Chapter 682: United Front
Chapter 682: United Front
The news of Yu Sheng Mu Yue's succession to the Hokage position spread rapidly throughout the Land of Fire and the Leaf Village, quickly reaching the surrounding nations, both large and small.
The Five Great Shinobi Villages had intelligence networks across the Shinobi world, so when the news broke, the remaining four villages soon received information from their intelligence ninjas.
Land of Earth, Iwagakure.
"The Hokage election was completed so quickly. No wonder Konoha has been quiet; they must have planned this," Orochimaru realized after reading the intelligence report.
The news of Enma's defeat by Son Ryouka had spread throughout the Shinobi world in a short time, and Iwagakure had played a significant role in it.
For the current Iwagakure, Konoha was a major problem, and Shinshu was a minor one. It would be the best outcome if these two problems could be dealt with together.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Konoha showed no reaction, even though its citizens were already buzzing with the news.
"Although it can mitigate the impact to some extent, the cost is too high. Did Enma suffer a severe injury in the battle that is difficult to heal?" Orochimaru fell into deep thought.
Having Yu Sheng Mu Yue, who currently had the most momentum, succeed as the Hokage was indeed a wise move for Konoha as a whole.
However, for Enma himself, this decision was a huge loss. He not only lost the Hokage's authority but also gave the impression of resigning due to incompetence.
If Orochimaru were in Enma's position, he would most likely choose to play dead, do nothing, and neither respond nor pass on the position.
Orochimaru thought for a moment and carefully reviewed the intelligence gathered by the ninjas, trying to analyze it for new insights.
He was eager to know the details of the battle between Enma and Son Ryouka, but since there were not many accompanying personnel, and they were all elites from their respective forces, there were no spies.
Even with Orochimaru's intelligence department working hard to collect related information, they only obtained some fragmented intelligence from Six Paths City.
As for Konoha, due to being the defeated party, they had imposed strict confidentiality, and Iwagakure had not been able to gather any related information from them.
"The intelligence is still insufficient, making it difficult to judge," Orochimaru sighed lightly.
"Konoha probably has no intention of taking action against Shinshu, and there are other forces that can be utilized..."
Orochimaru took out a Shinobi world map and marked the Land of Grass and the Land of Wind.
The Rain Country bordered six other nations, three of which were major powers and three were minor ones.
The three major countries were the Land of Wind, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Earth.
The three minor countries were the Land of Birds, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Rivers.
Among them, the Land of Birds and the Land of Rivers were small countries without ninja villages, and the Land of Birds already had a Shinshu branch, which Orochimaru considered to be within Shinshu's sphere of influence.
Undoubtedly, Shinshu was an ambitious organization.
If it weren't for Iwagakure keeping a close eye on Shinshu, they might not have known that Shinshu had already integrated the ninja forces of the Rain Country, bringing the Rain Country's ninja power to its historical peak.
To those who were unaware, the Rain Ninja Village and Shinshu appeared to be two separate forces.
But Orochimaru knew that after Hanzo's death, the Rain Ninja Village belonged to Son Ryouka, even if he wasn't the official leader.
Despite having already integrated domestic forces, they still maintained the appearance of two separate forces, which indicated a hidden agenda.
Orochimaru estimated that it wouldn't be long before Shinshu made a move on the Land of Rivers.
The Land of Rivers and the Land of Birds had similar situations, with no ninja villages but some ninja clans. However, the Land of Rivers had significantly stronger ninja forces than the Land of Birds.
Orochimaru didn't want to see Shinshu continue to grow stronger.
Previously, when Shinshu was causing trouble in the Land of Birds, Iwagakure was in the midst of a critical war, so Orochimaru couldn't spare any attention. Now that the war was over, how could he continue to watch Shinshu's power grow?
At this point, the Land of Grass and the Land of Wind, which also shared borders with the Rain Country, became natural allies of the Land of Earth.
Shinshu's rise as the sixth major ninja force not only threatened Iwagakure but also affected the Sand Shadow Village.
As for the Grass Ninja Village, they were surrounded by powerful forces, and their territory was almost completely dominated.
On one side, Orochimaru wanted to use the Sand Shadow Village to deal with Shinshu, while on the other side, Lord Sha was also contemplating similar thoughts.
"This Shinshu is definitely not easy to deal with. Otherwise, why would Enma pretend to be dead, and even directly pass on the position to Yuyu Mumu?" Lord Sha wondered after reading the intelligence.
The news of Enma's defeat quickly spread throughout the Shinobi world, thanks in part to the efforts of the Sand Shadow Village.
Lord Sha himself had almost been killed by Yuyu Mumu, and he was extremely displeased with Konoha. If it weren't for his inability to defeat them, Lord Sha would have immediately sent troops to attack Konoha's homeland.
