Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

The reason is that Kirito is using the name of Amegakure to make a deal with Iwagakure, and he is even bypassing Kirito to make the deal directly with Iwagakure.

Even though Kirito's current transaction location is at Amegakure's intelligence station, which is considered to be informing him, the leader of Amegakure, he still harbors resentment.

He had already heard about the so-called Amegakure split plan from some of his confidants. Although he did not believe that Hattori Masanari would betray Amegakure or sell out its interests, he was indeed wary of Hattori Masanari vying for power with him in the future.

Because of the defeat in the war, the Land of Rain was reduced to ruins, and his prestige in Amegakure was severely damaged. Many voices of opposition to him emerged within Amegakure, and even a large number of rogue ninjas left the village without permission.

Now that Hattori Masashige has consecutively defeated Tsunade and two renowned elite puppeteers from Sunagakure, and given that he has privately declared that he is no longer a rogue ninja, Hattori Masashige's prestige in Amegakure is second only to him.

Once Hattori Masanari successfully exchanges two elite puppeteers from Sunagakure for a large amount of resources from Iwagakure and uses them on Amegakure to help the village overcome its current crisis, his reputation will undoubtedly rise to a new level.

If Hattori Masanari were to rally the troops at that time, he might actually win over many Amegakure ninja who were disappointed in him as their leader.

Judging from Hattori Masashige's current actions, there are signs of this.

The plan to split the Rain Village is something Hanzo the Salamander must be wary of.

"You're afraid of me, Hanzo."

After Kirito and Hanzo entered the room, he confirmed that no one was eavesdropping, and then sneered at Hanzo, who had a very serious expression.

“Masashige, don’t you think I should be wary of your unauthorized actions? You can make a deal with Iwagakure on your own initiative because you captured those two people and you exchanged them for benefits from Iwagakure. I have no objection to that, but you shouldn’t use Amegakure’s name to make a deal with Iwagakure without authorization.”

"You brought that son of the Tsuchikage here for a transaction, doesn't that prove you're now a Rain Ninja?"

Hanzo retorted logically and with strong evidence, his voice filled with anger.

"Hmph, you have the nerve to say that? The reason I made the deal with Iwagakure without informing you beforehand is because of your incompetence. I didn't want to be hindered by you, or more accurately, by the Sunagakure spies hiding around you."

Upon hearing this, Kirito explained his reasons without any remorse.

"Zhengcheng, what do you mean by this?"

Upon hearing this, Hanzo's expression changed, and he stared intently into Kirito's eyes, gradually exuding a dangerous aura.

"What do I mean? Haven't I made myself clear enough, or are you just pretending to be confused? Think about why you were so foolish as to launch a war against Konoha back then?"

Kirito said coldly.

By the end, his voice was almost a roar.

During the time he was using White Zetsu clones to operate in the Land of Rain, he frequently used the Spirit Transformation Technique to send his split souls infiltrated Amegakure to gather intelligence.

In contrast to Konoha, where sealing barriers are everywhere and even the entire village is shrouded in a super-large sealing barrier, Amegakure, lacking a foundation in sealing techniques, is like a sieve, full of loopholes, and cannot stop his spiritual transformation technique from detecting anything.

Therefore, he used his spiritual powers to gather a lot of useful information and also secretly obtained some unexpected secrets from some of Hanzo's confidants.

To his great surprise, many of Hanzo's close confidants had secret connections with Konoha, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure, having already secured their escape routes.

Some of them were spies sent by these three ninja villages to infiltrate Amegakure long ago. Among them, the majority were spies from Sunagakure, and many of them held high positions and important roles in Amegakure.

In this way, he could easily imagine how the dignified demigod Hanzo of the Salamander would be dragged down by these spies.

It would be strange if Amegakure could defeat Konoha.

If Hanzo hadn't been so incredibly powerful in the Land of Rain, managing to hold Amegakure up on his own, Amegakure would have been defeated long ago.

No wonder Hanzo remained hidden behind the scenes, never showing himself to anyone, and had many guards around him. These guards rarely saw him. On one hand, his strength had declined too much and he was afraid of dying. On the other hand, he was probably worried that there were spies from other ninja villages around him.

When Kirito mentioned waging war against Konoha, Hanzo's momentum immediately weakened.

He looked into Kirito's eyes, which were filled with resentment, and subconsciously avoided Kirito's gaze, feeling a deep sense of guilt.

His reckless war against Konoha resulted in heavy losses for Amegakure and the Land of Rain, which was the biggest mistake he ever made.

In fact, after the war, he reflected on his actions and realized that it was his own arrogance that led him to mistakenly believe that he and Amegakure could make the Land of Rain the sixth largest country, and he foolishly launched a war against Konoha.

This resulted in a crushing defeat.

However, upon reflection, he realized that his arrogance and reckless challenge to Konoha, the most powerful village in the ninja world, was largely due to the constant encouragement and advocacy from his close associates.

It was these very confidants of his who secretly encouraged him to launch a war against Konoha.

"It seems you're not completely stupid after all. You've already noticed that there's something wrong with the people around you. Has someone been encouraging you to trade prisoners with Sunagakure lately? You know best what the public opinion in the village is about this prisoner trade. Do you still think I should have told you about my deal with Iwagakure in advance?"

Kirito, seeing that Hanzo dared not look him in the eye, continued speaking.

Hanzo remained silent, tacitly agreeing with Kirito's words.

Ever since Kirito captured two Sand Village puppeteers, voices of the Sand Village threat theory have quickly emerged in the village, specifically expressing concerns that the Sand Village might launch a war against the Amegakure at this time.

Because of these remarks, Amegakure, which had just barely escaped the quagmire of war, is now filled with anxiety, fearing that the Land of Rain will once again be at war.

As a result, some people kept persuading him to order Hattori Masanari to return the two puppeteers to Sunagakure. Some even suggested returning them to Sunagakure unconditionally and then severely punishing Hattori Masanari, the traitorous ninja who had damaged the friendship between Amegakure and Sunagakure.

If Kirito had informed him in advance that he would be making a deal with Iwagakure, there would have been fierce opposition within the village, which would likely have caused the deal to fail.

Chapter 118: Purifying Amegakure

"Then why Iwagakure? Shouldn't we be trading with Konoha to maximize our profits? Konoha can definitely offer a higher price than Iwagakure."

Hanzo asked, looking puzzled.

He can now understand why Kirito acted first and then informed him, but he doesn't understand at all why Kirito chose to make a deal with Iwagakure.

Upon hearing this, Kirito could not, of course, say that this was a conspiracy he had devised to deepen the conflict between Iwagakure and Sunagakure.

Now that Konoha is surrounded by enemies, he needs to sow discord among these enemies as much as possible.

Handing over the two elite puppeteers of Sunagakure, Akasuna and Sunagakure, to Iwagakure would undoubtedly greatly provoke the already hostile Sunagakure.

At that time, a major battle may break out again at the border between Sunagakure and Iwagakure.

In this way, the pressure Konoha faces from Sunagakure and Iwagakure can be greatly reduced.

Kirito thought for a moment and decided to try to fool Hanzo, asking in return, "Hanzo, do you know what the core industry of our Land of Rain is?"

Hanzo was silent for a moment, then seemed to realize something and exclaimed, "It's industry!"

"That's right. Due to our unique climate, agriculture in our Land of Rain can't develop, so we have to focus on developing industry. Our industry is mainly heavy industry, such as metal refining and processing. The Land of Earth has always been our Land of Rain's largest exporter of mineral resources. However, because of your previous falling out with Iwagakure, normal trade between the two countries has been severely disrupted. Mineral resources from the Land of Earth can't be transported in, many factories in the country have closed down, and many people have lost their jobs as a result."

Our Land of Rain is currently in dire need of reconstruction. The most important thing right now is to ensure our people have food and jobs, and to improve their lives. Therefore, it is essential for us to re-establish normal trade relations with the Land of Earth. My purpose in using those two highly skilled puppeteers from Sand Village to trade with Iwagakure is to repair the relationship between our two villages.”

Kirito nodded and explained logically and reasonably.

He now has a fairly deep understanding of Hanzo the Salamander.

As a ninja, his opponent was undoubtedly very powerful, and there were few people in the ninja world who could defeat him.

As a leader, he was quite competent, gaining a large number of followers through his personal bravery in leading from the front.

But as a politician, Hanzo the Salamander is not suitable.

His domestic affairs skills were a complete mess. Otherwise, he wouldn't have cut off normal trade between Amegakure and Iwagakure in a fit of anger and implemented a policy of isolationism, completely unaware of the serious consequences this would have on the Land of Rain's economy.

The reason why the Land of Rain has become like this is partly due to the war, and partly due to Hanzo's closed-door policy.

Many people lost their jobs, had no money to buy food, and even those who had money couldn't buy enough food because food supplies couldn't be delivered from outside, naturally leading to social chaos.

In short, Hanzo the Salamander was a crude warrior with astonishing combat power. He was good at killing and arson, but he was completely incapable of handling domestic affairs.

Hanzo lacked domestic political skills, but his comprehension was still good. When he heard that his closed-door policy, implemented to prevent Iwagakure spies from entering the country, had caused many people to lose their jobs, his face immediately darkened.

