A special thank you to my patrons:
—Cain, Shahzaam, Splendid, Jacob Mooe, Varun Madhu, Gonzalo Sumalavia, kevin Williams, Jose Carrillo, ZaberZ, Jose Sierra, Salim, Silver, ManyEB, Александр Радняный, John Doe.
You can read 30 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
—————————————————————
Since he couldn't declare war on Konoha, or even launch a war, should he switch targets instead?
After all, what Ohnoki needed was to prevent an internal explosion and use war to plunder resources to feed back into Iwa Ninja Village.
With Konoha off-limits and war unavoidable, there was a high chance he'd choose a different target.
Konoha couldn't be touched, and Kumo Ninja Village was too tough to bite...
That left Ohnoki with fewer and fewer options.
"Mabui, bring me the map."
"Yes, Lord Raikage."
Dressed in her professional secretary attire and stepping in sky-high heels, Mabui quickly fetched a shinobi world map at the fastest speed, opened it, and spread it out on the desk.
A's gaze locked directly onto Iwa Ninja Village's position, then expanded to the entire Land of Earth, and after that...
"Hahaha..."
Staring at the map for a good while, A suddenly burst into loud laughter.
Mabui, standing to the side, was utterly confused; she had no idea what her Raikage had thought of.
Or rather, what he had predicted.
"Mabui."
"Lord Raikage." Mabui bowed respectfully, waiting for A's orders.
"You and Samui immediately head to Konoha on a secret visit. Go see Konoha's Hokage Advisor, Uchiha Kazuki, and tell him that five days from now, I will meet him secretly at the Land of Fire border."
"Yes."
A didn't explain why he wanted a secret meeting with Kazuki, and Mabui wouldn't ask on her own.
As the Raikage's secretary, her duty and mission were simply to obey every one of the Raikage's commands.
"Hahaha, Ohnoki, you won't succeed. I'll definitely make you pay the price."
Glancing puzzledly at the Raikage's office where the laughter kept echoing, Mabui didn't dwell on it. She returned to her residence at top speed, changed out of her secretary outfit, and put on her combat gear.
Then she sent someone to find Samui, and together they left the village, heading secretly to Konoha.
While Raikage A was laughing, Ohnoki was nursing a headache.
Iwa Ninja Village could receive news of Konoha dispatching ninja forces to station at the border—just as expected.
This kind of blatant military action that openly told you "we're targeting you" had to be taken seriously by Iwa Ninja Village.
He felt like his moves had been predicted.
Just as Kazuki had analyzed, ever since the war between Kiri Ninja Village and Suna Ninja Village broke out, Iwa Ninja Village's economy had been affected. Though the impact seemed minor at first, as time passed and the war caused various goods to skyrocket in price, the problems emerged.
Compared to Suna Ninja Village's stinginess, the Land of Earth was also a barren place.
It was hard to meet various material needs internally; they required massive imports from outside. When prices were stable, no one cared, but once war broke out and goods inflated, someone would crack first.
At times like this, Ohnoki was extremely envious of Kumo Ninja Village and Konoha—these two villages were like fat cats, always acting like they had money to burn, enough to make one's teeth itch with hatred.
Goods were inflating, yet because Iwa Ninja Village had overdeveloped its military power, the village didn't have extra funds to stockpile massive reserves like Konoha and Kumo, stabilizing material prices.
If material prices kept rising and the village didn't adjust, conflicts would erupt.
But the village's finances weren't ample, so adjustment was impossible.
Just as Ohnoki was agonizing over this, Konoha suddenly sent additional personnel to station at the border line, led personally by the Third Hokage. It was blatantly telling him, Ohnoki: Konoha is guarding against your Iwa Ninja Village.
Your idea of using war to ease internal contradictions? Don't even think about it—at least not against Konoha or the Land of Fire.
Otherwise, we'll stab you full of holes.
The opponent had successfully predicted my prediction.
This made Ohnoki even more miserable.
"Damn it!!!"
In his frustration, Ohnoki slammed the table hard.
At that moment, the Tsuchikage secretary rushed into the office and whispered: "Lord Tsuchikage, the various lords and the daimyo have come to visit."
"I understand. Let them in."
The high-level officials and the daimyo had come together—what for, Ohnoki knew full well in his heart.
Soon, Iwa Ninja Village's high-level officials and the daimyo arrived together at the Tsuchikage's office.
After everyone took their seats, Ohnoki opened the topic first: "I know why you've come. In fact, I've been worrying about this issue too. The war between Kiri Ninja Village and Suna Ninja Village broke out very suddenly, and the village had no preparations at all."
"Tsuchikage, it's not just the village now—the daimyo's is also heavily affected."
Iwa Ninja Village and Kumo Ninja Village could be considered one big family with their daimyo. Indeed, the Iwa daimyo rarely stayed at the daimyo's mansion; most of the time, he was in Iwa Ninja Village, attending various meetings. Their cooperation with Iwa Ninja Village was intimately seamless—not like the troublesome Kiri Ninja Village or Suna Ninja Village, nor like Konoha, which threw money and nothing else, hands-off on everything.
"Moreover, the finance department is under great pressure. Complaints have started appearing in the village recently. As the war drags on, material prices are rising too fast. Even if the village wants to buy from outside, it's hard to make a move."
Price hikes were relative to the entire shinobi world, not just one place. The longer the war lasted, the crazier the inflation.
Not everyone had Kazuki's boldness—to stockpile a batch of goods first, then no matter how prices rose, with ample reserves on hand, stabilize the village's price increases and minimize the impact on the village as much as possible.
Konoha could do it, but Iwa Ninja Village couldn't.
If Iwa Ninja Village could balance it themselves, these high-level officials and the daimyo wouldn't need to come running to Ohnoki.
"And then there's Konoha suddenly dispatching the Third Hokage to guard the border line—it's affecting us too. Many merchant caravans believe war is inevitable, so..."
Damn it, couldn't you Konoha take it easy?
What's the point of sending people to guard the border line for no reason?
It's making a ton of merchant caravans think Konoha and Iwa Ninja Village could fight at any moment, so they don't dare enter the Land of Earth.
Those caravans that used to come to the Land of Earth and Iwa Ninja Village for business stopped coming, invisibly doubling the pressure on Iwa Ninja Village.
An already fragile economy was now getting worse—like frost on snow.
"Has it gotten this serious?"
Ohnoki couldn't help frowning; the situation was far worse than he'd imagined.
Damn Kiri Ninja Village, damn Suna Ninja Village—what war are you fighting for no reason? Damn Konoha, why guard against us? You're even guarding the economy?
As a stubborn old man, Ohnoki wouldn't think about why Konoha was guarding against Iwa Ninja Village; he'd simply believe Konoha was sick—only sick people would do such sick things.
Now look, Iwa Ninja Village was stuck in limbo, the situation even worse.
If Iwa Ninja Village exploded internally, Konoha would bear at least half the blame.
"It's even a bit more serious than that."
The daimyo's expression wasn't good; the pressure on the daimyo was considerably heavier than on Iwa Ninja Village.
*****
T/N: Use this code "SANTA" for 50% discount for your first month.