February 12, Konoha Year 33.
After a night of fierce fighting, Operation Great Exhibition Kitarobo had concluded in complete success!
Kirigakure's attempt to use war as leverage to demand territory from the Land of Wind gave Konoha an excuse for a surprise attack. Afterward, the Southern Alliance publicly declared that, based on the terms proposed by the Mizukage, the moment they rejected the Land of Water's unreasonable demands, the alliance and Kirigakure had already entered a state of war.
Thus, the surprise operation that had begun without a declaration of war found official documentation to legitimize it, and the air force's first appearance finally gained legal recognition!
Following that logic, even though the military operation that had fired eight Meteors in succession and completely erased Kirigakure from the map had inevitably caused massive civilian casualties, Konoha could still issue an official diplomatic statement claiming that, after the war began, they had left the people of the Land of Water ample time to evacuate, thereby avoiding any moral condemnation in the propaganda war.
When news of the epic victory over Kirigakure reached the Land of Fire, Konoha's citizens were all overjoyed, unable to contain their excitement!
People flooded into the streets to celebrate the great victory, while reports singing praises poured in like snowflakes...
It had to be said that the Third Hokage's series of prewar mobilization efforts had indeed achieved tremendous results. Thus, when this barely concealed war of foreign aggression began, with prospects looking bright all the way, the Land of Fire as a whole displayed extraordinarily fervent enthusiasm for war.
This once again proved to the world that once human society had initially broken free from feudal systems of personal dependency and developed the concept of national identity, no state action could possibly be separated from the people