Profiting from the Chaos

In the Tsuchikage's Office in Iwagakure).

Ōnoki, Saka, Mei, Kawakita Ikura, Tomoko, Kitsuchi, and Yichen were all there, along with several Tsuchikage Assistant who were in charge of taking notes.

The atmosphere at the meeting was quite relaxed.

Yichen continued, "Besides these two gains, the biggest gain is the village's elevated status."

"Whether other ninja villages want to admit it or not, we are now the de facto overlords."

"Senior Mei, could we add a new issue to the village's Bi-Monthly Report, detailing the specifics of this First Shinobi War?"

"Oh, right. Just say I was invited to Konoha by the Sunagakure Village. The Sunagakure's purpose in doing this is to lure us away from the village and launch a surprise attack while I'm away."

Everyone:...

Have you no shame? How could you say something like that?

Since Kawakita rarely attends High-Level Meeting, he couldn't bear to see his teacher make a fool of himself, so he helped change the subject, saying, "Won't this affect our alliance?"

Yichen gave Kawakita a grateful look, then waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. After this First Shinobi War, even if the Sunagakure wants to form an alliance, they will only go to Konoha."

"Whether we actively break ties or not, we can't stop the Sunagakure's stance from changing."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Since we are the Ruler of the Ninja World, we should naturally do things that only an overlord can do," Yichen continued.

"This time, we've engaged in the Ninja Army battles with both Konoha and Sunagakure; it's already a de facto war."

"Therefore, I intend to seek reparations from Konoha and Sunagakure in the name of the victorious nation."

Ming's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Yichen, do you think Konoha and Sunagakure will agree?"

Before Yichen could speak, Ōnoki said, "Konoha has no choice but to agree. The Uchiha Clan has been ruined by Yichen, and they are now facing serious internal and external troubles. They dare not break the balance at all."

"So we can definitely get a piece of meat from Konoha, the only question is how big that piece of meat will be."

Saka said, "So what exactly should we ask Konoha for? War reparations?"

Yichen said, "Konoha suffered significant losses this time, and their manpower is even more stretched to the limit to guard against the Uchiha Clan."

"Therefore, if we propose to take a share of the mission within the Land of Fire, they won't refuse."

"Of course, basic reparations are indispensable. The appropriate amount depends on Konoha's financial strength."

"Also," Yichen said, taking out a map.

Seeing this, everyone's spirits lifted. Was this another attempt to expand their territory?

As expected, Yichen drew a line at the northernmost edge of Konoha's territory and said, "We must obtain this land at the negotiating table."

Everyone in the conference room couldn't help but take a deep breath.

The line drawn by Yichen is very close to the northern border of the Land of Fire, and the actual amount of land demarcated is not much.

However, the westernmost point of the Yichen line is the narrow passage between Kusanagi and Iwagakure. The easternmost point is the Land of Hot Water.

If Konoha were to agree to annex all the land north of this line to the Land of Earth, then Konoha would lose control over so many small and medium-sized countries to the north.

Konoha will then only have the Land of Earth as its northern neighbor.

Therefore, the Land of the Falls, which is partially surrounded by the Land of Earth, and the small countries nearby will eventually be annexed by the Iwagakure.

Moreover, with this region, travel between Iwagakure and Kirigakure will become much easier.

No more crossing so many countries.

Currently, the main route for travel between the Land of Earth and the Land of Water is by sea, with a transit point in the Land of the Moon.

However, as the relationship between Iwagakure and Kumogakure becomes increasingly antagonistic, this connection can easily be severed.

Tomoko shook her head and said, "Konoha isn't stupid; they definitely won't agree."

Yichen smiled and said, "At the beginning, we can make outrageous demands and directly ask for the border between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire to be ceded as well."

"We'll make concessions after Konoha has presented its arguments on reason."

"I know that Konoha won't agree easily, no matter what. So we still need to send troops to this area during the negotiations."

"They're threatening war on one hand, and creating a fait accompli of occupation on the other. Konoha has no choice but to agree."

Ōnoki and the others exchanged glances, then said, "Alright, we'll do as you say. Let's try it first. If Konoha's reaction is too strong, we'll think of another plan."

Yichen smiled with satisfaction and said, "Third Hokage, I'll leave the task of controlling this area by force to you this time. You will take two thousand ninjas and drive away all the Konoha ninja in this area."

Ōnoki nodded. His journey wasn't over yet. Going to the border was fine; he could set off once this matter was finished.

"What about the Sunagakure? What do we want in our negotiations with Sunagakure?" Mei asked.

Yichen pondered for a moment and said, "As for the Sunagakure, we'll operate in a two-pronged approach: openly, we'll ask the Sunagakure funding; secretly, we'll support them in seizing territory from Konoha."

"Tell the Sunagakure that we are willing to help them obtain a fertile piece of land from the Land of Fire."

Everyone gasped in shock. Good heavens, so generous with other people's money, doesn't he care at all?

Tomoko was somewhat confused and asked, "Teacher Yichen, didn't you say that the Sunagakure was going to form an alliance with the Konoha? Why are you asking the Land of Fire for land?"

Ōnoki laughed and said, "Tomoko is still too young. These are two separate things and have nothing to do with each other."

"The Sunagakure can take control of the Land of Land of Fire first, and then negotiate cooperation with Konoha. Konoha won't refuse to ally with the Sunagakure just because they just Sunagakure a loss."

"Between nations, there are hardly any truly selfless people who consider others. Rasa will not refuse."

