Naruto: Pay-to-Win Ninja System

The string of shocking events indeed forced Konoha to make significant changes.

That very noon,

Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, personally appeared and delivered a series of important speeches while offering compensation to all protesting civilians.

This finally quelled the people's anger, dispersing the crowds gathered in front of the Hokage Tower and sending them back home.

At the same time, early the next morning,

Konoha's Administrative Department, together with the Hokage's Office, released a new announcement providing a detailed explanation regarding the orphanage explosion incident.

The actual mastermind behind it—the Deputy Leader of Root—was severely punished.

Additionally, Danzo, the Hokage's Advisor who had failed to properly supervise his subordinates, resigned in disgrace and was placed under house arrest.

Furthermore, the reconstruction plan for the New Orphanage was quickly approved, with permission granted for all villagers to jointly monitor the process, ensuring such an incident would never happen again.

Of course, anyone with half a brain could tell that the so-called "Deputy Commander" taking the fall for Root was just a scapegoat.

After all, even Danzo himself—the so-called 'Scapegoat Kage'—couldn't possibly bear the weight of this blame!

Whoever took the fall would surely die!

However, throughout the entire process,

The protesting citizens received compensation, and the orphanage got rebuilt;

The influential ninja clans enjoyed watching Root take a hit, using the opportunity to suppress the upper echelons a bit;

Konoha's leadership managed to calm the public outcry by showing they were on top of things—and won a bit of favor in the process.

Everyone got what they wanted.

So no one was particularly eager to dig further into who the real mastermind behind the scenes was—or what punishment they actually received...

Of course, starting that very day,

Compared to the common villagers, the middle and upper levels of Konoha began working frantically.

The Hokage's Office began issuing one political decree after another:

Distributing death benefits to fallen ninjas, raising war preparedness funds, preparing logistical supplies, recalling ninja on external missions, and re-establishing outer village guard posts, among others.

The entire village of Konoha transformed into a vast war machine now beginning to operate at full capacity.

In truth, these hidden villages were originally nothing more than war instruments for great nations.

It was only through generations of ninja devoting themselves to building and shaping these places that they slowly came to look like real villages...

Especially concerning external defenses,

Sarutobi deployed nearly over half of the remaining Anbu forces he still controlled outside the village.

They established successive layers of early warning defenses around Konoha.

In short, there was absolutely no way they could let something like last night's disaster happen again!

An enemy carrying a Tailed Beast had already charged straight to their doorstep without being detected in time.

If such a mistake happened once more, then that Tailed Beast Ball might land right inside the village itself...

Therefore, similar negligence must be corrected immediately! Defensive measures must be reinforced drastically!

Soon after, with all decrees issued and Konoha now fully mobilized,

Sarutobi quickly set aside his administrative duties.

Accompanied only by two bodyguards, he secretly left the village directly,

Heading toward Sunagakure Village in the Land of Wind...

Declaring war against Iwagakure was already a policy decision he had firmly made—it had to happen.

Yet Sarutobi wasn't so impulsive as to rush blindly into conflict without caution.

After all, during the previous Great Ninja World Wars…

It was often the case that foreign villages suddenly launched attacks, forcing Konoha to scramble in defense with heavy losses.

This time, in order to secure victory and avoid dragging the village into a prolonged war,

Sarutobi naturally needed to prepare carefully.

And forming alliances was one of the key strategies.

After all, once war broke out,

allies could still be useful, whether they held an advantage or disadvantage.

Even if they couldn't necessarily send troops for assistance, just having allies would help intimidate others! Boosting morale a bit!

Take the newly founded Homura Hidden Village as an example—it managed to form an alliance with Kirigakure.

Now it had instantly become well-known across the entire Ninja World.

It even got to the point where no one dared to mess with Homura Hidden Village directly anymore...

If this time Konoha could ally with Sunagakure,

at least when striking against Iwagakure next, there wouldn't be too many worries from behind.

Of course, the reason they didn't choose Kumogakure as their ally

was twofold:

First: because Kumogakure lay farther away, making coordination inconvenient.

Second: back then, Kinkaku and Ginkaku—traitors from Kumo—had killed Tobirama, The Second Hokage, whom Sarutobi deeply respected.

