Whether the Anbu find evidence, or a protest letter arrives from Kirigakure, both will confirm whether the scroll is real.
In truth, just seeing the Hokage's seal already proves it's real.
But Rasa still held onto a sliver of hope—what if some group forged the scroll?
"Kazekage-sama, there's no point hoping for a miracle. What we need now is to gather our forces and get ready for war."
To have the guts to suggest preparing for battle at a time like this—only Chiyo in all of Sunagakure could do that.
"Then let's call for a military meeting."
No matter how this turns out, Sunagakure has to be ready.
Even if it's all just a false alarm, at worst they've wasted a bit of effort.
But wasting some effort is way better than getting caught off guard when the enemy shows up.
Unlike Rasa, Chiyo wasn't one to cling to wishful thinking.
She was one of the rare people in Sunagakure who had lived through the First, Second, and Third Great Ninja Wars. She knew very well how cruel war was, and how terrifying schemes could be.
Instead of placing your hopes on some unrealistic dream, it's better to be ready for anything. Besides, it's not like Sunagakure has no chance against Kirigakure.
On paper, Sunagakure ranks last among the Five Great Ninja Villages.
But considering Kirigakure would be the one starting the war, all Sunagakure has to do is stay put and wait for the enemy to come.
The Land of Water sits far out at sea. That's both its strength and its weakness.
Its biggest advantage is that, even if other countries and villages go to war, it's very hard for the fighting to reach their land.
But that same thing is also a clear disadvantage. For Kirigakure Village to launch an attack on Sunagakure Village, they'd need to send warships and keep shipping troops and supplies across the sea to the battlefield.
Sunagakure Village isn't dumb enough to give up its advantage and sail out to fight Kirigakure on the ocean.
They just need to defend their own land.
The Land of Wind is covered in desert. Fighting in that kind of terrain naturally weakens Kirigakure's ninja.
Sending a bunch of water-style users to battle in the desert? Of course their abilities would be limited.
It's like in the Third Ninja War, when the Third Hokage and Danzo had some sort of brain freeze and sent the Uchiha to guard the coastline against Kirigakure.
Being nice, you could call it a brain freeze. Being honest? That was just plain stupid!
Fire-style users fighting water-style users—on the coast, no less? What were they thinking?!
Good thing the Uchiha were strong enough. Otherwise, the losses would've been unbearable for the clan.
Same goes for this situation. Kirigakure's ninja are traveling all the way across the sea to fight in the Land of Wind. Even if they can still use Water Release, it'll definitely be held back by the harsh environment.
Some of their combined water-style techniques will be completely useless, leaving them to struggle in the desert against Sunagakure.
And Sunagakure has home-field advantage.
Don't underestimate how big that is. If used well, the weak can take on the strong, and fewer can beat more.
What's more, Sunagakure's puppet corps can go all out in the desert.
Kirigakure isn't like Konohagakure.
Against Konoha, the puppet corps often got outplayed.
But just because Konoha could handle it doesn't mean Kirigakure can.
Forget everything else—just the poison techniques alone will give Kirigakure a nightmare.
The military meeting began.
The group moved from the Kazekage's office into a conference room. Rasa had a huge map hung up on the wall and even gave up his spot to Chiyo.
Chiyo didn't stand on ceremony. She stepped forward, picked up a pointer, and aimed it at Kirigakure's position.
"If war breaks out, I suggest we keep the battlefield on our own land."
"Kirigakure is way out at sea. If they want to attack, they'll have to go through the trouble of shipping all their ninja and supplies over. The deserts and wastelands in the Land of Wind will naturally limit their power. Water-style won't be nearly as effective here."
"Some of their combination Water Release techniques that work on the sea will be totally useless in our land."
"All we have to do is wait—wait for them to step onto our battlefield."
"But if the war happens on our land, the Daimyo's office probably won't be happy about it."
Someone raised a concern.
Chiyo gave a cold laugh:
"You think the Daimyo's going to be happy about what's already happened?"
"Remember, the Land of Water's Daimyo came to the Land of Wind because *he was invited*. And now he's been attacked here? The Daimyo's office is definitely going to start asking questions soon."
Seriously, who has time to worry about the Daimyo's feelings right now?
"Once the war starts, it won't just be between Sunagakure and Kirigakure. Both countries' Daimyo offices will be affected. Even if the Daimyo's unhappy with the village, he'll still have no choice but to support us."
Like it or not, once war breaks out, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind will have to grit his teeth and back Sunagakure. If we lose, he's screwed too.
Even if they don't like it, they still have to show support when it matters.
"As long as the war turns in our favor, I believe the Daimyo will put aside the past and come back to support the village."
Akatsuki needs a war — and so does Sunagakure Village.
Because of their constant defeats, the Daimyo finally ran out of patience and stopped funding Sunagakure's development. That forced the village to cut staff and go down the elite route.
Once war breaks out, even if the Daimyo is unwilling, he'll have no choice but to back Sunagakure again.
If Sunagakure manages to win some battles and restore their reputation, the Daimyo will likely forget the past and support them again.
So while this war may seem like a bad thing, it's also a big chance for Sunagakure.
Their opponent is Kirigakure — not Konohagakure, not Iwagakure, and not Kumogakure.
Compared to those three strong villages, Kirigakure is much easier to deal with.
Chiyo's words stirred something in Rasa's heart — a bit of ambition that had been buried deep inside. Even though he didn't want war, part of him was starting to see opportunity.
Maybe this is their chance to rise again?
After the military meeting, Sunagakure quickly went into full preparation mode. Many task forces were called back, supplies were being stockpiled, and Rasa even sent Chiyo to Konohagakure to try to negotiate a deal for supplies.
No matter what, Sunagakure needed to be ready for war.
The good news? Kirigakure is across the ocean. Even if they want to attack, they'll need a lot of time to prepare and then travel across the sea to reach the Land of Wind.
As for marching across land — that's nearly impossible.
There's no way Konohagakure would allow something that crazy unless Kirigakure somehow went all the way around through the Land of Iron and several smaller countries.