Sunagakure's Mad Plan

At the beginning of Konoha Year 37, explosive intelligence from the Land of Rain spread throughout the entire shinobi world.

Sunagakure was preparing to divert the Momiji River into the Land of Wind. This mad idea alarmed everyone.

Konoha especially.

"Has Sunagakure gone mad?"

"Do they not know what it means to divert the Momiji River?"

In the Hokage Building's conference room, the clan heads attending the high-level meeting were all filled with righteous indignation, furious beyond measure.

"Is the Momiji River that important?"

Jiraiya, who had come to observe the meeting, sat upright and lightly nudged Orochimaru beside him with his shoulder, asking awkwardly.

Orochimaru turned to glance at Jiraiya as though looking at an idiot. He could not be bothered explaining it to a fool whose mind contained nothing but lewd thoughts.

"Jiraiya, you idiot, don't tell me you really don't even know which river the Momiji River is?"

On Jiraiya's other side, Tsunade asked quietly, her gaze plainly saying, "Don't you dare tell me you really don't know."

Provoked by this—and with Tsunade right in front of him—how could Jiraiya admit it? He stubbornly said, "Ha... ha... I-I know which river the Momiji River is, of course! Isn't it the river near the Land of Rain? I know. I was just seeing whether you two knew."

The more Jiraiya spoke, the smoother it became. He had a bit of cleverness after all; the intelligence made it clear enough that the Momiji River was a major river flowing from the Land of Rain into the Land of Fire. As long as he spoke along those lines, he could not be wrong.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru and Tsunade saw at a glance that Jiraiya truly did not know, and both rolled their eyes at him.

Jiraiya thought Orochimaru and Tsunade had believed him, and a smug grin immediately appeared on his face.

Idiot!

Moron!

Orochimaru and Tsunade snorted inwardly and stopped paying attention to Jiraiya.

In the conference room, the Third Hokage sat at the head of the table, with the two Hokage advisors seated on either side of him. The heads of the major clans were arranged along both sides, while outstanding jonin like Jiraiya sat on chairs behind the clan heads to observe.

This was Konoha's highest-level meeting.

Regarding the intelligence from the Land of Rain, Konoha had already received confirmation from Hanzo of the Salamander, the Demigod of the Shinobi World.

Sunagakure truly intended to divert the Momiji River.

Their previous ninja deployments along the border, as well as their series of intelligence activities in the Land of Rain, had all been preparations for diverting the Momiji River.

Now that the preparations were complete, they only needed the Land of Rain's approval and Hanzo of the Salamander's recognition before they could put the plan into action.

Sunagakure knew very well that such a massive project as diverting the Momiji River could not be carried out behind the backs of the Land of Rain and Amegakure.

They could only proceed after obtaining the Land of Rain's consent.

Otherwise, if they forcibly diverted the Momiji River, they would have to face both Amegakure and Konoha as enemies.

Only by gaining the Land of Rain's approval would the Land of Fire have no grounds to interfere with the decision to divert the Momiji River.

And even if the Land of Fire truly intervened, Sunagakure could bring the consenting Land of Rain and Amegakure in as allies to fight against the Land of Fire and Konoha. Perhaps they could even use this opportunity to defeat the Land of Fire and gain greater benefits.

Unfortunately, Hanzo of the Salamander was no political idiot.

How could he possibly agree to such a mad plan from Sunagakure?

If he dared to agree, then the Land of Fire and Konoha would dare to wage a war of annihilation against the Land of Rain.

Not only did Hanzo refuse Sunagakure's proposal, he also promptly leaked Sunagakure's scheme and let Konoha deal with them.

He believed that Konoha would never allow Sunagakure's mad plan to have any chance of succeeding.

And that was indeed the case. Konoha's internal response was even more aggressive than he had expected.

"Lord Hokage, declare war on Sunagakure!"

"That's right! If we don't beat those bastards until they're scared, they won't understand the weight of Konoha, foremost among the Five Great Hidden Villages."

"They dare propose such a mad plan—how is that any different from directly declaring war on Konoha?"

"The Uchiha Clan is willing to serve as the vanguard!"

The battle-hungry atmosphere in the conference room instantly fell silent at the Uchiha clan head's words. Everyone turned in unspoken agreement to look at the Third Hokage at the head of the table.

Barring the Uchiha Clan from the battlefield was merely an unspoken rule within Konoha. There was no written regulation, but everyone tacitly accepted it.

