Chapter 279: Crouching Dragon and Phoenix

The Mizukage sat upright, looking at the few people in the room, his face covered with a dark cloud, and slowly said: "Things have developed to this point today. As the decision-makers of the village, shouldn't you have a say?"

What can we say? You are the one who makes all the decisions in the village. You even killed several elders who acted as mascots and lived in harmony with the world. It is useless for us to say anything!

"If you don't want to talk, I do have a few words to say. The Hidden Mist Village has been isolated overseas since ancient times. The sea and mountains are our natural barriers, and the martial spirit is our spiritual barrier. The two complement each other and have brought decades of peace to the village. The three Ninja World Wars all took place outside the country, which is a great achievement."

"A few years ago, Baiyun Yeshan sneaked into the territory of the Land of Water and assassinated an important daimyo heir. He also killed the designated Fourth Mizukage Yagura and many other important members of the village. As for the cause and effect, I don't want to say more. Everyone present here knows it. The Hidden Mist Village is a real victim, but did we send an envoy to deliver the documents that time?"

"Why do the victims keep silent and swallow their anger? Why do the invaders look down on others with their noses raised?"

The Mizukage's speech speed gradually increased, and with it came his anger: "Weakness is the original sin! Because of weakness, the Whirlpool Country was destroyed; because of weakness, the Water Country suffered grievances and had no place to vent! We all have two eyes and one mouth, and he, the Konoha ninja, doesn't eat two more bowls of rice per meal than you do, so why are you the weak party?"

The ninjas below were angry but dared not speak, but kept muttering in their hearts, "You also know that it is the Konoha Village, they have been the hegemon of the ninja world for decades, the Hidden Mist Village is nothing in their eyes! ? If we had that ability, how could we allow you to sit in a high position and bully others?"

"What Uchiha Seiji said just now hit the nail on the head. Is the Land of Whirlpools the territory of the Land of Water? If so, just send your troops to fight! Look at their confidence. This is the talent of a great country!"

The tone of the Mizukage became increasingly hostile. He was really powerless to save the situation. When the Third Hokage handed the village to him, he hoped that he would lead a group of angry ninjas to avenge Konoha. But after a big battle, the Hidden Mist Village had a zero-five record. What kind of anger was that? These people were pure trash. They only knew how to stare at the few pieces of meat in the bowl and never knew how to go out and take a walk.

To this day, the Water Kingdom, one of the five great nations, would actually be frightened by a piece of document. And he, the Mizukage, could only vent his anger behind closed doors and endure the cold violence of his subordinates. It has to be said that it is a humiliation to his ancestors.

Just as he was secretly sulking, Terumi Shiko, also known as Shimura Danzo, stood up, coughed, and said softly: "Lord Mizukage, calm down. In my opinion, the Konohagakure is just bluffing. They don't have the guts to start a war!"

The Mizukage opened his eyes and looked at the other party, suppressing his anger, because this was his niece, who had performed very well in recent years. The wiping out of the Kizuna clan was the result of her planning, and she did it perfectly: "Oh? Tell me what you think."

Terumi Shiko smiled evilly and said, "The Konohagakure has been strong on the outside but weak on the inside since its establishment. They are just good at talking. They call themselves the successors of the Will of Fire, but in fact they are just a bunch of wimps. Lord Mizukage, think about it carefully. Which Ninja World War was initiated by them? They are used to staying in a gentle nest, so naturally they are unwilling to risk their lives. So I can conclude that all this is a conspiracy of Baiyun Yeshan's kid. He is testing our bottom line."

"As the saying goes, if you seek the best, you will get the middle; if you seek the middle, you will get the worst. The Konohagakure is asking us to acknowledge the ownership of the Whirlpool Country in order to share the spoils. It would be enough to divide half of the Whirlpool Country away from us. Do they really dare to start a great ninja war?"

Terumi Shiko, no, Shimura Danzo can be said to be one of the people in the world who knows Konoha Ninja Village best. He clearly understands the true appearance of Konoha. Because this appearance was created by him and Sarutobi Hiruzen himself, so he is familiar with it to the core.

The subordinate's confidence infected the unwilling Mizukage. After all, it was really embarrassing to just swallow his anger, so he asked, "What should we do?"

