Fire Capital, Daimyo Manor.
Battle reports poured in like falling snow.
In the study, warm sunlight shone through the window.
Arashi leaned lazily in his wide chair, gently rubbing a warm jade pendant between his fingers, entirely unconcerned with the chaos outside.
The stalemate on the front lines, the rising casualty reports, none of it seemed to affect him.
...Jiraiya's feint was blocked. Iwa held its ground. The frontal battlefield had completely stalled.
Minato encountered the Third Tsuchikage's encirclement, the surprise attack failed, and he returned injured.
The Land of Lightning and Land of Wind fronts were also stuck under Iwa's defensive tactics, casualties rising daily, morale falling.
Onoki's strategy of turtling up and dragging out the war was extremely effective, putting the Allied Forces at a disadvantage.
With each line that Saku read aloud, his heart sank further.
Any single one of these reports would have made a frontline commander panic.
But after Arashi finished listening, he simply nodded with mild interest. "Understood."
This calm reaction made Saku even more uneasy.
He did not dare ask more. He knew his Daimyo never acted without certainty.
Even the current situation, which threatened to collapse the several great villages' Allied Forces, might be nothing more than an expendable piece in Arashi's larger plan.
It seems Onoki is even more patient than I expected.
Arashi finally set down the jade pendant and let out a light laugh, as if hearing a joke.
He wants a war of attrition with me?
Drag down the Allied Forces and stir trouble behind my back?
A good strategy.
Too bad...
Arashi spoke with a detached tone, as if he already saw through every desperate move of his prey. "Does he think this is a game?"
He stood and walked toward the massive map of the Ninja World.
His gaze swept across it and eventually settled on the Land of Water.
Arashi asked, "Any news from the Land of Water?"
"Yes!" Saku responded. "Lady Mei wrote that several ninja families have pledged allegiance."
"Good." Arashi nodded. "Send her a message. Ask her..."
If the Konoha forces stationed at the Land of Water border are withdrawn, will Kirigakure turn hostile?
Saku's heart tightened.
Withdraw the border troops?
What is the Daimyo planning? He did not dare think further and bowed deeply.
"Yes, I will handle it immediately."
A pitch-black messenger hawk soared from the highest tower of the Daimyo Manor, becoming a distant dot in the sky.
Arashi turned his gaze toward the window.
Outside lay the bustling Fire Capital.
Crowded streets, lively markets.
The shadow of war did not touch the peaceful prosperity of this city.
Land of Water, a remote coastal town.
The fishing town was small, its people simple.
But in recent years, a bloody shadow had suffocated that simplicity.
The Bloody Mist Village.
This cruel policy enforced by Fourth Mizukage Yagura hung like a butcher's knife over every Kirigakure shinobi.
In a thick forest, a short and brutal battle had just ended.
More than a dozen corpses lay on the ground.
All of them shinobi of Kirigakure, now dead at the hands of their own people.
Mei stood in the center, a few drops of warm blood staining her clothing.
Her face, one Arashi once called charming, was now frozen cold.
Before her, a middle-aged man knelt on one knee, holding a blood-stained katana above his head.
"Lady Mei." His voice trembled slightly. "From this day forward, we pledge our lives to you."
Behind him stood dozens of Kirigakure shinobi.
They were the local ninja family of this town.
A clan that had once possessed status in Kirigakure.
But now they were rogues.
Moments earlier, under Mei's lead, they had killed the Mizukage's Anbu who came to monitor them.
There was no turning back.
Mei looked at the kneeling man and the clan behind him without the slightest emotional ripple.
This was the thirteenth ninja family she had brought under her banner.
Since returning to the Land of Water, she searched for clans suffering under the Bloody Mist's tyranny yet too afraid to rebel.
Using the most direct and brutal methods, she forced them to choose.
Follow her against Yagura.
Or be eliminated on the spot like the Mizukage's lackeys.
No third choice.
This borderline insane approach allowed her to gather a formidable force within just half a month.
A force capable of shaking the Land of Water.
"Stand."
Her voice was calm. "From today onward, you are no longer shinobi of Kirigakure."
"You are warriors fighting for yourselves, and for the future of your clans."
Light returned to the eyes of the surrendered shinobi.
"Thank you, my Lady!"
The man rose and sheathed his sword.
At that moment.
A pitch-black ninja hawk descended and landed firmly on Mei's arm.
A special scroll was tied to its leg.
It bore the crest of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.
Mei untied it and unrolled it quickly.
The scroll held only one line.
If the troops on the Land of Water border are withdrawn, will Kirigakure take advantage?
Her brows furrowed.
But she soon understood Arashi's intention.
Mobilize troops?
Withdraw the border forces?
What does he want to do?
A bold thought flashed through her mind.
Could he be planning to redeploy the Land of Water border troops into the war against the Land of Earth?
The idea shocked her.
Is he planning a multi-front war?
Her thoughts raced as she analyzed the strategy and its deeper meaning.
She knew well that Kirigakure's main forces had already been led away by Elder Genji to join the Allied Forces in the Land of Lightning.
What remained in the village were the elderly, the sick, the weak, and Yagura's brainwashed loyalists.
They might defend the village.
But to attack the Land of Fire? Impossible.
Moreover...
Mei looked back at the shinobi she had brought under her control.
If she gave the order, they could strike a decisive blow against Yagura inside the Land of Water at any time.
Yagura would be too busy to consider external matters.
Understanding this, Mei smiled.
She finally understood why Arashi had sent her back to stir chaos in the Land of Water.
He never needed Kirigakure to fall.
He needed the Land of Water to stay in endless internal strife, too distracted to threaten the Land of Fire.
And she, and the resistance she led, were his most important piece in suppressing Kirigakure.
So... this is my value.
Mei let out a faint, ironic laugh.
Then she picked up a brush and wrote her reply.
Kirigakure's main forces are in the Land of Lightning. The remaining forces are not a concern. The rear is stable. You may proceed.
She rolled up the scroll and tied it to the hawk.
"Go."
The hawk spread its wings and soared into the clouds.
Afterward, Mei turned, her cold expression softening.
"Pass on my command."
Her voice echoed through the forest.
"Gather all clans who have pledged allegiance."
"Tell them to prepare... for war."
"Yes, my Lady!"
The middle-aged man bowed and rushed to carry out the order.
Mei looked toward the direction of the Land of Fire, complex emotions flickering in her eyes.
Will the future bring rebirth or destruction?
She did not know.
She only knew that the game had already begun.
And she was both a piece, and... a player.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)