As time moved forward, matters gradually settled into place. Kurozai completed his handovers in Sunagakure and soon departed for Kumogakure, while the other envoys likewise returned to their respective villages. Unlike Konoha, which possessed abundant land, food, and living resources, the other four great countries were forced to survive under far harsher constraints. This was especially true for ninja villages. Training shinobi demanded not only rare materials but enormous quantities of food. Ninjas burned vast amounts of energy during training and combat, and military ration pills, essentially condensed energy sources, were themselves made from scarce and valuable ingredients. Maintaining a large ninja force was therefore extraordinarily expensive in terms of resources.
Thus, when Kumogakure withdrew from the continent's frequent skirmishes, reduced its overt military involvement, and instead began engaging openly in large-scale trade using its ninja forces primarily to support and protect that direction, most observers reached what seemed like a natural conclusion. Kumogakure must have decided to abandon expansion and focus solely on defending its borders and civilian interests, pursuing an elite route rather than maintaining a massive army. After all, it had become increasingly rare to see young Kumogakure shinobi abroad, and genin from the village were seldom encountered outside the Land of Lightning. To outsiders, it appeared that Kumogakure was no longer raising an army.
This assumption fits neatly with existing beliefs. A large force composed mostly of genin was costly, but effective; losses could be replaced as long as resources and population held out. Every major ninja village relied on such numbers of genin and chunin to maintain influence, handle routine missions, war, and project power. If Kumogakure was stepping away from that model after its tragic defeat at Konoha's hands, then selling off surplus food, tools, and war-related materials made perfect sense.
That was the answer everyone accepted.
In reality, those "excess" resources were being sold precisely because Kumogakure no longer needed them in the way others assumed. By trading them to the other three great villages, Kumogakure not only gained economic leverage but also successfully lowered suspicion regarding why the village remained so closed. The prevailing explanation that Kumogakure was shrinking its forces was convenient and reassuring. No one suspected that Kumogakure now possessed an abundance of food, nor that it had developed newer and stronger civilian-ninja forces who had mastered chakra usage among many works of life. Their chakra culture had expanded beyond the traditional focus on combat and intelligence, quietly strengthening the foundation of the entire nation.
Iwagakure and Kirigakure ultimately agreed to the deals as well. This time, however, there were no exchanges of ninjutsu or direct payments in money, since no land was being purchased. Onoki, viewing Kumogakure's actions as both a reduction of its own ninja army and a subtle form of retaliation against Konoha by strengthening the other three villages, remained wary. Yet the benefits were too substantial to ignore. He had little choice but to accept.
Even so, Onoki was the most difficult to persuade. Believing Iwagakure to be stronger than Sunagakure and Kirigakure, he demanded a greater share of the resources that could be exchanged. After prolonged negotiations, the envoy leading the discussions promised Iwagakure one-third more resources than the other two villages.
To the outside world, the arrangement was simple and clean; the Land of Lightning would trade food and other materials on a national scale with the Lands of Earth, Wind, and Water, divided in a ratio of forty percent to the Land of Earth, and thirty percent each to the Lands of Wind and Water. Iwagakure received priority access to forty percent of all traded goods. Naturally, the actual prices and values differed beneath the surface. Sunagakure, for instance, received more favorable value-for-value exchanges, but such details were concealed. Sunagakure had no reason to publicize it, especially after already signing a second agreement involving Roran.
When news of these developments spread through the shinobi world, the reaction, particularly among civilians, was profound. The idea that the other three great ninja villages would maintain peaceful relations with Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning was astonishing. Even more striking was the sudden stability of surrounding regions. The Land of Snow, already heavily sealed off and now effectively a vassal of the Land of Lightning, along with the Land of Hot Springs, long under Kumogakure's influence, became peaceful, neutral zones almost overnight.
Merchants immediately recognized the opportunity. Where peace existed, prosperity followed. Trade routes flourished, caravans multiplied, and commerce surged. The Land of Lightning's trade hub, centered around the closed Land of Snow and the bustling meeting grounds of the Land of Hot Springs, began to grow rapidly in importance and wealth.
For the other three ninja villages, these agreements removed the need to contest influence in those regions or conduct dangerous battle missions there. Trading with the Land of Lightning was simply more efficient and more profitable. Kumogakure was widely acknowledged as the second strongest ninja village, and with the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning prioritizing trade, vast quantities of resources that would normally bolster Kumogakure's military were instead flowing outward.
Even Iwagakure, long considered capable of rivaling the past war like Kumogakure for second place in the ninja world, calculated that if these trade agreements continued uninterrupted, its overall strength would increase by at least one third.
And not a single one of them realized or cared what Kumogakure was truly building beneath the surface.