Chapter 213 Another Battlefield

The spring attack of the Hidden Cloud Village ended in failure. The ninja troops led by Che won the battle. This event caused an uproar in the entire ninja world and became the focus of everyone's attention in the ninja world.

For Konoha Village, there is no need to say more. With the deliberate propaganda of the Third Hokage, this victory has become almost a household name.

Obviously, the purpose of the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen to do this is to rebuild the confidence of the villagers of Konoha. After all, after experiencing the tragic Ninja World War and the riots of the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, the people of Konoha Village have not heard such exciting good news for a long time.

However, at the same time, Che himself and the Uchiha clan have also won widespread praise and respect.

Fugaku took this opportunity to reform the Konoha Guard Force. Originally, the Uchiha and Konoha Guard Forces were bound to each other, but now a large number of Uchiha people have gone to the battlefield, and many other ninjas have been arranged into the guard force.

So Fugaku seized this opportunity and applied to the top leaders of Konoha Village to change the logo of the Konoha Guard.

After all, the original logo of the Konoha Guard was the family crest of the Uchiha family, but it is obviously no longer applicable now.

After some discussion and decision-making, the new logo of the Konoha Guard was finally determined: it was a simple and powerful shuriken pattern, replacing the family crest that originally represented the Uchiha clan. In this way, the goal of "de-Uchihaization" was achieved.

Not only that, Fugaku knew that changing the image required all-round efforts. He issued an order requiring all members of the guard force to pay special attention to their attitude when performing tasks in the village and completely abandon the arrogant and domineering style of the past.

This series of measures will undoubtedly benefit Konoha Village, and the top leaders naturally cannot find any reason to object.

Gradually, in the minds of the Konoha villagers, the image of the Uchiha clan has improved to a certain extent, and they are no longer regarded as an arrogant and rude group as before.

On the contrary, people began to see the efforts made by the Uchiha clan to protect the village, and their views on them gradually changed.

Konoha gave generous rewards to the ninjas who were stubbornly holding on to the front line, and also properly comforted the families of the ninjas who died on the battlefield, and sent reinforcements to support them in time, successfully re-stabilizing the defense line.

However, the Hidden Cloud Village was helpless in the face of the current situation. Although they suffered a setback, they were unwilling to withdraw their troops. Therefore, the two sides fell into an awkward and tense confrontation stalemate on this battlefield.

Just as the Hidden Cloud Village and the Hidden Cloud Village were deadlocked, another force began to stir. The Hidden Rock Village of the Land of Earth finally couldn't hold back the restlessness in its heart and resolutely chose to join this chaotic dispute.

They sent troops to sneak attack the territory in the northwest of the Land of Fire, trying to get a share of the rich Land of Fire and gain some benefits.

In the last Ninja World War, Konoha, Kumogakure and Iwagakure were the three strongest ninja villages, and they also retained the most strength after the Ninja World War.

Konoha Village is located in the Land of Fire, which has the most pleasant environment and fertile territory. It has the most powerful tailed beast Nine-Tails and ninjas trained by the most advanced education system in the Ninja World. Since the time of the first generation of Hokage, it has been the strongest first ninja village with the strongest comprehensive strength.

Kumogakure Village stands tall on the top of the mountains, like a mysterious fortress. The ninjas here are all experienced and fearless, and their combat strength is top-notch.

Whenever the thunder rumbles in the mountains, it seems to be a symbol of the powerful strength of this village, which makes people feel awe.

At the same time, Iwagakure Village stands alone on the barren stone desert plateau. Despite the extremely difficult living conditions, the ninjas here have honed their tenacious will and indomitable spirit.

They are eager for the fertile land of the Land of Fire, so they have become the long-standing enemy of Konoha Village.

Let's look at the other two villages, Sand Village and Mist Village. Among them, Sand Village is located in the inland desert of Wind Country, which is more desolate and barren than Earth Country.

Endless wind and sand are raging, and the harsh natural environment makes life in Sand Village extremely difficult. However, it is this environment that has shaped the brave and aggressive character of Sand Village ninjas, so that almost every Ninja World War is initiated by them.

However, due to its weak strength, Sand Village is the loser in every Ninja World War, especially after the last Ninja World War, there was almost no one in Sand Village to take the lead, so that Ye Cang, who was originally regarded as an abandoned child, became the fifth generation of Kazekage, but he could no longer be compared with the other five major ninja villages.

Mist Village is located in a corner, located in the small overseas island country of Water Country. Surrounded by the turbulent sea and filled with fog, it gives people a hazy and blurred feeling.

Perhaps because of this, the ninjas of Mist Village have formed a unique fighting style, known for its weirdness and changeability.

The situation of Kirigakure was only slightly better than that of Sand Village in the last Ninja World War. Due to the failure of the attack on Konoha, it lost a large number of troops and a tailed beast, but it did not lose its shadow like Sand Village.

