"What?" Hanzo shot up, feeling like the sky was falling.
The Rain Village was already desperately short on supplies, and now they'd been intercepted and destroyed?
"Did you send someone to investigate thoroughly?"
As the leader of a village, Hanzo's composure was nothing short of extraordinary. He didn't fly into a rage, didn't start cursing out his subordinates for their failure.
He knew that as soon as the enemy got wind of this operation, they'd strike without hesitation.
And the attackers were most likely from Konoha!
The supply purchase had been kept under wraps, so how did Konoha get the intel?
Hanzo didn't know, but it was too late to dwell on that now.
"Lord Hanzo," one of the intelligence officers knelt on the ground, head lowered as he reported, "we've already sent scouts to investigate. All of our ninja were killed, and the supplies were completely destroyed. The site shows signs of extensive ninjutsu use."
"The battle traces extend into the forest, suggesting that the attackers weren't numerous—probably just a single squad."
"I believe Konoha is responsible for this."
"Konoha…" Hanzo fell silent.
After a long pause, Hanzo suddenly chuckled.
"It seems Konoha's intelligence gathering is indeed exceptional."
"Lord Hanzo, could it be that the Fire Country's Daimyo betrayed us?"
"No," Hanzo responded confidently.
"The Daimyo has a reputation to maintain. If Konoha caught wind of this and started questioning the Daimyo's actions, it would create a scandal.
So, they wouldn't have broadcasted their own involvement. The only explanation is that Konoha has spies embedded in the Daimyo's court."
"They must have been aware of the supply sale from the very start."
"It seems I've underestimated Konoha."
Hanzo stepped out of the tent, letting the rain drench him. For a moment, he felt a wave of helplessness.
The prolonged war had drained him, and now, with the supplies destroyed, the situation was even more dire.
"What about the investigation into that earlier incident?" Hanzo asked, seemingly out of nowhere, catching his subordinate off guard.
"Lord Hanzo, according to our investigation, the ninjas responsible for slaughtering the civilians included some from the Sand Village, not Konoha."
The war between Konoha and the Rain Village had started when Konoha ninja were accused of massacring civilians within the Rain Country.
As the war escalated, that issue had been forgotten, but Hanzo had insisted on an investigation.
The Rain Village had captured and executed some suspects, and it turned out that some of them were indeed from the Sand Village, while the rest remained unidentified.
The answer to who had provoked the war was now clear.
The Sand Village had gone to great lengths to ensure a war between Konoha and the Rain Village, manipulating events from behind the scenes.
"It seems the Sand Village isn't having an easy time either."
Strengthening military power?
Is it wrong for the Rain Village to build up its military?
Is it only the Five Great Nations who are allowed to grow stronger while smaller villages must stay weak?
Hanzo found Konoha's earlier accusations laughable.
The constant power plays and manipulations between the two villages had been within acceptable limits until the Sand Village decided to stab Konoha in the back, sparking the war with the Rain Village.
"Send out my orders. Tomorrow, we begin an all-out assault on Konoha's positions. This war needs to come to an end."
"Yes, Lord Hanzo!"
Although they didn't fully understand why Hanzo was so fixated on Konoha, the Rain Village ninja dutifully passed on the orders.
Soon, all available Rain ninja were preparing for battle.
A major clash was on the horizon.
Unlike the smaller, scattered skirmishes of before, this was going to be a full-scale battle.
After several days with no sign of any other supply convoys, Takuya and his team returned to the Rain Country.
They reported back to the camp and, to their relief, Danzo didn't give them any grief, recording all their accomplishments properly.
"It seems your decision was spot on. If we had returned immediately that day, we might not have gotten any rest at all," Nawaki said, shaking out his raincoat to rid it of water droplets.
The three of them had barely been back at the camp for a day before they were sent out again.
This time, their mission was to launch a surprise attack on a Sand Village camp and destroy their supplies.
With some of the front-line command duties handed over to Orochimaru, Danzo finally had the time to orchestrate his own plans, which involved all sorts of covert operations.
Today, it was an assault on a stronghold; tomorrow, an attack on a supply line, leaving the Rain and Sand Villages reeling.
As they passed through a dilapidated, deserted village, Minato sighed.
"When this war ends, it's going to take at least ten years for the Rain Country to recover."
"Come on, man, be more confident—take out the 'at least.' When this war ends, it'll take twenty years, maybe more, for the Rain Village to recover."
The place was tiny, with terrible conditions.
No trade routes, no economic base—what's the Rain Village going to use to rebuild?
Even if people in the surrounding areas have missions, they're not going to choose a small village like the Rain Village.
The cycle of poverty and decline would just keep spinning, making any recovery nearly impossible.
And that's not even considering the bandits and rogue ninja that would plague the country after the war, giving the people more than enough suffering to deal with.
"Let's rest here for the night and set out again tomorrow."
With plenty of time before the rendezvous, Takuya wasn't in any rush. He led the way into the broken-down village.
The village was completely deserted, the houses collapsed or scarred by battle.
Entering a half-intact farmhouse, Nawaki immediately began breaking down some useless furniture for firewood, getting a fire going.
Minato, as usual, headed out to look for food.
The three of them had a well-oiled system: Takuya cooked, Nawaki handled the firewood, and Minato took care of hunting.
If they couldn't find any game, they'd make do with dry rations or some simple flatbread.
"Damn!"
"Minato, have you got a thing for snakes lately? Or has that toad from Mount Myoboku gotten to you?"
When Minato returned with a snake as thick as his leg and several meters long, Nawaki couldn't help but cry out.
With Orochimaru's guidance, Nawaki had already started making contracts with the snakes from Ryuchi Cave.
At this point, the last thing he wanted to do was eat snake meat.
"There wasn't anything else out there; this was all I could find," Minato shrugged, looking a bit helpless.
Takuya chuckled as he began prepping the snake, cutting it into small pieces and marinating it before roasting it over the fire. He couldn't resist teasing the two of them.
"Nawaki, you can't let this slide. Next time, you should catch a bunch of toads and give them to Minato for dinner."
You're good at stirring the pot, Nawaki thought, rolling his eyes. But he didn't dare say it out loud.
The last time he'd made a crack about foxes, Shiro had smacked him so hard he flew ten meters.
Now, whenever he and Minato mentioned foxes, they did so very carefully, terrified of offending Shiro and getting sent flying again.
Rice and snake meat—a weird combo, but it tasted pretty good.
Even Nawaki, who'd complained at first, was eating with gusto. As for whether the snakes of Ryuchi Cave would find out, that was a problem for future Nawaki.
"We've got company."
In the middle of the meal, Takuya put down his bowl and looked outside.
Minato and Nawaki immediately grabbed their weapons.
"Calm down," Takuya said, resting his hands on theirs to stop them from drawing their weapons. "It's just three kids."
This world is so small, Takuya mused, to think we'd run into them here.
Kids? Nawaki thought, Are you kidding me? We're still kids ourselves.
***********
Note: If you're interested, you can read up to chapter 130+ at patreon.com/Emik01. Don't forget to give a power stone for many bonus chapters!