Upon learning of this negative news about Konoha, Lord Sha did his best to help spread the word, fearing that there might be ninjas unaware of Konoha's shocking scandal.
"If I had known, I wouldn't have asked our intelligence ninjas to help spread the news. Instead, I ended up helping Yuyu Mumu," Lord Sha thought, his face darkening.
Normally, Yuyu Mumu shouldn't have succeeded the Hokage position so quickly.
It was clear that Enma's misfortune had created this opportunity for Yuyu Mumu to succeed early.
This made Lord Sha very unhappy, feeling that his efforts had not caused much trouble for Konoha, but instead helped his enemy rise to the pinnacle of power in the Shinobi world.
Lord Sha had no idea how much effort it had taken him to become the Wind Shadow. He had to stabilize the internal situation and repel external threats to secure his position. In contrast, Yuyu Mumu had effortlessly ascended to the Hokage position.
How could Lord Sha feel good about this?
"We can't stir up Konoha, so we'll have to try Iwagakure. We must disrupt the cooperation between Iwagakure and Shinshu."
Lord Sha composed himself, stopped thinking about Yuyu Mumu, and began to consider how to curb Shinshu's growth, as a Kage should not let personal emotions interfere with his work.
Retaliating against Yuyu Mumu was unrealistic; the urgent task was to prevent Shinshu from growing stronger.
Theoretically, it should be easy for a large ninja village like the Sand Shadow Village to deal with a small country's ninja force.
However, Konoha's attitude made Lord Sha hesitant to underestimate Shinshu.
It was impossible for one village to handle this alone; at the very least, they would need to collaborate with Iwagakure.
Lord Sha was confident that he could turn Iwagakure against Shinshu.
There were no eternal friendships between ninja villages, only eternal interests.
Lord Sha did not believe that Iwagakure would willingly allow Shinshu to take a share of their interests.
Then, Lord Sha suddenly remembered something and called his trusted subordinate to ask, "Does Yuyacang have any connections with Shinshu?"
"I think so. She went to Six Paths City twice with some ninjas to listen to Son Ryouka's lectures and even consulted with him about ninjutsu," the Sand Shadow Jonin replied after some thought.
Lord Sha's eyes lit up, and he immediately instructed, "Gather relevant intelligence and closely monitor Yuyacang's actions."
Lord Sha was genuinely annoyed with Yuyacang.
As the Kazekage, he made a slight mistake in his decision-making at the very end, and Yagura showed no mercy in publicly reprimanding him, not giving him any face.
If it weren't for the fact that he personally stepped in and replaced Yagura, Yagura would have surely died on the battlefield.
He used Earth Style to create a double layer of protection, but he was almost sent flying by Yu Sheng Mu Yue's punch. Yagura's Scorching Style did not have such defensive capabilities.
Although his intention in removing Yagura was not to save him, that was indeed the result, and Yagura still turned around to reprimand him.
Since they were dealing with Shinshu anyway, they might as well take care of Yagura as well. After all, Yagura was of no use to him, and keeping him around was a potential threat.
...
Land of Lightning, Cloud Shadow Village.
"How powerful is Son Ryouka to have pushed Monkey Fly Hashirama to such an extent?" The Third Raikage, after reading the intelligence report, developed a keen interest in Son Ryouka.
Initially, he was not interested in Shinshu because, firstly, the Rain Country, where Shinshu was located, was quite far from the Land of Lightning, and secondly, there were too few Shinshu ninjas, which, in the eyes of the Third Raikage, was just petty fighting.
Therefore, when Shinshu held the Youth Ninja Tournament in the Rain Country, the Third Raikage did not send any ninjas to participate.
Now, the Third Raikage realized that he might have underestimated the leader of Shinshu, known as the Ninja Master.
Speaking of himself, the Third Raikage was not entirely confident that he could defeat Monkey Fly Hashirama in a one-on-one situation, let alone beat him to the point where he wouldn't even want to be the Hokage anymore.
"It's hard to say, but Son Ryouka might just be the strongest ninja in the world right now," analyzed the Third Raikage.
"Since Son Ryouka's appearance, he has never been defeated. Whether his opponent was a renowned ninja like Kakuzu or a legendary ninja like Hanzo, he has never been in a tough spot. His true strength is an unknown."
After the news of Monkey Fly Hashirama's defeat spread throughout the ninja world, Son Ryouka's reputation reached a new peak.
At first, many doubted it was just a rumor, even the intelligence ninjas from the Five Great Shinobi Villages thought so.
However, when Konoha remained silent instead of responding, their thoughts changed.
Sometimes, not responding is also a response.
