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"???"
What did that mean?
The Wind Country Daimyo was momentarily stunned, and Chiyo immediately grew anxious.
She had finally convinced the daimyo to provide support, only for them to run short on supplies. What kind of joke was this?
They were just purchasing daily necessities—not a massive batch of war-preparedness materials. How could there possibly be a shortage?
Facing the Water Country Daimyo's confusion and Chiyo's urgency, the Fire Country Daimyo explained helplessly, "A few days ago, that old geezer the Third Hokage showed up out of nowhere with a ton of money. He came straight to me and bought up a huge load of supplies from me. Everything's already been shipped out. But what's left should still be enough to meet your Hidden Sand Village's needs."
"The Hidden Leaf?"
The Hidden Leaf Village basically never lacked daily necessities; they were completely self-sufficient.
What kind of madness had possessed the Third Hokage to buy such a massive quantity? Wasn't he afraid it would all go to waste in storage?
Or was the Hidden Leaf trying to profiteer off the war?
Chiyo didn't dwell on these questions.
As long as the purchases could satisfy the Hidden Sand Village's requirements, what the Hidden Leaf did with their excess supplies in their spare time was none of her concern.
Thus, the Wind Country Daimyo gritted his teeth and forked over the funds, while Chiyo returned to the Hidden Sand Village fully satisfied with a large haul of goods.
Meanwhile, the Fire Country Daimyo gleefully raked in a hefty profit, counting money until his fingers cramped.
At that moment, the Hidden Mist Village's envoy delegation arrived in the Hidden Leaf, approaching with an attitude of confrontation and demands.
But the Hidden Leaf completely ignored them.
"What are you planning to do?"
Ever since the Mist Village delegation arrived, Tsunade's expression had been nothing but sour.
"Just let them stew. What else can we do? We can't exactly drive them out or kill them, right?"
Kazuki couldn't help but feel amused. What kind of operation was the Mist Village running?
They had gone so far as to send an envoy delegation, yet not a single high-ranking official was among them. What was the meaning of this?
"You handle it however you want."
Since the Mist Village had no shame, they couldn't blame the Hidden Leaf for not putting on a pretty show.
Tsunade didn't want to deal with it, so Kazuki directly dispatched Shikaku to receive them. After escorting the group to their guest quarters, he left them to their own devices.
They were left waiting for several days, practically fuming with frustration and on the verge of breaking out in stress-induced rashes, before Kazuki finally agreed to meet them in the Hokage office building.
The Mist Village delegation, each one seething with pent-up anger and sporting long faces, arrived in the meeting room designated for the audience.
"Lord Advisor, this is outright contempt from your Hidden Leaf!!!"
"Yes, we represent our village, yet the Hidden Leaf has been utterly arrogant—ignoring us for days on end before deigning to see us."
The moment Kazuki entered the meeting room and took his seat, the Mist representatives began complaining one after another.
'Oh ho, quite the grudge they're holding'.
Kazuki found it somewhat hilarious. He clapped his hand to silence them all and said in a mocking tone, "I'm sorry, but yes—I am looking down on your Hidden Mist Village. What about it? Not happy?"
"Uh…"
The delegation members had been griping mostly to seize the initiative, but Kazuki's opening line left them completely dumbfounded.
I'm straight-up looking down on your Hidden Mist Village. If you're unhappy, come bite me.
"BAM!!!"
Before they could recover, Kazuki slammed the table and stood up, pointing at them with a cold expression as he thundered, "Who gave you the guts to come to the Hidden Leaf and demand answers? Or does the Hidden Mist Village think it can lord over the Hidden Leaf and point fingers? Who we do business with is the Hidden Leaf's own affair—it has nothing to do with your Hidden Mist Village. Don't use the assassination of the Water Country Daimyo as an excuse to boss others around. Setting aside whether the Hidden Sand Village was actually responsible—even if they were, that's a grudge between your Mist Village and the Sand. It has zero connection to the Hidden Leaf. The Hidden Leaf selling war-preparedness materials to the Sand is a transaction between the Sand and the Leaf. If your Mist Village is unhappy about it, then come buy from us too—we'll sell to you all the same!"
Trying to use the Water Country Daimyo's assassination to force the Hidden Leaf to pick a side?
Go to hell with that—you must still be dreaming.
"This is the Hidden Leaf's position. You can take my exact words back and relay them to your village's higher-ups. Oh, and don't forget to add this: if you're going to fight the Hidden Sand Village, then fight them properly. Stop hopping around in front of the Hidden Leaf like fools—unless you want to see the Hidden Leaf providing military aid to the Sand."
"Shikaku, escort the Mist Village envoys out of the village."
With that, Kazuki didn't even give them time to react or respond. He stood up and left the meeting room.
If it weren't for the fact that dragging it out too long would look bad, Kazuki wouldn't have bothered meeting these people at all.
Forcing the Hidden Leaf to take sides?
Fine, whatever—but they hadn't even sent anyone with real status or authority. They just shoved a bunch of nobodies over to the Hidden Leaf for negotiations!
Who gave them the courage?
Or did the Hidden Mist Village arrogantly believe it could ignore the Hidden Leaf entirely, thinking that talks between two villages didn't require even a single high-ranking official to show up?
It was laughable.
"Everyone, this way please."
Shikaku was genuinely impressed.
He had already mentally prepared himself for Kazuki to unleash a tirade of curses. Thankfully, Kazuki had held back.
Blowing up at the Mist Village delegation could still be smoothed over, but outright cursing would have been a bit much.
That said, the Mist Village's move this time was truly baffling.
In theory, for negotiations involving two villages like this, at the very least, a high-ranking official should lead the team. It didn't have to be the Mizukage Yagura himself, but surely one of the elder advisors could have come, right?
The Mist Village? Nothing. Not a single one.
In fact, when Shikaku had first learned the personnel details of the Mist delegation, he personally found it incomprehensible—unable to wrap his head around the Mist Village's thought process.
Even if they were already clashing with the Sand Village, it shouldn't mean they couldn't spare even one high-ranking official.
And so, the Mist Village delegation was unceremoniously booted from the Hidden Leaf, each one slinking away with their tails between their legs.
They didn't even dare utter a single curse word. They were all seething with rage but too afraid to speak, terrified that a slip of the tongue would draw the attention of the Hidden Leaf's Anbu, leading to the entire group being captured.
The Mist Village's advance forces had already entered the Wind Country, and the war had effectively begun its prelude. If this delegation got detained in the Hidden Leaf, the Mist Village wouldn't have the bandwidth to send anyone to rescue them.
No matter how viciously Kazuki had roasted them or how much fury they bottled up inside, the Mist delegation had no choice but to swallow it whole—at least until they were out of the Hidden Leaf and beyond the Fire Country's borders before daring to explode.
This time, the Hidden Mist Village was destined to suffer a humiliating slap to the face.
With the delegation chased off, Kazuki stood by the window in his office, gazing toward the village entrance: "Ever since Yagura was controlled, the Hidden Mist Village's operations have gotten more and more bewildering. So, what's the Akatsuki organization's next step? Which village are they planning to drag into the mud next?"
The conflict between the Hidden Mist and Hidden Sand Villages was surely just the beginning. Dragging all Five Great Ninja Villages into the war was the Akatsuki's plan. Kazuki didn't believe for a second that after starting this fire, they would just stop.
The Sand and Mist were already at each other's throats. The next targets had to be the Hidden Cloud, Hidden Rock, and—of course—the Hidden Leaf.