He was far too blindly arrogant back then. When Iwagakure tried to win him over, hoping that Amegakure would accept Iwagakure's support and agree to Iwagakure's request to restrain Sunagakure, he completely disregarded it and even mocked Onoki for his wishful thinking, telling him not to try to interfere with him and Amegakure. This caused a conflict between Iwagakure and Amegakure.

As Kirito predicted, Amegakure and Iwagakure continued to become enemies, severely disrupting normal trade between the Land of Rain and the Land of Earth. This ultimately led to the closure of many factories in the Land of Rain, a surge in unemployment, and further exacerbated the conflict between Amegakure and the Daimyo of the Land of Rain, resulting in a reduction in military spending.

The decline of Amegakure began from this point.

He now understood that if the Land of Rain wanted to restore its former glory, it was crucial to maintain friendly relations with the Land of Earth. Otherwise, if many factories in the country lost their supply of raw materials from the Land of Earth, the domestic economy would inevitably suffer a severe blow.

He never imagined that even the economy of the Rain Kingdom would be subject to others.

At this moment, Hanzo began to doubt whether he was qualified to continue as the leader of Amegakure, or whether it was really a good thing for him to continue as the leader of Amegakure.

With his current abilities, he doesn't seem to be a suitable leader to guide the Rain Kingdom to prosperity.

"Zhengcheng, how did you come up with these ideas?"

Hanzo looked up at Kirito and asked in confusion.

The Hattori Masanari he knew was actually about the same level of education as him; neither of them had read many books and it was impossible for them to see the current crisis facing the Land of Rain or to say those things that sounded very reasonable to him.

"It's nothing much. After leaving the Land of Rain, I wandered around and saw many new things. I also read some books when I had nothing to do, so I guess I broadened my horizons a bit."

Upon hearing this, Kirito's face immediately showed a sentimental expression, and he sighed.

Then, his expression turned serious, and he said solemnly to Hanzo:

"Hanzo, in this world, it's not just our Rain Country that is oppressed by other great powers. There are many small countries that are in the same situation, and the lives of the people there are even worse than those in the Rain Country. If it weren't for the fact that the Rain Country produced a demigod like you, the Rain Country would have been divided up by the three great powers around it long ago."

"I came here to save the Land of Rain from this disaster. Otherwise, when you, Hanzo, grow old or die, the Land of Rain will only be worse off than it is now. Let's work together to build the Land of Rain stronger than before. I need your strength."

After saying that, he stretched out a hand to Hanzo.

Upon seeing this, Hanzo did not hesitate and immediately reached out to grasp Kirito's outstretched hand, his face showing excitement. He said, "Alright, let's make the Land of Rain even stronger than before. Masashige, come back and assist me. Amegakure needs a wise man with vision like you."

That's right, the Land of Rain cannot become worse than it is now.

His dream has always been to make the Land of Rain the sixth largest country in the ninja world. If he is not capable of fulfilling this dream, then he can leave it to future generations.

However, before that, he must leave a better Rain Country for future generations than the one he has now.

"He really believed me, but I'm sorry, it's impossible for the two of us to do it alone."

Kirito looked at the excited Hanzo of the Salamander in front of him, feeling the pain and warmth coming from his right hand, and sighed in his heart.

What he just said was merely a pretext to prevent Hanzo from doubting his actions and identity; he never expected Hanzo to take it so seriously.

After all, the Land of Rain is adjacent to three major powers: the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Wind, making it a natural buffer zone for these three powers.

If two of the three major powers go to war, the Rain Country will inevitably become the battlefield for the two powers in order to prevent the war from spreading to their homelands.

Given such a hostile international environment, it's easy to imagine how difficult it would be for the Rain Country to develop; it's practically a nightmare.

Moreover, neither the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, nor the Land of Earth will allow the Land of Rain to grow stronger. Making the Land of Rain a buffer zone without any ability to resist is the ideal choice for these great powers.

In fact, if it weren't for the sudden emergence of Hanzo the Salamander, a demigod who used his immense strength to make Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure realize that Amegakure was not to be trifled with and dare not easily use the Land of Rain as their battlefield, the Land of Rain might have become what it is today much earlier, or even been divided up by the three great powers and turned into a puppet state.

Kirito is now in a difficult situation. If he doesn't agree to Hanzo's request, Hanzo will probably turn against him immediately.

However, this aligns with his previous plan to use Hattori Masanari as a front to become a high-ranking member of Amegakure.

So he immediately put himself in the shoes of a high-ranking member of Amegakure and said coldly, "No problem, I'll go back with you this time. But before I go back, I think Amegakure needs to undergo a purification. Hanzo, what do you think?"

"it is good."