In the early morning, the vanguard troops of the Land of Lightning attacked the border of the Land of Wind first.
But because the Sand Village was prepared in advance...
Although reinforcements hadn't arrived yet, the number of Sand ninjas guarding the border was already three times more than usual, and their vigilance had long been raised to the highest level.
Therefore, this sneak attack by the Cloud Village eventually turned into a head-on conflict.
Half an hour later.
It ended at the cost of the lives of dozens of Sand ninjas and a dozen Cloud ninjas.
An hour later, the Land of Lightning, having failed in the sneak attack, formally declared war on the Land of Wind.
Daimyo Ten'i of the Land of Wind also held an emergency meeting.
Announced that this was a shameless act of aggression by the Land of Lightning and decided to grant the Sand Village the right to legitimate counterattack.
At this point, the Land of Wind also formally declared war on the Land of Lightning.
Then the Land of Wind formally announced.
The new Kazekage of the Sand Village, the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, had officially taken office yesterday.
The hypocritical peace of the ninja world for nearly ten years was officially declared shattered!
While the Land of Wind and the Land of Lightning began friction before the great war...
Other major countries were also eager to move.
Either preparing to wipe out previous shame.
Or simply ambitious.
Ninja tools or reserve military rations on the market in the ninja world disappeared instantly.
Only in the Underground Exchange could one see ninja tools several times more expensive than usual.
"The war really started."
"Fourth Kazekage Rasa, huh? Such a young Kazekage, accepting command in crisis?"
A casino in a town in the Land of Fire.
Looking at the chips lost completely in front of her.
Listening to the discussions of people around, Tsunade stood up without any attachment and walked out the door.
Shizune, who had been watching by the side, immediately followed behind her master.
"Master, are we going back to the village?"
Tsunade felt a certain uneasiness and sadness rising from the deepest part of her heart.
She suddenly stood still, closed her eyes silently, seeming to be thinking about something.
Finally, she opened her eyes and sighed lightly, with sadness rarely seen on her face.
"Let's go back to the village."
"It's fine to stay outside during peaceful times, but now that the war has started, Konoha might be involved at any time. It's unjustifiable to stay outside."
"After all, we are ninjas of Konoha. At this moment, we still have to be prepared to contribute to Konoha."
After saying this, Tsunade walked out of the casino. At the same time, she also felt a little puzzled in her heart.
Why did she seem not to want to stay in the village deep in her heart?
And she seemed vaguely afraid of going to the front line?
And obviously, it was the first time she heard the name of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa.
Why was there a feeling of relief and sadness in her heart?
It seemed that she had a very close relationship with him, or was she his elder?
Konoha, Hokage's Office.
The Third Hokage sat at his desk.
In front of him was a thin stack of documents, with Rasa's photo hanging on it.
The Third Hokage looked at the gentle smiling young man in the photo and murmured:
"Is there so little information on this new Fourth Kazekage?"
Danzo, sitting on the chair next to him, still had a gloomy face and said coldly:
"This is all we can find. This guy seems to have a personality of liking to stay at home very much."
Speaking of this, Danzo glanced slightly at the pale and gloomy middle-aged man sitting opposite.
The pale and gloomy middle-aged man naturally noticed Danzo's gaze. He laughed sinisterly without caring, chuckling:
"This Fourth Kazekage is only twenty-three years old."
"Is there no one left in the Sand Village? Actually letting a brat still wet behind the ears serve as the Kazekage?"
"Mature and steady middle-aged ninjas should serve as the Kazekage."
Hearing this, the old woman sitting on the other side immediately retorted:
"Orochimaru, precisely because of this, we cannot underestimate him."
Glancing at the old woman who retorted, Orochimaru snorted coldly and said no more.
Seeing that Orochimaru didn't give her face so much, the old woman looked a bit ugly. Just as she was about to flare up...
The Third Hokage immediately smoothed things over:
"Youth has the benefits of youth, and age has the steadiness of age."
After saying this, seeing the atmosphere eased, the Third Hokage sighed helplessly.
The sentence just said by his proudest disciple was ostensibly contempt for the Fourth Kazekage Rasa.
In fact, it was a secret mockery of Minato Namikaze, his competitor for the next Hokage who was half his age.
Thinking of this.
The Third Hokage shifted his gaze to the blond young man sitting next to him, who said nothing and had a gentle smile on his face.
The blond young man noticed his grandmaster's gaze and immediately smiled back.
"Minato, what do you think?"
Minato Namikaze knew this was a test from his grandmaster. He pondered for a while, a gentle smile appearing on his face.
"Let them fight. We Konoha don't need to get involved in this matter."
"But considering the result of the Second Great Ninja War, I think we should still speed up war preparations."
Minato Namikaze's answer was very moderate.
But this answer satisfied the Third Hokage, the leader of the staunch doves.
