Chapter 213 205 Marching into the Frost Kingdom

Over this past period, these Konoha Shinobi had followed Orochimaru to win countless battles, deserving to be called an ever-victorious army, and now was precisely the time when troop morale could be put to good use.

"Teacher Orochimaru has now begun to use this war to gather popular support for himself."

Gazing at this scene, such a thought suddenly arose in Uchiha Gen's heart.

When it came to prestige, the Third Hokage, who had steadily sat as Hokage for twenty years and allowed Konoha to develop to its current peak during his reign, was undoubtedly number one. Danzo hid in the darkness, and the other elders lacked ability, falling far short of him.

Below the Hokage, the people with the highest prestige at present were Hatake Sakumo and Orochimaru.

The former, with his own strength on the western battlefield, scared Hidden Sand out of their wits, ambushed and killed two high-ranking officials of Hidden Sand in a single battle, shaking the Shinobi World with his prestige. In every battle, he always took the lead, being brave and powerful.

His personality was humble yet inwardly resolute, caring for companions, and possessing extremely strong personal charm. Aside from a slightly repressed personality, he almost perfectly matched people's inner imagination of an upright warrior, and he consistently practiced the warrior's code of conduct.

Such a person of great strength, willing to share weal and woe with those below him, and possessing excellent character, naturally had countless people willing to follow him.

And Orochimaru was no less impressive.

He was likewise powerful in strength, proving himself in power and extraordinary wisdom across various battles. With a viper-like patience and decisiveness, as well as absolute rationality and superb command ability, he led the Konoha Shinobi to achieve almost a hundred victories out of a hundred battles.

In winning people's hearts, Orochimaru also had his own ways, which could be seen from how fiercely loyal people like Kimimaro, Guren, and the Sound Four were to Orochimaru in the original timeline.

And compared to Hatake Sakumo, he had two aspects that the former could not compare with.

One was being a proper disciple of the Hokage, politically reliable and legitimate, and the other was that the disciple he cultivated was named Uchiha Gen.

Now Uchiha Gen was already a top expert renowned throughout the Shinobi World, and anyone with discerning eyes knew that the Uchiha clan, as the number one noble family in the Shinobi World, was already under the control of him and the Grand Elder.

With a Kage-level expert leading the strongest noble family as assistance, having both background and ability, no matter how one looked at it, Orochimaru was the most likely person to succeed the position of Hokage, and the number of people willing to pledge allegiance to him would definitely not be small.

"However, in this way, Teacher Orochimaru will also become the primary target for political targeting by Danzo and others. If his influence develops too large, perhaps even the Third Hokage will be wary."

Uchiha Gen's thoughts flickered, and then he put these matters behind his mind.

Orochimaru's mind was always clear and rational, capable of weighing the importance of matters, and he would understand what to do better than anyone else.

If there really were any issues, Orochimaru would definitely discuss it with him, so there was no need to worry right now.

What truly needed to be done right now was to properly handle the war right before them.

Amidst the mountain-shaking and sea-roaring shouts, thousands of Konoha Shinobi rushed out like a flood from an opened sluice gate.

Land of Frost, boundary line.

On the spring-green grasslands, there was still unmelted snow.

Nearly ten thousand Hidden Cloud ninja gathered here, standing on strict alert.

"The people from Konoha have indeed come. In this battle, we must do our utmost to hold our ground. Otherwise, in this Shinobi World War, we will merely suffer troop losses for nothing without gaining anything, and in the end, we will still have to worry about Konoha posing a threat to our homeland."

"This is a result that this old man cannot accept no matter what."

The Third Raikage sat imposingly astride a low, flat stone, his pair of lion-like eyes filled with anger as he stared at the distant plains.

Kumogakure was now facing the crisis of its homeland being counter-invaded by Konoha, having mobilized almost all of its remaining strength to build a defense line at the border of the Land of Frost, striving to block the Konoha enemy outside the Land of Frost.

As long as the Land of Frost was not lost, the border of the Land of Lightning would be safe. Once the border was harassed and threatened the homeland, he, the Raikage, would certainly be held accountable by the Daimyo, and people would also question whether he, the Raikage, could still protect the village.

Naturally, he could not accept this, which was why he had gathered all remaining mobilizable forces to make a desperate gamble.

Moreover, Kumogakure was not without other trump cards.

The flames of war were ignited almost the moment both sides caught sight of each other.

And quite different from people's impressions, in this battle, the one rushing at the very forefront turned out to be Danzo.

However, even though he was the one charging at the front, numerous elites of the Root were still guarding around him.

Even though Orochimaru had conceded the primary credit for recapturing the stronghold to Danzo, no one could suppress the role played by Orochimaru and his disciple. Afterward, with the assistance of Akimichi Torifu, Uchiha Gen, and the older generation of Ino–Shika–Chō, his dominant position within the Konoha forces in the Land of Hot Springs had become as secure as Mount Tai.

Danzo could snatch the primary credit once, but he couldn't snatch it every time. If he didn't show some performance again, his radiance would be completely overshadowed by Orochimaru.

If he couldn't pull out merits in the Shinobi World War that surpassed everyone else to build up his own prestige, then in the future, even if the Third Hokage abdicated, the succession order of Orochimaru and the others would be far ahead of him, and he wouldn't have a single chance at the position of Hokage.

However, Danzo still cherished his life. Even when charging at the forefront, he needed numerous Root Ninja to protect himself. That way, even if he encountered danger, a few Jonin trained by him who were fiercely loyal could block a few moves for him and buy him time.

Uchiha Gen shuttled across the battlefield as leisurely as strolling in a courtyard. The Sengoku Ninja Sword in his hand flashed with lightning, extending into Chidori Sharp Spear, gracefully and precisely moving through the battlefield. Cooperating with Phantom Clone, he wantonly reaped the lives of Hidden Cloud ninja on the battlefield.

As for the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, although he had already learned it, he hadn't used it yet temporarily.

A Ninja's battle was a battle of intelligence; many times, the outcome of a battle was determined by intelligence.

With intelligence and an information gap, even defeating the strong with the weak was not entirely impossible. Within the entire Akatsuki, quite a few members like Hidan and Kakuzu were defeated only after the intelligence on their own abilities was figured out.

Being good at hiding intelligence, hiding abilities, and leaving behind trump cards could often backstab enemies and become the key to turning defeat into victory and killing powerful foes.

A typical representative among them was his teacher Orochimaru, as well as Uchiha Itachi, except that the former's trump cards were mostly for self-preservation, whereas the latter didn't care about his life, and all his arrangements were for his younger brother Sasuke.

Although this fellow was a weasel, it was undeniable that his talent as a Ninja was indeed extremely outstanding; both his strength and methods could be called brilliant.

What this guy was best at was holding back a trump card.

From the perspective of a work, it was a Deus ex machina deliberately designed by the author to reflect his aura, but in a real world, it could only show that this person had an extremely deep scheming nature, with multiple trump cards in hand.