Malphegor
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IUTT: Ch. 75
🕑 Added 2025-05-20 00:12:43 +0000 UTCNone of the Kage from the various hidden villages were easy to deal with. There was the extremely domineering Third Raikage, the extremely stubborn Third Tsuchikage, the Third Kazekage who had been driven desperate by poverty, and the Third Mizukage who was under Madara's control and couldn't make decisions on his own.
In the end, after much internal struggle, they finally reached a unified but unspoken consensus.
That was, whatever it was, money, gold and silver, supplies, sealing scrolls, or even people, whoever grabbed it first would own it. This meant that once they entered the Land of Whirlpools, the relationship between the villages became purely competitive.
Not only was cooperation impossible, they would also be full of suspicion and vigilance toward one another. Combined with their past grievances and even blood feuds, the slightest benefit would instantly cause tensions to flare.
If the team leaders were calm and rational, there could be negotiation.
If they weren't... they'd likely start fighting immediately.
Since it was a free-for-all, if you killed the others, everything became yours.
Enemies blinded by greed and acting separately were much easier to deal with. After all, the ninjas of Uzushio weren't pushovers, especially the Uzumaki clan's ninjas.
There was no helping it, innate talent made a difference. The only thing Shin was worried about was an escalation of the war.
If the major hidden villages suffered heavy losses and, in their rage, kept sending reinforcements, that would be the real challenge.
The Land of Whirlpools wasn't afraid of fighting, but they feared a never-ending war. Because once war broke out, the Land of Whirlpools would inevitably suffer heavy casualties too.
Three days later, the ninjas of Kumo and Kiri were the first to arrive in the Land of Whirlpools. However, they landed at different ports, Kumo came ashore in the north, while Kiri landed in the east. The reason for splitting their forces, according to intelligence, was because the two villages couldn't come to an agreement at the last moment, they almost started fighting each other first.
To avoid escalating the conflict, they reluctantly agreed to separate and act independently. However, after arriving, both forces chose to camp on the coast instead of launching an immediate attack.
"How's it looking?" Ashina asked quickly when he saw Shin's expression finally change after a long period of sensing.
Shin took the map and marked two locations on it, saying, "Kumo and Kiri landed almost simultaneously, each with about 1,500 ninjas."
"Kumo landed here in the north, and Kiri here in the east."
He pointed directly at the map.
"As expected, they didn't attack immediately after landing but chose to camp in place."
He then went over the details of their troop deployments.
"These hidden villages are all afraid of being the first to act, they all want to do as little as possible and get the most out of it," Ashina sneered. "But that works in our favor. We can proceed with Phase One of our plan smoothly. Who do we strike first?"
"It doesn't really matter, but the people from Kumo are hot-headed. If we hit them, they'll likely reinforce immediately. So for Phase One, we should focus on intimidating them. My recommendation is to strike Kiri first."
"Understood," Ashina immediately picked up the radio and adjusted the frequency.
"Connect me to the eastern war zone!"
"This is the command center. I'm Ashina. Kiri ninjas have landed at beach on the eastern shore, 1,500 in total, and are currently camping in place. Among them are 22 jonin, 52 special jonin, 320 chunin, and the rest are genin. Pass the word: Have the remaining civilians on the eastern coast begin evacuating according to the preset plan. All ninjas in the eastern war zone are to lure the enemy deeper per the operation plan. Use geographic advantages, traps, and ambushes to eliminate as much of the enemy's fighting force as possible, and prioritize wiping out their intelligence personnel."
After spending three days together, he had also learned Shin's unique way of expressing things. And honestly, it was accurate. He even adopted Shin's temporary war zone classifications to streamline command.
After ending communications, he adjusted the frequency again: "Connect to the northern war zone. This is the command center, Ashina speaking. Kumo…"
Next, he issued three consecutive orders. Then he turned to Yuuichi beside him and said, "Immediately lead the reinforcements east at full speed. Once you arrive at the designated location, wait for further instructions."
Over the past three days, Shin and the leadership of Uzushio had drawn up a large number of tactics.
The goal was to ensure they could make immediate adjustments no matter what might happen.
After Yuuichi departed, Ashina sat back down and slowly closed his eyes.
War had arrived!
While the Land of Whirlpools was actively preparing for battle, things were far from peaceful in Konoha. The entire atmosphere of the village had grown strange and tense. Ever since Tsunade and Shin had left Konoha, rumors had begun to circulate among the villagers.
And the rumors involved two people.
One of them was the Third Hokage. For many years, the Land of Whirlpools and Konoha had been extremely close allies.
Ashina also had a great reputation in Konoha. As the founding master of Konoha's sealing techniques, no one was unaware of his contributions to the village. For many years, he had visited Konoha annually to help reinforce various seals and teach sealing arts to Konoha's ninja, earning deep respect from the village.
Moreover, people still vividly remembered how, during the time of the First and Second Hokage, the importance of the Land of Whirlpools was emphasized again and again, how they stressed the deep friendship and eternal alliance between the two nations.
Yet now, the entire shinobi world was uniting to attack the Land of Whirlpools, and its destruction seemed imminent.
At this critical moment, rumors spread that Konoha's leadership had no intention of sending troops to aid the Land of Whirlpools. This inaction drew considerable dissatisfaction from many villagers in Konoha. After all, weren't allies supposed to look out for one another?
Standing by and doing nothing when your ally was in grave danger, how could that be justified? This behavior was completely out of line with the values Konoha had always promoted.
Konoha's leadership gave no response to these rumors, which only confirmed them in the eyes of the public.
It wasn't that the top brass didn't want to respond, they didn't dare to. Because the lies they could come up with wouldn't fool the people of Konoha during this era.
Most of Konoha's villagers and ANBU had lived through the Second Hokage's reign, some even during the First Hokage's time.
If Hiruzen and the others truly thought they could fool the people like fools, and the truth about them plundering the Land of Whirlpools' wealth got out, it would break everyone's hearts.
So, it would mean Hiruzen could support them, but chose not to. To betray an ally in their time of need, to carve up their flesh for profit, how "great" must Hiruzen be?
That was why, from the start, Hiruzen had hoped to quietly ride out the storm. Once things settled, he planned to secretly circulate excuses for why he had to make such a choice.
If Konoha intervened, the full might of the allied forces would turn toward them, and Konoha would be doomed. He would claim that he endured the inaction only to protect the village and its people.
And in doing so, he hoped to flip the narrative. However, things hadn't settled yet, yet the narrative shift happened early.
Almost overnight, a number of "insiders" began to speak up on behalf of Hiruzen. They claimed everything he was doing was for the sake of Konoha, because the allied forces were simply too strong, tens of thousands of ninja, advancing with overwhelming momentum.
They appeared to be targeting the Land of Whirlpools, but in reality, Konoha was their true objective. If Konoha got involved, the entire ninja army would turn their sights on Konoha, and then the village would face annihilation.
