A month had passed, and the once-ruined Village of Yone had been reborn with new vitality.
One building after another rose from the ground. Seeing the homeland they had rebuilt with their own hands, everyone felt an overwhelming sense of pride and a powerful feeling of belonging.
Even Deidara—who had originally shown no interest whatsoever in rebuilding the Uchiha's home—was swept up by the enthusiasm of the others and joined in as well.
As a shinobi from Iwagakure, Deidara made tremendous contributions to the construction using Earth Release techniques.
Everyone, Itachi included, felt nothing but gratitude toward Deidara—aside from the occasional episode where he "acted up" and blew apart newly built structures with explosive clay.
Here, the Uchiha clan would begin anew.
"Itachi! Fight me one-on-one!"
No one knew how many times Deidara had challenged Itachi already. Yet every single time, the battle never truly began—because Deidara simply could not resist the genjutsu of Itachi's Sharingan.
Itachi still had many things to take care of, so without even turning back, he replied,
"Next time, Deidara."
"No way!"
Regardless of whether Itachi agreed or not, Deidara immediately molded clay and created a clay centipede, wrapping it tightly around Itachi and restraining him.
"Hah!"
Deidara formed hand seals, and the clay centipede exploded on cue.
Faced with Deidara's relentless persistence, Itachi finally turned around and confronted him, engaging him in battle.
Deidara fought Itachi with exhilarating intensity.
But in the eyes of the onlookers…
Sitting on a rooftop, Uchiha Izumi asked Karin beside her,
"Karin, what do you think Deidara is doing all by himself? Why is he picking a fight with a tree?"
Karin shook her head.
"I don't know. Brother Deidara always does strange things. Fighting with a tree doesn't seem that unusual for him."
The truth was that the moment Deidara stopped Itachi and demanded a duel, Itachi had already known that Deidara wouldn't let it go—even if he refused.
So when Itachi said "next time," he activated his Blood Demon Art, pulling Deidara into a dreamscape of his own creation.
To Deidara, the tree he was currently fighting was Itachi.
"Izumi-nee, aren't you going to look for Itachi-nii? He's already gone far away," Karin said.
Izumi immediately retorted,
"I'm not here to look for Itachi! I'm just enjoying the scenery!"
"But when Itachi-nii was here just now, your eyes were glued to him. Is Itachi-nii your 'scenery'?"
Izumi's face instantly flushed red.
"K-Karin! You saw wrong! Completely wrong!"
Feeling extremely guilty, Izumi hurriedly left the scene.
After Karin left as well, Deidara let out an angry yet aggrieved roar.
"Uchiha Itachi! You tricked me again!"
Under Itachi's meticulous guidance, Yosuke successfully mastered the Uchiha clan's Fire Release techniques and learned many other elemental ninjutsu as well.
Although his hand-seal speed was still slow, he no longer made low-level mistakes such as forming incorrect seals.
When Yosuke saw the Uchiha clan's ninjutsu archives, which were almost entirely composed of high-level techniques, he couldn't help but marvel.
As expected of the Uchiha…
A clan with true foundations. This stockpile of jutsu is nearly on par with that of an entire hidden village.
Compared to the peace and stability of Yang Village in the Land of Mountains, Konoha was now in utter turmoil.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the Hokage Tower, his expression extremely grim.
The entire Land of Fire was under threat from multiple fronts, forced to fight alone.
"Shikaku, how are things looking now?" Hiruzen asked, addressing Konoha's greatest strategist, Nara Shikaku.
Shikaku replied solemnly,
"The unit led by Kakashi has already engaged the shinobi from Kumogakure. For now, they've managed to push them back beyond the borders of the Land of Fire."
"And the other villages?" Hiruzen asked.
"Iwagakure is still holding back and observing. It doesn't look like they want to jump into a direct confrontation just yet.
However, Sunagakure is growing restless. They've been steadily advancing toward the border of the Land of Fire—it's clear they're no longer able to restrain themselves."
Hiruzen slammed his hand onto the desk in anger.
"Those bastards! Have they completely forgotten the peace treaties we signed back then?!"
Shikaku remained silent. Both of them understood all too well—
Peace treaties meant nothing when they conflicted with interest. They were nothing more than sheets of paper.
Suppressing his anger, Hiruzen asked in a low voice,
"Given the current situation… what do you think, Shikaku?"
"In my opinion, the situation is still salvageable."
"Oh?" Hiruzen's eyes sharpened. "How so?"
Shikaku explained,
"Judging from Iwagakure's current stance, they don't intend to directly join a war against Konoha. Kumogakure's forces are also fighting while retreating—they don't want to get bogged down with us either.
The real problem is Sunagakure.
The Land of Wind is too close to the Land of Fire, and the Kazekage, Rasa, is extremely ambitious. He's long sought to invade Konoha.
That said, Sunagakure's overall strength still falls short of ours.
If we strike swiftly and decisively, repel Sunagakure in one blow, and demonstrate that Konoha is still the powerful village it has always been, the smaller villages won't dare to act rashly.
At that point, the pressure will be reduced to just Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
Once we consolidate our forces and drive back Kumogakure, Iwagakure—having only been observing—will naturally withdraw."
Hiruzen's eyes gleamed.
"So Sunagakure is the key to whether this conflict escalates into a full-scale ninja war?"
"Yes," Shikaku replied.
"But this plan hinges on a single word—speed.
Although Sunagakure is weaker than Konoha, it is still one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. The gap between us isn't overwhelming.
If the battle with Sunagakure drags on, we won't be able to handle the pressure from Kumogakure.
And if Iwagakure stops observing and joins in at that point… Konoha will truly be pushed into a corner."
Hiruzen pondered deeply before finally speaking.
"Then Kakashi's unit will continue to hold off Kumogakure.
Jiraiya will lead Konoha's elite forces to the border of the Land of Fire and repel Sunagakure."
Nara Shikamaru voiced his concern,
"With Jiraiya-sama leading the troops, that's reassuring… but what if the Kazekage Rasa personally joins the battle? And Chiyo—the top-class puppeteer—would be a major threat as well."
"There's no need to worry about that," Hiruzen replied.
"Tsunade has already returned to Konoha. This time, I'll have her go as well."
"Tsunade-sama…?" Shikamaru hesitated.
"But can Lady Tsunade really take the battlefield when her hemophobia hasn't been cured yet?"
"Although her fear of blood hasn't been resolved," Hiruzen said,
"the name of one of the Legendary Sannin alone is enough.
And the other villages don't know about her condition. At the very least, Tsunade's presence will serve as a powerful deterrent."
Shikamaru nodded.
"In that case, this is the most appropriate deployment we have."
After Shikaku left, Hiruzen gazed up at the stone visage of Senju Tobirama carved into the Hokage Rock and let out a quiet sigh.
"Sensei…
Did Konoha truly need the Uchiha clan all along?
Did I really make the wrong choice…?"
Please drop some power stones and support me at my
PS: Access the complete/finished chapters/series at Patreon: NanamiTL