Chapter 41 — We Always Overestimate Ourselves
War.
In the ninja world, no village loves war more than the one perched atop the highest peaks.
And no—
it's not the impoverished Sunagakure who only has a single life left to gamble.
Yes, the Sand shinobi are so poor their eyes gleam whenever they look toward the wealthy Land of Fire,
ready to rob Konoha at the slightest opportunity.
But the true battle fanatics—
the ones who cheer for war at any time,
who embrace conflict like an old friend—
are the shinobi of Kumogakure,
the Hidden Cloud atop the mountains.
Objectively speaking, whether it's cohesion or atmosphere,
Cloud Village surpasses every other hidden village.
They produce almost no defectors,
and their unity is second to none.
So the Fourth Raikage, A, naturally assumed that the war against Sound's stubborn little Daimyō, Oda Nobunaga,
would be like every war before it:
—elite Cloud divisions sweeping forward with lightning speed
—Azuchi Castle (Daimyō's Castle) crushed in days
—Nobunaga captured alive
—and, along the way, the Raikage would break the arms of those foolish Daimyō who dared interfere in ninja affairs.
That was the ideal.
Reality?
A flaming slap across the face.
From the moment the "sure-win" war began, nothing went according to plan.
How could A not be furious?
---
"Why!"
His fist smashed through another wall.
Even after venting some anger, the Raikage still roared:
"Why would they defy me?! Am I not fighting for the Land of Lightning's profit?!"
"Them,"
refers not only to the Daimyō—
But to many civilians of the Land of Lightning as well.
Ever since Nobunaga publicly announced his plan for a unified shinobi nation,
the Land of Lightning's Daimyō—
who had always appeared to cooperate smoothly with Cloud—
unexpectedly issued a public decree supporting Nobunaga.
Without informing A beforehand.
At that moment, the Fourth Raikage realized:
No matter how harmonious things seemed…
a Daimyō would always prioritize Daimyō interests.
To the Daimyō of the Land of Lightning,
Nobunaga—who was also a Daimyō—
was his own kind,
his fellow aristocrat.
Not A.
And just as he expected,
the Daimyō refused to provide war funding,
shut his doors,
and would not even meet Cloud's envoys.
All of that was within A's predictions.
But something else was not—
Even when Cloud tried to use its own village savings to buy war supplies,
the merchants refused.
Those merchants—who normally scrambled to work with Cloud—
raised prices, made excuses,
and claimed they were "unprepared" because the war came too suddenly.
That they needed "time" to manufacture new stock.
"Mabui… tell me."
A's voice rumbled like thunder.
"Is our Daimyō meddling behind the scenes?"
"Has he really chosen to support that little upstart Nobunaga?"
The Raikage's massive fists—each big as a sandbag—creaked as he clenched them.
For the towering Fourth Raikage, heir to the brawny physique of the Yotsuki clan,
there was only one explanation:
Someone must be sabotaging them.
"It's not that."
Upon returning to Kumogakure, Mabui had immediately been assigned to oversee war preparations.
And with her keen insight, she had begun to sense something—
a trace of Oda Nobunaga's true strategy and hidden confidence.
"Not that?"
Hearing his trusted aide deny the most obvious explanation, the furious Raikage dropped back into his chair.
The wooden frame groaned under his weight as he glared at Mabui.
"Then what is it?
Don't tell me Oda Nobunaga somehow brainwashed everyone.
Compared to that brat, we—Kumogakure—are the true support of the Land of Lightning!"
The Raikage especially emphasized "true support."
But Mabui shook her head.
"Are we really the Land of Lightning's 'own people'?"
Her words stunned the room.
She continued, calm yet firm:
"The shinobi village system was created by the God of Shinobi—Senju Hashirama.
Have you ever wondered why someone who dominated the entire world would create such a system?"
She didn't wait for an answer.
"Hashirama gathered the great clans into villages to protect both shinobi and civilians
from dying in the endless wars."
"And what's wrong with that?"
asked Dodai, the most level-headed man in the room.
"History says Hashirama was sickened by the senseless bloodshed among shinobi.
Even his own younger brothers died on battlefields.
He didn't want that tragedy to continue, so he created the village system to end the wars."
Mabui exhaled softly.
Had she not visited Sound herself, she might never have noticed the detail everyone ignored:
Even now, Dodai spoke only of shinobi casualties—
not a word about civilians.
---
"We shinobi… are being hated by the world."
Her words landed like a thunderbolt.
"How could the world hate shinobi?!"
Dodai protested instantly.
"We are the blessed ones—we wield chakra! We protect our nations!"
Mabui shook her head.
"The vast majority of this continent's population are civilians.
They are the world.
During the Warring Clans era, they suffered the heaviest casualties.
And even now—during village-era wars—they still suffer the most."
"No matter how many weapons they hold—knives, bows, armor—
one shinobi with enough time could kill a hundred or even a thousand of them."
She slammed the table.
"During the clan wars, civilians were slaughtered by the thousands.
During the Great Ninja Wars, civilians were still slaughtered.
Hashirama didn't just see shinobi dying—
he saw the deep, burning hatred civilians held toward shinobi."
"That's why he formed villages.
To separate shinobi from civilians
and prevent that hatred from erupting."
"Absurd!"
Now more than half the council stood up in outrage.
"How dare you imply the sacrifices of Cloud shinobi were meaningless?!
We protect the Land of Lightning!"
"Protect them?"
Mabui gave a bitter smile.
"At first, I believed that too.
But ask yourself—
in every war, whether we win or lose…
what does it change for ordinary people?"
"How many Cloud shinobi have died?
Who mourns them besides our own families?
Do common civilians shed tears for shinobi?"
"Cloud Village is funded by the Land of Lightning.
But when civilians want a shinobi's help,
they must pay us mission fees."
"That's a cold, transactional relationship.
Once the mission is done, neither side owes the other anything."
"And on top of that, the village structure isolates shinobi from civilians.
Ordinary people do not understand us.
They only see the slaughter we bring during wartime."
"To them, no matter the era—clan wars or village wars—
shinobi fighting shinobi is nothing more than…
dogs biting dogs
over who gets more mission commissions."
"And mission commissions have nothing to do with common people!"
Absurd, yes.
But this was the cruel truth:
A nation's elite combat force fights world-scale wars…
for mission revenue.
War reparations and territorial gains exist, yes—
but those benefits are too far removed from the common people.
Civilians see only this:
• Sunagakure loses wars → mission commissions plummet → even the Kazekage must take jobs to feed the village.
• Konoha and Kumogakure shine in wars → mission commissions soar.
• The clan wars of old? Shinobi fought for the same reason—
to secure more commissions.
In the end, the Great Ninja Wars look less like national conflicts
and more like continent-wide military trade exhibitions.