Chapter 320 Burning Heaven (4)

Naoko Seku has always been dissatisfied with his living environment. His home is located in the middle of Konohagakure, slightly south of the village. It is not an exaggeration to say that every inch of land is worth a lot of money. There is a busy commercial street outside the door, and you can even see the Hokage Building from the window, but he is not satisfied. The reason is that he had a group of rough neighbors a few years ago.

At this time, he stood by the window, looking helplessly at the noise on the left, where dozens of guys with naked upper bodies were grinding their bodies, their bones exposed, and every collision had ghostly howling sounds penetrating the soundproof glass and drilling into his ears. They also liked to light a huge bonfire at night, which illuminated his house as bright as day.

That's right, next door is the famous Kaguya clan, who are well-known in the ninja world for their recklessness and bloodlust, their brutal and brainless behavior, and their arrogance and disrespect. Nao Sekku has had enough of them.

"Nao, it's time for breakfast."

His mother's shouting came from downstairs. Naoaki Sekku shook his head and was about to close the curtains when he suddenly heard loud cheers. He looked up again and saw the group of savages jumping up and down with joy, forming a circle and dancing, as if they were on drugs.

In a trance, Naoaki Sekku heard them shouting "war" in unison, and his heart skipped a beat. After opening the window, clearer sounds came into his ears.

"Kill the Kumo Ninja!"

"Cut them into pieces!"

"Let Lord Hokage see the bravery of our clan!"

"Give the order, Chief. We've been bored for a long time!"

The clan leader, who was like an iron tower, clenched his fist and shouted, "Everyone, get ready. We will set off soon!"

The militants scattered in a hurry. Naoki Sekku's face was full of horror. He ran downstairs and found his father sitting at the dining table: "Father, the group of people next door are crazy."

His father, Sekubo Toshi, was holding a bowl of porridge, his hair combed meticulously. He glanced at his son and said nothing. His mother came out of the kitchen holding a plate of poached eggs, with a loving look on her face: "Nao, sit down and eat first. It won't taste good if it gets cold."

Naoko Seku had no appetite for food. He ran to his room, put on a Konoha vest and a ninja bag, and was about to go out, but was stopped by Hori Seku: "Sit down and eat."

"..."

Naoaki Sekku took off the ninja sword from his back and leaned against the table leg. He sat down reluctantly and swallowed the fried egg in one bite. However, the porridge was very hot and he couldn't finish it quickly, so he had to take small sips.

Sekubo Li slowly picked up the poached egg, thought for a moment and said, "The noise next door was very loud, I actually heard everything they said."

"Then father, you..."

"Listen to me," Sekubori said after taking a bite of the egg, "stay home after dinner and don't go out. Your mother has been coughing badly recently and needs someone to take care of her at home."

"As for what's going on outside, leave it to me. But with Hokage-sama here, I think it won't be a big deal."

Naoki Sekku blushed and refuted his father's words in a rare move: "I am the village's Chunin. If there are enemies plotting against me, I have the obligation to take up arms and fight."

"But you are my only son, so you have an even greater obligation to take care of your mother!"

Sekubo said something harsh, then he said softly, "Don't worry, with the Hokage here, the village will be safe. The persimmon tree in the yard is ripe, pick some after dinner and share some with your neighbors. The pomegranate tree will take a few days to ripen, you need to sit in the yard and drive away the birds to prevent them from stealing the pomegranates."

Naoki Sekku's eyelids drooped. The young man had his own ambitions and sense of family and country in his heart, and he probably did not agree with what his father said. But looking at his mother's almost pleading eyes beside him, no matter how much he wanted to say, he could only swallow it down along with the porridge.

"I have three children. Your brother and sister died on the battlefield. You can't have any more accidents."

Sekubo Toshi gently touched his son's hair and said, "You need to be sensible and support your family as soon as possible. Don't always have a stern face when you see your neighbors on weekdays. Say hello to them more often. A close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. Do you understand?"

"The persimmon and pomegranate trees in the yard were planted by me after your brother and sister died. Now they are bearing fruit. I always feel that this is them coming home to see me and their mother."

The middle-aged man spoke more, which was unusual for him. His eyes were shining, as if filled with countless pains.

"I have heard the news outside. Perhaps the village is about to face a major turmoil. The enemy is unwilling to let the village go and wants to launch some messy attack. I should not agree with it."

"For this village to be as prosperous as it is today, my father and mother shed their blood, and my son and daughter lost their lives. This is the crystallization of the meaning of their lives, and I will not allow anyone to desecrate or destroy it."

"But Nao, I'm old, your mother is old too, and you don't have any brothers or sisters to support each other. This time you just listen to me and stay at home, okay? Okay?"

Naoaki Sekku's throat was blocked and his eyes turned red. He turned around to look at the photos of his brothers and sisters hanging on the wall, then buried his head and drank the boiling hot porridge in big gulps.

