Main World.
Autumn, Year 21 of Konoha.
Imperial Palace, the Empress's bedchamber.
Moonlight spilled through the thin curtains, casting silvery patches on the floor. Toyotomi Liuli leaned against the headboard, her long black hair spread across the pillow, a few loose strands clinging to her cheeks. She held a cup of tea that had gone completely cold, but did not drink it. She simply held it, feeling the faint chill through the cup.
Toyotomi Yinglang sat beside her, holding an intelligence scroll that had just arrived from the Shinobi World. His gaze moved slowly over the paper, a faint smile on his lips-not a smile of pleasure, but the cold smile of a hunter watching prey step into a trap.
"Yinglang."
Liuli spoke very softly.
"Hmm?"
"The war in the Shinobi World still hasn't ended. Tobirama Senju is still fighting Kumogakure. The Uchiha... those who possess the Mangekyō, over in Kirigakure... quite a few have died."
Toyotomi Yinglang set down the scroll and leaned against the headboard.
"That's normal."
Liuli's brows creased slightly.
"Normal?"
"Yes. Normal."
Toyotomi Yinglang nodded.
"Tobirama Senju sent the Uchiha to the Kirigakure front precisely because Water Release counters Fire Release, and the Hidden Mist Technique counters the Sharingan. He didn't send the Uchiha there to earn merit. He sent them there to die. However powerful the Mangekyō Sharingan is, it can't withstand Kirigakure's war of attrition. Every one who dies is one fewer. Every pair who dies is two fewer. By the time the war ends, very few of the Uchiha's top fighters will remain."
A complicated glint flashed through Liuli's eyes.
"Then... Konoha and Kumogakure..."
"Konoha and Kumogakure will hold peace talks sooner or later."
Toyotomi Yinglang's voice was calm.
"Tobirama Senju isn't a fool. He knows Konoha can't hold out if the fighting