The land of fire, Konoha.

Away from the smoke of war, due to the transfer of villagers, the atmosphere of the originally popular village seemed particularly depressed at night.

In addition, most of the ninjas have accepted the arrangements of the Alliance Army and went to fight on the front line. In Konoha today, there are only less than a thousand ninjas stationed here.

This defensive force can be said to be very luxurious for a small country, but for a ninja village of Konoha's size, leaving only more than a thousand ninjas stationed at the base camp has meant that Konoha has fallen into the worst situation in history.

In a weak state.

Whether it is the streets or residential areas, there are basically not many people. There are only patrol teams in twos and threes on the streets, but they are still loyal to their duties and complete their usual patrol tasks.

After all, Konoha is not a safe zone. In theory, it is also part of the battlefield. Just like other ninja villages, if the enemy's army forces this place, Konoha will immediately be burned to death in the flames of war.

Not only that, Konoha is also a transit station for resource replenishment.

The Fifth Alliance Army Regiment, led by Iron Country General Mifune, is stationed at the border of the Land of Fire to step up its attack on the Rain Country. Konoha Village is the logistical support for the Alliance Army's Fifth Regiment. Every day

There are a lot of supplies, which are supplied from Konoha Village to the front line.

Therefore, in addition to the original more than a thousand ninjas in Konoha Village, there are more than a dozen squadrons of the Alliance Army's Fifth Regiment stationed and patrolling around Konoha Village, with more than 2,000 ninjas available for combat.

In Konoha Village, there are only a few places with lights on, and one of them is the clan of the wealthy Hyuga clan.

Most of the branch families were sent to the front line by the clan to assist the Alliance Army, becoming important eyes of the Alliance Army and fighting for them.

And when it was uncertain whether they had an affair with the Hyuga clan of the Demon Country, the separated family members, just those ninjas, ordinary people who were not ninjas were not transferred to the safe zone, but were detained by the clan together.

, becoming an important handle to control the separation of families.

If the alliance army wins, the Hyuga clan can naturally settle all the shame of the past. At this time, they will not allow even the slightest accident to happen to the split. As for the breakdown of the relationship, they have long stopped calling for the establishment of another clan in the country of ghosts.

When the Hyuga clan was a member of the clan, the elders of the clan had already understood the fact that if they wanted to continue to let the branch family fight for the Hyuga clan, they could only adopt such extreme and cruel methods, even if they were further hated by the branch family.

These are all decisions that have to be made based on reality for the sake of the overall existence of the Hyuga clan. "At this time, the village looks like it has fallen into a quagmire that it cannot extricate itself from, and is immersed in darkness."

On a tall pavilion in the Hyuga clan's territory, a girl looking at the entire village was admiring the silence and tranquility of Konoha Village.

Due to the transfer of most of the residents, the remaining population is less than 2,000. Compared with the population flow during Konoha's heyday, it is less than one percent.

After all, the Ninja Village is a village in name, but its comprehensive capabilities are not weaker than the capital of a country in terms of scale, and its prosperity is evident.

"Yes, this dark night will become extremely long, but no matter how long the dark night is, it will eventually dissipate. I wonder what the sun will look like tomorrow morning.,

A relatively calm male voice answered the girl.

He is in his late twenties, wearing the uniform of a Jounin of Konoha, with the word 'forbearance' engraved on his forehead.

As a member of the Alliance Army, Konoha, at this time, any ninja belonging to Konoha must wear the Alliance Army's exclusive ninja forehead protector.

At this moment, they are all the fighting force of the Alliance Army.

"When did you become so poetic, Tokuma? Is it because you were too excited tonight?"

Regarding the young man's poetic sentiments, the girl couldn't help laughing and teasing her loyal guard. "Hanabi-sama, I think there is no one in the branch family who is eager to fly out of the birdcage who will not be excited tonight. This one

There is nothing in the world that can compare with freedom

Discuss together."

Hinata Tokuma spread his palms helplessly, but the smile on his face could not be concealed no matter what.

"That's right.,

Hanabi nodded mockingly.

But Tokuma knew that this girl did not understand what this feeling was like.

Only those who have been enslaved will understand how precious freedom is.

No matter how sincere and sincere others' words of empathy are, and no matter how touching their words are, they cannot match the true feelings of the person concerned.

After all, this is a yoke that has been weighing on the separated family for hundreds of years.

Except for those who were completely enslaved by the Zong family, the rest of the branch family members were thinking about taking off the chains around their necks all the time.

"So, what's the decision over there?"

Hanabi looked at the quiet night covering Konoha Village and asked.

"Well... Ayane-sama said that the elders of the clan are getting old. No matter how careful they are when eating and drinking, accidents will always happen. For example, the air in the village has been very dry recently, which makes fires easy.

The old man's legs and feet are inconvenient and he has no time to escape. There is nothing he can do if he accidentally gets burned to death by the fire."

Tokuma tried his best to express his original words in a humorous way.

