These ninjas understood his meaning. They knew Ōnoki's true intention—to keep the rebels alive in order to strengthen himself.
In practice, these ninjas did not suppress the rebellion with their full strength. Instead, they profited from their clashes with the rebels, seizing the rebels' wealth and using the chaos to expand Iwagakure's resources.
To the outside world, they proclaimed that the rebels were powerful and that they were already doing their utmost to suppress them. Whenever questioned, they claimed to be diligently quelling the rebellion, assisting the daimyo, uniting their resolve, and defending their leader.
Using the excuse that "the rebellion has yet to be pacified," Ōnoki continuously demanded greater military funding from the Daimyo of the Land of Earth.
By exaggerating the threat posed by the rebellion, he created the illusion that Iwagakure was giving everything it had to suppress it yet still struggling, thereby securing more financial support from the daimyo.
Through this method, Iwagakure not only suffered no losses from the rebellion, but instead gained vast amounts of wealth and supplies.
At the same time, Ōnoki took the opportunity to further strengthen Iwagakure and consolidate his authority within the village.
As the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, Uchiha Ying Yue had always kept a close eye on the movements of the other ninja villages.
The strategies of Iwagakure and Sunagakure—keeping the rebels alive to strengthen themselves—had not escaped Ying Yue's intelligence network.
Through the precise intelligence gathered by the Shadow Curtain Organization, Ying Yue quickly learned that the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki's strategy was extremely similar to that of the Third Kazekage.
Ying Yue pondered inwardly. By not fully suppressing the rebellions, Iwagakure and Sunagakure had gained enormous resources and political capital. Although such methods were filled with sinister calculations, he had to admit that this strategy could indeed