"Um... Third Hokage, what did Lord Chiba say?"
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's Office, the kneeling Anbu Ninja pressed his lips together lightly. After a moment of hesitation, he seemed to finally make up his mind. He raised his head toward the Hokage's desk and could not help asking.
"Hmm..."
In response, the Third Hokage behind the desk pondered briefly, set down the letter in his hand, and fell silent.
"Third Lord..."
Seeing the Third Hokage's expression, the Anbu Ninja froze slightly, but the words on his lips ultimately went unspoken.
Just moments ago, Lord Chiba, who had returned to the village yet met with no one, had sent another message. It concerned several matters regarding the one-month delay. As the liaison ninja, he knew both the village's situation and Lord Chiba's side very well. He understood that this was critical intelligence, so he immediately delivered the message to the Third Hokage, leading to the current situation.
And because he knew so much, he could not keep himself from growing impatient.
After all, the village had already needed to postpone the official exams for a month to investigate the forces hostile to it. In a sense, that was already admitting that the village had run out of options. They could only resort to a strategy that would clearly increase the village's burden: delaying things for a month.
At this moment, increasing the village's burden was no different from gambling. They were betting that the enemy would reveal a flaw first. If the enemy did not, however, the overburdened village would provide them with even more opportunities.
The losses that might have occurred could even multiply, perhaps enough to crush the entire village.
The fact that they were using such a gamble already showed that the village was somewhat helpless against this