"Talk about Onoki?"
"Correct."
The Fourth Raikage said, "The rumors regarding Onoki should be something Sunagakure is secretly pushing, right? Kumogakure did not do it, and Konoha probably would not take such a huge risk."
"But rest assured, Kazekage. I will not expose that point."
"Onoki is my enemy as well!"
"We all want to see Onoki's situation worsen. We all want to see Iwagakure's situation worsen."
"That is why I want to speak properly about Onoki in Ninja World Weekly and expose Onoki's ugly true face. This is also beneficial to Sunagakure."
Rasa did not refuse. This was indeed a good thing.
"Very well. I will arrange for a reporter shinobi to go to Kumogakure."
The Fourth Raikage revealed a smile.
"A pleasant cooperation!"
The Fourth Raikage hated Onoki too deeply. As long as there was any chance to create trouble for Onoki, he would never miss it, let alone when it was merely accepting an interview.
It would only cost him some words.
Onoki glared fiercely in the direction of the Land of Wind.
"That brat Rasa is truly arrogant!"
On the other side, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was equally dark.
"Clearly, Sunagakure also needs that silver mine. A ceasefire is beneficial to him as well, yet he still used this opportunity to extort a heavy sum from Konoha."
"I will remember this debt!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi withdrew his gaze.
"The compensation to Sunagakure is a massive number. However, that silver mine has such enormous reserves. Konoha will definitely be able to recover everything we lose from it."
A large amount of silver entering the market would create a tremendous shock to the entire world's economy.
Depreciation was inevitable.
But depreciation was a process. If handled well, it could still be exchanged for enormous benefit.
Moreover, when the silver in everyone's hands was depreciating, those who did not mine the silver would only be able to watch helplessly as their holdings lost value. They would become the ones who suffered losses.
The four great shinobi villages quickly dispatched teams toward the eastern sea of the Land of Water.
Large numbers of ships appeared on the ocean surface.
Sunagakure's ships were the most magnificent.
Puppetry techniques had been added to them, making these ships no longer simple transport vessels. They could also function as tools.
More than a dozen puppeteers arrived at the Sunagakure Sailing Corps and modified the ships as quickly as possible.
An opening appeared in the center of the ship.
A long chain descended through the opening into the seawater, continuing downward, downward, until it reached a depth of more than two hundred meters, almost touching the seabed. At the end of the chain was a large ore basket forged from special materials.
The Sunagakure shinobi below were responsible for mining. Once the ore was extracted, they placed it into the basket.
When the basket was full, the people above would activate the mechanism and control the chain to rise.
A division of labor.
It was like a modernized assembly line.
By comparison, Kirigakure's operations were far too crude.
One Kirigakure shinobi after another dove into the sea, mined the ore, then used manpower to carry it back up to the surface before delivering it to the ships.
At first, Kirigakure's efficiency was the highest.
But after Sunagakure's team of water-type Devil Fruit shinobi arrived, the situation changed.
"Fish-Fish Fruit: Emperor Hairtail Form!"
"Fish-Fish Fruit: Humphead Wrasse Form!"
"Octopus Fruit: Giant Squid Form!"
"Shrimp-Shrimp Fruit: Whiteleg Shrimp Form!"
"Crab-Crab Fruit: Blue Swimmer Crab Form!"
"Fish-Fish Fruit: Dolphin Form!"
…
A Kirigakure shinobi looked toward the Sunagakure Sailing Corps, his expression turning ugly.
"They're faster than us!"
"Damn it! We're clearly the experts in Water Release. The water should be our battlefield."
"What do those desert people know about water?"
"Devil Fruits are too absurd!"
The Kirigakure shinobi felt intense jealousy welling up inside them.
"Besides Devil Fruits, they also have puppeteers. They modified their ship beyond recognition. It doesn't look like an ordinary ship at all anymore. It looks more like an ocean-surface mining tool."
"Devil Fruits and puppeteers have too great an advantage in this field."
One Kirigakure shinobi could not help complaining.
"Clearly, in One Piece, Devil Fruit users are afraid of seawater. But in reality, these Sunagakure Devil Fruit shinobi aren't afraid at all."
"Speaking of which, the ending of One Piece really was satisfying."
"A battle that reached the absolute peak of excitement."
"I have to admit, I hate Sunagakure. But the Sunagakure author who created One Piece is still worthy of respect."
"What a pity he was born in Sunagakure."
Sunagakure's mining efficiency made the Kirigakure shinobi anxious. They could not help working even harder.
They would not rest until they reached their limit.
As a result, they indeed mined more silver ore.
But once people reached their limits, problems were inevitable.
"Where is Hezeji?"
"I haven't seen him."
"I haven't seen him either."
The squad captain immediately panicked and hurriedly looked around, but found nothing.
The captain thought of one possibility and dove back down into the sea. Only then did he see Hezeji's body pinned beneath a piece of ore.
By then, he had already become a corpse.
"This is all Kirigakure's fault!"
"They're too competitive!"
With Hezeji's example before them, the Kirigakure shinobi immediately no longer dared to work so desperately.
The silver mine was right here. It would not run away.
It could not be mined out in a short time either.
If a person died, then everything was over. They would no longer be able to continue mining for the village.
But anxiety remained anxiety.
"Kirigakure once had master smiths capable of forging the Seven Ninja Swords. Logically speaking, they should not be inferior to Sunagakure's puppeteers. How did we lose them?"
"Not only has the smithing inheritance been lost, leaving us unable to forge ninja swords on the level of the Seven Ninja Swords, even the Hozuki clan has declined heavily. There are no longer many of them left."
"Otherwise, with their Hydrification Technique, they would also be extremely powerful at deep-sea mining."
"Ever since the Second Mizukage-sama, Kirigakure has only grown weaker."
"The Third Mizukage-sama was no good. The Fourth Mizukage-sama was no good either."
One Kirigakure shinobi looked toward the Sunagakure Sailing Corps, envy appearing in his eyes.
"If only Rasa were one of us from Kirigakure."
"Maybe he could have led Kirigakure to rebuild its glory. After all, he even managed to raise up Sunagakure, and Sunagakure's conditions are far worse than Kirigakure's."
"At the very least, he definitely would have done better than the Third Mizukage-sama and the Fourth Mizukage-sama."
Very soon, Kirigakure became even more anxious.
Because the main forces of the four great shinobi villages had arrived.
More than a thousand shinobi came to the eastern sea of the Land of Water and joined the deep-sea mining operation one after another.
Among these newly arrived shinobi, there was no lack of capable experts.
The mining efficiency increased sharply.
However, this also made the atmosphere in the entire mining area become tense.