Chapter 327: Fighting Alone
That night, at the Hokage's office.
"Bang!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his hand on the desk, glaring at Kyosuke. "Can you not be so reckless? The Cloud delegation isn't something you can just attack on a whim! If war breaks out again, can you take responsibility?"
"What other choice do we have...?" Facing Hiruzen's rebuke, Kyosuke didn't back down. He stared straight into the Hokage's eyes. "If we handed over Hizashi Hyuga, would the Cloud be satisfied with just the Byakugan and retreat?"
Looking at the still-furious Third Hokage, Kyosuke continued, "Even if they did retreat, can you guarantee that tomorrow they won't target the Uchiha, or the Ino-Shika-Cho, or any other bloodline clan?"
"Endless concessions will only make the enemy think Konoha is weak and easy to bully. Today it's the Cloud delegation. Tomorrow, Iwa, Kiri, maybe even Suna will send delegations for 'friendly exchanges.' By then, I fear there won't be enough clan members to go around."
Rubbing the armrest of his chair, Kyosuke saw Hiruzen fall silent and softened his tone. "So we can only handle this with a firm hand. We cannot let the Raikage's scheme succeed."
After hearing Kyosuke's thoughts, Minato Namikaze, sitting in the Hokage's seat, spoke up in rare agreement. "I think Kyosuke is right. Also, tonight, three members of the Cloud delegation secretly infiltrated the Uchiha compound, but Kyosuke dealt with them."
Minato knew it was highly likely those three were just using the Cloud delegation as cover to infiltrate Konoha, but to make Hiruzen accept the situation, he had to tell a white lie.
Hearing this, Hiruzen let out a long sigh, his tone finally softening. "Actually, I understand everything you're saying. But Konoha cannot afford to fight against an alliance of multiple forces again. Moreover, before making his move, the Raikage must have reached secret agreements with the other great ninja villages. I'm afraid if things go wrong..."
Understanding Hiruzen's worry, Kyosuke was silent for a moment. Then, a sharp light flashed in his eyes, and an imposing aura radiated from his entire body. Meeting their gazes, he spoke word by word.
"I will go alone to crush the Raikage's army."
"Swish!"
Moving at incredible speed through the forest, Kyosuke raced alone toward the Cloud army.
Just as he had told the two leaders, the only way to break the Raikage's scheme was to decisively crush the Cloud forces, intimidating the surrounding nations.
That was why Kyosuke chose to face the enemy alone. What could be more intimidating than a single man crushing an entire army?
Initially, Hiruzen had been against such a risky move. But upon reflection, realizing that Kyosuke possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique—giving him the ability to attack or retreat at will—he eventually agreed to Kyosuke's request.
"Since you insist on your beliefs, go and prove that you are right," Hiruzen had said before Kyosuke left.
There were many layers of meaning in that statement. As a master of political maneuvering, how could Hiruzen not see that Minato and Kyosuke were growing closer? As Minato gradually took control of Konoha, he occasionally expressed opinions that differed from Hiruzen's own.
Hiruzen had intended to use Minato to keep Kyosuke on a leash. Since things had come to this, he decided to let the two of them handle it. Even if Kyosuke couldn't crush the Cloud army, the situation couldn't get much worse than it already was.
Border of the Land of Iron.
The Third Raikage, personally leading a thousand elite troops, had been stationed here for days.
If Buraza successfully brought back the Byakugan, fine. If there were any complications, he would march south immediately and swallow the juicy piece of meat that was the Fire Country.
Of course, the Third Raikage had no intention of fighting alone. He knew the Cloud couldn't swallow the entire Fire Country by themselves. So, he had secretly contacted various factions. Aside from the Sand, whose attitude was ambiguous, even the Stone—with whom they had a deep-seated hatred—had agreed to send troops to help.
This proved once again that in the conflicts between nations, there were no eternal friends, only eternal interests. If Konoha truly couldn't resist the Cloud, the first to strike might very well be their "ally," the Sand Village.
The people in Konoha understood this well, which was why Kyosuke was determined not to let anyone else intervene.
Using the Flying Thunder God to travel rapidly, Kyosuke arrived at the border around 4:00 AM. With the great battle imminent, he decided to rest and bring himself to peak condition before launching his assault to crush the Cloud forces.
Time ticked by. As the sky began to lighten, Kyosuke, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.
Since the main objective of this operation was to intimidate the surrounding forces, Kyosuke decided against a sneak attack. Instead, he chose a frontal confrontation.
soon, crossing the border into the Land of Iron, Kyosuke spotted the Cloud encampment in the distance. Making no effort to hide, he was quickly spotted by a Cloud patrol.
"Who goes there?!"
With an angry shout, a seven-man squad instantly surrounded Kyosuke. The leader sized him up, frowning subconsciously. He felt he had seen this man's face somewhere before, but couldn't recall it immediately.
"You're asking me?" Kyosuke pointed at himself, smiling. "Don't worry. You'll know who I am soon enough. And..."
"You. Will. Never. Forget. It!"
A brilliant sword light flashed. In an instant, except for the leader, the other six members of the patrol clutched their throats and slowly collapsed to the ground.
One strike, six dead.
Such overwhelming power instantly stunned the squad leader. At the same time, seeing the Kusanagi Sword in Kyosuke's hand, he recognized his identity.
"U-Uchiha Kyosuke..."
Looking at the leader who had lost all will to fight, Kyosuke smiled. "That's right, it's me."
"T-then why did you..." The leader stammered, wanting to ask Kyosuke's intentions. However, Kyosuke had no desire to waste more words on him.
"Where is your warning signal? Use it. Otherwise, it will be too late when I attack the camp."
"...Might as well die trying." The leader steeled his heart, pulling out a kunai attached to an explosive tag and throwing it into the air.
BANG!
The explosion instantly woke the entire Cloud camp. Simultaneously, countless figures rushed toward Kyosuke's location.
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