Chapter 423: Robbing a Burning House
In Iwagakure, in the Tsuchikage's office.
Ōnoki, Saka, Bella, Ikura, Kawakita, Megumi, Kitsuchi, and Ishiro were all present, along with several of the Tsuchikage's assistants responsible for taking notes.
The atmosphere of the meeting was quite relaxed.
Ishiro continued, "Besides these two gains, the biggest gain is the elevation of the village's status."
"Now, whether the other hidden villages want to admit it or not, we are already the de facto hegemon."
"Senior Bella, the village's Bi-Weekly Report can have an extra issue. Describe the details of this battle carefully."
"Oh, and by the way, just say that I was invited to Konoha by Sunagakure. The purpose of this move by Suna was to lure the tiger away from the mountain, intending to launch a surprise attack on us while I was not in the village."
Everyone: "..."
Have you no shame? How can you say such a thing?
It was Kawakita, who had attended fewer high-level meetings, who couldn't bear to see his teacher be a laughingstock and helped change the subject. "If we do this, will it affect the alliance between our two sides?"
Ishiro cast a grateful look at him, then waved his hand. "It doesn't matter anymore. After this battle, even if Suna wants to form an alliance, they will only look for Konoha."
"Regardless of whether we have proactively torn off the facade, we can no longer stop the change in Suna's position."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Since we are the hegemon of the ninja world, we naturally have to do things that only a hegemon can do," Ishiro continued.
"This time, we fought against the ninja armies of both Konoha and Suna. This is already a war in fact."
"Therefore, I plan to demand compensation from Konoha and Suna in the name of the victorious nation."
Bella's eyes lit up. "Ishiro, do you think they will agree?"
Before Ishiro could speak, Ōnoki spoke first. "Konoha has no choice but to agree. With the Uchiha clan in the state you've put them in, they are now facing serious internal and external troubles. They simply do not dare to break the balance."
"So, we will definitely be able to cut a piece of meat from Konoha. The only difference is how big this piece of meat will be."
Saka said, "Then what exactly should we ask from Konoha? War reparations?"
Ishiro said, "Konoha has lost a lot of manpower this time. To guard against the Uchiha, their manpower is even more stretched."
"So, if we propose to take a share of the mission quotas within the Land of Fire, they will not refuse."
"Of course, the most basic compensation is a must. How much is appropriate will depend on Konoha's bottom line."
"In addition..." Ishiro said, taking out a map.
Seeing this, everyone's spirits were lifted. Is he thinking of expanding the territory again?
As expected, Ishiro drew a line on the northernmost part of Konoha's territory. "We must obtain this piece of land at the negotiation table."
Everyone in the meeting room couldn't help but take a deep breath.
The line he drew was very close to the northern border of the Land of Fire. The actual amount of land being taken was not much. However, the westernmost end of this line was the narrow corridor belonging to Iwagakure between the Lands of Grass and Waterfalls, and the easternmost end was the Land of Hot Water.
If Konoha really agreed to cede all the area north of this line to the Land of Earth, then Konoha would lose its control over the many small and medium-sized countries to its north. The Land of Earth would then be its only northern neighbor.
In that case, the Land of Waterfalls, which was semi-enclosed by the Land of Earth, and the small countries near it, would sooner or later be annexed by Iwagakure.
Moreover, with this area, the travel between Iwagakure and Kirigakure would also become much easier, no longer requiring crossing so many countries. The main route between the Land of Earth and the Land of Water was currently through sea transport, with a transfer in the Land of Moon. But as the relationship between Iwa and Kumo became more and more hostile, this line could easily be cut off.
Megumi shook her head. "Konoha is not stupid. They will definitely not agree."
Ishiro smiled. "At the beginning, we can make an exorbitant demand, directly asking for the border with the Land of Hot Water to be ceded as well."
"After Konoha argues with reason, we will then make a concession."
"I also know that no matter what, Konoha will not agree easily. So, we will also have to directly send troops into this area during the negotiations."
"On the one hand, we will use war as a threat. On the other, we will create a fait accompli of having already occupied it. Konoha will have no choice but to agree."
Ōnoki and the others exchanged a glance, then said, "Alright, let's listen to you. We'll try it first. If Konoha's reaction is too fierce, we will think of other plans."
Ishiro smiled with satisfaction. "Third, I'll leave the matter of militarily controlling this area to you this time. You will take two thousand ninja and drive all the Konoha ninja out of this area."
Ōnoki nodded. His journey was not over yet. Going to the border was also good. He could set off directly after this was over.
"Then what about Suna? What should we ask from them in the negotiations?" Bella asked.
Ishiro pondered for a moment. "With Suna, we'll have one overt and one covert approach. Overtly, we will ask them for funds. Covertly, we will support them in taking land from Konoha."
"Tell them that we are willing to help them get a piece of fertile land from the Land of Fire."
Everyone gasped. Good heavens! Being generous with others' property, he really doesn't feel any heartache at all.
Megumi was a little confused. "Master Ishiro, didn't you say that Suna is going to ally with Konoha? How could they still ask for land from the Land of Fire?"
Ōnoki laughed. "Little Megumi is still too young. These are two different matters and are not related."
