A Chance Encounter

An Iwagakure official said, "The Land of Wind may be covered in desert and short on resources, but the Land of Fire is the wealthiest place in the Shinobi World. Last year's two incidents hit Iwagakure hard.

Sunagakure can compensate Iwagakure, and our shinobi at the front can immediately join forces with yours to invade the Land of Fire. Given its wealth, Sunagakure is bound to recover its expenses many times over.

Sunagakure can also seize a piece of the Land of Fire as territory for the Land of Wind and improve its finances."

The Third Kazekage and the Sand Shinobi Senior Officials burned with anger. Iwagakure was plainly trying to take advantage of their predicament, but Sunagakure had been at a disadvantage from the moment it sought an alliance.

Sunagakure had paid such a high price for one goal: invading the Land of Fire. Now that goal was close, none of them could bear to give up.

Yet they could not calmly accept Iwagakure's terms either. Their anger refused to subside.

The Third Kazekage knew Ōnoki wanted to invade the Land of Fire no less than he did. The Land of Wind's environment, however, was far harsher than the Land of Earth's.

The negotiations reached another impasse.

Ōnoki slowly landed. A ninja hurried over and handed him an intelligence scroll.

Ōnoki glanced at it. "Lord Kazekage, Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning has been stirring lately. It appears poised to invade the Land of Earth. I'm afraid we can't continue today's negotiations.

Once we've driven back Kumogakure's attack, we can resume talks about a joint operation between Iwagakure and Sunagakure."

The Kazekage understood the blatant threat. Though Konoha was Sunagakure's main enemy, its intelligence officers still monitored the actions of the other ninja nations.

Ōnoki's supposed developments were pure