[Kumogakure, Raikage Building]
"Has this Aoba gone completely insane?"
The Fourth Raikage steadied his body, which had almost fallen off the chair, and stared at the intelligence on the desk, his face filled with utter disbelief.
He truly could not have imagined that Aoba's ambition was not the Five Great Ninja Villages, but the Five Great Nations.
Even when his temper flared up, at most he would only half-heartedly comply with some of the daimyo's ridiculous orders. He had never even thought of something this outrageously treasonous.
"He really is insane."
Cee said with an expression that could not hide his shock and complicated feelings, "Very soon, we should receive an order from the daimyo to attack Konoha."
Ninja are forbidden from taking action against daimyo and nobles. This is the fundamental logic that keeps the ninja world functioning normally.
Whoever violates it will be jointly suppressed by other nations and ninja villages.
If you target other ninja villages, those villages might not unite against you because of their own existing conflicts.
But if you dare to lay a hand on a daimyo, since the daimyo themselves do not have major conflicts with one another, and in order to solidify the correctness of bloodline theory, they will band together to deal with you.
"Although we don't know why Aoba would do something like this, for us, this can be considered a rare piece of good news," After the brief shock, Cee spoke words filled with deeper meaning.
The Fourth Raikage quickly understood as well, and a long-absent smile appeared on his face.
"That's right. Since Aoba dared to make a move on the position of daimyo, the daimyo of the Land of Wind, Land of Water, and Land of Earth will definitely put pressure on their respective ninja villages."
"Even if their relationships with Konoha are good, when faced with the daimyo's orders, they will have to make some sort of show. Aoba has only just taken down Sunagakure and Kusagakure, yet he's already committed such an act of defiance. All this will do is put him on the opposite side of the entire ninja world."
"Exactly. Aoba may be powerful, but he is not invincible," Cee's expression was extremely serious.
"Konoha will also not be able to stand against the entire ninja world."
The reason they had not dared to go to war with Konoha before was not because they feared Aoba's personal strength, but because they were wary of the three major ninja villages Konoha had integrated, as well as Iwagakure pulling a sneak attack from behind.
Now that things had reached this point, not to mention whether Sunagakure and Kirigakure would still help Konoha wholeheartedly, at the very least, the possibility of Iwagakure stabbing them in the back had greatly decreased.
For them, this really was good news.
"Mm, now we just wait for the daimyo's supplies."
The Fourth Raikage nodded as well.
Since they were acting on behalf of the daimyo, the daimyo naturally could not be stingy. Forget about making a profit, at the very least, the basic war supplies had to be fully provided.
"Oh right, did the people who came back this time bring any news about the Akatsuki's location?", The Fourth Raikage suddenly thought of something else.
A long time ago, Kumogakure had already started searching the ninja world for the Akatsuki's whereabouts.
After all, there's no such thing as guarding against thieves for a thousand days.
They also wanted to find the Akatsuki's headquarters and strike proactively, but unfortunately, after all this time, there had still been no news.
"Still nothing," Cee shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Then let it be for now. Most of Kumogakure's ninja have already returned anyway, so there's no need to be afraid of them."
After learning there was still no intelligence, the Fourth Raikage had no other choice.
But overall, he was not as tense as before.
The Akatsuki were just a mercenary organization, and still could not be mentioned in the same breath as a regular military organization like Kumogakure.
———
However, aside from Kumogakure making such a big show, with an atmosphere like a storm about to break, the other ninja villages…
[Sunagakure]
"Kazekage-sama, Aoba has become the daimyo of the Land of Fire. When the time comes, the Wind Daimyo will definitely order us to encircle and suppress Konoha. What should we do?", Baki asked Gaara anxiously.
However, Gaara, seated in the Kazekage's position, looked completely calm, not even lifting his eyelids.
"Teacher Baki, if it's a demand from the daimyo, we don't need to pay it any mind."
"But… that is the daimyo…", Baki hesitated.
Only then did Gaara lift his eyes, "Teacher Baki, don't forget, that daimyo has not provided Sunagakure with any supplies at all since the Third Great Ninja War. As things stand now, more than half of Sunagakure's finances and job positions are provided by Konoha's commercial district in the Sand."
"Even if we deploy troops in response to the daimyo's request, do you think the villagers, and the ninja who have already enjoyed the conveniences brought by Konoha, would agree?"
"This… I understand."
Baki was somewhat helpless, but this also stirred his dissatisfaction toward that Wind Daimyo.
Back after the Third Great Ninja War, if the Land of Wind had been willing to give Sunagakure even a little more support, it would not have fallen into this situation.
Although Sunagakure was now on a stable and improving development path, this had come at the cost of sacrificing the village's sovereignty.
But since things had already happened, it was better to let nature take its course.
Everything was the best arrangement.
———
[Kirigakure]
Haku, who had grown even more graceful, walked anxiously into the Mizukage's office.
"Mizukage-sama, this is bad, over in Konoha…"
"Ah! It's Haku. Oh right!"
Before he could finish speaking, Terumi Mei directly interrupted him, wearing an expression of eager gossip.
"How did things go between you and Zabuza last night?" [T/N: *Spitting blood*]
"Ah?"
Haku's delicate, fair face instantly flushed red, and he hurriedly tried to pull the topic back on track.
"Mizukage-sama, I have urgent business. Lord Aoba has become the daimyo of the Land of Fire…"
"How is that urgent? That's good news."
Terumi Mei waved her hand indifferently and interrupted again. As for Aoba becoming the daimyo, she had only been slightly surprised when she first heard it.
That guy had said back then that he wanted to unify the entire ninja world to marry her.
At the time, she had thought he was just talking big. Now it seemed it was only a matter of time.
She was just annoyed that he had not told her about something so important in advance.
She felt a little unhappy.
But now that a ready-made tool for entertainment had delivered itself to her door, her earlier unhappiness was instantly replaced by her gossiping mood.
"I specially approved a day off for you two yesterday. Don't tell me there wasn't any progress at all?"
"I… I, I…", Haku's pretty face turned bright red, and he stammered, unable to say a complete sentence.
Terumi Mei's curiosity grew even stronger. This clearly meant there had been significant progress.
She then thought of something else.
"By the way, why did that guy Zabuza take leave again today? Is he not feeling well?"
"Za… Zabuza-sama, he… he…", Haku's face turned even redder, as if it were about to drip blood, "Mizukage-sama, I still have things to do, I'll take my leave first!"
Without explaining what had happened to Zabuza, a mirror appeared behind Haku, and he ran straight into it, not even leaving Terumi Mei a chance to speak.
"This…"
Terumi Mei fell into thought, then suddenly seemed to realize something unbelievable.
'Could it be that Zabuza is actually…'
But shock aside, Terumi Mei was quite open-minded about this sort of thing.
After all, the two could be considered a perfect match. It was still much better than the stories she had heard back when she was in Konoha, about the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Shimura Danzo, those two old geezers.
Reining in all the wild thoughts in her head, Terumi Mei threw herself back into work.
———
[Iwagakure]
"Tsuchikage-sama, should we call Kurotsuchi back from Konoha?", Kitsuchi asked his old father.
"No need to rush. Gather the ninja and put on a show. If it really comes to it… just send two ninja teams to follow behind Kumogakure and let Kumogakure test Konoha's true strength first," Onoki said directly.
"I understand."
Although Kitsuchi had similar thoughts to the Fourth Raikage, in Iwagakure, Onoki's word was final. He also knew that once Onoki made a decision, he would never change it.
So there was nothing more to say.
Kumogakure: "???"
A world where only Kumogakure gets hurt became a reality.
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