But Kirigakure was originally weak. Before the Ninja War, it was the weakest of the five major ninja villages. This was caused by the geographical environment. The Land of Water was the weakest and smallest of the five major countries, so naturally Kirigakure would not be much stronger.

Today, Sand Village and Kirigakure are equally strong, and both are at the bottom of the five major ninja villages. It can be said that they are on par.

In this way, the current five major ninja villages should be divided into two levels - the upper three villages and the lower two villages.

There is no doubt that Konoha Village, Kumogakure Village and Iwagakure Village are the upper three villages, and as for the lower two villages, they are Kirigakure Village and Sand Village.

Because of this, in the conflict after the end of the Ninja World War, Kirigakure Village and Sand Village, which are ranked at the bottom of the five major ninja villages, are not qualified enough to intervene.

At this moment, only Konoha Village, Kumogakure Village and Iwagakure Village can sit firmly at the table.

However, the sudden attack by Iwagakure Village means that these three "players" have all come down in person, and the whole game has become turbulent and entered a white-hot stage in an instant.

The third generation Tsuchikage of Iwagakure Village, Ohnoki, is no ordinary person. He is not satisfied with the conditions for peace talks with Konoha in the last Ninja World War, so he took advantage of the confrontation between Konoha and Kumogakure to invade the Land of Fire again.

In the last Ninja World War, the main attack direction of Iwagakure was Kumogakure. While Kumogakure and Konoha were fighting on the front line, Ohnoki led 10,000 ninja troops across the sea to steal the home.

However, he never thought that the Third Raikage used his life to block the offensive of 10,000 ninja troops for three days and three nights, and was delayed until the reinforcements of Kumogakure arrived, so that the sneak attack failed.

This affected the secondary battlefield with Konoha, and in addition, Namikaze Minato became famous in the battle of Kannabi Bridge, cutting off the supply line of Iwagakure, so Iwagakure decided to negotiate with Konoha.

In fact, although Iwagakure suffered two setbacks, it did not suffer any substantial damage. It cannot be said that it was unscathed, but it can also be said that it was not injured.

Therefore, although the result of the peace talks forced Konoha to give up some of its interests, for the ambitious Iwagakure, these are far from satisfying their appetite.

Moreover, after the Ninja World War that just ended, Konoha not only experienced the turmoil caused by the Nine-tailed Demon Fox, but also the death of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze and his wife, the Nine-tailed Jinchuriki Kushina, and once again clashed with the Hidden Cloud Village. It can be said that it was both internal and external.

So, in the late spring of the fifty-third year of Konoha, the Hidden Cloud Village decided to regroup and make a comeback.

This time, the shrewd Ohnoki changed his attack strategy and resolutely gave up attacking the Hidden Cloud Village. He turned around and chose to fight against the most powerful Konoha Village with the Hidden Cloud Village. Although they were not allies, they were better than allies.

The Hidden Cloud Village has always been famous for having many ninjas. In this operation, they spared no effort and sent a ninja force composed of a full thousand elite ninjas, led by the highly respected Third Tsuchikage Ohnoki himself, and all the affairs of the village were handed over to his son Huangtu to take care of.

It was precisely because of the intervention of the Iwagakure Village that this dispute, which was originally only between Konoha and Kumogakure, instantly escalated into a large-scale battle, and its intensity could be called the 3.5th Ninja World War!

You know, in the last Third Ninja World War, the three powerful upper three villages did not exhaust all their war potential. Now, they are involved in the war again and launched a local war.

In this melee, the three ninja villages all adopted a unique strategy. On the one hand, they accepted and dispatched various tasks as usual to maintain the normal operation of the village; on the other hand, they quickly mobilized troops and continuously reinforced the border front.

Facing the aggressive Iwagakure Village, especially when they learned that the third generation Tsuchikage Ohnoki was leading the army to attack, the people of Konoha Village did not dare to neglect it at all. After all, Ohnoki is a powerful man with a great reputation.

After discussion by the top leaders of Konoha, they finally made a cautious decision to send a thousand elite ninjas to fight, and Orochimaru, one of the legendary three ninjas, served as the leader.

The selection of the leader was fully considered. Since the enemy was led by the Kage himself, the candidate sent by Konoha naturally had to be able to match the Kage in terms of strength and status.

The third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen could not easily leave the village to fight, because the current Konoha did not have a clear successor like the Iwagakure Village.

Before going to the battle, Ohnoki left a message that if he died in battle, Huang Tu would take over the position of the fourth Tsuchikage.

After the death of the fourth Hokage, Konoha had no clear answer on the successor to the position of the next Hokage. If Sarutobi Hiruzen died in battle, the position of the Hokage would be left without a master, which would inevitably cause great unrest.

