Under Onoki's command, his son, Kitsuchi, arrived quickly.
"What is it, Father?" Kitsuchi asked in his deep, resonant voice.
Onoki's face was full of gravity: "Have you seen the new intelligence?"
Hearing Onoki's words, Kitsuchi nodded. "I have, Father."
As he spoke, a look of awe appeared on Kitsuchi's face. "To subdue an entire village single-handedly... is such power even human?"
"Of course!" Onoki nodded. Seeing the shock on his son's face actually improved Onoki's mood somewhat.
'This is nothing,' He thought, 'It's just the emergence of another God of Ninja. Young people are so easily startled.'
Unlike him, who already had a mature strategy for dealing with this!
Such is the experience of the elderly!
Under the pressure from Sora, Onoki could only find solace by mentally teasing his own son.
But he figured Kitsuchi wouldn't mind, since he would never know.
Onoki continued: "It's nothing major, Kitsuchi!"
"Let me give you another lesson. You must understand, no matter how powerful Yuki Sora is, he is still human. And all humans have weaknesses!"
"What we must do is find those weaknesses and get close to him!"
"Don't be afraid. In situations like this, our Iwagakure has a mature way of handling it!" Onoki said confidently.
"Really? What is it, Father?" Hearing this, Kitsuchi grew very excited.
He looked at Onoki with admiration, thinking that his father, worthy of being called the [Survival King], was truly experienced.
However, after Kitsuchi asked this question, Onoki himself froze.
What 'mature way of handling it'? It was just about outliving Sora.
But he couldn't tell his son that.
"Quiet! Some things lose their power if spoken aloud. I'll teach you these things later!" Onoki scolded.
"Oh, oh, okay!" Trusting his father completely, Kitsuchi nodded simply and honestly.
"Let's continue with what we were discussing, Father!"
"Hmm!" Onoki nodded and began to explain his plan. "In the current Ninja World situation, after Yuki Sora has crushed Kumogakure, it has become a structure of one superpower and multiple major powers."
"Faced with this situation, we must not provoke the superpower. The best course is to align with the superpower to deal with the other major powers."
"So, here's what we do next. We do this, and then that, and so on... We will offer the resources of our Iwagakure to win Yuki Sora's favor. This should resolve our current predicament. Do you understand?"
Onoki began to outline his plan of... well, let's call it 'strategic alignment'.
Because he was being very... reasonable.
That night, the Kitsuchikage's office in Iwagakure remained brightly lit until dawn.
However, this was only in Iwagakure.
…
In Konoha, Hiruzen received the intelligence from Kumogakure almost simultaneously.
In fact, Konoha's intelligence arrived even faster than Iwagakure's.
After all, Sora was the one who had single-handedly crushed Konoha, so they had been closely monitoring his movements.
The moment Sora appeared in Kumogakure and the fighting began, Konoha learned of his arrival.
Therefore, almost immediately after Sora left, the situation in Kumogakure became known to Konoha.
"Sigh..." Hiruzen took a deep drag from his pipe, exhaling clouds of smoke!
He looked at the three men and one woman before him: Hyuga Clan's Elder, Hyuga Kazunari, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Akimichi Torifu.
Yes, after the Uchiha, Danzo, and Minato had all passed away one after another, in order to control the village's situation, Hiruzen was forced to bring the Hyuga Clan's Elder, and even his former comrade, Akimichi Torifu, into Konoha's core decision-making circle.
Under the weight of Hiruzen's long-held authority and through the cooperation of the village's clans, Konoha's situation had finally stabilized after the [Rotting Wood Plague] incident.
However, after that incident, on a certain dark and windy night, Kushina had left the village along with Kakashi.
Therefore, it was an indisputable fact that Konoha's strength had significantly declined!
Strictly speaking, upon hearing the news of Kumogakure being attacked, the Fourth Raikage beheaded, the former Eight-Tails' Jinchuriki Killer Bee missing and presumed dead, one-third of Kumogakure destroyed, and casualties being severe, Hiruzen was actually pleased.
After all, it wasn't good if only Konoha suffered under Sora's suppression. But if everyone suffered, that felt rather satisfying!
Moreover, Kumogakure had always viewed Konoha with predatory eyes, considering them their greatest rival.
This disaster befalling Kumogakure also removed a threat to Konoha. Hiruzen almost felt like enshrining Sora and offering him incense.
However, while the threat from Kumogakure was gone, the threat from Sora himself remained!
Given the previous battles, it was an undeniable fact that Sora held hostility towards them!
"Let's discuss it. What should we do next?"
Hiruzan took a deep breath and uttered the words that gave everyone a headache: "Should we... set aside our former pride?"