Orochimaru's scheme was indeed successful; he made Root, who had come to stop the Hidden Sand Village's Anbu, directly collide with the enraged Ebizo.
Then, Danzo, who had no intention of being weak, coupled with the unyielding Root, acting on Danzo's orders, led to an argument.
Next came the much-anticipated battle, thanks to Ebizo, a quasi-Kage-level Ninja who was still quite formidable despite his age.
The two Anbu squads dispatched by Danzo were completely annihilated there, which significantly reduced the strength of Danzo's Root.
The Hidden Sand Village also fared poorly; out of over a hundred Anbu, only thirty-odd returned, a clear case of injuring the enemy a thousand, but harming oneself eight hundred.
At this time, in the Hokage Office, most of Konoha's high-ranking officials were present, currently discussing whether the Hidden Sand Village should pay a price for this invasion.
The Hawk Faction, led by Danzo, clamored for a direct attack on the Land of Wind to make them pay, especially since the Hidden Sand Village had lost its Third Kazekage and was now leaderless.
Orochimaru, hiding in a corner, sneered, as he had profited immensely from this; he had sold this intelligence not only to the Hidden Sand Village.
He had also sold a copy to Iwagakure and Hidden Cloud Village; as for Hidden Mist, the current Third Mizukage was being controlled by Uchiha Madara, playing at isolation and the Blood Mist Village.
Unable to profit from this, he sold the intelligence to a bounty agency, which, upon receiving it, then sold it to various Ninja villages, both large and small.
Konoha also paid to obtain this intelligence; now, Sasori of the Red Sand's bounty had skyrocketed, as everyone knew he possessed the Third Kazekage Human Puppet of the Third Kazekage.
Who wouldn't want to collect a Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages as a prized possession? Especially a Third Kazekage Human Puppet that could fight, endure, and use Magnet Release.
Facing the aggressive and indignant Danzo, the Third Hokage simply bowed his head, smoking his pipe, carefully weighing the pros and cons.
He did not want to drag Konoha into the abyss during his tenure; he feared being forever nailed to the pillar of shame.
"No, Konoha cannot initiate a war first; that is the bottom line."
Facing the volatile situation in the Ninja World, Konoha did not want to be the one to ignite it; being invaded still allowed them to claim righteousness, which greatly helped in mobilizing Ninja.
"You are still so weak, Hiruzen. Are we, as the largest Ninja village in the Ninja World, only capable of condemnation?"
Danzo's cane was almost puncturing the floor, and his heart was once again disappointed in Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Alright, Danzo, Hiruzen, don't get agitated. Let's discuss this calmly." The meddler Homura Mitokado quickly tried to appease their anger.
"Indeed! I should have been the Hokage! Hiruzen being Hokage will only lead to the loss of power and national humiliation. If I had been the first to volunteer to cover the retreat, if Sensei had made me Hokage, then Konoha would have long since crushed the other Ninja villages."
Danzo's true thoughts naturally remained unspoken, but a hint of murderous intent flickered in his sole remaining left eye, only to be quickly suppressed.
"Once Konoha initiates war, other Ninja villages will swarm to declare war on Konoha. They are only lacking a reason to act, and our choice cannot become that reason."
Although Hiruzen Sarutobi was perceived as weak, it couldn't be said that his foresight was lacking; he had a keener sense of the current situation in the Ninja World than Danzo.
Meanwhile, the Ino–Shika–Chō, led by Nara Shikaku, the Three Sannin who remained silent, and the solemn Minato Namikaze and Uzumaki Kushina, belonged to the neutral faction.
Whether it was to fight or to make peace, they supported both, although they also disliked war.
Nara Shikaku was afraid of trouble, Inoichi Yamanaka wanted to spend time with his newlywed wife, and Akimichi Choza couldn't bear to part with Konoha's delicacies; in wartime, he wouldn't have time to eat.
Tsunade would not participate in the war; her hemophobia was a major issue. At most, she could help in preparing antidotes to counter Chiyo's poisons from the Hidden Sand Village.
Orochimaru, now with sufficient funds, had ordered a large quantity of equipment; he was making progress with his Reanimation Jutsu and did not want the war to interfere with his experiments.
Finally, there were the three who truly loved peace: Jiraiya, brainwashed by the Mount Myōboku toads, who only wanted to find the Child of Prophecy to end the ceaseless wars.
Minato only wanted to be Hokage and accompany Uzumaki Kushina; he also loved peace and hated war, but he would not fear it.
Uzumaki Kushina knew that even if there was a war, she would not have a chance to appear, because once she did, it would mean that Konoha had already revealed its weakness.
Because nuclear weapons are always used last, and the Nine-Tailed, tightly bound within her, listened with extreme aversion to their conversation.
It thought of itself as a free fox in the mountains, whose daily hobbies were sleeping and fighting Shukaku. It never expected to be sought out one day by a double-patient of red-eye disease and mental illness.
Then, first, he used a Gundam to beat it up, and then a flirtatious look made it lose consciousness, becoming subservient and sealed in a jar.
It was finally released, only to encounter that spiky-haired, red-eyed Indra Chakra reincarnation who loved to glare.
Without a word, he controlled it to fight a giant wooden golem, quickly lost, and then was held by the wooden golem's hand.
The person controlling the wooden golem even righteously declared, "Nine-Tailed, your power is too great; I must seal you."
"Go to hell, old man! My power is so great that you can pinch me in one hand like a little chick? Don't think I don't know you're that foolish Ashura reincarnation just because you changed your face."
Then, it happily got a new home, and when that new home finally died, it got another new one, though it went from a spacious apartment to a cramped den.
And it was constantly bound and abused. If there weren't animal protection laws in the Ninja World, Kurama would definitely sue them.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe, slowly exhaling, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Stinky old man! If you're going to smoke, go outside!" This was Tsunade, enraged after inhaling secondhand smoke; she punched and shattered the Hokage's desk.
"Whether you fight or whatever, it has nothing to do with me!" Tsunade slammed the door and left, because hearing about war reminded her of her beloved Kato Dan and her younger brother Nawaki, who had died in war.
"Um, Sensei, you two discuss. I'll go comfort Tsunade." Although Jiraiya wasn't a master of romance, he made the right choice at this moment.
"Stinky old man! I'm going to check on Tsunade-jie jie." The second person who dared to disrespect Danzo and the Hokage like that was none other than Uzumaki Kushina.
"Um, excuse me, Hokage-sama, Elders, I'll go keep an eye on Kushina."
Minato scratched the back of his head, smiling awkwardly but politely.
"Go." The Third Hokage didn't say much; it would have been useless anyway.
He knew Tsunade and Kushina's dissatisfaction with him because he had signed Nawaki's mission application form back then.
"Shikaku, what do you think?" The Third Hokage looked at his sole strategist, asking for advice reflexively.
"Huh? Um, Hokage-sama, I think we can first publicize the Hidden Sand Village's atrocities, then demand compensation, and prepare for war at the same time."
Shikaku could only propose a compromise; he didn't want to offend either side, although he disliked Danzo more.
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