Sunagakure was the first to provoke war against Konoha, and they were also the first to surrender.
They were the type who loved to play but lacked the skill, howling wildly the moment hands were loosened, and begging for mercy the moment they were choked by the neck.
When the news of their plea for peace with Konoha spread through various channels, many naive people in Ninja Villages large and small thought the war was finally coming to an end.
But they were wrong. Anyone who understood the situation knew that the war would not end; on the contrary, it had only just begun.
The Third Great Ninja War would slowly enter its second stage, which was also the most chaotic and tragic phase.
The Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, who had become as shrewd as a fox with age, would not be ruled by hatred; everything he did was to obtain the maximum benefit at the minimum cost.
Hatred was merely a tool to stimulate the subordinates; interest was the fundamental root that allowed a Village to grow and thrive.
The only thing was that a small accident occurred in his plan. Konoha produced a ruthless figure like Orochimaru, who took down Sunagakure at the minimum cost. Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi, Ōnoki greatly admired this snake's command ability, considering it the correct approach.
Although he failed to make Konoha bleed heavily, Sunagakure was now crippled. Didn't the opportunity just arrive?
After the Battle of Kikyo Pass, taking advantage of Sunagakure's chaos while they were still reorganizing their forces, Ōnoki directed Iwagakure Ninjas to continue plundering the fertile regions along the border of the Land of Wind.
Since the establishment of the Five Great Nations and the Five Great Ninja Villages, the world's structure had basically been determined. The era of the Sengoku Period, where large and small countries annexed each other and Daimyo and Generals fought in chaos, had become a thing of the past.
The Five Great Nations had each established their own territorial boundaries, and the small countries in between became buffer zones during times of peace and arenas during times of war.
It was fine for small countries to fight among themselves, but they were not allowed to annex others and grow strong, because the Five Great Nations would not tolerate the emergence of another country that could threaten their status.
The last person who tried to do this, Hanzou of Amegakure, was ground into the dirt by the three nations of Fire, Earth, and Wind. Then, the Ninjas of those three nations fought in his home, leaving the Land of Rain riddled with holes and creating countless tragedies of life and death for ordinary people, which directly led to the birth of the 'Akatsuki' organization.
It was also not possible for the Five Great Nations to annex adjacent small countries because other great nations would intervene to stop it; no one was foolish enough to sit back and watch the other side grow in strength. Furthermore, without a buffer zone, everyone would be facing each other directly, which provided too little security.
Unless you first dealt with the Ninja Villages of the other great nations and unified the Ninja World, this balance would be hard to break. Regardless, it was the people of the small countries caught in the middle who suffered, and who cared about them?
Since the difficulty of expanding territory was too great, how could one reap benefits for their own Village during the Great War?
It was simple: money, precious metals, valuable jewelry, infants with special talents, various Ninjutsu and secret techniques, and so on—anything that could strengthen the Village's power was a target.
Iwagakure was currently doing exactly these things.
By the time Sunagakure organized its forces to head north, the fertile border areas adjacent to the Land of Birds and the Land of Rain had already been severely ravaged.
The Ninjas of Sunagakure had just finished their war with Konoha, and they had to fight Iwagakure Ninjas with bloodshot eyes once again.
At the same time, in the direction of the Land of Grass, while Iwagakure was reaping benefits, they prepared to attack the Land of Fire, but they were waiting—waiting for a thug to join the fray.
Sure enough, seeing Iwagakure Village gaining advantages, the dark-skinned barbarians of Kumogakure could not sit still and soon chose to join the war.
It had always been them robbing others; there was no reason to stand aside and watch others happily plunder.
Contrary to Ōnoki's assumption, once Kumogakure joined, the situation was no longer something he could control.
Kumogakure Ninjas invaded the Land of Fire from the Land of Hot Springs while also entering the Land of Rice Fields, intending to drive away the Iwagakure forces stationed there to prevent them.
Konoha had just finished the war on the western front and had to deploy personnel again to deal with the threats from the northwest and the north.
The situation became chaotic once again.
The current situation was that Iwagakure was entangled with Sunagakure in the south, while friction with Konoha in the Land of Grass was becoming increasingly serious, and they were also guarding against Kumogakure in the Land of Rice Fields.
Sunagakure Village headed north to resist Iwagakure, but they also had to leave some troops on the eastern front to prevent Konoha from stabbing them in the back.
Although the two sides had signed an alliance agreement and Konoha would likely not do that, trust was the cheapest thing in the Ninja World, and an agreement was just a piece of scrap paper.
As soon as Kumogakure joined, they faced off against Iwagakure and Konoha.
Each had their own opponents, and the entire Ninja World situation turned into a mess, sliding completely toward the edge of losing control.
Now, all that was missing was for Kirigakure to join.
In fact, if the four great nations united to attack Konoha, Konoha would not be able to hold out, but such a thing could never happen.
That's how the Ninja World was; in the absence of a common enemy, the Five Great Ninja Villages were wary of each other, guarded against each other, and wanted to kill each other. Trust and cooperation absolutely did not exist.
---
Before the Battle of Kikyo Pass, the situation in the direction of the Land of Grass was actually quite stable. Iwagakure and Konoha only had small-scale team frictions and no large-scale battles.
Therefore, Higashino Jiro, Uzumaki Yuwa, and many Konoha Ninjas got the chance for rotation, returning to the Village for the New Year and resting for a period of time.