Terumi Shikou smiled confidently and said, "Since Konoha is bluffing, we might as well follow suit. Lord Mizukage can just deploy troops in the Land of Whirlpools and act as if the war will not end until one of us dies. By then, we won't have to do anything ourselves, as the conflict-ridden Konoha Village will be in chaos first. With so many voices opposing a war, even if Baiyun Yeshan really wants to fight, he will give up for various reasons."

"Will this work?" The Mizukage was skeptical. The opponent's plan was really too simple and crude, the kind that even a three-year-old child could see through.

"Trust me, it will work!"

Terumi Shiko answered decisively, because he had been shouting in Konoha that he would conquer the ninja world by force, but no one paid any attention to him for more than ten years. Now Konoha Village has a new Hokage in power, but the people under him have not changed.

But Terumi Shiko overlooked one point, this is not the same as that time. With the support of the Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan, Baiyun Yeshan has long made the village a one-man show, even Orochimaru, one of the three ninjas, has to obey him, not to mention those fence-sitters?

Besides, why would a pre-selected Sarutobi Hiruzen dare to challenge Shirogane Hayama? He got the position of Hokage based on his actual combat record, so he must have strong hands!

The Mizukage pondered for a moment. Out of trust in his niece's performance in recent years, he finally made up his mind and said, "Send two thousand ninjas to the Whirlpool Country to put pressure on them!"

Terumi Shiko was delighted. She wished that the Hidden Mist Village would be destroyed immediately, and she also wished that everyone would be destroyed as soon as possible. In short, her real intention was to make everyone give up. So she struck while the iron was hot and said, "Mizunotsuki Hara has lost his country and humiliated his country. He has committed an unforgivable crime. Lord Mizukage should immediately control the Mizunotsuki clan!"

When the internal strife was mentioned, the Mizukage suddenly became wise and powerful again. A cruel look flashed in his eyes, and his voice was as cold as a soul-catcher: "Not only the Mizunotsuki clan, but also the Kaguya clan must be controlled! The two families have always been of the same blood and do not take the interests of the village seriously. They must be severely punished!"

Several people in the office shrank their necks, not daring to speak out in opposition, even though they felt indignant for the two innocent families. But it would be better to keep silent if the matter did not happen to them.

Perhaps Yeshan did not expect that his act of testing the waters would actually involve a shocking traitor. If he knew that Danzo Shimura was still alive and well, and even planned the attack on Kakashi's team, he would definitely rush to the Hidden Mist Village without saying a word and completely wipe him out from the world.

......

The deployment of troops within the Hidden Mist Village could not be concealed from Konoha's intelligence system. On the same night, Yeshan received an encrypted and expedited document. The identity of its sender was obvious, and it was definitely transmitted through some shady channels. This was very common in the entire ninja world. After all, who doesn't have a few spies between ninja villages?

After reading the document, Ye Shan smiled. He didn't take Kirigakure seriously at all. Of course, he had the confidence to look down on Kirigakure. They were just a bunch of clowns. Since the death of the Third Mizukage, Kirigakure has become the bottom of the five major countries. Not only have the top masters been lost, but only one or two people are left to hold the scene. The middle and lower-level ninjas are facing a crisis of generational discontinuity. If it weren't for the geographical advantage, it would have been swallowed up by other ninja villages long ago.

It was difficult to defend their own small piece of land, yet they dared to send troops out of the village to fight? It was just bluffing, and Ye Shan just regarded it as a joke.

At the moment, Ye Shan simply and roughly wrote "everything will be handled as usual" on the document, and then put his energy on other things. Bantian from Shannan Province reported that he wanted to build a large farmer's market near a cement road with convenient transportation, mainly selling some wild products in the mountains, so as to promote economic development in the area. Ye Shan was very happy to see that Bantian was really a capable person who could always bring him surprises. So, he directly allocated funds and materials, and wrote a separate letter to warn Bantian that the funds must be used for the designated purpose, and to prevent the emergence of face projects, bubble projects and other problems.

What Ye Shan never expected was that the Hidden Mist Village was not bluffing, but actually sent out two thousand ninjas, and they were heading to the Land of Whirlpools at an extremely fast speed...

Of course, the Konohagakure received this secret report in the early morning two days later, along with which came a mission progress report from the Root Ninjas, which made Yeshan feel overwhelmed early in the morning.

"Call the jonin to a meeting immediately, and they must all be present in half an hour!" Ye Shan gritted his teeth and gave the order.

