Chapter 287: Drawing the Sword in All Directions, Lost in Thought—Shimura Danzō's Decisiveness!
"So it was Iwagakure that made the first move?"
At this moment, within the inner city of Yunming City,
Standing at the base of the towering city walls, gazing at the chaotic ruins below,
Uchiha Ci wore a peculiar expression as he stared at the confident and eloquent Kitsuchi, who was addressing the daimyo's officials, and the irritated, eyes-closed Rōshi standing behind him.
Beside him, Minato also looked surprised.
"I thought Sunagakure would act first. After all, at this moment, the ones most eager to push for an alliance between the Land of Wind, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Earth to attack Konoha should be them."
Uchiha Ci clicked his tongue in amazement at the shameless duo below.
After arriving late several times, Minato had developed the habit of marking locations with his Flying Thunder God technique wherever he went.
With the aid of the Flying Thunder God, aside from a brief delay caused by Kakashi, he and Minato had practically arrived at the scene at the speed of light—a speed that left other shinobi villages in the dust.
Yet, when they arrived, they found that the Iwagakure shinobi had beaten them to it. Almost as soon as the commotion started, those two had already reached the ruined Tenshu Pavilion and claimed to the daimyo's officials that they had driven off the assassins.
That lie might work on ordinary people unfamiliar with shinobi speed, but Uchiha Ci and Namikaze Minato could tell at a glance—
The very people claiming to be the "protectors" were actually the ones who had caused this chaos!
Staring at the two below, Uchiha Ci pondered for a moment, then, piecing together previous intelligence, he couldn't help but take a sharp breath.
In the original timeline, during the Third Shinobi World War, there had been a legendary battle where the Third Raikage fought alone against ten thousand Iwagakure troops for three days and nights before exhausting himself to death.
At that time, the Third Raikage had entered the battlefield to buy time for the front-line Kumogakure forces to retreat.
And what kind of situation would necessitate such a retreat?
It could only mean that this war had been initiated by Kumogakure in the first place!
While Iwagakure and Sunagakure were invading the Land of Fire through the battlefields of the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass,
Kumogakure had made multiple attempts to invade Konoha from the Land of Fields, only to be thwarted by Namikaze Minato without any gains.
With no alternative, they had made the risky decision to cross the sea in an attempt to launch a surprise attack on Iwagakure.
Unexpectedly, their rare moment of strategic thinking had fallen right into the cunning trap of the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
Caught in a desperate situation with no way to retreat, the Third Raikage had no choice but to use the Heavenly Transfer Jutsu—a technique capable only of teleporting objects—to send himself to the battlefield, single-handedly holding back the ten-thousand-strong Iwagakure army to buy time for Kumogakure's retreat!
In other words, Iwagakure had long been wary of Kumogakure, and Kumogakure had long harbored ambitions against Iwagakure!
And now, seeing the actions of these two Iwagakure shinobi, it was clear that they were deliberately currying favor with the Land of Lightning—perhaps even intending to set a trap for Kumogakure at this stage!
Now, considering the current situation—
Due to Orochimaru's Cloud Collapse Plan, Kumogakure's offensive in the Land of Fields had come to an abrupt halt.
If they still wished to attack Konoha, they had only two options:
1. Cross the Land of Fields and pass through the Land of Iron to invade Konoha.
However, the Land of Iron was a neutral nation that never participated in shinobi wars. Any attempt by Kumogakure to pass through would be met with rejection. If they tried to force their way through, the samurai of the Land of Iron, though outdated in some ways, were far from weak.
This was a tough nut to crack.
2. Take a route through the Land of Earth, with Iwagakure's assistance, to invade Konoha from the Land of Grass.
This was likely the option both Kumogakure and Iwagakure wanted to pursue.
Kumogakure could use this opportunity to launch their planned surprise attack on Iwagakure, while Iwagakure, in turn, could take advantage of this to devour Kumogakure's forces within the Land of Earth.
With this, Uchiha Ci had gained a broad understanding of the various forces converging in the Land of Lightning's capital.
Konoha had chosen not to act precisely because, thanks to Orochimaru's Cloud Collapse Plan, they had already learned in advance of Kumogakure's planned attack on Iwagakure.
Iwagakure and Kumogakure each had their own hidden schemes against the other.
Kirigakure, as far as he could see, had yet to send anyone. Given that they were still entangled in internal strife under Uchiha Madara's manipulation, they likely had no time to interfere.
Only Sunagakure remained straightforward—they genuinely sought to assassinate the Land of Lightning's daimyo, frame Konoha, and forge an alliance between the Land of Wind, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Earth to win the Third Shinobi World War!
"Ci, by now, you should understand."
"The daimyo of the Land of Lightning is clearly not here. If you act now, you'll only alert the enemy."
Minato turned his head, calmly analyzing the situation for Uchiha Ci:
"The person you're looking for—that child named Hidan—is not here.
The revenge you seek—the Third Raikage you wish to kill—is not here either!"
"Of course," he added, glancing downward with a steady gaze,
"if you want to act now—kill those innocent Land of Lightning officials first, then capture those two Iwagakure shinobi and interrogate them for information on that child from the Land of Hot Water—"
"I will help you!"
Hearing Minato's words, Uchiha Ci fell into silence.
He had originally thought this would be a grand showdown, with shinobi from all five nations converging to assassinate the daimyo of the Land of Lightning.
He had planned to make his move directly, appearing in a god-like fashion!
Taking them all on alone—not necessarily killing them all, but at least crippling half, forcing them to hand over Hidan.
Then, he would help Hidan kill the Land of Lightning's daimyo, wait for the Third Raikage to arrive, and finish him off—completing his revenge in one fell swoop!
Even if he lost his eyes in battle and became a rogue ninja despised by all nations, he wouldn't care!
But after observing for so long… this was just a farce?
The other villages' shinobi were likely hiding in the shadows, unwilling to reveal themselves.
If he acted now, even if he captured these two, he probably wouldn't get any useful information—
Just as Minato said, he would only alert the enemy.
"I understand…"
Uchiha Ci exhaled sharply, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
"But where the hell am I supposed to find Hidan?"
"Damn it, this is so annoying!"
With a furious punch, he shattered the gray-white bricks of the city wall.
For a moment, he felt lost.
Yunming City housed tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of people.
Finding Hidan among them?
Even just locating where the other villages' shinobi were hiding would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Right now, he had power, but no target for his fury!
He was truly lost in thought, sword drawn, searching in vain!
Seeing Uchiha Ci's expression, Minato patted his shoulder with a reassuring smile.
"It's okay. There will be another chance!"
"You should have heard from Kakashi about Konoha's stance on the current situation, right?"
Hearing this, Uchiha Ci looked up in confusion.
"Konoha… chose to remain passive, merely observing, didn't it?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Minato's expression turned serious.
"The opportunity lies in the upcoming Five Kage Summit!"
"This time, I wasn't supposed to be Konoha's representative, but because of your disappearance, the Third Hokage feared I might act irrationally and attack the Third Raikage on sight."
"However—"
"This is when Shimura Danzō came to me!"
Minato's face grew solemn as he spoke.
"He said—"
"Konoha must not remain idle!"
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