"Hokage-sama, please reconsider!"
"Yes, Hokage-sama, please think twice. You absolutely can't be the one to start a war!"
"Under the Third Hokage-sama's leadership, Konoha was stable. Even during the Second Shinobi World War, we were the backbone of the alliance, and we maintained decent relations with the other four great villages. Why would the Fourth Hokage-sama ignite a mainland war the moment you take office?"
Kazu was genuinely puzzled. Konoha was this strong—what was there to be afraid of?
That's when he realized something: among Konoha's leadership, the "main faction" was the mainstream—cautious, conservative, obsessed with stability.
Even Sakumo—humble as he was—said quietly, "Hokage-sama, we can't fight. The other four great villages will siege us."
Kazu rolled his eyes. White Fang… you really don't know how to read the room. I'm trying to help you.
He cleared his throat.
"Enough with the 'peaceful' talk."
"Over the years, there've been over a hundred clashes between villages."
"Konoha's jōnin have died too. Three years ago, Kato—an elite jōnin—was killed in a surprise attack."
"You call it 'ten years of peace,' but in reality, there hasn't been real peace at all."
"And not long ago Kumogakure tried to kidnap our Nine-Tails jinchūriki candidate—Uzumaki Kushina. What do you call that, if not an act of war?"
"Our Konoha—the Number One Shinobi Village—why are you all so timid?"
"When someone steps on your head, do you just bow and smile?"
One of the officials who'd argued the hardest earlier spoke up quickly.
"Hokage-sama, that's not what we mean. We're not saying we won't resist—we're saying there's no need to sacrifice genin and chūnin."
"Every war, the biggest casualties are the low- and mid-rank shinobi. Look how many war orphans Konoha has. Those are the children war leaves behind. We don't want that again."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. If we strike first, we'll be surrounded by the four villages and dragged into a quagmire."
"This is our lesson—our experience."
Kazu looked at them with a calm smile.
"So you're lecturing me now?"
"We wouldn't dare, Hokage-sama. But war can't be decided recklessly. Even if you truly intend to fight, you must think it through and make sure nothing goes wrong—"
Kazu cut him off.
"Trying to make sure nothing goes wrong is a coward's mindset."
"Nothing is foolproof."
"Minato."
Minato answered immediately, "Yes!"
"The eighteen in ANBU are here, right?"
"Yes!"
Kazu looked around the room.
"Everyone here—stay in this building for the next day."
"Hokage-sama, what do you mean?!"
Panic flickered across faces.
"It's simple."
"What we discuss today is critical. Within twenty-four hours…"
"…we take Sunagakure."
"So please rest here and wait for good news."
The room erupted in shock.
Take down Sunagakure in one day?!
How was that even possible?
"The agents we had in the Sand for thirty years already drew us a complete map of Sunagakure," Kazu continued coolly. "Their layout is clear."
"Breaking into their village is not hard."
"You're all too afraid of risks."
"And people who are afraid of everything shouldn't be in high positions."
Kazu turned to Minato.
"Minato—have ANBU surround this room. No one leaves."
"We can't afford leaks."
"Anyone who asks questions tonight, tell the major clans: the leadership is in an all-night emergency meeting."
"And don't you worry—everyone will be fine."
Then Kazu's voice turned colder.
"But remember this."
"Don't betray Konoha and pass information outside."
"Because if you do…"
"…don't blame me for being ruthless."
A heavy killing intent pressed down.
Everyone broke into cold sweat.
"Hokage-sama, of course we would never do that…"
"Yes, Hokage-sama. We're only worried your plan isn't thorough enough."
"Hokage-sama, please think twice!"
Kazu waved them off.
"Enough. I've thought it through."
"You have a thirty-year intel map that's this complete—what more do you want?"
"My decision is final."
"Sakumo. Minato. You two—come with me."
Sakumo and Minato froze.
"Hokage-sama… just the three of us?"
Kazu smiled.
"More than enough."
Sakumo felt his blood surge. He dropped to one knee.
"Everything is at your command, Hokage-sama!"
Minato followed immediately.
"Everything is at your command, Hokage-sama!"
"Let's go."
Kazu turned and walked out. Sakumo and Minato followed fast, leaving the Konoha leadership behind with stunned expressions.
"Hokage-sama… he just left?"
"So what do we do now?"
"I knew it—putting a kid in that seat would get us killed!"
"It's too late to stop it. This is a disaster!"
Many of Konoha's higher-ups weren't optimistic about Kazu.
Of course, some were.
Fugaku Uchiha, for one.
"Hmph. You old men are scared to die and clinging to comfort. You've been left behind by the times. When Hokage-sama returns victorious, you won't have a word to say."
The Nawa clan head snapped back immediately.
"You Uchiha are competitive and aggressive. Do you even understand strategy? Alliances? Diplomacy?"
"Still waiting for Kazu to come back? Fine. When Konoha has to pay reparations and eat losses, I'll be the first to impeach him!"
Fugaku snorted.
"Good. When Hokage-sama returns victorious, I'll repeat every word you said today—right to his face."
The Nawa clan head sneered.
"When did the Uchiha become Hokage-sama's lapdogs?"
"You—!"
He was baiting Fugaku on purpose, hoping Fugaku would snap and start a fight so ANBU couldn't control the room.
But at that moment, ANBU dropped in between them.
"Nawa-sama, don't stir trouble."
