Akaseki realized that the warriors of Severed Mountain City also seemed to be short on supplies. Otherwise, they would not have been so "hung up" on it.
Thinking about it now, that Mifune from earlier had been the one who understood the situation best—
The reason Mifune had met with them, the Konoha ninja, outside first was because he believed the people inside could never reach an agreement with them. That was why he had wanted to trade his famous sword for supplies.
Orochimaru was now behaving with perfect courtesy. Though he had not let the Land of Iron gain any advantage, he had suggested that these could also be counted as "payment."
In truth, Orochimaru had long anticipated that the warriors of the Land of Iron might also be short on supplies—because they had seized far too much earlier!
Nominally, Orochimaru had come for a large-scale transaction this time, but the grain taken from the Rain Ninja was nearly twice the amount of supplies involved in this deal.
What those Rain Ninja had plundered was clearly not just the villages' food rations—
After all, the Land of Iron was originally a harsh, frigid land. It even needed to make iron-for-grain trades to cover its deficit. Ordinary farmers should not have been so wealthy.
Considering that the Land of Iron's harvest season had passed only a month ago, Orochimaru guessed that the war had begun before the Land of Iron had time to collect its grain taxes.
Those stored provisions were not only for the villages to survive the long winter, but also grain that the Land of Iron was meant to collect!
This was not the border of the Land of Iron, yet Severed Mountain City had been built here precisely because behind it lay one of the Land