"When all is said and done, this is all just a result of your own greed."
Tsunade did not accept Hanzo of the Salamander's justification.
"Hanzo, if you hadn't accepted aid from the Cloud and Stone villages, how could you have ended up in this situation?"
"If not for the wars of you great villages, why would we have accepted their aid in the first place?"
"Ha! Hanzo, you only speak of the wars between the great villages. Why don't you mention the wars you yourself have waged against other small villages?" Tsunade's tone was laced with a hint of mockery.
"If you hadn't plundered the resources of other small villages, how could you have brought the Rain to its current state?"
"A man like you, what right do you have to condemn us?"
Hanzo fell silent.
It was true. He had condemned the wars between the five great villages for the immense destruction they had brought upon the smaller nations. But after he had become the leader of the Rain, for the sake of his own village's development, he too had raised his blade against other small nations. In this, he was no different from the great villages he had once despised.
He had, in the end, become the very thing he hated most.
But...
The Rain Village—no, not just the Rain Village. It should be said that all the ninja villages in the world, including the five great ones, lacked a complete, self-sustaining system of production. This was determined by the very nature of a ninja's existence. They were, after all, merely tools used by the daimyo and nobles to maintain their rule.
However, the strength of the ninjas had surpassed the control of their masters. Even a child of four or five, as long as they could knead chakra, could easily kill a grown man. Even the strongest samurai under the command of the daimyo and nobles were no match for them. A powerful ninja could even destroy an entire nation single-handedly. And even the weaker ones, with their myriad of strange and wonderful ninjutsu, were more than a match for ordinary people.
Take the three basic jutsu, for instance. The Clone, Transformation, and Substitution techniques could easily run circles around any commoner. The intelligence of ordinary people, even that of the daimyo and nobles, could be easily obtained by ninjas if they so desired.
Only a ninja can fight a ninja!
This was a common understanding among the ruling class of the ninja world.
Therefore, it was impossible for them to allow the ninjas to possess a complete system for living. A nation with ninjas was important. But for the daimyo and nobles, a nation without ninjas was most important.
During the Warring States period, the ninja clans had fought and killed each other for the sake of missions. How many clans had disappeared forever? If nothing unexpected had happened, the ninjas, under the tacit cooperation of the ruling class, would have eventually become a thing of the past. And the rule of the daimyo and nobles would have continued forever.
But they had never expected the emergence of two extraordinary powerhouses: Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.
The establishment of the ninja villages was something the ruling class did not want to see. It would gradually weaken their control over the ninjas. However, in the face of those two transcendent figures, they had no power to stop it. Thus, they had changed their approach, supporting the establishment of villages in their respective countries in order to divide the ninjas. Otherwise, if the chaos in the world had continued, it was foreseeable that the God of Shinobi might have had the idea of unifying the world.
However, although they supported the establishment of the villages, they did not want them to become self-sufficient and escape their control. It was for this reason that, under their deliberate control, a village that wanted to grow and develop could only do so by plundering others.
The battles that had once been between individual clans had now become battles between villages. Although the era of the villages was indeed more peaceful than the Warring States period, once a war broke out, the scope and scale of it were far crueler. A war in the Warring States period was, at most, a battle between a few hundred members of a clan. But in the era of the villages, a major battle involving over a thousand people was just a regular occurrence. The scope of the war was also the same. Before, the wars of the clans had been limited to the areas around their strongholds or the conflict zones of their missions. But now? Now, once a war between ninjas began, it affected not just one country or one village, but the entire ninja world!
"Indeed, I have no right to condemn you now."
"But we of the Rain Village no longer wish to be a battlefield for you five great villages, like those other small villages."
"So, even if it means attacking other small nations, even if it means accepting aid from the Cloud and the Stone, I will make the Rain Village the sixth great ninja village of this world!"
"To realize this dream, even if it means plunging the world into another great war, I will not hesitate!"
Tsunade sneered. "Your reasoning sounds so noble."
"Whether it is noble or not is not important right now."
"What is important is that we both know this battle is inevitable."
"You want to use Konoha as your stepping stone, but you should take a good look at yourselves and see if you're worthy."
"Do you think we in Konoha don't know that you, along with the Cloud and the Stone, want to declare war on us?"
"But even though we know all your schemes, Konoha has never once thought of striking you first."
"Even the force sent to guard against your attack is only this one unit led by me."
"Don't you think there's something wrong with that?"
Hearing this, Hanzo's brow, hidden beneath his gas mask, furrowed tightly.
That's right!
He did not believe for a second that Konoha was unaware of the relationship between the Rain, the Cloud, and the Stone. After all, a ninja's battle was a battle of information. When the Cloud and Stone had provided aid to the Rain, they had made no effort to hide it. They were testing Konoha's attitude. At the same time, they were putting pressure on him. If he were to back out at the last minute, they would have a reason and an excuse to attack the Land of Rain.
Faced with Konoha, both the Cloud and the Stone were still somewhat apprehensive. If not for the situation in the world forcing them to weaken Konoha, they would not have wanted to bite off this tough piece of bone.
Although the Rain was just a small village, and before had not even been in the eyes of the five great nations, in the past eight or nine years, under Hanzo's leadership, it had grown and developed through campaigns to the east and west. Although still a step weaker than the five great villages, it was already close to the level of the Sand.