It's just that the underlying meaning in the words is like a biting sharp knife, chilling people.

Hanabi nodded in agreement. After all, he was an old man who had not fought for many years. It was quite reasonable for his legs and feet to be inconvenient.

"Speaking of..."

Hanabi frowned in confusion at this time, and shifted her gaze from Konoha Village to the endless dark night, as if there was something on it that made her care.

"What?"

Tokuma was used to the young lady's sudden and unexpected behavior.

"There is always a strange smell in the air, which makes people feel restless."

Hanabi frowned in thought.

This sense of whim, at first she thought it was because of tonight's action, it was inevitable that she was a little bit expecting it, which caused a change in her mood.

But after realizing the real situation, Hanabi realized that this was not the case.

This feeling is very unsettling.

"Is it an illusion? I don't have the strange aura that Hanabi-sama said."

Tokuma blinked and spoke tentatively.

"That's right. Tokuma, your strength is too weak. It's normal that you can't feel this kind of aura."

Hanabi spoke with seriousness.

I really want to say that I am a jounin of the branch family, and my strength is within the Hyuga clan. Although it cannot be compared with real monsters, in fact, my fighting ability is already among the top of the Hyuga clan.

Being placed in the ANBU directly under his control, he can also serve as the squad leader of a four-person team, and it is not impossible to further divide him into captains.

But thinking of the strength of the almost twelve-year-old girl in front of him, Tokuma couldn't help but become a little silent. After all, this is a genius that even the old clan elders are reluctant to classify into the branch camp. In Hanabi

The debate over whether to divide the clan into clans or separate clans has not stopped for several years.

Maybe...his strength is really weak?

"Then, the direction of the breath is..."

Tokuma asked softly.

Hanabi pointed in a direction, which was to the west of Konoha.

"That's the location of the Fifth Regiment, and to the west is the final battlefield in the Kingdom of Rain."

Tokuma said.

"It seems like a lot of interesting things happened on the battlefield over there."

Hanabi showed a regretful expression.

Although there is no direct evidence, Hanabi's intuition tells Hanabi that the strange smell in the air spread from the battlefield of Rain Country to surrounding countries.

"I don't think there's anything interesting there."

Tokuma shook his head helplessly.

It's not like he hasn't witnessed that kind of apocalyptic battlefield scene. Facing those ninjas who can move mountains and fill seas, a Jonin might just be

Miscellaneous soldiers, or cannon fodder is more appropriate.

Especially the man from the Hyuga clan of the Kingdom of Oni, during the Fourth Ninja World War, he was surrounded by the Iwagakure ninjas of the Earth Kingdom, killed ten people in and out, and used it as a leisurely walk in the back garden.

And such a being is just a member of the battlefield in the Land of Rain. There are many monsters. Seeing such a battle scene, ordinary ninjas will definitely be shocked to the point that they no longer want to continue working in the ninja industry.

"Anyway, the battlefield over there has nothing to do with us for the time being. Let's take care of the Hinata family's affairs first... Are all the people ready?"

Hanabi asked.

Tokuma nodded.

"When the 'contract' ends, let's just start."

"Inarakacho, Aburame, Inuzuka, Sarutobi and other families..."

"Tell them not to leave the clan territory, otherwise, the swordsman who comes after will not be able to tell who is the enemy and the ally."

After Hanabi finished speaking, the figure disappeared silently from Tokuma. The instantaneous technique was so fast that even Tokuma didn't see it clearly.

The Alliance Army, the 5th Regiment, belongs to Iron Country General Mifune.

According to the Allied Army's plan, the Fifth Regiment will be one of the main forces participating in the war.

All they have to do is wait for the defeat of Akatsuki and the break between the Alliance Army and the Kingdom of Demons. The Fifth Regiment will be dispatched and go to the Kingdom of Rain to support the battle, assist the frontline personnel, and complete the operation to kill the main force of the Kingdom of Demons.

If he truly obeyed sincerely, Mifune believed that such a thing would be a matter of course.

But unfortunately, he is a samurai, not a ninja. He assisted the Alliance in the battle. It was only because of the exposure of the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan that he accepted the Alliance's order to participate in the crusade against Akatsuki.

However, the subsequent conflict between the Alliance Army and the Kingdom of Demons is not something that the samurai of the Kingdom of Iron must participate in.

At the beginning of the war, Mifune also made it clear again and again that he would not assist the Alliance Army in the war with the Kingdom of Demons.

However, when the situation has reached this stage, no matter how much Mifune denies it, it seems difficult for the samurai to clearly separate themselves from the alliance.

Fortunately, the conflict with the Kingdom of Ghosts is still not in direct conflict. However, if he really leads the Fifth Regiment and enters the Kingdom of Rain to assist the Alliance Army in dealing with the Kingdom of Ghosts, then there will be a conflict between the two forces.

, it is no longer a neutral position.

Regardless of success or failure, the neutral status of the Iron Kingdom will become an embarrassing issue.
To be continued...