Uchiha's personal opinion

"Humph!"

The Third Raikage, unusually not exercising but instead reviewing documents with his glasses on, snorted coldly, ripped off his glasses, and crushed them into powder to vent his resentment: "Those spineless Iwagakure bastards!"

Then, the desk once again became a target for anger, scattered all over the floor.

"...Let A and Killer Bee disband the assembled ninja army!"

After catching his breath, the Third Raiga spoke in a deep, muffled voice.

"Yes, sir..."

As the Cloud Village Anbu prepared to bow and leave, the Third Raikage changed his mind again: "Wait! Don't disband the ninja army yet. Bring A back, and let Killer Bee continue the Eight-Tails tracking mission!"

"As ordered!"

This time, the Cloud Village Anbu could finally leave the Raikage's office, where the atmosphere was so tense and suffocating.

Not long after, a group of Yunyin's senior executives arrived in tacit agreement. After the secretary cleaned up, the broken desk was quickly cleaned up and replaced with a new one, and the documents that had fallen to the ground were also quickly organized and placed back on the desk.

After entering the Raikage's office, the Cloud Village's high-ranking officials didn't say much. They simply bowed silently, found a place to sit, and waited for the Third Raikage's next instructions.

"...You probably already know that."

The Third Raikage broke the silence, "Iwagakure has finally given in."

The senior executives nodded in unison.

"A will be back soon, Killer Bee will continue with the Tailed Beast special mission..."

The Third Raikage said in a deep voice, "Also, the village is expanding its army..."

But before he could finish speaking, he shook his head.

"The daimyo is truly unable to continue..."

A high-ranking member of the Cloud Hidden Sect sighed helplessly.

Although Uchiha Tokumitsu's financial and economic war was carried out silently, it still caused great damage to the Land of Clouds, which had lost a third of its territory and had its financial sovereignty destroyed.

First, war reparations led to insufficient gold reserves. Then, in an effort to compensate for the losses, the excessive issuance of paper money caused severe currency devaluation. Subsequently, problems arose in the redemption of paper money from gold reserves, triggering a chain of trust crises. In addition, the shogunate's gold yuan circulated freely within the Land of Clouds, and the dumping of goods by the United Company bankrupted a large number of local workshops in the Land of Clouds...

Just as the Cloud Village was diligently preparing for battle, they suddenly discovered that the money given by the Daimyo was useless...

Of course, it is still possible to buy supplies produced within the Cloud Kingdom, but other resources that need to be purchased from abroad can only be obtained by spending a small amount of gold.

Even Iwagakure, an ally, was only willing to engage in barter and refused to accept the paper money of the Land of Clouds.

The problem is that after losing the most fertile southern region, the cold and barren lands in the central and northern parts of the Cloud Kingdom already have few resources, so where would they find so many resources to trade?

Therefore, even though the Taira clan daimyo of the Land of Lightning lived frugally, eating only 108 dishes a day, the funds he managed to squeeze out were still insufficient to fully expand the Hidden Cloud Village.

Even though Kumogakure received a batch of supplies secretly sponsored by the Daimyo of the Land of Earth after the secret meeting at the Daimyo's residence, it was only a drop in the ocean compared to the severe shortage that Kumogakure was facing.

How could the Hidden Cloud Village possibly submit to this?

It's one thing if the Shogunate, with its overwhelming advantage, is inhumane—after all, if you can't beat them, you can't beat them; but now that their ally, Iwagakure, is still so disappointing, how can the Kumogakure ninjas, who have always looked down on Iwagakure, stand it!

"The southwestern occupied territories are about to be reclaimed,"

Another high-ranking member of the Cloud Village said, "Facts have proven that the Iwagakure is no match for us. We still have to rely on ourselves!"

What if the Shogunate intervenes?

The experienced and prudent members of the Cloud Village leadership immediately disagreed: "Taking back the southwest region will inevitably lead to animosity with Iwagakure. If the shogunate intervenes then, we will have no way out!"

"If we're still so hesitant and indecisive when things come to this, we might as well try to join the shogunate as soon as possible!"

Opponents immediately countered with sharp retorts: "If we were to proactively kidnap Lord Taira and hand him over to the shogunate, we might even be able to gain some benefits and secure a second-class ninja rank under Kirigakure!"

"You're not Yunyin!"

The radicals immediately jumped up upon hearing this!

The Third Raikage looked at the familiar scene before him and once again succumbed to deep exhaustion.

Undeniably, after the secret purge, the Third Raikage was able to ensure that all high-ranking officials were loyal to the village.

However, people's will and stance are different, and their perspectives on and understanding of a certain thing are also different. It is actually quite normal for different factions to have different opinions when facing the current predicament of the Hidden Cloud Village.

Even the Third Raikage had no intention of stopping this disagreement among the higher-ups, since "dissenting opinions" were actually beneficial to the long-term stability of the Raikage lineage.

But if this continues for a long time...

"...Have you made enough of a scene?!"

As always, after listening for a while, the Third Raikage, once again impatient, interrupted the debate.

Immediately, the high-ranking officials of Kumogakure fell silent and awaited the Third Raikage's "intentions".

In Kumogakure, where the Raikage's authority is paramount, no matter how much the higher-ups, lacking a strong grassroots foundation, clamor, they ultimately have to obey the Raikage's orders.

This is the foundation of the Cloud Village's long-standing unity, and also the reason why it appears increasingly powerless in the face of the tides of the times.

"...The development of the Chakra Cannon has been halted for nearly three months. I hope Lord Raikage can resolve this as soon as possible."

