Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 246: War Preparations

Nagato's thoughts were different from Yahiko's and Konan's. Ishiro had been too proactive in the process of killing Jiraiya, which was inconsistent with his previous style of action. If Ishiro hadn't wanted to kill Jiraiya, there would have been no need to be so serious.

This was correct. If Ishiro had heard Nagato's inner thoughts, he would have been surprised. Nagato was likely the one among the three Akatsuki members who understood Ishiro the best.

Perhaps because he had taught him ninjutsu, Nagato was the person who had the most contact with Ishiro. Or perhaps the Rinnegan's miraculous insight could see some things that Ishiro deliberately hid.

Nagato was the only one who could vaguely see that Ishiro had ambition. It was just that Ishiro's displayed indifference to power and money had unknowingly made Nagato overlook this point.

After another discussion ended on bad terms, the three returned to their respective residences. After Nagato entered his room, the Rinnegan in his eye sockets turned slightly, and then he said to the empty room, "I told you, if you appear before me again, I will kill you."

As soon as Nagato's voice fell, a pure white figure slowly emerged from the ground. It was a White Zetsu clone.

"Hey, hey, don't be so hasty. I'm just a clone. Killing me is useless," the White Zetsu clone said, completely unafraid of Nagato's threat, speaking in his usual strange tone.

"So, did today's discussion with your two companions end without a result again? I told you long ago, mortals like them cannot understand you. You are the reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths, you are a god, you are here to save the world."

"Heaven bestowed the Rinnegan upon you to give you the power to sweep away all obstacles. Only by using military force to deter can true peace be brought about, and in the ninja world, only you can reach the height of deterring all petty villains."

"And I am the guide arranged by fate to lead you onto the right path. How can you kill me?"

Nagato didn't believe in the matter of fate he spoke of, but he had also discovered that his own power was constantly growing. It seemed that, just as this pure white person said, he was the only one who could possibly possess the strength to deter the entire ninja world.

This was correct. Nagato, born of the Uzumaki clan, had seen his chakra reserves grow to a terrifying level with age. And unlike in the original story, Nagato was healthy and had never overloaded his Rinnegan.

Moreover, Nagato's development of the Rinnegan was becoming deeper and deeper.

Back then, having just stepped into the Kage-level, Nagato could already fight against Hanzō. Now, so many years had passed, and Nagato had a faint feeling that no one in the entire ninja world was his match anymore.

Under White Zetsu's coaxing, Nagato's thinking began to change quietly.

Of course, the change in Nagato's thinking was not only due to the growth of his strength and White Zetsu's instigation but also because of the change in the environment.

The ideals of the three Akatsuki members hadn't changed, and their passion hadn't changed, but the environment had. In the early days of taking charge of the Village Hidden in the Rivers, the Akatsuki developed rapidly, but not long after, things turned sour.

Firstly, some of the small countries that had originally supported the Akatsuki began to resist them. They were afraid the Akatsuki would help the Land of Rivers annex them. No matter how the members of the Akatsuki explained, it was useless. No one wanted to entrust their country's survival to the conscience of a few outsiders.

Next were the ordinary members of the Akatsuki. Ever since rebuilding the Village Hidden in the Rivers, and after Nagato and Yahiko displayed Kage-level strength, they began to see themselves as ninjas of a great nation's great hidden village. Their various behaviors, in Nagato's eyes, were a blasphemy to the ideals of the Akatsuki.

Most crucially, Nagato could no longer see a future direction for the Akatsuki's development. The Land of Rivers was already a medium-sized country, sandwiched between the two great nations of Fire and Wind, as well as the Land of Rain. There was no more room for growth.

Nagato was afraid, afraid that the Akatsuki would eventually become an organization just like the hidden villages of the Five Great Nations, fighting each other for profit. Just like this time, the Akatsuki, an organization dedicated to maintaining peace, had to make war preparations.

Why? Wasn't it for fear of being invaded by Konoha or Sunagakure? But how was this different from the actions of the great hidden villages?

Yahiko was somewhat aware of these things, but not as sensitive as Nagato. The Land of Rivers had not yet been well-governed, and Yahiko's attention had not yet extended beyond the Land of Rivers. Yahiko, busy with internal affairs all day, did not see as clearly or as far as Nagato, the observer.

Nagato was somewhat lost in thought, not even noticing when the White Zetsu clone left.

Returning the view to Iwagakure, Ōnoki and Ishiro, upon returning to the village, immediately convened the higher-ups for a meeting.

Thanks to the Cloud ninjas' swift actions, Ishiro and Ōnoki were not away from the village for long this time. Skipping the effort of searching and hiding, it was only a day back and forth. But in this short time, the situation in the ninja world had already changed.

Konoha, having suffered successive losses, could no longer suppress the restless ambitions of various parties.

For example, Saka, after confirming Jiraiya's death from Ōnoki and Ishiro, was the first to speak, "The Fourth War is now inevitable. Let's prepare for a full village mobilization. It's just that the losses from the Third War have not yet fully recovered. Even with full mobilization, the effect will certainly not be as good as before the Third War."

Mei also shook her head and said, "We also have to report to the Daimyo. The Third War just ended not long ago, and the village's funds are limited. To launch another war, we must have the full support of the Daimyo."

Ikura also said, "Material preparations are also insufficient. To rush into war, logistics will be a big problem. In addition, the construction of the village's medical system has not yet been completed."

Although the three of them all pointed out the various inadequacies in the village's war preparations, Ōnoki still said firmly, "No matter how great the difficulties, we must go to war. Right now, none of the nations in the ninja world are ready, but the hearts of the people have been set. The Fourth War has already begun, in a sense."

"What we can do is only to control the intensity and scope of the war to a certain extent, or end the war as soon as possible, like in the Third War."

