The Collapse Plan

Naraku sighed, then continued:

"However, although I do not want to start a war, I am not afraid of the Land of Lightning or the Land of Water."

The demands of the Land of Water are outrageous and completely impossible.

If the Land of Lightning can provide the Land of Water 30 billion ryo free of charge, then our Konoha is certainly capable of doing the same.

However, since the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water have already formed an alliance, our current donation of 30 billion taels is a step behind the Land of Lightning and seems like we are merely copying their ideas.

In my opinion, we should give the Land of Water 20 billion ryo as a grant. Hidden Mist gave Konoha 20 billion ryo back then, so let's just consider it repayment to them.

After all, Uchiha Zensui is an S-rank missing-nin of Konoha. When he causes trouble in other countries, he damages the reputation of Konoha."

Naraku's words were packed with information; after a slight pause to think, he continued:

"Finally, the wanted poster has been updated. The bounty for Uchiha Zensui has been increased to 500 million ryo."

The 200 billion yen demanded by Kirigakure was completely impossible for Naraku.

Naraku could take advantage of this situation to reiterate his past achievements in Hidden Mist. Many people had forgotten what happened more than ten years ago.

At the same time, this act of providing free assistance to Kirigakure can dispel most of Kirigakure's suspicions about Konoha. The 200 billion ryo is probably just their exorbitant asking price. If Konoha were to act normally, they would never agree to such nonsense.

If they give too much, it means Konoha is guilty. If they don't give a penny, Konoha is most likely the mastermind behind it all. The next step could very well be accountability and war.

Following the example of the Land of Lightning, some resources should be given away free of charge to prevent Konoha from going to war with other countries because of a missing-nin. Especially since this missing-nin is from the same clan as the Hokage, the impact would be very negative.

Uchiha Zensui's formidable record might inspire respect from ninjas who revere strength. However, if this missing-nin were to cause a war in Konoha, Uchiha Zensui and even the Uchiha Clan could face blame, a situation Naraku did not wish to see.

Of course, the most important thing is that another Konoha S-rank missing-nin Orochimaru, planned a major operation and requested Naraku's assistance. Naraku was very interested in Orochimaru's plan.

It's best not to cause trouble before assisting Orochimaru's plan.

"Five hundred million ryo? That's the reward for assassinating a Kage. Uchiha Zensui will probably cause panic in the Shinobi World."

We must also intensify our pursuit to avoid giving the impression that Konoha lacks the ability to capture him."

Most of the time, Hatake Sakumo followed Naraku's advice, so he was somewhat surprised by Naraku's final update on Uchiha Zensui's bounty.

"Four generations, 20 billion taels is not a small amount, but it's not a huge sum either. If it can quell the trouble and earn us a reputation for supporting the weak, it's not impossible."

Mitokado Homura supported Naraku's opinion, which was also what he thought in his heart. During the reign of the Third Hokage patriarch, Mitokado Homura and his companions often did the same thing.

"If the Raikage can do it, then Konoha can certainly do it too. Two hundred billion is more than enough to show Konoha's tolerance and friendliness."

Namikaze Minato also supported Naraku's opinion. As a renowned ninja who rose to prominence during the Shinobi World War, he was not afraid of the Shinobi World War, but he did not want it to happen again.

Although Kirigakure made an exorbitant demand, it was, after all, a loan, and they promised to repay it. As one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, the Land of Water still had that much credibility.

"Seconded"

Uchiha Fugaku had already expressed this opinion, and immediately agreed and supported it.

"Then let's do it this way. I'll leave the negotiations with Kirigakure to Lord En."

Naraku passed the task to Mitokado Homura. As the Minister of Department of Administration, he was in charge of all matters, including finance, and he was very experienced in this kind of thing, so it was best to let him handle it.

"Don't worry, Fourth Generation, this matter is more than enough for me to handle."

Mitokado Homura was very pleased with Naraku addressing him as "Sir." Uchiha Nara had served as the Fourth Hokage for many years, but he had almost never been disrespectful to him. Putting everything else aside, Mitokado Homura greatly appreciated this respect for elders and kindness towards younger people.

"In that case, thank you all for your trouble. The meeting is adjourned!"

Naraku his hand, stood up, dusted himself off, and walked towards the Hokage Office. The others also got up and left.

Naraku back to the Hokage Office, sat down, and saw two newly arrived letters in the scroll tray, sent by a major country. He reached out and picked up the scrolls.

"Iwagakure's letter?"

Naraku was somewhat puzzled by the letter from Iwagakure. They had already discussed everything they needed to with Iwagakure, and with the Chunin Ninja Exams approaching, this letter came at this time.

Naraku opened the letter and slowly read its contents.

"This..."

After reading the letter, Naraku frowned slightly.

The letter's content largely stemmed from the fact that, due to the missing-nin Uchiha Zensui's attack on Kirigakure, the previously agreed-upon joint Chunin Ninja Exams Iwagakure and Konoha had been slightly adjusted. Konoha Genin could participate, but they did not wish for the Fourth Hokage, Konoha Naraku visit.

The letter concluded by urging Konoha to capture the missing-nin Uchiha Zensui as soon as possible to prevent damage to other countries.

Naraku couldn't say anything about Iwagakure's actions. However, Orochimaru secretly planned an operation against Iwagakure, requiring Konoha's cooperation, to be launched Chunin Ninja Exams.

"Inviting Konoha ninjas and the Konoha to participate has increased the hype Chunin Ninja Exams. Now, with the exams approaching, they forbid me from accessing them—this is outrageous, Ōnoki..."

Naraku frowned slightly, but did not react, patiently opening the next letter from the Land of Wind.

"Heh... Hahahaha, interesting, truly a case of 'after the darkest hour comes the dawn'... Ōnoki, you deserve your bad luck."

After reading the letter, Naraku couldn't help but laugh. It was a letter from Land of Wind, inviting them to participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams by Iwagakure.

As allies of the Wind and Fire factions, and with Konoha also participating in the Chunin Ninja Exams, the Kazekage Rasa sent a letter to the Hokage informing him of the situation. He suggested that the genin Genin both countries help each other to avoid Konoha Hidden Sand losing face in such a grand event, leaving Iwagakure to stand out.

After kicking out the Ōnoki of Konoha, and with no other Kage present, Onoki probably felt it wouldn't be fair to the audience, so he invited the Kazekage of the Land of Wind to participate.

The original joint Chunin Ninja Exams Iwagakure and Konoha became a joint Chunin Ninja Exams between Sunagakure, with Konoha Ninja also participating, so it wasn't entirely a deception of the audience.

"Kazekage, Rasa... Rasa is no saint."

Naraku coldly put down the letter, picked up paper and pen, and wrote replies to the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth. After finishing writing, he thought for a moment, then picked up the letter again to write.

After writing the third letter, he summoned the Ninja Cat to deliver it to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru orchestrated the Iwagakure Collapse Plan. After defecting from Akatsuki, he established Otogakure, Otogakure had many talented individuals, but lacked some heavyweight weapons.

Orochimaru wanted to take advantage of the Chunin Ninja Exams to increase the visibility of the Otogakure, while also creating some major news and kidnapping Jinchuriki from the Iwagakure.

Naraku's plan to unify the world required weakening several other major powers. Konoha's ally, Sunagakure, was already close to the bottom of the Five Great Nations, on par with Kirigakure, the Kirigakure.

Now that Kirigakure in the Land of Water has suffered heavy losses, Sunagakure has firmly secured its fourth-place ranking. Orochimaru's Iwagakure Collapse Plan is exactly what Naraku desires.