Konoha's problems weren't limited to foreign invasions.
Its internal rot was just as serious.
When Uchiha Feiyu defected from Konoha, he'd tossed out a whole pile of scandal—Root's filth, the village's darkness, the kind of stuff that ripped the high command's prestige to shreds.
If Konoha hadn't already been trapped in a war, it would've gone one of two ways:
Either the Third Hokage stepped down…
or Konoha tore itself apart in a civil war.
Even now, with the village facing collapse, the various factions inside were only cooperating on the surface. They were barely holding the line together. The days of rallying behind the Hokage's office with unquestioning loyalty were gone.
And the most violent reaction, naturally, came from the Uchiha clan.
Because among all the dirt Feiyu exposed about Danzō, the Uchiha-related pieces were the ugliest—and the most brutal.
Forget everything else.
Just the fact that Danzō had captured multiple Uchiha shinobi and handed them to Orochimaru as human experimentation material was enough to make the clan grind their teeth until blood came out.
Danzō was dead now, sure.
But everyone understood that something like that couldn't happen without upper-level consent.
In that situation, the Uchiha not storming the Hokage Tower outright was already proof of one thing:
Uchiha Fugaku's temperament was too soft.
As for expecting the Uchiha to keep bleeding for Konoha?
Not happening anytime soon.
If they didn't stab Konoha in the back, that was already them "considering the bigger picture."
Originally, in the Third Great Ninja War, the Uchiha clan should've been assigned to deal with Kirigakure.
Sending fire-style specialists to fight Water Country shinobi was a joke on paper…
but in reality, the Uchiha had indeed contributed heavily.
Because of the sea barrier, the Mist Village had always struggled to invade the mainland. In most wars, Kiri's intent wasn't full-scale conquest—it was opportunistic raiding.
They typically only deployed one or two thousand ninja.
But when you considered the Uchiha had only a few hundred shinobi total, it became obvious:
Back then, the clan had fought at full capacity to hold the Mist back.
Thinking of that, Feiyu made a decision.
On the Iwa battlefield, he would make a real show of it—
with Susanoo.
There was another reason, too.
Back then, the Uchiha clan didn't have a single confirmed Mangekyō user. The only one who might have awakened it was Fugaku, and he'd been hiding his hand the whole time.
Madara couldn't even pick a suitable candidate if he wanted to.
That was why, in the original track of events, Madara ended up cultivating his own piece on the board—
and Obito fell into his lap.
Madara knew an Uchiha's emotions were tied to Mangekyō awakening, yes…
but even then, it wasn't guaranteed. The clan had plenty of people who looked cold outside but carried deep feelings inside. So why Obito?
The most likely reason was this:
When Obito awakened his two-tomoe Sharingan, he already displayed a trace of Mangekyō potential—his body partially phased through the boulder via the power of Kamui, avoiding being crushed to death.
It was just Feiyu's inference—
but he felt it was close enough to the truth.
Which meant—
If Feiyu displayed Susanoo and other abnormal Uchiha evolutions on the battlefield, wouldn't that immediately attract Madara's attention?
Add to that the fact Feiyu was a missing-nin from Konoha, and he didn't carry the same "ties" to the Uchiha clan…
From Madara's perspective, Feiyu was practically a tailor-made replacement—someone born to execute the Eye of the Moon Plan.
"Or…" Feiyu narrowed his eyes in thought, "I could do the opposite."
"Use the Sharingan's power as much as possible… force Madara to notice me."
"Make him treat me as a backup piece… and have him summon me himself."
The timeline had clearly shifted.
In Feiyu's memory, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had once launched a deep strike into Konoha territory—only to get stubbornly fixated on chasing Might Guy.
That obsession led to Might Guy's father opening the Eight Gates Formation and kicking them into a neat little set of corpses.
But now?
Things weren't playing out that way.
Madara choosing Obito had always been half coincidence, half necessity. Feiyu never believed Madara had "seen Obito's greatness" from the start.
Feiyu turned away from those thoughts and looked at the Sound informant in front of him.
The man continued reporting.
"Yes. The Golden Flash on the front line… and our Konoha Nine-Tails jinchūriki are lovers."
"The two of them together resisted Iwagakure's entire invasion. They even kept an eye on the Lightning Country front and deterred Kumogakure."
Feiyu's brows rose slightly. That wasn't what surprised him, though.
What truly caught his attention was something else.
"You're saying the Nine-Tails jinchūriki also went to the Iwa front?" Feiyu asked. "And Jiraiya was moved to deal with Kiri?"
"Yes." The informant nodded. "Jiraiya-sama is currently stationed along Konoha's coastline, leading the defense against the Mist forces commanded by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
Feiyu's eyes narrowed.
From everything he knew about canon, Kirigakure at this stage was very likely being influenced—if not outright controlled—by Madara's shadow.
Until Feiyu was ready to confront Madara directly, he didn't want to touch Kiri at all.
If he engaged too early, Madara might smell the danger and tighten his grip.
He waved a hand, dismissing the informant, and began thinking on his own.
In the original flow, Might Dai's sudden eruption was what prevented the Mist's incursion from causing true devastation—he smashed the Seven Ninja Swordsmen so hard the situation ended quickly.
That decisive display also drew a White Zetsu's attention, which helped Madara confirm Obito's potential.
But now, with Jiraiya blocking Kiri's advance, what should've been a quick raid-and-crush had become a prolonged tug-of-war.
In the long run, the losses might actually become even worse.
Feiyu didn't particularly care about Kiri or the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
What he cared about was the war's center—
and the people at the center.
Konoha Frontline Command Tent
Namikaze Minato glanced at the intelligence report in his hand and passed it to the Nara clan advisor beside him.