The other two dove advisors present also nodded approvingly.
Konoha had a big business and didn't need a hawk Hokage.
On the contrary, Konoha, which had gradually become conservative in recent years, needed a gentle dove Hokage more.
This was more in line with Konoha's interests and the interests of major ninja clans within Konoha.
As for Danzo and Orochimaru, standard hawks...
Unless there was no choice, everyone would not push them to be the Hokage.
Minato Namikaze suddenly felt an extremely gloomy gaze from the side, like being stared at by a poisonous snake lurking for a long time.
He looked over, and sure enough, it was Orochimaru staring at him.
Seeing this, Minato Namikaze narrowed his eyes and smiled gently back.
Orochimaru snorted coldly and looked away.
He had no good feelings for this young opponent competing with him for the next Hokage.
Even if this Minato Namikaze was his grand-disciple.
Finally, Konoha's high-level meeting only reached the conclusion of stepping up defense.
Danzo walked slowly in the corridor.
Suddenly a gloomy voice sounded in his ear:
"The war has started. The quality of the goods you give me should also be improved."
Danzo's expression remained unchanged, still lowering his eyes. A voice suppressed extremely low came from between his teeth:
"Discussing these things here, do you want to die?"
Orochimaru shook his head nonchalantly and laughed.
"I don't care. The next batch of goods must all be ninjas."
Danzo stopped in place, his eyes flickering uncertainly watching Orochimaru's receding figure.
Orochimaru was becoming more and more arrogant and beyond his control.
If this guy really became the Fourth Hokage, he might never have a day to stand out.
The gentle-natured dove Minato Namikaze was better, at least not threatening him.
Unaware that his behavior...
Had already made his political ally retreat, Orochimaru still walked elegantly in the corridor.
Although somewhat vigilant about Minato Namikaze, who was half his age...
Orochimaru still didn't really take him seriously.
Confident, he was determined to get the position of the Fourth Hokage.
For his teacher and people like Minato Namikaze, Orochimaru was very disdainful in his heart.
Compared to the increasingly conservative and pacifist dove ideas of his teacher Hiruzen Sarutobi...
Orochimaru appreciated the concept of Danzo Shimura, known as the Darkness of Shinobi, more.
As the strongest of the five major ninja villages, occupying the most fertile land...
Why stick to one territory for generations?
Obviously possessing the strength to suppress other ninja villages, why not wipe out other ninja villages cleanly?
Facing the provocation of other ninja villages, why did the village always tolerate it? Is the peace obtained by continuous tolerance really peace?
With age, Orochimaru became more and more angry about these things.
At the same time, he was also angry at the increasingly conservative atmosphere in the village.
Obviously, many forbidden jutsu were developed by the Second Hokage, but now people in the village treated those forbidden jutsu like tigers.
When he became the Fourth Hokage, he must change these atmospheres!
At this time, on the desert of the Land of Wind near the border of the Land of Lightning.
Dozens of figures wearing brown vests appeared on the yellow sand.
Running on the desert, they were divided into two groups, front and back, separated by five or six meters, forming several sparse horizontal rows.
With this formation, even if suddenly ambushed by the enemy, as long as it wasn't a large number of enemies, only a few unlucky ones would be hit.
The remaining people who were not hit could counter-surround the ambushers immediately in a spread formation.
"Stop."
The leading female Sand ninja raised her fair arm and shouted coldly. Her delicate and cute face was already tense at this time.
She observed the surrounding environment and noticed a natural stone hill ahead.
Hiding in the stone hill could well resist the sandstorms that hit from time to time in the desert.
And the surroundings were all open ground, with a wide field of vision, easy to defend but hard to attack. It was a very good place to rest.
She ordered cautiously:
"Ban, take a team to check the stone hill."
"Understood, Jonin Yasha Lian."
A beautiful female ninja wrapped in bandages, looking like a taijutsu ninja, responded softly.
She made a gesture crisply.
Four people immediately separated from the formation and ran toward the sand dune with her in a defensive formation.
Yasha Lian clenched her hands, silently watching the five people who had entered the stone hill.
When the main force advanced, a vanguard force was naturally needed to explore the way in advance.
Relying on her quite good strength among Chunin and some connections...
Yasha Lian was honored to be the leader of this vanguard force.
Although the risk was somewhat high.
But as long as the mission was completed, with this qualification, it would be much easier for her to be promoted to Jonin in the future.
A few minutes later, the beautiful female ninja Ban wrapped in bandages walked out of the stone hill and made a gesture gently.
Seeing this, Yasha Lian secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, but still remained vigilant:
"Go to the stone hill. Don't mess up the formation."
Their wave of Sand ninja troops heading to the border of the Land of Lightning...
Had been running non-stop in the desert for a day.
