Sunagakure and Kirigakure's Reactions

To everyone's surprise—and yet within some people's expectations—the Second Ninja World War broke out just like that.

The smoke of war spreading across the entire ninja world had actually shown signs of emerging last year. What no one expected was that Konoha would be the first to launch this war.

It was not until the third day after Konoha's surprise attacks on Sunagakure and Kirigakure that the Kage of the two nations received the news.

Konoha's public justification was that it had accepted missions issued by the Land of Rivers and the Land of Tea to eliminate roving armed ninja within their territories.

What a move. Not only did they wipe you out, they even made you take the blame.

Most nations that knew the truth dismissed it with contempt, while the few who did not understand what had happened were still praising Konoha for displaying the bearing of a great ninja village.

It was all merely an excuse to send troops.

Bang!

"Damn Konoha! I won't let you get away with this! Gather all the jonin! I'm sending out the troops—we will have our revenge!"

Inside the Third Kazekage's office in Sunagakure, the Third Kazekage slammed his fist against the desk before him and roared in fury. Grains of iron sand had already begun drifting through the air.

Yet neither Chiyo nor Ebizo, the elders beside him, showed any intention of getting up.

Though both of them were filled with boundless rage as well, reason told them that now was not the time.

The loss of three thousand puppeteers had made Sunagakure, already the weakest among the Five Great Nations, even worse off.

Sunagakure had only a little over nine thousand standing ninja. Losing a third of their total force in one stroke was a devastating blow.

If the other four great ninja villages had originally been able to tacitly join forces and attack Konoha together, now they had to consider how to guard against betrayal from behind.

As long as there was profit to be made, even allies could become targets.

"Lord Kazekage, please calm down. Given our current situation, we can no longer afford any further losses," Ebizo urged worriedly.

"Alas, one wrong step leads to more wrong steps. I never expected that fellow, the Third Hokage, to have the courage to be the first to ignite a ninja war. He truly deserves the title of Ninja Hero," Chiyo added, agreeing with her younger brother Ebizo.

"Are we really just going to let this go?" The Third Kazekage had only recently inherited the position from the Second Kazekage Shamon, and he was brimming with ambition.

Before he could realize that ambition—before he could even begin to put it into action—reality had dealt him a resounding slap across the face.

"Our current forces are only enough to guard against a surprise attack from Iwagakure. If we want to strike Konoha again, we simply lack the strength," Ebizo said helplessly.

"A Ninja World War is now unavoidable. Fortunately, Kirigakure was also ambushed by Konoha just as we were. They are no longer in any position to make a move against Konoha either, so we do not need to be overly wary of them," Chiyo said as she analyzed the current situation for the Third Kazekage.

"Besides, with both Sunagakure and Kirigakure ambushed by Konoha, Iwagakure and Kumogakure probably won't be able to sit still either. We can just sit back and watch them tear each other apart," Chiyo said, her eyes gleaming sharply.

There was one thing she did not say: Sunagakure's new generation of ninja would soon be trained. They had not been eliminated from this war ahead of time.

How could the Third Kazekage not understand the advice of the two Council of Elders members? His heart was simply still full of unwillingness.

"We'll let Konoha off for now, but Sunagakure will remember this grudge." He crushed the ball of sand in his hand with one squeeze, his voice laden with hatred.

Ebizo and Chiyo exchanged a glance and both breathed a sigh of relief. What they feared most was that the young Third Kazekage would be unable to bear the provocation and send out troops regardless of the consequences.

To the siblings, the nation's interests had long surpassed their own personal thoughts. No matter how furious they were, they would not gamble with the entire village.

Over in Kirigakure, inside the Third Mizukage's office building.

The Third Mizukage, who often kept his eyes narrowed, had now opened them. After reading the intelligence delivered by his subordinates, he angrily flung it onto the desk.

"Go invite Genji." The Third Mizukage issued the order without expression.

"Yes."

Less than ten minutes later, Genji of Kirigakure entered the Third Mizukage's office.

As an elder of Kirigakure, Genji possessed authority and status equal to the Mizukage's. On important village matters, the Mizukage would generally seek his opinion.

The Genji before him was already nearly sixty years old. He could be considered an old fossil from the same era as the First Mizukage.

Although Genji possessed the status and authority of a Mizukage, he never interfered in the Mizukage's affairs. Only when the Mizukage raised a matter himself would Genji offer his advice.

That was why every Mizukage throughout the generations respected him so much. He had prestige and seniority, yet never tried to seize the village leader's authority. What leader would not like that?

Kirigakure's system was truly strange. It granted Genji and others like him all the authority and status equal to the Mizukage's, which was practically the same as having two Mizukage governing the village, yet it had not caused a split.

To every other nation, that was unimaginable. After all, it was common sense that a country could have only one supreme leader.

At critical moments, there could only be one voice. Otherwise, it could lead to internal strife.

Presumably, that was why Genji never fought for power. The less he fought, the more the Mizukage of every generation respected him, creating a virtuous cycle.

The more he fought, the more intense his conflict with the Mizukage might become. Sometimes, letting go brought greater returns.

If you can't find the book by its title, try searching for the author. It may simply have been renamed!

It was just unknown whether, after Genji passed away and a second Genji took his place, that person would possess the same emotional intelligence as the first.

"Mizukage-sama." Upon entering, Genji first greeted the Third Mizukage.

