Chapter 311

Northern Theater, Conference Room 1.

In the vast, empty conference room, only a massive circular table stood, and Tsunade sat at the head, her face grave and solemn.

Tobirama Senju sat in the first seat on the left, arms crossed, leaning back in his chair—he clearly had no intention of speaking.

His only reason for being here was to support Tsunade—and more accurately, the Senju clan.

He needed every ninja clan and powerhouse in Konoha to know that from now on, the Northern Theater would be the Senju clan’s domain; no matter who came to work or live here, their primary loyalty must remain to Konoha and the Uchiha, but as long as they didn’t harm Konoha’s or the Uchiha’s interests, they must obey the Senju clan’s rules.

Not long after.

High-ranking officials from the Northern Theater arrived one after another, almost all from major ninja clans; the only exception was the Anbu squad leader, the Wood Release user, Daimyo.

Their strength was no less than the characters from the original timeline—they had merely been hidden clan elites, never registered in Konoha’s official ninja roster.

Only after joining the new Konoha had they truly become part of the village.

“Alright, let’s begin.”

“This meeting has only one agenda: Konoha has sent new orders.”

“Objective: Secretly take control of the Hidden Cloud Village.”

“Today, on the border of the Land of Lightning, the Hidden Cloud, Hidden Stone, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Mist villages held a secret meeting when they were attacked by Akatsuki—now confirmed: the Fifth Raikage, Darui, has been killed…”

“Next, the Hidden Cloud will inevitably descend into chaos. The Hokage needs us to exploit this chaos, elevate all Konoha spies within the Hidden Cloud to high positions, then use their influence to publicly promote the benefits of joining Konoha, aiming to attract and form a new faction within the Hidden Cloud—the Surrender Faction!”

“Second: Accelerate the secret occupation of the Land of Lightning.”

“All departments must coordinate closely to secretly seize more territory of the Land of Lightning.”

“Third: Assemble elite forces and enter the Hidden Cloud Village.”

“Assist Konoha spies and assassinate high-ranking Hidden Cloud officials who refuse to surrender.”

“We must make the Surrender Faction the dominant force in the Hidden Cloud within the shortest time possible, and guide the entire village to voluntarily join the Land of Fire.”

Tsunade stated the objectives with a serious tone.

At this moment, she was decisive and commanding, utterly unlike her earlier confused demeanor.

Clearly,

in public, she was always a competent superior—her daughter-like demeanor was reserved only for her two grandfathers.

Meanwhile, on the other side,

upon hearing Tsunade’s words, everyone in the room involuntarily drew in a sharp breath.

Although these high-ranking theater officials had long known Konoha’s core plan was to unify the entire ninja world, they had never truly taken it seriously before.

The reason? Simply because it was too difficult.

After all, none of the Five Great Villages were fools—if Konoha so much as hinted at unification, the other four would unite against it.

Yet no one had expected.

That the war of unification would come so soon—and that Uchiha Jin had not declared war outright, but instead sought to dismantle the Hidden Cloud from within.

This…

For a moment,

everyone’s minds were in chaos, their emotions deeply complicated.

In this regard, they were no different from Tsunade.

Yet, equally,

their awe for Hokage Uchiha Jin had become ingrained in their bones—so even though their minds were still reeling, not a single person dared to object; instead, all bowed deeply and accepted their orders.

This was Uchiha Jin’s prestige!

At the very least,

as long as Uchiha Jin’s invincible record remained unbroken, even if they privately disagreed with his decisions, they would wholeheartedly follow his plans first.

…

Five hours later.

The Northern Theater’s senior officials had finally managed to draft a rough plan.

Immediately after,

the entire Northern Theater sprang into action—countless orders flowed from Tsunade’s office; first, Daimyo, the Wood Release user, led his elite Anbu squad and the complete list of Hidden Cloud spies, racing toward the Hidden Cloud Village at top speed.

Then,

each ninja legion began mobilizing, secretly heading toward villages and towns across the Land of Lightning, swiftly eliminating Hidden Cloud ninja and samurai stationed outside the village.

Finally,

administrative personnel drawn from various departments, escorted by ninja legions, began moving toward newly captured villages and towns in the Land of Lightning—they were clearly preparing for future governance.

That night, deep into the night.

When Daimyo led his Anbu unit into the Hidden Cloud Village, he furrowed his brow.

The reason was simple: the defenses were pathetic.

There were no sealing jutsu barriers, not even basic ninja patrols—everyone in the village wore blank, numb expressions, their eyes now tinged with dread for the future.

“Captain, what do we do?”

One of Daimyo’s Anbu members couldn’t help but ask.

In response,

Daimyo paused briefly before answering: “Divide into squads. Contact each Konoha spy on the list, inform them of their mission, and ask about the current situation in the Hidden Cloud Village.”

“From now on, we won’t meet. Each of Itachi will hide in the homes of your assigned spies.”

“One, monitor those spies; two, disperse and remain hidden.”

“Use the standard Anbu summoning beasts for routine contact; if an emergency arises, fire a signal flare immediately!”

The Anbu had no objections.

Immediately after,

at Daimyo’s command of “Disperse,” every Anbu unit scattered.

Daimyo led his elite squad, using Transformation Technique to blend into the crowd, slowly making their way to the home of their assigned spy, Lei Huche.

“Who are Itachi?”

When the Anbu arrived at his home, Lei Huche was having dinner with his family.

His life had been going well—he was officially a Jōnin, and recently, due to heavy losses among the Hidden Cloud’s elite, he had seized the opportunity to be promoted to Elite Jōnin and from squad leader to company commander.

Though he knew deep down he was a Konoha spy, he had been embedded in the Hidden Cloud since childhood and felt little attachment to Konoha—he had long since forgotten his true identity.

Especially after marrying and having children, he silently prayed every day that he would never be activated.