A Sage's Pursuit of Power

When Kakashi, Hayate Gekkō, and Asuma Sarutobi emerged from the shadows with members of Konoha's Anbu, it signified that the battle was over.

The Sarutobi clan had sent out 32 people for their operation against Tsunade. Among them were 11 jonin and 21 chunin.

But for Kakashi, as he was now, these numbers didn't pose much of a challenge. With the issue of Sharingan chakra consumption resolved, and thanks to Aoba's constant "competition," Kakashi had also been relentlessly training during this time.

And how strong was a fully powered Kakashi? Aoba could only say that those who remembered the legend of Sakumo Hatake were beginning to feel like a second White Fang was about to emerge.

What's more, very few people knew that Kakashi had also mastered the Flying Thunder God technique. While he wasn't as proficient as Aoba and wasn't great at using it offensively, it was absolutely reliable for escaping.

In the Sarutobi clan's compound, Nichien Sarutobi suddenly erupted in rage.

By this point, he realized that Aoba had been in control of their entire plan from the start. Aoba had allowed them to carry out their schemes just so he could justify a full purge of the conservatives.

But by the time he understood this, it was already too late. In despair, Nichien decided to make a last stand, hoping to buy time for some of the younger members of his faction to escape.

However, having not fought for years, Nichien overestimated himself and underestimated Aoba as he was now.

In a single exchange, Aoba passed by him, and Nichien fell to the ground clutching his throat.

Struggling to turn his head, he tried to plead for mercy for his comrades. But all he saw was Aoba rampaging through the crowd, cutting them down one after another.

"..." Despair overtook Nichien as he completely lost consciousness.

Minutes later, the gates of the compound opened, and Aoba, covered in blood, walked out. Outside, Asuma stood by the door, his face a mix of emotions.

"…Is it over?" Asuma asked.

"It's over," Aoba replied.

"Were there… any survivors?"

"I'm sorry, Asuma. I gave them a chance."

Asuma felt a bitter ache in his heart but couldn't argue. Aoba had indeed given them a chance. If they had accepted the division and integrated into Konoha, they wouldn't have faced any danger or punishment.

This was Aoba's promise to Asuma, the newly appointed head of the Sarutobi clan. But Asuma had witnessed the conservatives' actions with his own eyes.

Their attempt to stage a coup was beyond his tolerance. His sorrow stemmed from the fact that many of the dead were his uncles and elders—people who, on a personal level, had treated him well.

"The rest is up to you, Asuma. I didn't touch any of their belongings," Aoba said before leaving.

The conservatives undoubtedly had hidden resources. As the family of a former Hokage, they couldn't possibly have been destitute, Naruto's cluelessness notwithstanding.

But Aoba left everything intact, handing it all to Asuma.

As the new head of the Sarutobi clan, Asuma needed resources to stabilize his position.

Asuma wasn't foolish, either. He would later compile the clan's secret techniques and hand a copy to Konoha. This act served as a gesture of loyalty, a declaration of his allegiance to the village.

This was precisely what Aoba wanted. He sought to acquire things through proper channels. While forcefully seizing them wasn't off the table, that was reserved for enemies outside Konoha.

The next day, the entire village of Konoha was stunned by an announcement.

The night before, Konoha had suffered a large-scale terrorist attack. A group of enemy shinobi, hidden within the village, targeted the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, and her assistant, Aoba Kamikawa.

The good news was that neither the Hokage nor Aoba were harmed. Both successfully counterattacked and eliminated the enemy.

The sight of nearly a hundred corpses left the people of Konoha furious. The fact that so many enemy ninjas had infiltrated their village was seen as a direct provocation.

Of course, this narrative of provocation was something Aoba had carefully orchestrated.

Although Konoha was the largest and most powerful village in the ninja world, it had a reputation for being non-aggressive. Most of the wars it participated in had been initiated by others, with Konoha responding defensively.

This pacifism was likely tied to the First Hokage's love for peace.

Peace was a fine aspiration, provided the environment was conducive to it. But in the current situation, Konoha occupied the most fertile land, surrounded by four other major villages. There was no real basis for peace.

If peace was desired, the ninja world would first have to be unified.

To achieve that, Konoha needed a mindset of external expansion. This mindset had to permeate the entire village, down to the heart of every citizen.

Konoha responded to the attack with an official statement: the village would take an extremely severe stance against the terrorists responsible.

To Aoba, this was a standard announcement. However, influenced by the events of the story, he underestimated Konoha's actual impact.

Most of the time, it maintained a peaceful front. This led even smaller villages, like the Grass Village, to feel emboldened enough to send ninjas into Konoha to pursue Aoba.

But the moment Konoha's announcement was made, the atmosphere shifted drastically. Other ninja villages quickly issued their own statements.

The first to respond was Sunagakure, declaring that as Konoha's military ally, their position was fully aligned with Konoha's. They also expressed their willingness to provide military support for Konoha's actions.

Two hours later, Kumogakure issued a statement distancing themselves from the attack, proclaiming themselves a peace-loving village.

Iwagakure followed with a similar statement, denouncing terrorism while urging Konoha to exercise restraint.

As for Kirigakure, they were too busy dealing with their own internal issues to respond.

Meanwhile, the smaller villages around Konoha were completely panicked.

To them, terms like "severe response" and "military assistance" sounded like Konoha and Sunagakure were about to join forces and cause trouble.

Who the target would be didn't matter much. For these smaller villages, even the aftermath of a conflict involving two major villages would be devastating.

In the Hokage's office, Tsunade looked over Aoba's proposal with some hesitation.

"Isn't this moving a bit too fast?" she asked.

"It is a bit early," Aoba admitted. "But we should strike while the iron is hot. If we wait too long and the incident loses its momentum, we'll have a harder time taking action. After all, Konoha doesn't have many Sarutobi clans left to expend."

Check out the patreon and get 43 chapters in advance -> SaintXI

Currently on Chapter 194 - A New Kind of Shinobi