"What do you mean, 'and then'?"
Elder Totsuguri froze.
"What happens after we capture Wildfire City?" Pakura asked again.
"…Naturally, we consolidate our gains, advance deeper into the Land of Fire, and seize even greater benefits! We could even force Konoha back to the negotiating table and make them sign treaty terms more favorable to us!"
"Well said."
Pakura nodded slightly and calmly replied,
"Then I assume our advance must have been going extremely smoothly before Orochimaru arrived on the southwestern front?"
"Uh…"
Elder Totsuguri was momentarily speechless, but he still tried to argue,
"Before Orochimaru arrived, Wildfire City had Jiraiya, Namikaze Minato, and that white-haired brat stationed there! Every one of them was a powerful fighter. But this time is different!
"Konoha is simultaneously fighting Kumogakure and Kirigakure. Nearly all of its forces are concentrated on those two fronts, and they still have to guard against movements from Iwagakure. If we launch an offensive now, everything will work out!"
Listening to the elder's passionate speech,
Pakura sighed.
"First, Konoha has three Sannin. Besides Jiraiya and Orochimaru, the third one has yet to appear on any battlefield.
"So even if we capture Wildfire City, that doesn't mean we'll be able to march straight into Konoha unopposed.
"Second, although Konoha is fighting on two fronts, they currently hold the advantage on both. If necessary, they can completely afford to transfer part of their forces here.
"They could even use the Flying Thunder God to 'fly' directly over from another border…"
Pakura looked toward him.
"Elder Totsuguri, when that happens, will you fight Mikami Yuu?"
The moment Yuu's name was mentioned, the entire hall fell silent.
A man's name cast a shadow just as surely as a tree.
If one were ranking the foreign ninja most feared by the people of Sunagakure, there might be some debate over first place, since Hatake Sakumo remained an extremely strong contender.
But if the list contained three names,
Mikami Yuu would unquestionably be among them.
At the foot of Mount Kikyo, the sight of his swordsmanship tearing through Iron Sand and capturing Rasa alive in a single battle had left psychological scars on quite a few Suna ninja.
Not to mention…
Sunagakure had recently begun receiving fragments of information from the Kirigakure front.
They had learned that several members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had already fallen to Yuu.
Individually, members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen ranged only from jōnin to elite jōnin.
But the group itself had been established with the goal of assassinating Kage-level opponents.
The fact that several of them had been defeated in direct combat proved that Yuu's earlier achievements had not been flukes.
He genuinely possessed Kage-level strength.
A killing god like that…
Me, fight Mikami Yuu? Seriously?
Faced with such an impossible question, Elder Totsuguri wisely chose to shut his mouth and play dead.
At this moment,
Chiyo glanced toward Ebizō.
The latter coughed and spoke in a deep voice,
"Although some of us may be reluctant to admit it, Sunagakure's overall strength is indeed inferior to Konoha's at present.
"We have only just survived a major war and finally managed to extricate ourselves from it. At a time like this, we absolutely cannot casually ignite another conflict—especially when victory is uncertain.
"I suggest that we observe the situation for now and focus our efforts on recuperation and restoring our strength.
"If the situation in the ninja world changes later, it will not be too late for us to find a way to enter the conflict then."
"…"
Elder Totsuguri opened his mouth but could not produce a counterargument.
The other pro-war elders also fell silent.
Seeing this, Pakura quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
She naturally did not want to go to war with Konoha again.
Their inability to win was one reason.
Another reason was the existence of a certain white-haired brat.
His presence instinctively made her want to preserve the current peace.
That way, perhaps someday she could visit Konoha in her capacity as Kazekage.
Then she might even get to see that guy bow to her.
That would definitely be amusing.
Now,
Ebizō had spoken as the "rational neutral party," which effectively represented the shared opinion of both himself and Chiyo.
Given the siblings' prestige within Sunagakure, the voices of Totsuguri and the other war hawks were immediately suppressed.
That was exactly what Pakura wanted.
Thus,
she spoke again.
"Since everyone has reached a consensus, we'll end the discussion on whether to join the war here.
"Next is the matter of civilian affairs…
"Elder Chiyo, how did the matter of contacting Amegakure that I asked you to handle go?"
Chiyo slowly raised her head after hearing her name.
Her hoarse voice sounded through the room.
"I previously sent Amegakure an official request for a diplomatic visit.
"Hanzō has already responded…"
Her expression darkened.
