Soon, a warning letter from Konoha Ninja Village was placed on the Tsuchikage's desk, and the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, stared grimly at the warning letter before him.
Although both were Thirds, Ōnoki was a full cycle older than Fumori Masaki; he was already a somewhat famous ninja during the Warring States period, and now, nearing fifty, he was known as Ōnoki of the Two Scales, deeply trusted for his powerful strength and loyalty to the Daimyō of the Land of Earth.
Ōnoki looked at the warning letter expressionlessly, his mind filled with thoughts.
After Sunagakure declared war, Konoha had sent a warning to Iwagakure not to aid the aggressor.
Although he secretly viewed Konoha as his greatest enemy, the shrewd Ōnoki knew not to easily reveal his intentions, hoping for a 'clash of the clam and the snipe, for the fisherman's profit.'
Therefore, the Land of Earth outwardly ceased trade with the Land of Wind, but in reality, it was not so.
Ōnoki was well aware that due to years of financial shortages, Sunagakure's strength was at the bottom of the Five Great Nations, comparable only to Kirigakure.
Even with the new Daimyō's attention, it was impossible for them to recover quickly; relying solely on Sunagakure, the chances of victory were not very high.
According to the information he had, Sunagakure's ninjas fought bravely and indeed caused some trouble for Konoha, but Konoha quickly adjusted its battle strategy, and now it was Sunagakure that was starting to falter, unable to advance due to the rainy season in the Land of Rain.
The Land of Wind was richest in mineral resources, while water sources and crops, essential for survival, had always been top priorities.
At the onset of the war, their consumption was astonishingly high.
To sustain a prolonged conflict, Sunagakure contacted Ōnoki, hoping for support.
Ōnoki understood that if Sunagakure fell too quickly, he wouldn't be able to profit.
Although he could choose to ally with Konoha to sanction Sunagakure, the barren land of the Land of Wind offered little benefit to the Land of Earth, and more importantly, his greatest enemy, Konoha, would benefit from it.
Therefore, with the idea of weakening both Konoha and Sunagakure, Ōnoki struck a deal with Sunagakure: money and mineral resources in exchange for the Land of Earth's grain and water resources, secretly sent into the Land of Wind to support its conflict with Konoha.
Everything had been going well, and just as Ōnoki was anticipating Sunagakure's large-scale operation, Konoha suddenly sent a warning letter.
This unusual move immediately caught his attention.
For people of their status, unless it was an extremely urgent matter, there was no need to emphasize something repeatedly.
Ōnoki was certain that Konoha's strength was still very ample, even facing a two-front war against Kirigakure and Sunagakure—it was precisely because of this that he considered supporting another nation's invasion to weaken this powerful enemy—in such circumstances, Konoha had no need to emphasize this matter.
After all, on the surface, the Land of Earth had completely ceased trade, showing an attitude of distancing itself from the aggressors.
—Have they already detected our actions, or... Ōnoki was solely focused on the village's well-being; he would never allow any unexpected situations to arise.
Even if Konoha might just be simply emphasizing, he had to consider whether his side's support actions had been exposed.
Of course, he leaned towards the enemy not having noticed yet, otherwise, the enemy should have shown a much tougher stance.
"However, to be safe, let's strengthen our defenses," Ōnoki muttered to himself, taking out a written order, writing down new commands, signing his Tsuchikage decree, and extending it forward.
An Anbu ninja appeared silently before Ōnoki, knelt on one knee, and took the order.
Ōnoki simply said, "Execute it quickly."
"Yes," the other party responded simply and then disappeared from Ōnoki's sight.
Ōnoki leaned back in his chair, quietly pondering.
He did not stop his aid to Sunagakure, as their resources were indeed very tight, but he only strengthened the protection of the transport areas and paid attention to the surrounding situation, looking for any signs of enemy spies.
If there truly were Konoha Anbu, then Ōnoki would have to seriously consider why the other party hadn't taken overt action.
