I'm an Uchiha and have Tobirama's talent!

The Kumo ninjas were now filled with lingering fear, as they had arrived in the Land of Whirlpools at the same time as Kiri. If the target of Uzushio had been them instead, would they have ended up with the same fate?

The Suna and Iwa ninjas, who had just arrived from the southwest, were also stunned.

Although the four great ninja villages had agreed on a coordinated attack time, the two villages had been delayed due to the long distances involved. At first, they comforted themselves with the thought that perhaps Uzushio, Kumo, and Kiri would destroy each other, and they could simply reap the benefits.

But whether the fish had died or not, they didn't know, what they did know was that the net was truly torn.

As for the alliance army of the four smaller ninja villages, led by Ame, they were now completely panicked.

Except for Ame, the other small villages had committed nearly half of their elite forces to the Land of Whirlpools for just one purpose: to hide behind the major villages and scavenge whatever spoils were left.

But now, with the war just beginning, one of the mighty Five Great Ninja Villages had already been completely wiped out. They didn't believe they had the strength to fight against Kiri's forces, so retreating was already on their minds. However, for now, none of the armies dared to act rashly. They needed more intelligence and the truth behind Kiri's total defeat.

And… They all wanted to see whether Kiri would retaliate.

---

"Please convey our message to A, we agree to the alliance, and from now on, we will follow the command of Kumo," an Ame ninja said this with a smile to a Kumo ninja.

Receiving the desired answer, the Kumo ninjas didn't linger and immediately returned to report. Although no military action had been taken yet, that didn't mean the major villages were doing nothing. In fact, they were already working on new attack plans and beginning to cooperate with one another.

"Yoshida, are we really going to follow their command?" the leading ninja from Taki asked, frowning.

"What do you think?" Yoshida, Ame's leading ninja, asked. "Kumo claims to be allying with us, but in my view, they just want to use us as cannon fodder to pave the way for them."

"Then why did you just agree to it?" the Taki ninja asked in confusion.

"Could we refuse them to their face? This is Kumo we're talking about," Yoshida replied helplessly. "I agreed just to keep them calm for now. From here on, we take it step by step. If things look bad, we pull out immediately and leave them to fend for themselves."

---

Two days later, Yoshida attended a meeting of the temporary alliance assembled to attack the Land of Whirlpools, representing the small ninja villages.

Kumo was represented by A, son of the Third Raikage.

Suna sent Chiyo, and Iwa sent Kitsuchi.

Although none of the village leaders had come in person, the representatives they sent made it clear how seriously they took this operation.

Yoshida grew extremely nervous upon seeing the representatives of the three major ninja villages. Although he directly represented Hanzō the Salamander and had absolute confidence in Hanzō's strength, it was hard not to feel intimidated when facing three of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

Because if the three villages unanimously decided to use the smaller villages as scouts or sacrificial pawns, he wouldn't know what to do.

Fortunately, his fears didn't come true.

Each major village had its own agenda, each wanted the lion's share of the spoils and didn't want the others even tasting the soup—so the plan to merge their forces was rejected, and instead, they started arguing again.

In the end, the representatives of the three major villages only managed to agree on the timing of the next attack. As expected, no other consensus was reached.

At the root of it, the three great villages still didn't take Uzushio very seriously.

When they heard of Kiri's total annihilation, they were indeed shocked. But in the intelligence they gathered afterward, they learned that the battle between Uzushio and Kiri had been mutually destructive.

Uzushio had taken advantage of Kiri's carelessness, they had also launched a surprise attack on the Kiri camp while it was unprepared, wiping out the remaining Kiri ninjas.

Uzushio had gone all in.

They had thrown nearly everything they had into the battle, and the price was steep, nearly half their forces were lost or wounded.

The weaker Uzushio seemed, the more benefits the other villages believed they could reap. Their eagerness grew, and naturally, they became even less inclined to cooperate with each other.

Some of the major villages even hoped other villages would repeat Kiri's mistake, fight Uzushio in a bloody, mutual destruction, so they could swoop in afterward and claim the spoils.

Although Uzushio publicly claimed a great and near-effortless victory over Kiri, wiping out the entire enemy force with almost no casualties, they used this supposed success as leverage, urging the other major ninja villages to withdraw before they suffered the same fate, warning them not to follow in Kiri's footsteps. But the more they boasted, the less the three great villages believed it.

The leadership of the major villages were all shrewd and seasoned, they only trusted the intelligence provided by their own spies, never the enemy's propaganda.

If you truly won a great victory, why did you clean the battlefield so thoroughly? Why even stage a fake battle scene, unless you were trying to deceive us?

And if your victory came at no cost, why did our spies report that you were secretly burning large numbers of your own fallen?

Thinking they could scare us off with a few empty words? Keep dreaming.

In truth, it was greed that blinded them.

If the major villages had been patient enough to gather more intelligence and observe for a while longer, they might not have fallen for the deception. But all they thought about was how to take this prize as fast as possible, while making sure no other village beat them to it.

Even if someone tried to speak calmly or suggest caution, they would immediately be seen as having ulterior motives.

Coupled with their deep-rooted underestimation of Uzushio, this led to the current situation. At the same time their war council concluded, Uzushio welcomed a visitor.

The guest came from Konoha.

His name was Danzō.

Uzushio had declared publicly that they achieved a decisive victory against Kiri with almost no loss. But not only did the three great villages not believe it, Konoha didn't either.

As a former ally, Konoha knew Uzushio's capabilities better than anyone. They believed that if Uzushio had truly mobilized all its forces, it might indeed be able to take down Kiri's 1,500-strong ninja army.

But there was no way it came without a price.

In fact, Konoha's leadership was convinced that Uzushio was trying to scare off the other villages with exaggerated claims of a major victory. But the more they tried to bluff, the more desperate it seemed.

And so Danzō appeared.

"What did you just say?" Yuuichi, who had returned to Uzushio, thought he must have misheard.

"Was I not clear enough?" Danzō replied with some irritation, but restrained himself. "The Land of Whirlpools is already in grave danger. However, since Konoha and Uzushio are allies, we won't stand by and watch you perish. That's why Konoha is willing to send forces to help evacuate all innocent civilians, so you can fight without worrying about them. n fact, during this process, we'll also begin relocating the younger generation of your talented ninjas, preserving the foundation of Uzushio."