Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 36 Bloodless Victory! Onoki's Wrath

Looking at the young master of Iwagakure who was still in the position of emerging from the ground, with a stiff smile on his face, like a comical statue, Uchiha Kagami felt no ripples in his heart.

He walked slowly forward, each step landing firmly on solid ground, a stark contrast to the immobile loess in the mud.

The Konoha ninjas around them had completely relaxed.

Some have even started cleaning up the battlefield—if you can even call this a battlefield.

They used Earth Release to fill the mud pit back up, and then used ropes to tie up the Iwagakure elites who had been dragged out like chicks by Akimichi Torifu.

The whole process was quiet, efficient, and even had a somewhat eerie harmony.

Uchiha Kagami's face still held that gentle expression.

He slowly walked up to the loess soil and looked down at it.

"How did you know?"

Uchiha Kagami smiled, a smile that, in Huang Tu's eyes, was full of mockery.

"Because this is Konoha's defense line."

...Yes, this is Konoha's defense line, a battlefield personally set up by the man known as the Ninja Professor.

They thought they had found the opponent's blind spot, but little did they know that their every move was on the opponent's chessboard from the very beginning.

"What...what exactly did you do?"

Huang Tu asked unwillingly, unable to understand how his secret technique could be detected at a depth of 100 meters underground.

Nara Shika, who was standing to the side, lazily walked over, picked at his ear, and explained in a troublesome tone, "I didn't do anything. I just used Earth Release to mix super-strong clay, a specialty of our Nara family's back mountain, with the groundhogs in the areas that the Hokage had marked out as most likely to come out of their burrows. Then I had the Tadashi family's sensory ninjas set up a few miniature chakra beacons underground."

He shrugged, looking helpless: "You guys were very cooperative, coming out of the A pit that we prepared the best. To be honest, we had several plans. If you had come out of the B or C pit, we would have had to change the process, which would have been too much trouble."

"puff--"

Huang Tu could no longer hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood.

He wasn't injured by beatings, he was literally angered to death.

What is meant by "pit A"? What does it mean to "change the process"?

Their surprise attack, which risked the honor of Iwagakure, was seen by the enemy as merely a multiple-choice question? And they even precisely chose the option the enemy most wanted them to choose!

"Confiscate all their weapons and ninja tools."

Uchiha Kagami waved his hand and gave the order.

The Konoha ninjas immediately stepped forward and swiftly collected all of Huang Tu and the others' ninja tool bags, even taking the spare kunai they had hidden in their boots.

"Are you going to kill us?" a young Iwagakure ninja asked in despair.

"Kill you?"

Akimichi Torifu stuffed another rice ball into his mouth and said in a muffled voice, "Killing you would be a waste of energy; we'd have to dig a hole and bury you."

Nara Shika glared at him.

Upon hearing this, Huang Tu's face turned ashen.

He knew that this time, he had not only suffered a defeat, but had also become a disgrace to Iwagakure.

"Oh, right, antlers."

Uchiha Kagami turned to look at Nara Shikanobu, "Does the Hokage have any further hints?"

Nara Shikanobu pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through it: "Hmm... the Hokage said that old man Onoki has a fiery temper and a strong sense of pride. Having his son returned unharmed like this is more painful for him than being killed. He probably won't be in the mood for any more trouble for a while. He just wants us to behave ourselves and keep an eye on things."

"The Hokage's wisdom is truly unfathomable," Uchiha Kagami exclaimed sincerely.

"Let them go."

Uchiha Kagami walked up to Huang Tu, looked him straight in the eye, and said, word by word, "Go back and tell Onoki that with the Uchiha here, any small actions by Iwagakure are meaningless. Konoha doesn't want to escalate the war, but if Iwagakure insists on fighting, we'll fight to the bitter end."

"Now, take your men and get out."

After saying that, Nara Shikaku sighed helplessly and released the Shadow Imitation Technique.

With the feeling of being restrained gone, Huang Tu and his team regained their freedom. They looked at each other, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

They came to launch a surprise attack, but were captured alive. They thought they were going to die, but then the enemy released them.

This feeling is even more unbearable than killing them outright.

Huang Tu gave Uchiha Kagami a deep look, then glanced at the various Konoha ninjas around him. He said nothing, but silently bowed deeply to Uchiha Kagami.

Huang Tu and his twenty equally dejected subordinates, like defeated roosters, scurried back into the cave they had come from, looking utterly pathetic under the watchful eyes of hundreds of Konoha ninjas.

Watching their disappearing figures, Akimichi Torifu clicked his tongue regretfully: "Sigh, my trenches..."

Nara Shikaku sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Lord Kagami, your move is even more ruthless than killing them. This time, Huangtu will probably be traumatized for life."

Uchiha Kagami did not answer, but simply looked up and gazed in the direction of Konoha.

He knew that behind this seemingly benevolent decision lay a deeper strategic consideration by the Hokage.

Slaughter only breeds hatred.

Only by winning hearts and minds can we achieve true peace.

……

Iwagakure Village, Tsuchikage's Office.

When Onoki saw his son return in a disheveled state and give a detailed account of what had happened, his short frame was so angry that he jumped up and down in anger.

"Bang!"

This time, instead of slamming his fist on the table, he punched a huge decorative rock next to him, blasting it into dust.

"This is outrageous!!!"

Onoki's roar nearly ripped the roof off the entire Tsuchikage Building.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi! Kagami Uchiha! You are humiliating me! You are humiliating the entire Hidden Stone Village!"

He was so angry that he was trembling all over.

He can accept failure.

In the ninja world, victory and defeat are common occurrences in war.

However, he had never experienced such humiliation in his life: being stripped naked, rubbed on the ground, and then patted on the butt and told "you can leave now"!

"Father..." Huang Tu lowered his head, his voice hoarse, "It's my fault, I underestimated the enemy."

"This isn't your fault!"

Onoki interrupted him, furious but not yet irrational, "It's that Hiruzen Sarutobi! He's too cunning! He's not fighting at all, he's toying with us!"

He finally understands.

The so-called "wall of illusions" in Konoha was not a simple reconnaissance defense line at all.

It is a massive information black hole that sucks in all of Iwagakure's actions and then transforms them into intelligence that is most beneficial to them.

As long as this wall stands, any surprise attack or tactic will become a joke.

Their Hidden Stone Village was forced to transform from the aggressor to the defender. They weren't even given the chance to be attacked.

"Pass on my orders!"

Onoki took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his anger. "All troops along the border of the Land of Earth, cease all offensive operations and switch to full defense! No one is allowed to attack without my order!"

He knew that the more they did before figuring out a way to break through the illusionary wall, the more mistakes they would make, and the more devastating their defeat would be.

From today onwards, Iwagakure can only choose to stand by and watch on the front lines of the Land of Earth.

Meanwhile, on the other front, Hiruzen Sarutobi, upon receiving the report of victory from Kagami Uchiha, merely smiled slightly, as if everything was within his expectations.

On the map of the garrison camp, the chess piece representing Iwagakure was gently pushed back one space.

Then, his gaze slowly moved upwards, finally landing on the northernmost part of the map.

"The earth and wind have both calmed down, and the rain has also stopped."

Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up his teacup, gently blew on the steam, and his eyes became deep.

"Then, it's just you left, Third Raikage."