War Had Broken Out

The harvest was followed by cultivation.

Kazamatsuri Harume performed the Wood Release: Winter Storage Technique, turning all the stalks into organic fertilizer to enrich and deepen the soil.

Next, the children combined their chakra. Like trickling streams joining into a mighty river, they worked together to perform the Earth Release: Cultivation Technique.

Fueled by chakra reserves rivaling those of a jōnin, the technique turned and leveled a third of the terraced fields in an instant.

The soil became loose and well-aerated, suitable for sowing.

Combined techniques demanded a high degree of coordination, and the children lacked control, damaging several parts of the terraces.

Fortunately, the damage wasn't severe, and the four-year-olds quickly repaired the broken sections.

When the Rising Sun Organization finished its second round of cultivation and planted the terraces with winter wheat, the work was handed over to the children's parents.

For the adults, the fertile land and the winter wheat already sprouting were the most dependable sources of hope.

But one terraced field wasn't enough to accommodate all the adults. And without Kazamatsuri Harume's direct involvement, its yield wouldn't be enough to support forty-three families.

So Yamanaka Chujiu led the children in building a workshop to research how to refine table salt with ninjutsu.

Konoha's shops sold table salt, but the refining process was quite primitive. It consumed enormous amounts of fuel, time, and labor.

As a result, table salt was scarce and extremely expensive. It was a luxury, not a daily necessity.

Drawing on the principles of saturation and temperature differences in solutions, Yamanaka Chujiu guided the Rising Sun Organization's children in their research. They successfully developed the Water Release: Dissolution Transformation Technique.

Using ninjutsu to purify rock salt was not only a hundred times more efficient than traditional refining methods, it also required no vast quantities of firewood. The cost was reduced to a tenth of what it had been.

The profits were enormous. If word got out, the tiny Rising Sun Organization would be wiped out in an instant.

Since both refined and unrefined salt were controlled by the Sarutobi Clan, Yamanaka Chujiu reluctantly scaled back production, limiting the workshop to one refining session a day, and sold the refined salt to the Sarutobi.

By sharing the profits with the Sarutobi Clan, he kept other ninja clans and the nobility from coveting their enterprise.

He also invoked Orochimaru's name to curb the Sarutobi Clan's greed.

At the same time, Yamanaka Chujiu deliberately spent labor and resources creating the illusion that they were consuming huge quantities of firewood and clean water, keeping production costs high.

The children pretended to work hard for barely enough pay to make their toil worthwhile, convincing the greedy jackals that picking a fight with Yamanaka Chujiu wasn't worth it.

As Orochimaru's newly accepted student, Yamanaka Chujiu was entitled to a small share of the profits.

Even Shimura Danzō, that troublemaker, wouldn't offend Orochimaru over such a small sum.

Just as everything was getting on track, the war Yamanaka Chujiu had predicted broke out.

The Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure gathered thousands of Kumogakure Ninja and personally led the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, from the Land of Hot Water into the Land of Fire.

Though more Konoha Ninja stood in their way, none could stop the Fourth Raikage, and no one could halt the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki's rampage.

Led by the two powerful fighters, the Kumogakure army routed the Konoha Ninja. In just a few days, thousands of Konoha Ninja had been killed or wounded.

The front line was pushed into the Land of Fire. Only by relying on the terrain did the Konoha Ninja manage to bring the fighting to a stalemate, and they certainly wouldn't hold out for long.

Requests for reinforcements poured into the Hokage's office like a blizzard.

The consequences of losing the Fourth Hokage now lay fully before the Third Hokage, bearing down on him until he could hardly breathe.

Almost instinctively, Hiruzen Sarutobi began considering whether concessions and compromise could persuade the Fourth Raikage to withdraw.

The proud Konoha Ninja couldn't accept compromise. Shimura Danzō, who styled himself the root of the village, clamored for a counterattack, even spreading rumors to rouse the anger of countless Konoha Ninja.

Under immense pressure, Hiruzen Sarutobi flew into a rage and gave Shimura Danzō a thorough dressing-down. He slashed half the funding for Root, and Danzō immediately fell silent.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated over whether to compromise, and how to communicate with the Fourth Raikage A, Kirigakure launched an attack as well.

The Fourth Mizukage led the charge himself and conquered the Land of Waves in a single morning. Its daimyo surrendered on the spot.

With the perfect springboard for an invasion of the Land of Fire secured, Kirigakure launched a large-scale landing. They pushed the front line into the Land of Fire with barely a fight.

Konoha was now fighting on two fronts, and its position had become perilous—more dangerous even than when the four great ninja villages had besieged it two years earlier.

Almost overnight, everyone in Konoha felt the threat of annihilation.

By now, Hiruzen Sarutobi could no longer deceive himself. He had no choice but to seriously deploy troops, assign missions, and form a Konoha army to launch a counterattack.

But as Konoha Ninja were pulled from the northern and western fronts, the Sand Village Ninja, whose spirits had been broken, began to stir.

Iwagakure, so thoroughly crushed while hunting the Third Raikage that its forces had been left dazed and demoralized, also began to stir. Iwagakure Ninja were skulking around in the Land of Rain.

Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer believed in any ceasefire agreement. He didn't even dare trust the movements of the Sand Village, Konoha's supposed ally.

As for the ceasefire treaty they had signed earlier, now that Konoha was in danger, it was nothing but a sheet of paper covered in words, waiting to be torn up.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to abandon all illusions, prepare war supplies in earnest, mobilize Konoha Ninja on a massive scale, and extract every resource he could from the ninja clans.

The endless tangle of work was driving him mad.

The Third Hokage's wife had died, so Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't even need to go home. He moved straight into the Hokage's office and worked around the clock.

Whenever he was utterly exhausted, he would go out onto the balcony and smoke a pipe. His numb mind would inevitably drift back to that crisis years ago, when the four great ninja villages had besieged Konoha. How had they managed to overcome it?

Oh, right.

Orochimaru had led the Konoha army in holding off the Iwagakure Ninja in the Land of Rain, buying Konoha enough time to destroy the Sand Village army.

Namikaze Minato had unleashed extraordinary fighting power, breaking the Sand Village army at the most dangerous, decisive moment.

The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, had made a bad call. Acting as though victory was already certain, he had suddenly stabbed his old enemy, Kumogakure, in the back.

The Iwagakure army had even surrounded the Third Raikage for three days and three nights, wearing him down until he died.

Now Namikaze Minato had sacrificed himself, Orochimaru had been hurt, and would Ōnoki make another mistake after suffering a setback?

The more Hiruzen Sarutobi thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He had no confidence in victory, and thoughts of compromise surged through him like the tide.

He couldn't help sighing. "Ah, Kazekage, Tsuchikage, Raikage, Mizukage, why can't they understand me and give up their designs on the Land of Fire?"

"Why don't your ninja long for peace? Why won't they bring the war to an end of their own accord?"