"Genji-sama, there's no need for formalities. Please sit. This is intelligence from the Land of Tea that was just sent up from below. Please take a look."

The Mizukage picked up the documents he had just thrown onto the desk and had the ninja waiting at the side hand them to Genji.

After quickly reading through the documents, Genji sighed.

"This is not good news. Two thousand five hundred Mist Ninja skilled in assassination have been completely wiped out. This is Kirigakure's greatest loss since the outbreak of the First Ninja World War."

After setting down the documents, even Genji, who had always concealed his emotions, showed a change in expression.

"Before we even launched an attack on Konoha, our entire force had already been annihilated. With this, the alliance of the four great nations has been broken before it was even formed."

The Third Mizukage's tone was full of heaviness.

After so many years of the Blood Mist policy, Kirigakure's ninja at the lower and middle levels were generally a tier stronger than those of the other four great ninja villages. However, population was undeniably the Land of Water's weakness.

If the other four great ninja villages could cultivate one ninja out of every five ordinary people, then Kirigakure could only cultivate one ninja who far surpassed others of the same rank out of every ten ordinary people.

Thus, the Third Mizukage had originally wanted to expand Kirigakure's territory. As long as they had more land, would they still have to worry about population growth?

Of course, the Land of Wind's environment of nothing but sand and wind was an exception. No matter how much of that kind of land they had, it would not increase the population by much.

Konoha occupied the most fertile lands in the entire ninja world, and that was what the Mizukage coveted.

If the Land of Water casually occupied one or two towns there, they would be nothing less than prime meat.

There was no helping it. The First Hokage and Madara Uchiha had dominated the entire ninja world back then.

Forget the First Mizukage—even if the Mizukage of every generation joined forces with the Kage of the other three great nations, they would only be delivering themselves to those two.

The gap in strength was simply too vast. A difference in numbers could not bridge the enormous chasm between them.

"Mizukage-sama, since this has already happened, there is no way to undo it. We cannot start a war with Konoha now. We cannot afford the losses," Genji gave his view on this ninja war.

"However, we need not be overly concerned about Kirigakure itself. With the Land of Water surrounded by the sea on all sides, the other ninja villages cannot possibly set their sights on us. We only need to watch how things unfold."

Because of his age, Genji had to pause for breath before continuing his analysis.

"Alas, that was my thought as well. But it seems the Blood Mist policy still isn't harsh enough. So many of Kirigakure's elite were completely wiped out. Not even one person survived to send back a message—we had to discover it ourselves," the Third Mizukage said with great dissatisfaction.

Hearing that the Third Mizukage intended to intensify the Blood Mist policy, Genji's heart skipped a beat. He opened his mouth, but in the end swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

The Blood Mist concerned national policy, and he did not want to oppose the Mizukage directly. If it truly caused the nation to split apart, he would become one of the chief culprits.

Thus, he could only use silence to express his tacit approval.

The Blood Mist policy had long made everyone in Kirigakure complain bitterly. Many ninja had even sought out Genji, hoping he would step forward and stop the Third Mizukage.

Yet because of his own concerns, Genji had never taken action.

The gains brought by the Blood Mist policy could not be denied, but compared to the price it exacted, those gains were practically negligible.

Genji could not understand what had gone wrong in the Third Mizukage's head for him to propose such a policy.

The Second Mizukage Ghost Lantern Illusion Moon had merely proposed keeping Kirigakure's secret techniques confidential, while the Third Mizukage had directly imposed the cruel Blood Mist.

In present-day Kirigakure, as long as one did not discuss opposition to the Blood Mist policy with the Third Mizukage, he was quite easy to talk to.

But once someone voiced opposition, they would receive either a direct scolding at best or punishment at worst.

"Also, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen must quickly find suitable candidates. We need to find true masters for the seven ninja swords. The current Seven Ninja Swordsmen can only be considered users of the swords, not their masters. They are still too weak. I will train a Seven Ninja Swordsmen force capable of hunting Kage," the Third Mizukage said ambitiously.

Looking at the Third Mizukage, who was brimming with confidence, Genji found it difficult to say anything else. After bidding the Mizukage farewell, he took his leave.

After leaving the Mizukage Building, Genji turned back to look at Kirigakure's administrative center, marked with the large character for "Water," and silently made a decision.

It seems I must choose a qualified Fourth Mizukage as soon as possible. Otherwise, the Third Mizukage will ruin Kirigakure sooner or later.

This thought had slowly begun to take root in Genji's heart.

In truth, it was Konoha, rather than Sunagakure or Kirigakure, that received news from the front lines the fastest.

Sunagakure and Kirigakure were ambushed at almost the same time. Kirigakure had only fallen and been completely wiped out about two hours after Sunagakure.

Hatake Sakumo and Orochimaru confirmed that each had breached their respective targets, then simultaneously reported the two pieces of good news to the Third Hokage.

The Hokage Building was also filled with joy. Whether it was the Third Hokage or the Council of Elders, the achievement of this war's strategic objective was immensely important.

Konoha's opponents had been reduced directly from the four great nations at the beginning to only two now. Sunagakure and Kirigakure were no longer a cause for concern.

Now, it depended on whether Iwagakure and Kumogakure could remain patient—whether they would take the initiative to attack, or wait for Konoha to make the first move.