For the final battle, Aoba had prepared countless trump cards and contingency plans. However, he was well aware that when the day came to directly face the Sage of the Six Paths, most of those preparations would be useless, or rather, they wouldn't even qualify to stand by his side.
In reality, most of his preparations were aimed at unifying the ninja world.
From Aoba's perspective, the timing was far from ripe, not because Konoha lacked military strength. As mentioned before, the people in the meeting room alone were enough to sweep across the entire ninja world.
What made him feel the timing was premature was that his grand educational reform had only just begun. Militarily conquering the ninja world was easy, but governing it afterward was a different matter. The people of the ninja world had yet to undergo a fundamental transformation in their thinking.
Even if the ninja world were united now, it wouldn't meet Aoba's standards. Worse, it could collapse at any moment.
However, enemies would not wait for the perfect timing. The Sage of the Six Paths was closing in, and Aoba himself was facing the greatest bottleneck of his life. He had come too far to stop now.
"With Konoha's current strength, we can easily crush Iwagakure. Kumogakure has already been absorbed by Kirigakure, so our greatest enemy now is Kirigakure."
The speaker was Shikaku, a core member of Konoha's think tank. His words naturally carried weight.
"The one in charge of Kirigakure now is Madara Uchiha. He is not on the same level as Onoki."
Indeed, Madara, even without the Rinnegan or the Mangekyō Sharingan, was in peak physical condition. As someone who once stood alongside the God of Shinobi, his mere presence exerted immense pressure on Konoha's forces.
"Madara is indeed a formidable opponent, but I need you to trust me, against today's Konoha, Madara is no longer an insurmountable problem."
If Madara still had the Rinnegan, Aoba would not have initiated this war so proactively. After all, the Rinnegan in Madara's hands was a completely different concept from when it was in Obito's.
Although Madara was not someone to be feared outright, Aoba would never underestimate him either.
To counter Madara, Aoba had assembled a special tactical team consisting of:
Kakashi Hatake, Minato Namikaze, Shin, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Nagato Uzumaki and Uchiha Itachi (code name: Crow).
The core of this team revolved around the two Flying Thunder God users, Kakashi and Minato.
All six members were equipped with chakra cloaks and had undergone physical enhancements using White Zetsu cells. Aoba believed this was more than enough to deal with the current Madara.
More importantly, Kakashi now wielded dual Kamui. As the most powerful Mangekyō Sharingan user in Konoha's history, Kakashi, no longer burdened by chakra depletion, had undergone extensive training and had completely mastered the use of both Kamui techniques.
With dual Kamui as the ultimate safeguard, combined with Flying Thunder God and a squad of top-tier shinobi, even Aoba at his peak would hesitate to confront this team recklessly.
The most fundamental requirement for unifying the ninja world was consolidating all its resources and eliminating potential threats.
Aoba had no intention of allowing Madara to launch a surprise attack while he was battling the Sage of the Six Paths.
More importantly, Aoba didn't want to fight Madara to the death. In truth, the person in the ninja world whose thinking was closest to Aoba's was none other than Madara.
That was why Aoba preferred to recruit him rather than destroy him.
However, Madara was not someone who could be easily persuaded, even Aoba couldn't do it with words alone. To make Madara submit, he had to defeat him.
Not just in raw power but in every possible way.
This time, Aoba was laying all his cards on the table to achieve that goal. Only by conquering Madara could he truly integrate the ninja world's strength.
Then, and only then, could he move forward without any hesitation.
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI