Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 46 The Mad Plan of Sunagakure

In early 37 of Konoha, news of an explosion spread throughout the Land of Rain.

The Sand Village's plan to divert the Momiji River into the Land of Wind has a crazy idea that has shocked everyone.

Especially the Leaf Village.

"Has Sunagakure gone mad?"

"Don't they know what changing the course of the Red Leaf River means?"

In the conference room of the Hokage Building, the heads of various clans who had come to attend the high-level meeting were filled with righteous indignation and extreme anger.

"Is the Red Leaf River very important?"

Jiraiya, who had come to listen in, sat up straight and gently nudged Orochimaru beside him with his shoulder, asking in a somewhat awkward tone.

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru turned his head and gave Jiraiya a stupid look, too lazy to explain to this idiot whose mind was full of nothing but lust.

"Jiraiya, you idiot, you really don't even know which river the Red Leaf River is?"

On Jiraiya's other side, Tsunade asked in a low voice, looking at Jiraiya with an expression that said, "Don't tell me you really don't know."

Stimulated by this, and with Tsunade right in front of him, Jiraiya couldn't admit it. He stubbornly said, "Ha...ha...I...of course I know which river the Red Leaf River is. It's the one near the Land of Rain! I know it. I was just checking if you guys knew it too."

Jiraiya's words flowed more and more smoothly. He was quite clever, and it wasn't hard to tell from the intelligence that the Momiji River was a river that flowed from the Land of Rain into the Land of Fire. As long as he talked about it in that direction, he was sure to be right.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru and Tsunade immediately realized that Jiraiya genuinely didn't know, and both rolled their eyes at him.

Jiraiya thought Orochimaru and Tsunade believed him, and a smug smile instantly appeared on his face.

"idiot!"

"Fool!"

Orochimaru and Tsunade snorted inwardly and ignored Jiraiya.

In the conference room, the Third Hokage sat in the main seat, with the two Hokage advisors on either side of him. The heads of other major clans were arranged on both sides, while outstanding Jonin like Jiraiya sat on stools behind their respective clan heads to listen in.

This is the highest-level meeting in Konoha.

Konoha has already received confirmation from Hanzo the Salamander, a demigod of the ninja world, regarding the information coming from the Land of Rain.

Sunagakure does indeed want to change the course of the Momiji River.

Their previous ninja troop movements along the border and their intelligence activities in the Land of Rain were all preparations for changing the course of the Momiji River.

Preparations are now complete; all that remains is to obtain the consent of the Land of Rain and the approval of Hanzo the Salamander before implementation.

The people of Sunagakure knew very well that such a massive project as diverting the Momiji River could not have been done without the knowledge of the Land of Rain and Amegakure.

It can only be done with the consent of the Land of Rain.

Otherwise, if they forcibly change course to the Red Leaf River, they will have to face two enemies at the same time: Amegakure and Konoha.

Only with the consent of the Land of Rain can the Land of Fire have no reason to interfere with the decision to divert the Red Leaf River.

Moreover, even if they did intervene, Sunagakure could pull Amegakure, the village of the Land of Rain, into an alliance to fight against Konoha, the village of the Land of Fire. They might even be able to defeat the Land of Fire and gain even greater benefits.

Unfortunately, Hanzo the Salamander was not a political idiot either.

How could he possibly agree to such a crazy plan from Sunagakure?

If he dares to agree, then Konoha of the Land of Fire will dare to wage a war of annihilation against the Land of Rain.

Hanzo not only disagreed with Sunagakure's suggestion, but also leaked Sunagakure's plan, sending Konoha to deal with Sunagakure.

He believed that Konoha would never allow Sunagakure's insane plan to come to fruition.

And that was indeed the case; in fact, the situation within Konoha was even more radical than he had believed.

"Hokage-sama, declare war on Sunagakure!"

"Yes, if we don't scare those bastards, they won't know the weight of the head of the five great hidden villages of Konoha."

"They dare to propose such a crazy plan. What's the difference between that and declaring war on Konoha?"

"Our Uchiha clan is willing to be at the forefront!"

The heated atmosphere in the conference room instantly quieted down after the Uchiha clan leader's words, and everyone turned to look at the Third Hokage in the main seat.

