"Lord Fifth Hokage, then… should we still bother responding to Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Otogakure?"
After a long silence, Tsunade finally asked.
"Exactly."
Jiraiya frowned.
"With Madara backing them from behind the scenes, Ōnoki, A, and Orochimaru seem unusually confident."
"The shinobi world is already restless," Fugaku Uchiha added in a deep voice. "Every major force is waiting to see how Konoha will respond."
"I see."
Uchiha Ren gave a faint, disdainful smile.
"Then we'll simply destroy Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Otogakure."
"First, we unify the shinobi world."
Since he could not end everything in one stroke yet, he would start by wiping out Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Otogakure.
After unifying the shinobi world, he could deal with the Ōtsutsuki main family, the hidden Hagoromo and Hamura, and even Kaguya, who had yet to be revived.
"Good!"
"With Lord Fifth Hokage saying that, everything is settled."
"This time, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Otogakure must pay the price."
Tsunade, Jiraiya, Konan, the Queen of Loulan, Shibuki, Hiashi Hyūga, Fugaku Uchiha, Shikaku Nara, and the others all nodded confidently.
The reason they had gathered here was simple.
They wanted the Fifth Hokage's stance.
His stance toward the three villages.
His stance toward unifying the shinobi world.
Now that Ren had agreed, there was nothing left to hesitate over.
They would face Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Otogakure head-on in the Fourth Great Ninja War.
"Oh, right…"
Ren suddenly seemed to remember something and looked at Hiashi.
"How are Hinata and Hanabi?"
"Lord Fifth Hokage, they are doing very well."
The moment his daughters were mentioned, Hiashi's expression softened.
"Ever since you saved Hinata last time, she has become much more open. She has also been training harder than ever."
"Good."
Ren stretched lazily.
"Since the Fourth Great Ninja War is about to begin, I'll evolve Hinata and Hanabi's Byakugan into Tenseigan first."
"That way, they can experience the power of the Tenseigan in advance."
"Truly?"
Bang!
Hiashi shot up from his chair in excitement.
Tenseigan?
The Fifth Hokage was going to awaken the Tenseigan for Hinata and Hanabi?
Wasn't this happiness arriving far too suddenly?
After learning that Hinata had once been abducted by the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon, Hiashi had put great effort into searching through ancient records.
Only then had he discovered that the Hyūga Clan on Earth was a branch of the Ōtsutsuki clan from the moon.
More importantly—
he had learned that the Byakugan could evolve into the Tenseigan.
As for what the Tenseigan represented, there was no need to say more.
"Lord Fifth Hokage," Fugaku asked curiously, "is the Tenseigan comparable to the Rinnegan?"
"Of course."
Before Ren could answer, Hiashi spoke proudly.
"The Tenseigan is an ultimate dōjutsu awakened by combining Ōtsutsuki chakra with the Hyūga Clan's Byakugan. It possesses the power of destruction and creation."
"Hiss…"
A series of sharp breaths filled the office.
Tsunade, Jiraiya, Konan, the Queen of Loulan, Shibuki, Fugaku, Shikaku, and the others were all visibly shocked.
If the Tenseigan was truly that powerful, then the Hyūga Clan was about to gain two more top-tier combatants.
Among them, Fugaku's feelings were the most complicated.
He felt a little envious of the Hyūga Clan's treatment.
But then he remembered Ren's clear favor toward Hinata and Hanabi, and quickly accepted it.
Lord Fifth Hokage wanted to awaken supreme eyes for the Hyūga sisters.
Who had the right to complain?
"Enough. That's settled."
Ren stretched again and said calmly,
"You all go and deal with Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Otogakure first."
"Understood."
"We know what you mean."
"Haha, then we'll take the lead."
Tsunade, Jiraiya, Konan, the Queen of Loulan, Shibuki, Hiashi, Fugaku, Shikaku, and the others nodded one after another.
There was nothing more to say.
The curtain was about to rise on the Fourth Great Ninja War.
That afternoon—
facing the provocation from Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Otogakure, Konoha issued a direct statement.
Life and death are irrelevant.
If you refuse to submit, then fight.
Boom!
The declaration shook the entire shinobi world.
Everyone knew Konoha would not shrink back.
But no one expected Konoha's response to be this blunt, this arrogant, and this domineering.
For many civilians and shinobi, just hearing it made their blood heat.
As a result, the situation became perfectly clear.
On one side stood Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Otogakure.
On the other stood Kirigakure, Sunagakure, Amegakure, Takigakure, and Konoha's allied forces.
A war that would engulf the entire shinobi world—
was about to begin.
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