darkness for light.

Although Hanyu Muyue was a Konoha ninja, the Third Mizukage had great confidence in him.

A ruthless man who had captured most of the Kirigakure ninja force, including Yagura Karatachi, plus Kirigakure's help—even the combined forces of three villages might not be unbeatable.

With this thought, the Third Mizukage summoned Yuanshi via the ANBU.

He could ignore the opinions of others, but he had to give weight to Yuanshi.

The Third Mizukage shared his thoughts with Yuan Shi. "Yuan Shi, what choice do you think Kirigakure should make?"

"Stand on Konoha's side, using cooperation as leverage." Yuan Shi replied after thinking it over.

If not for those thousand-plus prisoners, Yuan Shi would most likely have chosen to join Iwagakure in attacking Konoha.

With those thousand-plus prisoners, for Kirigakure, allying with Konoha naturally came with benefits.

If they cooperated with Iwagakure, whether they won or lost, the lives of those thousand-plus prisoners could not be guaranteed.

If they cooperated with Konoha, there was a decent chance of winning, and if they won, the prisoners would surely be safe, and they would also earn Konoha's friendship.

Seeing that Yuan Shi agreed with him, the Third Mizukage quickly pushed the resolution through a high-level meeting. He contacted Iwagakure to agree to cooperate on deploying troops, while also contacting Konoha.

To demonstrate Kirigakure's sincerity, Yuan Shi volunteered to personally lead a delegation to Konoha for cooperation talks.

Upon learning that all three great ninja villages had agreed to cooperate, Ōnoki personally went to a border town to preside over the meeting.

To ensure there were no mistakes, Ōnoki decided to take personal action this time.

Not only would he take personal action himself, but Ōnoki also invited the Third Raikage, the Third Mizukage, and the Fourth Kazekage to join him.

The reason was that Yūsei Muyue's experience might cause Konoha to send reinforcements, and also Yūsei Muyue mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, requiring enough strong individuals to surround and kill him as a team.

Kumogakure's desire to eliminate Muyue this time was no less than Iwagakure's. The Third Raikage was the first to reply, saying he would also be present.

The Third Raikage did not trust others; he wanted to personally slay Yūsei Muyue to eliminate any future trouble.

Immediately after, the Third Mizukage also replied, stating that he would come to the assassination site and personally lead Kirigakure's elite assassination squad to carry out the mission.

Seeing that the other Kage were all going, Rasa, who had not planned to go, changed his mind and decided to personally go to the Land of Grass to join in the excitement.

If all the other Kage went and he didn't, wouldn't that make him look timid? As the only Fourth Kage among the five great ninja villages, Rasa felt he couldn't let Sunagakure lose face.

"Four Kage of the great ninja villages gathering just to kill one person—this must be a first in the entire ninja world." Ōnoki smiled.

The plan was proceeding as envisioned, and Ōnoki was in a very good mood.

Even if he had the potential of Hashirama Senju, so what? Eliminate him early. As long as he hasn't truly become the second God of Shinobi, there is still a chance.

At this moment, Ōnoki was glad that from the start of the war until now, he had been unwaveringly targeting Konoha.

If Konoha hadn't been pushed to the brink, its high-ranking officials might have kept Muyue hiding his Wood Release, only showing it when his strength neared Hashirama Senju's.

To ensure Muyue was eliminated in the Land of Grass without mishap, Ōnoki was truly doing his utmost.

Apart from the main battlefield in the Land of Grass, Ōnoki strongly suggested that Kirigakure launch another invasion into southeastern the Land of Fire, drawing Konoha's attention and thus preventing the Konoha ninja forces in the Land of Grass from receiving too many reinforcements.

Similarly, Ōnoki also suggested that Kumogakure deploy some personnel to operate along the border of the Land of Fields, creating the illusion that Kumogakure had not given up on opening a front from the Land of Fields, in order to divert Konoha's attention.

As for Sunagakure, Ōnoki did not suggest they declare war on Konoha, thinking it would be better for Sunagakure to suddenly appear and catch Konoha off guard.

Because if Sunagakure declared war on Konoha, all four great ninja villages would be at war with Konoha, which might make Konoha nervous and increase border guard forces.

