Outside Konohagakure, Veigar, who was on his way to the Land of Lightning, suddenly received the memories shared by his Shadow Clone, and he smiled nonchalantly.
His eyes became incredibly profound.
In fact, Fugaku desperately wanted to refuse, but he couldn't.
In a word: Veigar offered too much.
Fugaku recalled the transaction Veigar had made with his father years ago; he had been utterly shocked by what Veigar had displayed at the time.
Looking at the spot where Veigar had just stood, Fugaku murmured to himself, "Itachi..."
"Third Hokage, Fourth Hokage, and the Uchiha..."
Veigar knew exactly what the Uchiha clan wanted; they had never given up their pursuit of the Hokage position.
Soon after, Fugaku received notification from an Anbu ninja and immediately set off for the Hokage Residence.
"Is it related to Veigar's mission this time?"
As expected, when Fugaku learned of the 99.99% confirmed intelligence at the meeting, his Sharingan spun wildly.
However, he didn't raise his head, fearing that his Mangekyo Sharingan, which had evolved from his three-tomoe Sharingan, would be discovered.
Aside from Fugaku, all the Konoha ninjas present wore expressions of shock.
Hiruzen seemed to see through everyone's thoughts, stating with immense composure and calmness:
"I've sent someone to carry out the final confirmation of the intelligence; I believe news will come back very soon."
Given the gravity of the matter, even a one-in-ten-thousand uncertainty needed to be eliminated by Hiruzen, and counter-measures had already formed in his mind.
'Indeed, no wonder Veigar secretly left the village; it was because of this.'
...
Even with Veigar's speed, it still took him over two days to travel from Konoha to the Kumogakure.
After less than half an hour of covert observation in the Kumogakure, Veigar obtained the necessary intelligence.
Because he personally witnessed the Third Raikage's funeral ceremony.
"Now, it should be possible to report."
After compiling all the details of the funeral, Veigar immediately transmitted the intelligence.
In the Kumogakure, many others were doing the same thing as Veigar; these individuals were all there for final confirmation.
From the beginning, when Veigar received this mission from Hiruzen, he already knew that the event had transpired.
Almost a week prior, the Iwagakure's war supplies were attacked by Veigar and Minato working together, leading to the front line's defeat.
At that time, when the news reached the Iwagakure, it immediately sent the Third Tsuchikage into a rage. Knowing that there was no way to reverse the situation, he unleashed all his fury on the Third Raikage, who was currently in the Iwagakure.
Previously, the Third Raikage's presence in the Iwagakure was for the purpose of forming an alliance with them and simultaneously waging war against Konoha.
As for sincerity, his personal entry into the Iwagakure was the greatest display of it.
However, the Third Raikage never imagined that his sincerity would cost him his life. Nor did he expect the Third Tsuchikage to be so shameless as to attack him.
With the front lines already defeated, the Third Tsuchikage knew that an alliance with the Kumogakure was meaningless, as the Iwagakure no longer had the morale to wage war again.
To ensure the village's stability, the Third Tsuchikage could only choose to surrender to Konoha.
After making his decision, the Third Tsuchikage still felt immense resentment. Ultimately, he attributed half of the responsibility for their defeat to the Kumogakure, to the Third Raikage.
It was precisely because of the Third Raikage's greed prior to this, the prolonged negotiations over profit distribution after their alliance, that the strategic alliance was repeatedly delayed. Consequently, the Iwagakure faced Konoha alone.
Furthermore, because the Third Raikage had personally arrived at the Iwagakure, a large number of combat forces were gathered within the village, preventing them from going to support the front lines when the war broke out.
Therefore, the strategic alliance agreement between the Kumogakure and the Iwagakure ultimately broke down once more in negotiations, as it held no further significance for the Iwagakure.
At that time, the Third Raikage, realizing the impending danger, left the Iwagakure with his escorts before the Third Tsuchikage made his move. However, they were intercepted by Iwa-nin within the Land of Earth.
To cover the escape of his subordinates, the Third Raikage single-handedly fought the Iwa-nin forces led by the Third Tsuchikage.
This battle lasted for three days and three nights.
Countless Iwa-nin died in this fight. By the time the Kumogakure's forces arrived, the Third Raikage had died of exhaustion.
Ultimately, the Kumogakure recovered the Third Raikage's body, and the Iwa-nin who participated in the battle retreated back to the Iwagakure.
Although the news of this battle was jointly suppressed by the Iwagakure and the Kumogakure, it still spread through some undercover spies.
On one hand, a large number of ninjas from the Iwagakure had died in this battle, leaving their internal forces weakened. It was the most vulnerable period for the Iwagakure since its founding, raising concerns that enemies might exploit their weakness.
On the other hand, after the Third Raikage's death, the Kumogakure's internal government was unstable, with the Furuyama clan challenging the Yotsuki clan for the Fourth Raikage position.
The Kumogakure, also concerned about opportunistic attacks, therefore sealed off the news.
However, with the Third Raikage's funeral, the Kumogakure no longer needed to maintain the blockade.
At the same time, all the spies currently in the Kumogakure were now able to transmit the information, which was also a move orchestrated by the designated successor to the Fourth Raikage.
He intended to deliver a satisfactory answer to everyone before assuming the position of Fourth Raikage.
These spies, who were either originally undercover in the Kumogakure or had come to confirm the Third Raikage's death, were his targets this time.
Naturally, Veigar was one of them.
After the funeral, these spies wanted to leave, but they found that the Kumogakure now allowed neither entry nor exit.
Simultaneously, countless Cloud ninjas began to move, led by ninjas from the Yotsuki clan and the Furuyama clan, they ferreted out spies one by one.
This was because, prior to this, the Kumogakure had dispatched a large number of ninjas to observe these individuals' movements.
If there was even a slight irregularity, they adopted the attitude of "better to kill a hundred innocent than let one guilty escape."
On this day, battles frequently erupted in the Kumogakure, and blood flowed like rivers.
But what did that have to do with Veigar?
Just as the Kumogakure was aggressively apprehending spies, Veigar had already shaken off the Cloud ninjas' pursuit and assumed the identity of an ordinary Kumogakure civilian—a common bachelor.
"Chase! He's here!"
"Don't let him escape! Kill!"
...
The arrests outside continued, while Veigar calmly drank tea indoors, feigning indifference.
The sun set, leaving behind a blood-red afterglow.
"What a beautiful sunset!"
After a day of evasion, Veigar was finally exposed to the Cloud ninjas due to a battle he was caught in.
A fight was about to break out.
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TN: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon —— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]