Chapter 506: Strategic Readjustment
When Rasa, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the others arrived at Sunagakure's First Line Gorge, they found only a ruined, plundered village.
Rasa stood expressionlessly on a mountaintop, looking at his devastated homeland, silent for a long time.
Beside him, Hiruzen wanted to offer some words of comfort but didn't know how to begin. In the end, it all came out as a sigh.
After a long while, their guards returned from their reconnaissance.
"Lord Kazekage, a great battle took place in the gorge. From the analysis of the scene, we lost," one of Rasa's guards said, his voice choking.
"Judging by the traces on the battlefield, our comrades who fought the Iwa army here likely did not manage to retreat. They were attacked from the front and back. In the end, they were probably all killed or surrendered."
Rasa trembled. He forced himself to remain calm. "Do you have a rough estimate of the casualties?"
The guard shook his head. "The battlefield was too heavily damaged and was also ravaged by a Tailed Beast Ball, so we can't get an accurate count. But at least several thousand were killed."
Rasa took a deep breath. Several thousand. As the Kazekage, he knew what that meant for his village.
He asked, "Go to the nearby evacuation points and see how many people were moved. Also, confirm the status of Ryosuke and my son Gaara."
"Yes, sir." The guards quickly dispersed.
Hiruzen, hearing this, also wanted to know the situation and stayed to wait for their reply.
After a long while, the guards returned one by one. With them were many Suna ninja who had been evacuated, including Baki.
Baki brought back the news that Gaara was safe, but there was no trace of Ryosuke.
"Lord Kazekage, Ryosuke had me evacuate the civilians and children first. He led about five thousand ninja to hold off Iwa at the gorge. But until the battle ended, not a single one escaped."
At this moment, Rasa's last sliver of hope was shattered. He could no longer hold on. He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed.
His guards rushed to support him.
Rasa said to Baki, "Baki, gather everyone. Choose a place to the south and build a new village. Abandon this place. Send someone to negotiate with Iwa. As long as they are willing to spare Sunagakure, all other conditions can be discussed."
Tears in his eyes, Baki replied, "Yes, sir."
Then, Rasa took his leave of Hiruzen and left the gorge.
Hiruzen watched him go. He suddenly had a feeling that he was witnessing the beginning of a new era.
The fall of Sunagakure was a shock of unimaginable proportions to an old man like him.
Iwagakure is getting stronger and stronger. A great village being conquered... this has never happened before, he thought.
Have I been wrong all these years, insisting on the Second Hokage's policies? Was it my constant focus on internal strife that gave Iwa the chance to rise?
At this moment, figures flashed through his mind: Kagami Uchiha, whom he and his good friend Danzō had schemed against. The White Fang, killed by public opinion. Orochimaru, whom he had driven away. Jiraiya, killed by Kumo and Iwa while pursuing Orochimaru. Minato Namikaze and his wife, who died sealing the Nine-Tails. Shisui Uchiha, who had lost his Mangekyo. Fugaku Uchiha, who at this moment might already be dead at his own hands. And Itachi Uchiha, who was about to become a scapegoat and defect.
Hiruzen finally felt a twinge of regret. "If only all these people were still here. If only Konoha could be as united as Iwagakure."
"Lord Second, I have failed your trust. I should not have sacrificed the heroes who bled for the village for my own selfish desires."
At this moment, one of his guards stepped forward. "Lord Third, should we return to the village?"
Hiruzen's lifeless eyes slowly focused on the man in front of him. He nodded. "Let's go back."
With one last look at the abandoned Sunagakure, Hiruzen and his guards began their journey back to Konoha.
This trip had been in vain, but he felt a heavy weight in his heart.
While he was still on his way, the Konoha army Tsunade had promised to Rasa had already reached the Fire-Earth border. However, she had already received the news from Hiruzen: Sunagakure was gone. So, the army did not cross the border. They just stayed there for a while, and once it was confirmed that Iwa had withdrawn, Tsunade recalled them.
By now, Ishiro had already flown back to Iwagakure with Sōkai, Izumi Uchiha, and the twenty-odd Uchiha children Kakashi had rescued.
Izumi was temporarily housed outside the village. To keep her company, Sōkai also moved out of Kitsuchi's house and took up temporary residence nearby.
