With Mito Uzumaki's status in Konoha, if Ashina had allowed her to plead with Hiruzen Sarutobi, the village might have risked heavy losses to intervene in the Land of Whirlpools' war.
After all, besides being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, she was also the wife of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.
However, both of them knew that once Mito used this status to cause severe losses for Konoha, the entire village's perception of her would surely change drastically.
At that time, they might sever her connection to the First Hokage, no longer recognizing her as his wife, but simply as the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails.
In a moment of impulse, Mito might have made such a move.
But Ashina would not push his own daughter into a fiery pit.
Therefore, that was why Tsunade had heard them arguing.
"Yes, my maternal grandfather is a very remarkable ninja."
Hearing Li Anshi praise her grandfather, a smile also appeared on Tsunade's face.
"I remember when I was little, my grandfather also told me about him."
"He felt it was a great pity that he left Konoha."
Li Anshi noted that when Tsunade spoke of the First Hokage, he had felt it was a pity that Ashina left Konoha, not that he had taken the Uzumaki clan with him.
It seemed that in Hashirama's eyes, Ashina's importance surpassed that of the entire Uzumaki clan.
"Then, Tsunade, what do you think about the Land of Whirlpools?"
"I don't know."
Tsunade shook her head. "Anshi, I also know that Master Hiruzen's approach is correct."
"But I don't want my grandmother to be sad."
"After all, that's her family…"
"I see…"
"I understand your thoughts."
"Leave this matter to me!"
After ruffling her hair, Li Anshi left the shop, his figure flickering as he headed towards the Hokage's building.
…
"Sigh…"
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the votes left by the numerous Jonin and let out a sigh.
He could understand the Uzumaki clan's choice.
But understanding did not equal acceptance.
Once some things were done, the two sides could never go back to the way they were.
This was the case with Konoha and the Uzumaki.
If the Land of Whirlpools could violate the alliance once, who could guarantee they wouldn't betray Konoha again the next time it was in crisis?
He was the Hokage of Konoha!
All his actions had to be based on the interests of the village.
If only one of the great ninja villages was attacking the Land of Whirlpools, then for the sake of the Uzumaki's sealing techniques, it wasn't impossible for him to persuade the ninjas of the village.
But now, the ones attacking were almost all the ninja villages besides Konoha.
And their goal was very clear: the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan.
Long before Ashina had come to Konoha to ask for help, the Stone, Sand, and Cloud villages had all sent envoys to act as lobbyists.
The intention of the three great villages was not to drag Konoha into the mess.
Rather, they had made it clear to Hiruzen that as long as Konoha remained silent about the fate of the Land of Whirlpools, they would share the sealing techniques they plundered from it.
In other words, by staying on the sidelines, Konoha could obtain a large portion of the Uzumaki's sealing techniques.
But if Konoha were to step in and protect the Land of Whirlpools, it would face a siege from almost the entire ninja world.
If they won, then it would be to Konoha's credit for saving the country.
But the losses would be incalculable.
And what they would get in return would perhaps only be a portion of the sealing techniques.
In fact, if Konoha paid a heavy price to save the Land of Whirlpools, and its own strength became weaker than that of the Land of Whirlpools, who could guarantee that the Uzumaki ninjas wouldn't turn on them, moving into Konoha and becoming its new powerful ninja clan?
If they lost, then Konoha's fate would be no better than the Land of Whirlpools.
Of course, the Daimyo and nobles of the Land of Fire would not let Konoha be destroyed.
But they would also, when Konoha was in a desperate situation, turn it into their own private force of violence, rather than, as it was now, needing to provide funds and always be wary of the possible awakening of the ninjas' minds.
Thus, did Konoha even have a choice?
And as Hiruzen had expected, in the Jonin meeting, most of the Jonin had voted against supporting the Land of Whirlpools.
Only a few Jonin from clans on good terms with the Uzumaki had abstained.
"I'm sorry, Lady Mito…"
Shaking his head, Hiruzen organized the proposals.
If Lady Mito were to personally intervene, he was prepared to use the decisions made by these Jonin to persuade her.
Of course, if she still insisted on supporting the Land of Whirlpools, he would have to agree.
However, the matter of which ninjas would be dispatched to provide support was a different story.
Just as he had finished organizing the meeting documents, an Anbu ninja entered through the window and knelt on one knee before him.
"Lord Hokage, Jonin Li Anshi has left his woodcarving shop and is currently heading towards the Hokage's building…"
"Prior to this, Lady Tsunade had entered the shop."
"Oh?"
Hiruzen paused and looked up at the window.
At this moment, he could already sense Li Anshi's presence.
"I understand. You may leave."
"Yes!"
After the Anbu ninja left, Hiruzen stopped what he was doing.
If it were Lady Mito, he could use these documents to persuade her to give up the idea of supporting the Land of Whirlpools.
Her strength, after the deaths of the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha, was among the strongest.
But even she could be tied down by multiple Kage-level powerhouses, and there was even a risk of her being killed.
But against Li Anshi, these things were completely useless.
Because in front of him, as long as he had enough daggers, the so-called Kage-level powerhouses were no different from ordinary ninjas.
All of them would just make him waste one flying dagger.
When a ninja encountered the Little Li Flying Dagger, they could abandon their mission and flee. This special pardon was not just for the Kage of the great villages to consider their own ninjas, but also for themselves.
Although the Kage of a village spent most of their time in the village, and there were very few missions that required their personal intervention, what if?
For example, if a Kage encountered Li Anshi during a war, knowing that going up against him was suicide, should they retreat to preserve their useful body, or should they really go and die?
