Chapter 876: , Prosperity and loss together

"Hmm?"

Mitokado Homura revealed a somewhat surprised expression, clearly somewhat unexpected regarding Hiruzen Sarutobi's words.

"Isn't the tactical execution on the Land of Rain side going quite well? Why still..."

Mitokado Homura hesitated for a moment before speaking slowly, but before he could finish his sentence, his tone suddenly choked, as if he had realized something.

They were all old foxes who had gone through difficult times together and stood until now; Mitokado Homura's political sense of smell was not bad, and he clearly had figured out the joints.

"This..."

"Are you worried that Hatake Sakumo will..."

Mitokado Homura's eyes were somewhat suspicious; he suddenly understood the deep meaning in Hiruzen Sarutobi's words.

Regarding this, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not speak, but his expression of deep agreement had already explained everything.

"No wonder, no wonder..."

Mitokado Homura was somewhat absent-minded, but soon his eyes became somewhat sharp.

"In that case, it is indeed necessary to urge Orochimaru and the others."

Soon, Mitokado Homura expressed his agreement with Hiruzen Sarutobi's proposal.

"Regarding Sakumo, what do you intend to do?"

But in the blink of an eye, Mitokado Homura frowned again, his eyes flickering.

"Don't worry about that; I have my own way for this matter."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, appearing to have no intention of letting Mitokado Homura participate too much in this matter.

It seemed that the reason Hiruzen Sarutobi told him this was just to inform him in advance; for the subsequent arrangements, Hiruzen Sarutobi had long since made other preparations.

"Very well."

Seeing this, Mitokado Homura, who knew that this was not a good thing, also nodded; being able not to participate in it was also a good thing for Mitokado Homura.

Afterward, the two tacitly did not mention this matter, as if it had never happened.

Subsequently, the two just chatted about some trivial matters, and then Mitokado Homura took his leave.

After Mitokado Homura left, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat upright on the chair in the Hokage Office; behind him was a huge "Fire" character pattern, symbolizing the inheritance of the Will of Fire.

A trace of coldness flashed in Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes; no one knew that in just a few words, he and Mitokado Homura had reached a consensus on an unspeakable conspiracy.

And the essence of this conspiracy was exactly about the famous "Konoha's White Fang" on the current Sunagakure battlefield—Hatake Sakumo!

Someone might ask, what exactly did Hatake Sakumo do wrong to deserve Hiruzen Sarutobi targeting him like this?

After all, Hatake Sakumo had merit without fault; he led the Konoha ninjas to defeat the Sunagakure invasion with his own strength and made great contributions to Konoha.

Perhaps in the eyes of most people, Hatake Sakumo was a symbol of a hero and a glorious successor to the Will of Fire.

But in the eyes of the Hokage, especially the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hatake Sakumo was completely wrong!

His mistake was—being too excellent!

Yes, he was too excellent!

Excellent to the point that when his resources and combat power were not as good as the Sannin, he took down the Suna-nin one step ahead.

Although there were factors such as ability restraint and Hanzo not using his full strength when fighting Sunagakure.

But one must know that in the eyes of people in Konoha Village, Hanzo of the Salamander and Sunagakure's Chiyo had just fought to a draw not long ago, which from the side showed that the Rain-nin seemed to be an opponent of similar level to Sunagakure.

Therefore, although there were various factors, most people with insufficient strategic vision could not analyze these many problems.

Hatake Sakumo defeated the Suna-nin one step ahead with his own strength; in the eyes of others, didn't this mean that Hatake Sakumo was more excellent than the Sannin?

And after this battle, Hatake Sakumo's prestige would crown the entire young generation of Konoha, surpassing the Sannin.

And once things really evolved and developed in this direction, the result was something Hiruzen Sarutobi could not accept.

The importance of the Sannin to the Third Hokage was no less than Hiruzen Sarutobi's own limbs.

Not only was there a master-disciple relationship between them, but the most important point was: the Sannin were actually equivalent to the extension of Hiruzen Sarutobi's political prestige.

And this was something everyone in Konoha knew.

The reason the Sannin had their status today, apart from Tsunade, the other two reaching this step today, could not be separated from Hiruzen Sarutobi.

In other words, the "Sannin" were actually a "golden signboard" created by Hiruzen Sarutobi and the four-person group behind him working together.

In the current Konoha, which was full of talent, the reason the Sannin had the opportunity to lead troops alone to fight against the famous Hanzo of the Salamander was inseparable from Hiruzen Sarutobi's strong support behind the scenes.

And whenever the Sannin achieved success, did you think the Konoha crowd would directly praise how excellent the three were?

Wrong.

What everyone would say first was that it was all because of the Third Hokage's good teaching, cultivating such excellent three disciples.

So regardless of any honor the Sannin obtained, the Third Hokage, as the master and guide, would also benefit from it.

Subtly, with the Sannin as support, Hiruzen Sarutobi's Hokage status would only become increasingly stable.

That was not all; once Tsunade and the other two grew up and truly stepped into the high-level Konoha, they could also assist Hiruzen Sarutobi in suppressing major ninja clans like the Hyuga and Uchiha, forming checks and balances.

These were Hiruzen Sarutobi's plans and the benefits he could obtain.

And from the perspective of the Sannin, it was also the same.

First of all, without Hiruzen Sarutobi's kindness of knowing and meeting, Tsunade's family was big and wealthy, not to mention, Orochimaru and Jiraiya would probably still be unknown in some corner at this time.

Secondly, from a long-term perspective, Hiruzen Sarutobi was now nearly fifty years old, and his strength had gradually begun to slide from his peak, walking downhill.

Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi was old and strong, and nothing unexpected happened in the middle, he would hold the Hokage position for another twenty years.

After that? To whom should his mantle be passed?

Almost without thinking, it must be one of the three disciples who were the political extension of the Third Hokage!

Even in twenty years, the Sannin at that time would only be in their forties, still within the peak period of a ninja, fully capable of shouldering the responsibility of Hokage.

That is to say, from the perspective of the Sannin, as long as Hiruzen Sarutobi could firmly sit in the Hokage position, then the Fourth Hokage position would sooner or later be their turn.

In this way, the interests of both sides had no conflict.

Therefore, on the surface, the Sannin and Hiruzen Sarutobi prospered and suffered together.

It could be said that from the moment Hiruzen Sarutobi sent the Sannin as commanders to the Land of Rain to fight Hanzo of the Salamander, he had already placed all his chips on the Sannin.

And precisely because of this, the Sannin had people if they needed people, money if they needed money, and supplies if they needed supplies.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could be considered to have handed over the most elite team to the Sannin.

With great difficulty, the war situation in the Land of Rain turned from passive to active, and victory was in sight.

But at this time, the suddenly appearing Hatake Sakumo had become an existence that Hiruzen Sarutobi could not tolerate. ===== CHAPTER 878 =====