The twenty-odd children, like the ones before, were scattered among some of Iwagakure's civilian and lower-ranking ninja families to be raised.
Only after Ōnoki returned with the main army did Ishiro convene a high-level meeting.
In the Tsuchikage's office, Ishiro looked at everyone, then smiled at Sōkai, who was attending for the first time and looked very uncomfortable. "Sōkai, relax. Don't be nervous. You're still young. It's okay if you don't understand now. Just learn from how your seniors handle things."
Sōkai nodded but was still nervous. Having him attend the meeting was equivalent to giving him the status of an honorary advisor. This wasn't because of his strength; he wasn't yet at the true Kage level. This was a message to the entire shinobi world.
Konoha had desperately ostracized the Uchiha, ultimately slaughtering almost the entire clan. But Iwagakure was willing to accept them, and at the very moment the Uchiha were homeless, had made one of them a high-ranking official. This was a direct challenge to Konoha.
So, Ōnoki and the others were very courteous to Sōkai. From this moment on, the treatment of the Uchiha children in Iwagakure would be no worse than that of the Uzumaki. The Uzumaki didn't even have a true high-ranking official yet.
Sitting next to Sōkai was another honorary advisor of the same status, Shinya Matsutani.
Shinya whispered to Sōkai, "Junior, don't worry about what Teacher Ishiro and the others say. Just listen. These meetings are easy. You can just doze off, and it'll be over."
Although Sōkai was simple-minded, he was still shocked by Shinya's bizarre logic. He stammered, "Is that really okay?"
Ishiro rapped on his desk. "Of course not! Don't learn from this lazy bum. Look up to Senior Han."
Han, on the side, scratched his head awkwardly. Although he had attended several meetings, he hadn't actually done anything. He felt that while Shinya's words were a bit strange, they were essentially correct.
Ishiro ignored the three honorary advisors and asked Ōnoki, "How are the arrangements in the Land of Wind?"
Ōnoki said, "I left 1,500 ninja in the country. I chose an oasis with a good geographical location and am preparing to build the Land of Wind branch."
Ishiro looked at the location Ōnoki pointed to on the map and frowned. "The Land of Wind is really big. This branch has to manage half the country. The pressure is too great. How about this? We'll cede a small eastern portion of the northern Land of Wind to Nagato in the Land of Rain. The Akatsuki are our allies. We broke our agreement by rashly sending troops to take down Sunagakure. This territory will be compensation. Then, we'll choose another location in the larger western part and build a new branch."
Ikura said, "Then should we also give something to Kirigakure?"
Ishiro shook his head. "That's the main topic of today's meeting. We'll discuss it later. After ceding that large piece of land, the area the Land of Wind branch has to manage is still too large. 1,500 men are not enough. And the construction of the new branch will also require a lot of manpower. Let's transfer another thousand from the village. The other branches must have suffered some losses and also contributed to the Land of Wind branch, so there should be some vacancies. We'll leave them for now and fill them after the new class graduates."
He looked at Megumi. "Is that enough manpower?"
Megumi nodded. "It is. The number of new graduates last year was large. Although we lost some in the Land of Wind and Land of Bears, it's still acceptable. However, once the 'white ball' research you mentioned begins, it will inevitably draw a large number of people from various departments. At that time, we won't have enough."
"Don't worry," Ishiro said. "The research won't draw that many people at once. We won't need that many at the beginning. By the time the research team slowly expands, the new class will have long since graduated."
Megumi nodded. "By the way, the students who graduated last year have grown very quickly in the real combat in the Land of Wind and Land of Bears. Should we arrange for the new class to graduate early? We still need to clean up this large area in the northern Land of Wind. Bandits, rogue ninja—they're all good training targets. We shouldn't waste such a large area."
Ishiro thought for a moment and nodded. "Then let's arrange for them to graduate early. And the Chunin Exams will also be held early. Let's arrange it for these next few days."
"No problem," Megumi said.
Ishiro continued, "Has Rasa sent someone to negotiate? This time, demand more from Suna. He will definitely give it."
Kawakita said, "We've already emptied out Sunagakure. Rasa doesn't have much left to give."
