Conversation and Intentions

And although a peace treaty had been signed earlier,

the Land of Water and Kirigakure had also paid a hefty sum in supplies as a condition of their defeat. But because the supplies had yet to be delivered in full, the thousand or so captured Mist Ninja were still being held in Sunagakure's prison. The most important task Ao had come to Sunagakure for this time was to bring those thousand Mist Ninja back. Kirigakure had already taken a heavy blow and could not afford to lose more than a thousand Ninja. Compared with Konoha, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure, which could still readily deploy forces of over twenty thousand Ninja, Kirigakure had truly been weakened for a long time. It had taken years to recover to six or seven tenths of its former strength, and they had barely had time to celebrate before a bitter defeat cost them three or four thousand Ninja.

Now,

even if they counted the Genin who had just graduated,

Mei Terumi would have a hard time mobilizing ten thousand Ninja!

By strict standards, only seven or eight thousand active-duty Ninja were probably fit to take the field. In other words, even without considering elite combat strength and looking only at the middle and lower ranks, Kirigakure had become the weakest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages—no, the Six Great Ninja Villages. To put it bluntly, if they lined up and fought right now, the Mist Ninja might not even be able to beat the Sand Ninja. So Mei Terumi had ordered that every one of the captured Mist Ninja be brought back, even if Sunagakure took them to the cleaners.

Ao naturally chose to agree with Naruto.

It was the rational choice.

And the practical necessity.

As the others present listened to Ao,

they each showed