A Turbulent Shinobi World

Besides,

in the northern region bordering the Land of Earth,

the Land of Wind had long since discovered many deposits of high-quality ore!

These mineral resources

had always been coveted by the Land of Earth and Iwagakure.

Now that they finally had a chance,

of course they were going to launch a proper invasion!

And because the Land of Earth and Iwagakure had taken the initiative to attack,

Sunagakure was struggling even more to cope.

They had even less time to concern themselves with these "unimportant events" happening far away in the Land of Water.

Maki had only just taken the position of Fifth Kazekage, yet nearly all his attention was already consumed by Iwagakure's attacks. Since Sunagakure had been defeated, he had also needed to negotiate with Konoha over surrendering and signing a new peace treaty. Fortunately, Konoha had made no especially harsh demands. It had merely asked Sunagakure to provide a batch of valuable minerals before agreeing to return the captured Sand Ninja and renew their alliance.

That finally allowed Maki to catch his breath.

He could devote all his attention to dealing with Iwagakure's attacks.

The two great villages were locked in a grinding struggle,

and neither cared in the slightest about the rebellion in the Land of Water or the Three-Tails incident.

Fortunately, Ōnoki had managed to keep his emotions in check for the time being and hadn't sent a massive force straight into Sunagakure. Otherwise, Maki would have had to consider asking Konoha for help.

The fact was,

Sunagakure was already weak.

After one failed surprise attack,

it had grown even weaker.

If Iwagakure attacked with all its strength,

Sunagakure truly wouldn't be able to hold them off.

It was worth noting that

in the original story, Gaara became the Fifth Kazekage. In this life,