Chiyo's thin fingers gripped the purple glass bottle.
"Just put the poison in the water source near the border."
She moved the bottle forward half an inch. The poison inside clung to the glass and slowly dripped down.
"Land at a crucial point on the Konoha trade route."
Chiyo's voice was as hoarse as sandpaper.
"If hundreds of people die, let's see how they'll sell their stuff then!"
The Third Kazekage stared at the purplish-black liquid.
He pressed his hands against the edge of the broken stone table. The rough stone chips dug into his palms, leaving several deep red marks.
Using poison is despicable. If word gets out, it will ruin one's reputation.
But Daimyo's supplies ran out.
The village's treasury is even cleaner than this stone table. If they don't make some noise soon, Sunagakure won't even be able to afford sand sage next month.
"Okay." Kazekage bit her lower lip until blood seeped out.
"I'll leave it to you to handle."
He kicked away a small stone at his feet. The stone hit the base of the wall with a dull thud.
"Take the remaining elite troops from the village. Turn that border factory in Konoha into a death trap."
Chiyo stuffed the poison bottle back into her wide sleeve.
He turned and walked out, the hem of his gray-black robe leaving a shallow trail of sand on the ground.
Kazekage walked to the window and pushed open the rusty iron sheet.
A gust of yellow sand rushed in, choking him and causing him to cough several times. His throat was filled with the taste of earth.
He looked down.
The main street of Sunagakure was deserted.
There wasn't even a stray dog looking for food.
The once bustling ninja tool street is now deserted, with over a dozen shops displaying wooden planks covered in a thick layer of yellow sand.
The puppet workshop diagonally opposite has been passed down for three generations.
The signboard was half blown away by the wind. Only a wire remained hanging there, rattling in mid-air.
The boss packed up his bedding last night.
He took all the iron ingots from the shop, led five apprentices, and ran off with a thin, mane-covered camel.
The Anbu went to arrest them.
As a result, the Anbu team that was arresting the man got halfway there. The four of them teamed up and tied up the team leader.
They exposed the squad leader's identity and the five of them fled to the border construction site of Konoha overnight.
The squad leader was left to bake in the sand for a whole day before being rescued by the caravan.
Kazekage Ying's chest heaved violently with anger, her hands gripping the edge of the windowsill.
The conditions offered by Konoha are unreasonable.
As long as you know Earth Release Wind Release, you'll be given three sets of thick, pure cotton overalls when you go there.
A pound of lean meat and two bowls of white rice every day. It's incredibly oily and greasy.
After working for six months, you'll be granted citizenship in the Land of Fire and a red brick house with a flush toilet.
The Sunagakure had never seen anything like this before.
They usually eat sand and drink dirty water in the desert. They risk their lives to complete a C-level mission, but the money they earn isn't even enough to buy half an ounce of cheap jerky.
Now all I need to do is go to Konoha and push a small cart and mix cement.
You could eat meat Tenten and not have to worry about getting your head chopped off by bandits.
The morale of the troops collapsed to the point of being completely destroyed.
Not only are those at the bottom leaving, but even those at the middle level are wavering.
Two squad leaders went on patrol at the border two days ago, but never returned.
Even the two tactical camels issued to the Hidden Leaf Village were sold to the Konoha's overseer in exchange for three packs of good cigarettes.
The treasury manager came to report the accounts this morning.
They've even run out of budget to buy windproof cloaks for the guards. If this continues, the guards at the Kazekage Building will be standing guard shirtless.
"That town must be destroyed."
Kazekage slammed his fist on the windowsill.
A large chunk of plaster fell off the wall and landed in the sand pit below.
Five days later.
The Konoha No. 1 Industrial Town, located on the outskirts of Kikyo Mountain, on the border of the Land of Fire.
late at night.
There was no moon in the sky. Thick, dark clouds hung low in the sky.
The air lacked the dry heat characteristic of the desert; instead, it was filled with the strong smells of engine oil and coal smoke.
Grandma Chiyo lay prone in the tall grass on a gentle slope.
The cold dew on the grass dampened her grey-black robe, which clung to her knees.
My chronic leg pain has flared up again. It feels like there are steel needles stuck in my joints.
She gasped and rubbed her kneecaps hard in the mud.
Three kilometers ahead.
Chiyo looked up. Her wrinkled eyes widened, and the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes creased together.
