Large villages and small villages fight chaotic wars; peace in the shinobi world relies on Konoha.
The Third Shinobi World War began with the disappearance of Sunagakure's Third Kazekage and ended with a chaotic melee among Konohagakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure.
After that, although the shinobi world basically returned to peace, warfare in local regions did not cease.
Among the great powers, only Sunagakure and Kirigakure were still entangled in the quagmire of the southern war.
Among the smaller countries, those that had established shinobi villages and felt they possessed a bit of strength were far from obedient. Taking advantage of the heavy casualties suffered by the great nations, their declining strength, and their weakened control over surrounding areas, they began fighting one another in succession, or attacking even smaller countries caught between them.
Just as there are medium and small countries serving as buffer zones between the great powers, there are naturally many even smaller countries between the small ones. Some of them are not even marked on maps, and ordinary people simply have no way of knowing how many such countries exist in the shinobi world.
A typical example is Kusagakure of the Land of Grass. Though its strength is not great, its ambitions are not small. It launches wars everywhere in an attempt to expand its territory and sphere of influence.
Not only did they attack the micro-states around them, they even set their sights on the Land of Waterfalls.
Yet all this chaos suddenly fell silent after the Nine-Tails rampage in Konoha, as if someone had pressed a pause button.
Because everyone understood that Konohagakure is the metronome of war or peace in this world. If Konoha were to suffer heavy losses beneath the claws of the Nine-Tails, the other forces would not let such an opportunity pass.
Perhaps the Third Shinobi World War, which had only just come to a halt, would ignite once more.
Even if everyone wished to recuperate and was unwilling to launch a large-scale war, they would certainly find ways to renege on the concessions of interest stipulated in the previous agreements.
Everyone was watching and waiting.
Sunagakure had only just managed to extricate itself from the war, and earlier in the year it had also been harassed by the One-Tail. At this moment it only wished to recuperate and restore its strength, having no ability to continue fighting. They had already sent a ceasefire agreement to Kirigakure.
Most importantly, unlike the other four great shinobi villages, although Rasa succeeded to the position of Fourth Kazekage with the support of old figures such as Chiyo and her brother Ebizō, many still followed Pakura and held considerable dissatisfaction about the matter. The village itself was not at peace internally.
The Tsuchikage Ōnoki held his forces in reserve and was absolutely unwilling to take the lead again. The old man truly feared that, just as when the fighting began several years earlier, Iwagakure might once again inexplicably become the public enemy of the entire shinobi world. Therefore, this time he would absolutely not make a move unless the final moment arrived.
The madmen of Kirigakure saw an opportunity to recover face from Konoha. They agreed to Sunagakure's request for a ceasefire, gathering their strength once more while waiting for the right moment to cause trouble for Konoha's big shots.
The most impatient of all was Kumogakure. Although they lost their strongest figure, the Third Raikage, during this war, the village's overall foundation suffered the least damage. Moreover, they failed to obtain sufficient benefits from the war, so they were the most likely to be the first to stir up trouble.
Now, it all depends on how Konoha responds.
Once they show weakness, they cannot blame others for showing them no respect.
...
Time moved into mid-November. More than a month had already passed since the Nine-Tails rampage, and Konoha Year 51 was also about to come to an end.
At this time, a major event took place in the Land of Hot Water. The country's Daimyō was terminally ill, his life had entered its final countdown, and he could report to the Pure Land at any moment.
The shinobi world followed the traditional system of inheritance by the eldest legitimate son, and the Land of Hot Water had naturally long since determined its crown prince. After his father's death, he would inherit the seat of Daimyō.
A change of ruler in such a small country ordinarily would not attract the attention of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, but the timing of it was rather unfortunate. It happened right after Konoha's Nine-Tails rampage, which gave those with ulterior motives an opportunity to make use of it.
The Five Great Shinobi Villages have many sources of income, but among them, one is absolutely the largest.
That is the financial allocation from the nation's Daimyō. This is the principal source of funding that keeps a shinobi village operating.
During wartime, the allocation is directly issued to the shinobi village according to need.
During peacetime, however, this money is delivered quarterly in the form of mission commissions.
Within the shinobi village mission system, D-rank missions are internal training and welfare projects for the village, and individual clients who come to commission missions themselves are not the mainstream of the shinobi village mission system either.
The greatest volume of missions received by a shinobi village comes from the state. The official authorities of the Five Great Nations collect requests for assistance from all across the country, then distribute them at regular intervals to the shinobi villages within their borders.
These missions include border defense; the protection of important figures; merchant caravan escorts; and the suppression of bandits, large wild beasts, rogue ninja, wandering ninja, and the like.
For example, the bandit suppression mission at Hema Port that Makoto and the others carried out after graduating came from an official commission by the Land of Fire.
Correspondingly, in the small countries surrounding the great nations, their domestic shinobi villages are too weak, or they simply have no shinobi villages at all, so their commission demands also flow toward the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
This is an enormous amount of profit, because shinobi specialize in solving problems that ordinary people cannot handle, and their fees are very high.
The postwar peace negotiations among the Five Great Shinobi Villages were precisely a struggle over the right to redistribute this share of the benefits.
Even a village like Sunagakure, which had been beaten into submission by Konoha, would cede part of the mission commissions within its own Land of Wind to Konoha.
