Sand Shinobi at Their Limit

Just how strong was the Nine-Tails? The Original Work's manga had made that clear long ago.

The reason the Nine-Tails seemed weak, even pitiful, to Sarutobi Toru was not because it was truly weak. It was only because Uzumaki Mito was too strong, and the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Jutsu was simply too effective at restraining Tailed Beasts.

Still, it was no wonder Naruto was the only one among Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to become a Perfect Jinchuriki. The Nine-Tails was leashed like a dog every day, and its Jinchuriki could not even be bothered to speak to it. How could it possibly feel any affection for its Jinchuriki?

In Sarutobi Toru's view, a Perfect Jinchuriki was born not so much from mutual understanding between a Tailed Beast and its Jinchuriki, but from mutual compromise!

The Tailed Beast had no way to completely break free of its Jinchuriki and gain freedom, while the Jinchuriki had no way to completely eliminate the influence of Tailed Beast Chakra. So they fought and adjusted to each other at the same time. Given enough time, in an isolated environment, man and beast became bound by the same fate, until they finally reached this so-called understanding.

But under a perfect seal like Konoha's, even the channel for communication was closed off. Even if the Nine-Tails wanted to communicate with its Jinchuriki, it could not find anyone to talk to!

Uzumaki Mito, barely clinging to life, revealed a relaxed smile and swallowed her final breath. Tsunade could not help sobbing softly. Outside the door, the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō sensed the Nine-Tails chakra vanish and silently breathed sighs of relief, before lowering their heads in mourning.

Before the Memorial Monument stood Tsunade, Nawaki, Sarutobi Toru, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, Utatane Koharu... There were no crowds of villagers, but Konoha's upper ranks had all gathered here to mourn in silence.

Although Uzumaki Mito had never gone into battle again after becoming the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, her existence had undoubtedly been Konoha's source of confidence. When the Second Hokage died, it was also this old woman who had steadied the panic-stricken Konoha leadership, allowing the village to survive that crisis.

Now, her passing undoubtedly marked the end of an era.

"Was she the last survivor of Hashirama Senju's era? Other than Madara, hiding underground, every master from that age in the open had already taken their final bow!"

Although Konoha did not make a grand affair of this funeral, neither did it keep it secret. Faintly, Sarutobi Toru could already sense Konoha's fishing intent.

Land of Wind, Sunagakure, Jōnin conference room.

The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy. The Second Kazekage, Shamon, held this month's financial report in his hands, his face as dark as water.

"This cannot go on!" Chiyo, seated below the Second Kazekage, slammed her palm onto the table. "Those Konoha bastards... those bastards are simply shameless!"

"They're taking missions for such pay. Konoha is not making any profit at all! Have they gone mad?"

Ebizo shook his head. "They have not gone mad. Konoha subsidizes them after every mission. By the numbers, they are earning even more than the original fees."

"Bastards! Shameless scum! Trash! Filthy vermin! I @#$F%!" Chiyo cursed furiously.

Ebizo wore a troubled expression, yet he made no move to stop his sister.

The Sand Shinobi Jōnin seated below were all burning with anger as well. They felt Chiyo had not cursed nearly enough and had no intention of stopping her.

Over the past few months, the Sand Shinobi had suffered repeated setbacks while carrying out high-level missions. Not only had their reputation been damaged, they had also paid out a considerable amount in mission compensation.

After an investigation—or rather, the other side had not bothered concealing their identities at all—it turned out that the culprits were Konoha Root ninjas.

Meanwhile, in several Konoha ninja outposts near the Land of Wind border in the Land of Fire, the fees for missions involving the Land of Wind had dropped dramatically, causing nearly forty percent of the Land of Wind's missions to slip away!

That combination of blows had pushed the Sand Shinobi to their limit.

In theory, Konoha was hurting itself to hurt others. Root ninjas were not easy to train, and carrying out such ordinary missions brought little benefit. Since they were operating in the Land of Wind, they could easily provoke the Sand Shinobi and suffer substantial casualties. The low-priced missions were an outright loss as well. In terms of losses, Konoha probably lost far more than the Sand Shinobi.

But the problem was that Konoha was wealthy and powerful enough to bear those losses. They could keep this up for another three or five years without batting an eye. The Sand Shinobi, meanwhile, were impoverished. After only three or five months of this, the whole village was nearly reduced to eating dirt!

The Second Kazekage tapped the table. Ebizo tugged at his sister, and only then did Chiyo reluctantly shut her mouth.

"According to intelligence, Konoha's previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Mito, has died," the Second Kazekage said quietly. "Now is a good opportunity."

No one in the conference room showed much enthusiasm for this news. They exchanged looks. Even Chiyo, who had been cursing the fiercest just moments earlier, looked doubtful.

After a long while, the Second Kazekage's disciple, the Jōnin Kosa, spoke up. "Lord Kazekage, will only we Sand Shinobi be making a move?"

The Second Kazekage closed his eyes. "Ōnoki replied that he strongly supports our operation and will deploy troops along Konoha's border to keep them occupied. A of the Cloud Shinobi said the Rock Shinobi had gone mad for some reason and deployed a large force along the Land of Lightning Border, so they can only provide some restraint. As for the Mist Ninja..."

He opened his eyes, a mocking expression on his face. "They said that as long as we make a move, their army of twenty thousand Mist Ninja will march straight in and wipe out Konoha!"

Damn! The entire Mist Ninja village probably did not even have twenty thousand ninjas. Who were they trying to bluff? We knew the Mist Ninja tradition well enough—grab what they could and run! Did they take us for fools?

Wasn't this being completely isolated and without support? They wanted us to fight Konoha alone? Wasn't that just sending ourselves to our deaths?

At that point, even Chiyo had completely calmed down. "Lord Kazekage, the current Sand Shinobi are probably still no match for Konoha. Since Konoha is provoking us so openly, they must have made thorough preparations. If we rashly start a war, defeat is far more likely than victory!"

"There is no more time to wait!" the Second Kazekage said wearily.

"Indeed." Ebizo gave a bitter smile. "The Sand Shinobi still have some strategic reserves now, so if we launch a war, we still have a chance to fight. If we do not act now, then the Sand Shinobi must either lay people off or use our strategic reserves."

Lay off ninjas? How were they supposed to do that? After they had trained so hard for so long, they were just supposed to be dismissed because someone said so? Fine, even if they were dismissed, what do you think ninjas who learned theft, infiltration, and murder every day would do after losing their jobs?

Even when armies downsized, they were not allowed to take their guns home! A ninja's power belonged to the ninja himself. Even if you wanted him to hand over his weapons, he had nothing to hand over!

In this regard, the Blood Mist's Genin graduation tradition had set an excellent example for the Shinobi World. Layoffs? As long as they were laid off into the Pure Land, there was no need to worry about them causing trouble!

Well, Shamon felt that the Sand Shinobi probably could not adapt to that.

As for the strategic reserves? Once those were used, the Sand Shinobi would truly become a lion without teeth, unable to put up even a single fight.

In the end, the atmosphere turned grave. Clearly, the Sand Shinobi had reached the point where they had no choice but to fight.