After a while, Susanoo slowly put away the scroll, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he slowly said to the three Iwagakure ninjas in front of him, "Is this Lord Tsuchikage's battle plan? It seems Lord Tsuchikage has been planning for a long time. This kind of information cannot be gathered in a short time."
The leading Iwagakure ninja heard Susanoo's words, and a hint of embarrassment flashed across his face. However, he had good mental fortitude and quickly reacted, saying seriously, "This plan was indeed only recently formulated.
However, our Iwagakure has a lot of intelligence on the Land of Lightning. After all, Kumogakure has rapidly recovered from its defeat in the Third Great Ninja War these past few years, and its power has expanded rapidly.
Our Land of Earth and Iwagakure must also make corresponding preparations. However, due to funding, we are far behind Kumogakure. So we put a lot of effort into intelligence gathering. Kumogakure has always been our key monitoring and intelligence gathering target."
"Heh heh, Lord Tsuchikage is truly far-sighted. It seems he had already intended to deal with Kumogakure, just as I guessed that day," Susanoo said calmly.
"Since the two countries have already formed an alliance, then I won't hide anything from you. I believe you also know, as you said that day, our Land of Earth is indeed very wary of the Land of Lightning. Although we already signed a ceasefire agreement when the Third Great Ninja War ended, our Land of Earth has never believed in those guys from the Land of Lightning," the Iwagakure ninja said calmly.
Hearing his words, Susanoo smiled slightly, wondering what he was thinking.
"Just as you said that day, the Land of Lightning has received a large amount of funds these past few years due to the great investment of the Land of Lightning Daimyo. It quickly recovered from its post-war weakness, and its military power continuously expanded.
Its ninja organizational size far exceeded the ninja organizational standard of peacetime. It also gathered secret techniques and powerful ninja tools, even Kekkei Genkai, from all over.
Although their actions are very secretive, our Land of Earth, being the closest to the Land of Lightning, quickly noticed. This is a very dangerous signal," the Iwagakure ninja continued.
"Due to the war, our Iwagakure's strength greatly declined, suffering very heavy losses. Moreover, the Daimyo of the Land of Earth is unwilling to invest too much money during peacetime. So our Iwagakure's post-war recovery is far behind Kumogakure's.
Our losses in the Third Great Ninja War can be said to be the greatest among the Five Great Ninja Villages. So now Kumogakure's strength has already surpassed ours. And they can perfectly control tailed beasts," the Iwagakure ninja said, gritting his teeth, his face full of unwillingness.
"Your Iwagakure suffered the greatest losses?" Susanoo slightly raised his eyebrow, somewhat curious.
Susanoo wasn't very clear about the Third Great Ninja War. He only knew that Konoha won in the end, and Iwagakure and Kumogakure were defeated countries. However, he wasn't very clear about the specific situation.
"Hmm, although it's regrettable, our Iwagakure was the most miserable village to be defeated in the Third Great Ninja War, especially in the war against Konoha. Our losses were too great. That was simply a nightmare," the Iwagakure ninja said with some pain.
"Oh, I'm indeed a bit curious. Even if Iwagakure's strength is not as good as Konoha's, it wouldn't be defeated so miserably, right?" Susanoo asked doubtfully.
"Have you heard of Konoha's 'Yellow Flash'?" The Iwagakure ninja asked. "'Yellow Flash'? It seems to be Konoha's Fourth Hokage, right?" Susanoo said calmly. Susanoo had traveled the ninja world for many years and had also heard of some famous and powerful ninjas in the ninja world. He had even met the Fourth Hokage, who was known as the 'Yellow Flash'.
"That's right, it's him. Many of our elite ninjas died by his hand. Even in one battle, in just a few seconds, he instantly eliminated over fifty of our Jonin!!!" At this point, a trace of hatred and fear flashed in the Iwagakure ninja's eyes.
"But fortunately, he's already dead," the Iwagakure ninja said with a somewhat mocking smile. "So that's how it is." Susanoo nodded slightly, but his heart was a little shocked. "To instantly eliminate over fifty Jonin, even I can't do that. It seems the legend about that jutsu is true. As expected of the Fourth Hokage."
"Although the Land of Fire is the country with the most abundant resources, the closest great nation to the Land of Lightning is our Land of Earth. With the character of those Kumogakure people, we simply don't expect them to honestly abide by the ceasefire agreement.
So, to be able to respond to their difficulties at any time, we have spent a lot of effort over the years continuously gathering their intelligence, and even recruiting mercenaries to weaken them," the Iwagakure ninja sighed.
"The rest of the matter is just as you said that day." The Iwagakure ninja finished speaking, then picked up a teacup and slowly took a sip of hot tea.
Susanoo slightly raised his eyebrow, looking at Kurotsuchi and Rantaro beside him. They both took the scroll and began to read it. After about a quarter of an hour, they both slightly nodded at Susanoo.
"Alright, according to our previous agreement, Cherry Blossom Village and Iwagakure will formally establish a strategic alliance relationship to jointly deal with Kumogakure." Susanoo smiled, then bit his finger. After fresh blood flowed out, he infused chakra into his finger.
Mixing with fresh blood, he signed his name on the scroll and affixed Cherry Blossom Village's exclusive red seal, a cherry blossom mark, at the end of the scroll.
"Now that the agreement is reached, you're not afraid of us going back on our word, are you? After all, we're like grasshoppers on a rope now." Susanoo said, putting the seal back into the drawer, and chuckled playfully.
Seeing Susanoo's action, the Iwagakure ninja also breathed a sigh of relief. This mission was completed. At the same time, a smile appeared on his face. "Yes, Lord Cherry Blossom Kage, and to show our sincerity, this war will be opened by our Iwagakure."
Hearing this, Susanoo's lips instantly curled into a smile. He said, "Then I'll entrust it to Lord Tsuchikage."
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