After the Daimyo of the Land of Wind stormed out of the court, the other ministers exchanged glances. Some were annoyed at the current disrespect shown to the monarch, but at this moment, it wasn't a question of respect or disrespect. Instead, the Land of Wind had reached its most perilous moment, a danger it had never faced since the establishment of the Five Great Nations.
And just as the previous minister had said, all of this was, to some extent, due to the Daimyo of the Land of Wind's perverse actions and his reckless initiation of war. Even though many had agreed to the war at its outset, they now completely disavowed any responsibility, shifting all blame onto the Daimyo.
Originally, they wouldn't have shirked responsibility to such an extent. The reason it came to this point was the Daimyo of the Land of Wind's ominous premonition before he left. Among the nobles of the Land of Wind, a movement to overthrow the Daimyo had already secretly begun.
The previous Daimyo had died suddenly, and the current Daimyo had resorted to some unsavory tactics to quickly ascend to the throne. Regardless of whether the previous Daimyo was murdered, his death was, in any case, unclear.
Since it was unclear, some began to secretly speculate whether the current Daimyo was behind it. Regardless of the truth, many had started to believe it, or rather, they simply needed an excuse to overthrow this perverse Daimyo.
What fueled this idea was the Konoha ANBU. Under Fumori Masaki's orders, rumors of the current Daimyo murdering his predecessor were first spread in the capital. Subsequently, the ANBU secretly contacted the pro-peace nobles, explicitly stating that their truce conditions required the current Daimyo to step down.
With existing discontent and the assurance of Konoha ANBU's contact, what reason did the pro-peace nobles have not to agree? Even before this court session, the pro-peace nobles had already begun secretly organizing, contacting other forces, and establishing connections with the current Daimyo's relatives.
Although they wanted to overthrow the current Daimyo, the nobles found it difficult to replace him, as none could be the leader among themselves. The only one who could lead was someone from the Daimyo's family who had a claim to the throne, namely, the Daimyo's brother.
The current Daimyo, to consolidate his position, had greatly ostracized his brothers, rendering them no longer a threat. But now, with the support of many nobles of the country, hope resurfaced.
The current Daimyo's position was now precarious, and anyone couldn't help but entertain some thoughts. If possible, who wouldn't want to become the monarch of the Land of Wind?
Without the Daimyo of the Land of Wind's knowledge, he was already in a very dangerous position. And now that he vaguely sensed it, who knew what actions he would take—
After the ministers and nobles who attended the court returned, those responsible for contacting the Konoha ANBU informed them of the court's news using their agreed-upon method, stating that they would make the Daimyo step down as soon as possible, and that external pressure should also be applied, but not too much.
The pro-peace faction hoped to use the current Daimyo and the pro-war faction as scapegoats, but they had no intention of letting the Land of Wind perish. They also had their bottom line. Although the Land of Wind had a harsh environment, some areas were very good. They were high-ranking officials here, but if the Land of Wind perished, would they still receive such treatment? They weren't that foolish.
The capital area was mainly handled by Hyuga Kai's ANBU squad. Upon receiving the secret letter from the nobles, Hyuga Kai glanced at it and then said to the others, "Very good. Now the nobles within the Land of Wind are leaning towards overthrowing the Daimyo. As long as the village is firm, it should be very easy to achieve."
The other ANBU members breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. They weren't very good at politics and sometimes didn't understand the thoughts of the Hokage and other high-ranking officials. At most, they could understand that it was beneficial to the village. But as ANBU members, they only needed to complete their missions and didn't need to understand too much. They couldn't participate themselves, as long as the mission process went smoothly.
At the same time, the ANBU could only provide guidance and could not directly interfere with the political choices within the Land of Wind. This would make people more likely to feel that Konoha Ninja Village was interfering in internal affairs, which could cause resentment among the nobles, making it difficult to maintain cooperative relations in the future, and also make them think that Konoha Ninja Village had ulterior motives.
After receiving the secret letter, Hyuga Kai, on the one hand, informed ANBU members in other areas, and on the other hand, conveyed the intelligence to Fumori Masaki, so that Fumori Masaki could issue orders to continue pressuring the Land of Wind in the external environment, further causing internal political instability in the Land of Wind, and creating an opportunity for the pro-peace faction to rise to power.
The ANBU did this, and Fumori Masaki, upon receiving the news, also proceeded accordingly. The First Division led by Uchiha Kagami slowly advanced, not rushing to enter the country, but rather firmly blockading the periphery of the Land of Wind. The only passage left open was the one leading to the Land of Earth, which the Konoha ninjas could not block.
However, Sunagakure no longer had the strength to fight, and contacting Iwagakure no longer served any purpose. With their domestic strength weakened, inviting Iwagakure would only make them puppets of the other side. If they bowed to Konohagakure, they might still maintain their independence, but with Iwagakure, they would only be dogs.
The advantage of their respective reputations finally became apparent in this regard. No matter how much Ebizo and Chiyo claimed that Konohagakure was untrustworthy and had malicious intentions, if the two sides truly entered into an agreement, Konohagakure would certainly abide by it, at most engaging in covert activities. As for Iwagakure—
Recalling Onoki's unfavorable record in the ninja world, Ebizo and Chiyo suddenly felt a chill. That old fox, Onoki, would not miss the opportunity to extort Sunagakure. If he could, he would surely squeeze out every last drop of the Land of Wind's blood to satiate himself.
In comparison, Konohagakure was truly much stronger in this regard. What moved Ebizo and Chiyo even more was that many captured Sunagakure ninjas, whom they had abandoned, were actually protected by ninjas from the enemy village, including Chiyo's daughter-in-law and son.
When the two sides were in a stalemate on the battlefield, the ninjas in Sunagakure were truly astonished when they suddenly saw a large number of Sunagakure ninjas emerge from the other side. They found it incredible, and afterwards, they gradually understood the whole story.
Although the ninjas in Sunagakure did not take actual opposition actions, the overall atmosphere was already leaning towards dissatisfaction with the high-ranking officials. In this situation, Chiyo and the others could not even stop it, because Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law were also on the other side. If they dealt with others, who would deal with Chiyo herself? If they didn't deal with Chiyo? What credibility would Sunagakure's orders still have?
When Ebizo learned of this, he almost couldn't catch his breath. He said to Chiyo with a bitter smile, "We lost, we truly lost completely. Not just militarily, but even politically, we lost so thoroughly."
Chiyo's face was ashen. She had to admit that Konohagakure's move had directly won over most of the popular support within Sunagakure, while the high-ranking officials who had forced Sunagakure ninjas to their deaths became the opposition. Now, if they were to fight Konohagakure again, the number of people who would openly surrender would surely increase.
By then, Sunagakure's reputation would be completely ruined, and there would be nothing left to say. Sunagakure no longer had any capital to continue fighting.