The Sunagakure Ninja had an ugly way of collecting taxes. When they saw the innkeeper was resisting, they pressed a kunai to his throat.
Money or your life?
The innkeeper immediately caved and chose to pay.
With a bellyful of anger, he found fault with the maid, berated her a few times, and took a long drag from his pipe.
"If Konoha didn't collect taxes, I'd rather have Konoha Ninja take over Scorpion Town."
After venting to Byakuya, the innkeeper sighed. "If things really could be like those Rain Ninja said—everyone stops fighting, sits down to talk things over, and tries to understand each other—then we'd have something to look forward to."
"Don't many Rain Ninja come to town?"
"Let me think..."
The innkeeper puffed on his pipe and murmured for a few moments. "Their leader called himself Yahiko. There was also a man and a woman with him, but I don't know their names."
"So they went to the Land of Wind?"
"Yeah. I saw them heading toward the Land of Wind with my own eyes."
Byakuya thought to himself that Yahiko and the others had come to the Land of Wind too. That made sense. The Land of Wind bordered the Land of Rain as well. Maybe Yahiko had a plan that required Sunagakure's help.
The militant faction in Sunagakure was currently bent on invading Konoha and had no interest in the Land of Rain.
Konoha's main battlefield with Iwagakure was in the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, where they fought brutal wars of attrition. Since Konoha also had to contend with Kumogakure, the Iwagakure Ninja had brought the fighting into the Land of Fire several times. Only Namikaze Minato's repeated interventions had averted disaster.
Bringing in another great nation would instead create a dangerous