"That's easy," Ishiro said. "Just have him pay the war reparations with Gold Dust. The amount should be the same as what I vaporized in Konoha. Tell him, clearly, that from now on, we will no longer target Suna. Not only that, we will help them keep their position as one of the Six Great Villages."
Ikura and Kawakita exchanged a look, thinking: Lord Third was right.
Ishiro continued, "We don't need to worry about Suna anymore. At least for the next few years, they won't be a threat to us. During this period, even if Konoha and Kumo have a chance to deal us a heavy blow, Suna will have to think twice before getting involved. Don't release the thousand-plus prisoners yet. Have them help us build the branch first. If necessary, they can also be used for our new recruits to practice on. Release them after two years, when Suna has recovered a bit."
Bella asked with some concern, "Release all of them? Won't that be like letting a tiger back into the mountains?"
"Releasing them now would be. Suna is at its weakest right now. But in the next few years, no matter how short on funds they are, they will recruit a large number of new ninja. After they've done that, we'll release these thousand-plus men. Then Rasa will have a headache over how to support them. He'll be worried about having too few missions for this sudden increase in ninja."
"Alright, let's talk about Konoha. Is there any accurate intel? Is Kajiyama Ri okay? Has he sent back anything useful?"
Saka shook his head. "They've been placed under house arrest. All their external channels have been cut off. They can only contact the village through summoning jutsu. They can't find out any of Konoha's secrets. All we can get now is the information Konoha deliberately releases to the public. The Uchiha clan has been wiped out. Konoha claims that Fugaku, Shisui, and all the other Uchiha are dead. The only survivors are Itachi and Sasuke. Konoha has placed the blame on Itachi. It's said that this has even been endorsed by the sole survivor, Sasuke."
Hearing this, everyone glanced at Sōkai, whose head was bowed, but no one deliberately interrupted the discussion for his sake.
Ishiro nodded. "Shisui probably isn't dead. The possibility of Fugaku being alive is not high. But this means, I wonder if Fugaku's eyes will be transplanted to Shisui."
Saka was stunned. He hadn't thought of that.
"What about Kakashi?" Ishiro asked. "I killed a squad of Konoha Anbu and framed him for it. Has there been any intel about him?"
Saka shook his head. "No. I haven't received any."
Ishiro thought for a moment. "Find a way to make this public in Konoha. Make it so that he can no longer stay there. You can ask Danzō for help with the propaganda. He should be very happy to help us. By the way, is there any recent intel on him?"
Saka's expression was strange. "Yes, a lot. Most of it is his own propaganda. The intel claims that he single-handedly repelled the army led by Ikura and Kawakita."
Ikura and Kawakita exchanged a speechless look. They had just gone to the border, put on a show, and then gone to the Land of Bears. They hadn't even seen Danzō, and he had the nerve to claim this.
Saka continued, "The rumor in Konoha now is that our original target was the village itself. But we were beaten back by Danzō, so we had to settle for Sunagakure. In addition, Danzō has proposed that Tsunade, being of the Senju clan, was jealous of the Uchiha and that's why she allowed them to be wiped out by Itachi. He has also proposed to personally train Sasuke, but it seems that didn't work out."
Ishiro smiled. "Danzō is surprisingly capable. In the next negotiations with Konoha, help him out. Continue to increase his prestige. If necessary, we can even ask for less compensation."
Megumi blinked. "Compensation from Konoha? We didn't have a substantial battle with them. And they weren't defeated. Why would they agree to compensate us?"
Ishiro smiled but didn't explain. "First, send someone to talk."
"Next, let's discuss Kirigakure. Or rather, let's discuss the village's future strategic policy. After the fall of Sunagakure, the situation in the shinobi world has changed again. Suna's temporary withdrawal is inevitable. With that, the alliance between Konoha, Kumo, and Suna no longer exists. With the enemy alliance gone, it's hard to say whether our alliance with the Akatsuki and Kiri can be maintained. Logically, Kiri might abandon us now and directly cooperate with Konoha and Kumo. But I don't know what that old fox, Elder Genshi, is thinking. We still need to test Kiri's attitude. That's why I didn't call them for this operation, and why I didn't give them a share of the spoils."
He paused, giving them a moment to digest.
"Next, let's discuss our future primary target for suppression."
