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"..."
Damn, that made an awful lot of sense. The Cloud Village's Lightning Release Chakra Mode, the Stone Village's Dust Release – the training theories behind them were publicly known. But even knowing the theory, could you actually learn them? Forget outsiders; even the Stone Village and Cloud Village themselves struggled with their own techniques.
The Lightning Release Chakra Mode was somewhat more accessible – Raikage candidates were eligible to learn it, though the difficulty was immense. Dust Release was even more extreme; at present, only Onoki could wield it. This thing – forget merely getting started, even with Onoki personally guiding you hand in hand, you still might not be able to learn it.
"I actually believe the Tsuchikage might agree to his demands. After all, the Stone Village right now... heh heh heh." Leaving behind a string of lilting laughter, Mei Terumi parted ways with Rasa, each taking different routes back to their respective lodgings. With the Mist and Sand Villages still in the midst of negotiations, Mei Terumi and Rasa returning together might invite minor misunderstandings. It was more appropriate to travel separately.
"Lord Advisor, members of the Sand and Mist delegations have left the village under disguise," Shisui and Itachi reported, arriving at the Hokage's office late at night while Kazuki, having finished the day's work, was resting with a cup of tea.
"Let them go," Kazuki replied with a soft laugh. "I knew something was off with them. Their own affairs haven't even been settled, yet they're already eyeing the Stone Village. Onoki must have already contacted them in private. That's why they came probing for my bottom line."
There was a saying: when you're using others, shouldn't you also reflect on whether others are using you? Mei Terumi and Rasa were probing Kazuki's stance, but Kazuki could just as easily use them to indirectly communicate with Onoki.
Here, this is my condition. If you can agree to it, then I will represent the Leaf Village in the Five Kage Summit. If not, then farewell. You can play by yourselves; the Leaf Village won't get involved.
Kazuki's guess was entirely correct. Onoki had long since begun contacting Mei Terumi and Rasa, and even if it was merely covert contact, it was enough for them to take seriously. The worse the Stone Village's situation became, the more benefits they could extract from it. Circumstances dictated that Onoki had no choice but to lower his head and obediently hand over the benefits.
At present, the Stone and Cloud Villages were locked in a chaotic battle in the Land of Waterfalls. To bring the war to a halt, there were only three paths. The first was for the Stone Village to admit defeat and acknowledge the war as lost. Unfortunately, Onoki would never easily bow his head to the Cloud Village. Even if he had to pay a certain price to mediate the war, he would never declare the Stone Village defeated. If the stubborn little old man were willing to simply announce defeat, why would he be secretly reaching out to Rasa and Mei Terumi in the first place? Thus, the first option was completely off the table.
The second path was to rally the Mist and Sand Villages, persuade the Leaf Village, and convene a Five Kage Summit. Through the summit's collective pressure, the Cloud Village would be forced to halt, drawing the war to a close. This was the most stable approach. But choosing this path meant the Stone Village would have to pay a considerable price.
The third path was also simple: directly ally with the Sand and Mist Villages, then pressure the Cloud Village to end the war. Otherwise, our three villages will unite against you alone. No matter how impoverished the Sand and Mist Villages were, they could still muster a force and scrape together supplies to support the Stone Village. Once the Stone Village had sufficient war materiel and reinforcements, it wouldn't fear a grinding war of attrition against the Cloud Village.
Three against one – even if the Sand and Mist didn't contribute much, it would still be more than enough to give the Cloud Village a splitting headache. Among the three paths, the first aside, both the second and third were inextricably tied to the Leaf Village. Convening a Five Kage Summit required the Leaf's nod. If the Leaf didn't agree to participate, the Cloud Village certainly wouldn't bother attending either. They could even turn the tables: if the Leaf isn't participating, what Five Kage Summit are you even talking about? By the same logic, the Stone Village rallying the Sand and Mist Villages was equally useless. As long as the Leaf sided with the Cloud Village, a three-versus-two scenario would still see them losing.
One side had ample manpower, powerful shinobi, and abundant resources. The other side was so poor they were practically scraping their own feet, desperately pooling every scrap of resource. Before the war even started, the scales of victory had already tipped, weighted down further by a massive iron block. If the Leaf Village joined the fray, would the Sand and Mist Villages dare to go to war against the Leaf? Their skulls would likely be smashed to pieces.
Therefore, the Leaf Village was an insurmountable obstacle for the Stone Village. Unless Onoki was willing to bow his head to the Cloud Village, he had no choice but to obediently hand over benefits to secure the Leaf's position. No matter how one looked at it, the Leaf Village came out ahead. It would reap massive profits.
To secure the Leaf's neutrality, Onoki needed to offer benefits. Coincidentally, to secure the Leaf as an ally, A also needed to offer benefits, ensuring the Leaf didn't tilt toward the other side. What's more, the Cloud Village couldn't even morally condemn the Leaf. Even as temporary allies, as long as the Leaf didn't openly switch sides and merely offered covert support, the Cloud Village would be left crippled.
"This is the essence of war. Why go out and fight to the death ourselves? Let others fight, while we reap the benefits and strengthen ourselves. Isn't that preferable?" Kazuki mused.
Shikaku was covered in black lines. It sounds great, but this kind of fortune is unprecedented for the Leaf Village. In past wars, how many times was the Leaf anything but a victim? How many times were we beaten until we howled?
To fence-sit and reap benefits from both sides, you need the capability to back it up! If this were the Third Hokage, the Leaf would have been schemed against and trapped long ago, probably locked in a desperate struggle with some other village. No, they wouldn't even have had the qualifications for a desperate struggle. Following the original trajectory, before the Fourth Great Ninja War broke out, the Leaf Village's strength was genuinely pitiful. For driving the Leaf to such a destitute state, the Third Hokage deserved the lion's share of the credit.
"Lord Advisor, won't Onoki simply choose to lose the war?" Shikaku felt this possibility was quite high. Given the Stone Village's current situation, directly declaring defeat was the simplest and most direct option.
"He might, but the likelihood is very low," Kazuki analyzed with certainty. "Think about it. Would a stubborn old fossil like Onoki rather pay a bit of benefit to preserve the village's face, or pay benefits and lose face?"
Surrendering directly and declaring the war lost was indeed decisive. The problem was, if you declared defeat, you still had to pay war reparations to the victor. Not only to the Cloud Village but also to compensate the Waterfall Village. Most importantly, the loss of face would be catastrophic, utterly humiliating. Since he'd have to pay a substantial price either way, why wouldn't Onoki choose to keep fighting? Rallying the Mist and Sand Villages required paying a price. Rallying the Leaf Village also required paying a price. But the key point was: rallying allies to help you costs a price, and declaring defeat also costs a price. The former at least preserved both his own dignity and the village's face. Given that, why would he willingly throw that face away? Did they think the Cloud Village's appetite was any smaller?