Sunagakure, Kazekage's office.
"Ōnoki is inviting me to join them in jointly fighting against Konoha?"
The Second Kazekage, Shamon, wore a strange expression.
Were these guys not fully awake yet? Did they really think they could defeat Konoha?
Earlier, even the three great ninja villages together couldn't take Amegakure down in the first strike.
And now they were still daydreaming about defeating Konoha?
He knew Sunagakure's overall combat power very clearly.
There was simply no way they could be a match for Konoha.
Even if all four great ninja villages joined forces, the chance of victory wouldn't even reach fifty percent.
If Ōnoki had invited him to jointly fight against the other two villages, he would have agreed without hesitation.
But Konoha?
Forget it.
Sunagakure was already poor enough. If they lost another war, they'd be eating dirt.
However, the actions of Amegakure's leader Hanzo gave him a reminder.
If Sunagakure could establish an alliance with Konoha…
Then they could participate in the war and lie down to win openly and legitimately.
Then they could divide the defeated nations' resources as a victorious country.
Tsk tsk, I really am a genius!
The more the Second Kazekage Shamon thought about it, the more excited he became, and he hurried to start writing the alliance document to Konoha.
Since Konoha agreed to Amegakure, they would surely agree to Sunagakure as well.
After all, Sunagakure was one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, and its overall strength was far superior to Amegakure.
He immediately sent someone to deliver the alliance document to Konoha.
"Heh, Ōnoki, don't blame me."
Shamon tore up the alliance letter Ōnoki had sent earlier and tossed it into the trash.
Blame them for being idle enough to attack Konoha?
Even though Konoha's forces had entered the Land of Rain, that wasn't a reason for them to start a war!
As long as they hugged Konoha's thick thigh, they would gain huge resources after the war ended.
Tsk tsk, just thinking about it made him excited!
...
Konoha Village, Hokage's office.
"Sunagakure wants to form an alliance with Konoha?"
Shimura Danzō looked strangely at the alliance letter his subordinates presented.
These villages—why did they want to ally with Konoha every single day?
Yesterday Amegakure, today Sunagakure…
Did they really think Konoha feared no one who came knocking?
As for the Kazekage's little schemes, Danzō had already seen through them completely.
They wanted to participate in the war and take a share of the spoils.
But worrying they wouldn't achieve final victory, they came to the strongest—Konoha.
Hoping to lie down and win.
Shimura Danzō naturally wouldn't agree to ally with this kind of free-rider.
He only gave it a faint glance, then tossed the alliance letter into the trash.
He didn't even bother to give a response.
Meanwhile, far away in Sunagakure, the Kazekage Shamon still knew nothing.
He was still happily imagining the resources Sunagakure would gain after winning the war…
Unfortunately, he imagined far too well.
...
Land of Rain, front-line battlefield.
Ever since Konoha and Amegakure formed an alliance, the already powerful Konoha became even stronger.
Amegakure's leader, Hanzo of the Salamander, personally went to the front to assist.
His powerful poison mist tormented the ninja forces of the various countries endlessly.
Especially the Kumogakure ninja, who seemed to recall the terror of once being dominated by Renya.
No—strictly speaking, Hanzo was even more terrifying than Renya.
Renya had only killed powerful Kumogakure ninja back then and hadn't caused much harm to ordinary ones.
But Hanzo was different.
His poison mist was a large-scale area-damage technique. For ninja of average strength, it was undoubtedly fatal!
In just a single day, countless ninja were poisoned and lost their ability to fight.
The Kage of the three villages collectively jumped in frustration.
If not for Konoha's support, they wouldn't even place Amegakure in their eyes.
...
Inside the front-line command tent.
The Tsuchikage, Mizukage, and Raikage had gathered together.
"That damned Hanzo! My Kumogakure ninja have suffered massive losses!"
The Second Raikage's eyes were blood-red, as if he wanted to rush to the front line right now and kill Hanzo.
"Calm down!" the Third Mizukage frowned and warned.
If he didn't say something, this reckless man might charge forward in a heat-of-the-moment stupor.
If the Konoha poison specialist caught him, he'd be finished.
"Don't panic. I've already sent an alliance invitation to the Kazekage."
The Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki spoke calmly.
Don't be fooled by how they were temporarily suppressed by Konoha and Amegakure—once Sunagakure's reinforcements arrived, the situation would improve.
No matter how strong Konoha was, they couldn't face the attacks of four nations at once.
Even with Amegakure as an ally, it would be useless.
When four nations attacked, Konoha would barely handle its own situation. How could it spare attention for Amegakure?
By then, it would be Hanzo's death day.
Once Amegakure was wiped out, Konoha would be surrounded on all sides.
Victory would naturally belong to them.
"Tsuchikage, will the Kazekage accept your alliance request?"
The Third Mizukage asked in confusion.
The war had been going on for ten days, yet Sunagakure had not participated even once.
He felt the Kazekage had no intention of joining the war.
Otherwise they would have long sent troops to the front.
Ōnoki's invitation had an eighty-percent chance of being rejected.
He felt Ōnoki was daydreaming.
What kind of teammates were these?
Why would he want to ally with such people?
The Third Mizukage thought carefully, then suddenly remembered—
The three villages had originally been fighting each other, but because Amegakure attacked them first, they suspended hostilities to jointly resist Amegakure.
Later, Konoha also entered the war, forcing them to join together to fight Konoha.
In other words, they were originally enemies.
They were only temporarily allied!
Realization dawned upon the Mizukage. No wonder these two felt like idiots.
Ōnoki froze.
Right… would the Kazekage really agree to an alliance?
He hadn't actually thought about this seriously…
He just instinctively thought the Kazekage wouldn't pass up a chance to oppose Konoha.
But what the Kazekage truly thought—he had no idea.
The Mizukage sighed internally.
With teammates like these, losing the war was inevitable.
He had already begun planning how to betray them and save himself.
After all, they were originally enemies—just temporarily allied.
If things went badly, he would just abandon them and flee.
—Better the neighbor dies than the monk.
The three discussed how to counter Konoha and Amegakure.
The first goal was to eliminate Hanzo.
And this glorious task was assigned to the Second Raikage.
The other two would be responsible for stopping Renya.
They could not let him rescue Hanzo.
As long as Hanzo died, Amegakure would no longer pose a threat.
And Konoha could then be slowly worn down.
The three felt the plan was excellent and immediately approved it.
"Tomorrow, I'll head to the front personally and eliminate Hanzo in the shortest time possible!"
The Second Raikage declared boldly.
If he couldn't beat Konoha's poison specialist, he could at least beat an Amegakure leader, right?
They were all Kage-level powerhouses—who should fear who?
...
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