He immediately changed his tune, his voice becoming incredibly firm: "The Clan Leader is wise! We should send out our strongest elites!"
Konohamaru nodded, his tone softening slightly, carrying a steady sense of foresight: "Don't worry. Even if three thousand are deployed, there are still over two thousand clan members within the family to maintain our foundation. As long as the foundation remains, it won't be difficult to recover our strength in time."
The Elder finally felt completely at ease, a hint of pride even surfacing on his face as he immediately turned to gather the clansmen.
In the real world, there was an uproar!
"Five thousand... the Sarutobi Clan has at least over five thousand Ninjas?"
"Supporting five thousand Ninjas—just how many people are in the entire Sarutobi family?"
"Is this... is this still a clan? It's practically a miniature Ninja Village!"
"Hiruzen Sarutobi! Just how much profit has he secured for his clan using the power of the Hokage?"
Voices of doubt, amazement, and anger instantly filled the entire Ninja World.
The Kage of the other Four Great Shinobi Villages watched the heavenly screen, their gazes turning incredibly cold. Their vigilance and wariness toward Konoha and Hiruzen Sarutobi rose to an unprecedented level.
Inside the Hokage Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face had already turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
He had painstakingly managed and carefully hidden the clan's development beneath the surface, precisely because he feared a backlash from other clans and the Village.
As it turned out, this heavenly screen had completely exposed the Sarutobi Clan's secrets, laying them bare before the eyes of the entire Ninja World!
"Truly... quite something..." He squeezed these words through his teeth, feeling a sense of helplessness.
It was foreseeable that he would face immense pressure and questioning from both inside and outside the Village.
But then, an even more chilling thought occurred to him, making his expression instantly turn incredibly solemn.
"That child Konohamaru said... 'If the war is lost, what will happen to the Sarutobi Clan'..."
"Who is he afraid of? Could it be... that the future Naruto will carry out a purge of the Sarutobi Clan?"
"Is it because... of our attitude toward him?"
At the thought of that child who had been lonely and suffered through endless Byakugan since childhood, potentially harboring hatred toward the Sarutobi Clan after gaining world-destroying power in the future, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He felt that perhaps he needed to adjust his attitude toward Naruto.
"Wait... how did Konohamaru become the Clan Leader? What about Asuma?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression changed drastically; he had a bad premonition in his heart.
The "Three Thousand Ninja Army" revealed by the Sarutobi Clan on the heavenly screen, along with the implied reserve of over five thousand Ninjas, was like a depth charge dropped into the seemingly calm waters of Konoha.
Within Konoha, various clans reacted differently, but without exception, all felt a deep sense of shock and chill.
The Clan Leaders of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio gathered together.
"Five thousand Ninjas..." Nara Shikaku rubbed his throbbing temples. Even he, known for his strategic mind, could not hide his shock.
"I knew the Sandaime would use his position to benefit his clan, but I really didn't expect the old man to hide it so deeply and have such a massive appetite! Truly... a wily old fox."
His tone carried a hint of annoyance at being deceived and deep wariness.
The scale of the Sarutobi Clan was already large enough to break the long-standing power balance within Konoha.
Inside the main residence of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi's face was as still as water.
He had always believed the Hyuga were the true number one clan in Konoha. Now, the strength exposed by the Sarutobi Clan made him feel an unprecedented threat.
Even at their peak, the Hyuga and Uchiha combined couldn't have mustered so many Ninjas!
Other small and medium-sized clans were even more panicked, shocked by the Sarutobi Clan's hidden strength and worried that in the future distribution of resources and influence, they would be even more controlled by others.
Outside the Akatsuki Organization base.
A group of Rogue Ninja watched the heavenly screen, their reactions being even more direct.
A flash of realization crossed Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils. His tone was calm, even carrying a hint of something between mockery and admiration: "As expected of Sensei."
Then he turned his gaze toward the silent Uchiha Itachi nearby, a playful smile appearing on his face as he intentionally raised his voice:
"Itachi-kun, did your Uchiha Clan, at its peak, even including all the civilians, have five thousand people?"
Uchiha Itachi's fist, hidden under his sleeve, suddenly tightened, his knuckles turning white.
During the Uchiha Clan's prime, the true core Ninjas numbered only a few hundred. Even with civilians, they were far from reaching five thousand.
Itachi's face was cold, his lips pressed thin, making no sound.
Beside him, Kakuzu stared with his small green eyes, counting on his fingers, then spoke up in surprise, his voice raspy: "Five thousand Ninjas? Then the total population of the clan must be tens of thousands? Tsk tsk... this scale could easily wipe out any Village outside the Five Great Ninja Villages."
He let out a sneer, glancing meaningfully at Uchiha Itachi, "'The strongest Ninja clan, Uchiha'? In front of the Sarutobi Clan, this is probably a joke."
Uchiha Itachi's body trembled almost imperceptibly, his composure already starting to slip.
Yet he still forced himself to maintain a surface of calm, as if he hadn't heard these harsh comments.
The pain of the clan's massacre and the mission he bore forced him to endure.
Seeing no reaction, Orochimaru didn't mind, as if he had just made a casual remark.
He turned his head and continued to look at the heavenly screen, whispering in a volume only those nearby could hear, seemingly unintentionally:
"To see a person clearly, it's never about what they say..."
"...but about what they, do."
The voice was very light, yet like a poison-tipped Kunai, it pierced with extreme precision into the most sensitive, painful, and contradictory corner of Uchiha Itachi's heart!
What did he do?
What had he done?
For the sake of the Village, he had personally slaughtered his entire clan, bearing all the sin and infamy, becoming Konoha's S-Rank Rogue Ninja!
He "did" all of this, but in the eyes of those who knew the truth, what did Hiruzen Sarutobi "do"?
Hiruzen Sarutobi had developed his own clan to such a massive scale, while the Uchiha... The Sandaime always said the Uchiha Clan couldn't look past the framework of a single family... but wasn't the Sarutobi Clan the same?
This light sentence from Orochimaru shattered the psychological defense Uchiha Itachi had built with "righteousness" and "mission."
Orochimaru smiled slightly, thinking to himself: Still too young!
The images on the heavenly screen continued to progress, showing the intense pre-war preparations.
Under the unprecedentedly efficient operation of the Five Great Nations, an Ninja Allied Force of unprecedented scale was rapidly assembled—One Hundred Thousand Ninja Troops!
This number took the breath away from everyone in the real Ninja World. This was a force that could only be gathered by exhausting the power of the entire Ninja World, and it also served as a testament to just how despair-inducing the "Uzumaki Naruto" they would face in the future truly was.