Escape From Konoha

April is the season of spring flowers.

However, for Sand Hidden Village deep in the desert hinterland, the seasonal changes here are not particularly obvious.

There are sandstone and yellow sand everywhere, forming a quite spectacular scenery.

In the center of Sunagakure Village, a huge spherical building stands there, with a thick "wind" character painted on the outer wall. It is the very iconic Kazekage Building of Sunagakure Village, which is the highest administrative area of ​​Sunagakure Village. .

In a conference room, a round table was placed there, surrounded by senior members of Sunagakure Village and the Fourth Kazekage Rasa.

They held a meeting here to talk about Bear Country.

At the beginning of the meeting, a Sunagakure elder reported on the intelligence information in his hand: "Currently, the Daimyo of the Bear Country is seriously ill and has abdicated. Princess Tamahime has taken the throne and has submitted her credentials to the Oni Country. The two countries are beginning to get closer. Although the intelligence It is said that the Bear Country is just a subsidiary country of the Ghost Country, but the specific situation may not be that simple."

It's definitely not that simple. This is the unanimous thought of all the senior executives here.

It may be a vassal country now, but in the near future, it is not impossible to directly change its appearance and plant the flag of the Kingdom of Ghosts.

With the Kingdom of Ghosts' tough style like the Kingdom of Thunder, there is a high probability that this kind of thing will happen in the near future.

"What about Star Ninja Village? What's going on there?"

Luo Sha narrowed her eyes and asked in a deep voice.

In response to Luo Sha's inquiry, another responsible executive said: "The attitude of Star Ninja Village is obedient without any protest. It is estimated that like the Daming Mansion in the Bear Country, it has already been infiltrated by people from the Ghost Country. The current Xing Ninja Village The leader, Akei, is the husband of Princess Zhuhime. His resume before joining the Daimyo camp of the Bear Country is very vague, and it may be related to the military of the Ghost Country."

After saying this, everyone looked solemn, and could not help but show fear and rare happiness.

Fortunately, during last year's war with the Kingdom of Wind, their Kingdom of Wind stopped their losses in time and did not further attempt to fight with the Kingdom of Ghosts.

If they continue to wage war, are dragged into the Bear Country area by the Kingdom of Demons, and are suddenly backstabbed by the Hoshi Ninja Village, Sunagakure Village is likely to be unable to recover from this war.

They knew that the Kingdom of Ghosts might have a backup plan in the War of the Kingdom of Wind, but they did not expect that it was Star Ninja Village, a small and neglected Ninja Village.

From this point of view, there must be a secret force from the Kingdom of Demons hidden inside the Star Ninja Village.

"I remember that at the end of last year, the village sent people to the Star Ninja Village to investigate some things... It seems that we have all been fooled."

Luo Sha sighed.

No wonder Uchiha Ruri could directly cross the Bear Country area unimpeded and enter the Wind Country quietly. If the Hoshi Ninja Village were to cover him, then it would indeed be difficult to be discovered and he could be caught off guard.

This also makes it more certain that the war in the Kingdom of Wind was a deliberate war in the Kingdom of Ghosts and not an accidental one.

By controlling the Star Ninja Village in advance, if the war in the Kingdom of Wind takes a sudden turn, we can lure the enemy deep into the village, encircle and annihilate it, and completely inflict heavy damage on Sunagakure.

It's just that Sunagakure didn't persist until the back-up plan of Hoshi Ninja Village was activated, and was defeated by the Kingdom of Demons. It was really embarrassing.

"The leader of a ninja village in a small country can be changed at will, and he does it without anyone noticing. The Demon Country's organizational power to infiltrate other countries is very powerful. Those wandering witches all over the world must have made a lot of contributions. Bar."

Luo Sha sneered.

It's not that easy to penetrate a country's power structure.

Because once exposed before success, there will be no recovery.

Therefore, the intelligence system must be strong in order to grasp the center of power of the country and achieve the effect of control.

Moreover, this is not an immediate effect in a short period of time.

The layout of the Ghost Country in the Bear Country can be confirmed to have been launched at least five years ago.

"The Hokage of Konoha told me that the Kingdom of Demons is very good at cultivating spies, especially among the people, which is the easiest place for the Kingdom of Demons to penetrate. This is particularly important to pay attention to."