Did they have other plans? Or were they giving him a chance? To see if he would mend his ways?
"If that's truly the case, then you're underestimating me, Kazemori," Ōnoki said, stroking his beard, a faint sneer on his lips.
If Konoha's Anbu didn't take any action, Ōnoki wouldn't actively attack them.
Attacking the Anbu would mean declaring war on Konoha, and he felt it wasn't a good time to declare war yet; he would stall as long as possible.
If there were no unusual circumstances, Ōnoki would consider it a precaution, with no losses.
Ōnoki sat quietly for a while, then floated up from his seat and went to the window, looking down at Iwagakure.
Iwagakure's residential buildings, true to its name, were tower-shaped houses built entirely from stacked rocks, resembling a forest of stone from afar.
This was Ōnoki's hometown, a place his grandfather, the First Tsuchikage, and his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage, had painstakingly protected.
He had never forgotten his teacher's teachings: as Tsuchikage, everything must prioritize the village's interests.
Since his teacher had chosen him as the Third Tsuchikage, he had to lead the village to the pinnacle of the ninja world, so as not to disappoint his grandfather and teacher.
Although Ōnoki's ambition remained, he could not ignore that he was nearing fifty.
Not to mention ninjas, who had a lower average lifespan, even among ordinary people, he was considered elderly.
His body was still relatively healthy, but he often felt backaches and might develop chronic back pain in the future.
From the long-term interests of the village, Ōnoki should actually consider his successor, a young ninja who could take over the great responsibility if he accidentally died.
However, to this day, no one in Iwagakure had appeared who could satisfy Ōnoki, and the 'prince's' position in Iwagakure remained vacant.
"Honestly, can't the young people nowadays try a little harder? I can't keep doing this forever, can I?" Ōnoki shook his head somewhat helplessly.
Ōnoki probably wouldn't have imagined that, according to normal history, more than thirty years later, he would still be in the Tsuchikage's position at the advanced age of seventy-nine, only passing the position to his granddaughter when his body could no longer move.
This seemingly 'old but strong' situation, however, reflected Iwagakure's predicament of lacking successors.
Of course, it might also be due to Ōnoki's high standards; perhaps in his heart, only those who mastered Dust Release were capable of inheriting the Tsuchikage's position.
Yet, neither his powerful son, Kitsuchi, nor his talented granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, had managed to master Dust Release, let alone anyone else.
After Ōnoki, it seemed no one could master this powerful ninjutsu that could annihilate an organized army in one fell swoop.
It was undoubtedly a regret in Ōnoki's heart, wondering if there would be any promising young people appearing in the future.
Ōnoki also wouldn't have imagined that a young man he favored would indeed appear in the future, and he would even take him as his student, hoping to pass on his legacy.
But that person would become obsessed with his so-called 'art,' developing excessively dangerous explosive release secret techniques, and ultimately abandoning the village that raised him to join a rogue ninja organization.
Iwagakure's official reply quickly arrived, expressing sincere intentions and stating that they would definitely not aid an aggressor nation, upholding the stance of maintaining order in the ninja world—a very official document.
Of course, it couldn't guarantee whether Iwagakure would truly stop its aid, so Fumori Masaki said nothing, only instructing the Anbu to monitor the situation there.
According to the information gathered by the Anbu, Iwagakure had not stopped its aid operations, but had only tightened its security, making it difficult for the Anbu to easily infiltrate and ascertain the specific situation.
Fumori Masaki had nothing more to say about this; he had already warned them in advance.
Since Ōnoki did not intend to comply, he would not show mercy.
He once again signed a Hokage order, passing the directive to the Anbu, commanding them to formulate a plan to destroy Iwagakure's aid supplies.
"It's time for Iwagakure to learn a lesson," Fumori Masaki said to the other two at the high-level meeting.
"That being said, you're actually trying to provoke that Ōnoki fellow, aren't you?" Mitokado Homura raised his glasses expressionlessly.