After a long silence, a high-ranking member of the Cloud Village responsible for the development of secret weapons finally broke the silence.

"The village has done its best, but the price of chakra metal is just too..."

The Third Raikage didn't put on airs or try to shift blame; instead, he directly addressed the current difficulties.

"The Shogunate has basically monopolized all the mineral resources in the Land of Wind; you can't buy them even if you have money..."

The Yunyin executives in charge of making money through underground channels also muttered something.

"The village really has no money..."

The Yunyin high-ranking officials in charge of finances also quickly chimed in.

Then, Raikage's office fell silent once again.

No one is at fault; everyone has their own difficulties.

However, no one has the ability to solve the problem.

This is the problem that Yunyin is currently facing.

Even the Third Raikage felt exhausted.

"Everything will be alright..."

After a long silence, the Third Raikage finally said quietly, "After Killer Bee finds the Eight-Tails and becomes its new Jinchūriki, everything will get better..."

The Cloud Hidden leaders nodded in agreement.

As for how things will improve, and what role the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki can play when facing the Shogunate with its five tailed beasts, no one has thought about that yet.

Or perhaps, we simply don't dare to think about it...

Chapter 421 Internal and External Troubles

"Iwagakure has reached a point where reform is absolutely necessary!"

In the central command tent of the Iwagakure garrison in the Land of Birds, Huang Tu secretly summoned the border troops, including Mahiru, who were serving as Jonin. With an unusually serious expression, he said, "Furthermore, reforms cannot be superficial; we must learn from our mistakes and ensure that the reforms penetrate to the core. We must dare to confront and resolve historical issues!"

Including Hiruzen, who was in charge of the ninja army, all the Jonin from Iwagakure looked solemn and nodded in agreement.

"Tomorrow morning I'm going to sign the first unequal treaty since the founding of Iwagakure..."

With a sorrowful expression on his yellow face, he looked around at the assembled Jonin.

"Around tomorrow afternoon, the Land of Birds and the Land of Stone will no longer belong to us. The border troops, the Southern Ninja Army, and other organizations will also cease to exist in name only... All of you Jonin will have to relinquish your current duties and accept the village's reorganization."

"...I wonder how many vacancy positions for Jonin can be squeezed out of the village's many ninjas now."

The grief and indignation on the faces of the Jonin from Iwagakure grew stronger.

The reason why Huang Tu so boldly convened a semi-public meeting with the Jonin of the border troops was that these Jonin were the ones whose interests were most directly harmed in the humiliating treaty signed with the Shogunate.

Although the Iwagakure ninja are numerous and powerful, the number of Jonin positions with real power is not large. Moreover, as the number of ninjas continues to increase, the competition becomes increasingly fierce. What was once a special Jonin position has now become a battleground for even senior Jonin.

Compared to ninjas stationed in villages, border troops stationed abroad are far from the village's power center, but they have the advantage of being less "in-fighting" and having more freedom, giving them more opportunities to take advantage of others. Sometimes they don't even need to embezzle; they just need to touch the "meat" when it's being handled, and the oil they get after washing it off is enough to make soup.

However, if the ninja army withdraws to the village, all of them, regardless of their rank, will basically have to be reassigned. Even if the relatively high-ranking and powerful Demon Leech can keep his position as a commander of the ninja army, his trusted followers will definitely be scattered and replaced with a large number of people with connections.

With so many eyes watching, it'll be troublesome if the Demon Leech tries to do anything behind the scenes.

besides……

Huang Tu glanced cryptically at Asura in the corner of the central command tent.

The earthly practitioners representing the two sacred sites of Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave have also expressed their support for Huang Tu's further reforms of Iwagakure, which is one of the reasons why he boldly gathered people to discuss "important matters".

"Those rebellious ninjas in the southern counties..."

The leech hesitated, as if it wanted to speak.

"They have completely disappeared without a trace, but one thing is certain: it wasn't done by the village's secret service."

Huang Tu said, "The Great Luo Jonin has already confirmed this."

Faced with the questioning gazes of the crowd, Ashura reluctantly nodded.

His original intention was not to directly interfere in the internal affairs of the ninja villages, but after informing the toad sage of Mount Myōboku of the unexpected discovery of the existence of the White Zetsu, the toad sage reacted extremely strongly, hoping that Ashura could intervene more deeply in the internal affairs of Iwagakure and Kumogakure, so as to use their power to hunt down those remnants of Kaguya from ancient times.

Therefore, with the encouragement of many parties, the loess soil has finally brought together the situation we see today.

"...We're afraid we can't withstand the pressure from the village."

One of the Jonin spoke first: "The difference in strength is obvious. If the Third Hokage were to use Dust Release, we would have no chance of winning."

"We don't need to raise the flag right now."

The demon leech immediately spoke up to dispel everyone's doubts: "However, it is not in our interest to allow the ninja army to be scattered to various places!"

"What Lord Huangtu means is..."

The gazes of all the Jonin turned to the yellow earth.

Huang Tu is nominally the second-in-command of Iwagakure, and he still holds the position of Jonin squad leader. Therefore, as long as there is no immediate confrontation, the Jonin of the border troops are still willing to obey his orders.

Moreover, in their minds, Huang Tu was a high-ranking official who endured humiliation and hardship for the village without regard for fame or fortune, and was trustworthy.

"The structure of the Southern Border Forces must be preserved, and all personnel must not be separated."

Huang Tu, his eyes gleaming, raised his head and said, "This is why I've gathered everyone here!"