"Suna can completely get the land from the Land of Fire first, and then talk about cooperation with Konoha. Konoha will not refuse to ally with them just because they've just had a piece of meat cut off by them."
"Between nations, are there any good people who consider others? Rasa will not refuse."
Megumi nodded. She had learned something new again.
Seeing that the discussion about Suna was over, Bella asked with renewed interest, "Then what about Kumogakure?"
"Let's forget about Kumo for now. Their losses were not great. It's better not to provoke them," Ishiro sighed.
"In the future, our biggest enemy will be Kumo. Megumi and Ikura did very well this time, finally killing that sage user from Kumo and weakening their high-end combat power."
"Speaking of which, how did Kumo learn Sage Art so quietly?"
"Where did they learn it from? Ikura, Megumi, recall, what were the characteristics of that sage user's face markings?"
Ikura thought for a moment. "It should have been learned from Mount Myōboku. After she entered Sage Mode, her eyeballs were horizontal, the toad eyes you described before."
Ōnoki said, "Mount Myōboku's Sage Art? Could it be related to Jiraiya?"
Ishiro thought for a moment. "It's not impossible. I remember that Jiraiya's body was taken by Kumo."
"Although I don't know the reason, from the looks of it now, it's very likely that Kumo found the method to practice Mount Myōboku's Sage Art on his body."
"Most likely, they directly established contact with Mount Myōboku. By the way, did Kumo use toads as summoning animals this time?"
Ikura and Megumi both shook their heads.
So, Kumo was only able to learn Sage Art but had not signed a summoning contract with Mount Myōboku.
"It seems Mount Myōboku still held back. They know that once they sign a summoning contract, it is equivalent to taking a side in the ninja world," Ōnoki said.
Saka was puzzled. "Third, do you mean that Mount Myōboku actually still favors Konoha and wants to sign a contract with them?"
Ōnoki nodded. "Probably. It's one thing for ninja from different villages to practice their Sage Art. After all, they are just providing a platform for training."
"But a summoning contract requires them to participate in the war. If both sides sign a contract, then it's possible that the toads of Mount Myōboku would end up killing each other."
Ishiro said, "Let's not worry about this for now. This is something we cannot control."
"Megumi, you saw the battle between the Fifth Mizukage and the Fourth Raikage, right? Did the Mizukage use a summoning jutsu?"
Ōnoki's words had just reminded Ishiro of something. Kisame in the original story could also summon sharks. He didn't know if he still could in this life.
Megumi thought for a moment. "Through the water screen, my perception was not very clear. I didn't detect any summoning animals. But the Mizukage did use many shark-themed jutsu made of condensed water."
"I don't know if he has signed a contract with sharks, but he is definitely very familiar with them."
Ishiro nodded. "I'll have Kiyoshi Ishizawa ask the shark colony later. I suspect the Mizukage may have also signed a contract with a certain shark group."
Everyone nodded.
After the meeting, Bella went to the capital to report to the Daimyo that Iwagakure had won another battle. Furthermore, she stated that this time, Iwagakure intended to expand the territory for the Land of Earth, carving a piece of flesh from the Land of Fire. The Daimyo was very excited, greatly looking forward to becoming the hegemon of the ninja world. On the one hand, he allocated a large sum of military funds. On the other, he sent people to coordinate with Iwagakure to negotiate with the Lands of Fire and Wind.
After more than ten days of haggling, the three parties finally signed three treaties.
One was between the Lands of Earth and Fire. After a large number of Iwa-nin had occupied their northern border region, creating a fait accompli, Konoha, not daring to go to war at this time, finally signed the treaty. This treaty also transferred a considerable portion of the mission volume within the Land of Fire to Iwagakure. At the same time, the Land of Fire had to pay a huge sum in war reparations.
Of these three conditions, Bella valued the third the most. With this fund, Iwa's finances would be much more comfortable.
But Ishiro valued the second the most. Snatching missions from Konoha within the Land of Fire was equivalent to constantly using Konoha's money to train his own ninja. This was a long-term, steady business.
"It seems I have to help Konoha maintain its current situation. They must not fight with the Uchiha clan," Ishiro thought, looking at the signed treaty.
"The longer these two forces in Konoha are in a standoff, the longer Konoha's power will be tied up. Spending their already tight funds on this, Konoha will only become weaker and weaker."
"Itachi Uchiha... I didn't see him on this trip to Konoha. Otherwise, if I had killed him, would the Uchiha clan have been able to make Konoha continuously bleed?"
"But if I were to kill Itachi and cut off Sasuke's chance to fuse the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in the future, would the Sage of Six Paths come out and kill me first?"
"Before, my level was too low, and I tried my best not to come into contact with the two saviors, so I never thought in this direction. I'll have to be more careful in the future."
Although he had said at the high-level meeting that Kumo would be Iwa's biggest enemy in the future, as a transmigrator, Ishiro would never overlook Konoha.
Not to mention the two future cheat-like saviors, just the current Kage-level shinobi in Konoha were enough to give him a headache.
Tsunade, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō Shimura, Kakashi, Shisui Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha, Izumi Uchiha.
Seven of them.
Iwagakure, counting Sōkai, also had only seven.
(End of Chapter)
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