Day by day passed, and Ōnoki's arrangements were completed step by step.

Traces of Kirigakure appeared again in southeastern the Land of Fire, and Kumogakure ninjas were active along the border of the Land of Fields.

Rasa, the Third Raikage, and other helpers secretly entered the Land of Grass with their elite forces.

After everything was ready, Ōnoki gave the order to Retsuishi, the commander of the Iwagakure forces.

"Attack the Konoha ninja forces at all costs."

For the sake of operational secrecy, Ōnoki did not even go to the Iwagakure ninja force, creating the illusion that he was still in Iwagakure.

Except for a few high-ranking members of the Iwagakure force, most of the Iwa ninjas did not know that their Kage had come to the battlefield.

No other reason—Ōnoki was afraid of scaring Yūsei Muyue away.

If Muyue fled to some corner and trained in seclusion for ten years before reappearing, Ōnoki really wouldn't have a way to deal with it.

Such a large-scale action as the entire Iwagakure ninja force in the Land of Grass mobilizing to march straight for the Land of Fire's defensive line naturally could not be hidden from Konoha's intelligence ninjas.

"This is strange. They retreated and avoided battle before, but now they're launching an almost all-out large-scale offensive. Could they have received reinforcements?" Jiraiya's expression was serious.

The Iwagakure ninja force on the Land of Grass battlefield had already approached two thousand. If a thousand-man reinforcement unit arrived, that would be a ninja force of three thousand.

Such terrifying power—if directed against a country outside the five great nations—no one could resist, and it would fall in a short time.

"Don't we also have reinforcements? And with Teacher Mu Yue here, we're sure to win!" Obito declared, implying that with Mu Yue, there would be no surprises.

"Even with reinforcements, we don't have as many ninja as the enemy's known forces," Jiraiya retorted.

Including reinforcements, the Konoha forces in the Grass Country currently amount to only 1,500 ninja—fewer than the Iwa forces even without their reinforcements.

"Then should we ask the village for more reinforcements?" Kakashi suggested.

He too trusted Mu Yue's power, but it would certainly be better to reduce the probability of any unexpected incidents.

"I'll contact them, but even if they come, they won't arrive in time," Jiraiya said without a panicked expression.

Although they were outnumbered, Jiraiya was quite confident, after all, that person had come.

"Don't worry. Believe in me, believe in yourself, and also believe in everyone," Mu Yue said with a smile, placing a hand on Kakashi's shoulder.

As the central figure being targeted, Mu Yue had obtained all the intelligence that Sarutobi Hiruzen had given him.

Being targeted was within Mu Yue's expectations, which was why he had only truly demonstrated his Wood Release on the battlefield after having it for so long.

The combination of Mu Yue's established genius persona and Wood Release would make Konoha's enemies extremely wary.

Apart from Konoha itself, no other ninja village would want to see the emergence of another Senju Hashirama.

So when fighting the Kiri ninja forces, Mu Yue deliberately held back and captured a large number of Kiri prisoners.

His goal was to make Kiri hesitate out of fear of collateral damage, thereby reducing the number of opponents.

Facing the Third Tsuchikage or the Third Raikage alone, Mu Yue had no fear, but if multiple Kage came together, along with elite ninja, then Mu Yue would be overwhelmed.

His chakra wasn't enough; Mu Yue couldn't kill so many people before his chakra ran out.

He could only use the Flying Thunder God to escape when his chakra was mostly depleted.

"If it were a little later, perhaps even without Kiri turning against them, it wouldn't be a problem," Mu Yue thought, feeling the throbbing in his eyes.

Mu Yue didn't know what his Byakugan would evolve into, because in the original story, the only high-level eye related to the Byakugan was the Tenseigan from the movie.

Everyone else had ordinary Byakugan, and even the final boss Kaguya Otsutsuki's Byakugan looked the same as the ordinary Hyuga clan's, only with stronger abilities.

However, the Tenseigan seemed to require some kind of Otsutsuki chakra combined with a pure Byakugan.

His Byakugan was certainly pure enough, but Mu Yue really didn't know where to get Otsutsuki chakra.

But in any case, evolution was a good thing; his chakra would definitely increase a bit. Unfortunately, his increase couldn't be doubled like his disciple's.: mayiwsk