Before the Little Li Flying Dagger, all beings were equal!
Hiruzen had not expected that Lady Mito would not come personally but would have Tsunade invite Li Anshi.
However, if he was willing to act, then even if Konoha were to take on the entire ninja world by itself, it was not without a chance of victory.
He remembered that Li Anshi had once misappropriated Tsunade's gambling winnings of over three million Ryo to forge daggers, a total of more than thirty-four thousand.
In the battle with the Cloud, over three thousand of his daggers had been destroyed by the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, but he still had over thirty thousand left.
The current great ninja villages, after several years of fighting, had all seen a large decrease in their number of ninjas. Besides Konoha, the other four might not even be able to muster ten thousand ninjas.
Thirty thousand flying daggers—that was the lives of thirty thousand ninjas.
If Konoha's ninjas coordinated with him, it was not impossible for them to decide the fate of the world in a single battle.
At this thought, a flicker of heat rose in Hiruzen's heart.
If Konoha could unify the entire ninja world under his leadership, would he become an existence that surpassed the First Hokage in the history of Konoha?
But he quickly calmed down.
Indeed, in a way, Konoha, with Li Anshi, did have the potential to eliminate all the other ninja villages.
But this was only a "potential."
The battles of ninjas were battles of information.
The other great villages did not have the means to confront the Little Li Flying Dagger head-on.
But just because they couldn't confront him didn't mean they were foolish enough to face him directly.
No matter how strong he was, he was still only one person.
If Konoha really wanted to start a war to unify the ninja world, the other villages only needed to gather information on his whereabouts, avoid him, and prolong the war to maximize the weakening of his role.
At that time, he might be able to cause considerable losses to the other great villages, but Konoha would definitely not be able to withstand the backlash of the entire ninja world.
Perhaps Konoha would be destroyed before he had finished killing all the ninjas of the other villages.
Suppressing the dangerous thoughts in his mind, Hiruzen covered the proposals from the Jonin meeting and waited for Li Anshi's arrival.
In less than a minute, Li Anshi had arrived at the Hokage's building.
After nodding and smiling at the ninja registering missions, he went directly up the stairs to the second floor.
"Lord Shinpei, isn't that the owner of the woodcarving shop?"
"Why is he going upstairs?"
The ninja registering missions was a young man who had only started this job last year.
In his memory, Li Anshi came here every week to post a mission to collect softwood.
Such a person should not be able to enter the second floor or above of the Hokage's building.
Because every ninja who could directly enter the second floor was a "Jonin" who could directly meet with Lord Hokage.
But this unremarkable woodcarving shop owner, in his eyes, had just walked up to the second floor…
The mission registration ninja thought that Shinpei Kamizuki hadn't noticed and reminded him.
Shinpei Kamizuki was the ninja guarding the stairs.
His job was to prevent anyone from entering the second floor of the Hokage's building without the Hokage's command.
Well, Jonin were not on this list.
Because when a Jonin came to see Lord Hokage, it was either for an important matter related to the village or to carry out or hand over some special mission.
That was not something of his level to pry into.
"Shinsu, take my advice."
Shinpei patted the mission registration ninja's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "The affairs of that lord are not for small fries like us to know."
"If you inquire any more about him, it won't be long before the Anbu lords come and take you away for questioning."
"What?"
The ninja named "Shinsu" turned pale upon hearing this.
As a ninja, he naturally knew about the "secrecy regulations."
This was specifically for the important secrets of the village.
Ninjas were forbidden from privately spreading, inquiring about, or collecting information related to these secrets.
Otherwise, they would be taken back by Lord Hokage's direct Anbu for interrogation. Even worse, their memories might be searched to see if they had colluded with people from other villages or were spies sent to gather intelligence.
Shinsu had never imagined that a seemingly ordinary woodcarving shop owner would be related to Konoha's "secrecy regulations."
"Thank you, Lord Shinpei."
Shinsu quickly thanked him.
Being taken away by the Anbu was no joke.
Even if it was finally confirmed that one had no connection to outsiders and was not a spy, some torture during the interrogation was inevitable.
Few ninjas who came out of the Anbu's interrogation room dared to touch anything related to the secrecy regulations again. They might even turn pale at the mention of it, wishing to stay far away.
Li Anshi probably never would have thought that his simple act of walking up to the second floor of the Hokage's building would almost send an ordinary ninja to the Anbu's interrogation room.
Although he hadn't been to the Hokage's building many times, he was not unfamiliar with it.
After a few turns, he arrived directly at the Hokage's office.
Coincidentally, the door was open.
He didn't find this strange.
He had long known that there were always at least three Anbu ninjas watching him in shifts.
Since he had come here from his shop, Hiruzen must have already received the news.
However, he still had the necessary courtesy.
Knock, knock, knock…
After knocking lightly a few times, he asked Hiruzen, who was sitting behind the desk, "Lord Hokage, do you have a moment?"
"I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
"Yes, come in, Anshi."
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. After Li Anshi entered the office, he pointed to the documents on the desk.
"Anshi, I have a guess as to why you're here."
"These documents are the opinions of the village's Jonin on aiding the Land of Whirlpools."
Seeing this, Li Anshi smiled.
"Lord Hokage, when have you ever seen me care about the opinions of others?"
Hearing his words, Hiruzen also smiled.
You're so great, Li Anshi. You're so noble, saying you've never cared about the opinions of others.
But not long ago, who was it at Sakumo Hatake's wedding who was hinting to me, just short of directly saying he was his backing?
And now, who was it who rushed over here just because Tsunade had paid a visit to his shop?