Chapter 397: Wars Always Start with Small Triggers
"Didn't we just move it to the Land of Waterfall?" Sasori asked, somewhat puzzled.
He clearly remembered Nagato saying not long ago that their base would be moved to the Land of Waterfall. Yet in the blink of an eye, they were changing locations again.
"Because of certain unexpected incidents, Hidden Waterfall Village is no longer suitable as a hidden base," Nagato said calmly, glancing at Sasori. "We will move back to Hidden Rain Village later."
"Hehehe. I heard there's explosive news spreading through the Ninja World," Black Zetsu cackled. "They say a miraculous Hero's Water has appeared, something capable of increasing a ninja's Chakra by dozens of times. Supposedly, it comes from Hidden Waterfall Village."
Nagato did not deny it.
This matter could no longer be hidden. The existence of the Hero's Water had been exposed after they invaded Hidden Waterfall Village.
"Dozens of times the Chakra?" Kakuzu immediately showed interest.
He smelled money.
A vast amount of money.
"I have already handed it over to Kenichi for research. If there are any results later, they will be shared within the Organization," Nagato added.
Obito frowned when he heard that, but he could not say anything.
After all, his current persona within Akatsuki was someone who greatly admired Amamiya Kenichi.
Besides, handing it over to Amamiya Kenichi was the only logical choice. In the entire Akatsuki Organization, the only ones capable of researching this field were Amamiya Kenichi and his teacher, Orochimaru.
Coincidentally, neither of them had attended this meeting.
Who knew what they were busy with?
"Leader, is there anything else?" Kisame asked.
He had now successfully joined Akatsuki.
"There is one more thing. The members currently in Hidden Waterfall Village need to..." Nagato's tone became much more serious.
"They've already started moving toward the Land of Waterfall..."
Amamiya Kenichi sat in his chair, looking at the intelligence in his hand.
With the news of the Hero's Water released, ninja across the entire Ninja World had begun to move. The small nation known as the Land of Waterfall had become the focus of the world.
However, that was not a good thing for the Land of Waterfall.
"With such a large-scale mobilization of ninja, it always feels like something else might happen," Minato said from the side.
After all, he was a ninja who had participated in wars. He had his own understanding of how wars worked.
Amamiya Kenichi nodded.
With such a large-scale ninja mobilization, it was hard to say whether some Villages would decide to gamble and attack another Ninja Village.
After all, there were always Villages that liked to gamble with their own fate.
Iwagakure had once entertained such an idea, and the consequences had naturally been dire.
But if something like that happened now, it would actually be good for Amamiya Kenichi. He wanted the Ninja World to fall into chaos. The more chaotic it became, the easier it would be for him to profit.
"I think we need to start preparing. The Land of Snow is still some distance from the Land of Water. How exactly do you plan to attack Hidden Mist Village and the Land of Water?" Minato asked curiously.
"Suppress the capital and destroy Hidden Mist Village at the same time. All of this is based on one premise." Amamiya Kenichi scratched his ear. "Speed. It has to be fast enough."
Although the Land of Water was not very large in terms of landmass, and could even be described as fragmented, that was precisely why it was extremely difficult to completely block news of an attack.
Its coastline was too long.
Therefore, Amamiya Kenichi did not expect to completely seal off news of Hidden Mist Village being attacked. He only needed to prevent the other Ninja Villages from reacting immediately.
And this opportunity was very rare.
According to Uchiha Shiori's intelligence, the leading ninja dispatched by Hidden Mist Village this time was Mei Terumi.
That woman was the future Mizukage of Hidden Mist Village, and her presence would bring some trouble when suppressing Hidden Mist Village.
This time, because of the search for the Hero's Water in the Land of Waterfall, Hidden Mist Village had an eighty percent chance of sending Mei Terumi.
In that case, the most troublesome high-end combat power left in Hidden Mist Village would be the Jinchuriki.
"However, I remember that after the control is released, the opponent's body isn't in very good condition. So the problem shouldn't be too big," Amamiya Kenichi said, licking his lips.
As for the Jinchuriki, Amamiya Kenichi could handle that himself.
The other high-level combatants of Hidden Mist Village could be left to Minato.
