Chapter 62: Selecting opponents

Hearing the shocking news that the war will start in 3 days, everyone felt depressed especially when they heard the clear involvement of both Kumo and Iwa which are equally as strong as Konoha if not stronger.

'I wish we had more time, maybe Minato or Kushina could have learned the Forbidden Jutsu Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation (Edo Tensei) and use it to have better bodies' I thought before I quickly shook my head

'No, who am I kidding myself about? even a genius like Orochimaru took years and years to learn this Jutsu and it was only perfected in the end at the hands of Kabuto so it wasn't a possible solution in the first place, this was the best course of actions unfortunately.

let's just gather as much information as possible from this situation and take advantage of this war...'.

Fugaku, who already knew about this wasn't as depressed as everyone else and I guessed this was what caused him to be distressed when I saw him inside his office with Mukai and I understood now why he didn't want to tell me then.

'Mukai huh, now that I think about it I really need to handle that guy soon before he becomes too much trouble'

I have many ways to verify someone's loyalty, and I was checking the one I trusted the most, a simple quest that didn't change in my system interface and that's the quest about gaining loyal followers.

This quest will change when two conditions are met: first I make a deal with someone to be my follower/

And two, he wholeheartedly agrees to follow me and really become loyal to me.

In Mukai's case, I can see that I never gained his loyalty that's why the mission is still showing 2/3.

Meaning I have 3 followers but only 2 of them are truly loyal and knowing Minato's and Kushina's personalities, it's easy to tell who's the problematic person.

'Let see what you have to say later' I thought before I turned my attention to Fugaku "Fugaku, As much as you want to make preparations for those 4 hidden villages, I suggest you be wary of those Akatsuki members too and put them on the same level as the other hidden villages if not higher"

Hearing what I said, Fugaku narrowed his eyes and started to have a bad feeling at what I'm going to tell him next, and the others didn't feel any different other than Kurama who thought no one can beat him now.

"You already know How strong Orochimaru is and I am pretty sure that Danzo is going to join him during the attack that leaves three people, Kakuzu, Kisame, and the masked man who's relation to the Akatsuki is undetermined right now"

Fugaku nervously nodded at me and said "please explain anything you know about them"

"For the masked man, I am sure you know how dangerous he is and I think it's better if we leave Minato to deal with his annoying ability" Everyone agreed with this as Minato is the best choice with his Flying Thunder God Jutsu that can keep up with Obito's Kamui.

Seeing this, I continued my explanation "As for the other two, Kakuzu is someone who escaped from Taki along with their forbidden Jutsu which makes him almost immortal.

He's also a very cold-hearted individual and one of his greatest feats is trying to assassinate Hashirama at his prime and survived.

And now, thanks to the forbidden Jutsu he stole, he gained a weird ability that grants him 5 hearts that allow him to have access to all five elemental releases and escape death as long as one of them is still intact"

"WHAT!!" Kushina and Shisui yelled at the same time and everyone's jaw dropped especially at the mention of him fighting Hashirama and surviving, and it only grew after hearing he could use all five elemental releases which is something only very few ninjas could do and they are all at least Kage caliber ninjas like Hiruzen!

Add to that his immortality! left all of them with only one thought 'What a troublesome opponent'.

Hiruzen was shocked more than anyone here because he witnessed just how strong the first Hokage is with his own eyes; that's why he didn't even yell like the other two and simply stared with wide eyes.

I expected that they would be shocked, but it's necessary for them to be prepared for what they are going to face even if it lowers their morals even more so I continued "Next is Kisame, he was trained to be one of the seven ninja swordsmen of the mist by the previous wielder of Samehada and he killed his master while stealing this famous sword in the process.

This guy has a very cruel and twisted personality as he even targets his comrades sometimes, he's very good at water release and I believe he might even rival the second Hokage Tobirama at it.

Add to that his use of Samehada makes him very problematic to those who rely heavily on Ninjutsu or pure chakra like Jinchurikis as I believe he can deal with most Jinchurikis including the eight tails one without any assistance"

'I said I believe, but this was true as he dealt with killer b on his own' I thought while my fellow Konoha ninja started feeling just how hopeless this situation is.

"I suggest, Fugaku deals with Kakuzu as your Mangekyo Sharingan will help you avoid his troublesome abilities and give you the opportunity to destroy his heart and retreat whenever you wish, as for Kisame, I think Kakashi and Mukai are best suited to deal with him"

'Unfortunately, Guy is still a little bit young and doesn't have a strong mastery of the 8 gates release so he can't deal with the current Kisame otherwise he would have been a better choice than Mukai' I thought.

Hiruzen and Fugaku frowned for different reasons. The former was betrayed by Mukai while the latter didn't trust him from the start so they couldn't help but ask "Mukai can indeed be very useful with his Taijutsu skills being probably the best in Konoha right now and a great counter to Kisame but can you guarantee that he will not betray us again?"

Hearing Hiruzen's question I simply shrugged and said with narrowed eyes "I can't guarantee to you that I won't betray you; not to mention Mukai"

Hearing this Hiruzen was shocked and took a step away from me 'As I guessed he doesn't fully trust me' I thought as I quickly went back to my innocent face and looked at the distressed Hiruzen that knew he just made a huge mistake.

Everyone noticed how weird his reaction was and Fugaku almost release his killing intent at this! 'He still won't fully trust us' was all he was thinking in anger.

"Relax, I am just joking, I will make sure he doesn't betray us don't worry, just think about how you deal with your student and friend, I can't wait to see what excuse you will make this time to let them escape"

Hiruzen didn't know what to say and lowered his head. Meanwhile, Fugaku ignored this useless old man and asked what concerned him the most "this way our high-level forces are already spent and we can't deal with the hidden villages"

I shook my head "Well, we have Jiraiya, Kurama, and Shisui other than that we can only hope the rest of the clans can do their best, we can't survive this without huge sacrifices..." I paused for a second here before I said "I will do my best too"

Fugaku understood that I was planning to use my Mangekyo Sharingan and couldn't help but repeat 'we can only do our best huh'

This unlucky man just like Minato couldn't enjoy his position as Hokage at all and had to be thrown directly into a war and now, the time for him to make the final preparations has come...