A joint campaign against the Land of Stars?
The moment the words fell, the conference room went deathly silent.
Crackle!
A spark burst from the charcoal in the hearth, especially clear in the stillness.
Everyone looked at Ōnoki.
It was not that they did not believe him.
Quite the opposite.
What kind of man was Ōnoki?
The Third Tsuchikage, who had ruled Iwagakure for more than forty years and taken part in the First, Second, and Third Shinobi World Wars, an old Kage-level powerhouse from the same era as the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, and Uchiha Madara.
He was stubborn, cunning, and pragmatic, a universally acknowledged old fox. But precisely because of that, he never said anything unrealistic, and never did anything he was not confident in.
During the Third Shinobi World War, the moment he made his move, he used an army of ten thousand Iwagakure Ninja to wear the Third Raikage, A, to death alive!
Five years ago, he had personally led ten thousand Iwagakure elites in a surprise attack on the Land of Stars. After the major shinobi villages received the intelligence, they had thought he could repeat the feat from the Third Shinobi World War, when he had worn the Third Raikage to death.
Yet no one had expected them to be suppressed by a female ninja named Uchiha Hikari—all by herself!
According to the intelligence sent back by spies the major shinobi villages had hidden inside Iwagakure, Iwagakure had sent out all its elites, only to suffer catastrophic casualties. The two Jinchuriki had been gravely wounded as well, nearly losing their lives!
After that battle, Ōnoki had lowered his head and admitted defeat, ceding land and paying reparations, enduring humiliation for five years.
Now, he said they had to unite the entire shinobi world.