Konoha's Deep Pockets

"How have the Rain Ninja been lately?"

Sakumo sat inside the military tent. He took a hot towel and wiped his face; he had only just returned from outside.

Hanzō was truly cunning. It had taken half a month of playing cat and mouse with him to finally catch his trail. They had fought a fierce battle in a valley in the Land of Rain, where Sakumo sliced Hanzō's three guards to pieces on the spot, forcing Hanzō to retreat and hole up in Amegakure.

"The Rain Ninja's offensive has diminished considerably lately. They have abandoned quite a few strongholds and withdrawn. We have already taken all of southeastern Land of Rain and are now searching the area bit by bit for any Rain Ninja agents." The pineapple-haired ninja seated below rose to answer. The Nara Clan made the most qualified aides; otherwise, Sakumo would not have dared leave the main camp to pursue Hanzō.

"But, Lord Sakumo, what are we occupying the Land of Rain for? It rains here all year round, making it unsuitable for farming, and its mineral resources are scarce. There is simply no profit to be had." Shikaku Nara could not help voicing the question he had long kept bottled up inside.

The Nara Clan's people were intelligent, but without sufficient intelligence and information, they could not conjure conclusions from thin air.

"Oh, that. First, it's to teach Hanzō a lesson. Besides, the Land of Rain now has more than just us and the Rain Ninja. Who knows how many agents are lurking here? It's a real mixed bag, so this is a good chance to flex our muscles. Honestly, the daimyo has no interest in this land whatsoever. For now, we're simply extending favor to the people of the Land of Rain. Perhaps in the future, we'll have an opportunity to split the Land of Rain apart, create internal division, and eliminate the Rain Ninja as a hidden danger. Of course, this is only a draft proposal for now and cannot be taken seriously."

As he spoke, Sakumo had already drunk more than half a bowl of hot soup, driving the cold dampness from his body.

"Whether it succeeds in the end doesn't really matter. At worst, we waste a little food. It's nothing."

That was truly the confidence of someone with money to burn.

But Sakumo did have reason for such confidence. The Land of Fire was undeniably the foremost grain-producing nation among the Five Great Nations. Beyond feeding itself, it kept vast stores of grain in its warehouses, used to trade for minerals from the Land of Earth and Land of Lightning, rare medicinal herbs from the Land of Wind, and more.

However, in order to restrain the strength of the other nations, grain exports had always been kept limited. Even without minerals from the Land of Earth and Land of Lightning, there was still the Land of Rivers, which also possessed abundant mineral resources. On the other hand, without food from the Land of Fire, the populations of the Land of Earth and Land of Lightning would inevitably decline. There was no helping it—they simply could not feed that many people!

This was also one of the reasons for starting a ninja war: reduce the population and lower consumption.

In fact, one only needed to look at the Five Great Ninja Villages to tell the difference. Whether Cloud Ninja, Stone Ninja, Mist Ninja, or Sand Ninja, their ninja villages were all neatly and uniformly built, many times tidier than Konoha's haphazard buildings.

Yet that was precisely the miserable part for the other four great ninja villages. Those were the villages' original planned structures. Decades had passed, and they still looked the same. It could only mean they were poor, with no money to renovate their houses. Unlike Konoha, which expanded today and rebuilt tomorrow, with construction clanging away throughout the village all year long. Go half a year without seeing Konoha, and it could look completely different. That was what it meant to be rich and willful.

Shikaku Nara nodded, though his mind was spinning rapidly. If managed properly, they might really be able to split the Land of Rain apart. He quietly tucked the thought away before continuing, "There is one more matter. The village's latest batch of supplies has already set out. By my calculations, they should be entering the Land of Rain soon."

"Send people to meet them, so some fools don't jump out and cause trouble." Sakumo raised a brow, murderous intent blazing from him.

Whenever supplies were delivered, there were always all sorts of nuisances coming out to stir up trouble—bandits, Rain Ninja spies, and even people flying the Rain Ninja banner. Batch after batch had been killed, yet more always came rushing in to die.

"Actually, there is no need to worry. This time, the supplies are being escorted by the Hokage's three disciples." Shikaku shook his head, but immediately changed his wording. "Though there is apparently also a group of Ninja Academy students among them. They really are treating the Land of Rain as a training ground."

As he spoke, Shikaku began to laugh.

This way of thinking was extremely common. Konoha held an overwhelming advantage in its war against the Rain Ninja; the two sides were simply not on the same level. It was a complete curb-stomping of this bunch of weaklings. If Hanzō had not been so formidable that even Sakumo could only drive him back rather than kill him, why would this war have dragged on for half a year?

At first, they had intended to crush the Rain Ninja and end the war quickly. But as time passed, they discovered that a large number of chunin and genin were inexperienced in battle, which gave rise to the idea of using the Rain Ninja to train troops. After all, the surrounding nations were all restless. The Land of Rain alone contained large numbers of spies from the Lands of Lightning, Earth, and Wind, constantly probing Konoha's strength. That made it impossible not to ponder their intentions deeply.

They had to prepare early, in case of unforeseen events.

"Ninja Academy students?" Sakumo could not help laughing as well, but the smile quickly froze at the corner of his lips as a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"Is there a roster? Let me see it." Sakumo held out his hand for the list.

Shikaku hurriedly pulled out a stack of rosters from the documents on the desk. He did not notice Sakumo's change and assumed he had merely taken an interest in seeing what these students were like. Hadn't Shikaku himself gone over the lists again and again a few days ago? One of his young nephews was on them.

Sakumo carefully leafed through the not particularly thick stack of rosters. Even so, it listed a total of one hundred and twenty-six people, forming forty-two temporarily organized student teams.

His sliding finger suddenly stopped. Uzumaki Katsuki's name was right beneath his fingertip. Sakumo lightly tapped the roster and shook his head with a smile. His premonition had come true.

He had not seen this disciple for nearly half a year. Now that the boy was being sent under his command, he could properly assess his level. After half a year, he wondered how much progress he had made.

"I'll personally lead the team to meet these little ones." Sakumo tossed the roster back onto the desk.

"Huh?"

Shikaku's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at Sakumo. He had no idea which nerve of the commander had been touched. Personally leading a team to meet those little ones? Wasn't that using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

"These little ones are the village's future seeds. I'll keep an eye on them, so no one can exploit an opening. Orochimaru and the other two are quite capable, but they are still too green." Sakumo's words were utterly domineering, but he had the right to say them. In Konoha today, aside from Hiruzen, the Hokage, no one was a match for the White Fang.

Even regarding the Hokage, known as the Ninja Hero, quite a few lower-ranking ninja honestly believed he and Sakumo were evenly matched. Such opinions were not uncommon among the higher-ups either.

It was only that Konoha's White Fang had always been extraordinarily fierce toward outsiders, yet exceptionally gentle toward his own village. Anyone who had dealt with him could not help marveling at the two sides of a person.

After hearing Sakumo's reasoning, Shikaku immediately nodded and did not argue further. Hanzō had already been forced back into Amegakure, and there would be no major battles in the short term. Sakumo had nothing to do sitting in the main camp anyway. Though he was nominally the supreme commander, Shikaku handled all matters great and small; Sakumo was practically just a symbolic figure.

Of course, that did not mean Sakumo's absence would have no effect. It was precisely because Sakumo stood as that symbol that these nearly ten thousand ninja could be united together. Only Sakumo could make those arrogant leaders submit.