"Ugh…"
After a long time, Chiyo let out a deep sigh.
It was as if she'd aged several more years in an instant.
She raised her head. The muddiness in her eyes hardened into resolve.
"Pass the order. Effective immediately, the village enters Level Two war readiness."
"Recall all shinobi currently on low and medium priority missions outside the village. Reinforce the border line. Inventory strategic material reserves."
She issued each instruction one by one. Her pace was not fast, but every word landed with crisp clarity.
"Also, in the name of the advisory elders and myself, submit an emergency report to the daimyo's estate. Clarify the situation and request wartime funding and diplomatic support."
The moment she finished speaking, she froze.
The daimyo's estate now… answered to Teizawa.
And besides, what "funding" were they even talking about?
This man had just hauled back two hundred and thirty billion ryo. What was there to allocate?
Yet strangely, as Chiyo's orders went out, the shinobi in the office acted as if they hadn't heard her at all.
Instead, one after another, they looked to the real Kazekage, Teizawa.
Chiyo realized what was happening.
The corner of her mouth twitched.
Even during the Fourth's era, her words had carried weight.
But now…
Was she truly old?
She shook her head, then looked at Teizawa, her eyes complicated.
"That old Ōnoki… this time, he may really come in person. Is Sunagakure ready?"
Hearing that, Teizawa smiled.
There was no tension in it.
If anything, it held a faint, dangerous eagerness.
"Preparation has to be thorough," Teizawa said slowly. "But Elder Chiyo, we can't carry this alone."
"Hm?" Chiyo frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Iwagakure attacked us. Their people died. How does that drag anyone else in?"
"We're the victims here."
"We are the victims, Elder," Teizawa said, leaning back and lightly tapping the tabletop with his fingertips. "A neighboring country's shinobi force crossed into the Land of Wind and launched a brazen cross-border attack."
"They even tried to seize a massive sum of money tied to the village's survival. If that gets out, who looks righteous?"
Chiyo seemed to catch the direction of it. Her eyes narrowed.
"You're saying…"
"We need to tell the entire shinobi world," Teizawa said, his smile deepening as a sharp light flashed in his eyes, "what it means to be politically correct."
He stood and walked to the window, voice turning cold.
"Iwagakure wants to fight? Fine."
"But this war can't be fought only between the two of us."
"Everyone has to see who broke the rules first, who reached out first…"
"And Sunagakure only had no choice but to cut off the hand that never should have reached across the border."
He turned around, gaze sweeping the room as people sank into thought.
"What we do next isn't just preparation for war."
"It's also… fighting a proper propaganda war."
The office atmosphere shifted sharply.
People looked confused at first.
But soon…
As Teizawa's orders went out, messages began flying out of Sunagakure, one after another.
…
Over the next few days, while Teizawa immersed himself in Temari and Kurotsuchi's "tender company," the shinobi world was already in upheaval.
Iwagakure reacted first, and violently.
A single order from the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, pushed the entire village into wartime posture.
A staggering number of Iwa elites were mobilized at speed.
They massed beyond the barren northern border of the Land of Wind.
Temporary fortifications and watch posts were erected, facing down the Land of Wind's Sunagakure border forces in a suffocating, silent standoff.
The posture was clear. One wrong move and they were ready to wash the desert in blood.
Before long, an official Iwagakure statement and call for assistance spread through both diplomatic and underground channels.
It arrived on the desks of every major power, including Sunagakure's leadership.
Iwagakure's declaration claimed that an Iwa shinobi unit performing "routine border patrol and geological survey duties" had gone missing within "a lawful area of the Land of Wind near the border."
The last message they received reported being "provoked and surrounded by an unidentified Sunagakure force."
Iwagakure harshly condemned this "barbaric act" of "open cross-border aggression and attack on allied village shinobi."
They demanded Sunagakure immediately release the detained Iwa shinobi, hand over the "culprits," and provide "compensation and an apology sufficient to soothe Iwagakure's wrath."
Otherwise, "all consequences will be borne by Sunagakure."
However…
Almost the instant Iwagakure's statement went out, another document spread even faster.
Through the official courier routes of the various daimyo estates and shinobi villages, it swept across the entire shinobi world.
It was a rare joint appeal, bearing the seal of the Land of Wind's daimyo estate alongside the personal stamp of Sunagakure's Kazekage, Teizawa.
The document opened in a solemn, urgent tone, describing a "shocking terrorist attack" that had recently occurred in the Land of Wind's capital.
A large number of unidentified, well-equipped rogue shinobi and samurai had brazenly assaulted the daimyo's estate.
The attack caused guard casualties and the death of the previous daimyo, gravely threatening the daimyo family, the nation's key assets, and the seat of power.
Only because Kazekage Teizawa arrived in time with his forces, fighting bloodily to repel the attackers, were the realm and its institutions preserved.
Then the text pivoted.
It stated that on the return journey, deep within the Land of Wind, the Kazekage's force suffered yet another assault.
This time, it was an organized large-scale ambush carried out by "more than a thousand rogue shinobi."
Although the Sunagakure heroes ultimately achieved a "painful victory" under Kazekage leadership, the losses were described as severe.
Multiple outstanding shinobi were said to have died in action, with major equipment and supply attrition.
The appeal emphasized that a force bold enough to strike both a major nation's political authority and a formal shinobi village possessed organization and danger far beyond ordinary missing-nin or bandits.
It was a naked challenge to the order of the shinobi world and the authority of the Five Great Nations.
Therefore, the Land of Wind's daimyo and Sunagakure's Kazekage jointly called for action.
With rogue shinobi, samurai, and other illegal armed groups growing more rampant, becoming a cross-border scourge threatening national security and the mission system, they proposed that the Five Great Nations and their villages convene to establish a joint mechanism.
A unified sweep.
A thorough purge of such "terror organizations" entrenched in borderlands and lawless zones.
And within the appeal was one suggestion that made everyone's eyes widen.
It declared that Konoha, with its long history and overwhelming strength, and its consistent stance of protecting peace, should take the lead.
Kazekage Teizawa, on behalf of Sunagakure, formally requested and recommended that Konoha spearhead and organize this "Shinobi World Joint Sweep Operation."
…
"A sweep… of all rogue shinobi and samurai across the shinobi world?"
Konoha.
Inside the Hokage's office, Tsunade sat behind her broad desk, face so dark it looked stormy.
Her chest rose and fell with slightly heavy breathing, and her loose Hokage robes looked like they were about to split at the seams.
Smack.
With a sharp crack, Tsunade slammed the scroll down on the table, hard enough to make the scrolls in the brush holder jump.
"This is outrageous!" she growled. "What does Sunagakure's mess have to do with Konoha, even a single copper coin's worth?"
She snapped her head up, glaring at Kakashi and his dead-fish eyes.
"This brat named Teizawa, how many days has he even been in office?"
"He stirs up a catastrophe this big, and now he wants to drag Konoha into it too?"
"He's obviously trying to pull us into the mud and make us take the heat for him!"
(End of Chapter)
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