Land of Earth, The Hidden Rock Village.
Inside the Tsuchikage Building, Tsuchikage Office, Onoki looked at the intel in his hand, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.
"Shimura Danzo actually died, and at this timing he was killed by Sosuke."
This was a bit beyond Onoki's expectations.
His original plan was to use the Ninja Sect to wear down Konoha's strength, but that plan hadn't even started yet, so how did Konoha end up clashing with the Ninja Sect, and even lost a senior official in the process?
At this moment Onoki rather felt like he'd just woken up to find that the fruit tree he planted yesterday had rapidly grown and borne fruit overnight.
"Then the things that come next will be much easier to handle." A look of delight appeared on Onoki's face.
Originally his plan had one major flaw, namely that the Ninja Sect could not be allowed to discover The Hidden Rock's scheme; once discovered, it would trigger backlash.
Now there was no need to go through all that trouble. With irreconcilable conflict already between the Ninja Sect and Konoha, The Hidden Rock's involvement could even earn the Ninja Sect's gratitude.
If the Ninja Sect can withstand Konoha's pressure, they can fully be supported long-term to disgust Konoha.
Onoki smiled as he picked up the teacup on his desk, carefully savoring the imported tea leaves from the Land of Fire.
This was the only good news he'd heard recently.
After putting the cup down, Onoki felt his whole body relax quite a bit.
Because Roshi couldn't be found, his stress had been high these days.
Roshi himself was dispensable to The Hidden Rock, but the Four-tails inside Roshi was far too important.
A single Tailed Beast represents a top-tier powerhouse, and a top-tier powerhouse that can be passed down indefinitely; that's something no prodigy can compare to.
Humans cannot live forever, whereas Tailed Beasts are truly immortal—not only do they not die of old age, even if killed they can resurrect.
The key point is that this is wartime, when manpower is at a premium; Roshi walking off at such a time is really adding insult to injury for The Hidden Rock.
Right now Onoki was quite grateful to the Ninja Sect and Konoha; seeing him in a foul mood, they handed him such a big present and cheered him up a bit.
Under normal circumstances, a Jinchuriki leaving the village has a more negative impact on a Ninja Village than the death of a single senior official.
But Roshi left quietly, moved in a low-key manner after leaving the village, and never exposed himself; this greatly reduced the impact of his departure.
Whereas Shimura Danzo's death was different; it spread rapidly throughout the entire Ninja World.
This made the actual impact on Konoha caused by Shimura Danzo's death greater than that caused by Roshi's departure.
"Was it The Hidden Cloud Village or The Hidden Sand Village?" Onoki was curious who was behind the push.
Such speed of spread clearly wasn't natural diffusion; a major force was at work.
Although The Hidden Sand Village hasn't declared war on Konoha, the Land of Wind borders the Land of Rain, so The Hidden Sand might have been the first Ninja Village to get the news. Onoki felt The Hidden Sand Village was quite suspect.
The Hidden Sand isn't far from Konoha; even if they have no intention of sending troops, they'd certainly be pleased to see their neighbor suffer.
Take Onoki himself as an example: even though he hasn't had any recent intention of waging war on Konoha, once he got the news he immediately ordered The Hidden Rock to help spread it.
He personally doesn't want to fight, but what if someone else is interested?
The facts indeed turned out just as Onoki anticipated; there really was a Ninja Village whose interest was piqued.
On the other side, after learning the news, the Third Mizukage urgently convened a high-level meeting.
Having tasted defeat, they had never resigned themselves to Konoha and had been waiting for a chance to wash away their shame and reclaim the Ninja Blades.
"Everyone, share your thoughts." The Third Mizukage narrowed his eyes, smiling.
Konoha was not The Hidden Mist Village's only enemy, but it was the biggest one. Now Konoha had run into trouble; this could only benefit The Hidden Mist Village.
The executives exchanged glances, and in the end the captain of the Hidden Mist Jonin Squad spoke first.
"This is a pretty good opportunity for the village. Shimura Danzo's death not only deprives Konoha of a powerful fighter, it also impacts Konoha's morale.
And now Konoha has gained a new opponent. Although the Ninja Sect is a new organization, both its leader and deputy are strong; Konoha will have to spend some strength if it wants to retaliate."
"So aggressive—something's off." The Hidden Mist adviser whose lower face was wrapped in bandages inconspicuously glanced at the Third Mizukage.
Among The Hidden Mist high command he was in the main-war faction, and had always supported another war with Konoha.
The Jonin Squad captain was usually neutral, yet today he was suddenly sounding like a hawk; after thinking it over, the adviser felt this was the Third Mizukage wanting to fight Konoha again.
Unfortunately, the adviser couldn't glean the Mizukage's true thoughts from that eternally unchanged smiling, squinting expression.
"I also feel this is our Hidden Mist's chance to wash away our shame. A village executive was killed by Ninja Forces from a minor country; this precisely proves Konoha is showing signs of fatigue." The adviser said after some thought.
Setting aside the influence of some other factors, he did think this was a good timing—at least better than the last time.
"An opportunity is still an opportunity, but the risks aren't small either." Genji spoke up.
"Shimura Danzo's death is a loss for Konoha, but not an excessively severe one."
Genji didn't really approve of attacking Konoha now. The loss Shimura Danzo's death inflicted on Konoha was more about face than hard power.
Charging in right now would just make it easy for an enraged Konoha to turn around and pound them.
If the one who died were Sarutobi Hiruzen, then Genji would be inclined to agree.
The sudden death of the Hokage isn't just as simple as losing one top-tier combatant; it's highly likely to trigger internal strife over the scramble for power.
"Konoha has yet to suffer any major defeat and still has deep reserves of strength. As for launching an offensive, we should deliberate at length." Right after Genji finished speaking, another executive immediately echoed him.