I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 670 Colleagues are not friends, and you don't need to get along with them.

"The delegation will arrive in the Land of Water soon? What does 'soon' mean?"

In the Mizukage's office in the Land of Water, in Kirigakure, Yagura slammed a letter on the table and said disdainfully, "He claims to be good at politics, yet he uses such imprecise vocabulary in diplomatic letters."

Across from him, Master Yuan, sitting in a hastily brought-in chair, frowned and asked, "Fourth Generation, did you summon me here for this matter? Is this mission for me to host?"

"Hospitality? Ha! I didn't approve their diplomatic visit request, and besides, such a frivolous request—the number of people, the purpose, and the timing are all vague—how can I possibly entertain them?!"

Yagura said with dissatisfaction that he was under a lot of pressure lately. Although he had obtained a lot of money from the Daimyo of the Land of Water, which had alleviated the shortage of supplies and funds in Kirigakure.

But this cannot be considered an achievement of his, because when others talk about it, they all say that Yagura Karatachi was just copying others! He was merely imitating others!

After the funds were allocated, the village is now discussing the war from a year ago, saying that he was ignorant of the situation and opened up two battlefields, resulting in the deaths of both ninja units.

The war was originally intended to divert internal conflicts, but because the way the defeat was so outrageous, the conflicts not only failed to be diverted, but were even exacerbated, which gave Yagura a great headache.

If it weren't for Master Yuan's abilities and experience, the Hidden Mist Village would have already been in turmoil. Now, he can't personally issue orders for many things and has to go through Master Yuan.

This greatly angered Yagura. After all, how could the Fourth Mizukage, a figure of great stature, be unable to control and mobilize the village's resources and have to rely on the words of a retired old man? What kind of behavior was this?

"I've sent you here to inform the communications team to reject Konoha's request for a diplomatic visit."

Upon hearing Yagura's words, Genji's messy eyebrows twitched, and he said, "Fourth Hokage, this is probably not appropriate. Although the village has agreed to launch the next phase of the war, everyone hopes that it will only be targeted at Kumogakure."

If we don't reconcile with Konoha now, it will likely be very detrimental to our next phase of the war.

"Ha! Have you all forgotten who the real enemy of Kirigakure is?! Don't forget what Sakamoto Tatsuma did to Kirigakure and to the Land of Water!"

Yagura slammed his hand on the table, his small frame radiating an imposing aura. However, Genji remained unaffected, shaking his head and saying, "Fourth Hokage, you've seen the consequences of dispersing our forces."

The only way to win is to concentrate our forces, and even more so, to concentrate our forces on fighting against Kumogakure. As for Konoha, we can only endure it.

"Endure?! Why should we endure?!"

"Because...we are ninjas?"

"Bang!"

Yagura slammed his hand on the table, stood up abruptly, and unleashed a surge of chakra, pressing down on the master.

Yuan Shi was never known for his strength, and now that he was old and frail, he had no way to resist Yagura's chakra. Sweat appeared on his forehead as he breathed, and a hint of pain showed on his face.

"Lord Mizukage!"

At that moment, anxious shouts came from outside the office. Yagura's chakra calmed down, and Genji suddenly let out a sigh of relief. He then took deep breaths, his breathing sounding like a broken bellows forcibly working.

"Come in."

Yagura spoke to the door, and the office door opened. Ao, one eye covered, strode in, glanced at Genji, then forcibly looked away and said to Yagura:

"Lord Mizukage, something terrible has happened!"

"Ideally, it should be something truly significant, not just..."

Yagura snorted and glanced at Genji. Everyone in the village knew that Ao was Genji's confidant, but Yagura had no choice but to use him.

Not only did the previous wars result in the loss of too many talents, but also because Qing could serve as a "megaphone" for the Yuan Shi. After all, the current Yuan Shi is struggling to take even two steps, and Yagura needs to use him to make his voice heard. Therefore, the best solution is to find a spokesperson for the Yuan Shi.

Ao is quite suitable for this position. His voice to other departments and other Mist Ninjas can make them understand that this is the Master's intention, so that they are willing to give the Master face and carry out the orders passed from Yagura.

However, it wasn't without its downsides. The downside was that Yagura had to deal with these two people he hated every day, and his pressure on Genji was frequently interrupted.

Ao didn't take Yagura's words to heart. He had indeed interrupted Yagura's pressure on the master at the right time, but it was indeed something important.

Ao said, "I understand what Konoha meant by 'not long now'!"

"Um?"

Yagura drawled out the words; this reason couldn't convince him. Everyone knew what "不日" meant—it meant "not long in the future."

"It's less than a day, or in short, 'not a day'."

Ao spoke again, explaining the true meaning of "soon," and Yagura frowned, asking, "Explain it more clearly!"

A sudden, ominous premonition made Yagura forget even to pursue Ao's disrespectful attitude. Ao also stopped being sarcastic and said, "News has come from the coastal areas that the Konoha delegation's fleet has arrived at the western port."

"So fast? This is completely against diplomatic protocol!"

Yagura's expression was somewhat out of control. Diplomatic visits are not something you can just do whenever you want. First, you must specify the time, place, number of people, and purpose of the visit, and then you must ask whether the person being visited agrees.

