Senju Mori had long anticipated Kumogakure's arrival.
In fact, as early as his Hokage inauguration ceremony, he had already prepared for this, unhesitatingly defining the Second Hokage's death as—"a treacherous Kumogakure conspiracy."
His goal was to further demonize Kumogakure and prepare for the political propaganda of the subsequent war.
However, under Konoha Village's prevailing desire for peace, he absolutely could not be the one to actively provoke war and unilaterally break the peace; that would offend many Ninja within the Village who detested war, as well as the general populace.
Waiting for Kumogakure to make the first move, as they did today, and then calmly counterattacking, was a much wiser choice.
Senju Mori understood his opponent quite well.
The Third Raikage was certainly no simple character, but at his young age, he, like Senju Mori, must have been facing numerous problems after just taking over his Ninja Village.
More importantly, Senju Mori's intervention had a significant impact, even directly causing the Third Raikage to lose the moral high ground and prestige of slaying the rogue Ninja Kinkaku and avenging the Second Raikage.
Senju Mori's act of taking away the corpses of the two rogue Ninja, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, had once made the Third Raikage extremely distraught.
Until the spy lurking in Konoha sent back news, he had no clear understanding of the Gold and Silver Brothers' specific situation, constantly worrying that they would collude with forces within the Village and instigate another rebellion.
And without the ability to gain moral high ground and prestige, the Third Raikage's pursuit was fruitless, leading to the disappearance of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and the theft of the six paths sage tools—various dire situations... Although in reality, he shouldn't have been held responsible for much, there's a saying—whoever is in power is responsible.
As the new Raikage, you cannot avenge the previous Raikage, you cannot eliminate the rogue Ninja, and you cannot recover the Village's treasures—the "six paths sage tools."
Simply incompetent!
You can't do anything, so please tell me—why should you be the Raikage?
Judging from the super upheaval that Kumogakure just experienced, reaching the level of an "armed coup" and "assassination of the Raikage," Kumogakure at this time was far from as united as it would be more than twenty years later.
All the Villages are formed by various Ninja Clans; why is it that Konoha twenty years later is constantly engaged in internal strife, while your Kumogakure will be completely united in the future?
Isn't it because the two good-hearted people, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, actively launched a coup, causing all the opposition within the Village to jump out at once, thereby being directly wiped out by the Raikage's faction and cleanly eliminated?
And the succeeding Third Raikage happened to be an extremely powerful anomaly, who, through his gradual growth in the future, became the true "strongest Raikage of all time"?
Of course, it can also be seen from this that the Third Raikage's ascension to power was by no means smooth sailing or a simple, undisputed inheritance.
After more than half a month, the Third Raikage had probably initially stabilized his newly acquired position as Raikage, but the accumulated contradictions and dissatisfaction within the Village must have reached the brink of explosion... At this time, the Third Raikage was like sitting on a powder keg about to explode; in order to divert contradictions and consolidate his newly acquired power, his only choice was—to once again ignite war.
Whether Konoha was directly intimidated by his war threat, providing some economic compensation to the Hidden Cloud Village of the Land of Lightning, or returning one to two six paths sage tools, the Third Raikage's prestige would immediately greatly increase.
It can be said that this was another unique act of the Hidden Cloud Village—war blackmail.
Senju Mori would not indulge Kumogakure.
Isn't it just starting a war?
Konoha did lose the Second Hokage, but Kumogakure, in addition to the assassination of the Second Raikage, also suffered the additional losses of Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and the entire elite Kinkaku unit.
You can certainly try to see if you can defeat Konoha!
Thus, in front of Yotsuki Ranto, Senju Mori stood his ground, firmly rejecting all of Kumogakure's demands.
In addition, he threw back three even more outrageous demands directly, leaving this Kumogakure envoy with a message—
"Konoha certainly longs for peace, but Lord Second Hokage taught us with his life that peace is never achieved through prayer and compromise; it is achieved through battle, through blood, and through tenacious struggle!"
"If the Raikage does not want peace, Konoha will grant him war."
"Now, take my conditions and get back to Kumogakure!"
"Your Excellency, the Hokage, you—" Yotsuki Ranto's face was ashen, and he wanted to say more.
But as soon as Senju Mori finished speaking, several Anbu members, led by Hatake Shuuichi and Senju Yoru, instantly appeared around the Kumogakure envoy delegation, their hands directly on their respective weapons.
Under the Anbu's cold gaze and the angry stares of all the Konoha Ninja and villagers present, Yotsuki Ranto knew that if he uttered another word, the consequences would be unimaginable.
He could only glare fiercely at Senju Mori, swallowing his words back into his stomach, and, filled with shock and anger, he left in a humiliated state under the "escort" of the Hokage's direct Anbu.
He never expected that Konoha's new Hokage would be even more unyielding and belligerent than Kumogakure.
Making a huge compensation, publicly apologizing to the entire Ninja World, and acknowledging that the six paths sage tools would henceforth belong to Konoha.
Yotsuki Ranto knew in his heart that let alone three conditions, even any one of them would be absolutely unacceptable to Lord Third Raikage and the entire Kumogakure.
Kumogakure now had no choice but to go to war.
If Lord Third Raikage dared to agree to such conditions, Kumogakure would launch another armed coup tomorrow... In the eyes of Kumogakure's Ninja, achieving peace by betraying the Village's interests is never called peace, but should be called—surrender... After Yotsuki Ranto and his party completely disappeared, a smile reappeared on Senju Mori's face; he stood at the edge of the high platform, facing the crowd in the square.
"The annoying flies have left; now, the Alliance Celebration continues!"
Under everyone's gaze, Senju Mori tapped a scroll beside him, and three Ninja tools glowing with Chakra light suddenly appeared.
Senju Mori was the first to reach out, grasping the wide-bladed greatsword and the rope emitting a soft golden light, raising them high.
"These are the Ninja tools once used by the Six Paths Sage—the seven-star sword and the kinkōbō!" His voice, amplified by Chakra, boomed like a great bell, echoing through the sky, "From this day forward, they belong to my Konohagakure!"
Cheers like a mountain tsunami instantly erupted, the sound waves almost overturning the square.
Immediately after, Senju Mori solemnly held up the red gourd, turned to face Uzumaki Chizawa and the Ninja of Village Hidden in the Whirlpools, then scanned the entire crowd, announcing loudly:
"Konohagakure and Village Hidden in the Whirlpools have been allied for twenty years, and our friendship is as solid as a rock!"
"Today, I, Senju Mori, wish to emulate Lord First Hokage Hashirama, and offer this Six Paths Sage tool, the red gourd, as a betrothal gift, to form a marital alliance with the Uzumaki Clan, to jointly resist external aggression and together safeguard peace!"