Upon hearing this, the Kazekage asked, "Since these Ninja are all suicide attackers, why would a normal Ninja be left behind? Invading Konoha is clearly impossible; if they were all suicide attackers, there would be no information leaked."
"Could it be that this is just Amegakure's arrogance?"
Torifu smiled, "I'm also a bit puzzled by this. It's possible it's Amegakure's arrogance, or it's possible they deliberately leaked information to mislead us."
Ōnoki took two bites of his food, "This newcomer Hanzō certainly has great talent. He became the leader of a Village at such a young age, but he's also incredibly arrogant, daring to challenge our three Great Ninja Villages by himself."
"Logically speaking, the Land of Rain is considered first-class among the smaller countries, but why is it still so unsatisfied?"
The Kazekage paused, "I suppose it's because the Land of Lightning was destroyed, leaving one of the Five Great Nations' positions open, and they want to take a gamble. After all, becoming a Great Nation means increasing their say in the Ninja World."
There was one more thing the Kazekage didn't say out loud; it was an unwritten rule.
The Land of Lightning was destroyed, and the Daimyō line was completely eradicated by the recovered Oyashiro Clan, with not a single person left.
The government collapsed, and all the major nobles fled to Other countries with their property, and the people of the royal city scattered.
Although the people in other small Villages didn't become refugees, their lives could be said to be very difficult.
Due to the lack of Ninja jurisdiction and government control, the Land of Lightning became an ownerless land, with countless bandits occupying various mountains, clearly becoming their paradise.
And that unwritten rule was that whoever had the strength to conquer the land of the Land of Lightning would become the new Fifth Great Nation.
However, although the Land of Lightning was openly an ownerless land, it had actually been divided by the four nations. The entire territory was split into four parts, each controlling the resources on it and transporting them back to their own countries after development.
The smaller nations naturally knew this but dared not speak out due to intimidation.
But looking at Amegakure's intentions, it seems they want to break this barrier and claim the Land of Lightning's territory for themselves.
That's why they sent Ninja to the three Great Ninja Villages to test their strength. The reason they didn't attack Hidden Mist Village might be because they are on an island, far from the emperor's reach, making an attack impossible.
Just sailing there would take ten days to half a month.
Torifu also had this idea, and it was the most logical of the many hypotheses he proposed.
Otherwise, Amegakure would have no need to do something that harms the enemy by a thousand and themselves by eight hundred, unless Hanzō suddenly went mad.
"Regardless of Amegakure's objective, it is a fact that they attacked our Village. This attack caused no small losses to the three Great Ninja Villages. I will immediately write a letter to Amegakure, demanding an explanation from Hanzō."
Torifu's words somewhat confused the two Kage. In such a tense situation, was he still going to send a letter? Wouldn't the messenger likely be killed along with it?
However, they couldn't stop what the Hokage wanted to do. They figured he had his own ideas.
Ōnoki then asked, "Hokage-sama, what if Hanzō truly sends troops against us? I suggest we form an alliance. If war truly breaks out, we will advance and retreat together."
"If Hanzō stops there, then we can also engage in economic exchange and mutual trade."
Ōnoki's proposal was greatly beneficial to both Iwagakure and Sunagakure, and also had some advantages for Konoha. It was a win-win proposal that was hard to refuse.
"Of course. The purpose of my letters to you two is precisely this. I had long intended to form an alliance to sanction the Land of Rain together."
Upon hearing Torifu's words, both the Kazekage and Ōnoki smiled, "Come, two sirs, I toast to you both."
The Kazekage raised his cup and drank it all. Torifu and Ōnoki exchanged glances, then also raised their cups in a salute and drank them all.
After another period of drinking, the banquet finally came to an end. Compared to the stiff discussions of various matters and collaborations in the Hokage Building conference room, Torifu much preferred to eat and chat here.
It could more quickly bring them closer, and matters of cooperation would be easier to discuss.
The two Kage were to stay in Konoha for a while longer, and Ōnoki's purpose in coming was also to pay his respects to Hashirama and Tobirama.
Because his Sensei had instructed him to convey greetings to Hashirama-sama, and on the way to Konoha, he heard from the Kazekage that Hashirama was still very young, not at all like an old man in his seventies or eighties should look.
This made Ōnoki somewhat disbelieving, so he really wanted to pay his respects.
Torifu had no objection to this, as it was their freedom. Hashirama was a highly respected senior throughout the entire Ninja World, having founded the Ninja Village system.
If it weren't for a pioneer like him, perhaps today's Ninja would still be hounds hired by Daimyō, constantly expanding territory for their countries.
How could they have such good lives today?
After the banquet dispersed, Torifu returned home immediately.
The Kazekage returned to his lodging, and Ōnoki went alone to the Senju Clan.
Their every move was monitored by Anbu Ninja, so Torifu wasn't worried about them making any small moves.
"Amado, how is it? Have the second-generation appliances been produced?"
Seeing Torifu return, Amado was a bit surprised and immediately stood up to face him.
"How did you come back so quickly? Weren't you going to host a banquet for the two Kage?"
Torifu waved his hand, "The banquet is over. A cooperative alliance has been reached, which was within my expectations. How are the appliances you're working on?"
"They're quite good. The first batch of second-generation appliances can be released tomorrow."
Torifu nodded in satisfaction, "Very good. Other countries have already popularized our Konoha's appliances, so there's not much left to export in trade. These second-generation appliances, however, are an excellent choice."
Amado didn't expect that the things he had just made would be sold worldwide so quickly.
"Aren't you going to test them in Konoha? After all, what the factory produces might be different from what I produced."
"Alright then, but the first batch of new products needs to be sold immediately tomorrow. If there are any issues with this batch, they can be exchanged or refunded."
Amado immediately nodded. He understood Torifu's meaning: to showcase them to the two Kage, giving them the idea that Konoha had already switched to new things, while their Villages still had the old ones.
Out of respect for the Great Ninja Villages' prestige, even if Torifu didn't mention the second-generation appliances, the two Kage would bring it up themselves.