Chapter 286: War Mobilization Order
Menma’s shocking statement about “unifying the Ninja World” stirred up massive waves in Tsunade’s heart.
She stood in place, her chest heaving violently, her mind a chaotic mess.
That simple yet incredibly heavy concept, “one country,” repeatedly assaulted the ingrained beliefs she had held for decades.
“No… that’s not right!” Tsunade shook her head fiercely, her golden hair swaying with the motion, trying to shake off those thoughts disrupting her mind.
She struggled to organize her words, wanting to refute Menma: “Using war to destroy other countries and forcibly unify them will only bring more pain! Countless families will be shattered, children will lose their parents, ninjas will die in vain… That’s not peace at all; that’s hegemony built on piles of corpses!”
She grew more agitated, as if she had found a pillar of belief, her voice rising considerably: “My grandfather, Hashirama Senju, ended the Warring States Period not through destruction and conquest! He used his own magnanimity and power to subdue the strongest opponent of the time, Madara Uchiha! It was the Senju and Uchiha clans who set aside their thousand-year blood feud and jointly founded Konohagakure! Other ninja clans saw hope and joined one after another! This is a kind of… a peace based on understanding and reconciliation!”
Speaking of how her grandfather subdued Madara Uchiha, Tsunade’s eyes regained their firmness, as if this had become her most powerful argument against Menma.
She took a step forward, staring intently at Menma:
“Do you know? In those years when the Senju and Uchiha were generational enemies, how many of my grandfather’s brothers died at the hands of the Uchiha Clan? Madara Uchiha, how many of his brothers and clan members died at the hands of the Senju Clan? Just their respective adult brothers were all killed or wounded! That bone-deep hatred was far heavier than you can imagine!”
“But in the end, they still let it go! They chose to jointly establish Konoha, giving the next generation a future where children no longer had to go to the battlefield as youngsters! Isn’t this peace of letting go of hatred and joining hands to create together far more precious and enduring than simply relying on force to start wars and forcibly crush everything?!”
Her words carried a pride and firm belief in her grandfather’s great achievements.
However, facing her impassioned speech, Menma was not only unmoved but even let out a soft laugh.
“Letting go of hatred?” Menma shook his head: “Tsunade, have you ever thought about why Madara Uchiha ultimately ‘willingly’ let go of his hatred with Hashirama Senju?”
“Because…” Tsunade instinctively wanted to answer, but was interrupted by Menma.
“Because Madara couldn’t beat him.” Menma’s tone was as flat as stating the simplest fact.
Tsunade was stunned; this blunt, almost cruel answer left her speechless for a moment.
Menma gave her no time to think and continued in his tone as if he knew everything: “From what I know, after Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha each became clan head, the two clans still waged long years of extremely brutal wars. Of Hashirama Senju’s four brothers, in the end, only his second brother, Tobirama Senju, survived until after the village was founded.”
“His third brother, Hashirama Senju’s third brother, only seven years old, died during a mission in a joint ambush by the Uchiha Clan and Hagoromo Clan. His fourth brother, Hashirama Senju’s fourth brother, also young, was surrounded and killed by ninjas of the Uchiha Clan.”
Tsunade looked at Menma in shock, her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief.
These detailed past events about her grandfather’s brothers—some she had only vaguely heard about and didn’t know clearly herself!
How could this boy who looked only fifteen or sixteen know the secrets of the Senju Clan from decades ago so thoroughly?!
Menma ignored her shock and continued in his calm, unwavering tone: “On Madara Uchiha’s side, the situation was similar. Most of his close brothers died at the hands of Senju Clan ninjas, even his most beloved and last remaining family, Izumi Uchiha, was severely wounded in front of him by Tobirama Senju’s Flying Thunder God Technique and ultimately died from her injuries. Tsunade, do you really think Madara Uchiha didn’t want revenge? Didn’t want to kill Tobirama Senju with his own hands to avenge Izumi?”
He leaned forward slightly: “No, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to; it was that he couldn’t. He couldn’t defeat Hashirama Senju, let alone be confident in killing Tobirama Senju, who was protected by Hashirama Senju. Madara Uchiha was never convinced by Hashirama Senju’s ideals and words. He was forcibly… beaten into submission by Hashirama Senju’s absolute strength that towered over him.”
“Beaten into submission…” Tsunade subconsciously repeated those three words.
This perspective was too realistic; she tried to find words to refute it but found her thoughts in chaos.
