The aftermath of Sakumo Hatake's suicide continued to ripple through the village.
And now, the very situation the Konoha leadership feared most had come to pass.
According to intelligence relayed by the Anbu, Sunagakure was making moves!
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the massive map of the Shinobi World on the wall, his eyes heavy with worry.
From the map's perspective:
The Land of Fire sat at the very heart of the continent, occupying the richest lands.
To Konoha's west lay the marshy Land of Rain.
Southwest of the Land of Rain sprawled the vast, desert-ridden Land of Wind.
To the northwest of the Land of Rain was the highland, mountainous Land of Earth.
In the past, Amegakure of the Land of Rain had served as Konoha's toughest western shield, helping shoulder the burden during the Second Great Ninja War.
But now, no matter how Hiruzen looked at it, the Land of Wind seemed like a vicious hound raised by the Land of Rain, ready to bite at any moment.
A wide river originating from the Land of Rain cut straight through the Wind Country's desert, delivering a steady flow of water right to the heart of Sunagakure.
Water was the source of life.
With water, even a desert could become fertile land.
With fertile land came food.
And in the end, abundant and cheap food would transform into a nation's foundation—people.
In recent years, the population of the Land of Wind had grown at a remarkable pace.
However, the Land of Wind was never a land of plenty. More people simply meant that every resource besides food was stretched even thinner.
Lots of people, but everyone's pockets were emptier than their faces were clean! So what now?
Sunagakure was still a hidden village. Still a military machine built for war.
To put it bluntly, they weren't much different from organized, disciplined sand bandits.
So, the path before Sunagakure was painfully simple:
Just do it!
Lose one war? Start ten more.
Lose ten wars? Start a hundred!
It wasn't about being tenacious or wild by nature. It was just that, for them, there was no other road.
In Hiruzen's eyes, Sunagakure used to be a malnourished stray—capable of biting, but always outnumbered.
Now, though, it was a well-fed wild wolf, and it wanted to eat people alive.
Previously, Sakumo Hatake had left Sunagakure with a brutal scar, keeping them in check.
But now, Sakumo was dead, Tsunade had married off, and their courage had swelled again!
And Amegakure, once the shield to the west, had somehow become a thug leading the wolf to Konoha's doorstep.
Beset by troubles inside and out, Hiruzen felt more powerless than ever.
For the first time in ages, regret crept into his heart, filling it up bit by bit.
If only he'd reached out to help Amegakure when they clashed with Sunagakure back then.
Too late for regrets now—the payback had come fast and hard.
Meanwhile, Rinjin returned to Konoha with Tsunade via the Flying Thunder God Technique.
At No. 66, Mingcha Avenue, Tsunade tugged Rinjin's ear in mock annoyance, pouting:
"Rinjin, why'd you drag me back so fast? I just made friends with that purple-haired Konan girl, and I was hoping to squeeze more intel out of her~"
"Did you get anything useful?" Rinjin asked, clearly interested.
"I did!"
Tsunade nodded emphatically, then leaned in close, whispering into Rinjin's ear:
"I found out that little girl's pretty talented—she's always sneaking off to write novels in secret!"
"Oh? What kind of novels?" Rinjin perked up immediately.
"No idea! You were in such a rush to come back, our cover's blown now. We probably spooked her too."
Tsunade shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned as she shifted the blame with a grin.
Watching his shameless wife, Rinjin could only shake his head with a wry smile and explained:
"I've already got a good grasp on Akatsuki's situation. Sticking around any longer would just be a waste of time. Besides, I've got some business to handle here—gotta make some money to support the family~"
He added silently to himself:
Make money for the family: earn from your side of the family, support ours—nothing wrong with that~
Then, Rinjin dodged Tsunade's grateful hug and, looking oddly conflicted, stepped out the door.
Strolling along, under countless watchful eyes both open and hidden, Rinjin made his way to the grand gates of the Hyuga estate.
He knocked, and was soon led by a servant to the clan head, who was leisurely sipping tea.
By the looks of it, this guy had been enjoying a peaceful life lately.
With just one glance, Rinjin could tell this so-called Hyuga clan head had already been sidelined by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
There was no way Hiruzen hadn't figured out who was really behind recent events.
And there was no way these so-called higher-ups could be this relaxed with such a mess on their hands.
"Yo~ Clan Head Hyuga, good afternoon!"
"Mm." The Hyuga head nodded calmly, utterly composed.
Now that he'd gotten his ticket into the inner circle, he didn't need to pay any special attention to a small fry like Rinjin.
In his mind, just nodding was already a huge courtesy for someone of his stature.
Rinjin's smiling expression didn't change at all, but there was a subtle twitch at the corner of his mouth.
If Sakumo, who knew Rinjin inside and out, were still here, he'd definitely grab some popcorn to watch the show.
As childhood friends, Sakumo had traveled all over with Rinjin—he knew him better than anyone.
To put it bluntly, Rinjin wasn't just cunning; he was petty to the extreme.