Without the Uchiha Clan's participation, the other shinobi clans could more easily earn military merit and claim greater benefits in the postwar distribution.

Still, everything depended on the Third Hokage.

None of these shinobi clans had the nerve to suppress the Uchiha Clan within Konoha.

The Uchiha Clan's head was somewhat older than the Third Hokage, yet he looked far younger and far more uninhibited.

Facing the Uchiha clan head's burning gaze, the Third Hokage glanced at Danzo. At a time like this, it was time to send him out... no, it was time for Danzo to step in.

Yet Danzo was different from usual today. He was eerily quiet, not even arguing with the Uchiha.

After receiving no response from Danzo despite several looks, the Third Hokage frowned slightly. With an inward sigh, he could only step in himself.

"Konoha's safety is equally important. The Uchiha Clan should faithfully uphold the duty entrusted to it by the Second Hokage: protecting Konoha through the Military Police Force."

Invoking the Second Hokage's trust, the Third Hokage rejected the possibility of the Uchiha Clan going to war.

At his words, the Uchiha clan head's gaze instantly settled, returning to its composed, unruffled state—a complete contrast to his previous wild and uninhibited demeanor.

It was as though his earlier offer to serve as the vanguard had merely been a casual remark, nothing to be taken seriously.

The Third Hokage frowned. He had lost this exchange by half a step.

The Uchiha clan head had done his best; neither the Radical Faction nor the Conservative Faction within the clan could find fault with him.

Instead, the Third Hokage himself had become the target of both factions' resentment.

This allowed the Uchiha clan head's line to continue sitting securely on the sidelines while holding fast to the position of clan head.

Hearing this, the other clan heads secretly breathed sighs of relief, then began requesting permission from the Third Hokage to go to war.

"Send someone to negotiate with Amegakure first. As long as Amegakure refuses, Sunagakure's plan cannot succeed."

The Third Hokage proposed. His stance remained that war should be avoided whenever possible; he was a staunch member of the anti-war faction.

Of course, if war truly proved unavoidable, he would not shrink back.

"Fine, we'll follow Lord Hokage's decision."

"Alright, then let's negotiate first and see."

Since Lord Hokage had spoken, the clan heads still gave the Third Hokage due respect and did not object.

After all, they knew Sunagakure would not easily abandon that insane plan.

And Konoha would never allow Sunagakure's mad plan to come to fruition.

War was already inevitable. The only question was when it would begin.

After leaving the Hokage Building, quite a few clan heads still burned with anger over Sunagakure's insane plan.

As everyone knew, among the Five Great Nations, the Land of Fire possessed the best geographical location, the best environment, and, on average, the richest variety of resources.

Its grain production in particular was the highest among the Five Great Nations, accounting for nearly forty percent of the entire shinobi world's grain output.

The Land of Fire earned enormous profits every year from grain trading alone.

Not to mention its other abundant resources.

The Land of Fire's title as the shinobi world's wealthiest nation was well deserved.

And the foundation that made the Land of Fire a major grain-producing country was the Momiji River, which flowed from the Land of Rain into the Land of Fire.

The Momiji River began in the northwestern Land of Rain and ended at the southeastern sea mouth of the Land of Fire. Its main channel ran through the entire Land of Fire, while countless tributaries spread beyond it like capillaries into every corner of the country, nourishing all its land.

It could be said that at least half the credit for the Land of Fire's abundant land and resources belonged to the Momiji River.

Yet Sunagakure wanted to divert the course of this river, which could be called the mother river that nourished the entire Land of Fire. How was that any different from directly taking the Land of Fire's life?

The Land of Fire's Feudal Lord's Mansion would absolutely never permit such a thing.

This war would receive the Feudal Lord's Mansion's fullest support.

And the Feudal Lord's Mansion's support meant unimaginable benefits.

Put bluntly, Konoha was a massive military base.

The great shinobi clans within Konoha were individual legions.

Konoha as a whole was a military bloc.

With almost no commercial activity outside Konoha, war was their greatest avenue for obtaining benefits.

The Feudal Lord's Mansion's support was their greatest guarantee of gaining immense profits from the war.

It was precisely because they knew the Feudal Lord's Mansion would certainly give its full support to a war against Sunagakure that the clan heads were all so righteously indignant and eager for battle.

It was all nothing more than profit!