Konoha Notes

Chapter 232 Imbalance
Konoha and Sunagakure stood silently facing each other.

Rasa neither removed his straw hat nor took off the white robe that symbolized his identity as the Kazekage. He stood still, with the silent elite of Sunagakure behind him.

He has no plans to take action for the time being.

Shuji's gaze swept over the other side's disciplined formation. If it was only Maki who had come, he would go with him to see the Land of Rivers under the guise of "assisting an ally."

But in the current situation, that's no longer suitable.

“Since the participating teams have not yet arrived,” Shuuji said, breaking the deadlock with a calm tone, “then Konoha will wait at the rear base.”

"let's go."

There were no unnecessary probing, no tense farewells. Following his command, the Konoha ninjas swiftly retreated, their movements perfectly synchronized, maintaining their defensive formation as they disappeared into the woods along the border.

Once a safe distance was established, Xiu Si immediately accelerated.

How did the Sky Ninja get in touch with Danzo?
Or, how did the Sky Ninja get in touch with the Sand Village?
He remembered that the leader of the Sky Ninja, Shennong, was also a madman. He thought he could sweep through the Five Great Nations with just a fortress and a Zero-Tails, but then Shino Aburame wiped out the entire Sky Ninja army.

So, Shennong grew a brain and learned to find allies?
But does Rasa really have the confidence to fight Konoha with just a remnant of the Sky Ninja?
If you truly had that confidence, why didn't you take action just now?

Shuji dared to bring a few teams to meet the Sunagakure team, which naturally meant he had the confidence to leave. However, Rasa was unaware of this, and the only reason he didn't take action was that he didn't want to completely break off relations.

The reason why Sunagakure entered the Land of Rivers was because they accepted a commission from the daimyo of the Land of Rivers.

The real trouble lies in what kind of turbulence might arise again in the ninja world, which had been trending towards stability.

The news of the "border outpost being attacked by air" had just reached Konoha when the intelligence that the "Kage himself has come to the Land of Rivers" arrived.

"With Shuji's strength and thoroughness, he's more than capable of dealing with Rasa," Hiruzen Sarutobi said first. He had witnessed Shuji's Wood Release and his Wind Release against Satoru. "The immediate priority is to send reinforcements and strengthen the border defenses."

Koharu Utatane looked at Tsunade: "Danzo's warning has come true. Sunagakure, as expected, harbors treacherous intentions."

Tsunade coldly replied, "The contact information he provided is completely invalid. We still cannot reach Yakushi Nonou and Yakushi Kabuto."

“Tsunade,” Mitokado Homura pushed up his glasses, “According to previous intelligence, there has been close communication between Sunagakure and Iwagakure. Now that there are unusual developments in Sunagakure, we must confirm whether there are similar changes in the direction of Iwagakure.”

"As for the spy going missing... it's normal to be unable to make contact now that the other side has already taken action. This precisely proves the severity of the situation. I think we should perhaps ask Danzo now if he has any more information."

As comrades-in-arms for decades, since Danzo's previous intelligence was correct, the two naturally preferred to bring out their old buddy to ask him about the situation.

As for how Tsunade will deal with Danzo's matter afterward, that can be discussed later.

And in the meantime, Danzo's little schemes... the fact that he was an ambitious man was not something the people present had known for the first time.

The key is who can better solve the current problems and provide more suitable options.

Tsunade closed her eyes.

Judging from how events unfolded, Danzo's actions, aside from his personal motives, were otherwise flawless. In fact, the unusual activity in Sunagakure actually proved that his previous involvement and judgment were correct.

but……

“I don’t trust the role he’s playing in this,” she said, almost irrationally.

"Tsunade!" Koharu Utatane exclaimed, her eyes widening and her voice rising, "How can the Hokage act so recklessly!"

“Even if Danzo had some ulterior motives, he was ultimately doing it for Konoha,” Mitokado Homura immediately agreed, his brows furrowed.

“He can’t even deliver the complete intelligence network…” Tsunade’s emotions surged, and she clenched her fists.

"That's to ensure the safety of the line! Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures..." "Enough!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe, interrupting the rising volume of smoke.

“Tsunade is the Hokage,” he said. “I will personally oversee the situation in Iwagakure and go check on things.”

The Third Hokage's gaze swept over his two old friends, and he finally decided: "As for Danzo... he has already retired, so leave the intelligence to Kakashi."

Koharu and Homura exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and left one after the other.

Only the third and fifth generation shadows remained in the office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, his tone softening: "Tsunade, it's time to call Jiraiya and the others back."

Tsunade took a deep breath and nodded.

The Sand Village can fulfill the request from the Land of Rivers, but the Kazekage cannot personally lead a complete unit to do it.

Although it still has a layer of skin, this basically represents the breaking of the alliance.

If longtime allies are like this, what will happen to the Cloud Village, which has been relatively close to us in recent years?

Konoha must reclaim its scattered forces.
-
Within the Land of Rivers, Sand Village ninjas are setting up a temporary camp.

Luo Sha stayed in the tent that served as the command center and took off his straw hat.

Taking over the land of rivers is a dangerous and reckless move, but it is worthwhile.

He recalled his previous contact with that rogue ninja organization.

"Why go to such lengths?" he asked at the time.

The strange man with the bizarre two-faced appearance let out a low laugh: "We are nothing more than a mercenary organization made up of wandering ninjas and rogue ninjas."

"The stagnant ninja world is not a place for people like us to live, Kazekage-sama."

Yes, these hyenas of war are just looking to get their scraps from the conflicts between ninja villages.

The same applies to the Sky Ninja. The stronger Konoha becomes, the slimmer their hopes for revenge become.

By having them launch the attack, Sunagakure had a perfect excuse—to lay the groundwork without completely breaking the alliance, and without immediately provoking a fierce counterattack from Konoha.

On the Iwagakure side, that old guy Onoki has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.

Even if they don't respond with a large-scale offensive, they will inevitably coordinate and exert pressure on the border.

And time, this time, may be on their side.

The power of the dragon vein...

Even if only a portion of the inexhaustible earth energy can be extracted as the energy source for the puppets, Sunagakure will gain a powerful, tireless, unreplenished, and absolutely controllable army.

With this puppet army, we can occupy the land of the River Country.

From now on, Sunagakure will have a stable food-producing hinterland, truly possessing the strength to observe the changing situation and reap the benefits. They will no longer have to struggle for survival for every drop of water and every grain of food in the deserts of the Land of Wind.

(End of this chapter)