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With the incident of the Land of Water's daimyo being ambushed by Sunagakure ninjas within the Land of Wind, the Akatsuki didn't even need to push things along—a whole crowd of people would jump in to drive the war forward.
Those with even slightly fiery tempers were already shouting for war.
Only a small few were pondering whether there was a conspiracy behind it.
After all, Kirigakure and Sunagakure hadn't had any major conflicts in recent years.
Without any clear grievances, why would Sunagakure be so irrational as to assassinate a daimyo?
Unfortunately, speculation was useless.
Unless there was solid evidence proving this wasn't Sunagakure's doing but the Akatsuki's, it wouldn't slow the march toward war.
"Kazekage-sama, this is urgent intelligence from Konoha."
Urgent intelligence from Konoha?
Did someone go provoke them again?
The mere mention of Konoha gave Rasa a headache.
After the border incident spread, voices of doubt had emerged in the village, though Rasa had quickly suppressed them.
"Thank you for your effort."
Taking the scroll, Rasa glanced at the attached decryption code and couldn't help but feel exasperated.
What was Konoha up to now? Sending urgent intelligence with a code?
If someone with ulterior motives intercepted it, they could just open and read it.
Talk about pointless.
Grumbling inwardly, Rasa decoded the scroll and opened it.
One glance at the contents, and he froze as if struck by lightning. A few seconds later, he leaped up, his face pale, shouting:
"This is impossible!!!"
"Kazekage-sama?"
The intelligence department ninja was startled by Rasa's reaction. What could be in that scroll to make the Kazekage react so strongly?
Was Konoha causing trouble at the border again?
Rasa, eyes frantic, kept reading the scroll before urgently addressing the intelligence ninja:
"Go notify the Anbu immediately. Have them summon all the higher-ups to the Kazekage's office at once. Tell them it's an emergency—whatever they're doing, drop it and come now."
"And inform Advisor Ebizo as well."
"Yes."
Rasa's tone was urgent, tinged with panic. The Anbu ninja didn't know what was happening, but it was definitely serious.
"Damn it!! How could this happen?"
If the scroll didn't bear the Hokage's seal, Rasa would've suspected someone was playing a prank on Konoha and Sunagakure.
Sunagakure sending ninjas to assassinate the Land of Water's daimyo?
What kind of nonsense was this?
Rasa knew about the Land of Water's daimyo visiting the Land of Wind for leisure, but that was the extent of it.
Due to the strained relationship between the village and the daimyo's side, the welcoming duties had nothing to do with Sunagakure.
The daimyo had sent their own people to greet and protect him.
Tossing the scroll aside, Rasa immediately began checking the mission records of various ninja teams in the village.
Mission teams, patrol teams.
He hadn't noticed before, but now it hit him—several patrol teams hadn't rotated back on schedule.
Some hadn't even reported back to the village.
Given the Land of Wind's harsh environment, with sandstorms frequently sweeping through, patrol teams could get delayed by bad weather.
It wasn't unheard of for teams to return a few days late due to such conditions.
That's why the village hadn't paid much attention.
Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal.
But now? It was different. A major incident had occurred in the Land of Wind—several Sunagakure teams had allegedly assassinated the Land of Water's daimyo.
The gravely injured, armless daimyo had fled to the Land of Fire for help and was sent for treatment and recovery. That's how Konoha got the intelligence so quickly and sent it to them.
Rasa was numb.
Completely numb.
His heart sank to rock bottom.
Calling all the higher-ups for an emergency meeting signaled something major had happened.
Even the fully retired Ebizo was summoned, and both Chiyo and Ebizo realized this wasn't simple.
The siblings dropped their fishing rods and rushed to the Kazekage's office.
Everyone notified arrived as quickly as possible.
"Head to this location immediately and collect any useful intelligence. If there are bodies, bring them all back—don't leave anything behind."
When the higher-ups arrived, Rasa was dispatching Anbu teams to the incident site to gather intelligence.
If there were bodies, even better—the intelligence department had ways to extract secrets from them.
After making arrangements, Rasa slumped back into his chair, rubbing his throbbing temples.
"Everyone, prepare for war."
"???"
Prepare for war?
Was the village planning to launch a war?
The statement stunned everyone, even Chiyo and Ebizo, who lost their composure.
At the group's urging glances, Chiyo, as their representative, stepped forward, puzzled:
"Kazekage-sama, is the village planning to start a war?"
"If only we could proactively start a war. Unfortunately, we're the ones on the defensive."
Rasa sighed, tossing the scroll to Chiyo. She caught it steadily, her gaze sweeping over Rasa's reluctant expression.
Opening the scroll, the higher-ups gathered behind her, all reading together.
Within seconds, everyone's faces changed.
Even Chiyo couldn't maintain her calm.
"Is the source of this scroll reliable?"
"Sister, it bears the Hokage's seal, and…"
Ebizo didn't finish, but every village's intelligence department had its own verification methods.
These were unique to each village. The intelligence department could confirm whether the scroll came from Konoha.
The intelligence department had no issues, and the scroll bore Tsunade's Hokage seal, meaning its contents were authentic.
Their first thought was that Rasa had lost his mind.
But that idea was quickly dismissed—Rasa wouldn't be acting like this if he were crazy.
This meant it had nothing to do with Rasa or Sunagakure—they hadn't sent anyone to do this.
The atmosphere in the Kazekage's office grew tense.
Rasa, who'd been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them, gritting his teeth:
"I've checked—several patrol teams haven't returned to the village on schedule. I've already sent Anbu to the incident site to investigate. All we can do now is wait and prepare for war. If this is true, expect Kirigakure's accusations to arrive soon."
Whether war broke out or not, with the daimyo attacked, Kirigakure wouldn't stay silent. At the very least, they'd resort to diplomatic measures like sending accusations and condemnations.