With just a few words, Kima Senju had shaken the morale of both shinobi villages.
Ōnoki fell silent, his expression dark.
The Third Raikage, A, was a burly, rough-hewn man. Unable to take it any longer, he snapped, "Sixth Hokage, aren't you being a little too alarmist? The daimyo only agreed to surrender because circumstances forced him to. If we had known things were like this in your Land of Fire, our Land of Lightning would have followed suit."
Kima Senju smiled without saying a word, and the look in his eyes infuriated A.
A's booming voice carried everywhere. "Besides, given time, we'll develop a way to counter those vile, shameless plants of your Land of Fire. Even if every Kumogakure shinobi here dies in battle, our Land of Lightning won't be destroyed."
"We lost this Battle of the Koto no Yoru Plain despite joining forces with the Land of Earth, but we only lost a few thousand men. Ōnoki definitely still has over ten thousand troops. If our daimyo gets angry and sends all the civilians capable of fighting under his command to the battlefield, you lot... heh..."
Still smiling, Kima Senju clicked his tongue mockingly. "Third Raikage, you still have the nerve to say 'heh'? I'm impressed!"
Seeing Kima Senju give him a thumbs-up made A's expression turn even darker.
Then Kima Senju said, "I hope you can still say the same thing two years from now. I hope you can still be this defiant when you face Konoha's next Hokage."
At those words, both Ōnoki and A felt a faint sense of foreboding rise in their hearts.
Kima Senju spread his hands reverently, like a priest singing a devout hymn, and announced to everyone, "All right, enough small talk. I hereby declare the ceremony open."
This was