The Land of Lightning, Kumogakure, the Raikage Building.
Inside the Raikage's office—
"What?! More than twenty billion ryō?! How the hell did Konoha manage that?! It's bad enough that they're stronger than us, the Hidden Cloud, in practically every other aspect, but they're even better at looting than we are?!"
Bang!
The Fourth Raikage, A, slammed his palm down on the wooden desk in front of him, shattering it into pieces. His jealousy had reached its absolute limit.
It had to be known that over the past several decades, Kumogakure had launched numerous wars of plunder. In the worst cases, they had gained nothing at all and had even paid an enormous price for their efforts.
Even when things went well, Kumogakure had only managed to seize resources worth several hundred million ryō at most. The largest haul had been nearly eight hundred million ryō worth of mineral resources from the Land of Earth.
And it was during that very operation that the Third Raikage had been surrounded and worn down to death by nearly ten thousand Iwagakure shinobi while covering the retreat of his village's forces!
The Land of Lightning was already rich in mineral resources. Whether eight hundred million ryō worth of minerals was worth sacrificing the Third Raikage for was honestly difficult to say.
But Konoha had now practically taken resources worth more than twenty billion ryō from Sunagakure without even suffering significant casualties.
How could A possibly accept that?!
"Raikage-sama, there were quite a few coincidences involved in this matter. Otherwise, Konoha might not have been able to seize so many resources from Sunagakure."
Darui, the Fourth Raikage's aide, calmly analyzed the situation.
"Coincidences? What kind of coincidences could there be?!" A said impatiently. "I knew Sunagakure wasn't that poor! Damn it! If our previous surprise attack hadn't been discovered by Sunagakure in advance, those more than twenty billion ryō might have been ours!"
Darui shook his head.
"That's impossible. The Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind don't share a border. If we wanted to launch a surprise attack on the Land of Wind, we'd have no choice but to approach by sea."
"But there's nowhere to hide on the open ocean. The moment our fleet approached the coastline of the Land of Wind, Sunagakure's observation posts would certainly spot us and have time to prepare."
"Therefore, we could never do what Konoha did—swiftly eliminate Sunagakure's border defensive outposts before they even had a chance to send a message, allowing our forces to penetrate deep into the Land of Wind. Naturally, we couldn't achieve anything remotely comparable to Konoha's gains."
Hearing this, A became even more furious.
"Damn it! That wretched Konoha occupies such an advantageous position. They can practically attack whichever country they want! The heavens are truly unfair!"
Darui silently shut his mouth after hearing that.
It was true that, with the Land of Fire occupying the center of the continent, Konoha could launch attacks against practically any other country.
But by the same token, practically any other country could attack Konoha as well!
Hadn't Konoha faced four enemies at once in each of the successive Great Ninja Wars?
If that had been Kumogakure instead of Konoha, they might have been wiped out by the other villages long ago.
Shaking his head and putting those distracting thoughts aside, Darui spoke again.
"Raikage-sama, what we should be considering right now isn't how many resources Konoha seized from Sunagakure. It's the attitude Konoha has demonstrated through this operation."
A snorted unhappily.
"What does Konoha's attitude have to do with us?! Are you saying that Kumogakure has to act according to Konoha's wishes now?"
Darui nodded.
"That's right. Given the current situation, Kumogakure really does have to take Konoha's attitude into consideration."
After a brief pause, Darui ignored A's dark expression and continued analyzing the situation.
"Ever since Konoha's Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash, Minato Namikaze, took office, Konoha's stance toward the outside world has been more forceful than ever before."
"That's only natural!" A sighed. "A man who can surpass me in speed could never be as timid and hesitant as old man Hiruzen Sarutobi and those other old fogies."
Darui continued.
"Although the Battle of Kikyō Mountain left Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Konoha all suffering heavy losses, comparatively speaking, Konoha mainly lost manpower. Its top-tier combat forces were basically unharmed."
"So, from that perspective, Konoha can be said to have won a great victory, while we suffered a crushing defeat."
"Therefore, it is perfectly normal for Konoha to act more aggressively."
"And this operation against Sunagakure was precisely because Sunagakure rejected Konoha's terms for peace talks. Konoha therefore chose Sunagakure as an example, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys."
"What we need to consider now is what kind of attitude we should adopt in response to Konoha's show of strength."
A's brows furrowed tightly.
He might have been impulsive and hot-tempered, but he wasn't stupid. Naturally, he understood what Darui was getting at.
After pondering for a moment, A spoke.
"The reason Konoha chose Sunagakure as the chicken was because Sunagakure is the weakest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages!"
"But doesn't that also prove that Konoha is wary of the strength of Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure?"
"If the three of our villages joined forces, could Konoha still act so aggressively?"
Darui shook his head.
"Raikage-sama, that's how things would look under normal circumstances. But don't forget that Kumogakure is different from Iwagakure and Kirigakure."
"We have hostages in Konoha's hands!"
"Killer B, Dodai, Samui, and the others are all still in Konoha's hands!"
A froze.
He had genuinely overlooked this point just now!
"Damn it!"
A angrily raised his arm, but when he was about to slam it down, he suddenly remembered that the desk had already been reduced to splinters.
His anger became stuck in his throat, with nowhere to go.
"Huff... huff..."
A took several deep breaths, finally suppressing his fury.
"So this time, we can only act according to Konoha's wishes?"
Darui nodded.
"I'm afraid that's not all. We also need to prepare ourselves for a substantial loss."
"What?! We have to act according to their wishes, and we still have to suffer a major loss?!" A's eyes widened as he roared. "Didn't Konoha already loot more than twenty billion ryō this time?!"
Darui sighed again.
He knew A's temperament all too well.
The man had probably already started treating the more than twenty billion ryō stolen from Sunagakure as though it had been Kumogakure's money in the first place.
That was simply A's bandit logic.
After thinking for a moment, Darui continued.
"There's something else. Aside from us, Kirigakure is currently struggling just to keep itself together."
"According to our intelligence, something seems to have happened to their Fourth Mizukage. As a result, their village has descended into chaos and is currently dealing with internal unrest while isolating itself from the outside world."
"So Kirigakure probably won't get involved in this matter."
"And since we have leverage in Konoha's hands, the only village that can confront Konoha without any reservations is Iwagakure."
"But can Iwagakure alone really suppress Konoha?"
After a brief pause, Darui let out a sigh.
"Raikage-sama, why don't we take the initiative and seek peace talks with Konoha?"
"Perhaps by doing so, we can at least reduce our losses."
A's expression fluctuated between anger, reluctance, and hesitation.
Did they really have no other choice?
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