Therefore, both emotionally and rationally,

Sarutobi was unwilling to form an alliance with Kumogakure.

However,

considering the deep-rooted hatred between Konoha and Elder Chiyo of Suna over her son's death,

this diplomatic mission wouldn't be easy at all.

Luckily,

the current leader of Sunagakure was the Fourth Kazekage instead of Chiyo. 

So there was still hope.

...

The theft from the Backup Vault, the deaths of high-ranking advisors, Tailed Beast attacks outside the village...

All these major incidents had been cleverly concealed under Konoha's tight information blockade.

Although rumors and whispers did circulate, most villagers and regular ninja remained unaware of the truth.

Still, with such critical intelligence circulating and the increasing tension in the village over the past two days,

hiding everything from influential ninja clans was nearly impossible.

The most notable ones—the Hyūga Clan, Ino–Shika–Cho Trio, Aburame Clan, Inuzuka Clan,

and the marginalized Uchiha Clan… and others—

had already clearly sensed the scent of impending large-scale conflict.

Each of them had already started making quiet but serious preparations.

These powerful ninja clans that had survived continuously since the Warring Clans Era were never simple by any means.

Of course, the decline of ancient great clans like the Senju and Uchiha came about through complex combinations of various factors and coincidences.

At the same time,

within the estate of the Uchiha Clan Compound,

Fugaku Uchiha was privately discussing matters with Uchiha Hachidai.

"Eight, was that attack from two nights ago involving the Tailed Beast done by Shimoku's boy?"

"Report, Great Clan Leader—I don't know..."

"You don't know either?"

"Yes. Young Master Shimoku revealed nothing to me regarding those events. He only asked me to deliver that message to you."

Hachidai shook his head honestly while answering.

Fugaku nodded and stopped probing further.

He gave a bitter chuckle:

"That kid is indeed cautious enough!"

"Man, this time he really made one hell of a mess!"

"A Tailed Beast actually appeared... Which major Hidden Village got dragged into this?!"

"It seems like the whole village is panicking now."

"Very soon, I'm afraid another war is coming."

As for going to war, Fugaku, Hachidai—or rather, all Uchiha clansmen—felt no fear whatsoever.

After all, compared with being watched, discriminated against, and treated as enemies within the village...

They would much rather lay down their blood and sweat on the battlefield.

At the very least, even if they died in battle, they could still earn honor.

It's far better than being secretly executed by Konoha.

Moreover, it was precisely because of orders from the upper echelons that their clan wasn't allowed to participate in the battle during the Night of the Nine-Tails, which led the villagers to treat them with hostility.

"If war really breaks out, Great Clan Leader... what about us?"

Hachidai asked softly.

To be honest, most of the clansmen had long lost any affection for Konoha.

Therefore, he truly didn't want to fight for Konoha anymore.

Fugaku slightly furrowed his eyebrows, hesitating slightly.

Frankly speaking, after that night,

Having witnessed the cruelty and coldness of Konoha's higher-ups toward the Uchiha Clan, he too had lost the last bit of fondness for the village.

Otherwise, this time—

He wouldn't have cooperated with Shimoku's actions and dispatched those five "decoy" clansmen.

However, just as Fugaku was preparing to make a firm decision to agree—never again offering any support to Konoha—

Knock knock knock!

The sound of knocking interrupted his thoughts.

It was none other than Itachi—Konoha's paragon of filial piety—pushing the door open and stepping inside.

Seeing this, Hachidai immediately closed his mouth and offered Itachi a particularly "warm" smile.

After all, without this "loyal son's little report,

Their previous operation wouldn't have succeeded at all.

Not to mention wiping out the Root elites in one go and shattering their entire network.

Such a 'great contributor' naturally deserves praise!

"It's Itachi! What's the matter?"

Fugaku asked with a stern expression, maintaining his usual 'ferocious' demeanor.

Itachi took several steps forward, casting a brief glance at Hachidai, seemingly having already forgotten about his "great contribution."

He stepped forward and handed Fugaku a sealed scroll without a word.

"Father, this is the sealed order issued to you by the Hokage!"

"Oh? So it finally arrived..."

Fugaku took the scroll, narrowed his eyes, and let out a knowing sigh.

Without even opening it, he could already guess roughly what this secret order contained.

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