This Much Strength Isn't Enough!

Although it had only been a probing attack, Sunagakure's displayed strength left Hiko somewhat disappointed. He had always been curious about what the higher-ups of these villages were thinking.

War was the best way to reveal a village's overall strength, yet some villages insisted on starting wars before they possessed enough strength to defeat their opponents.

Sunagakure was exactly that kind of village. They were both among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, but even within the same tier, there were many different levels, all right? Take the Kage-level experts of each village, for example. The strong ones could rival the pinnacle figures of an era, while the weaker ones could be handled even by some Elite Jonin.

Though one referred to villages and the other to ninja ranks, the meaning was about the same. Even within the same rank, the gap in strength could truly be enormous.

It was like Hiko compared with those Kage-level experts. Hiko was also one of them, but could the Kage-level experts of the major villages really compare to him now?

Without exaggeration, if Hiko fought them, he would absolutely crush them in a one-sided battle. That was just how vast the gap between Kage-level experts could be!!!

At the very least, in Hiko's view, if his strength was inferior to his opponent's, he would never casually provoke a conflict. If Hiko were sitting in the Kazekage's position in Sunagakure, he would not recklessly open fire on Konoha either. At the very least, he would not act rashly before he had the appetite and strength to stand against Konoha.

Sunagakure... it truly proved Jiraiya's words: fight and lose, lose and fight. To describe it with a rather fitting idiom, they simply refused to admit defeat!!!

But behind that refusal to admit defeat was the fact