The prohibition of the Uchiha clan from going to the battlefield is just an unspoken rule within Konoha. There is no explicit rule, but everyone accepts this unspoken rule.

Without the participation of the Uchiha clan, other ninja clans could more easily gain merit in battle and then reap more benefits in the post-war distribution of spoils.

However, everything depends on the next three generations.

These ninja clans didn't dare to suppress the Uchiha clan within Konoha.

The head of the Uchiha clan was older than the Third Hokage, but he looked much younger and more unrestrained.

Facing the burning gaze of the Uchiha clan leader, the Third Hokage glanced at Danzo. It was time to unleash... no, it was time for Danzo to make his move.

But Danzo was acting strangely today, unusually quiet, and he didn't even argue with the Uchiha.

Seeing that Danzo hadn't responded to his glances several times, the Third Hokage frowned slightly, sighed inwardly, and decided that he would have to take matters into his own hands.

"The safety of Konoha is also very important. The Uchiha clan should uphold the duty entrusted to them by the Second Hokage to protect Konoha through the Uchiha Clan Guard."

The Third Hokage, based on the Second Hokage's high regard for the Uchiha clan, rejected the possibility of them going to the battlefield.

Upon hearing this, the Uchiha clan leader's eyes instantly calmed down, regaining their composed and collected demeanor, completely different from his previous unrestrained and arrogant expression.

It was as if what the vanguard had said before was just a casual remark and shouldn't be taken seriously.

The third generation frowned; he had lost by a small margin in this round.

The Uchiha clan leader did his best, and neither the radicals nor the conservatives within the clan had anything to say.

Instead, the third generation himself became the target of hatred from both radicals and conservatives.

In this way, the Uchiha clan head's lineage can continue to sit firmly in power and maintain their position as clan head.

Hearing this, the other clan leaders secretly breathed a sigh of relief and then volunteered to fight for the third generation.

"Let's send someone to Amegakure to negotiate first. As long as Amegakure doesn't agree, Sunagakure's plan will not succeed."

The third generation suggested that war should be avoided as much as possible, as he was a staunch anti-war advocate.

Of course, he would not back down if war were truly inevitable.

"Alright, I'll listen to the Hokage."

"Okay, let's try negotiating first."

The Hokage had spoken, and the clan leaders, showing respect to the Third Hokage, did not object.

Anyway, they knew that Sunagakure wouldn't easily cancel that crazy plan.

Konoha will absolutely not allow Sunagakure's insane plan to come to fruition.

War is inevitable; the only question is when it will break out.

As they left the Hokage Building, many clan leaders were still furious about Sunagakure's insane plan.

As is widely known, the Land of Fire is the country with the best geographical location, the best environment, and the most abundant resources of all kinds among the five great nations.

Its grain production is the largest among the five great nations, accounting for almost 40% of the entire ninja world's grain production.

Every year, the Land of Fire makes a fortune just from buying and selling grain.

Not to mention the other abundant natural resources.

The title of the richest country in the Land of Fire ninja world is well-deserved.

The foundation that made the Land of Fire a major grain-producing country is the Red Leaf River, which flows into the Land of Fire from the Land of Rain.

The Red Leaf River originates in the Northwest Rain Country and ends at the Southeast Sea Mouth of the Fire Country. The main channel of the river runs through the entire Fire Country, while countless branch rivers, like capillaries, penetrate into various parts of the Fire Country, nourishing the land.

It can be said that at least half the credit for the Land of Fire's abundant land and natural resources goes to this great river of red leaves.

This river, which can be called the mother river that nourishes the entire Land of Fire, is being diverted by Sunagakure. What difference is there between this and directly taking the life of the Land of Fire?

The Daimyo of the Land of Fire would absolutely not allow such a situation to occur.

This war will receive the greatest support from the Daming Prefecture.

The support of the Daming Prefecture meant unimaginable benefits.

To put it bluntly, Konoha is a massive military base.

The various ninja clans within Konoha are like legions.

The entire village of Konoha is a military group.

With virtually no commercial activity outside Konoha Village, war is their primary means of generating profit.

The support of the Daming Prefecture was their greatest guarantee of gaining huge benefits in the war.

Knowing that the Daimyo would definitely support the war against Sunagakure, the clan leaders were filled with righteous indignation and wanted to start a war.

It's all about self-interest!

(End of this chapter)