But with the defeat of Sunagakure and the sudden change in the Ninja World situation, the actions of Iwagakure and Kumogakure were like lighting a quiet powder keg, and the situation instantly became tense.
The Land of Grass, the Land of Rice Fields, and the Land of Hot Springs were unable to resist the invasion of the great nations and had to seek help from Konoha.
After all, compared to those bandits, the reputation of Konoha, established by the God of Shinobi, was much better, and the image of Konoha Ninjas was slightly more positive than that of the other four great nations.
This was a world of comparing the bad; compared to the other four great nations' daily lack of humanity, Konoha Village immediately appeared handsome and refined—as long as you guys don't look like good people, then I am justice.
Under these circumstances, Higashino Jiro missed his son's birthday for the first time, rushing toward the Land of Grass with the main force.
The birthday party, where the family of three used to be present every year, only had... 5 people at home this year because of the war.
Uchiha Shisui, Yūgao Uzuki, and Gekkō Hayate ran over to celebrate his birthday.
Among the four, Higashino Shin's birthday was the earliest, at the end of March. The birthdays of the other three were all after October; in fact, Yūgao and Hayate's birthdays were only one day apart and could basically be celebrated together.
Under the gaze of his friends, Higashino Shin made a wish seriously once again.
He hoped that both Higashino Jiro and Uzumaki Yuwa could return alive.
In his previous life, he was just an ordinary person. When he arrived in the Ninja World, he was also born into a civilian family. He didn't have a System that gifted him an Ōtsutsuki Physique right away, nor did he have an Innate Spirit Treasure living in his brain, let alone a deep blue panel that could add dozens of points a day.
He only had a Golden Finger discovered at the age of four: a slightly special Soul that helped him filter White Natural Energy. Since white energy accounted for the smallest proportion of all types of Natural Energy, his absorption speed was excruciatingly slow.
Besides that, he was also extremely self-disciplined. He had been studying and cultivating hard since he was three years old, which was why he had decent strength by the age of seven.
But this strength was barely enough for self-preservation. Wanting to intervene in the Great Ninja War?
He didn't have that ability.
Just look at what kind of figures emerged when the Third Great Ninja War entered its chaotic period.
The Sunagakure Ninjas, who were tricked by Orochimaru, turned around and took out their anger on Iwagakure. A young Ninja named Rasa stood out; his Magnet Release: Gold Dust buried an unknown number of Iwagakure lives.
Currently, this person had high prestige in Sunagakure and had a faint trend of becoming the Fourth Kazekage. However, his competitor, the great beauty Pakura, who provided mummy services for Iwagakure with her Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai, also had many supporters.
One mountain cannot hold two tigers, unless one is male and the other is female.
But the problem was that Rasa was a married man. His wife, Karura, was heavily pregnant, and the child was about to be born.
On the Land of Hot Springs battlefield, the son of the Kumogakure Sandaime brought his brothers; the future AB Combo's strength was temporarily unstoppable, making the Konoha Ninjas suffer miserably until they met Konoha's blondie in the middle of the year.
Minato Namikaze did not fall behind in a two-on-one fight, which included an Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. Relying on his Flying Thunder God, he forcibly blocked the Kumogakure offensive.
Konoha's Yellow Flash lived up to his reputation. If an ordinary Ninja encountered him, they might as well wait for death; running away was meaningless.
Currently, with Orochimaru being disheartened, Tsunade leaving, and Jiraiya being wholeheartedly focused on paving the way for his student, Minato Namikaze was the most shining star on the Konoha battlefield. Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, he shuttled between the battlefields of Konoha against Iwagakure and Kumogakure, making the enemies tremble with fear for a time.
No matter how hard the Konoha Ninjas struggled to resist, as long as they saw a flash of yellow light appear, they knew victory was at hand.
By October, a major event occurred on the battlefield that shocked the entire Ninja World.
After an intelligence war between Iwagakure and Kumogakure, Kumogakure fell into Ōnoki's trap. The Third Raikage, A, led an elite force straight to the border area of the Land of Rice Fields, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Waterfalls, attempting to intercept a large amount of valuable supplies plundered by Iwagakure.
Then, he fell into the layered encirclement of ten thousand Iwagakure Ninjas.
Those who followed him were all elite troops of Kumogakure with great strength and rich experience. To preserve this backbone force for the Village, the Third Raikage led them to break through a gap and then stayed behind alone to cover the retreat, fighting for three days and three nights before finally dying of exhaustion.
The Raikage's death not only showed the entire Ninja World the power of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode but also pushed the Third Great Ninja War completely into an uncontrollable and chaotic stage.
Carrying the hatred of the Third Raikage's death, the Kumogakure Ninjas completely clashed with Iwagakure. Konoha also took the opportunity while Iwagakure was heavily diverted to besiege the Raikage to push the front line from the border back into the Land of Grass.
Did the two sides cooperate? No, Kumogakure and Konoha were still fighting to the death in the Land of Hot Springs; cooperation was impossible.
Sunagakure also accelerated the pace of driving out the Iwagakure forces within their country.
For a time, Iwagakure seemed to have become the big boss of the Ninja World; of the four great nations participating in the war, three were fighting them.
Ōnoki: "..."
This... this isn't right. Why did the plan turn out like this?
Why did I become everyone's target as the fighting went on?
But things had already come to this; he could only bite the bullet and hold out to the end.