Konoha, Mist, and Sand Villages Form an Alliance (Part 1)

"This is a letter from your mother. She doesn't know how to write, so I've written it on her behalf. Do you know how to read? If not, I can read it to you." Yuya moved gently among the various ninja squads. In less than a day, nearly half the letters in his possession were gone, and many more were arriving from ninjas still stationed on the front lines who hadn't yet rotated out for rest.

Watching the tear-streaked faces of those who received their letters, Yuya could only sigh.

Although his original intent was to win hearts and minds, it was impossible not to be moved when actually doing the work.

Of course, since these were letters collected from people within the village, there were naturally some who would never receive a reply.

Yuya could only remain silent on this, packing and organizing the letters meant for them, waiting until the war ended to burn them before their tombstones.

Consequently, over the following week, the morale of the Konoha ninja coalition soared, and even those who were illiterate began asking others to help read the letters sent from home.

At the same time, the name Yuya began to appear in their field of vision.

Senju Hashirama taking Yuya as a disciple had not been widely publicized; aside from members of major clans like Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō, ordinary chūnin and genin were unaware of it.

Naturally, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō wouldn't go around broadcasting Yuya's identity either—that would be tantamount to wanting him dead.

At least for now, they were still comrades.

While morale on the Konoha front was high, Iwagakure of the Land of Earth sent forces across the Kannabi Bridge, attacking Konoha's right flank and joining the fray.

Yuya knew that the balance of this war would now depend on the Land of Water.

However...

If possible, he should also try to win over the Land of Wind.

Although in the original history the Land of Wind didn't participate in the First Shinobi World War at all, spending the entire time locked in a death struggle with the One-Tail Shukaku in an attempt to strengthen their tailed beast for a grand scheme, this was reality. No one could guarantee that the Land of Wind wouldn't deploy troops.

The Land of Water had already made a move, though Yuya had delayed them for a while with a financial offensive; they were likely still debating whether to come for negotiations.

Whether they came to talk or not wasn't the point, as long as the Land of Water had no immediate intention of attacking.

Although Senju Tobirama claimed day and night that he was confident in facing attacks from other nations, truth be told, there was no such thing as absolute certainty in war.

Therefore, the key now lay with the Land of Water.

Against this backdrop, another week passed. Konoha not only held off the offensive from the Land of Lightning, but with the Raikage appearing on the battlefield alongside the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, Senju Tobirama could no longer afford to sit back at the rear.

Military affairs in the rear were then fully entrusted to Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other five.

Of course, beyond that, there was one other inconspicuous appointment: Yuya was named the Quartermaster of the Konoha ninja forces, responsible for commanding the collection and distribution of all supplies and military provisions.

In this context, a delegation from the Land of Water arrived at the rear base camp.

The envoys were arrogant, showing no regard for Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, and the others in the camp.

After all, these individuals had no real reputation to speak of at this point in time.

And naturally, the negotiations fell through.

The Land of Water had demanded one hundred million ryō for them to withdraw from the war, plus another hundred million to turn around and help Konoha crush those fools from Kumogakure.

Sarutobi Hiruzen could never agree to that.

Even though Senju Tobirama had warned him to think carefully before making decisions, the terms were simply too absurd.

It was nothing more than a blatant attempt to swindle them.

The envoys from the Land of Water didn't care; they had known all along that Konoha wouldn't accept such terms.

They prepared to depart.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others wore grim expressions, knowing that if the envoys left, the Land of Water would immediately turn to attack Konoha.

Shimura Danzō's eyes flashed with a murderous glint.

The Kirigakure delegation grew fearful and hurriedly spoke up: "Even if you kill us, the Land of Water will still join the war! And when that happens, we will surely fight your Konoha with everything we have!"

Upon hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others had no choice but to stand down.

The Kirigakure delegation breathed a sigh of relief and were just about to slip away when they were blocked by Kagami Uchiha.

"What... what do you think you're doing?"

Kagami Uchiha smiled slightly: "Although the negotiations were unsuccessful, we can still discuss other forms of cooperation. The Konoha Quartermaster requests your presence."

Kagami Uchiha escorted the Kirigakure delegation to Yuya's tent.

Yuya had transformed into a man standing 1.8 meters tall, with curly black hair draped over his shoulders and sexy stubble on his chin that exuded the charm of a mature man.

Yuya sat cross-legged behind a desk in the tent and gestured for the Kirigakure delegation to sit.

One of the envoys from the Land of Water frowned as he looked at Yuya: "Who are you?"

Yuya smiled faintly: "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kamigane Yuya. I am the disciple of the First Hokage, and the current Hokage, Senju Tobirama, is my uncle."

The envoy from the Land of Water frowned as he looked at the man who appeared to be in his thirties.

A disciple of Senju Hashirama? Was there such a person?

Never mind, that wasn't important.

"Why did you call us here?" the envoy asked in a deep voice, looking at the middle-aged man Yuya had transformed into.

Yuya laughed and poured a cup of tea for the leader of the delegation: "Don't be nervous. I am genuinely interested in discussing cooperation with your side."

Just as the envoy was about to speak, Yuya raised a hand to interrupt: "Of course, we cannot agree to the terms you proposed earlier. Everyone wants to pull off a swindle, but we all know that no one here is a fool, so such talk is fine as a joke, but it isn't suitable for formal discussion."

Yuya spoke with absolute clarity, and from the very first sentence, he dismissed the conditions previously proposed by the Land of Water as nothing more than a joke, effectively sealing off any possibility of the other party bringing them up again.

The envoy from the Land of Water fell silent, just as expected.

Yuya then produced a scroll, unfurled it, and looked toward the envoy from the Land of Water, saying, "This is the sincerity of our Konoha. I have discussed all the terms written here with the Hokage, and he has agreed to them. As long as your side agrees and provides the Mizukage's signature and seal, we shall become allied nations that trade and support one another from this day forward."

The envoy from the Land of Water frowned slightly; this situation was not something he had anticipated.

In truth, when he first received the mission to act as an envoy, he knew it would be a thankless task, but the Mizukage had given him no room to refuse, leaving him no choice but to bite the bullet and come.

At the start, it had indeed been as he expected: Konoha would certainly never agree to the terms the Mizukage had drafted—terms that even he found shameless upon reading them.

But now, this scroll produced by the handsome middle-aged man before him...

It was completely beyond his expectations.

It felt as though the alliance Konoha was proposing to the Land of Water was not merely a delaying tactic, as he had assumed, intended only to stall the war between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth by preventing the Land of Water from joining the fray immediately.

Looking at the dense list of various articles on the scroll, a light sheen of sweat broke out on the envoy's forehead.

This couldn't possibly be something they had thrown together in the last few days, could it?

So, was Konoha actually sincere about wanting to form an alliance with Kirigakure?

Ah, this...

How could a lowly envoy like me possibly make a decision on this!

Why don't I reply to book reviews? Big brother, I have to work; if I don't work, I don't have money to eat. I'm not a full-time writer. I do have a backlog of chapters, but those are for emergencies when I don't have time to write. I can't possibly release them all at once. I only have eight chapters saved up right now, which will only last four days—that's nowhere near enough, is it?