"Father, it's not that I'm stingy and don't want to share, there are just not many persimmons in the yard, so I can only share a little with the neighbors. I have to take the rest to my brothers and sisters."

The white-haired middle-aged woman covered her mouth and sobbed softly. She must have remembered the voices and appearances of her two children. Sekubo held her hand and smiled, saying, "You can handle these small matters as you wish. Remember to bring a few packs of cigarettes for your brother. He is a real smoker. Bring a red dress for your sister. She is always so vain."

The middle-aged man hugged his wife in his arms, picked up the porridge on the table and handed it to her mouth, blowing it like coaxing a child: "Drink it while it's hot, let's finish this breakfast together."

Forty-eight years have passed since the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, established the one village, one country system in the Warring States Period. For the dream of peace, almost every home in the Konohagakure has a few photos of deceased relatives hanging on the wall, and the homes in Yeshan are even more covered with photos...

Sadness permeated every family, but soon after, they resolutely bid farewell to their loved ones and slowly gathered under the Hokage Building. The soul of a ninja village is never a will or a shadow, but a group of inconspicuous people who created history and opened up the future.

At this time, a meeting was being held in the Hokage's office. Only a few people participated, including Hayama, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Keiji, and except for Namikaze Minato who was guarding Uzumaki Kushina all the time, all the village's top leaders had actually arrived.

Ye Shan frowned and stared at the map on the table in silence. Uchiha Keiji had a circle of white cloth wrapped around his left arm. His brother Uchiha Keitoku had died outside the capital.

"Thousands of Cloud Ninjas dare to cross the border. I don't believe it if they don't have a backup plan!"

Uchiha Fugaku hesitated for a moment and then said, "Should we call back the troops from the New Rain Country?"

Ye Shan shook his head and said, "It's too late. It will take at least a week for the troops to be transferred back. The enemy will reach the village's outer defense line tomorrow night at the latest. Now we can only passively defend, and we can't even rashly launch an annihilation war. No one knows what the enemy has in mind."

"The worst case scenario is that the troops of the four major nations gather outside the village. They want to take advantage of the loosening of the seal when the Jinchūriki gives birth to launch a war to destroy the village. And once we lose the long-range attack capability of the Nine-Tails, we will have no good way to wipe them out in one fell swoop."

Uchiha Keiji's face turned pale, and he said hatefully, "I'm applying to go to the front line. I want to use the blood of the enemy to commemorate my useless brother!"

Ye Shan glanced at the other party and said softly: "You can't go. None of you Uchiha clan can leave the village."

"I sent the Kaguya clan, the Mizunotsuki clan, and the Sarutobi clan to the conference. Don't you really understand the purpose of this?"

Ye Shan stared at the map and said, "To fight foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country. The Mizunotsuki and Kaguya clans have not been in the village for long, and no one can guarantee whether they will be part of the enemy's self-torture. The Sarutobi clan, needless to say, has been exploited by me over the years, and there is a lot of opposition within the clan. Leaving these three clans in the village is like a time bomb. If they are stabbed at a critical moment, the village may really collapse and fail. As the Hokage, I am not afraid of gossip or their displeasure. As long as the village can get through this difficult time safely, I will kowtow to them and admit my mistakes."

"The Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan are my direct descendants. You have no reason to betray the village and me. Keeping you by my side just in case is both my selfish desire and the best option at the moment."

"It is better to be prepared than to be unprepared. It is better to consider failure before considering success. I have always been a pessimist."

Ye Shan rubbed his face and smiled bitterly: "I am an unpopular Hokage. I am not as respected as Sarutobi Hiruzen. I don't have the so-called family support behind me. No matter how strong I am, I can't do anything in the face of tens of thousands of enemies. So, I need your support."

Uchiha Fugaku nodded, neither expressing gratitude nor objecting, and said in a calm voice: "I have already issued orders to the Security Department, Anbu, and Root. They are forbidden to act privately. Everyone is on standby. The clan can mobilize about 400 elite soldiers, all of whom are our own people who have been on the battlefield and seen blood. When the time comes, they will be handed over to you for instructions."

Ye Shan thought again and again: "First we need to defeat the thousands of Cloud Ninjas, and then we can talk about other things. No matter what the cost, we must stop the enemies outside the village!"

"Distribute all radios down to the squad level to ensure the chain of command is unobstructed."

"All warehouses are open, and ninja tools, medicines, and war rations are distributed in full according to the manual standards."

"Temporarily activate the ninja school as a field hospital, send the Root to guard it, and all medical ninjas enter the barrier and stand by."

Just as he gave the order, Nara Shikaku rushed in, his face full of anxiety and panic. Ye Shan's heart sank and he asked, "What happened?"

Nara Shikaku seemed to be laughing and crying, and he swallowed and said, "Lord Hatake Sakumo appeared on the outskirts of the village, and several teams have already rushed over."

"Who?"

Ye Shan's eyes widened, thinking he had misheard, and asked again: "Who did you say is here?"

"Master Hatake Sakumo."

"Fuck your motherfucker!"