Amegakure Declares War on Konoha

Amegakure Declares War on Konoha

"I think this is an opportunity for Sunagakure to break out of its predicament. We should give Konoha a helping hand."

"Does Lord Kazekage mean we should take the initiative and start a war?"

Chiyo, who held great power in the village, and her younger brother Ebizo were also present at this meeting.

The Land of Wind was poor, while next door lay the prosperous Fire Country.

As Sunagakure's leader, the Third Kazekage dreamed of taking a juicy bite out of the Fire Country.

"That's right, start a war. But not a war between Sunagakure and Amegakure—it will be a war between Konoha and Amegakure."

Since neither of you would make a move and merely faced each other down, then Sunagakure would give you a push.

They would help ignite the flames of war.

Chiyo understood what the Third Kazekage meant and rose to her feet.

"If that is the case, then leave this matter to me."

At this point, both Konoha and Amegakure had already drawn taut with tension. Starting a war would not be difficult.

"Then this matter is in Chiyo's hands."

The Third Kazekage nodded, approving Chiyo's request.

Konoha and Amegakure could afford to drag things out, but Sunagakure could not. Sunagakure desperately needed war, needed to plunder all kinds of resources from other nations to strengthen itself.

The daimyo had protested more than once that the annual funds allocated to Sunagakure were too high.

With few sources of income yet a considerable number of shinobi to support, Sunagakure would eventually be unable to endure.

The Third Kazekage knew very well that the village was out of money.

The daimyo would not continue providing funds unless war broke out. At that time, in order to preserve his rule, the daimyo would have no choice but to send money to the village.

Led by Chiyo, a group of Sand Village ninja followed her into the Land of Rain.

The deadlock continued. Neither Amegakure nor Konoha fired the first shot.

No one expected that, during such a sensitive time, a group of shinobi wearing Konoha forehead protectors would attack villages throughout the Land of Rain, murdering and setting fires.

"Konoha!!"

When the Anbu delivered the intelligence they had gathered to Hanzō, it immediately ignited the fury in his heart.

Ever since Amegakure's military strength had begun to develop, Konoha's shinobi had constantly entered the Land of Rain to gather intelligence. Hanzō had wiped out batch after batch of them.

Later, Konoha submitted a request for negotiations, which Hanzō ignored outright.

You sent people into my territory to cause trouble, and you still wanted to negotiate with me?

What kind of logic was that? Did small shinobi villages deserve to be bullied by Konoha, and were they not even allowed to fight back after being bullied?

Thus, Hanzō decisively ignored Konoha's request for negotiations and continued hunting down Konoha's shinobi.

After being targeted, Konoha actually deployed a large force along the border. What was that supposed to mean?

A provocation against Amegakure, or a provocation against Hanzō himself?

Konoha's every action conveyed one message: it was going to wage war against Amegakure.

While the two armies faced off, Konoha's shinobi infiltrated the Land of Rain and attacked its villages, severing Hanzō's tightly stretched nerves completely.

Amegakure declared war on Konoha!

The news instantly spread throughout the shinobi world, stunning people in every nation.

Since the establishment of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, this was the first time a small shinobi village had declared war on one of them—and the target was Konoha, hailed as the strongest among the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Konoha also responded to Amegakure's declaration of war.

Konoha declared war on Amegakure, appointing Danzo as the frontline commander-in-chief to attack Amegakure. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were all among the army.

Minato, who had been under Jiraiya for less than a year, was left behind in the village.

The war had only just begun. Konoha had not fallen so low as to require genin on the battlefield, so Minato was left behind.

A great war was on the verge of erupting. Konoha's shinobi army marched directly into the Land of Rain, which became the battlefield for this war.

When everyone gathered together again, Chiyue burst out laughing.

"So the team you were on just disbanded like that?"

"Yeah."

Though he was extremely unwilling to accept it, Minato could only nod gloomily.

The team had disbanded.

While carrying out a mission in the Land of Rain, they had encountered an enemy encirclement.

One teammate had suffered severe injuries and had lost the qualifications to remain a shinobi.

With Jiraiya heading to the frontline as well, Minato and the other teammate had been left behind, directly forcing the team to disband.

Minato had never imagined that his team would vanish in such a way.

"Hahaha... sorry, sorry. I didn't expect Jiraiya to leave you in the village and head to the front himself."

"Stop laughing."

Uchiha Mikoto speechlessly shoved Chiyue. Minato was practically about to cry, yet Chiyue was still laughing.

Kushina did not know whether to laugh or cry either.

"It's fine. Laugh if you want. I didn't expect things to turn out this way either."

Minato smiled bitterly. He did not even know what he should do in the time ahead.

Should he find another team to join, or simply stay in the village to train and improve his strength?

Then, after passing the Chunin Exam, he could head to the battlefield and find Jiraiya, that unreliable teacher of his.

Minato would never have imagined that his teacher Jiraiya was fighting Amegakure's shinobi to the death in the Land of Rain.

After finally fighting until the war ended, Jiraiya would stay behind because of some ridiculous prophecy about a savior and teach three children from the Land of Rain.

Meanwhile, Minato would be left behind in Konoha for years.

Was that kind of teacher reliable?

That was downright absurd.

Chiyue felt that the reason Minato obtained the Flying Thunder God Technique so early was because Jiraiya believed he had let him down.

So after the war ended, he treated Minato better and gave him more compensation.

Waving a hand to show he had stopped laughing, Chiyue turned the meat on the grill and asked, "What are you going to do next?"

"What about you?"

Minato looked up and asked.

Chiyue glanced at Uchiha Mikoto and smiled.

"The usual. Train to improve my strength, take an occasional mission to earn some money, and accumulate contribution points to exchange for the ninjutsu I want. That's basically it."

With the arrival of war, the standards for the Chunin Exam would be lowered, but Chiyue had no interest in taking such an exam.

As long as you passed, you would definitely be sent to the battlefield.

Was grilled meat not delicious enough, or were girls not pretty enough?

Why run off to the battlefield and risk your life?

The most ridiculous part was that even if you risked your life and earned military merit, you still might not receive the benefits you deserved. That was what made it truly disgusting.

Do not doubt it—the Third Hokage and Danzo were fully capable of doing something so shameless.

The two elders, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, were no saints either.

"Count me in!"

That was exactly what Minato had been waiting for Chiyue to say.