Running continuously for a day, even with the physical strength of a ninja, was somewhat exhausting.
It was time to rest in this stone hill.
More than twenty Sand ninjas immediately divided the work.
Those setting up camp set up camp, and those setting up warning traps around set up warning traps.
After doing all this, everyone sat cross-legged in the stone hill and began to eat dry rations.
The main force behind them would arrive in an hour.
"Jonin Yasha Lian, I heard your brother-in-law is Lord Rasa?"
Yasha Lian looked at Ban who took the initiative to talk to her. She was silent for a while and nodded.
Seeing this, Ban, who looked in her twenties with short black hair and a very good figure and appearance, said enthusiastically:
"I've always wanted to meet Lord Rasa very much. It's a pity that an ordinary Chunin like me hasn't had the chance to meet him."
Hearing this, and seeing the expression on her face...
Yasha Lian immediately became vigilant.
This twenty-six-year-old female ninja, looking at her appearance, seemed to like her brother-in-law very much?
Her brother-in-law had enough harem members.
No need for another one.
Thinking this, Yasha Lian changed the topic without leaving a trace.
But this taijutsu ninja seemed not to notice Yasha Lian's attitude of not wanting to discuss Rasa.
Every time she roughly pulled the topic back.
Finally, Yasha Lian could only compromise helplessly and began to talk about her brother-in-law.
During this period, Ban quietly acted as a qualified listener and raised questions very appropriately.
Yasha Lian, who was originally somewhat reluctant, because of Ban's perfect audience performance...
Became more and more interested in chatting, and even gradually had the impulse to vent the depression hidden in her heart.
"Harem, huh? Is Lord Rasa's body so good? I haven't heard that he is a taijutsu ninja."
Ban's bold and beautiful face was full of interest, not minding Rasa starting a harem at all.
Instead, she was more interested in Rasa's physical fitness.
The corner of Yasha Lian's mouth twitched, but thinking carefully, she found that although Ban's focus was strange, it was really not wrong upon closer thought.
An hour later, the main force of Sand ninjas finally arrived.
The originally somewhat quiet stone hill immediately became lively.
Yasha Lian also hurried to report the situation to the commander of this troop, Pakura.
Inside a white tent, Pakura sat in the head seat, Karura sat next to her, and more than twenty Jonin sat around.
Listening to Yasha Lian's report, Pakura nodded with satisfaction. Then she looked at the paper in her hand, her rosy and beautiful face somewhat worried:
"Urgent report from the border. Early this morning, people from the Cloud Village tried to sneak attack. Although they were beaten back eventually..."
"But given the style of those people in the Cloud Village, their offensive will only become fiercer each time, eventually evolving into a full-scale attack."
"We seize the time to rest tonight. If there is no sandstorm tomorrow morning, we will set off immediately!"
"Yes!"
More than twenty not very neat voices rang out in the tent.
Three hours later.
Outside the Sand Village.
Looking at the brand new Swift No. 2 in front of him.
Rasa nodded with satisfaction.
In the later stages of manufacturing, Akatsuki became more and more skilled.
The final completion speed was several hours earlier than originally expected.
"My Lord, the intelligence ninja in the Land of Fire sent news that Konoha has been seizing the time to collect war materials, and dispatched ninjas are also being recalled to Konoha urgently."
Karuman suddenly popped up from the side, kneeling on one knee to Rasa, holding a piece of paper in both hands.
Rasa took the paper held in Karuman's hands and read it with the light inside the Swift.
The more he read, the more he frowned.
Konoha obviously prepared to stand on the sidelines, watching them fight until their heads were broken and bleeding.
Then prepare silently on the side, seeming to plan to reap the benefits in the end?
Rasa smiled coldly. He wouldn't let Konoha watch until the end and enter the arena in full state.
Next to him, there was a Stone Village eyeing covetously.
Let that old man Onoki fight with Konoha!
Just enough to reduce the possibility of being sneaked attacked by the Stone Village from behind.
As for how to make these two ninja villages fight...
Current him had too many methods to do it.
Thinking this, Rasa quickly formed seals with both hands, instantly creating a dozen shadow clones around.
These dozen shadow clones walked quickly toward the Sand Village.
These dozen shadow clones would continue to manufacture Swifts in the village.
As for Akatsuki.
She was almost skilled in the manufacture of Swift herself, and with the drawings he drew overnight as a reference.
So letting Akatsuki manufacture alone was not a big problem.
And Akatsuki would also create her own shadow clones to manufacture Swifts together.
"Let's go. It just so happens that you also need to seize the time to familiarize yourself with the experience of operating the Swift."
"Your calmness training is also entering the next step."
Saying this, Rasa climbed into the Swift first.
Hearing this, Karuman bit her lip slightly, her pretty face turning red.
Finally, she just lowered her head and climbed into the Swift control cabin silently.