The prolonged reign of terror in the Mist Village had left the villagers and shinobi living in a highly oppressive environment. After a while, that kind of atmosphere began to warp people's mindsets.
With the Third Mizukage fanning the flames, the anger of the Mist Village was quickly ignited.
Even those families who usually didn't see eye to eye with the Mizukage joined in, demanding that the Leaf hand over Sakumo Hatake. If they didn't, the Mist would declare war.
The situation had escalated beyond mere threats-it could evolve into an actual war at any moment.
The elder, Genji, who wished to avoid war, felt powerless. He wanted to prevent the conflict but couldn't find a suitable way to calm the villagers and the shinobi of the Mist.
They must hand over Sakumo Hatake, or the Mist will declare war on the Leaf!
Xin couldn't help but chuckle at this. The Third Shinobi War hadn't even started yet!
Even though the Leaf was recovering from the Second Shinobi War, they were still formidable. Not even the famously headstrong Third Raikage would demand that the Leaf hand over one of their top shinobi under threat of war.
The Hidden Cloud wouldn't even dare do something like this. Where does the Hidden Mist get this kind of courage?
The news spread, causing a huge stir throughout the shinobi world. Many simply sat back and waited to see how the Leaf would respond.
Faced with the Mist Village's war threat, the Leaf convened a major meeting.
Unlike usual meetings with just a few key individuals, this one had a much larger attendance. Nearly every jonin in the village was present. Xin, Minato, and Nawaki were among them, having arrived with Tsunade.
The three sat in a corner of the meeting room.
Nawaki grumbled:
"The people from the Mist Village must be out of their minds, threatening our Leaf Village with war?"
"They aren't insane-otherwise, they wouldn't be trying something this crazy," Xin replied.
It wasn't just speculation anymore-the Third Mizukage was definitely under someone's control.
No sane person would do something like this.
"Damn it!" Nawaki couldn't help but curse.
"Quiet!" Tsunade, who was walking over, frowned and smacked Nawaki on the head.
Today's meeting was a jonin-level meeting. The fact that they had called such a meeting meant that the Leaf was preparing for the possibility of war.
All the jonin who weren't assigned to specific duties were present. Xin and his group were among the younger generation.
Cursing in this setting would make Nawaki look immature and poorly disciplined.
The meeting room was spacious, but now it was filled with people.
Many jonin, who were rarely seen in the village, were present. Even the Uchiha and Hyuga clans, which usually stayed at the political fringes, had sent their jonin to attend.