Minato wasn't stupid—far from it.
But battlefield planning was not his forte.
With Flying Thunder God, he was an absurd strategic asset. Keeping him at the rear to command was a waste. His value was in instant support across the entire front.
That was exactly why Minato had little real command experience.
And beside him sat Konoha's other Kage-level trump card—
Uzumaki Kushina, the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
She wasn't suited to command either.
So in practice, authority had already fallen into the hands of Nara Shikaku.
Shikaku skimmed the report, frowning.
Minato looked over. "Problematic, Shikaku?"
Shikaku shook his head with a tired sigh.
"Iwagakure has increased troop numbers again. Those dirt rats… it's like they never run out."
Minato chuckled softly.
"Don't worry. It was hard before too, and we still held on."
"We don't have much reserve manpower anymore, but the shinobi we do have… they've been tempered."
"Even that brat Kakashi—he's already a quasi–Kage-level shinobi. If this keeps going, he'll break through on the battlefield and become truly Kage-level."
Shikaku rubbed his face and gave a bitter laugh.
"I'm just frustrated the strategy failed."
"Every attempt to divert the disaster east—none of it worked."
The "divert the disaster" strategy was simple:
Turn Iwagakure's aggression toward Kumogakure instead of Konoha.
By all logic, Kumo was fat meat.
They'd suffered catastrophic losses. The Third Raikage was dead. Their "Fourth Raikage candidate" was gone. They were hanging by one pillar—Killer B.
Kumo shouldn't have been able to withstand Iwa's pressure.
Shikaku had always believed Ōnoki would take that bait.
But in reality, Ōnoki refused.
He kept biting down on Konoha.
Minato's smile faded slightly. "Maybe… it's because Root was completely wiped out."
He spoke carefully. "I have to admit, Root was disgusting, but as an external weapon… it was a very sharp poison blade."
"Enough." Shikaku cut him off instantly.
"Water—don't keep talking about Root."
Since Orochimaru's defection, Minato had effectively become the internal pick for Fourth Hokage. The Nara—sharp as they were—had already aligned themselves.
Shikaku had no intention of letting Minato say something politically suicidal.
In Konoha right now, condemning Root was political correctness.
Minato raised both hands in surrender. "Fine, fine."
He didn't like Root either—his wife was a jinchūriki, and with Danzō's temperament, it would be stranger if he hadn't had ideas about her.
Minato not spitting on Root already showed restraint.
His earlier comment had simply been an offhand thought.
"Then the key issue is still this," Minato said. "How do we deal with Iwa?"
A crisp voice cut in immediately.
"What's there to discuss?"
Kushina, red hair blazing, waved a small fist.
"Minato and I together—no matter how many Iwa ninja come, we'll smash them flat!"
Shikaku's expression finally relaxed into a smile.
"…True."
"With Minato's Flying Thunder God and the Nine-Tails' power, Konoha always retains the right to flip the table."
Kushina wasn't a perfect jinchūriki, but the Uzumaki clan's monstrous chakra and their natural suppressive ability against tailed beasts meant she could still draw out most of the Nine-Tails' power.
Minato was the shinobi with the greatest mobility in the world.
Kushina was the shinobi with the greatest destructive potential in the world.
The strongest mobility plus the strongest destruction—
If they truly fought without restraint, any village would choke on it.
The reason they didn't end the war instantly was simple:
Mutual fear.
If Konoha unleashed their jinchūriki, the enemy could answer with their own—going scorched earth.
Even if Konoha won, they could also lose everything.
But as long as those two were alive, Konoha would never truly be destroyed.
They might bleed.
They might suffer.
But no village would dare push them to the absolute limit.
That was the real purpose of jinchūriki.
In the manga, when Akatsuki hunted them down, their performance was… embarrassing.
But their true role was always clear:
A village's doomsday weapon.
If a Great Village was cornered, they could protect their jinchūriki, then use tailed beast bombs—with their wide range and insane destructive force—to drag everyone into mutual destruction.
Of course, with the shinobi world full of bizarre techniques, this was more deterrence than reliable strategy.
But add Flying Thunder God to a jinchūriki—
and it became something else entirely.
A nightmare.
Just thinking about it was enough to make your scalp tingle.
"Tch…" Feiyu muttered inside the tent, stroking his chin with genuine emotion. "Even I have to admit—this couple is ridiculous."
Yes.
Feiyu was already inside Konoha's frontline command center.
Using the Five Senses Control genjutsu system, he had walked straight into the heart of their command without triggering even a ripple.
He had read every piece of intelligence in full.
And even as he strolled through the tent, flipping documents, murmuring to himself—
the Konoha shinobi behaved as if he didn't exist.
They saw nothing.
Heard nothing.
Even Namikaze Minato, the Golden Flash…
Even Uzumaki Kushina, the Nine-Tails jinchūriki…
Neither detected him at all.
Feiyu's eyes flicked across one report, then he paused.
"Kanno… no—Kannabi Bridge."
"So the mission really exists."
"But this time, Minato isn't going?"
"Is it just Kakashi leading three subordinates?"
Then he blinked.
"…Huh?"
"Uchiha Obito. Nohara Rin. And the last one is… Might Guy?"
"When did that team pop up?"
Feiyu frowned slightly, but the answer came quickly.
Butterfly effect.
Kakashi had probably risen earlier.
After all, Feiyu had stored Hatake Sakumo's soul within the White Fang's short blade.
Which meant—
If Kakashi ever ran into danger, Sakumo could possess his son at any moment…
and show everyone what "pocket dad carrying the fight" really looked like.
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