With the help of the Uchiha Clan, along with the ninja from the Land of Snow whom he had artificially stimulated into awakening Three-Tomoe Sharingan or even Mangekyo Sharingan, Amamiya Kenichi felt that suppressing Hidden Mist Village this time would not be too difficult.
"None of these Villages are simple," Minato reminded him. "When I was Hokage, I learned that there were certain weapons in the Village that could not be used unless absolutely necessary."
He was now like a grasshopper tied to the same string as Amamiya Kenichi.
He did not want Amamiya Kenichi to fail.
Although Hidden Mist Village had rarely been attacked in the Ninja World due to its geographical position, it was hard to say whether Hidden Mist Village had any hidden trump cards.
"Don't worry. I also have a secret weapon," Amamiya Kenichi said, waving his hand.
A secret weapon, right?
When it came to secret weapons, Hidden Cloud Village was rumored to possess a powerful weapon capable of bombing the moon. Whether that was actually true remained unknown.
Amamiya Kenichi vaguely remembered that thing appearing in a movie, and much later in the timeline at that. But considering that even the Hero's Water existed, he still had to stay wary.
However, compared to those weapons that had yet to prove themselves, Amamiya Kenichi's nuclear weapon had already been manufactured and was now safely stored in the warehouse.
If not for the concern that nuclear contamination would spread after a nuclear strike, Amamiya Kenichi would have already dropped one directly on Hidden Mist Village.
"I hope everything goes smoothly," Minato said, taking a deep breath.
At this point, all he could do was hope that Amamiya Kenichi's plan would proceed smoothly.
Looking at the tiny Land of Waterfall on the map, a trace of pity appeared in Minato's eyes.
The people of this small nation probably never imagined that one day, because of calculations made far away in the Land of Snow, they would be dragged into such a dangerous situation.
But this was the Ninja World.
Minato suddenly felt that if Amamiya Kenichi succeeded, perhaps it would be a good thing for the entire Ninja World.
At the very least, the Ninja World would no longer have wars like this in the future.
But could Amamiya Kenichi truly achieve it?
Minato was not sure.
"Let's begin preparations. Once conflict breaks out over there, that will be the moment we make our move," Amamiya Kenichi said, standing up.
He also had some things to prepare.
War was never a simple matter.
"Remember, even if we fail this time, we must destroy the tree that produces the Hero's Water. We absolutely cannot let that thing fall into the hands of the other Ninja Villages."
Meanwhile, in the Land of Waterfall, Konoha's ninja had already gathered.
They had reached the Land of Waterfall at extreme speed by airship.
After giving his instructions, Shikaku led the team forward. His heart was far from calm.
The Land of Waterfall was not a large country, but it had possessed little presence in past Ninja World Wars.
Hidden Waterfall Village, this small Village, was even more transparent. In Konoha's intelligence system, information about Hidden Waterfall Village was mostly buried in obscure corners.
Yet unexpectedly, this small nation had now become the common target of the Five Great Nations.
It was unclear whether this was fortune or misfortune.
"This is clearly a trap, Shikaku. Don't tell me you can't see that."
A calm voice sounded beside him.
Shikaku sighed when he heard it.
"Jiraiya, I know there's definitely something wrong here, but we have no choice. The effects of the Hero's Water..."
Jiraiya pursed his lips, looking at the sighing Shikaku.
He had been dragged out of his hospital room by Tsunade.
The reason was that a nurse had reported that Jiraiya, who should have been lying in bed recovering, had been found outside the women's bathhouse of the hospital.
This immediately enraged Tsunade. She kicked open the door of his hospital room and dragged him out.
"If you ask me, all of you should go back and let me come alone. It would be easier to retreat or face the enemy that way," Jiraiya said with a yawn.
He had not wanted to come, but he still came at Tsunade's request.
He had also learned about the effects of the Hero's Water from Tsunade. Jiraiya could keenly sense how important such a thing was to a Ninja Village.
"For this Hero's Water, it's unlikely the matter can be resolved by relying on just one ninja squad. We don't know how many people the other Ninja Villages will send," Shikaku said, shaking his head.
Tsunade had once considered sending fewer people.
After all, ninja valued quality over quantity. Just like when facing the Yellow Flash, the Fourth Hokage, even Jonin whose strength was insufficient could only slow down his killing speed.
