Chapter 219 The Meaning of the Will of Fire
"Then, hand over Konohamaru now." Uchiha Touko coldly looked at the other party, gesturing for him to hand over the person.
"Do you think I'm a fool?" The Cloud Village ninja, carrying Konohamaru, shouted sharply, seemingly believing that raising his voice would embolden him. "Now, escort us to the border. After the Raikage-sama safely crosses the border, I will naturally release this brat."
"Are you threatening me?" Uchiha Touko's eyes narrowed slightly. The sky, which had just begun to darken, darkened again, and lightning flashed in the clouds.
"Don't move!" At this moment, the Cloud Ninja holding Konohamaru raised his other hand, clutching an activated explosive tag. "This explosive tag is already activated. As soon as my chakra disappears, this brat will be blown to smithereens with me."
"Interesting." Uchiha Touko sheathed his Lightning Blade, nodded, and said, "Let's go then."
At this moment, the sealing team stepped forward, intending to apply chakra-sealing techniques to the remaining Cloud Ninja.
However, these remaining Cloud Ninja did not want to surrender. However, just as one of them drew his weapon to resist, a bolt of lightning struck precisely from the sky, turning him into a charred mess.
"What are you doing?" the man holding Konohamaru roared.
"You only said you'd exchange Konohamaru for your Raikage, it has nothing to do with these people," Uchiha Touko said. "I just dealt with a few prisoners who didn't want to be captured properly."
"You…" The man holding Konohamaru hostage was speechless for a moment, but still said angrily, "Of course I'm including my companions. If you don't want this brat to get hurt, take them all back to the Land of Lightning."
"Do you think I'm too easy to talk to?" Uchiha Touko said coldly. "At most, one for one, otherwise we'll just kill him and then our two countries will go to war."
"You... this brat is the grandson of your Third Hokage!" the other party gritted his teeth.
At this moment, everyone's eyes turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen wanted to say something, but considering that Touko Uchiha was the real decision-maker here, if he backed down now, it would put Touko Uchiha in a disadvantageous position in this negotiation. So he took a deep breath and gritted his teeth and said, "Konohamaru is my grandson, and he will be a Konoha ninja in the future. Every member of my Sarutobi clan is ready to sacrifice themselves for the village."
At this moment, Touko Uchiha slowly said, "The reason I am willing to exchange your Raikage for Konohamaru is not because he is..." "The Third Hokage's grandson, it's not that we, the Will of Fire, are afraid, but rather that our leaves, when needed, can become flames to illuminate the village's tender shoots. That doesn't mean you can make unreasonable demands on us without any limits. Konoha has never feared war!"
The man holding Konohamaru hostage also had a changing expression. He had intended to use Hiruzen Sarutobi to incite internal conflict within Konoha, but to his surprise, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had previously turned a blind eye to their demand for the Hyuga clan to hand over their leader because he didn't want the war to continue, had now become defiant in the face of his kidnapped grandson.
At this moment, the morale of the Konoha people soared because of Uchiha Touko's words.
Sacrificing so much to save a Konoha child was completely different from saving the Third Hokage's grandson.
Uchiha Touko's words made some ninjas from various clans in the crowd, especially the Hyuga clan who had suffered similar treatment, think that if their children were to face the same fate in the future, the Hokage would spare no effort to protect the village's children.
No one in the Konoha ninja present doubted this, given the series of policies Uchiha Touko had implemented since taking office, such as prohibiting ninja academy students from graduating early and revising village rules to forcefully set the wartime conscription age at 12. All of these demonstrated his stance: with him in Konoha, there was no need for children to go to the battlefield.
"Take them all to the border first. We'll negotiate the prisoner exchange after the Raikage returns to the Land of Lightning! Until then, you must guarantee their safety," the man holding Konohamaru hostage said, sounding somewhat intimidated.
"Okay, let's go then," Uchiha Touko said.
After sealing the prisoners' chakra and binding their hands, the Konoha members lined up and followed Uchiha Touko and the Third Hokage towards the border.
However, Sasuke and Neji found Uchiha Touko at this moment.
"Sensei, Neji and I will stay here," Sasuke said. "Naruto seems a bit off."
"Naruto's not right?" Uchiha Touko looked in Naruto's direction and saw the boy leaning against a burnt-down giant tree, his expression blank, his eyes lifeless. Even Deidara's constant waving of his hand couldn't wake him.
"Is it because of the battlefield?" Uchiha Touko understood, seeing Naruto's condition; after all, his own performance on the battlefield wasn't much better than Naruto's.
Sasuke and Neji, due to their family tradition and the standard ninja training they received before becoming Uchiha Touko's disciples, possessed naturally stable mental states, making them more adaptable to the battlefield.
But Naruto, with his kind nature, was suddenly confronted with the brutality of the battlefield, and his worldview was naturally severely shaken. This was similar to how Uchiha Touko, who had received nine years of compulsory education in his previous life and whose moral standards far surpassed those of the ninja world's most notorious insects, couldn't accept the cruelty of the battlefield
. Back then, although the immense shock caused Uchiha Touko to awaken his Second Tomoe, it still took him nearly a month to gradually adapt to the battlefield, with the guidance and support of his mentor and elder clansman, Uchiha Kaito.
Having experienced this firsthand, Uchiha Touko understood that lecturing was pointless at this point. Having Sasuke and Neji, his childhood friends, by his side, and letting him figure things out himself would likely be more effective.
Therefore, Uchiha Touko nodded and said to Sasuke, "Alright, you and Neji stay here. Also, you're in charge of cleaning up the battlefield. Make sure that the bodies of all the fallen comrades are returned to the village as intact as possible."
"Understood!" Sasuke nodded vigorously.
...
Uchiha Touko led Konoha's army swiftly towards the border.
At noon, Uchiha Touko led his army across the Land of Hot Water, arriving at the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Lightning.
Kakashi was already leading Konoha's border troops, confronting the Cloud Village's troops stationed along the border.
At this moment, both of Cloud Village's Jinchūriki had arrived on the battlefield, but the Mangekyou Sharingan in Kakashi's eyes made them very wary.
After all, their intelligence only stated that Uchiha Touko couldn't use genjutsu, but that didn't mean other Mangekyou Sharingan users couldn't.
Although Killer Bee and Yugito were perfect Jinchūriki, the Mangekyou Sharingan was too special; they dared not gamble on whether Mangekyou Sharingan-level genjutsu could be effective against perfect Jinchūriki.
...
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(End of Chapter)