She instinctively held her breath.
That was a sight she had never seen in her life.
There were no city walls. There were no traditional Konoha.
There was only a vast expanse of steel buildings rising from the ground.
Dozens of thick red brick chimneys pierced the night sky, billowing out thick smoke.
Several steel blast furnaces, each over ten meters tall, glowed a deep red, turning half the sky a dark orange.
Huge beams of searchlight swept back and forth in the air. The beams streaked across the grass, blinding people.
The deafening roar of machinery echoed from the factory.
Clang. Clang.
The sound of a heavy stamping press slamming into a steel plate traveled through the earth's crust, making Chiyo's chest tighten and her heart pound wildly.
Several railway tracks extend from deep within the factory area.
A steam locomotive, billowing white steam, pulled dozens of carriages loaded with high-quality steel products, making a loud clattering sound.
This is hardly a border market.
This is clearly a steel monster lying on the border of the Land of Fire.
They are guzzling down the resources of the Shinobi World.
In the bushes behind Chiyo.
Fifty elite poison troops from the Sunagakure lay prone.
Each person wore a specially made pig-snout gas mask. Their breathing sounded muffled inside the mask.
They were carrying heavy tin cans on their backs.
The jar was painted green. Where the paint had chipped, mottled rust was visible.
A section of black rubber hose extends from the top.
A Sunagakure Jonin approached.
He was climbing too fast on the grass. His belt got caught on a thorny bush.
With a "rip," a half-foot-long tear appeared in the pant leg, letting in a blast of cold air.
He awkwardly tugged at the tattered cloth and lowered his voice.
" Chiyo." The Jonin looked at the massive factory area in the distance and swallowed hard.
" Konoha's camp is too big. Is the poison gas we brought... enough?"
Chiyo snorted coldly.
The phlegm that had been stuck in her throat was brought up by that cold snort. She turned her head and spat the phlegm onto the frosty mud.
"Is it enough? Let's talk about it after we release it."
Chiyo's thin finger traced a line in the air, pointing to several rivers outside the factory area in the distance.
And there's that newly built, straight dirt road.
" Konoha dumps its goods entirely through this road."
She touched the purple glass bottle in her sleeve.
"As long as this toxic fumes drift in, they'll seep into their factory through the ventilation vents."
"Who cares if they're blacksmiths or grain sellers? Their lungs will all rot into mush within half an hour."
This is a complex poison gas that she brewed during her seclusion.
Extracted from desert scorpions and several highly poisonous plants. Contact with skin causes immediate necrosis, inhalation is fatal. There is no antidote.
"Measure the wind direction," Chiyo ordered.
A Sunagakure Chunin nearby drew Kunai and dug up a handful of dry soil from the ground.
Raise your hand.
Dust leaked through his fingers.
The dust was blown by the wind and drifted straight toward the industrial town of Konoha.
"Northwest wind, force 3." The Chunin suppressed his excitement. "Directly facing their factory area!"
"Good."
Chiyo, bracing herself against the slippery grass, half-squatted up.
Fifty elite poison soldiers followed suit, squatting down until their knees left the muddy water.
They unloaded the green-painted metal cans from their backs and placed them on the edge of the gentle slope.
The nozzles of the rubber hoses were all pointed directly at the direction of the wind.
Chiyo walked up to the metal can in the very center.
His withered hands gripped the brass cross valve.
The metal valve felt cool in the night breeze.
She twisted it hard.
It's a bit rusty and I couldn't loosen it.
Chiyo gritted her teeth and suddenly exerted force on her wrist, causing the veins on the back of her hand to bulge out like earthworms.
"Squeak--"
A harsh metallic scraping sound. The valve was forcibly turned open.
"Sizzle!"
The ear-piercing sound of high-pressure gas being ejected exploded instantly.
A thick, dark purple-red toxic mist gushed out of the rubber hose.
The other Sunagakure took action, turning on the valves in front of them.
Fifty streams of poisonous mist converged together.
Like a purplish-black poisonous dragon.
Under the cover of darkness, it rapidly swelled and churned.
Where the poisonous smoke passed, the autumn insects in the grass instantly fell silent. Several moths that flew by fell directly to the ground, twitched a couple of times, and died instantly.
The wind is strong.
The purple, poisonous smoke billowed forward with the northwest wind.
It drifted overwhelmingly towards the brightly lit Konoha factory area.