"Having been severely slapped in the face by the Anbu, that prideful Ōnoki naturally won't be able to remain indifferent.
He was already secretly aiding Sunagakure, and now he's very likely to personally get involved."
"It's merely a matter of sooner or later; sooner is better for preparation.
Of course, if Ōnoki's magnanimity can bear such a result, then I can only express regret," Fumori Masaki said, shaking his head slightly.
"Actually, I had originally hoped that after receiving the warning letter, he would stop for a period to avoid drawing attention, allowing us to focus on Sunagakure during that time.
But it seems I was still a bit naive."
"Some things can't entirely go as predicted, but the price the Anbu might have to pay could be quite high."
"In any case, we can now consider the strategic deployment after Iwagakure declares war, can't we?" Utatane Koharu asked.
"Mhm," Fumori Masaki nodded.
Although the Anbu's report hadn't returned yet, he believed in the strength of the Anbu he had carefully selected, confident they could fulfill his orders.
Just as Konoha's high-ranking officials were discussing plans to deal with Iwagakure, the Anbu had already received new orders, requiring them to destroy the supplies.
In fact, after confirming that Iwagakure was indeed secretly aiding Sunagakure, the Anbu already understood that they might receive such a mission.
As Konoha's Anbu, they were responsible for Konoha's underground activities.
Unlike the Konoha ninjas who engaged in direct combat, the battles they faced were smaller in scale, but their importance was by no means lower.
For example, the current order to destroy strategic supplies, and the ongoing assassination activities of officials in various countries, would, from another perspective, provide Konoha ninjas with an advantage on the battlefield.
Upon receiving the order, the Anbu began to formulate a battle plan.
Since Iwagakure provided supplies at multiple locations, this was not a task that a single Anbu squad could handle.
Tasks were assigned to each Anbu squad based on their respective locations.
Hyūga Kai and Hattori Hanzō's squad was naturally one of them.
Upon learning their mission objective, they immediately began to formulate a plan.
In these days, they had already memorized the enemy's daily activities.
The only problem was the Iwa Anbu arranged by Ōnoki, who had strengthened their defenses, making it not so easy for them to infiltrate.
Of course, none of this stumped them.
The Anbu chosen by Fumori Masaki were undoubtedly elites among elites.
After carefully observing the actions of those Iwa Anbu, all the team members unanimously reached a conclusion: they could eliminate these people.
In other words, Hyūga Kai's squad's plan was to first assassinate these Iwa Anbu, silently removing these troublesome obstacles.
At that point, the aid supplies protected by ordinary people and samurai would be theirs to manipulate.
Before executing the mission, everyone clasped each other's hands, vowing to all return safely.
Immediately, they began to act.
Following the pre-determined routes, each person quickly approached their target.
Teamwork was highly valued in the Anbu, and after years of working together, every member of Hyūga Kai's squad could understand each other's meaning with just a glance.
This tacit cooperation was precisely the strength of an Anbu squad.
It is said that there was also a special squad within the Anbu that could artificially mimic the Five Elements Compound Ninjutsu that only Hiruzen Sarutobi could use.
Although it required five people to achieve, the power it could unleash was said to be very close to Hiruzen Sarutobi's, and this Anbu squad was also a legend within the entire Anbu.
Hattori Hanzō himself came from a family of assassins and had adapted to new combat methods in the Anbu.
He silently approached his target, and since the opponent could be chosen for Iwagakure's Anbu, they were naturally also elites.
He maintained his vigilance, slowly drawing closer.
The Iwa Anbu on the opposite side was also monitoring the surrounding situation, communicating with his comrades via secret signals at regular intervals to ensure they were still in position.
He did not notice Hattori Hanzō approaching from behind; Hattori Hanzō's presence seemed very faint, making him unnoticeable.
So, Hattori Hanzō slowly, slowly, came up behind the other party.