But there was no other way.
There was not much communication between the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Even with airships, communicating about such matters was still time-consuming. And even if communication did happen, would they truly dare to trust each other?
They might verbally agree to send only one ninja squad, and anyone who sent more would be treated as dishonorable.
But when they arrived, each side might have hundreds, or even thousands of people.
Such things had happened before.
Hoping that these Ninja Villages, with their blood feuds, could trust one another was less realistic than hoping the First Hokage would suddenly revive.
"Tsk." Jiraiya shook his head, looking up at the sky with a complicated expression.
During this period, he had studied the Great Toad Sage's prophecy, but he could not find any similar prophetic information.
The change in the prophecy had also made Jiraiya somewhat restless.
He had come this time to see who the mastermind was and what they were planning.
But when Konoha's ninja team followed the intelligence and arrived near the suspected entrance of Hidden Waterfall Village, they discovered that the area was already densely packed with people.
"Hidden Mist Village, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure have all sent people. But where are the people from Kumogakure?" Jiraiya asked, looking at the three distinct camps before him.
His expression grew more serious.
Ninja who had survived the wartime era possessed an extraordinary sensitivity toward war.
Jiraiya vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
"They seem to be over there," Shikaku said, narrowing his eyes.
He swept his gaze over the ninja camps of the other Villages, estimating their numbers. The more he looked, the heavier the pressure became.
It seemed Konoha was not the only one hoping to seize the Hero's Water and that tree for itself.
The other Ninja Villages had the same intention, and they had not sent a small number of people either.
For now, only Sunagakure's ninja team seemed smaller.
"Has the entrance to Hidden Waterfall Village been found?" Jiraiya asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.
In this situation, war was already on the verge of breaking out.
As soon as the entrance to Hidden Waterfall Village was found, or the giant tree that produced the Hero's Water was located, the current peace would be shattered immediately.
"Not yet. The Village's intelligence has no clues regarding the entrance. Based on past information, Hidden Waterfall Village's entrance has always been a mystery. That is also the fundamental reason this small Village has been able to establish itself in the Ninja World for so long," Shikaku said helplessly.
Hidden Waterfall Village truly had almost no presence.
Before departing, the intelligence he had compiled from Konoha about Hidden Waterfall Village was not even one-tenth as thick as the intelligence on Sunagakure.
So even he did not know the exact location of Hidden Waterfall Village's entrance.
He only knew that it was roughly somewhere in this area.
The precise location was unclear.
"With so many ninja here, if everyone used one Ninjutsu each, they could probably plow through this entire country," Jiraiya muttered to himself.
He had already seen the ninja emerging from Sunagakure's side.
It was undoubtedly Elder Chiyo.
At that moment, a ninja team also appeared at the edge of their vision.
Judging by their muscular physiques, it was clearly Kumogakure's ninja team.
"Aren't there fewer ninja from Kumogakure?" Jiraiya looked thoughtfully at the Kumogakure team.
Although Kumogakure had sent quite a few people this time, they had sent fewer than the other Ninja Villages. They did not even have as many people as Sunagakure.
That was clearly not right.
However, despite their curiosity, there was not much communication between the teams from the Five Great Ninja Villages.
A tense atmosphere permeated the air.
All five Ninja Villages had arrived, but they could not just stand there forever.
Was Hidden Waterfall Village supposed to appear on its own?
Therefore, searching for Hidden Waterfall Village's entrance was necessary.
But if they searched, they also had to guard against sneak attacks from other Villages.
It was the kind of thing that gave one a headache just thinking about it.
"Shikaku, what do you think would be the best course of action in the current situation?" Jiraiya asked, troubled, as he looked at the ninja from the other four Villages before him.
"I think..." Shikaku did not have any particularly good idea either.
The Land of Waterfall was too small, and based on the collected intelligence, Hidden Waterfall Village's entrance could only be speculated to be somewhere nearby.
Searching for it covertly would not be easy.
Shikaku felt that Konoha might need to play the role of the mantis stalking the cicada while the oriole waited behind, letting the others fight first before they acted.
But before he could finish thinking, the sound of an explosion suddenly drew every ninja's attention.
In an instant, the battle was ignited.
.....
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