"Pfft!"
Maki sprayed a mouthful of seafood porridge directly out, laughing. Fortunately, Xuechi Gaojin was quick and dodged, or he would've been sprayed in the face.
"Sor... sorry, ah, I really couldn't hold it in. Haha, that old hag Koharu Utatane must be so furious right now that... that her hormones are all out of whack."
Xuechi Gaojin laughed.
"That's not all! I heard this war council has been going on for two months now, and the combat ninja have all assembled, but the meeting agenda has barely reached the strategic level. Koharu proposed having the Hidden Mist army land in the Land of Fire to directly support Konoha. Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi advocates landing on Yuexi Peninsula to prevent us from watching both fronts. Now the two factions are arguing red-faced with no conclusion in sight!"
Hearing this, Maki wiped away his smile and took a tissue to clean his mouth.
"Such disputes are inevitable. Both sides have ulterior motives."
"How so?"
Xuechi Gaojin asked.
"Simple. From a purely strategic standpoint, attacking Yuexi Peninsula is obviously more vicious. Koharu insists on directly supporting Konoha only because she wants to control the command of those ten thousand Hidden Mist ninja.
Once Hidden Mist ninja land in the Land of Fire, that force becomes completely foreign troops. On someone else's territory with a weaker position than the locals—with Hiruzen Sarutobi's skills, Yagura's abilities aren't nearly enough. They'd be at his mercy!"
"Mm, makes sense."
Xuechi Gaojin nodded.
"But attacking Yuexi Peninsula is different. Not only would they avoid Konoha's constraints and have absolute autonomy, but our Yuexi Peninsula is extremely profitable. If they really take it, the benefits would be enormous."
Maki sneered.
"So Hidden Mist will probably still attack Yuexi Peninsula in the end."
"Absolutely. I think Hiruzen Sarutobi and Koharu aren't unaware of this logic. Making such demands is just their best effort to fight for it. But Yagura and Elder Genji aren't fools either—they naturally won't let Konoha lead them by the nose."
Xuechi Gaojin pondered for a moment.
"Commander Maki, I've always had a question."
Maki said calmly,
"About the Three-Tails transaction, right?"
"Exactly!"
Xuechi Gaojin was somewhat excited now.
"If we had intervened before the Three-Tails jinchūriki landed, I believe with our current personnel strength in Hidden Mist Village, we had at least a sixty percent chance. If the transaction failed, there naturally wouldn't be the trouble of these ten thousand Hidden Mist ninja..."
Maki didn't answer directly, but leisurely picked up his bowl to serve himself another portion of seafood porridge.
"About that matter—initially I thought the same as you, and I secretly formulated an assassination plan and sent it to Lord Kazekage. But do you know how Lord Kazekage replied?"
"How did he reply?"
Xuechi Gaojin asked.
Maki glanced at Xuechi Gaojin and pulled a telegram from his pocket.
Xuechi Gaojin took it and looked.
The content was very brief—including punctuation, just fifteen characters.
Don't get involved! Don't get involved! Don't get involved!
Important things said three times—Hidden Sand rules. This was an order that must be executed. Understand it and execute it; don't understand it and still execute it.
"This..."
Xuechi Gaojin was completely puzzled.
"I didn't understand at first either, but after careful consideration, Lord Kazekage's move was truly far-sighted and strategic."
Maki put a spoonful of seafood porridge in his mouth, looking satisfied.
"Please enlighten me, sir."
Maki didn't hide anything.
"First, trading the Three-Tails greatly reduced pressure on our main battlefield. Although Konoha gained ten thousand reinforcements, these ten thousand ninja won't completely obey their command. Moreover, we pushed back the attack time by five months. Comparatively, ten thousand ninja pose much less threat than a tailed beast jinchūriki."
Xuechi Gaojin thought about it and found some logic in this.
"Second, Hidden Mist Village was determined to get this tailed beast. If the operation failed, it would inevitably cause extreme dissatisfaction in Hidden Mist Village. Then a war that was originally just for show might become real fighting."
"Oh, I understand!"
Xuechi Gaojin looked enlightened.
"What do you understand?"
Maki smiled.
"Hidden Mist's attitude toward this war is actually wanting only benefits without losses. As soon as you arrived at Hidden Mist Village, you spent money lavishly and even promised ten billion in benefits—all to deliberately guide Hidden Mist's attitude toward this war."
"Otherwise, do you think ten billion ryō is so easy to get? And fabricating those gifts also took considerable effort."
Indeed, most of the gifts Maki sent were fakes, but fakes were fakes—you couldn't tell when placed alongside genuine items. For example, that nine-foot cistanche was indeed cistanche, but from the greenhouse of Moon Lake New District Farm, ripened with chemical fertilizer. That Damascus fresh flower iron rod was actually machine-processed, with the aquamarine on top being crystal from the Takenaka family ninja's Crystal Release... All told, it still cost several hundred thousand.
"But Yuexi Peninsula is incredibly wealthy—won't Hidden Mist Village inevitably harbor evil intentions?"
Xuechi Gaojin worried.
Maki smiled and lowered his voice.
"This is the third point—Lord Kazekage wants to take the opportunity to weaken Hidden Mist Village!"
"Ah?"
Xuechi Gaojin was somewhat incredulous.
"Hidden Mist Village is isolated overseas. These years without internal strife, they've maintained isolationism and accumulated considerable strength. Even if they don't get involved in this war, they'll inevitably be our Hidden Sand Village's formidable enemy sooner or later! If we can keep these ten thousand ninja here, hehe, Hidden Mist Village probably won't be able to cause much trouble anymore."
"Keep them here? Can we do that?"
"Originally I thought we couldn't, but seeing Lord Kazekage's telegram yesterday, I think it's completely possible."
Xuechi Gaojin was full of curiosity.
"Can I see it?"
Maki smiled.
"You can, but this is a top-secret document..."
"Commander Maki, don't you trust me? When I was 10..."
"Alright, alright, it's not that I don't trust you, but there's a requirement."
"What requirement? Just say it. If I can do it, I definitely will."
"After reading it, eat the paper."
Maki pulled another telegram from his pocket—this time three full pages covered with tiny writing.
"Fine, I'll eat it."
Xuechi Gaojin grabbed the telegram.
"Operation Meat Bun!..."
Xuechi Gaojin read intently. The more he read, the more shocked and excited he became.
Lord Kazekage truly deserved to be his lifelong idol—to think of such devious schemes! Bah! Brilliant strategies.
After finishing the content, Xuechi Gaojin suddenly realized.
"Commander Maki, you tricked me! You should be the one eating this paper!"
Maki smiled.
"Who eats it doesn't matter. Here, eat it with the porridge—goes down easier. After you finish, I have another mission for you."
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
🔥 Want to read the next 60 chapters RIGHT NOW?
💎 Patreon members get instant access!
⚡ Limited-time offer currently running...
👉 [Join on Patreon - patreon.com/DarkGolds]