Ishiro nodded and said, "It's just, who is our enemy? Is it only Konoha? Will the other hidden villages be wary of us and stab us in the back?"

"How will Konoha respond? What forces can Konoha mobilize?"

"And to what extent do the other countries hope this war will proceed?"

Ishiro raised some key questions.

Saka said approvingly, "Ishiro is very calm. These issues indeed need to be analyzed beforehand. We still need to win over the countries that should be won over, or at least ensure they don't become our enemies."

Ikura thought for a moment and said, "Rather than thinking about the response strategies of other countries, it's better to set a goal for them."

Ikura looked around at everyone and said, "The matter of us obtaining ninjutsu from Konoha in the Third War can be used as a reference. We can entice the three nations of Wind, Lightning, and Water to fight Konoha with this as their goal."

"And this has another advantage. The Konoha ninjas, seeing the worst possible outcome, will find it difficult to fight us with a do-or-die resolve. What's the big deal? At worst, they just compensate with some ninjutsu after being defeated. Why fight us to the death?"

Ishiro's eyes lit up. "This method could work. Let's just contact the other four great hidden villages and negotiate with Konoha under the pretext of formal peace talks, demanding that Konoha give the countries the ninjutsu they want."

"If Konoha doesn't agree, then we start the war. This way, it's debatable whether the Konoha higher-ups would be willing to risk defeat. Perhaps Hiruzen Sarutobi will really agree to negotiate."

At this time, Hiruzen Sarutobi had not yet stepped down, so their speculations about Konoha's response were all based on Hiruzen's past style of action.

The meeting lasted for a long time. In the end, Ōnoki even expanded the scale of the participants, summoning all the Jonin in the village for discussion.

After the meeting ended, Iwagakure officially entered a state of full war preparation.

All the advisors, including Ishiro, also had their respective tasks.

Ishiro's task was not light. Already a village advisor and a Kage-level, Ishiro was directly appointed as the supreme commander of the front line. And this time, Ishiro would be stationed on the main battlefield directly facing Konoha: the southern front.

Of course, the battlefield had not yet been opened. Ishiro's task was to form the front-line troops.

According to the high-level meeting, the number of troops under Ishiro's command this time would reach 6,000. Whether there would be subsequent reinforcements would depend on the battlefield situation and the reactions of all parties.

It was not easy to gather such a large ninja army because the war had not yet fully broken out, and many ninjas were still on missions. Ishiro could only gather the ninjas who were not out on missions batch by batch.

This process would not be too fast, mainly because Iwagakure was already being very conspicuous and did not want to be the first bird to stick its neck out and provoke Konoha.

Ishiro spent five days gathering about two thousand people in the village, then led these two thousand to the southern front as the first wave.

On the long border of the southern front, there were nearly a thousand patrolling ninjas and Anbu waiting to be incorporated by Ishiro. The remaining two to three thousand would be slowly gathered in the village later and sent to support Ishiro in batches.

And busy at the same time as Ishiro was Ikura.

Ikura was currently contacting the three nations of Wind, Lightning, and Water, trying to persuade them to put pressure on Konoha together, or at least to convey Iwagakure's goal for this war to Konoha.

Iwagakure's war preparations went very smoothly. Because they had achieved great results in the Third War, the Daimyo of the Land of Earth's support for the upcoming Fourth War was very strong.

Not only did the Daimyo allocate a large amount of funds, but he also took the initiative to send people to contact the Daimyos of the Land of Wind and the Land of Lightning, helping Ikura to win them over.

However, as Iwagakure's ally, Sunagakure's war preparations were not smooth sailing.

In order to successfully advance the war and take a bite out of Konoha when it was at its weakest, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, first forcefully recovered the One-Tail.

Although he couldn't find a suitable Jinchuriki for a while, he sealed the One-Tail in a pot, so at least it could be thrown out as a bomb at a critical moment.

Then, riding on the coattails of the Land of Earth's Daimyo, Rasa obtained the long-coveted funds from the Land of Wind's Daimyo.

However, within the village, Rasa encountered resistance. The old forces of Sunagakure had suffered heavy losses in the last failed Third War and did not want to participate in the Fourth Great Ninja War.

But Rasa had been waiting for this day for a long time; how could he give up so easily? War was the best time to seize power. He wanted to use Konoha's hand in this war to purge all opponents.

For this, Rasa brought out his long-hidden trump card: the Scorch Release user, Pakura.

In the original story, Rasa came to power later, at which time Pakura also had Kage-level strength and was a pawn put forward by various factions in Sunagakure to compete with Rasa. So in the end, the ascended Rasa chose to eliminate Pakura directly.

But this timeline was different. When Rasa came to power, Pakura was still just an Elite Jonin with potential. Rasa's ascension was very smooth, and there was no conflict between the two. It should be said that the Pakura of that time was not qualified to be Rasa's competitor.

And after coming to power, Rasa had a righteous cause, plus Rasa's performance in the Third War was much better than those decadent higher-ups, so Pakura's allegiance was natural.

Thus, Pakura became Rasa's biggest trump card. After the end of the Third War, Rasa focused on cultivating a group of confidants in Sunagakure, the most outstanding of whom was Pakura.

When Rasa had Pakura display her Kage-level strength, everyone backed down, and no one dared to oppose Rasa anymore.

With control of the One-Tail and two Kage-level individuals, the others, even with Chiyo's support, could not suppress Rasa.

Rasa smoothly passed the resolution to participate in the war and firmly controlled all aspects of the war preparations in his own hands.

Then, Rasa, under a righteous pretext and the reason of war, took the Third Kazekage puppet from Chiyo's hands.

Although it went through some twists and turns, in the end, Rasa still smoothly pushed forward the war preparations.

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