The twelve guardian ninja warriors.

As a force that closely protects the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, it is the Daimyo's private force.

The so-called Twelve Knights refer to twelve elite ninjas who are very powerful. Each of them will be equipped with a "fire" loincloth on their waist to show their identity.

As the son of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Asuma has been going smoothly ever since he joined the Twelve Guardian Ninjas and protected the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.

It's just that recently, the conflict that has gradually arisen between Konoha and the Fire Country has earned him a lot of secretly malicious looks in such a position.

My thumb slipped on the gear, and with a crisp sound, a wisp of flame erupted from the lighter in my hand.

Sarutobi Asuma lit a cigarette for himself and took a puff in his bearded mouth. At the same time, the peripheral vision of his eyes swept past the people who were following him secretly nearby.

Then, he pretended that nothing happened and continued to return.

Returning to the station, the closed door blocked out the outside world. Asuma stubbed out the remaining cigarette in his hand and walked towards his friend and colleague Jilu.

At this time, the sound of daily chanting was ringing out in Dilu's room.

Asma stood outside the door for a while. When the chanting was over, she pushed the door open and entered.

"More and more people are spying on me recently," he said straight to the point.

Di Lu stood up dressed as a Taoist monk and said without any surprise: "Not only you, but also me, Bei Gen, Cheng Ma, Xing Dou, and Leng Yu have all been monitored during this period."

Asuma couldn't help but frown deeply after hearing this.

The people Chichiriku mentioned were all the same conservative faction as him among the Twelve Guardian Ninja Warriors, that is, they firmly rejected the idea of ​​the radical faction headed by Kazuma that there was no need for the Hokage and that the real power of the ninja should be controlled by the daimyo.

People.

The majestic capital of the Land of Fire can unscrupulously monitor them as the troops directly under the Daimyo. Just think about it and you know where they come from.

Just because the conflicts between the top management of Konoha and the Fire Nation have intensified during this period, the status of these conservative groups who support the Hokage has become very embarrassing.

"Kazuma and his group have recently received the support of senior officials from the Fire Country, and their arrogance has become even more arrogant. The other party has an extremely radical temperament, and it is difficult to guarantee that nothing will happen. Asuma, Konoha has given instructions during this time.

Have you ever had anything to do with me?"

Dilu asked Asuma at this time.

The Fire Temple and Konoha have always had a very close relationship. Although he is currently on duty as a guardian of ninja, Jilu still prefers Konoha in his heart.

Not only him, but people like Kitane and Narima are more or less closely related to Konoha.

There are natural reasons for being able to always stand on the side of the moderates.

Although the so-called twelve guardian ninjas are directly subordinate to the daimyo, their ability to grow into powerful ninjas is partly due to the influence of Konoha who masters the knowledge of ninjas from the Land of Fire.

This is also the reason why in the past Konoha has always allowed the existence of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, a ninja force that is outside the ninja system.

Although people like Chilu had some comments about the Fourth Hokage's unusual behavior during this period, they have been labeled and can only go one way to the end.

Asuma shook his head and said: "After all, it is an internal matter of the Twelve Guardian Ninjas. Judging from the current situation, it is not easy for Konoha to interfere."

Jilu was silent, and finally could only say: "Kazuma is a person who is unwilling to be lonely. Asuma, you and I must be more vigilant recently."

Lighting another cigarette, Asma nodded silently.

......

As the leader of the radical faction to protect the Twelve Shinobi, Kazuma has been very proud of himself recently. Especially after receiving various supports from the top officials of the Fire Nation, headed by Minister Zuo, his radical faction has grown stronger and successfully suppressed for the first time

The conservative faction led by Sarutobi Asuma.

But this is not enough.

Even if his idea has the support of a group of high-ranking nobles, it is still not enough when facing the huge ninja world's number one ninja village.

Kazuma knows this very well.

For this reason, he had made many proposals to the daimyo before to strengthen the power of the guardian ninja.

Compared with the support from Minister Zuo and others, the support from the daimyo and the entire Fire Nation will undoubtedly enable him to truly be unafraid of Konoha Village.

What surprised him was that this proposal, which was obviously beneficial to the daimyo's rise to power, was rejected by the latter.

The reason given was actually to avoid conflict with Konoha.

"Damn!"

When he thought of this, Kazuma became very angry.

You must know that everything he did was to allow the Fire Country Daimyos to gain full real power.

Obviously everything was for the sake of the other party, but the latter actually blamed him for doing too much.

