All of this was to secure a precious period of preparation time.
Only by obtaining this time
could Shōji complete his plans as much as possible, steadily raising both his own strength and Iwagakure's strength by another level.
Why had he been willing to hold a Five Kage Summit with the Four Great Shinobi Villages? Why had he been willing to return the captured Kumo Ninja to Kumogakure? It was all to avoid disrupting his plans. Not to mention his later, easier plan of using Kotoamatsukami to control the Fourth Raikage, from a purely strategic standpoint, he could not further intensify the conflict with the Three Great Shinobi Villages.
Shōji was not some hopelessly childish fool like Obito or Madara. Every one of Shōji's plans had to ensure the highest possible chance of execution and the lowest possible risk. Unnecessary costs were something Shōji would absolutely do his utmost to avoid.
In the Original Work, Obito and Black Zetsu had originally possessed many means of making the Five Great Shinobi Villages slaughter one another again before launching the Eye of the Moon Plan. Yet they refused to do so. They always believed their side had sufficient strength, that they could wipe out all the forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages in one stroke, so they brazenly stepped into the open!
That was also what Shōji found most foolish about Obito. Either launch the plan earlier, or choose a more secure method to carry it out.
But he had to choose neither. He just had to be the flashiest, most showy guy in the room, and in the end, the plan failed.
Shōji often used Obito's negative example from the Original Work to remind himself. No matter what plan it was, even if it had reached its final step, so