Saka said, "Of the Six Great Villages, Suna has already been suppressed. The Akatsuki is an ally. Kiri, regardless of whether they ultimately side with us, cannot be a target; they are too far away. That leaves us with only two choices: suppress Konoha, or suppress Kumo."
Ishiro nodded. "That's right. Who do you all think is more suitable?"
Bella said, "Kumo has three Kage-level fighters. How many does Konoha have now?"
Ōnoki said, "The Hokage, Hiruzen, and Danzō. Besides those three, the situations of Kakashi and Shisui are uncertain. In addition, although Itachi and Orochimaru are missing-nin, they will still side with Konoha at a critical moment. The same goes for Kakashi, even if he defects."
Hearing this, Bella looked at the Iwa experts present. "So, Konoha's strength is actually not weaker than ours."
Besides Rōshi, all of Iwa's Kage-level fighters were here: Ishiro, Ōnoki, Ikura, Kitsuchi, Kawakita, Han, Shinya, and Sōkai, who was still a bit borderline. Their total number was slightly more than Konoha's, but they also had more enemies, so they had almost no advantage against Konoha.
Bella said, "In that case, suppressing Konoha seems too difficult. We can only choose Kumo."
But Saka said, "You can't count it like that. Although Konoha has lost the Uchiha, they still have Danzō. They are still not united. And Itachi and Orochimaru are missing-nin. Even if they are loyal to Konoha, they can't be completely counted as Konoha's forces. We are only suppressing Konoha, not launching an all-out war. There's no need to count them. I think it's better to continue to divide Konoha than to suppress the united Kumo."
Ikura and Kawakita both nodded. Megumi also thought Saka was right. The others held the same view.
Ishiro looked around. "It seems everyone agrees on suppressing Konoha. Then it's settled. The village's strategic target will shift from Suna to Konoha. Before, our method was to attack Suna's economy. What should be our main focus in suppressing Konoha?"
This time, there was no need for discussion. Everyone said in unison, "Internal strife!"
"Good," Ishiro said. "We have our direction. The main method will be to instigate internal strife. Let's discuss the specific methods."
After a long discussion, Ishiro said, "From now on, we will focus on suppressing Konoha using the methods we've discussed today."
"Yes," the others replied.
Then he looked at Sōkai. "Sōkai, what's the situation with Izumi? Do you think she might join Iwagakure?"
Sōkai shook his head. "Not for now. Sister Izumi is still very resistant to the village. But with the children we saved, she won't be hostile."
Ishiro nodded. "How about this? We'll arrange for her to live outside the village. You can go and see her often. Bring the younger brothers and sisters with you. Not just the Uchiha children, but also the Uzumaki, Neji, and Kurama Yakumo. If she wants to see the children, she can enter the village with your escort."
"I understand," Sōkai said.
"Alright, enough heavy topics," Ishiro said. "Let's talk about our gains."
Everyone first looked at Bella.
She smiled. "The large amount of supplies brought back from Sunagakure has been tallied. This is the village's single largest gain in years. Even as the poorest of the great villages, the wealth Sunagakure had accumulated far surpasses Yugakure's. The supplies are currently still in the Land of Wind. I plan to set aside a portion for the construction of the Land of Wind branch and transport the rest back here. This will be enough for the 'white ball' experiment for a while."
Everyone smiled.
Ishiro then took out the scrolls Fugaku had given him. "This is the accumulated wealth of the Uchiha clan. I plan to take out ten percent for Sōkai to distribute for the upbringing of the Uchiha children scattered in the village. The rest will be given to the public treasury. Of course, we will also give the Uchiha clan some contribution points, which these children can use to exchange for ninjutsu when they grow up."
Everyone nodded.
Megumi asked curiously, "Teacher, where did you get these scrolls?"
"Fugaku gave them to me. He asked me to take care of his two sons. In the future, if there's a chance, brainwash Sasuke a little. Tell him the truth about the clan's extermination, let him know his brother's suffering, and not to hate him. Consider it repaying the favor to Fugaku."
The council: ...
They had never seen such a shameless person.
Telling Sasuke the truth, is that taking care of him? That's pushing him into a fire pit! If Konoha's leadership knew he knew the truth, would they let him grow up?
But no one said anything, instead pretending to be curious about the scrolls, as if they were very interested in the Uchiha's wealth.
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