Chapter 128: Joint Assault on the Hidden Leaf
The Hidden Mist and the Hidden Sand joining forces?
Hearing Maki's words, especially after seeing that Ao's expression showed no change at all, Kitsuchi and Darui's eyes flickered slightly.
If the Hidden Mist truly joined hands with the Hidden Sand, then the matters they were currently worried about would instead become much easier to handle.
The reason the four of them appeared here for a private meeting was naturally because they did not trust the other ninja villages and wanted to understand the current intelligence situation.
"The current situation should be clear to both of you. This is a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity."
"From the First Great Ninja War until now, the various ninja villages have basically fought alone, and even when alliances formed, they were only temporary."
"And what lies before us now may be the only chance to completely crush the Hidden Leaf, or even erase it from the map of the ninja world."
Ao's face was filled with seriousness. When he reached this point, he paused slightly, and after seeing the thoughtful expressions on everyone's faces, a hint of a smile flashed in his eyes.
After letting his words sink in, Ao spoke again.
"By gathering the strength of four great ninja villages, if we can truly annihilate the Hidden Leaf in one blow, then the vast territory of the Land of Fire will be completely opened to our four villages."
"Compared to the Hidden Leaf, which sits right in the middle, there is fundamentally not much entanglement between our four villages. We can completely divide up the Hidden Leaf!"
As Ao's words reached the ears of the three men, Kitsuchi and Darui were both shaken.
They immediately began to envision the future scene described by Ao.
Just as Ao had said, the benefits produced by the destruction of the Hidden Leaf far exceeded the imagination of all the ninja villages.
With such a vast territory as the Land of Fire, even if four ninja villages consumed it together, it would still take many years.
By that time, unless the four great ninja villages had completely digested the entire Land of Fire, there would absolutely be no possibility of another war breaking out.
The returns before them were simply too great. Even someone without any sense for economics could see that a joint assault on the Hidden Leaf by four great ninja villages was the most correct choice.
As for the idea of monopolizing everything?
There was no need to even think about it. No ninja village had the ability to swallow it all in one bite.
Standing to the side, Maki's breathing had already grown rapid. Among the four great ninja villages, if one were to say which supported this plan the most, it would definitely be the Hidden Sand.
Compared to the other ninja villages, the Hidden Sand could practically be described as impoverished. Forget about dividing the Hidden Leaf evenly; even biting off just a single chunk from the Hidden Leaf would be enough for the Hidden Sand to live off for a long time.
Seeing that Kitsuchi of the Hidden Stone and Darui of the Hidden Cloud were already showing signs of being tempted, though a trace of hesitation still lingered on their faces, a smile appeared on Ao's face as he looked at the two of them.
"Since both of your ninja forces brought jinchuriki with them, the leaders of your two villages must be thinking along the same lines."
As Ao's words fell, Kitsuchi and Darui could not help but glance at each other at the same time, then quickly withdrew their gazes.
"Our Tsuchikage-sama said that the head of a clan from the Hidden Mist, Kinoshita Jiro, was killed by people from the Hidden Leaf, so naturally an explanation must be demanded from them. We of the Hidden Stone are here to assist the Hidden Mist."
Kitsuchi spoke in a rough voice, his face full of sincerity.
Darui shot Kitsuchi a disdainful glance, then turned his head toward Ao and coldly uttered a single word: "Fine."
After saying that, Darui turned around and walked toward the Hidden Cloud forces.
Feeling Darui's disdainful gaze, a flush passed over Kitsuchi's face, and he hurriedly turned and walked toward his own Hidden Stone forces as well.
He himself felt rather embarrassed by what he had just said, but there was no helping it. This was something his father, Ōnoki, had instructed in advance.
As for how to divide the Hidden Leaf and the allocation between the various ninja villages, all four of them tacitly avoided mentioning it.
Bringing up such a topic at this moment would bring no benefit at all, aside from proving one's own foolishness.
Watching the two of them leave, Maki raised an eyebrow and said softly, "It looks like those two still need to report the situation here back to their villages."
A faint smile lingered on Ao's face. "Naturally. The spies from their villages have basically been almost completely cleared out by the Hidden Leaf. Gathering intelligence here was one of their main objectives to begin with."
"However, this matter is already settled. Your Hidden Sand should also make preparations. Whoever causes the greatest casualties to the Hidden Leaf in this assault will probably receive greater benefits afterward."
As he spoke, Ao also turned and walked toward the Hidden Mist forces, seemingly offering Maki a well-meaning reminder.
Watching Ao's figure gradually disappear, Maki's eyes flickered. With a few leaps, he too vanished from the spot.
On the other side, after Kitsuchi and Darui returned to their respective ninja forces, they immediately used summoning techniques to send everything that had happened at the scene back to their villages.
Not long after, accompanied by the fluctuations of the summoning techniques, the two of them almost simultaneously received messages from their villages—jointly assault the Hidden Leaf.
Standing at the front of the Hidden Stone forces, Kitsuchi looked toward the direction of the Hidden Leaf, a chill filling his gaze. "Prepare to attack the Hidden Leaf!"
On the other side, among the Hidden Cloud forces, Darui looked at the order transmitted back to him and helplessly shrugged.
"Darui, are we really going to attack the Hidden Leaf?"
Killer B walked over from the side, looking at Darui with a somewhat complicated expression.
"B, I know what you're thinking. Between ninja villages, there is no such thing as personal will."
"The Raikage-sama instructed that unless there are special circumstances, you will not be allowed to take action."
Darui let out a soft sigh as he spoke to Killer B.
After that, Darui walked to the very front of the Hidden Cloud forces, feeling everyone's gazes on him.
With an expression of annoyance, Darui spoke plainly, "Prepare to attack the Hidden Leaf!"
On top of the head of the Three-Tails, Isobu.
Yuto looked at the barrier around the Hidden Leaf ahead, which was gradually beginning to crack, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Using Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique on the barrier was indeed extremely powerful, but unfortunately, any barrier had a limit to what it could withstand.
After consecutively enduring the attacks of three Tailed Beast Balls, this barrier could already be considered quite impressive.
Unfortunately, one more Tailed Beast Ball would likely be enough for this barrier to fail.
Whoosh!
A rush of wind sounded by Yuto's ear.
Ao wore a respectful expression as he half-knelt at Yuto's side.
"How did things go?"
Yuto turned his head to look at Ao and asked with some curiosity.
"There was not much difference from your plan. The only thing outside our expectations was that both the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Stone brought jinchuriki with them."
Ao spoke softly, his expression respectful.
"They both brought jinchuriki? It seems the Raikage and the Tsuchikage of this era have far more resolve than I expected."
Yuto could not help but laugh, looking completely unconcerned.
To Yuto, even if the Hidden Leaf were divided evenly, or even if all of its territory were handed over to the three ninja villages, he would not care in the slightest.
His objective was to unify the entire ninja world. When that time came, no matter whose territory it was, it would all be his territory.
Moreover, having two jinchuriki delivered right to his doorstep saved Yuto the trouble of searching for Tailed Beasts himself.
"Hidden Leaf, Hidden Leaf. Four ninja villages and the power of five Tailed Beasts are all gathered here. I wonder if you can withstand it?"
A brilliant smile appeared on Yuto's face as he looked in the direction of the Hidden Leaf.
More precisely, Yuto's gaze was fixed on the enormous Hokage stone statue of Hashirama Senju carved into the distant mountain wall behind the Hidden Leaf.
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