Pakura's Disciple, Maki

The official was then given a brutal beating by the Raikage.

He was beaten until his head was bloody.

As the strongest and most populous nation, the Land of Fire had the greatest capacity to absorb salt.

And because Konoha possessed technology for mass-producing salt, it began dumping salt directly into the Land of Fire.

Logically, the Land of Fire should have earned the most.

But Konoha had seized the initiative and taken fifty percent of the profits, leaving them no choice but to silently swallow this bitter loss.

Originally, the daimyo of the Land of Fire and the other nations' daimyo had not cared about such a small income at all. They had all been waiting to laugh at Hiruko and Minato Namikaze.

The Land of Fire's daimyo did not mind Konoha entering this industry either. After all, how could this industry compare to Konoha's wartime consumer spending?

Yet no one had expected those parasitic nobles to dare fool the daimyo like this.

The daimyo of the other four great nations would not make the same mistake as the Land of Fire's daimyo. They merely stationed several plump, fat financial officials in the middle.

They did not allow the Fourth Raikage to interfere with the salt trade.

"Lord Fourth Raikage, please mind your manners!"

"Gulp!" The fat official desperately swallowed, utterly ignoring the blood on his head.

At that moment, the fat official felt that he was only 0.1 seconds away from death.

But in the end, the Fourth Raikage was still pulled away by his subordinates.

Although Lord Raikage had been forcibly dragged away by his subordinates, the Fourth Raikage finally made up his mind.

The situation had already been set in stone. He...

The Fourth Raikage looked at his hands. He had to go.

This war had to be fought.

He had not wanted to fight in the first place. He had only wanted to pressure Konoha into ceding some benefits, but now there was no other way. He had to attack Konoha and drag it down.

Over in the Hidden Sand Village, Chiyo could only shake her head and sigh inwardly upon hearing the news.

Seeing the old woman's pained expression, the jonin beside Chiyo hurriedly consoled her. "Please do not worry too much. Everything will get better."

But Chiyo sighed helplessly. "The Land of Wind is simply too poor. There is nothing on this land but howling winds and sand."

"Wanting the Land of Wind to support us through a prolonged war was already a desperate measure. Now that the Land of Wind has cut our funding, what else can we do?"

Among the Five Great Nations, the Land of Fire was the strongest, while the Land of Wind was the weakest.

This land seemed never to have existed for humanity to thrive upon.

At the first Five Kage Summit, the First Kazekage had even voluntarily relinquished his share of the tailed beasts in exchange for expanded territory and influence.

Such a move could not be called anything but far-sighted.

Yet the Land of Wind was too weak. They had fallen behind from the start, and every step after that had left them further behind.

During the previous wars, the Land of Wind had already exhausted its foundations. It could no longer hold on, and the Hidden Sand Village itself was also nearing its limit.

Now, Konoha's rise was exceptionally forceful. Ordinary ninja might pay little attention to political factors.

But veteran ninja who had fought their entire lives understood the relationship between money and combat strength all too well.

Even Chiyo could not help considering other paths forward.

She then remembered that Hiruko's fondness for Pakura was entirely undisguised.

Perhaps they could find a breakthrough through Pakura and see whether they could secure a turning point for the Hidden Sand Village.

Karura had already become Rasa's partner.

Otherwise, given Hiruko's tendency to like female ninja famous on the battlefield, Chiyo would certainly have placed Karura as a pawn.

But Pakura's young disciple, Maki, was a rare little beauty. She could be brought along as well.

"We need to survive!" Chiyo said with a sigh.

"You mean that we need to walk alongside the strong. Blindly competing in bravery and ruthlessness is the road to death." The jonin beside her showed a trace of disappointment.

Chiyo was already advanced in years, and her eyes had grown cloudy, yet a sharp light flashed within them at that moment.

"Let us form an alliance with Konoha. First seek survival, then plan for everything else."

In the past, such an idea could never have been realized. Everyone understood that this so-called alliance was merely surrender in another form.

But no matter what, after forming an alliance, the initiative could never fall into the hands of the Sand ninja.

"Even so, as a member of the Hidden Sand Village, I will never easily submit and willingly become another's vassal," the jonin said firmly.

Chiyo did not answer. She merely shifted her gaze and said lightly, "I will personally go to Konoha and weigh things carefully."

Over in the Land of Water, Mizukage Yagura stared at the intelligence in his hand and fell silent.

Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage of the Land of Earth, stared in shock at the scroll before him and could not help sighing. "Ah! The Land of Fire truly has deep national foundations. A mere salt industry has continuously increased Konoha's war potential."

Perhaps because of his advanced age, actions that had once been effortless had now become strenuous.

Yet the elderly Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, stubbornly completed those difficult movements through his own strength, straightening his aching old back.

He stared intently at every word on the scroll, combining the newly acquired intelligence with his rich life experience as he painstakingly searched for the answer.

Age had always been a heavy burden on his path of leading the Hidden Rock Village forward.

Yet Onoki had never been able to find a suitable successor.

That old Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, could retire behind the scenes and enjoy his old age with peace of mind, but Onoki could not be so carefree.

The Land of Earth was simply too weak.

Onoki's knowledge needed an heir. It was a precious treasure accumulated over the years, something the younger generation could scarcely imagine.

After all, old men like him who had personally lived through the era when Madara Uchiha danced across the battlefield were becoming increasingly rare in the ninja world.

After a long while, Onoki emerged from his thoughts, seemingly having found the answer.

He sighed softly and muttered, "Sigh, so be it. Since some things have already been decided, they must be done."

Especially when it came to gains and losses of interest, they would not easily yield on that front.

Still, he hoped to find a way to respond through other means.

"Someone! Deliver this letter to the Raikage. We cannot allow Konoha to continue growing stronger. We must unite," Onoki said gravely.

Money had never been omnipotent, but it could solve most problems much of the time.

As funds poured continuously into the Land of Fire, the Land of Fire, once devastated by years of war, finally managed to temporarily cover its scars and gain a chance to flourish once more.

Of course, as time passed, Hiruko became increasingly famous.

After all, who would...