Because those wandering witches first appeared among the people of the Bear Country and earned a great reputation in the Bear Country. As a result, the Bear Country is now moving closer to the Ghost Country. There is not much opposition from the people, but they think this is a good thing.

This is the terrifying effect of the Wandering Witch.

Not only the infiltration of espionage, but also the infiltration of public opinion is even more terrifying.

From the nobles to the common people, most of them agreed to become tributaries of the Kingdom of Ghosts. If other countries intervened in this kind of thing, it could only delay it for a while, and it was impossible to really stop it.

Only if the wandering witch from the Ghost Country loses the hearts of the people in the Bear Country can this matter turn around.

But the Kingdom of Ghosts used a conspiracy in this matter, which is difficult to crack.

Even if it is cracked, there may be revenge from the Kingdom of Ghosts afterwards.

Moreover, if even the new daimyo agreed to something that another country would intervene in, wouldn't it be a legitimate excuse for the Demon Kingdom's army to suppress the situation?

Therefore, even if Luo Sha was unwilling to do so, he did not dare to take any action against the Bear Country.

He knew very well the strength of the Demon Country. With the current Sunagakure, there was no way he could compete with the Demon Country. Only by linking up with the Kingdom of Fire and using the influence of the Kingdom of Fire can the Kingdom of Ghosts infiltrate the Kingdom of Wind.

"Indeed, some behaviors in the Kingdom of Ghosts must be restricted."

Although the wandering witches from the Kingdom of Ghosts have not begun to infiltrate the big countries, wandering witches have gradually appeared in many small countries, especially the poor and backward ones.

Their role is to convey information to the Kingdom of Ghosts and gain fame.

It does not threaten major powers now, but that does not mean it will not threaten the future.

As long as the Kingdom of Ghosts has a thorough understanding of the intelligence system of the small country, it is obvious what to do next.

This approach is even worse than that of the Kingdom of Thunder.

"Restricting the Kingdom of Ghosts is not easy. Although the Kingdom of Thunder no longer assists the Kingdom of Ghosts, the only Kingdom of Fire that is completely at odds with the Kingdom of Ghosts is too far away from the Kingdom of Ghosts."

Luo Sha's words were very heavy.

Although Sunagakure and Konoha have united secretly, it does not mean that they can really defeat the Kingdom of Demons.

The Kingdom of Fire is stronger than the Kingdom of Wind, but its territory is not in the western part of the continent. Even from the sea, there is a large sea area separating it from the Kingdom of Ghosts.

At that time, it will only evolve into a head-on conflict between the Kingdom of Ghosts and the Kingdom of Wind.

The Ghost Country was already quite terrifying without absorbing the Bear Country. Now that it has absorbed the Bear Country, the Ghost Country will become even more powerful.

However, the Kingdom of Earth still sat back and watched, with an extremely irritating attitude towards watching the show, and had no real intention to unite with the Kingdom of Wind to suppress the Kingdom of Ghosts.

The Third Tsuchikage Onoki was so stable that he would hardly take the initiative until the situation became unclear.

The last time they took action was because the Lonely Island Alliance was profitable. After that, Iwagakure Village fell into silence. On the surface, it united with Sunagakure, but in many cases it was just a symbolic action, and the approach was quite cunning and shameless.

If the Kingdom of Wind and the Kingdom of Fire take any unfavorable action against the Kingdom of Ghosts at this time, the first unlucky one will be the Kingdom of Wind, not the Kingdom of Fire.

Therefore, even if we want to take action against the Kingdom of Ghosts, we must wait for the Kingdom of Fire to take action.

If the Kingdom of Fire does not take action and the Kingdom of Wind takes the lead, it would be too reckless and could easily give the Kingdom of Ghosts a handle.

Now, the Kingdom of Wind can no longer afford a huge failure in any step it takes and takes cautious actions.

"Master Kazekage's words are a bit pessimistic, but it is not without good news. According to the news from Shimura Danzo in Konoha, the situation in the Kingdom of Waves seems to have changed somewhat. The organization of the Kingdom of Waves is resisting the nobles. The Agricultural and Industrial Corps, seemingly dissatisfied with the control of the Kingdom of Demons, began to contact the Thunder Light Group in the underground black market in an attempt to get rid of the remote control command of the Kingdom of Demons military. From this point of view, the plans of the Kingdom of Demons in the Kingdom of Waves are likely to be in vain. "

A senior elder said with a smile.