If Hanzo, after taking the resources of the two great villages, were to ultimately break his promise and not declare war on Konoha, then the Cloud and the Stone would not mind taking down the Rain first before starting their war with Konoha. In any case, after these years of development, the Land of Rain had been well-managed by him and was worth plundering.
After seizing its resources, both the Cloud and the Stone could replenish their strength, increasing their war potential and allowing them to hold out longer in the subsequent war with Konoha.
That's right. Even after roping in the Rain, which was only a step weaker than the Sand, neither the Cloud nor the Stone believed they could defeat Konoha.
In terms of top-tier combat power, they had the Third Raikage, A, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, and the Jinchuriki of the Four-Tails and Five-Tails, and that was it. The Cloud's Two-Tails and Eight-Tails had been killed by Li Anshi nine years ago. They had only found the resurrected Tailed Beasts and re-sealed them two years ago. Therefore, their two Jinchuriki could not be used as regular combat power.
On Konoha's side, besides Li Anshi and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Mito Uzumaki, there was also the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, and Hiruzen's father, Sasuke Sarutobi. Kagami Uchiha of the Uchiha clan could also be counted as one before he went blind. Now, although he had lost his Mangekyo Sharingan, after transplanting a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan, he could also possess strength at the threshold of the Kage level.
More importantly, at the elite jonin level, which was a step below the Kage, Konoha had far more than the Cloud and the Stone combined. Unless the Sand and the Mist also joined the crusade against Konoha, only then would victory be possible.
However, both the Sand and the Mist had been vague in their response to the proposal from the Third Raikage and Third Tsuchikage, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. This was something the two Kage could understand. After the death of the First Hokage, the Cloud and the Stone were, after all, villages that had once vied with Konoha for the title of the number one great village. Even the Second Mizukage had only been able to take the Second Tsuchikage down with him by desperately using the forbidden jutsu, "Steaming Danger Tyranny."
But many times, no answer was also an answer. Both of them believed that as long as they were not defeated by Konoha in one fell swoop, then faced with this behemoth, the Sand and the Mist would definitely not be able to resist, and would also step forward to take a piece of the pie. At that time, it would not be two villages attacking Konoha, but four!
As for the Rain Village, neither the Cloud nor the Stone had ever taken it seriously. It was only because the Rain had produced a Hanzo of the Salamander, and his summon, that they had been chosen to be their pawn.
This was something Hanzo did not understand.
To be honest, receiving support from the Cloud and the Stone, and being invited by both to wage war on Konoha, had given him an illusion—that under his leadership, the Rain had already possessed the strength to rival a great village. Otherwise, why would they cooperate with them? The ninja world was a world where the strong preyed on the weak. The strong held the power of life and death over the weak, plundering them at will. Their eyes would only look towards those who were stronger.
If it were him, he would also not have gone to cooperate with other small villages, inviting them to attack a great village together. For no other reason than that they were too weak, not even qualified to be his allies. Perhaps the only small nation he might have looked upon favorably was the Land of Iron, where the samurai resided. If he were to form an alliance, he would only choose them.
It was precisely because of this understanding that when the Cloud and the Stone had extended an olive branch, he had accepted it without the slightest hesitation.
But what he didn't know was that neither village had any intention of forming an alliance with the Rain. They had invested so many resources in cultivating them only to use them as a blade to stab at Konoha. As for whether this blade could harm Konoha, that was not within their consideration. In any case, as long as the Rain declared war on Konoha, their objective would be achieved.
At this moment, with Tsunade pointing it out, a sliver of doubt rose in his heart.
Konoha must have long been aware of the movements of the Cloud and the Stone.
But looking at the hundreds of Rain ninjas by his side, and the fewer than two hundred Konoha ninjas opposite them, he didn't know what to make of it.
Did Konoha really think that with just this handful of ninjas, they could stop the Rain's attack?
How much did they look down on the Rain Village? How much did they look down on him?
Although his gas mask hid his expression from her, from the fluctuations in his aura, Tsunade knew that Hanzo had probably guessed something.
"You've figured it out, haven't you?"
"The 'demigod' of the ninja world!"
With her arms crossed, her tone was laced with ridicule.
"Perhaps you think that under your leadership, the Rain has reached the threshold of a great village, and all it needs is one war for the world to recognize its status."
"But in our eyes, the Rain is still just a small village."
"Even if it has improved a great deal under your leadership."
"But according to the meticulous calculations of our experts in Konoha, to deal with you, this one unit is all that is needed."
Although he had expected it, to hear Tsunade say it so bluntly still made Hanzo feel that he and his village had been greatly insulted!
What kind of joke was this?
Even the Cloud and the Stone had to form an alliance with them. On what grounds did Konoha think that with a mere force of less than two hundred, they could stop the Rain's attack?
"Heh, you really are arrogant."
For some reason, after hearing her words, the faces of the Cloud and Stone ninjas he had dealt with during their transactions also appeared in his mind.
It seemed that from the very beginning, these ninjas from the great villages had never really looked up to the Rain. Even himself, they didn't seem to take him seriously.
"Then let me and my subordinates tear down this arrogance of yours with our own hands!"
"I will let you people from the great villages know how I earned my title of 'demigod'!"
"Men, with me—charge!"