Chapter 48: Hanzo's Frantic Probing
Elder Seiji generally agreed with Kiyoshi's plan, but he wanted to refine it further, anticipating all possible scenarios and preparing contingency plans.
"Alright, go organize your thoughts and write me a formal report. I'll revise it and then go talk to Mizukage-sama," Elder Seiji said to Kiyoshi.
"Yes!" Kiyoshi replied respectfully, his tone carrying a hint of excitement that his plan had been approved by his grandfather.
However, Kiyoshi at this time had no idea that two individuals would disrupt the Land of Whirlpools operation. One was Shimura Danzo, the Hidden Leaf's "Iron Pot Shadow," who would inadvertently provide him with the best assistance, and the other was Uchiha Madara, who was fanning the flames from the shadows.
Elder Seiji was also a man of action. After Kiyoshi handed him the scroll containing the plan, he spent another day making more detailed revisions to the plan before going to meet the Third Mizukage Ice and ultimately successfully persuading him.
Time flew by, and soon it was June of Hidden Mist Year 34. Kiyoshi was now 15 years old.
Having entered the threshold of Elite Jōnin at the age of 13, Kiyoshi's strength at this time had already taken a big step forward on the path from Elite Jōnin to Kage level.
However, although Kiyoshi could clearly feel the power in his eyes constantly growing, and his connection to Isshiki's inherited Great Black Heaven space was becoming clearer and clearer, he still hadn't awakened his own "eyes."
Perhaps he needed some kind of trigger.
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In July of Hidden Mist Year 34, the Hidden Rain Village, under the leadership of Salamander Hanzo, launched attacks everywhere. First, on July 1st, he led his subordinate ninjas to occupy two towns on the border of the Land of Grass. Then, seeing that the surrounding Land of Earth and Land of Fire only issued verbal condemnations without taking any action, he attacked again on July 10th, continuing to occupy all the towns on the Rain-Grass border. The poor fence-sitting Land of Grass was abandoned by the two major powers, Earth and Fire.
On the Third Tsuchikage Onoki's side, he was simply not yet prepared and didn't want to confront the currently powerful Hanzo. On the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen's side, after an analysis by the "Sleeping Dragon" Mito Menyan and the "Young Phoenix" Utatane Koharu, they believed that Hanzo would stop after taking the surrounding small countries and didn't think for a moment that he had any intention of going to war with the Land of Fire and the Hidden Leaf Village. The pitiful "Iron Pot Shadow" Shimura Danzo was once again ignored.
On July 23rd of Hidden Mist Year 34, Hanzo moved again. This time, his target was the Land of Birds, and he occupied the entire Land of Birds at an extremely fast speed before other countries could even react.
The Land of Birds, which had no ninja village, relied on a group of wandering ninjas and samurai who couldn't put up any effective resistance and quickly fell. The Land of Birds' daimyo and a group of nobles fled in disarray to the Land of Wind to seek refuge with the Land of Wind's daimyo.
The Land of Earth and the Hidden Stone Village, as well as the Land of Wind and the Hidden Sand Village, who had finally reacted, hurriedly issued condemnations to Hanzo, demanding that Hanzo return the occupied Land of Birds. They also sent envoys to the Hidden Rain Village respectively, trying to figure out Hanzo's true intentions.
Having so easily doubled the sphere of influence of the Land of Rain and the Hidden Rain Village, Hanzo, immersed in the joy of territorial expansion, became increasingly arrogant. Within the Land of Rain and the Hidden Rain Village, from the daimyo and nobles down to the ninjas and ordinary people, everyone cheered for Salamander Hanzo, the hero who led them to expand their territory, the demigod.
Seeing that the major powers still hadn't taken any actual action, merely remaining at the level of verbal condemnation, Hanzo decided to conduct one last probing test.
On August 8th of Hidden Mist Year 34, Salamander Hanzo held a large-scale military exercise near the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire. After the exercise, he claimed that three ninjas had gone missing, including two Chūnin and one Jōnin, and used this as an excuse to demand entry into the Land of Fire to conduct a search.
This matter was naturally sternly rejected by the Hidden Leaf ninjas stationed at the border. However, Hanzo, relying on his powerful strength, forcibly broke into the Land of Fire under the encirclement of a group of Hidden Leaf ninjas, showed off his power, and then left safely.
The news reached the Hidden Leaf Village. Although the "Iron Pot Shadow" Shimura Danzo clearly pointed out that Hanzo was very likely planning to attack the Hidden Leaf and strongly advocated taking the initiative to go to war with Hanzo and the Hidden Rain,
Under another analysis by the "Sleeping Dragon" and "Young Phoenix," Sarutobi Hiruzen still felt that Hanzo was just putting on a show and wouldn't really take action. The helpless "Iron Pot Shadow" had no choice but to once again leave with the words, "Hiruzen, you will regret this!" and slammed the door behind him.
Soon, another ten days passed. Seeing that the Hidden Leaf had shown no reaction, Hanzo got the result he wanted and finally made up his mind.
(I don't know how many ninjas each country should have. The settings in the original work are quite contradictory. The Hidden Leaf Village only has a little over 13,000 ninjas according to the numbering, and this includes those who died in battle. However, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, excluding Genin, the ninja alliance formed by the five great nations plus the samurai of the Land of Iron totaled 80,000 people! During the Third Great Ninja War, the Third Raikage died of exhaustion under the siege of 10,000 Hidden Stone ninjas. Onoki, such a shrewd old man, wouldn't bring too many ordinary Genin, so I think most of these 10,000 ninjas should have been Chūnin.)
(So, I've made my own settings. In the early stages of the Second Great Ninja War, Hanzo leading the Hidden Rain could fight against the Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf and even win. Moreover, the average quality of Rain ninjas is definitely inferior to that of the great ninja villages. So, besides Hanzo's own powerful strength and the fact that the salamander's poison is suitable for group battles, the only other explanation is that the Hidden Rain Village had a large number of people at this time.)
(Setting: During the Second Great Ninja War, the Hidden Rain Village has 1,000 Jōnin including Special Jōnin, and 5,000 Chūnin and Genin. The strength of Rain ninjas is generally weaker. Although there are many Jōnin, they are mostly ordinary Jōnin, with very few Elite Jōnin. Their main advantage is numbers. Moreover, neither the Hidden Sand, Hidden Stone, nor Hidden Leaf could send all their ninjas to the battlefield at once. They had to leave people to guard their homes and also guard against other villages.)
(During the Second Great Ninja War, the Hidden Leaf Village has 1,000 Jōnin, 6,000 Chūnin, and Genin. The Hidden Sand and Hidden Mist Villages both implement elite policies, with more elites but fewer total ninjas than the Hidden Leaf. The Hidden Cloud Village is roughly the same as the Hidden Leaf. The Hidden Stone Village is better at mass producing soldiers, and they mostly engage in legion warfare, with more Genin and Chūnin.)
(During the Second Great Ninja War, the number of ninjas in each ninja village should not have reached its peak yet, but after nearly twenty years of recuperation after the First Great Ninja War, there would definitely be quite a few.)
(Friends who read the book can leave comments to discuss this. The original work's setting has too many inconsistencies.)
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