At this moment, Kakashi still wore that seemingly lazy expression.
He waited quietly for Tsunade to finish venting before giving a small bow.
"Please calm down, Hokage-sama."
"As for intelligence on Sunagakure's incident, ANBU has results."
As he spoke, he handed over another dossier, thicker than the last.
Tsunade took a deep breath.
She forced down her anger, accepted the dossier, and flipped through it quickly.
But the more she read…
…the tighter her brow knit.
The dossier didn't just contain written reports.
It also included several blurred images captured from long range by observation ninjutsu.
They weren't clear.
But they were clear enough to recognize the aftermath.
"Canyon terrain has been completely altered, suspected to be caused by an extremely large-scale Doton (Earth Release)…"
"Iwagakure force annihilated. Estimated losses exceed one thousand elite shinobi… even Ōnoki's granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, is missing."
"Sunagakure claims to be the victim, alleging cross-border banditry by rogue shinobi, followed by retaliatory action…"
"Kazekage Teizawa has submitted a formal appeal to the daimyo estates of multiple nations…"
Reading line by line, Tsunade's eye twitched hard.
"What a Kazekage."
She let out a cold laugh, then snapped, voice sharp with accusation.
"He's obviously trying to muddy the water and make everyone suspect those 'rogue shinobi' were actually Iwa shinobi."
"And Konoha, because we have an alliance treaty with Sunagakure and a long history of friction with Iwagakure…"
"This is him forcing us onto a thief's ship!"
Still cursing under her breath, Tsunade stood and paced irritably around the office.
"Ōnoki, that stubborn fossil, lost this many elites, lost an elite jōnin, and his granddaughter is missing. He won't swallow this."
"But now that Sunagakure has played it this way, war between Iwagakure and Sunagakure is almost inevitable…"
"War…"
At that moment, a low voice spoke from the shadows.
"Maybe it won't happen."
Everyone turned at once.
All eyes landed on the man sitting in the darker corner of the room.
Konoha's brain.
Nara Shikaku.
He was sunk deep into the sofa back, wearing the look of someone thinking.
Tsunade lifted a brow and asked him, skeptical.
"Shikaku, you're saying… Iwagakure won't strike back?"
"They lost over a thousand elites, an elite jōnin, and Kurotsuchi is missing. You expect him to swallow that?"
"He can't," Shikaku said slowly, shaking his head. "But where that anger goes, and how it comes out, is the real point."
He sat up slightly.
Hands clasped, resting on his knees.
It was the unmistakable posture of a Nara entering true analysis.
"First, let's sort out what Sunagakure's new Kazekage is doing."
Shikaku raised his right hand and extended his first finger.
"One: he submitted a formal appeal to the daimyo estates of multiple nations and to the major shinobi villages."
"He accuses an organized group of rogue samurai of crossing borders and attacking, seizing Sunagakure property."
"The phrasing is vague. He doesn't name names."
"But everyone… including us… knows exactly who he means."
He extended his second finger.
"Two: he sent an open call for help to Konoha. Open enough that he practically wants the whole shinobi world to know."
"And as an allied nation, Sunagakure has the right to demand Konoha fulfill treaty obligations."
"Even if he didn't explicitly ask for troops, he's reminding us: Konoha is obligated to stand on their side."
Then Shikaku extended his third finger.
"Three: Sunagakure is claiming the moral high ground. Or at least, they believe they are."
"They were attacked inside their own territory, forced to retaliate. From an ethical standpoint, Konoha can't simply pretend it's not our concern."
Shikaku lowered his hand and calmly swept his gaze across everyone present.
"These three moves were executed almost simultaneously."
"This wasn't an impulsive reaction, and it wasn't damage control after the fact."
"This was planned from the start."
Kakashi leaned against the window ledge, his visible eye narrowing slightly.
"You mean, from the moment he set the trap in that canyon and erased the Iwagakure force…"
"The next steps were already in his head?"
Kakashi's eye showed genuine astonishment.
"Not just that," Shikaku sighed. "I'm afraid that from the moment he surrounded the daimyo's estate and installed a puppet daimyo…"
"His board was already laid out."
"The money was bait. And what he was truly aiming at was never just those thousand Iwa shinobi."
Tsunade listened in silence.
The anger on her face slowly faded, replaced by focused gravity.
She sat back down without interrupting him.
"Now let's think from Iwagakure's perspective," Shikaku continued. "Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki is an old man in his eighties. He's seen every kind of storm."
"What's his reaction when he receives the battle report?"
No one spoke, so Shikaku answered his own question.
"The first reaction is rage."
"A thousand elites. An elite jōnin. His own granddaughter… all gone."
"No leader can look at that kind of loss and remain calm."
"But after the rage?"
"More reports will hit his desk one after another. The canyon's reshaped terrain, the total annihilation with zero survivors, Sunagakure's abnormally low casualties, and…"
Shikaku paused.
"Konoha receiving Sunagakure's external call for assistance. That won't stay hidden for long."
"And then he'll realize a terrifying fact."
His voice dropped, heavy in a way that made the room feel colder.
"Ōnoki will realize he can't retaliate."
"How?" Shikaku spread his hands. "If he sends an army to attack Sunagakure now, he's admitting to the whole shinobi world…"
"Yes. Those 'rogue shinobi' were Iwagakure."
Shikaku gave a short, bitter laugh.
"And if Iwagakure openly behaves that aggressively, do you think the other villages will sit still?"
"And more than that, there's Konoha."
He looked directly at Tsunade.
"Hokage-sama, that request for assistance came to us. How do we respond?"
"If we stay silent or brush it off, Sunagakure can publicly announce that Konoha betrayed an ally."
"At that point, Konoha's credibility across the shinobi world takes a catastrophic hit."
"If today we can abandon an ally to die, then tomorrow, who will ever sign a treaty with us again?"
He exhaled softly.
"So we must stand with Sunagakure."
"And for Iwagakure, that means they won't be facing a weak Sunagakure alone."
"They'll be facing Sunagakure plus Konoha."
"And Kumogakure," Shikaku added. "The Fourth Raikage, A, isn't a man who plays nice."
"If Iwagakure gets locked into a long standoff with Sunagakure and Konoha, will he decide…"
"That it's a perfect chance to fish in muddy water and bite a chunk out of the Land of Earth?"
"One wrong step, and it becomes the Fourth Shinobi World War."
When Shikaku finished, he fell silent.
The only sound left in the room was the increasingly heavy rhythm of everyone's breathing.
(End of Chapter)
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