Even a clay man will get angry, let alone the fact that Konohagakure is now very strong. The move by the Hidden Mist Village is tantamount to slapping Yeshan in the face!

This is just like going to the market to buy vegetables. Bargaining is normal. If you are not satisfied with the conditions given by the other party, you can talk calmly! How can you just ask the customer to get out? The Hidden Mist Village is too ungrateful!

Familiar scene, familiar people, but the jonin of Konoha Village didn't dare to smile, because when they stepped into the meeting room, they saw the Hokage's face with an angry look on his face. Everyone looked at each other, wondering why the Hokage was so angry so early in the morning, and there was no bad news recently! ?

When half an hour was up, Ye Shan signaled the ninja to close the door, and the light in the meeting room suddenly dimmed. Nara Shikaku turned on the lights, adding a lot of solemnity to the meeting room.

Ye Shan glanced at the crowd and saw that the number of people present was not bad. The anger on his face eased a little and he said, "I'm sorry to delay your training time so early in the morning. It's really urgent. To make a long story short, the Hidden Mist Village sent 2,000 ninjas out of the village to fight, intending to take the Land of Whirlpools. They will arrive in two days at most. You all should discuss how to deal with it."

This sentence undoubtedly fell into the conference room like an aerial bomb, instantly causing a strong reaction among the Konoha jonin. Not long ago, they also received the mobilization order for the official start of the Ninja World War in this conference room, and they were already suffering from psychological trauma.

Hinata Hiashi has been very successful in recent days and has become a popular political darling in the village. He knows how he got rich, so he did not stand up to express his opinion at the first time, but focused his attention on Uchiha Keiji who was sitting next to the Hokage. He was smart. He could always do the right thing by following Uchiha Keiji's words. That guy was the worm in the Hokage's stomach.

Among the people present, the Deputy Hokage was the most powerful one besides the Hokage. Uchiha Keiji's face fell, and his eyes inadvertently glanced at Ye Shan's upright body and his fingers tapping the table unconsciously. He immediately understood his attitude and said, "The Daimyo of the Land of Water failed to manage properly, and he should be punished! The Mizukage himself is lawless and tried to interfere in the sacred and inviolable territory of the Konoha Village. He should be killed! The Ninjas of the Hidden Mist Village aided and abetted the evil, and they should be exterminated!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, he was full of murderous intent and an attitude of fighting to the death. He defined the matter as a territorial battle rather than an actual land grabbing war, which made Ye Shan's tense body relax quietly, and his right hand unconsciously picked up the teacup and sipped it.

"Since Lord Hayama came to power, our Konohagakure has always won people over with virtue. The village ninjas have also strictly followed the teachings of Lord Hokage, maintained harmony during missions, and tried to avoid killing. Over the past few years, the village's spiritual and material cultures have flourished, and the living conditions of the majority of villagers and ninjas have made a qualitative leap. But the peace we cherish has become a manifestation of weakness and incompetence in the eyes of others. The Hidden Mist Village has even disregarded the common desire of the people of the two countries for peace and prosperity, and brazenly tore up the signed treaty. First, they designed a plot to assassinate Kakashi's team, resulting in three deaths and one serious injury; then they openly sent ninjas to try to corrupt the Land of Whirlpools, which is simply outrageous!"

Uchiha Keiji is indeed an office-type ninja who studies words all day long. He can speak at length without any hesitation, and his words are well-reasoned and logical. He doesn't even need to prepare a script in his mind. The ninjas listening to him are stunned, and they are almost like Sarutobi Hiruzen who is having a menopausal attack.

"In order to maintain the hard-earned peace and to defend the territorial sovereignty of Konohagakure, I propose to send troops to eliminate the Kirigakure ninjas and teach those blind guys a lesson that they will never forget!"

Uchiha Keiji spoke with murderous intent and saliva flying, as if all the ninjas of Konoha were heavenly soldiers and generals, and the Hidden Mist Village would be reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye.

Ye Shan put down the teacup in his hand, looked at the jonin who were in a daze, and said, "Don't just stand there, clap your hands!"

"Crash!"

The reluctant applause made Uchiha Keiji very happy, knowing that he had guessed Ye Shan's thoughts again.

For him, he doesn't care about the harm caused by starting a war. As long as the Hokage is willing, he, Uchiha Keiji, will be the first to stand up and support him!