"Thunder Light Group? If it is this group of mercenaries who lick blood with their swords, they will indeed fight against the Kingdom of Ghosts for money."

As for the bounty mercenaries in the underground black market, as senior executives of Sunagakure, they also know their personalities very well.

Many of the top executives have also secretly used the power of the underground black market.

Not to mention, because the black market western industry was severely suppressed by the Kingdom of Ghosts, there was no declaration of war on the surface, but secretly they were at war with the Kingdom of Ghosts.

The matter of letting the Thunder Light Group take over the Kingdom of Waves this time may be the underground black market's revenge against the Kingdom of Ghosts.

"Not only that, Konoha and the Fire Country's Daimyo Prefecture also seem to be planning to secretly fund the Agricultural and Industrial Corps in an attempt to support new powerful people and make the Country of Waves independent and free from the control of the Country of Demons."

"If that's the case, what are we going to do here?"

Now that the Fire Nation has taken action, as allies, they also understand the meaning of death.

The Kingdom of Ghosts cannot be too arrogant, otherwise the living space of the Kingdom of Wind and Sunagakure in the west will become smaller and smaller.

"Currently, these contests are being conducted in secret, and there is no declaration of war on the surface. Therefore, we only need to help the Fire Country pay attention to the trends of the Ghost Country. It is not appropriate to go against the Ghost Country in a big way."

Compared to the distant Fire Country, the Wind Country is closer to the Ghost Country. Kazuya's territory borders the Ghost Country, so it monitors some trends in the Ghost Country and has better information than the Fire Country.

If the Kingdom of Ghosts really plans to take any large-scale action, it can also communicate with the Kingdom of Fire in advance to discuss countermeasures.

"Let's do it this way. I will let the Anbu take charge of this matter and monitor the movements of the Kingdom of Ghosts. I hope the operation in the Country of Fire can be successful. This is all we can do at the moment."

Luo Sha nodded and made the final decision.

◎

The country of ghosts.

"The Anbu of the Kingdom of Wind seem to be taking action."

Ayane came to Shiraishi's office with the collected information and reported the matter to him immediately.

"As expected, the cooperative relationship between Konoha and Sunagakure has obviously taken a step forward during the last Rain Country talks. The Fire Country has begun to win over the agricultural and industrial groups, and the Wind Country will of course take action to look after each other."

Shiraishi rubbed the tea cup in his hand and said.

"Then we need to remove the ANBU from the Kingdom of Wind?"

Ayane asked.

"No, just let them monitor you."

If a cleansing operation is launched, let alone whether all the Sunagakure Anbu can be eradicated. Doing so will undoubtedly alert Sunagakure and tell Sunagakure that the Demon Country's military will take action next.

Unfortunately, he didn't plan to do anything next.

It is impossible to get any useful information from the surveillance of Sunagakure Anbu.

But it wouldn't be a bad thing to do this to give Sunagakure some peace of mind.

"Won't it have any impact on the Country of Waves?"

"No, I don't expect the manpower of the Agricultural and Industrial Corps to shake the behemoth of the Country of Fire. They only need to digest the internal affairs of the Country of Waves."

After all, the knowledge level of the members of the Agricultural and Industrial League is too low, which can easily lead to problems in the country's management system.

A country cannot be without technical personnel, but it cannot lack management talents either.

Without technology, a country's power cannot develop, but without management, the country will be in turmoil and lose stability.

Compared to the Kingdom of Fire, the Kingdom of Waves is too weak.

Even if the Country of Waves is given another ten years to develop, it will not really pose any threat to the Country of Fire.

The main force attacking the Country of Fire will definitely be the army of the Country of Ghosts, not the agricultural and industrial groups of the Country of Waves.

If we involve the Peasants' and Workers' League, we will only make more unnecessary sacrifices.

Shiraishi had seen this scene countless times in the great ninja wars, where the weak were involved in a duel between strong men and died innocently.

In his opinion, the Country of Waves is an innocent and weak person involved in the conflict between the Kingdom of Ghosts and the powerful people of the Country of Fire, and has no right to choose life and death.

He only needs the Agricultural and Industrial Corps to provide him with a platform for transfer when the time comes. In addition, the Agricultural and Industrial Corps' sole mission is to develop its own country.