Therefore, Sarutobi Hiruzen could not lead the team, and under the Hokage, the most famous and powerful people in Konoha were the three ninjas.

Among the three ninjas, Tsunade suffered from hemophobia and was not suitable for the battlefield. Moreover, as a physical ninja, it was difficult for her to compete with Ohnoki who could fly.

Jiraiya was free and undisciplined. He was out collecting folk songs at this time, and his whereabouts were unknown. Tsunade could at least be found in the casino, but Jiraiya was nowhere to be found because he was traveling around.

Therefore, only Orochimaru could lead the team to fight. Although Orochimaru was regarded as having bad intentions by Sarutobi Hiruzen and could not inherit the position of Hokage, he could still lead the troops to fight for the village.

Moreover, Orochimaru was praised as a genius ninja once in fifty years. He was proficient in the five ninjutsu and could use lightning ninjutsu to restrain the earth ninjutsu of the Hidden Rock Village.

In fact, there were candidates other than the three ninjas, but none of them were as suitable as Orochimaru.

For example, Uchiha Fugaku, the patriarch of the Uchiha clan, the first ninja clan of Konoha, had enough strength and reputation, but as the captain of the Konoha police force, he was responsible for protecting the safety of Konoha Village, so it was not convenient for him to fight.

Not only that, Konoha's top brass also had another layer of worry: Che, who was currently leading the team to resist the attack of Cloud Hidden Village in the northeastern part of the Land of Fire, was also a member of the Uchiha family.

If another Uchiha Fugaku is sent to lead the battle in the northwest, the power of the Uchiha clan will expand rapidly. By then, even a highly respected figure like Sarutobi Hiruzen may not be able to curb their rise.

Let’s take a look at the Hyuga clan, the second largest ninja clan after the Uchiha clan. At this moment, their clan leader Rizu was still participating in the battle in the northeastern part of the Country of Fire, so naturally he could not be dispatched to support the northwest battlefield.

From a tactical perspective, Nizu is obviously more suitable to stay in the northeast to fight against Yunyin Village. You must know that the offensive strategy adopted by Yunyin Village is often a surprise attack by multiple small-scale troops. This style of play can be effectively restrained by the Byakugan ability possessed by the Hyuga family.

In contrast, the Iwagakure Village on the northwest front adopts more stable tactics. It can be said that they form a stronghold and fight in vain, stationing in the stronghold and attacking with large forces. In this way, the Hyuga clan's white eyes will not be so effective. .

In addition, Konoha also considered Shikaku Nara, the jounin squad leader, but Shikaku is not like Che, the deputy squad leader of the jounin squad. Shikaku is an intellectual talent, while Che is obviously more of a force type.

Although Shikaku has the strength of an elite Jonin, he is still far behind Ohnoki, so he is not suitable to lead the team.

Konoha finally selected Orochimaru to lead the team, and Sarutobi Hiruzen found Kakashi and asked him to convey the order on his behalf.

"This Orochimaru hides in his laboratory all day long and doesn't know what to do. Kakashi, you go find him and tell him the order to go to war. He should also contribute to Konoha again."

"Yes." Kakashi responded, and then set off to Orochimaru's laboratory.

Perhaps only Orochimaru himself knows how many laboratories Orochimaru has in Konoha.

Kakashi had no choice but to search for Orochimaru in the known laboratories in the village one by one.

Kakashi finally found the right spot after running through several places.

"Lord Orochimaru, Lord Hokage has ordered you to lead a thousand troops to the northwest of Konoha to resist the invasion of Iwagakure Village."

Kakashi stood at the door of the laboratory under dim light and shouted a reminder.

The iron door of the laboratory was closed tightly, and the red indicator light was flashing, indicating that there was someone inside, and naturally it was Orochimaru who was conducting experiments inside.

However, no one answered inside the door, but after a moment, the iron door was pushed open with a harsh creak.

Orochimaru walked out, put on the vest of a Konoha Jonin, his long black hair was hanging behind his back, his face was frighteningly pale, he stretched out his extremely long tongue and licked the side of his lips like a poisonous snake spitting out a message.

"Very good, another experimental subject is coming in."

Orochimaru's voice was low and magnetic, revealing an evil nature.

Kakashi felt uncomfortable all over and was unwilling to stay any longer. Seeing that Orochimaru had come out, he quickly left the place.

Orochimaru's snake eyes stared at Kakashi's back, "Haha, my image is already so terrifying? Fortunately, I still have to help Konoha fight, it's really ridiculous."

Orochimaru licked his tongue again, with a greedy look in his eyes, "But it's okay, it's getting harder and harder to find experimental subjects in the village recently, so it's easier to do it on the battlefield."

Obviously, Orochimaru no longer regards Konoha as belonging at all, and he only has his own experiments in his heart.