-Sunagakure command center-

"Inaba Shinkuro huh... he could be really troublesome." The Kagekaze said seriously, he knew of that name, one of the most famous figures in Konoha, but there was also the fact that he knew... too little about him.

"Due to his presence, we can’t really predict what will happen, but he is renowned as the greatest genius ever born in Konoha, so he must have some plans which we are not able to identify." An advisor with a fierce scar on his face said with a solemn expression.

Then, it was Chiyo who spoke, "There is also the lack of information of his strength... We know nothing about him, how he fights, his strengths, weaknesses... nothing.

All we know is that, no shinobi, who has ever engaged him, returned alive.

And... there were never any signs of a fight, which clearly means, Inaba Shinkuro killed them, before they could even fight back.

And, this number consists of over a hundred jounin. And given the fact that he is the one commanding the battlefield, it would be safe to assume that he is the strongest one here, meaning, he is definitely Kage level."

"And this brings the number of Kage they have to four, maybe five... we need the blessing of the Sage of Six Paths to win this war." The Kazekage sighed, but then turned serious again, and asked, "Chiyo, do you have any relevant information which could estimate the strength of Inaba Shikurou?"

"There is a bit of information... but they can only speculate his strength, not confirm it.

He is commonly recognized as the future Third Hokage of Konoha, it is almost certain that he is here just to rack up merits. Which implies that he has enough strength to hold the position of Hokage.

But, the thing we need to actually worry about is this statement from Tobirama Senju, the second Hokage of Konoha... who, personally stated that, Inaba Shinkuro, his only student, has surpassed him, and is stronger than him.

But, we were only able to get that through rumors, but after confirmation, the probability of this statement being spoken is over 70%" Chiyo said with an even tone, trying to mask her expressions, but failing.

Her words were enough to pressurize the people in the room even more. "Stronger than Tobirama Senju? Are you crazy!! I... I have witnessed that monster myself, the first Kazekage himself fell to his vicious blade...

If he really is stronger than Tobirama Senju, then, no one in the world is his opponent. Maybe only those two Gods, Hashirama and Madara... could claim to be stronger than Tobirama Senju." Said an old advisor, his face had morphed into one of horror.

He was old, he had seen a lot of battles, and he was active in the warring states period too, he had the misfortune of seeing Tobirama Senju in battle, although he had never witnessed the god of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju fight, he estimated that even he would be at most, only a little stronger than Tobirama Senju.

"Well... He might have said that to build up his student’s reputation... If I remember correctly, Tobirama Senju is seventy now, correct?

Even if he was strong as a monster, how much of his strength does he even retain now? He must be in need of successors, and he said that to boost Inaba’s reputation, making his position more stable." The Kazekage reasoned.

"Lord Kazekage... If he is here to attain more merits, then you should be more careful during this war... His target, might be... You." A rather scholarly looking advisor said, he was the smartest of the lot, but also amongst the weakest, so his words had a mixed value.

"Hmph... Let him come then, I will deal with him personally. If it were Tobirama himself, I might have to be careful, but just his student thinks he can threaten me?" The Kazekage, even after all his cautiousness was, one of the five Kage, and he had his own pride.

With that, the meeting came to an end.

-Back to Konoha camp-

"Are you really even considering it a battlefield? This is a proper laboratory, no, a top class laboratory, and you are are casually conducting non-war related research here...

I mean, you are the commander, what do you think would the effect on the shinobi be, if they notice their commander indulging in... personal research, instead of, you know, commanding them." The one to reprimand me was Tsunade, which was a very rare scenario.

Unlike her usual personality, she was most of the time very gentle and agreeing with me... And the reason of her reprimand was actually for my sake, she didn’t want a stain on my reputation.

"Don’t worry about that Tsuna, cloning research might seem like its unrelated to war, but it is very much related, if we can perfect this, we can heal every crippled shinobi, which would be a very very reputation boosting move.

Besides, it will be completed before the real war starts, now we are at most harassing them." I chuckled.

"Fine... But still, you need to do some action time to time. And the Sand already has three thousand shinobi now, and judging from their momentum, they are planning on outnumbering us, which means that soon, their numbers would surpass five thousand." Tsunade sighed.

"Well, you know that I am keeping an eye on all their moves with my sensing jutsu, right?

Suna is actually on its last stand bringing these many forces, their total number is about eight thousand shinobi, and that is like counting every registered and non registered shinobi.

The ones left in Suna after this force is mobilized, would actually mostly just be the unregistered shinobi. Which means, the Kazekage has basically mobilized every forces under his command, rest are in the hands of clans.

Which means, every loss they take, would damage Suna’s core, and in this battle, I can make a legendary feat, and cripple Suna together, at once.

Even if Suna elects a new Kage later, those clans of Suna would, to some extent, hinder the Kage’s growth." Indeed it was all a part of my plan, to be honest, I was not a battle-crazed man.

Even after all this time in this world, I hadn’t completely adopted to killing, Which was why I preferred to use Ninjutsu, Genjutsu or long ranged attacks to kill someone.

Killing someone with a Ninjutsu from a distance, and going close and slitting their throats open was very different...

Shinobi were mostly used to it, because they were raised for it, but I was different, my life on earth affected my morals far too much.

So, even if I did kill... I actually preferred indirect killings, sure, I could take on every villages, and cause massive damages to them, my techniques were far more suited for instantly killing those weaker than me than Hashirama or Madara...

But, I simply did not like doing it... It was the main reason of my actions, why I wedged a war between Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri.

Maybe... according to shinobi standards, I might be a coward...

But, I would not change myself to suit their standards.

Even after all my talks, I knew, when it would come to execute it, I would probably unleash some jutsus capable of mass destruction on Suna forces, and kill the Kazekage. And that would be it...

Well, this might be a bit hypocritical, but basically... I think... I am only fine with killing until blood splatters on me.

And that is, very normal for an earthling. At least for the majority of the populace, that is... If you were asked to go buy chicken from the market, you could do it easily, but, if you were asked to kill the bird, and skin it yourself, could you do it?