MSIN: Chapter 167

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Iwagakure's invasion of the Land of Lightning and their subsequent war with Kumogakure can be considered one of the turning points of the Third Shinobi World War. After this war ended, all the countries except the Land of Wind simultaneously stopped major actions, and there were only sporadic battles on Konoha's various fronts.

The Third Shinobi World War fell into a strange state of calm. In fact, all the countries had the same feeling and prediction: the long-term war was about to end. The next stage was the final stage of the war, where victory or defeat would be determined. So, this calm was merely the villages gathering their strength for the final war.

The only exception was Sunagakure. While the other villages were quiet, they attempted to take the initiative during this period when Iwagakure's combat power was weakened. They wanted to completely drive Iwagakure out of the Land of Wind and, after achieving this strategic goal first, force Iwagakure to sign a peace treaty with them, achieving their goal of being the first to withdraw from the Shinobi World War.

As the saying goes, "The first step is the most important." Sunagakure was the first village to be involved in the Shinobi World War. After their war potential was exhausted, they could no longer obtain what they had sought before. "Peace" had become their only requirement.

So, for peace, they had to keep fighting.

But the results were not as ideal as Sunagakure had expected. Their repeated attacks all failed. Iwagakure's combat was still incredibly tough. They couldn't see any sign of a significant loss of troops on the battlefield. The two sides fought back and forth, and Sunagakure didn't gain any advantage. In the end, they didn't break the stalemate of the war.

Sunagakure should have sought coordinated operations with their ally, Konoha. But they didn't. Perhaps they underestimated their own strength and Iwagakure's strength, overestimating their own combat power. Or perhaps these people were simply pursuing the goal of being able to withdraw from the war themselves.

From this perspective, although they didn't suffer any losses in terms of casualties, Sunagakure had failed again.

On Konoha's side, after three months of rest, they had made full preparations for the resumption of war.

And from then on, Konoha would become more proactive. All fronts would completely shift to an offensive posture… Everyone knew that you couldn't quickly win a war by just defending.

At this time, judging from both internal conditions and external environment, the time was ripe for Konoha to attack.

It was like seeing the moon after the clouds had cleared.

Konoha ninjas who had finished resting began to return to the battlefield. Looking at the entire front line and all the combat power, the number of ninjas Konoha had deployed in the war had exceeded 10,000.

Since it was also a "full-scale deployment," Haori couldn't stay in Konoha. In fact, he was already on the front line against the Land of Water, and he had truly become Orochimaru's subordinate for the time being.

He had just arrived on the front line, and he was in his tent, organizing his ninja tools… or rather, reorganizing them.

Because his ninja tools had been prepared by Kushina before he left Konoha, and she had insisted on (forced) doing it thoughtfully (randomly), he had to reorganize them.

Kushina had clearly been undergoing some kind of high-level training lately, including various difficult housework.

The realm she was pursuing could be highly condensed into that word that starts with "wise" and ends with "benevolent."

Just like the fact that she was learning to cook and could also make dishes, but the taste was unpredictable, the ninja tools she had prepared for Haori were indeed diverse and comprehensive. To put it nicely, they were comprehensive and had everything. To put it less nicely, they were a mess.

So, Haori needed to rearrange the things in his ninja tool pouch according to his own habits. He needed to put the necessary things in their places and take out the unnecessary things… Otherwise, what if he wanted to throw a kunai and pulled out a handful of ration pills? Did he expect to summon an army from beans?

He didn't know whether to be relieved or sad about this. Haori had always found it hard to imagine what Kushina would be like if she restrained herself. But now, she was really trying to make this change.

Perhaps it wasn't right to say "trying." It was more like it was happening naturally.

Life is truly a magical thing.

As Haori organized the dangerous items and thought about the wonders of life, someone gently knocked on the pillar outside his tent.

Then, a voice said from outside, "Is Upper-Rank Shinobi Uehaishi there? Orochimaru-sama's battle meeting is about to begin."

"Understood. I'll be right there." Haori quickly responded.

Because of his accomplishment in assassinating the Raikage, and because he had the ability to assassinate the Raikage, and considering his leadership ability in his team during his nearly two years as a Chūnin, Haori had been officially promoted to Jōnin before arriving on the front line.

Haori couldn't refuse the organization's trust and the promotion order. If someone with the strength to kill the Raikage couldn't be promoted to Jōnin, how could anyone else get ahead?

Did he want to stay in first place in B-rank forever and prevent anyone else from becoming an A-rank hero?

Fortunately, a 14-year-old Jōnin, although somewhat eye-catching, wasn't the kind of person who attracted everyone's attention.

After all, he had been doing eye-catching things all along. The kind of inconspicuous state he was seeking had never been realized.

Could the things he had attacked ever truly become low-key?

Haori stuffed the last scroll into his ninja tool pouch, stood up, hung the pouch back on his waist, and then headed towards the meeting place.

Whether in terms of personal relationships or military merit, although Haori was a brand-new Jōnin, he was indeed a very special Jōnin. Therefore, he was qualified to attend certain pre-war meetings with high-ranking officials.

Another point was that after actually studying the Raikage's body, Orochimaru was very interested in the Lightning Release jutsu that could instantly pierce the Raikage's defenses. It was said that this technique had once broken through the One-Tailed Shukaku…

Orochimaru was very interested. But unfortunately, according to Haori, that powerful jutsu required a buildup of chakra, so it had a long cooldown period. And even after it cooled down, it had to be used in crucial situations. So, it was impossible to perform it for Orochimaru.

When Haori arrived at the meeting place, he found that many people had already gathered there.

At a glance, he saw many famous ninjas under Orochimaru's command, such as members of the Uchiha clan and the Hyūga clan.

This was easy to understand. Before Orochimaru earned the title of Sannin, he was already a super-famous genius ninja in Konoha. Perhaps only this kind of ninja could subdue those arrogant bloodline ninjas who often claimed to be "Konoha's best."

And as Orochimaru's subordinates, the ninjas with special abilities needed to be more careful. Otherwise, they might be sliced up by him at any time…

Did the Uchiha and Hyūga present have any missing parts? Haori thought maliciously.

This was really just him overthinking. From beginning to end, Orochimaru had limited interest in the Byakugan of the Hyūga clan. As for the Uchiha and the Sharingan, he wouldn't start to be truly interested until a few years later when he encountered a five-year-old boy. As for being obsessed with the Sharingan, that would have to wait until he saw the boy's Mangekyō Sharingan.

So, up to this point, Orochimaru was still relatively restrained. Overall, he was still fighting for Konoha. As for when his thinking changed, that was unknown.

After all, Orochimaru's clever little brain had some complicated thoughts that were intertwined. Who could understand them?

It was probably when everyone had arrived that Orochimaru appeared.

"Next, we will launch a proactive attack on the Land of Water…"

Orochimaru's hoarse voice, like that of Otoshi, rang out. His words were straightforward and to the point.

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