Once things are done too much, it will inevitably lead to revenge from the Fire Nation.

Although the Kingdom of Demons is not afraid, the destruction of the Kingdom of Waves is an inevitable result.

If you don’t want a large number of victims to appear in the Kingdom of Waves, you need to artificially create a crisis of distrust between the Kingdom of Ghosts and the Kingdom of Waves, so that the Country of Fire can take advantage of it, avoid direct conflicts, and shift the scale of the conflict to the dark side. Reduce the sacrifice rate.

This is also the reason why the Leiguang Group was hired by the top management of the Agricultural and Industrial Corps.

With the support of the armed force of the Lightning Regiment, the Agricultural and Industrial Regiment will surely be able to slowly establish a foothold in the Country of Waves without having to worry about the counterattack of the noble forces of the Country of Waves.

Because the Fire Nation daimyo have given up on these old aristocratic forces, they can only wait for death slowly under the joint oppression of the Agricultural and Industrial Corps and the Fire Nation, or surrender and hand over all the land and resources in their hands, which can ensure the continuation of the family.

"Compared to this, I am going to meet with the envoys of the great powers and the envoys of the Iron Kingdom. The attitude of the neutral countries is really troublesome."

Shiraishi smiled slightly.

Because the Iron Country is not a neutral country in the general sense, it is also a neutral platform for major powers to mediate disputes.

To a certain extent, the importance of the platform of the Iron Country is more important than that of a big country.

Since the Warring States period, great powers have been attacking each other, and the trust relationship between them has also been capricious.

At this time, a mediator is needed to appear.

And the mediators between the big countries are the country of neutral national railways.

Mifune, the current general of the Iron Kingdom, is a rare master of swordsmanship in the ninja world. His swordsmanship is so fast that the ninja has no time to form seals, and can completely seal the ninja's ninjutsu.

Although his strength is not as good as the five shadows, he is also a rare swordsmanship master in the ninja world.

Moreover, the samurai unit under his command has a large number of personnel.

As a result, the comprehensive military strength of a neutral country is second only to that of a major country.

The powerful military power and the status of a neutral country are the origin of the mediator status of the Iron Kingdom.

Big countries sometimes resolve disputes, not only relying on wars, but the Iron Country also plays a very important role in it.

Coupled with the credibility of the country of iron, it has also been recognized by countries in the ninja world.

Once the country of iron's reputation for the country of ghosts changes, it may cause hidden dangers to go to the country of iron with other big countries to mediate disputes next time.

Even a neutral country needs to live, and selling cold weapons and ammunition to other countries is the most important financial income of the Iron Country.

If the arms business of the Iron Country is curbed, then the attitude of the neutral country cannot be truly neutral.

"Is it okay to not negotiate with the Iron Kingdom?"

Ayane was slightly surprised.

The envoys from the Kingdom of Iron came to the Kingdom of Ghosts for not a day or two. After the talks in the Kingdom of Rain, they stayed in Ziyuan City to discuss the issue of restrictions on arms.

"It can't be that simple. If we really follow the example of the Iron Country and don't sell arms to small countries, then we will be advertising the war in the Rain Country in vain. Not only that, envoys from the big countries also need to be received, and we can't delay it any longer. "

Big countries will definitely need the arms of the ghost country, but compared to big countries, the needs of small countries are even greater.

They urgently need a strong armed force to protect themselves from military threats from major powers.

It is precisely because of this that after the war in the Kingdom of Rain, it was the biggest business opportunity that the Kingdom of Ghosts had ever obtained.

As long as this opportunity is well utilized, the Kingdom of Ghosts can further amass more wealth and use it to invest in civil and military production.

However, what he can think of, other big countries can certainly think of.

But the first to bear the brunt is the country of iron that attaches the most importance to the arms trade.

It is said that the arms transaction volume of the Iron Kingdom this month is less than one-third of that of the previous month.

Because other small countries are eager to communicate with the Kingdom of Ghosts and obtain more advanced weapons to protect themselves, they have begun to dislike the weapons produced by the Kingdom of Iron.

This is still the case when the Kingdom of Ghosts does not relent. If the Kingdom of Ghosts relents and agrees to the requests of those small countries, the arms market of the Kingdom of Iron will directly collapse.

"Then what should we do? How about uniting those small countries that need the arms of the ghost country and putting pressure on them?"