Kazuma's mood at this time was as sad and angry as "I am about to fight to the death, why did your Majesty surrender first?"

"Obviously Konoha has provoked the first, but the daimyo still wants to give in. It is really too weak!"

The more Kazuma thought about it, the angrier he became, so that in the end, he even aroused the bold idea in his heart that "it's better to change his name".

At this moment, special envoys from Minister Zuo and others came to meet.

After a private conversation, he began to feel more and more reasonable about this new idea. Even after he told the whole story, the special envoy unexpectedly did not reprimand him, but instead discussed the feasibility of the matter.

This made Kazuma overjoyed and strengthened his determination to make what he thought was the right decision to cut through the mess quickly.

However, he didn't know that just as the special envoy left, deep in the opponent's hole, a pair of bloody Sharingan eyes were constantly flowing.

The captain of the ANBU team carrying out the mission to the Fire Nation's capital this time is Uchiha Shisui.

Although he is famous for his teleportation technique, when it comes to genjutsu alone, even without considering other gods, his level is at the top of the ninja world.

You know, when he encountered the Mist Ninjas led by Qing, he directly used illusions from a distance to knock down two Mist Ninjas, forcing Qing to retreat.

Nowadays, a special envoy who is just an ordinary person can be easily captured.

Minister Zuo and others naturally do not have the courage to assassinate the Daimyo, but with the help of ANBU, this matter can be done even if it is not possible.

The purpose of this ANBU operation is very clear.

That is to provoke civil strife among the Twelve Guardian Shinobi, destroy their organization, and take this opportunity to defeat the Konoha opposition led by Minister Zuo.

To achieve this, Yunting and others have already prepared their goals.

It's Kazuma.

This person who was eccentric and even dared to assassinate the Daimyo for his own ideals was just used as a pawn.

At that time, not only will it lead to the destruction of the twelve guardian ninjas as in the original history, but they will also be able to follow the clues and use the assassination of the daimyo as evidence to kill Minister Zuo and others.

In order to ensure that the plan is foolproof, Yunting appointed Uchiha Shisui, a master of illusions, as the team leader.

Late at night.

As soon as Shisui returned to the ANBU's secret base in the capital after applying genjutsu again to the special envoy, the cat-faced masked ninja who had been on guard outside became aware of it.

Zhisui naturally knew that this was his clan brother Itachi, but because of ANBU rules, he accepted Itachi's inspection without saying a word.

Only after the password is confirmed to be correct will the person be released.

Looking at Itachi's back who continued to stand guard behind him, Zhisui suddenly felt a little emotional.

Time flies so fast.

Children who were still attending ninja school can now contribute to Konoha.

In particular, this kind of dedication of strength is not just a tool obligation in the past, but a real struggle for ideals.

He couldn't help but think of a debate between the two two years ago.

......

In the Uchiha training ground, there was still the familiar forest. After the training, at Yunting's request, Itachi began to tell Shisui about the concept of unified peace.

This is not mentioned in the Will of Fire books.

Only the trusted confidants around Yunting can teach this concept.

Itachi, who has been deeply influenced by Yunting's thoughts since childhood, naturally has this qualification.

Even now, the latter still has the ability to explain this concept to Shisui, a person who is now qualified.

However, after Shisui understood a little bit, he disagreed for the first time and said: "This... is too extreme! In addition to the Fire Country in the Ninja World, there are four powerful countries and countless small countries. We really want to unify into one country.

If so, how many wars must be waged and how many people must die to achieve this goal. If things go wrong once, it will only last longer. This will not only fail to usher in peace, but will cause more turmoil!"

Itachi retorted: "There will inevitably be pains on the road to unification, but as long as these are overcome, true peace can indeed come. Just like the original Fire Nation, it was just a small country on today's territory.

The smaller country became the big country it is today after going through countless expansion wars. Although there were many casualties, once unified, apart from foreign invasions, there was no turmoil within the country for so many years. The same principle is true.

It applies to the entire ninja world. If all countries are united into one country, true peace will come. For this, no matter how big the sacrifice is, it is worth it."

As a ruthless person in history who destroyed his own family for the sake of the village, Itachi has never been a compassionate person, nor does he lack the will to sacrifice.

Whether it is sacrificing oneself or sacrificing others.

As long as the ultimate goal can be achieved, no matter how many people die, it is worth it in his opinion.

He naturally sneered at the price Zhisui said.

How can we achieve true peace without paying a price?
To be continued...