If it were just a rumor, how could Konoha remain unmoved? After all, the Hokage's reputation was at stake.
"He founded Shinshu and inherited the Six Paths, could he really be the rightful heir of the Six Paths Sage's Shinshu?" The Third Raikage mused.
In the eyes of many ninjas, the Six Paths Sage was just a mythical figure in legends.
But the Third Raikage knew that the Six Paths Sage was a real ninja ancestor, not a fictional mythical character. This was because there were descendants of the Six Paths Sage in the Cloud Shadow Village, and they still possessed the Six Paths Sage's ninja tools.
The Third Raikage was well aware of the power of the Six Paths Sage's ninja tools. In the past, the descendants of the Six Paths Sage had used these tools to carry out a coup, and even the Second Raikage was killed by them.
If the ninja tools left behind by the Six Paths Sage were so powerful, how much stronger would Son Ryouka's Six Paths inheritance be? The Third Raikage couldn't even imagine.
However, there were too many doubts in this matter.
If there was a rightful heir to Shinshu, why didn't someone like Son Ryouka appear to restore Shinshu during its thousand-year decline?
Shinshu had been gone for too long, and some ninjas thought that Shinshu was a new force created by Son Ryouka, unaware of the ancient Shinshu founded by the Six Paths Sage.
Even if the Shinshu founded by the Six Paths Sage was the origin of ninjas.
However, the Third Raikage thought it was normal. According to ancient records, ancient ninjas and modern ninjas were completely different.
Ancient ninjas didn't need to take on missions; their duty was to maintain world peace and create a world without war, where everyone could live in harmony.
As for modern ninjas, war was one of their most important sources of income, and war missions were the most expensive.
...
Land of Water, Mist Shadow Village.
Mizukage's Office.
"Yacang, what do you think we in the Mist Shadow Village should do in the current situation?" The Third Mizukage sat in his office chair and, after reading the intelligence report, asked Kuju Yacang with a smile.
"Do nothing?" Kuju Yacang replied uncertainly.
"It seems that your previous defeat has taught you something," the Third Mizukage nodded slightly.
If it were the old Kuju Yacang, he might have wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to join other ninja villages in causing trouble and weakening the strongest, Konoha.
"During the Third Great Shinobi War, we seriously offended the Stone Shadow and Sand Shadow Villages."
"The fact that they need our strength doesn't mean they will forgive our past actions, so we can't immediately join forces with them against Konoha. Even if we succeed in the end, the Mist Shadow Village won't have a good outcome."
"At the same time, we can't really provide too much help to Konoha, because Konoha's development is too good. Konoha can be strong, but not too strong."
The Third Mizukage was well aware that the alliances between ninja villages were unreliable. Today, he might sell out the Land of Wind and Lightning for his own interests, and tomorrow, Konoha could also turn against the Mist Shadow Village for its own gain.
If Konoha were strong enough to take on all four other villages, would it still need the Mist Shadow Village as an ally?
Obviously not, why would anyone want to share the spoils?
Kuju Yacang nodded thoughtfully.
He had thought of this, but not as much as the Third Mizukage.
"Of course, we can choose not to help. We can put on a show. I've already sent someone to contact Konoha, and you will act as the messenger to observe the situation in Konoha." The Third Mizukage said.
Konoha and the Mist Shadow Village were still in a honeymoon period, and not responding at all would make their intentions too obvious.
"Okay," Kuju Yacang agreed without asking any questions.
Regarding his defeat at the hands of Yu Sheng Mu Yue, Kuju Yacang had come to terms with it. After all, even the Fourth Kazekage was almost killed by a single punch from Yu Sheng Mu Yue, and Yu Sheng Mu Yue didn't just use a punch against him, so he was even stronger than the Fourth Kazekage.
"Are we not taking any action against Shinshu? Son Ryouka alone is of great value," Kuju Yacang asked curiously.
If they could successfully utilize Shinshu, they might be able to sway a major ninja village.
"Let's wait and see, Shinshu will soon have trouble, and might even become the center of the whirlpool," the Third Mizukage shook his head.
The news of Monkey Fly Hashirama's defeat had put Son Ryouka and Shinshu at the center of attention, and it was hard to say if this would be a blessing or a curse for Shinshu.
Although the Five Great Shinobi Villages often fought each other, if a force truly threatened their status, they might prioritize eliminating that force.
Just like the Rain Village in the past.
No matter how the Five Great Shinobi Villages fought among themselves, the overall ninja world was still dominated by these five villages, and this had not changed since the era of ninja villages.
If the ninja world were to be dominated by six major ninja forces, the loss would not be limited to just one village.
The Third Mizukage felt that no major ninja village would want such a significant change in the ninja world's power structure.
(End of Chapter)
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