[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-uchiha-in-konoha-starting-off-by-standing-up-to-":3,"chapter-uchiha-in-konoha-starting-off-by-standing-up-to--uchiha-in-konoha-starting-off-by-standing-up-to--chapter-319":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Uchiha in Konoha, Starting Off by Standing Up to Konoha!",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2322516,4543,"Chapter 319","uchiha-in-konoha-starting-off-by-standing-up-to--chapter-319",319,"\u003Cp>Daimyo’s face darkened, almost grotesque with rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the situation had erupted suddenly and he had yet to conduct any investigation, his sixth sense told him that the Cloud Ninja were almost certainly preparing to defect to Konoha!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Probability?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nine out of ten!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this was something he absolutely could not allow, for in today’s ninja world, Konoha’s strength was utterly overwhelming.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if all four great ninja villages united, they would struggle to stand against Konoha—so if the Cloud Village truly joined Konoha, what purpose would his own alliance serve?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Daimyo, didn’t Itachi already guess?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If that’s the case, then there’s nothing left to say.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Joining Konoha is the unanimous decision of all Cloud Ninja, and I’m not opposed to telling Itachi now—we are the last ones left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Cloud Village has long been empty; everyone has already evacuated into Konoha.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So give up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We of the Cloud Village see no meaning in this so-called alliance. Even if weak ants huddle together, they still solve nothing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A wise man adapts to the times; the tide of history cannot be stopped by anyone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Those who try to block it will be crushed to dust!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tsuchi’s expression remained calm, even as Daimyo and the others caught up, even as they now stood in utter despair—he showed not a trace of fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, on the other side—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While he was stalling Daimyo, he subtly gave Samui a glance behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The instant Samui received that glance, he understood instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He swiftly pulled out paper and ink, wrote down their current location, then secretly used Summoning Jutsu via a ninja cat to embed their exact position and situation into the message, and sent the cat away through Reverse Summoning Jutsu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to the cover provided by numerous Cloud Ninja, neither Daimyo nor Rao Sand failed to notice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the ninja cat?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had been contracted before the mission even began, after prior contact through Yamato and Uchiha Jin, with the Uchiha clan’s approval.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was meant for emergencies, to establish contact with Konoha.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that he had completed this, Samui quietly returned to Tsuchi’s side and gave him a subtle nod of confirmation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Tsuchi exhaled in relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So far, things hadn’t reached their most dangerous point. Since they hadn’t drawn enemy attention yet, his next move was simply to buy as much time as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew how to do this well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tsuchi, shut up!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your defection is betrayal—not just of our alliance, but of your own Cloud Village ancestors.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Think of your ancestors—how much effort did they pour into founding the Cloud Village?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But Itachi?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Itachi ungrateful descendants, Itachi abandon so easily the village your ancestors built through decades of struggle.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do Itachi even deserve them?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Daimyo roared, his face filled with bitter resentment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for—Rao Sand?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had said nothing from the start, standing there with arms crossed, and more importantly—his expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Calm. Indifferent. Thoughtful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt no deep attachment to his own village, and the reason, if spoken aloud, would sound like a joke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the Sand Village had no right to exist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its geography was terrible; though it appeared the largest in territory, most of it was desert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His ninja spent every day just trying to eat and find fresh water—those needs consumed all their thoughts; they had no energy left for anything else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even he, as Kazekage, felt little loyalty to the village, let alone the lower-rank ninja beneath him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never left before—not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No ninja village trusted outsiders; any Sand Ninja who defected would almost certainly be assigned to an organization like the Root.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Either as cannon fodder, or as expendable material.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they had blood on their hands, they’d likely become breeding studs!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unless one wanted to become a missing-nin, no one chose this path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for—missing-nin?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That life was unbearable for ordinary ninja; only a few, like the S-rank missing-nin of Akatsuki, survived well—most lived in utter misery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, from this perspective, it was better to simply stay in the Sand Village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, the situation had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Konoha had taken over the Cloud Village, what should the Sand Village do next? That was a question worth pondering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though his mind churned with thoughts, his face revealed no trace of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Daimyo, save your breath.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The ninja village system has existed for only a few decades—talking of betrayal is meaningless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If Itachi follow your logic, then the founding of ninja villages itself was a betrayal of the clan system.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The clan system lasted for thousands of years—doesn’t that carry far more weight than a mere few-decade-old village system?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So admit it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The world is constantly evolving. Even the daimyo system, which endured for millennia, is gone. The thousand-year-old clan system is gone too. So what if the ninja village system disappears?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even if the Cloud Village joins the alliance, it still can’t stand against Akatsuki—or Konoha.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“From our perspective, the Cloud Village’s choice to join Konoha is perfectly reasonable!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tsuchi shrugged, utterly unconcerned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this had been his old self, he would have gladly died for his village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the situation has changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More accurately—his mindset has changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When did it begin?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The death of the daimyo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was the most critical turning point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Precisely because countless daimyo died at once, he had once hoped to restore the daimyo system—but the subsequent developments shattered every one of his beliefs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The daimyo system was never restored; instead, ninja villages directly replaced the daimyo courts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This event struck his thinking with violent force: if a system that lasted millennia could vanish, then what difference did it make if a mere decades-old ninja village system disappeared?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also why, when the idea of “joining Konoha” first surfaced in the Cloud Village, he had sensed something off, and later suspected it was Konoha’s espionage…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he said nothing—and instead chose to actively join.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The root lies here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short—his thinking had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He believed the other Cloud Ninja likely thought the same, and this was probably the true reason the Cloud Village had been “peacefully transformed” into what it is today.\u003C\u002Fp>",1034,"2026-06-20T16:36:29.902Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","c1d0f60a7adb36cb901a5ebc72ce2b8ee51c421c9a1d017ca19f47bc85803555","uchiha-in-konoha-starting-off-by-standing-up-to--chapter-320","uchiha-in-konoha-starting-off-by-standing-up-to--chapter-318",371,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fuchiha-in-konoha-starting-off-by-standing-up-to--cover.jpg"]