"He refused."
That was right.
It had been Pakura who instructed Chiyo to submit a request to visit Amegakure.
Back then, Yuu had half-jokingly mentioned a plan to "transfer water from the north to the south."
The newly appointed Acting Kazekage had actually taken the suggestion seriously.
Following the principle of there's no harm in trying, she had asked Chiyo, who had some degree of acquaintance with Hanzō of the Salamander, to contact him.
But…
they had been rejected.
Chiyo was rather displeased with Hanzō because of this.
No, seriously…
Everyone gives you some face and calls you the "Demigod," and you actually start believing you're somebody important?
You're merely the defeated leader of a minor ninja village. What are you putting on airs for? You actually dare reject a diplomatic visit from Sunagakure?
Sunagakure might not be able to defeat Konoha—
but did he really think they couldn't defeat Amegakure?
Although those thoughts ran through her mind, Chiyo remembered the ceasefire strategy they had just agreed upon and suppressed her dissatisfaction instead of voicing it.
On the other side,
Pakura frowned slightly and pondered.
"Amegakure sits at the crossroads of several great nations. During the Second Ninja World War, it was used as a battlefield by the Lands of Wind, Fire, and Earth.
"It was already difficult enough for Hanzō of the Salamander to maintain his position while trapped between those powers.
"Naturally, he's become extremely wary and suspicious of us…"
Pakura shook her head.
"Forget it. If we can't establish contact for now, there's no need to force it.
"Let's focus on our own affairs first.
"What progress has been made on the previously proposed plan to construct a long canal from the Land of Rivers to divert water here?
"And what about seawater desalination?"
"…"
The Sunagakure elders continued their discussion.
However, neither plan could be completed in a short period.
The first required enormous amounts of money and manpower.
Even if the water diversion succeeded, the flow would still be limited and could only partially relieve irrigation pressure around Sunagakure.
The second required a series of experiments and verification.
It could only be put into practical use after confirming that the treated water posed no harm to the human body.
After the elders argued back and forth for some time and the discussion was nearly complete,
Pakura summarized the matter as the one currently in charge.
"In any case, I ask all of you to set aside past disagreements and work together to solve these fundamental problems concerning Sunagakure's survival.
"As for the border, continue reconnaissance for now.
"War may ultimately be unavoidable, but we need to wait for an appropriate opportunity.
"And…"
Pakura paused.
"Don't forget.
"Our target does not necessarily have to be Konoha.
"It could also be one of Konoha's enemies."
"…Huh?"
Those final words caused Totsuguri and several others to pause as they suddenly discovered a blind spot.
That was right!
The Land of Wind did not only border the Land of Fire.
Why did they have to keep smashing their heads against Konoha?
Wouldn't it also be pretty appealing to ally with Konoha, destroy Iwagakure and Kirigakure together, and divide their territories among themselves?
While they were at it, they could even eliminate Amegakure to avenge the insult of having Sunagakure's diplomatic visit rejected…
As the saying went—
The moment one thinks of siding with Konoha, heaven and earth suddenly seem vast.
Once they changed their perspective and realized that an alliance with Konoha actually sounded rather good, the thoughts of several Sunagakure elders became subtle.
The meeting finally came to an end after lasting roughly an hour.
As Totsuguri and the others departed one after another,
only Chiyo, Ebizō, and Pakura remained in the room.
The siblings were among the very few people currently capable of helping Pakura carry out her intentions, so they had grown quite close to her recently.
At this moment,
Pakura rested her chin on one hand and turned to look out the window, momentarily lost in thought.
"Speaking of which…"
"That guy…"
What was he doing right now?
The face of a certain white-haired boy quietly surfaced in the young Kazekage's mind…
…
"Achoo!"
Yuu sneezed.
At this moment, he was shopping for food in a market town near Shakuka Town together with Rin, Kurenai, and Obito.
Strictly speaking, this was not a task that the "commander" should personally handle.
However, Yuu had spent too much time inside the stronghold lately and was beginning to feel suffocated.
So he had voluntarily taken over this supply run and brought Rin and the others with him.
The town was very close to the Shakuka Town stronghold anyway.
If something happened, all they needed to do was launch a signal flare from the stronghold, and it would immediately be visible from here.
Aside from Uchiha Madara personally descending from the heavens to beat up his descendants, Yuu could not think of any unexpected event capable of causing the stronghold to fall.
"Wow! Those goldfish are so pretty!"
