Konoha's war machine, dormant for a long time, had been roused once more. Fueled up and running at full throttle, it spewed smoke from its invisible chimneys, blotting out the sun and casting a cloud of war over people's hearts.
But Konoha's prosperity had not diminished in the least.
People had long since grown used to life and death. The long history recorded in the books showed that war was the true, unchanging theme of this world. Peace was nothing more than a luxury people could enjoy once in a while!
On the contrary,
the news that war was about to break out had brought another boom to the village's weapons manufacturing, pharmaceutical production, and other related industries. The producers and merchants who had received hefty orders from the village were so delighted they could hardly stop grinning. Some particularly unscrupulous people were even secretly praying that this war, which had yet to begin, would drag on as long as possible.
That was right—the war had not yet started.
The Mist Ninja's envoys had already been driven away. Konoha had no idea whether the Mist Ninja had received the messages those envoys were carrying, but according to reports from the Border Defense Force stationed along the eastern coast, they had yet to see the Mist Ninja's expected onslaught, which would come like a raging storm.
They were still nowhere to be seen, leaving everyone a little unsure about what was going on with the Mist Ninja.
Still, Konoha was happy to have more time to prepare. It would take a little longer to finish assembling and reorganizing the troops, and Sōken, the Supreme Commander, had personal matters to attend to. He wasn't in a hurry to head to the front lines. He couldn't leave until he had everything in the