[The Land of Water]
After attacking Ryugyoku Port, Kumogakure did not land there.
Instead, a group of elites jumped off the ships, ran across the water for a long distance, and only came ashore at a rather steep rocky beach.
There were many reefs here, making it unsuitable as a harbor, so there was naturally no one around.
Although Kumogakure had come to cause trouble, if they could hide their tracks, they naturally would.
Everyone they had brought was an elite. Led by the Eight-Tails jinchuriki Killer B, with the Two-Tails jinchuriki Darui assisting him, plus two support elite squads, their strength was extremely formidable.
As long as they were not surrounded, they could basically move through Kirigakure unhindered.
"Darui, where are we attacking next?"
Although Killer B was the strongest, he was rather carefree.
Darui, who assisted him, had become the Raikage in the original timeline, so he was naturally no fool.
Thus, he served as the brains directing this squad.
Darui's personality was naturally lazy, but the Raikage had entrusted him with something this important.
There was no chance for him to slack off.
"Karaku, check whether there's anyone nearby first."
One of the jonin in their team, with short hair all over his head, formed hand seals and closed his eyes.
A wave spread outward with him at its center.
He was a sensory ninja, capable of detecting chakra signatures within a certain range.
After all, in the Land of Water, Kirigakure's territory, going without a sensory ninja was like being blind.
Although Karaku's sensing ability wasn't as clear as the Byakugan, at least they wouldn't end up surrounded by a large number of people.
Half a minute later, Karaku opened his eyes.
"There are no ninja nearby, and no civilians from the Land of Water either. It's safe here for now."
Darui let out a sigh of relief. As long as they had gotten through the most dangerous period, that was enough.
"There will definitely be a large number of Kirigakure ninja investigating the direction of Ryugyoku Port now."
"We can't go anywhere near there. The later Yagura finds us, the safer we'll be."
"The first place to rule out is Kirigakure itself. There are too many Mist ninja there. If we're surrounded by large numbers, we'll be in danger."
"We have to create enough trouble for Kirigakure while maintaining high mobility. Ordinary Mist ninja won't be able to catch us."
"At that point, they'll have no choice but to send experts to intercept us. What we want is for Yagura to run into us and still be unable to do anything."
"Only then will Kirigakure ask Konoha for help."
Darui's thinking was very clear. He first explained the purpose of this mission, then briefly explained how they would accomplish it.
"Our task now is to find places in the Land of Water that are somewhat important but currently lightly guarded."
"After that, Mizukage Yagura will naturally come after us."
As he spoke, Darui pulled out a folded map from his ninja pouch.
After unfolding it, the map measured half a meter on each side. It was a map of Kirigakure.
Many things on the map had clearly been added later.
It was obvious this was intelligence they had gathered in Kirigakure over the years.
Although Kirigakure's more important locations were not marked, places related to people's livelihoods, as well as the location of the Land of Water Daimyo, were marked.
Darui pointed toward the Daimyo's residence.
"Our next target is here."
Killer B's eyes lit up. He had always been fearless, and seeing Darui choose the Daimyo's residence excited him.
"All right, then let's go to the Daimyo's residence!"
———
News of Kumogakure's surprise attack on Kirigakure quickly spread.
After all, the destruction of Ryugyoku Port had a huge impact. Merchant caravans from every country were there.
They sent the news back in the shortest possible time.
Of course, although Kumogakure never claimed responsibility for the incident, the only village bold enough to send two jinchuriki to attack Kirigakure's home turf was naturally Kumogakure.
After all, the other village with two jinchuriki, Iwagakure, was currently attacking Sunagakure together with Konoha.
At the same time, information about Kumogakure's attack on Kirigakure also appeared on the black market.
Within just two days, almost the entire ninja world knew about it.
Konoha had joined forces with Iwagakure to declare war on Sunagakure, while Kumogakure had suddenly launched an undeclared war against Kirigakure.
Every small ninja village trembled with fear, because this trend could easily develop into the Fifth Great Ninja War.
Once a ninja war began, it could easily turn into a long stalemate.
The reason the Fourth Great Ninja War had ended so quickly last time was because Konoha's Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Rengoku, had combat power that was completely beyond the norm.
He had crushed Iwagakure and Sunagakure by himself.
But now things were different. Rengoku was gone.
There was no longer anyone who could end a war at any moment.
The pace of the war could easily become bogged down.
When the great ninja villages fought, they didn't care where your village was.
If they chose your village as the battlefield, all you could do was cry.
Whenever the great countries and great ninja villages went to war, it was a catastrophe for the small ninja villages.
Just look at what Amegakure had become back then. It was because it had been a major battlefield in every ninja war.
So no matter which side won each time, Amegakure was always the loser.
Otherwise, how could the Akatsuki, which longed for peace, have come into being?
When Sunagakure received the news that Kirigakure had been attacked, they also let out a sigh of relief.
The people on their side weren't fools either.
Naturally, they could tell that Kumogakure felt it was difficult to intervene on this battlefield, so they had chosen to pressure Kirigakure instead.
They immediately sent a large number of people to observe Konoha's reaction.
Konoha had now nearly reached the edge of the Demon Desert.
After Kirigakure came under attack, Konoha indeed stopped its desert greening efforts.
Its personnel temporarily set up camp.
However, Sunagakure's people could not get close enough to investigate, so they really had no idea what Konoha intended to do.
———
[Konoha Frontline, Land of Wind]
Inside a huge wooden building, Konoha's people and Iwagakure's Deidara were holding a meeting.
After all, with Yamato and Nawaki, who could use Wood Release, they naturally had to make good use of them.
During this period, Nawaki had been using Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence every day, constantly growing all kinds of trees.
The exhaustion on his face was visible to the naked eye.
They had learned about Kirigakure being attacked even earlier than Sunagakure. Minato had personally brought them the news.
He had also told Nawaki and the others that they could take this opportunity to rest.
"In that case, I can rest for a few days."
Nawaki yawned. The temperature difference between day and night here was huge, and he hadn't been sleeping well. Every day, as soon as he opened his eyes, it was Deep Forest Emergence. Before going to sleep, it was still Deep Forest Emergence.
He was completely numb.
Even if Kirigakure hadn't been attacked, he would have chosen to take a break.
Deidara asked, "The water you've been bringing in from the Land of Rain is gradually no longer enough to keep up with the consumption here. What are you planning to do?"
Even if water from the Land of Water was brought here through canals made with Earth Release, there would still be losses along the way.
Crossing the entire Land of Wind was even more impossible, since so much of it was desert.
The fact that they had reached their current position was entirely thanks to Iwagakure's excellent Earth Release.
Tsunade waved her hand.
"Don't worry about that. Our large-scale seawater desalination equipment is already on the way."
"We've happened to pause here, so we can all go take a look together."
The people from Konoha had been talking up this seawater desalination equipment to Deidara for quite some time, and now he wanted to see it for himself.
"All right. Let's go have a look."
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