Human joys and sorrows do not connect. Poor Clan Leader Jingcun was played for a fool without even realizing it. Those words of his were actually "carelessly" revealed by another clan leader who had invited him to a meal. Who knew he would take them to heart!
But now that very person avoided him like the plague, eyes full of mockery. Clan Leader Jingcun sighed, feeling as if he had aged thirty or forty years in an instant, his former glory gone.
The other clans in the meeting hall were joyful. With three powerful figures charging ahead, how could they possibly lose? As for sacrifices, which clan didn't suffer losses during war?
Nara Luming raised his hand. "If the Vice Hokage goes on the expedition, who will guard against Sunagakure? Who will protect the village's safety?"
Ryun Uchiha smiled. 'You finally asked this question!' He immediately spoke up. "The person guarding against Sunagakure is Hashirama Senju. That's right, the very First Hokage Hashirama Senju you are all thinking of!"
Immediately, Hashirama walked out from the back. "Well now, I didn't expect to meet everyone in this way! Hahahaha."
As his hearty laughter rang out, everyone present fell silent at first, then became excited.
"The First Hokage-sama!"
"It's the First!"
"Madara Uchiha plus Hashirama Senju? My heavens, is Konoha going to unify the ninja world??"
"Lord Hashirama is alive! Then what about Lord Tobirama?" As if hearing the people's call, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, walked out from the backstage.
Ryun seized the moment to say, "The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, will be responsible for Konoha's security. I hope all clan leaders and families will cooperate actively!"
After speaking, Ryun looked at Tobirama. Tobirama nodded to Ryun, then addressed everyone. "Everyone, rest assured. Konoha's defense during this period is entrusted to me!" These words stirred great excitement.
Even Hyūga Sekijō couldn't suppress his grin. What kind of godly lineup was this? Four supremely powerful figures for external affairs, and a master of forbidden techniques guarding home.
Thus, for this war, the major clans enthusiastically signed up. The Hyūga clan offered five hundred shinobi, the Ino-Shika-Chō trio together offered five hundred, the Aburame clan offered one hundred... It was important to know the quality of shinobi from these clans was far superior to others!
It was precisely because of this troop mobilization by the clans that the civilians and smaller clans understood the gap between them!
While others could muster five hundred shinobi, they themselves could at most provide thirty or forty.
In the end, the total number of shinobi for this war was counted at around fourteen thousand. And this was still less than half of Konoha's total military strength.
Seeing this, Ryun Uchiha smiled faintly. "Then, let the troop deployment begin now."
"Two thousand will come with me to attack the Land of Water. Five thousand will follow Izuna to attack the Land of Lightning. Madara Uchiha alone will guard the border of the Land of Earth. Hashirama Senju alone will guard the border of the Land of Wind! The remaining seven thousand will follow the orders of the Second Hokage!" Ryun finalized the decision.
It wasn't that he intentionally didn't give troops to Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, but it was prearranged.
Madara Uchiha's opinion was that there were already few worthy opponents anyway, so why let miscellaneous soldiers dilute his achievements.
Hashirama Senju felt that with him present, Sunagakure shouldn't dare make any reckless moves.
What both said essentially meant the same thing: 'I alone can destroy/deter one nation.' Though it sounded somewhat arrogant, coming from them, it was the truth!
The clan leaders had no objections to this allocation. Whether deployed externally or remaining in the village, this was an opportunity to gild their family members' reputations.
After the arrangements were made, the meeting adjourned. Ryun Uchiha set the army assembly for tomorrow morning, for the eastern expedition and northern campaign!
Ryun Uchiha did not go to the Senju clan compound today. Instead, he led Madara and Izuna back to the Uchiha clan compound. All the shinobi there looked at the three of them.
Ryun Uchiha said calmly, "We depart tomorrow. Everyone must follow orders!"
"Yes!" the Uchiha shinobi shouted in unison. They were brave and fearless!
Immediately after, Ryun Uchiha led his grandfathers to his home. He got up, brewed a pot of tea, poured two cups, and handed them to the two men.
Both took them and only took a sip before looking at Ryun Uchiha, especially Izuna. "Grandson, isn't two thousand men too few for you?"
Ryun Uchiha shook his head. "The Land of Water, Kirigakure, has two Tailed Beasts. One is the Three-Tails Isobu, the other is the Six-Tails Saiken."
"As far as I know, we already captured the Three-Tails Isobu. So they still have the Six-Tails Saiken. I heard Saiken has already been sealed inside a person."
"But, the problem lies here. Why would they have a Six-Tails Jinchūriki without announcing it? Finally, I had a spy dig deeper into the information on the Six-Tails."
Ryun Uchiha then took out a scroll and unrolled it. It recorded that Utakata Fūbuki, suspecting his teacher wanted to take his life, killed his teacher in return and became a missing-nin two days ago.
How could Kirigakure let the outside world know about such a disgraceful matter? But there are no walls impermeable to wind. This piece of information was still caught by Ryun Uchiha.
"So, the Kirigakure of the Land of Water that I will face has no Jinchūriki. They only have the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, and some Kirigakure clans. Therefore, two thousand troops are sufficient!" Ryun Uchiha stated.
Uchiha Izuna nodded. "Then the reason for sending so many to Kumogakure is because of the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki?"
Ryun Uchiha shook his head. "It's because the Third Raikage, A, of Kumogakure is known as the Human Tailed Beast, and the Eight-Tails Killer B is supporting him on the side. That's why I'm taking five thousand troops. You can allocate them as you see fit then, Grandfather."
Uchiha Izuna nodded. Looking at it this way, his side had the most pressure! Then he must be fully alert!
As for Madara Uchiha, he was somewhat bored. Having him guard against Ōnoki was like bullying a child, wasn't it? That child's will had had problems before. What if they actually fought this time and he ended up breaking his spirit?
But he still didn't speak up, because Ryun Uchiha's arrangements were already very good. He just needed to carry them out.
Seeing both grandfathers supporting him, Ryun Uchiha smiled. He looked toward the direction of Kirigakure, a fierce light shining in his eyes, mixed with greed.
"Utakata, I hope to meet you. When the time comes, I'll be taking your Tailed Beast!" Although Ryun Uchiha was angered by Kirigakure's provocations, it also gave him a justified reason to launch an attack, an opportunity to seize the Six-Tails!
Lying on a tree in a forest near Kirigakure, Utakata raised his hand and looked at the starry sky through his fingers, feeling desolate inside.
As a child, he suffered not only the torment of the Six-Tails. When he grew up, his teacher said he would help him find release, to take the Six-Tails out of his body. But he wasn't a fool. He had heard that extracting a Tailed Beast would cause the Jinchūriki's death!
He didn't want to die. He hadn't lived enough! So he had no choice but to ask his teacher to die!
Suddenly, he grinned. "Perhaps in the eyes of the world, I am scum, a teacher-killer who betrayed his village. But they will never know, I just wanted to live!"
Just then, he shuddered, feeling as if something terrifying was staring at him. He sat up and looked around, but found no trace of anyone.
'Maybe these past two days, my mood has been unstable. I need to sleep!'
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