Samui's expression was grim. Although Kumogakure was the most powerful military force in the Land of Lightning, it was far from without weaknesses. In fact, compared to other hidden villages, Kumogakure was even more constrained by the Daimyō's court.
After all, Kumogakure demanded too much— not only in terms of ninjutsu, but also in technological development.
This meant that every year, the village required a significant amount of funding. These funds were essentially provided by the Daimyō's court, which in turn made Kumogakure heavily dependent on it.
"Are we going to start a war?"
"If it's just Kumogakure and Konohagakure going to war, it wouldn't be in our interests. Instead, it would benefit the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, and even the Land of Water."
Darui frowned. He wasn't in favor of going to war with Konoha.
If the benefits were sufficient, then fighting Konoha would be one thing. But starting a war just because of one Daimyō's fear—no matter how one looked at it, it wasn't a wise decision.
"Maybe we could try probing Konoha again, like we did with the Byakugan incident?"
The Fourth Raikage, A, looked toward Darui and Samui. Back then, Kumogakure had clearly been in the wrong, yet they had still managed to pressure Konoha into sacrificing Hyūga Hizashi. That success made A instinctively want to replicate the same strategy.
"According to the intelligence from our spies, Konoha has no control over Uchiha Keizumi. Forcing them to sacrifice him is practically impossible."
"And with the Third Hokage stepping down, Tsunade, as his successor, may not be as soft as Sarutobi Hiruzen."
Samui shook her head. To be honest, she herself had never expected the Hyūga incident from years ago to actually succeed.
They had been the ones at fault, yet all they did was issue strong condemnation and posture as if they were ready for war—and Konoha actually backed down!
"Can we bring the Land of Earth into this?"
"Iwagakure should be under just as much pressure as we are."
"That old man, ??noki, has raised so many shinobi in Iwagakure. Every single one of them costs money. If their Daimyō cuts off funding, it might force Iwagakure into attacking Konoha as well."
The Fourth Raikage nodded. He had never fought Tsunade, but he felt that a Kage like the Third Hokage was unlikely to appear again—someone who could be intimidated so easily into submission. That kind of experience had been far too satisfying.
"We can have our Daimyō send a message to the Land of Earth's Daimyō and arrange a joint assault on Konoha."
After thinking for a moment, Darui finally agreed with the plan.
After all, Kumogakure didn't seem to have any better options. Their reliance on the Daimyō's court was simply too severe.
"What about the Land of Wind?"
"Should we have the Daimyō contact them as well?"
Killer B had been listening boredly the whole time. Hearing no mention of the Land of Wind, he couldn't help but try to contribute.
But neither the Fourth Raikage, Samui, nor Darui paid any attention to his naive suggestion.
If there was any village in the shinobi world that depended the least on its Daimyō—or didn't care about them at all—it was Sunagakure.
After all, when the Kazekage himself was out mining gold, how much loyalty could you expect from Sunagakure toward the Daimyō?
The fact that they even addressed him as "Daimyō" was already a sign of respect.
While the Land of Lightning began making rapid preparations for war against Konoha, in Iwagakure of the Land of Earth, ??noki stared at the intelligence report that had just reached his hands, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"How is this possible?!"
"How could that brat from the Uchiha clan create a brand-new Kekkei Tōta?!"
??noki instinctively dismissed it as fabricated intelligence. As someone who had mastered a Kekkei Tōta himself, who in the shinobi world could understand its difficulty better than him?
Take Deidara, for example. His C4 looked capable of destroying everything at a microscopic level, but that was only because, after leaving Iwagakure, he had no proper guidance and had to explore his own path.
From what ??noki knew, mastering a Kekkei Tōta like Dust Release required merging two Kekkei Genkai at the microscopic level. One mistake in that process, and the user would be annihilated by their own technique!
"This probably isn't false intelligence. According to reports from other parts of the Land of Fire, half the country saw a sun rising from the direction of Konoha this morning."
"The Uchiha clan has always specialized in Fire Release. It's possible they've been researching the power of Kekkei Tōta in secret for a long time."
His son, Kitsuchi, confirmed the authenticity of the report. ??noki's expression grew darker.
"Go bring Deidara to me. I'm personally supervising his training today!"
??noki had made up his mind. Kekkei Tōta had always been something exclusive to Iwagakure, yet now Konoha had produced a second one. Coupled with his age, he decided it was time to push Deidara harder.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Just as his words fell, massive explosions erupted in the distance outside Iwagakure.
Accompanying the blasts was a wild, arrogant voice: "Behold my art!"
Another series of violent explosions followed. At that moment, ??noki and the others immediately realized—
The enemy had already reached the village gates.
As ??noki and Kitsuchi stepped out of the Tsuchikage's building, they immediately saw the Deva Path of Pain floating in the sky.
Under his gaze, Konan was engaged in an intense battle with Deidara.
One used clay, the other explosive tags. The entire village of Iwagakure was engulfed in the sound of explosions.
"Akatsuki?!"
Seeing the black cloak with red clouds on the Deva Path, ??noki was momentarily stunned before recognizing the organization.
"You dare attack Iwagakure? Has Akatsuki completely abandoned its cooperation with us?"
Using Light-Weight Rock Technique, ??noki rose into the air, confronting the Deva Path midair.
"Cooperation?"
"We have already done what we were supposed to do. Yet Iwagakure refuses to pay the remaining bounty."
"Old man, do you really think there's still any possibility of cooperation between Akatsuki and Iwagakure?"
On another part of the battlefield, Kakuzu glared viciously at ??noki. In terms of hatred, ??noki now ranked even higher than Uchiha Keizumi in Kakuzu's mind.
After all, Keizumi had only killed a newcomer who had just joined Akatsuki.
But Iwagakure?
They hadn't paid.
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