Kurenai stopped in front of a goldfish-scooping stall, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the large tank before her.
Several fish resembling koi had completely captured her attention.
Rin also showed a curious expression.
Compared with Kurenai, however, Rin preferred fluffy little animals—especially cats and dogs.
Ever since arriving on the southeastern front, she had not seen the little "Nohara Shiro" from before in a long time.
She missed it somewhat.
"Um… Yuu, can we play for a little while?"
Kurenai clasped her hands together and spoke with a slightly coquettish tone.
"We're already here, so let's relax a bit. There isn't even anyone waiting in line right now."
"…Sure."
Yuu did not mind.
After all, this trip was partly intended as relaxation to begin with.
Kurenai and the others were still only teenagers. It was perfectly normal for them to want to have some fun.
It would not take very long anyway.
"Yay!"
Kurenai quietly cheered.
Taking advantage of the moment, she threw herself at Yuu and hugged him once before immediately pulling the still-unprepared Rin over to crouch beside the stall.
She took out a few coins, received a paper scoop from the stall owner, and began playing.
After watching briefly, Obito also joined them.
While scooping goldfish, he even activated his Sharingan, apparently hoping to show off his abilities and make Rin look at him with newfound admiration.
Unfortunately, the main difficulty of this game was that the paper scoop softened the moment it touched water.
If you did not understand the trick, excellent eyesight was completely useless.
Yuu stood nearby, watching the three struggle against the goldfish.
Then, at a certain moment, his eyelid twitched.
He faintly sensed a familiar, slightly cold presence coming from behind and to the side.
His heart instinctively jumped.
"This is…"
Yuu immediately turned around and looked toward the direction where he had sensed something strange.
Not far away, beside a pottery stall,
a small snake with pure white scales was coiled in the shadow of a wall.
Its head was raised.
Golden vertical pupils stared directly at Yuu while its forked tongue flicked softly through the air.
A white snake…?
Yuu's heart stirred.
In the current Naruto world, there should only be one person who used this kind of summoned beast.
"Rin, Kurenai, Obito."
Yuu spoke calmly.
"Stay here. I'm going over there to buy a few oranges. I'll be back soon."
"Oranges?"
Kurenai raised her head in confusion.
Rin also glanced at Yuu, then looked around.
She did not notice anything unusual.
Only Obito remained completely absorbed in the goldfish-scooping game.
After breaking several of the scoops he had bought earlier, he had paid for several more and continued without even raising his head.
"Go, go! By the time you get back, I'll definitely have caught the biggest one!"
"Hopefully."
Yuu said nothing more.
He turned and walked toward the white snake.
After confirming that there were no unnecessary eyes watching him nearby, he relaxed slightly.
Seeing him approach, the white snake immediately twisted its body and slithered into a nearby alley, apparently leading the way.
Every so often, it turned its head back as if checking whether Yuu was still following.
Man and snake continued forward.
After several twists and turns and passing through several deserted side streets,
Yuu saw an abandoned courtyard ahead.
The gate stood half open.
Weeds had grown wildly inside, making it obvious that no one had lived there for a very long time.
However,
a cold, obscure presence existed within the courtyard.
It resembled a venomous snake concealed in the shadows.
The moment Yuu's All-Spirit Perception caught the presence, his expression tightened slightly.
Then…
he slowly pushed open the door.
Creak—
The old wooden door, long neglected, produced a piercing sound.
At the center of the courtyard, beneath a dead old tree,
a figure wearing a kimono stood with his back toward Yuu.
Pale skin.
Long black hair.
Golden magatama-shaped earrings hanging beneath his ears.
It was Orochimaru.
"You came?"
A hoarse voice sounded.
"I came."
Yuu nodded, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at Orochimaru's back.
Orochimaru did not continue with some ridiculous line like "You shouldn't have come."
Instead, he slowly turned around.
His golden vertical pupils gleamed coldly beneath the dim light as they locked onto Yuu.
The corners of his lips curved into an ambiguous smile.
"It's been a long time, Mikami-kun."
Yuu nodded.
"It really has."
Nearly one or two months had passed since Sunagakure withdrew its forces.
During that period, Yuu had already returned to Konoha twice and had been transferred from the southwestern battlefield to the southeastern front.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, had remained around Wildfire City handling the aftermath of the war.
This was the first time the two had met again since then.
Honestly…
Yuu was somewhat surprised by this meeting.