The next step is for both sides to further agree on the specific procedures. Some important diplomatic visits will even require rehearsals. Only after all of this is completed can the diplomatic visit be considered to have begun.

But Konoha completely ignored these regulations; wasn't that a blatant disrespect for Kirigakure? And...

Yagura realized something and asked, "What do you mean by 'fleet'?"

No matter how you look at it, even if Konoha wanted to visit, it wouldn't be nearly as grand as sending a fleet. Visits that require a fleet are usually only done by victorious nations receiving reparations from defeated nations.

Now that Kirigakure is the defeated party, Konoha has no reason to send a fleet. Even if it were for escorts, given the style of ninjas, they would never prepare escort ships on their own.

Therefore, it is unreasonable that Konoha actually sent a fleet here. Could it be that they came empty-handed to forcibly take the compensation from them?

If that's the case, isn't that going too far?! Besides, where does Konoha get the confidence to think that Kirigakure will obediently pay compensation? You have to understand, this Mizukage is planning the next phase of the war!

Just as Yagura was lost in thought, Aoki spoke up, saying, "The delegation sent by Konoha has a total of three thousand people."

Yagura didn't react immediately, and Genji's previously labored breathing stopped. His droopy eyelids were suddenly pulled open by his wide eyes as he looked at Ao in disbelief and asked, "How much?!"

"Three thousand people."

"Three thousand"

The face of the master, which had previously remained largely unchanged despite his efforts to make expressions due to its loose skin, suddenly became incredibly interesting. He instantly understood Konoha's purpose.

Ostensibly a diplomatic visit, it was actually an attempt to push the war to the next stage. That's too much.

"A delegation of three thousand people."

Yagura finally realized what was happening. His already furrowed brows deepened, and his eyelids and nostrils twitched violently as he spoke with a murderous intent:

"Are Konoha just rushing to their deaths?! Do they really think that three thousand people can escape unscathed from my Land of Water?! Or do they think that Kirigakure doesn't have the ability to stop them?!"

A year ago, Kirigakure also dispatched a force of 3,000 men, which operated within the Land of Fire for an extended period, and the war dragged on for more than a year.

It was this prolonged stalemate that led Kirigakure to misjudge the difference in strength between the Kirigakure ninja and the Konoha ninja. Not only did they fail to have a way to retreat unscathed, they also failed to prepare any contingency plans.

But the result was that when Konoha was about to end the war, the three thousand-strong force was wiped out overnight. At the same time, the force fighting against the Cloud Ninja in the Land of Hot Water was also completely wiped out.

If it weren't for the Kirigakure ninja risking their lives to deliver the message, they would have even lost their tailed beasts in the Land of Hot Springs.

Now, Konoha has sent a force of exactly three thousand men—isn't this blatant provocation, a direct challenge to Kirigakure?!

"Summon all available ninjas from the village! I will ensure that no Konoha ninja returns alive!"

Yagura said resolutely, and Genji was so frightened that he stood up, supporting himself with his long cane, and said, "Fourth Hokage, please don't be impulsive!"

The effects of the war have not yet been eliminated, and the Daimyo has just allocated funds. All departments are making reasonable use of these funds to promote the development of Kirigakure.

Once the war starts, all our previous preparations will have been for nothing! On the contrary, Konoha will definitely be well-prepared, taking advantage of our unpreparedness. If we fight back, we will definitely suffer heavy losses.

"So we're just going to cower like turtles?! Konoha's already reached out their hands, are we just going to offer them up without fighting back?!"

Yagura's eyes were full of violence, and Genji quickly advised, "Fourth Hokage, Konoha is here to resume the war. If we fight back, wouldn't that be fulfilling Konoha's wish?"

In my humble opinion, all we need to do now is feign compliance. Since they've come under the pretext of a diplomatic visit, we should treat them with the courtesy due to a diplomatic visit, leaving them with no legitimate reason to come and wasting their time and resources on preparations and exchanges!

Yagura, who was somewhat blinded by his emotions, calmed down a bit after being reminded by Genji. Although he did not agree verbally, he subconsciously nodded.

Master Yuan is right. The most rational thing to do now is indeed not to give Konoha an excuse to cause trouble. As long as a fight doesn't break out, Konoha will be the one who suffers. But... I'm so angry!

It's true, the more you hold back, the angrier you get!

"Knock knock knock~"

Just then, there was another knock on the office door, and Yagura said coldly, "Come in!"

"Lord Mizukage."

A ninja from the communications squad cautiously entered, sensing Yagura's surging chakra. His expression became hesitant, unsure whether he should reveal the latest news at this moment.

Seeing that the visitor remained silent, Yagura said impatiently, "Speak quickly if you have something to say!"

"Reporting to the Mizukage. The Konoha delegation demands that we compensate them for our invasion of the Land of Fire, and requests that we give them our seven ninja swords as compensation."

"Outrageous! I was already being too kind to the Hokage by not demanding the seven ninja swords back immediately after the ceasefire! And now they want to take those seven swords back?!"

"No, it's not about swallowing them up. They're demanding that we offer seven ninja swords as compensation."

"The ninja sword is in their hands. We... so that's how it is."

Yagura glanced at Genji and said, "It seems they're the ones who insist on starting this war."

(End of this chapter)