Chapter 127: Shift in the Ninja World's Balance

Hiruzen Sarutobi, seeing that all the jonin had arrived, began the meeting.

The Third Hokage sat with Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Danzo Shimura—the high-ranking Konoha officials—on the only four chairs, while the jonin stood before them.

"Just recently, the Village Hidden in the Stone in the Land of Earth declared war on us," Hiruzen Sarutobi stated, revealing the reason for this emergency jonin meeting.

"The Stone Village? They're a ninja village on the same level as us."

"Are they coveting the abundant resources of our Land of Fire?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's words stirred some commotion among the jonin in the meeting room, and they began discussing among themselves.

After all, the Stone Village wasn't just any random group—even if its overall strength wasn't as great as Konoha's, it was still one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, just like Konoha.

"Hmph, the lowly Stone Village actually dares to declare war on Konoha unilaterally. It seems they've forgotten that even among the Five Great Ninja Villages, there are gaps in rank!" Danzo snorted and said.

Danzo continued, "We should immediately muster our ninja, then declare war on the Stone Village in the Land of Earth, launch a swift assault, and make them know that the number one ninja village is not to be provoked!"

Of course, Danzo had more to say but kept it unsaid: since war was inevitable, spies would be essential, and the restrictions on his Root faction should be relaxed.

However, those words definitely couldn't be spoken at the jonin meeting; he would have to discuss them privately with the Third Hokage in the office.

"Declaring war on the Stone Village is a must." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said.

Since war had already been declared on them, if Konoha didn't declare war back, it couldn't continue to exist in the ninja world.

Konoha had two main sources of income: one was the funding from the daimyo, and the other was commission fees from various nobles and wealthy merchants.

Clients weren't foolish—they would of course go to whichever ninja village was stronger and more reliable to post their missions.

If Konoha backed down at this point, its mission count would drop significantly, while the Stone Village's missions would correspondingly increase.

"Assembling the ninja and launching an attack is unwise. The current situation in the ninja world is unclear; the Cloud Village recently clashed with Konoha, and now that the Stone Village has declared war, they may also have ulterior motives."

Hiruzen Sarutobi affirmed Danzo's idea of declaring war on the Stone Village but rejected Danzo's plan to gather forces and attack.

The Land of Earth lay to the northwest of the Land of Fire, while the Land of Lightning lay to the northeast. If both the Stone and Cloud Villages attacked Konoha simultaneously, it would mean fighting on two fronts.

If Konoha directly massed its ninja forces and pressed toward the Land of Earth, the Cloud Village would have an easy time either blocking Konoha's forces' return route or driving straight into the Land of Fire.

Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi say this, Muyue roughly understood Hiruzen's thinking.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's meaning was simple: the Stone Village definitely had to be fought, but the fighting had to be steady—no unexpected developments allowed.

"Lord Third Hokage, I believe the first thing to do now is to notify the Grass Village to keep an eye on the situation in the Land of Grass. If any Stone ninja enter the Land of Grass, report immediately," Nara Shikaku said after thinking for a moment.

For Stone ninja to enter the Land of Fire, the two fastest routes were either crossing through the Land of Rain into the Land of Fire, or crossing through the Land of Grass.

There were also longer detours through other areas, but for war that was essentially impossible—a detour would require going from the Land of Birds into the Land of Wind, then into the Land of Rivers, and finally reaching the Land of Fire.

Not only was the route long, but it also had to pass through the Land of Wind, one of the Five Great Nations. If the Sand Village saw a bunch of Stone ninja entering the Land of Wind, they would think another invader had arrived.

The Rain Village in the Land of Rain was considerably stronger than the Grass Village in the Land of Grass. Nara Shikaku judged that the Stone ninja would likely choose the Land of Grass as their breakthrough point.

Another aspect was that the Land of Grass was a subordinate of the Land of Fire, but the Land of Rain was not. Konoha could order the Grass Village around but couldn't order the Rain Village.

"Then, we should reinforce the border defenses to prevent the Stone ninja from launching a surprise attack and breaching the line, avoiding fighting on our own turf," Nara Shikaku continued.

The impact of war was enormous, so they had to try to keep the flames of war from reaching the Land of Fire's territory.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave a slight nod. This plan from Nara Shikaku suited him well.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not immediately end the meeting; instead, he continued it.

After quite some time, and hearing no better suggestion than Nara Shikaku's, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally concluded the jonin meeting. He selected several jonin to lead squads in reinforcing the border, and then the meeting was formally dismissed. The jonin who knew each other left in groups.

"Minato, who is this?" A somewhat overweight ninja with a simple, honest smile walked over and chatted with Minato, then noticed Muyue.

"This is my friend Hanyu Muyue, a newly promoted jonin," Minato introduced with a smile.

"Muyue, this is senior Akimichi Chōtō—a very reliable senior," Minato then introduced Akimichi Chōtō to Muyue.

"Haha, I am a few years older than you, but Minato, your reliability surpasses mine," Akimichi Chōtō said with a loud laugh.

He had gone on missions with Minato before; Minato's strength was no ordinary jonin's.

"Senior Chōtō," Muyue greeted with a warm smile.

"Hey." Akimichi Chōtō looked at Muyue's warm smile, then at Minato—the same warm smile, blond hair, and blue eyes.

"Minato, your friend looks a bit like you. Could he be your relative?" Akimichi Doto asked.

"See, Minato? I told you they look alike," Kushina immediately chimed in upon hearing Akimichi Doto's words.

She had always thought the two were quite similar—not in appearance, but in spirit.

"No, just friends," Minato explained with a helpless smile.

With Minato's help, Muyue got to know many Jonin.

Muyue noticed that Minato seemed quite familiar with those secret technique clan ninjas—he knew some from the Akimichi, Inuzuka, Nara, Aburame, and other such clans.

Although the overall strength of these secret technique clans was not as great as top-tier clans like the Uchiha, they were still the backbone of Konoha, forming a powerful force when united.

After the meeting, Muyue quickly headed to the Southern Forest to check on his disciples' training progress.

He gave each of his disciples an appraisal.

In the end, he found that aside from Obito going from fifteen to sixteen, Shisui and Might Guy hadn't changed—Shisui was still at fifteen, and Might Guy was still at nineteen.

However, Muyue couldn't say for sure whether Obito's improvement was due to the food, because based on Might Guy's experience, reaching the peak of the previous step could achieve nineteen proficiency.

This was easy to solve—tomorrow he would give Shisui the same Spicy Food and see if it worked.

"Hehe, Shisui, it's just a little spicy—still tastes great," Obito comforted Shisui, unable to suppress the grin on his face.

I've hit a writer's block today, so just 7,000 words. I'll make it up when I have time.