Tomoko nodded, having learned something new.

Having finished discussing the Sunagakure, Mei asked with great interest, "What about the Kumogakure?"

"Let's leave the Cloud ninja aside. Their losses weren't significant, so let's not provoke them," Yichen sighed and said.

"Our greatest enemy in the future will be the Cloud ninja. This time, Tomoko and Ikura did a great job, finally killing the Cloud ninja who knew Senjutsu and weakening the Cloud ninja's high-end combat power."

"By the way, how did the Cloud ninja learn Senjutsu so quietly?"

"Where did they learn their Senjutsu? Ikura, Tomoko, try to recall, what were the characteristics of the Sage Face Markings on the one who knew Senjutsu?"

Ikura thought for a moment and said, "She probably learned it from Mount Myōboku. When she enters Sage Mode, her eyeballs are horizontal, just like the Toad eyes you described before."

Ōnoki said, "Senjutsu from Mount Myōboku? Could they be related to Jiraiya?"

Yichen thought for a moment and said, "It's not impossible. I remember that Jiraiya's body was taken away by the Cloud ninja."

"Although the reason is unknown, it now seems that the Cloud ninja likely found the method for practicing the Senjutsu of Mount Myōboku on Jiraiya's corpse."

"They've most likely made direct contact with Mount Myōboku. By the way, did any of the Cloud ninja use Toad as Summoning Beast this time?"

Both Ikura and Tomoko shook their heads to indicate no.

So, the Cloud ninja can only learn Senjutsu, but they haven't signed Summoning Contract with Mount Myōboku.

"It seems that Mount Myōboku had a backup plan. They know that once Summoning Contract is signed, it's equivalent to choosing sides in the Ninja World," Ōnoki said.

Saka asked doubtfully, "Third Hokage, do you mean that Mount Myōboku actually still has faith in Konoha, and still wants to sign Summoning Contract with Konoha?"

Ōnoki nodded and said, "I guess so. It makes sense that ninjas from different villages would practice their Senjutsu. After all, they only provided the platform for practicing Senjutsu."

"However, the Spiritual Contract requires them to participate in the war. If both sides sign the contract, there's a possibility that the Toad of Mount Myōboku might fight amongst themselves."

Yichen said, "Let's not worry about that for now; this is beyond our control."

"Tomoko, you saw the battle between the Fifth Mizukage and the Fourth Raikage, right? Did the Mizukage use Summoning Jutsu?"

Ōnoki's words reminded Yichen of something. Kisame in the original story was also able to summon sharks. He wondered if he could still do so in this life.

Tomoko thought for a moment and said, "Through the Water Curtain, my perception wasn't very clear, and I didn't detect any Summoning Beast. However, the Mizukage did use a lot of Water-formed Shark Ninjutsu."

"I don't know if the Mizukage has a contract with the shark, but he's definitely very familiar with sharks."

Yichen nodded and said, "I'll have Kiyoshi ask the Shark Swarm later. I suspect Mizukage might also have a contract with a Shark Swarm."

Everyone nodded.

After the meeting of the Iwa ninja High-Level Meeting, Mei went to the capital and reported to the Daimyo that Iwagakure had won another battle.

Furthermore, Mei stated that the Iwagakure intends to expand the territory of the Land of Earth by carving out a piece of flesh from the Land of Fire.

The daimyo was very excited and eagerly anticipated becoming the Ruler of the Ninja World.

While allocating a large sum of military funds, they also sent people to cooperate with the Iwagakure in negotiating with the Fire and Wind Kingdoms.

After more than ten days of wrangling, the representatives of the three parties finally signed three agreements.

One was a peace treaty between the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire. After a large number of Iwa ninja occupied their northern border region, creating a fait accompli, the Land of Fire, not daring to start a war at this time, ultimately signed the peace treaty.

This treaty also transferred a significant portion of the missions within the Land of Fire to the Iwagakure. At the same time, the Land of Fire had to pay a huge war indemnity.

Of these three conditions, Mei values the third the most, because with this funding, Iwa ninja's finances will be much more comfortable.

But Yichen valued the second one the most: the mission to steal Konoha's resources within the Land of Fire, which was tantamount to constantly using Konoha's money to train his own ninjas.

This is a business that requires a long-term, steady approach.

"It seems I need to help Konoha maintain the current situation and make sure we don't fall into a war with the Uchiha Clan," Yichen thought to himself as he looked at the signed peace treaty.

"The longer these two forces within Konoha remain locked in a stalemate, the longer Konoha's resources will be tied up in this, and Konoha will only become weaker by spending its already strained funds on this."

"Itachi Uchiha, I didn't see him when I went to Konoha this time. Otherwise, if I had killed him, wouldn't the Uchiha Clan have been able to keep Konoha bleeding?"

"But if I were to kill Itachi Uchiha and cut off Sasuke's chance to Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in the future, wouldn't the Sage of Six Paths come out and kill me first?"

"I was too low-level before, and I tried my best not to contact the two saviors, so I didn't think about it in this way. I'll have to be more careful in the future."

Although Yichen said at the High-Level Meeting that Cloud ninja would be Iwagakure's greatest enemy in the future, as a transmigrator, Yichen would never ignore Konoha.

Leaving aside the two future saviors who will become incredibly powerful, Konoha's current Kage Level are enough to Yichen a headache.

Tsunade, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shimura Danzō, Kakashi, Shisui Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha, Izumi Uchiha.

Seven people.

Even including Iwagakure, Sokai only has seven.