At that moment, Menma suddenly raised his head, his gaze sweeping toward the outskirts of the Sand City ruins.
He sensed several familiar chakra signatures approaching rapidly.
“The debate ends here, Tsunade.” Menma stood up and brushed non-existent sand from his miko robe.
He looked down at the dazed Tsunade, his voice returning to its previous indifference and authority.
“My strength is enough to sweep the entire current Ninja World. The path I’m taking now is just the one Hashirama Senju didn’t take back then.” His words carried an oppressive sense of overlooking the world.
“I will use absolute power to make the so-called Five Great Nations and Five Great Shinobi Villages history. This is my ‘ninja way,’ my ‘hegemony’!”
He paused, looking at Tsunade, his tone carrying a hint of almost pitying admonition: “Instead of wasting words here trying to convince me, you should think it over properly, then go back and convince Konoha. Make Konoha, like Madara Uchiha back then, face reality and choose submission. Perhaps, it can still exchange for a relatively decent future for Konoha, avoiding unnecessary bloodshed and sacrifice.”
“Impossible!” Tsunade shook her head in immediate denial, her face bearing the pride of Konoha’s Sannin: “Konoha will never surrender without a fight! Peace obtained through surrender is the greatest insult to all past Hokage and sacrificed ninjas!”
She stared fixedly at Menma, voicing her greatest doubt: “Also, you… why do you know so much about events from decades ago? Who exactly are you?”
Menma tilted his head slightly, a mysterious arc curving at his lips: “The Ninja World holds no secrets from me.”
He looked at Tsunade, his tone softening slightly: “It’s only because you have a trace of Uzumaki Clan blood flowing in your body that I’m interested in chatting with you about these ideals and paths. If it were that fool Jiraiya, bewitched by the so-called prophecy from the old toads of Mount Myōboku, I wouldn’t have the leisure to ‘talk’ to him about anything.”
“You know Jiraiya?” Tsunade was surprised again.
“Yeah, we met once before.” Menma seemed to recall something amusing, his tone lightly teasing: “He tried to pass off Konoha-produced instant noodles as handmade ramen; his skills were really nothing to praise, and his instant noodles were poorly prepared.”
Thinking of Jiraiya’s sloppy appearance and possible predicament, Tsunade’s tense face involuntarily softened a bit, even subconsciously letting out a very faint chuckle.
But the amusement vanished instantly, and she immediately put on a stern face again.
At that moment, several whooshing sounds rang out!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several figures appeared as silently as ghosts on the surrounding broken walls and ruins.
They uniformly wore the gray-blue standard vests of Star Ninjas, faces covered with animal masks of various shapes, exuding a sharp and cold aura—clearly well-trained elite ninjas.
Tsunade and Shizune immediately went on alert, standing back-to-back, their gazes sharply scanning these uninvited guests.
The leader, an unusually burly ninja wearing a shark mask, moved and was already kneeling on one knee before Menma.
He raised his hand to remove the mask from his face, revealing a face with sharp teeth and slightly bluish skin.
“Anbu First Squad, reporting for support as ordered!” Kisame Hoshigaki’s voice was low and powerful, like grinding sand and stone: “Lord Shura!”
Shizune saw Kisame’s true face and couldn’t help sucking in a cold breath, instinctively hugging the Tonton in her arms tightly.
Tonton also let out an uneasy “oink oink.”
Kisame Hoshigaki’s infamous reputation was well-known in the Ninja World.
After all, he was the S-rank rogue ninja who dared to assassinate the Mizukage and the daimyo of the Land of Water!
Menma nodded slightly.
Even before fighting Rasa and the others, the Land of Stars headquarters had already contacted him via the chakra network built through “Engraved Tsukuyomi,” informing him of the Sand Village operation.
Menma had also issued orders for Kisame Hoshigaki to personally lead the First Squad, totaling three Anbu squads—twelve Anbu elites plus Kisame himself, thirteen elite ninjas in total—to come for rendezvous.
“Rise.” Menma said indifferently: “Mission changed. Take the Anbu immediately to set up defenses on the outer perimeter of the Sea of Death, establish a perimeter line. Without my command, no one is allowed to step foot into this desert by half a step.”
“Yes, Lord!” Kisame Hoshigaki acknowledged in a deep voice, then turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the Anbu waiting behind him, quickly issuing orders: “Squads, disperse into the predetermined defensive formation! Monitor all directions closely! Rookie, stay behind, await orders at any time!”
“Yes!” A younger-looking Anbu member wearing a bird mask stepped forward in response, staying in place.