Other people say "revenge is a dish best served cold." Not Rinjin—he'd serve it up all day, every day.
Eyes narrowed, Rinjin didn't sit down. Still smiling, he asked:
"Clan Head Hyuga, have you made a decision about the insurance?"
At this, the Hyuga head grew impatient, pursing his lips and replying in a low voice:
"Something this big needs careful consideration. Go home and wait for news."
"Alright, then I'll wait for your good news."
With that, Rinjin flashed a polite smile, bowed, and left the reception room.
Strolling away from the Hyuga estate, Rinjin stretched lazily as he gazed at the bustling street, muttering to himself:
"Forget it. Guess I'll just head back to Amegakure."
He set off towards the village gates.
Wandering along, Rinjin soon arrived at Konoha's imposing main entrance.
Just as his left foot was about to step out, a masked figure appeared in a flash, dropping to one knee before him.
"Lord Rinjin, Lord Danzo requests your presence at the Hokage Tower."
"Oh? Danzo's the one calling me?"
"Uh..." The Root member hesitated, stammering awkwardly.
Seeing this, Rinjin didn't press him. He simply turned and headed for the Hokage Tower, thinking to himself:
Didn't expect Danzo to be the first to react at a time like this! Gotta admit, after stepping in so many traps, the guy might not be any smarter, but he sure keeps his cool in a crisis.
As Rinjin made his way unhurriedly to the Hokage Tower, in the meeting room, Danzo Shimura was glaring sideways at the Hyuga clan head like he was looking at a corpse.
He'd thought the Uchiha clan head was dumb enough, but it turned out this usually reliable Hyuga head was even dumber!
Did they not see what was happening in Konoha right now?!
Calling the situation "internal strife and external threats" wasn't an exaggeration.
If things kept going this way, forget about surviving until he could take the Hokage seat—making it to the Fifth Hokage would be a miracle.
Never underestimate how quickly unrest can spread through the village.
If left unchecked, the rifts between people could tear the whole place apart.
Getting someone to truly embrace the Will of Fire was ten thousand times harder than making them cold and indifferent!
At that point, it wouldn't just be a question of who was Hokage anymore.
The village would splinter into pieces—East Hokage, West Hokage, North Hokage, South Hokage—everyone claiming their own territory!
Let's put it simply:
A four-man squad goes on a mission: one Hyuga, one Uchiha, two civilians.
The Uchiha complains the civilians are weak and holding him back.
Before, that was just grumbling.
But now, the civilians would start thinking: "Will this guy, like Sakumo said, let me die just to complete the mission?"
With suspicion like that, who'd give their all on a mission?
Maybe some would, maybe some wouldn't. But not many would be eager to risk their necks.
If the mission succeeded, great—everyone's happy.
But if it failed?
People would start blaming each other.
After all, even someone like Sakumo was driven to suicide after a failed mission. Civilians without his reputation could never get away unscathed.
The result? Even deeper suspicion.
As this sort of thing happened more and more, forget about having a medic on every team—soon, no one would even want to be a medic.
The scariest part was that this suspicion could completely tear apart the relationship between civilians and the major clans.
Danzo wasn't stupid—none of the Konoha higher-ups were. They'd seen these consequences coming a mile away.
The village was already showing signs of fracture, and they were scrambling to stop the trend. Yet here the Hyuga clan head was, pulling this stunt.
Was it that Rinjin's fists weren't big enough? Or was his brain just not working fast enough?
The more Danzo thought about it, the more annoyed he got.
To him, Rinjin was an external threat. If the internal crisis wasn't handled first, poking at outside enemies was like a mouse licking a cat's ass—asking for trouble.
As the clan heads filed into the meeting room, Danzo let out a weary sigh.
Dragging a bunch of pig teammates along—damn, what a headache...
Honestly, if he were Hokage, dealing with Rinjin would be ridiculously easy.
After all these years, as Rinjin's self-proclaimed number one enemy, Danzo knew him better than anyone.
The secret was simple: ignore him!
That guy was like a lazy bum you couldn't provoke—ignore him, and nothing would happen. But the more you messed with him, the more fired up he'd get!
Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't figured this out, and now he was suffering for it.
The Hyuga clan head hadn't figured it out either—he'd probably be in for it soon.
Just as Danzo was cursing under his breath, the meeting room door swung open again.
The next moment, a grinning face popped in.
"Yo~ Everyone's here!"
Hearing that familiar, mischievous voice, Danzo felt his temples throb painfully.
At that moment, Hiruzen at the head of the table set down his pipe, his face expressionless as he spoke in a deep voice:
"Everyone's here! Let's begin!"
With that command, the clan heads all took their seats.
Rinjin quickly ducked his head and slid into a seat beside Danzo.
Danzo was completely speechless, lowering his voice as he said:
"This is the observer's section! Go sit over there!"
But Rinjin stubbornly shook his head, leaning in to whisper in Danzo's ear:
"I don't drink, so I'll sit at the kids' table!"
Damn it, this guy's gonna be the death of me!
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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