Nawa bristled. "What trouble did I stir—"
Before he could finish, the ANBU restrained him immediately.
"Do not disrupt order. When Hokage-sama returns, everything can be discussed."
Several officials erupted.
"Hokage-sama just took office and you're already ignoring advice like this?!"
"That's right! Konoha isn't a dictatorship!"
"On this matter, we will impeach the Fourth Hokage!"
Then a voice sounded from behind them.
"Enough. Stop arguing."
Everyone turned.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood there.
"Third Hokage-sama!"
"Hokage-sama, look at what the Fourth is doing—he's going to destroy Konoha!"
"Impudent!" Hiruzen barked at the speaker.
"Kazu became Hokage because he saved Konoha and rebuilt Konoha in a single night. Have you forgotten already?"
"Trust him."
"He said one day—then give him one day."
Hiruzen was honestly speechless. He'd only just learned about this himself and could only salvage the situation.
Because Kazu had already left with Minato and Sakumo.
Still… with those three working together, it might not be impossible.
Taking Sunagakure… might actually happen.
…
On the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, in the Sand Village's forward camp—three black shadows swept past.
A guard ninja yawned, then suddenly widened his eyes.
He rubbed them, thinking he was seeing things.
"Three shadows… just flew by…"
Meanwhile, Kazu, Minato, and Sakumo were already bounding through the forest in rapid succession.
"Sand's border defenses really are sloppy," Kazu said while hopping from branch to branch.
Sakumo answered, "Yeah. The Second Shinobi World War ended, but conflicts never stopped. The Third Shinobi World War is probably not far off."
"The real troop deployment isn't at the border. It's in the village."
"Between the border and the village is a huge desert, and supplies are a nightmare."
Minato frowned.
"Can't the great villages just live in peace?"
Kazu smiled.
"Peace is temporary—unless we unify everything."
"Otherwise, you have your ninja way, I have mine. Who's going to listen to who?"
Minato could only shake his head helplessly. He didn't agree with Kazu's hardline approach.
But Sakumo—who'd seen war—had eyes that quietly burned.
"Can it really be unified…?"
Even Hashirama hadn't done it.
Could this boy—not even twenty—really pull it off?
Kazu smiled.
"I don't know."
"But if you never try…"
"…how will you ever find out?"
…
Only an hour after Kazu, Sakumo, and Minato crossed into the Land of Wind, a Sand spy rushed to the border garrison commander.
"My lord! Rumor says the Fourth Hokage of Konoha—Kazu—has infiltrated the Land of Wind with Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, and Konoha's new ANBU commander, Minato Namikaze!"
"What?!"
The Sand commander snapped awake and jumped up.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Sir, I heard Kazu made a sudden decision—he's launching an assault on Sunagakure!"
The commander blurted in disbelief, "Impossible—wait. You said when?"
"An hour ago… Kazu was already gone from Konoha."
"An hour…"
The commander's face went pale as ice. He remembered the three black shadows he'd thought he saw earlier.
His voice cracked.
"Why are you only telling me now?!"
"My lord, I'm sorry. Konoha sealed the news tightly. Even our agents couldn't get word out in time…"
The commander took a deep breath.
"…Fine. I understand. Go."
The spy retreated, and the commander immediately sent emergency dispatches back to Sunagakure.
This was huge.
Kazu is attacking the Sand?
"I swear… please don't let those shadows be them…"
…
By then, Kazu, Minato, and Sakumo had already crossed the desert in a storm of sand and wind and arrived outside Sunagakure's outer perimeter camp.
For Kazu's current strength, the desert was nothing.
After an hour of nonstop movement, the three reached the outskirts of Sunagakure.
A true blitz.
So fast the Sand didn't even realize what was happening.
At that moment, Sand patrols finally spotted them and swarmed in.
Nearly fifty shinobi surrounded them.
And around Sunagakure as a whole, there were tens of thousands stationed.
In Kazu's mind, the system chimed.
[Option 1: Infiltrate Sunagakure, assassinate the Fourth Kazekage, throw the village into chaos. Reward: S-rank Character Card – Third Kazekage]
[Option 2: Kill (over 1,000), answer violence with violence, make the enemy fear. Reward: S-rank Character Card – Hashirama Senju]
[Option 3: Break into the Sand, convince them with force, make Sunagakure submit. Reward: Tenfold Six Paths fusion speed]
The god-tier choices again.
Kazu could tell instantly: Option 2 and Option 3 could be completed together.
Killing over a thousand? Easy.
There were fifty right in front of him—just repeat that twenty times.
The Sand patrol leader—an elite jōnin—stared hard at them.
"Who are you?!"
Minato and Sakumo tensed.
Kazu smiled faintly and answered casually:
"Us?"
"We're the reapers from Konoha."
The moment the words left his mouth, roots and vines erupted and swallowed the entire area.
Sand and wind roared, and the patrols farther away couldn't see clearly what happened.
There was no sound from Kazu's side.
More than fifty Sand shinobi corpses sank beneath the yellow dunes.
Many of them were chūnin and jōnin.
Minato swallowed.
He thought back to the scene just now—could he kill that many that fast?
Not even close.
Sakumo asked in a low voice, "Hokage-sama… do we go in from the front?"
Kazu started walking forward, leaving only one sentence behind:
"Of course we go straight in."
"We kill until they're scared…"
"…and we keep killing until they surrender."