Several years ago, Sunagakure of the Wind Country started a war under the pretext of the Third Kazekage's disappearance, in order to turn internal conflicts into external ones!
The first to bear the brunt was Konoha Village of the Land of Fire, with its fertile land and abundant resources!
The two sides first conducted small-scale mutual probing along the border, and then it gradually developed into a large-scale war!
During this period, Iwagakure of the Earth Country and Hidden Cloud Village of the Lightning Country were also restless, and after finding the right opportunity, they successively launched wars against Konoha!
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At that time, the pressure Konoha faced was unprecedentedly huge. It had to confront the three great nations externally while also balancing the power of the great clans within the Village, deploying almost all available fighting forces from the Village!
Fortunately, Hidden Cloud Village, this notorious troublemaker, was very effective. First, it launched a surprise attack on Sunagakure in the Valley of Wind, and then stabbed Iwagakure in the back, truly giving Konoha a chance to breathe!
Taking advantage of Sunagakure's weakness, Iwagakure and Hidden Cloud Village checking each other, and the active participation of Minato Namikaze, Konoha defeated Sunagakure with lightning speed, forcing it to sign a ceasefire agreement!
At the same time, Konoha also destroyed Iwagakure's supply lines and crushed Iwagakure's frontline forces, making it unable to launch large-scale wars again in a short period!
When the war reached this point, the situation was already clear!
Just when Konoha Village thought the war was about to end and was cheering, who knew Hidden Cloud Village turned around and struck Konoha again!
Hidden Cloud Village suffered losses at the hands of Sunagakure and Iwagakure consecutively.
First, their surprise attack was discovered by Sunagakure, which set up a plan to repel them. Then, while trying to flank Iwagakure, they encountered an ambush, and even the Third Raikage died at the hands of Iwagakure!
Then Hidden Cloud Village decided to attack Konoha!
This outcome probably made Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi rack his brain, yet still not understand what was inside the heads of those reckless men from Hidden Cloud Village!
What caught Konoha most off guard was that Hidden Mist Village of the Water Country, which had been silent among the Five Great Shinobi Countries, also launched a war against Konoha at this time!
Konoha was once again dragged into a desperate situation!
Although Iwagakure was temporarily unable to launch a large-scale war against Konoha, it was not fundamentally crippled, and there were still a large number of Ninjas in the Village that could be mobilized, ready to reignite the flames of war at any time!
Konoha had to deploy heavy troops along the borders of both to guard against unexpected events!
And although Sunagakure had already signed a ceasefire agreement with Konoha, it was actually just a piece of waste paper with no deterrent effect!
As long as Sunagakure saw an opportunity, it could tear up the agreement at any time and declare war on Konoha again!
Therefore, Konoha also needed to deploy a certain amount of troops along the border with Sunagakure!
Coupled with the war against Hidden Cloud Village, Konoha was already unable to spare troops to deal with the attack from Hidden Mist Village of the Water Country!
With no other options, the Konoha higher-ups had no choice but to turn their attention to the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan, the two great Konoha clans they had always been wary of!
The Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan are both powerful clans in Konoha!
Their formidable strength and strict clan system have always been deeply feared by the Konoha higher-ups!
Especially the Uchiha Clan's unruly character, which has always caused the Konoha higher-ups, deeply influenced by the Second Hokage's ideas, to target them everywhere!
The reason the Konoha higher-ups didn't want people from the Uchiha Clan to go to the battlefield was, firstly, to isolate them, and at the same time, to prevent people from the Uchiha Clan from entering the core circle of Konoha's power by virtue of military achievements!
Secondly, it was because the Uchiha Clan's Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, is extremely special; it can awaken and increase in power due to emotional fluctuations!
There are simply too many partings and deaths on the battlefield!
Therefore, while others might get weaker the more they fight, the Uchiha Clan might instead get stronger the more they fight!
After all, those who can survive in war are true gold tempered by fire!
The number of people in the Uchiha Clan might decrease after experiencing the flames of war, but at the same time, they will also see a leap in quality!
Just like in this war, two people in the Uchiha Clan awakened the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan!
Any one of them is enough to equal a thousand troops and ten thousand horses!
Under such circumstances, the Konoha higher-ups naturally wanted to avoid the Uchiha Clan joining the battlefield as much as possible!
It was just that the declaration of war by Hidden Mist Village had pushed the Konoha higher-ups to a desperate point, forcing them to activate the Uchiha Clan and send them to the border to resist the invasion of Hidden Mist Village!
Looking back at the entire Third Shinobi World War, the other four great nations basically fought and stopped, while only Konoha kept changing opponents and kept fighting!
For nearly eight years, everyone in Konoha, from top to bottom, was physically and mentally exhausted!
And now, the war is finally coming to an end!
"Jin, what should we do next? Should we take them all back to Konoha?"
Minato Namikaze quickly composed himself, looked at Uchiha Jin, and asked.
The war is not truly over yet, so we cannot relax our vigilance!
Uchiha Jin pondered for a moment but did not answer directly; instead, he asked back, "What do you think?"
Minato Namikaze hesitated for a moment before speaking, "The Third Raikage is dead, the Fourth Raikage is undecided, and Hidden Cloud Village is now without a leader!"
"If we want to end the war, we must at least send their Fourth Raikage candidate back to take charge!"
"I see that the relationship between this Ai and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki is deep. With him maneuvering within Hidden Cloud Village, it should facilitate the signing of a ceasefire agreement more smoothly!"
Minato Namikaze wanted to release Ai back to Hidden Cloud Village.
After all, there are bound to be different voices in a Village, especially when there is no leader; many people with ulterior motives will jump out!
And the relationship between Ai and Killer Bee is not shallow. If he is sent back to take charge, Killer Bee, as a hostage, can be most effective!
However, this is just a conventional situation!
Uchiha Jin smiled and said, "Minato, you've got one thing wrong! If it were any other Village, your decision wouldn't be wrong, but don't forget that Hidden Cloud Village is a unique existence!"
"Do you believe that as soon as you let Ai go back, this reckless man will gather a large force tomorrow and use total war as a threat to force us to release the hostage?"
Minato Namikaze was startled by this, but after thinking carefully about Hidden Cloud Village's style of action, he really couldn't refute it!
After all, it is well known that the people of Hidden Cloud Village are a bunch of warmongers!
Uchiha Jin continued, "Ai and Killer Bee, one is the Fourth Raikage candidate, the other is the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki; both are individuals that Hidden Cloud Village cannot abandon!"
"Only by having both of them in our hands will Hidden Cloud Village obediently sit down at the negotiating table!"
Minato Namikaze frowned upon hearing this and said, "Are you sure the Hidden Cloud Village higher-ups will reach an agreement on this issue?"
Uchiha Jin understood the deeper meaning in Minato Namikaze's words and sighed softly, "The Hidden Cloud Village higher-ups are not like our Konoha! They are much more united than us!"
"Also, the Raikage's assistant in Hidden Cloud Village, Dodai, is a smart man; he won't let others mess things up!"
"So, let's bring both Ai and Killer Bee back to the Village first!"
After a pause, Uchiha Jin seemed to remember something and instructed, "Oh, right, when you report back, don't mention me! Just say this is your squad's achievement!"
Minato Namikaze's pupils constricted slightly upon hearing this, and he asked in surprise, "Jin, wasn't this operation ordered by the Third?"