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Jiraiya, seething with anger, glared at Orochimaru, mentally cursing his entire family up and down without hesitation.
"Onoki truly is the same as he was back then…"
Ignoring Jiraiya's silent grumbling, the Third Hokage, with a sage-like calm, muttered to himself. The contempt and disdain in his voice were audible to everyone, implying that Onoki hadn't changed at all and still loved to play schemes and tricks.
With the two nuclear weapons, Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju, dead, the First Great Ninja War suddenly erupted. Iwagakure was the first to stand opposite Konoha, blowing the horn of attack.
After all, Uchiha Madara had once overwhelmingly crushed the Second Tsuchikage Mū and Onoki, so Iwagakure's animosity towards Konoha was only natural.
"Counterattack! Immediately counterattack! We have everything Iwagakure has, and even more powerful! How preposterous! After all these years, have people forgotten that the Nine-Tails belongs to Konoha?!"
Danzo Shimura was the first to roar. During the era of Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju, the so-called Five Great Ninja Nations, the other four nations were as obedient as dogs before Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju. Now, these obedient dogs occasionally came to slap Konoha's face. For the extreme Danzo Shimura, it was more painful than killing him.
"Don't be so anxious, Danzo."
His brows slightly furrowed, the Third Hokage, accustomed to Danzo's mad dog-like killer intent, calmly advised him. Clearly, the Third Hokage was used to such scenes.
"Hmph, Hiruzen, Konoha will eventually be ruined by your hands."
Danzo snorted, gazing grimly at the Third Hokage. He cleanly turned his head, his aged face cold, not accepting the Third Hokage's good intentions. For him, an extremist and radical, the Third Hokage's strategy was a treaty of defeat… It made him nauseous.
Seeing Danzo like this, the Third Hokage merely smiled indifferently. He had worked with Danzo for decades and naturally knew his disposition.
When it came to who was most loyal to Konoha, Danzo Shimura was even more so than himself. The only drawback was that this extreme loyalty was too dark and unacceptable to others.
"It's certainly lively here."
A lighthearted voice rang out. Wuchen appeared like a phantom in the explosive atmosphere of the Hokage's office, a faint smile on his lips. He curiously observed Danzo's utterly dark face, inwardly sighing with emotion. If Danzo had lived in Wuchen's previous world, he would definitely be the biggest leader of the reactionaries!
"Is there anything wrong with what I said?!"
Uncomfortable under Wuchen's gaze, which seemed to view him as a superhuman, Danzo Shimura immediately stood up and angrily questioned Wuchen, his face flushed.
"Not at all. You have good ideas, and you're very loyal to Konoha."
Perhaps, as the Third Hokage thought, Danzo Shimura was the most loyal to Konoha, which was why he had been able to tolerate Danzo's continuous challenges to his bottom line all these years.
Danzo Shimura cast a cold glance at Wuchen, then sat back down. He didn't want to engage Wuchen in a fight; at this chaotic time, Konoha truly needed a peerless genius like Wuchen to serve and rampage.
Overall, Danzo Shimura still possessed a good sense of the bigger picture.
"Wuchen, sit."
Seeing Wuchen present, the Third Hokage pointed to the only remaining seat, inviting Wuchen to sit. His tone was quite polite, clearly placing Wuchen at the same level as himself.
Wuchen nodded, calmly taking his seat.
"Iwagakure's Onoki is advancing unstoppably, his offensive even more ferocious than Sand Village's was. Especially with the jinchuriki and the mercenary organization's assistance, Konoha is in peril."
The Third Hokage said with immense solemnity, his voice noticeably rising when he mentioned the mercenary organization. Clearly, he was also very wary of the special existence of "Akatsuki."
Hearing this, Wuchen's brows slightly raised. He hadn't expected that while Uchiha Obito was still running around lively in Konoha, having bromance every day, the Akatsuki organization was already so active in the ninja world.
"This organization, composed entirely of rogue ninja, is extremely mysterious. Their specific intentions are unknown, and the strength of their leader is even more of a mystery." The speaker was Danzo, his tone clearly more anxious than the Third Hokage's.
"This old man is truly cunning."
Wuchen secretly sighed, acknowledging Danzo's cleverness. The rise and fall of the Akatsuki organization were all related to Danzo Shimura. In fact, during the Second Great Ninja War, Danzo Shimura had secretly colluded with Hanzo of the Salamander, the "Demigod" of Amegakure, inducing him to attack the Akatsuki organization. Who knew that Akatsuki would eventually defeat Hanzo instead?
Even if a demigod was not a god, their strength must be Kage-level. The leader of the Akatsuki organization could actually kill him, so their strength was self-evident.
Danzo Shimura was simply using the Third Hokage's words to clearly explain the terror of Akatsuki, while also distancing himself from them. After all, being associated with an organization composed entirely of rogue ninja was no joke.
"This organization is currently intervening in wars by means of employment…" Orochimaru added, implying that Akatsuki's purpose was money.
"For money?"
Orochimaru's words stunned everyone. They all looked at Orochimaru with puzzled expressions, full of doubt. Would people of such exceptional strength participate in wars simply for money?
Orochimaru shrugged. It was indeed true.
"Collecting money is only part of their plan."
Wuchen secretly thought to himself that perhaps only he in the current world knew Akatsuki's true purpose: first, to collect a large amount of money to prepare for the future and prevent unforeseen events; second, to establish a ninja mercenary organization that belonged to no country, instigating small wars, monopolizing war commissions from small countries at low prices, escalating the scale of wars, then disrupting the ninja systems of major nations, and destroying their economic structures.
The final step was to conquer the world.
Unfortunately, Uzumaki Nagato didn't know; he was merely an insignificant pawn in a worldwide conspiracy…