With the Land of Water Daimyo attacked by Sunagakure ninja inside the Land of Wind, the Akatsuki didn't even need to stir things up—people were already pushing for war on their own.
Anyone with a bit of a temper was already yelling about launching an all-out war.
Only a small number of people stopped to ask: could there be something more behind this?
After all, Kirigakure and Sunagakure hadn't had any major problems in recent years.
So why would Sunagakure suddenly do something this reckless and try to assassinate the Daimyo?
Unfortunately, guessing won't change anything.
Unless they had solid proof that it wasn't Sunagakure but the Akatsuki behind it all...
Otherwise, the path to war couldn't be stopped.
"Kazekage-sama, we just received urgent intel from Konohagakure."
Urgent intel from Konohagakure?
Did someone from their side stir up more trouble again?
Just hearing the word "Konohagakure" gave Rasa a headache now.
Ever since the border incident spread, people in the village had been questioning his leadership. He barely managed to keep things under control.
"Thanks. You've worked hard."
He took the scroll and glanced at the password attached. His face twitched a little.
What was Konohagakure playing at now? Sending urgent intel with a password?
If someone else intercepted it, they could just open and read it.
What a waste of effort.
Muttering in his head, Rasa unlocked it and opened the scroll.
Just one glance at the contents, and Rasa froze like he'd been struck by lightning. A few seconds later, he jumped to his feet in shock, his face pale.
"This can't be real!!!"
"Kazekage-sama?"
The intel officer was startled by Rasa's reaction. What could be in that scroll to shock him this much?
Did Konohagakure stir up even more trouble at the border?
With a panicked look in his eyes, Rasa kept reading, then quickly looked up and spoke urgently to the intel officer:
"Go call the Anbu. Tell them to immediately contact all higher-ups and ask them to come to the Kazekage's office—right now. No matter what they're doing, drop it and come at once."
"And let Advisor Ebizo know too."
"Yes, sir."
Rasa's tone was rushed, almost nervous. The Anbu ninja didn't know what had happened, but clearly, it was no small matter.
"Damn it!! How could something like this happen?"
If it weren't for the Hokage's seal on the scroll, Rasa would've thought someone was playing some kind of prank on Konohagakure and Sunagakure Village.
Sunagakure sent people to assassinate the Daimyo of the Land of Water?
What kind of nonsense is that?
Rasa knew that the Daimyo of the Land of Water had gone on a trip to the Land of Wind, but that was all he knew.
Because of the bad relationship between the village and the Daimyo's court, Sunagakure Village had nothing to do with welcoming him.
The Daimyo's side had directly sent their own people to escort and protect him.
Throwing the scroll aside, Rasa immediately started checking the mission logs of some ninja squads in the village.
Mission squads and patrol teams.
But what he found shocked him—several patrol squads hadn't rotated on time.
Some hadn't even returned to the village to report.
Due to the harsh environment in the Land of Wind, sandstorms were common and could delay a squad's return.
This kind of delay wasn't unusual. There had been times in the past when squads came back a few days late because of bad weather.
That's why the village hadn't been too worried.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a big deal.
But this time was different. A serious incident had just occurred within the Land of Wind—several squads from Sunagakure were reported to have tried to assassinate the Daimyo of the Land of Water.
Injured badly and even losing a hand, the Daimyo ran to the Land of Fire for help, and was sent back to the Daimyo's court for treatment. That's how Konohagakure got the news first and immediately passed it on to them.
This was a disaster.
A complete disaster.
Rasa felt like his heart had dropped into a pit.
He gave orders to notify all high-ranking officials and called for an emergency meeting, meaning something serious had happened.
Even Ebizo, who had fully retired, was called in. Chiyo and Ebizo both realized this was no small matter.
The siblings dropped their fishing rods right away and rushed to the Kazekage's office building.
Everyone who got the message came as fast as they could.
"You are to head to this location immediately and collect every useful piece of intel. If there are any bodies, bring them all back. Nothing can be left behind."
As the higher-ups arrived, Rasa was in the middle of sending ANBU teams to the site of the incident to gather intel.
If there were bodies, even better—the intelligence division had plenty of ways to pull secrets from corpses.
Once everything was arranged, Rasa sat back in his chair, rubbing his aching forehead.
"Everyone, prepare for war."
"????"
Prepare for war?
Was the village planning to launch a war?
The moment those words came out, even Chiyo and Ebizo couldn't stay calm.
Under the silent cues from others, Chiyo stepped forward as the representative and asked with confusion,
"Kazekage-sama, are you saying the village is preparing to go to war?"
"If only our village could take the initiative to start a war... but sadly, we're on the passive side."
Rasa sighed and tossed the scroll to Chiyo. She caught it steadily, glancing at Rasa's face, who clearly didn't want to say more.
She opened the scroll. A group of higher-ups stood behind her, all of them looking at it together.
After just a few seconds, everyone's face changed.
Even Chiyo couldn't keep her cool anymore.
"Are we sure this scroll is legit?"
"Sis, it even has the Hokage's seal on it, and..."
Ebizo didn't finish the sentence, but each village's intel division has its own ways of verifying things.
These are methods unique to the village. Whether a scroll comes from Konohagakure or not, their intel team can tell.
Their intel unit confirmed it, and with Tsunade's Hokage seal on the scroll, that means what's inside is real.
Everyone's first thought was that Rasa had lost it.
But that idea was quickly dismissed. If Rasa had really gone crazy, he wouldn't be acting like this.
That means none of this is connected to Rasa, and Sunagakure didn't send anyone to do it either.
The atmosphere in the Kazekage's office grew tense.
Rasa, who had been resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened them and said through gritted teeth:
"I've already looked into it. A few of our patrol squads didn't return on time. I've also sent some Anbu to the scene to investigate. For now, we need to wait—and prepare for war."
"If all of this is true, I'm sure a formal protest from Kirigakure will arrive soon."
Whether war breaks out or not, a Daimyo was assassinated. There's no way Kirigakure will stay quiet. At the very least, they'll send accusations and demands.