But these people have conveniently forgotten that back when they wanted to start a war to divert internal conflicts within the village, every single one of them had voted in favor.
The long absences of the Third Kazekage and Rasa gave Pakura the perfect opportunity.
With Chiyo's support, she seized the moment to accomplish quite a bit, amassing prestige on a large scale. Her popularity had already surpassed that of Rasa, who was miserably toiling away, mining everywhere to subsidize the village.
Now, all she needed was a legitimate pretext, and she could seize power in one move, becoming the Fourth Kazekage and fulfilling her ultimate life goal.
It wasn't that Chiyo was unaware of Rasa's importance to Suna.
In fact, she admired Rasa.
But after seeing the current state of Suna, Chiyo grew anxious. She urgently wanted the village to get out of its predicament as quickly as possible.
So, in her plan, Pakura would handle domestic affairs and govern the village, Rasa would focus on mining to make money, and she herself would assist from the side, coordinating between them, a perfect arrangement.
What she didn't know was that the one responsible for causing all this, Shin, would never give her such a chance.
Nor did she know that Pakura, who had always shown her utmost respect, had never truly been on the same side as her.
Another village that was almost dragged to ruin by Konoha's open scheme was Iwa.
Ōnoki was shrewd, strong, and wholeheartedly devoted to Iwa, but he was also rather warlike.
Even so, he had his difficulties; it wasn't that he truly wished to act this way.
Iwa faced the same problem as Suna: a shortage of resources leading to financial weakness.
Suna, located in the desert, saw nothing but endless yellow sand.
Iwa's climate was somewhat better, but the village and surrounding lands were all rocky terrain, finding a single patch of arable land was difficult.
Anyone would have a headache in such conditions.
Suna chose the elite-ninja approach, reducing the number of ninjas to cut expenses.
But this led to a vicious cycle of declining overall strength.
Fewer ninjas meant weaker overall power.
Weaker power meant less income for the village.
Less income meant the number of ninjas had to be reduced further.
Iwa took the opposite route, pouring all resources into training ninjas to strengthen their military might, then resorting to raiding when funds ran dry, which also deterred others from raiding them.
This was why, when the Third Great Ninja War broke out, Iwa attacked Konoha without a formal declaration of war.
Kumo and Konoha didn't have such problems.
After all, the territories these two ninja villages controlled were fertile lands coveted by countless others.
As long as they didn't stir up trouble and maintained good relations with their respective daimyō, they never lacked resources.
After Konoha crushed Suna with technological superiority, bombarding them relentlessly with explosive tags and achieving a massive victory, Iwa began reforming its tactics. But this greatly increased the cost of training ninjas.
Later, Konoha implemented numerous internal reforms, established a Science Division, and introduced advanced simulation training to enhance ninja skills, which put even more pressure on Iwa.
Ōnoki also adopted similar measures, investing in scientific research and simulation training.
But Konoha's Science Division had the full backing of the Fire Daimyō, costing Konoha not a single coin, and they even persuaded the Wind Daimyō to co-invest.
With top scientists like Shin and Orochimaru, every coin invested yielded results, allowing them to easily develop new technologies beneficial to the village.
Iwa was in a different situation. The Earth Daimyō was willing to fund them, but he simply didn't have as much money, and he couldn't compare to the Fire Daimyō at all.
Moreover, rushing into scientific research risked wasting money; even if they eventually developed something, the cost of producing the same thing would be many times higher.
The ratio of input to output simply couldn't compete with Konoha's.
As for simulation training, Konoha didn't spend a single coin on building or maintaining the training facilities, and injured ninjas could receive the best and most immediate medical treatment.
Iwa also didn't spend money on construction or maintenance, since they had plenty of ninjas skilled in building.
However, they had very few medical-nin, and truly skilled ones were almost nonexistent. This caused medical costs to soar, and many who received treatment couldn't fully recover, indirectly increasing the rate of shinobi losses.
These expenses only made Iwa's already poor economy even worse.
So Ōnoki was troubled, even to the point of considering starting a war.
But when he thought of Konoha's current strength, and the intelligence reports Konoha had just sent back, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Since war was not a viable option, perhaps... he should try to improve relations with Konoha?
---
In the Senju clan compound, a group of people were sitting around a table eating dinner. The atmosphere, however, was tense.
At this moment, Minato had his head buried in his bowl, focused entirely on eating, not looking up.
Kushina and Nawaki were glaring at him furiously.
Konan and Yahiko, who had also been invited to join the meal, weren't glaring, but their faces remained stern.
"What's going on with you all?" Tsunade asked, though she clearly knew the answer.
"Didn't you watch the match?" Kushina asked in surprise.
"I did," Tsunade replied, puzzled. "And?"
"Hmph..." Kushina huffed angrily. "That guy clearly said before the match that he'd hold back, only deal with the mission target, and make completing the mission the top priority."
"But what happened? Liar!"
"How is that my fault?" Minato said, aggrieved. "You heard the new rules announced over the loudspeaker after the match started, if I held back, I wouldn't have been able to complete the mission at all! Besides, I had two teammates. I couldn't just drag them down, could I?"
"I don't care. You're still a liar!"
"That's right, liar!" Nawaki said angrily. "You promised to give me a chance to show off, to fight me evenly so I could become famous. But I didn't even see your shadow before you slit my throat. And when I got mad and wanted to confront you, you were already off to attack somewhere else, you didn't even look at me."
By the time he finished, Nawaki's expression was nothing short of pitiful.
Konan and Yahiko's expressions showed they felt the same way.
"Come on, just forgive me already," Minato quickly pleaded. "Today was my fault, completely my fault. Please, give me a chance to make it up to you."
Nawaki's eyes glinted mischievously, though he suppressed his excitement and asked softly, "Really?"
"Absolutely."
"Alright then, your whole team of three has to come teach at our school for a week. And it can't be halfhearted teaching." Nawaki said smugly.
Anger was just a means, not the end.
Before Minato could even agree, Tsunade cut in: "You think Minato has nothing better to do like you guys? He's busy!"
"Here's what we'll do, I'll decide for him: three days of teaching, mornings only. And then we'll call it even."