For a great shinobi village to cede part of its domestic mission quota to someone else is also the main reason why Sunagakure would later be looked down upon by other powers of the same level.
No matter the world, war and conflict have always been matters where the winner takes all, and Konoha naturally held a firm grip on the right to speak over missions from the surrounding small countries.
But now, the Nine-Tails rampage has allowed others to see hope of dividing up this cake.
For example, Kumogakure could completely take advantage of Konoha's chaos to support a Daimyō in the Land of Hot Water who leans toward them, thereby bringing the interests here into their own bowl.
...
Land of Hot Water, inside the luxurious bedroom of the Daimyō's palace.
The ruler of this country lay on the bed, his body withered like dry wood and his breathing faint as a thread, looking as though he might kick the bucket at any moment.
His most loyal Minister of State Affairs and Minister of Defense stood beside the bed, waiting for their lord's inquiry.
In truth, the Daimyō was not especially old. It was merely a life of extravagance and unrestrained indulgence that had drained his body long ago.
In this world, there is no higher ruler above a Daimyō, so they are essentially kings—and kings have rarely been long-lived.
If the shinobi world did not possess medical-nin outside the ordinary medical system—those who can use chakra—he would not have lasted until now.
At this moment, the Daimyō's eyes were full of reluctance to part with life. He struggled to open his mouth, but his voice was weak.
"How are the experiments of that sect? Can they still not give me what I want?"
The bedroom was very quiet. The Minister of Defense heard clearly and answered: "My deepest apologies, my lord. The experiments have not been successful."
"Is that so? Truly a bunch of useless trash. After wasting so much of my investment, in the end—not to mention an immortal body—they cannot even make me live a few more years."
"My lord, they have actually achieved a small amount of progress. But because they fear that the great nations might take the opportunity to hold them accountable, the shinobi village has already decided to draw a clear line with that sect. Should we continue supporting them?"
"Oh? There has been progress? Can it be used on me?"
"It has already been used."
"So it has no effect on me, is that it? Then let those bastards all go die."
"But what if they succeed in the future?"
"Heh. I am about to die anyway. Even if they succeed, what does it have to do with me? If I cannot obtain it, I do not want others to obtain it either. Just carry out the order."
"Yes!"
The Minister of Defense and the Minister of State Affairs exchanged a glance, understanding each other without words. The order must be carried out—but how it would be carried out was still up to them.
If you cannot use it, perhaps we can.
Of course, some of those madmen certainly have to die—but not all of them. A portion of the core members must be kept alive to continue the experiments. The official pursuit can simply serve as pressure on them.
Those madmen naturally refer to the Jashin Cult.
The Jashin Cult originated from the immortality-body experiments of Yugakure. Later, using the temptation of longevity, it successfully gained the support of the Daimyō of the Land of Hot Water.
Unfortunately, after so many years of experiments, spending so much money and causing so many deaths, nothing has come of it. Instead, the thoughts of those believers have grown increasingly extreme, and the sect itself has become more unstable, as if someone had truly received a divine oracle from Jashin.
But the high officials of the state did not care about whether that damn Jashin actually existed or not. What they wanted was longevity. If that could not be achieved, then this sect had no reason to exist.
For a Daimyō or a high minister of the state, power and wealth had already given them every pleasure the world could offer. Only longevity was the thing these people desired most.
Longevity meant being able to enjoy all those worldly delights forever.
No matter the world, eternal life has always been what humans—especially the powerful and privileged—desire most. There are no exceptions.
Even in the ordinary world where Makoto had lived in his previous life, the things wealthy elites would do just to live a few more years could sink to depths deeper than the nineteenth level of hell. That was even more true in the shinobi world, a supernatural world.
Here, longevity truly has a possibility of being achieved.
The Daimyō closed his eyes. He did not want to continue discussing this matter that had once given him hope but now, before death, had only left him with despair.
The Minister of Defense obediently closed his mouth.
The Minister of State Affairs cautiously asked, "My lord, regarding the struggle between the two princes, do you have any instructions?"
After quite a while, the Daimyō finally answered, his tone helpless.
"What instructions could I possibly give? In the end, does it not still depend on the attitude of the great nations?"
"Let them fight. In the end, whoever wins will be the heir of this country. Leave now. I am tired. Do not trouble me with such matters again."
"Yes!"
The two withdrew to the outer hall, where they saw the leader of Yugakure and the jōnin Senzō waiting there.
The leader of Yugakure asked, "You two, how is the Daimyō's condition?"
The Minister of State Affairs replied, "From the looks of it, he will not last many days."
"Then how should we deal with the current situation?"
"There is no need to intervene. Let Konoha and Kumogakure compete. Whoever wins, we will side with them."
The leader sighed. "Alright, I understand."
Senzō did not speak. His hands were merely clenched tightly. Perhaps this was the helplessness of small countries and small shinobi villages—they could not control their own fate and could only act according to the attitude of the great shinobi villages.
At this moment, the Minister of Defense said, "We will handle the matter of the Jashin Cult. The village only needs to dispatch a group of shinobi to assist."
The leader had no objections. He had already abandoned the plan of strengthening the shinobi village and decided to implement a philosophy of peace—in other words, to lie flat.
Those who disagreed with this philosophy could conveniently be sent over to the official side and tasked with eliminating the increasingly uncontrollable Jashin Cult. It killed two birds with one stone.
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