"If we do that, the big countries will also take action. They are still the leaders now, even if they are on the decline. The voices of small countries will be completely drowned. As for the Iron Kingdom, they have given two methods. One is We avoided the small country market, allowing the iron country's arms business to barely operate."

"What about the second option?"

"Handing over the manufacturing technology does not require labor and money from the Kingdom of Ghosts, but the Kingdom of Ghosts will have a share of the final profit."

Speaking of this, both Shiraishi and Ayane had a cold light flash in their eyes.

The weapon manufacturing technology of the Ghost Country is not a precious thing that can be exchanged for money.

The birth of each weapon requires a lot of manpower, material resources, and time.

It was accompanied by countless failures, and finally took shape after countless polishings.

Subsequent weapon improvements also followed this process.

The Iron Country only wants to pay money to get these precious technologies, which is simply fantastic.

"How dare they think so."

"With the support of several other big countries behind us, our confidence will of course become different."

"It's better to launch a war against the Iron Kingdom. I think it will be solved faster this way."

"It's not that far yet. Now they are just like businessmen doing business, asking for high prices and then paying back the money."

First give an impossible condition, then wait for the Kingdom of Ghosts to relent, and then slowly use your momentum to win over people, and achieve the result of making the Kingdom of Ghosts compromise.

Shiraishi himself has used this method in the past. At the Five Shadows Conference, he and Yagura exchanged double acts to achieve his own political needs.

The current situation is just that the position of the Five Shadows Conference has been reversed, and they have become the party being threatened.

However, the Kingdom of Ghosts is not the Kingdom of Wind.

Even if it is a compromise, the other party must give up its interests.

Even though the Ghost Country is now doing things in a high-profile manner, it has never thought of freeloading.

During the Rain Country war, the Ghost Country also spent a lot of manpower and material resources to promote the Rain Country talks.

Now the big country wants to restrict the development of the Kingdom of Ghosts without giving anything. How is this possible?

Therefore, the first option can be considered at the expense of benefits. But Shiraishi rejected the second option without even thinking about it.

"Then if we want to get rid of the Iron Kingdom, it probably won't be that simple."

Ayane spread her hands helplessly.

The Iron Kingdom is obviously a pawn used by the great powers to ask for direction, and the Iron Kingdom is willing to become a pawn of the great powers.

Because it involves the foundation of the country, they have to do this.

Unless they find another way to make a living.

But it is obvious that the Iron Kingdom cannot carry out commercial transformation in a short period of time, and it still relies on the cold weapon type arms trade.

“It’s just the downside of gaining momentum too quickly.”

Many countries prefer to be neighbors to weak countries than to be neighbors to strong countries.

Because only in this way can we take the initiative in diplomacy.

The power of the Kingdom of Ghosts has aroused the vigilance of many big countries.

It is normal for countries to be targeted because of their strength.

From this point of view, it can be considered a happy thing.

Because weak countries are not qualified to be targeted, nor are they qualified to negotiate fairly in front of powerful countries.

The fact that they are targeting the Kingdom of Ghosts in this way proves how powerful the Kingdom of Ghosts is.

As long as this blockade can be broken through, the future development of the Ghost Country will become smoother.

"Anyway, I will go and have a good negotiation with the envoys from the Great Country and the Iron Country. The security of the city will be left to you recently. It will be quite troublesome if these envoys have an accident here."

Although he had dealt with many spies who had sneaked into the country, Shiraishi was even more afraid that these envoys would take the initiative to find things to do in the Kingdom of Ghosts.

For example, at the end of the Third Ninja War, the Kumogakure envoy went to Konoha to negotiate and sign an armistice agreement. As a result, he used the Hyuga clan to muddy the waters, completely making Konoha passive, and almost sacrificing the dignity of the Hyuga clan in exchange for peace.

This incident reminded Shiraishi.

Shiraishi is not afraid of legitimate diplomatic methods, but if he resorts to such rogue tactics, it will be quite troublesome to deal with.

That's why he asked Ayane to pay attention to the security issues in Ziyuan City, so as not to let some messengers with ulterior motives direct and stage farce of being attacked and killed, putting the Kingdom of Ghosts into an embarrassing situation.

The farce between Kumogakure and the Konoha Hyuga clan cannot be repeated in Shion Castle.