The other Anbu members swiftly and silently vanished into various directions of the ruins, carrying out surveillance tasks.
Once the others had dispersed, Kisame Hoshigaki turned back to Menma and began reporting important military intelligence.
His voice lowered somewhat: “Lord, according to recent intelligence summaries. An unidentified group of mysterious ninjas has attacked border outposts in the Land of Wind and Land of Earth respectively, deliberately leaving forged evidence pointing to our Land of Stars at the scenes, attempting to frame us.”
Kisame Hoshigaki paused, then continued: “Especially on the Land of Earth front, Rock Village reacted fiercely. They have dispatched elite squads to attack two of our Land of Stars outposts at the border, causing casualties. At the same time, Rock Village has issued a formal diplomatic note to us, claiming this is a ‘military retaliation’ for the previous attack on their border outpost, and demanding we immediately explain the attack and severely punish the culprits.”
Kisame Hoshigaki’s shark-like eyes were exceptionally sharp: “Currently, Anbu Intelligence Division, Lady Uzumaki Kushina’s government intelligence section, and Lord Miyashiro En’s commercial intelligence network have all been fully activated to jointly investigate this matter. Preliminary analysis basically rules out the possibility of Sand Village or Kirigakure staging it internally.”
Menma listened quietly, finding it somewhat interesting.
In the distance, the Ten-Tails’ massive body had shrunk by nearly half compared to before, and the Dark Nine-Tails seemed to be accelerating its chakra absorption speed.
He could even clearly feel a chakra far more vast than before, extremely surging, feeding back into his body through his link with Little Nine.
Even with his Uzumaki Clan’s naturally robust physique, he began to feel a slight pressure, his body faintly aching with swelling pain.
‘Little Nine’s chakra is growing ever more massive… It seems the plan for the Sage Body transplant with Hashirama Cells must be advanced onto the agenda.’ Menma thought to himself.
‘But before that, the situation around the Land of Stars must first be stabilized.’
He looked at Kisame Hoshigaki, his eyes turning cold: “It seems someone doesn’t want to see the Land of Stars develop steadily and is pushing waves from behind the scenes, stirring up chaos.”
“Lady Kushina pointed out in the preliminary analysis report,” Kisame Hoshigaki said, his gaze subtly sweeping over Tsunade and Shizune not far away, the implication clear.
“She believes Konohagakure’s suspicion… is the greatest.”
Menma followed his gaze to the solemn-faced Tsunade.
If the Land of Stars were to sink into a war quagmire with the Land of Earth and Land of Wind simultaneously, who would be the biggest beneficiary?
Undoubtedly, the Land of Fire’s Konoha, watching from across the river, and the distant Cloud Village in the Land of Lightning.
Given Cloud Village’s group of muscle-headed brutes’ style, the possibility of them plotting such a precise framing scheme wasn’t zero, but it wasn’t high.
Thus, Konoha’s suspicion was indeed the greatest.
Compared to others needing to gather intelligence for comprehensive analysis, Menma, familiar with the plot and Ninja World situation, almost reached conclusions from a god’s-eye view.
Menma’s gaze turned again to the distant Tails “feast” nearing its end, the Ten-Tails’ howls now feeble.
After this battle in the Sea of Death, Sand Ninjas had lost nearly twenty elite ninjas, and their One-Tails jinchūriki Gaara had been taken by him.
Full-scale war with Sand Village was, in fact, already unavoidable.
“Send orders back to headquarters.” Menma’s voice carried an air of authority as he began issuing commands: “Have Hikaru, in my name, formally issue the war mobilization order! Assemble the main Star Ninja Army force, strengthen alerts in the border areas with the Land of Earth and Land of Wind, build defensive fortifications, and prepare at any time for possible large-scale attacks from the two countries!”
“At the same time, order Uzumaki Kushina, in her capacity as the Land of Stars’ highest government official, to issue the strongest diplomatic note to Rock Village! Sternly deny all accusations of our side attacking their border outposts, point out this is despicable framing! And clearly inform them that if Rock Village continues to use this as an excuse for unwarranted provocations and military attacks against our Land of Stars…”
A cold glint flashed in Menma’s eyes: “Then, the Land of Stars will regard it as Rock Village’s formal declaration of war against our country! We will devote the full power of the nation to the most resolute, most thorough counterattack!”
“Yes! Lord!” A bloodthirsty excitement flashed in Kisame Hoshigaki’s eyes as he bowed in acknowledgment.
