Then, he crumpled the letter in his hands, tore it into pieces, and scattered them onto the office floor.
The young secretary, Mabui, standing by, merely sighed softly.
As expected, this reaction was completely within her expectations.
"Damn the Fourth Mizukage, he's been Mizukage for just a few days, yet he talks to me so disrespectfully!"
Although he didn't specify the exact reason, seeing the Fourth Raikage's angry demeanor, it was clear that the letter from the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, contained extremely unpleasant words targeting Hidden Cloud.
"Please don't get angry easily, Raikage-sama. This month, we've already replaced your office desk six times."
The Fourth Raikage looked at Mabui and said, "The expenses can just be deducted from my personal budget."
"More important than that, I'm more worried about your attitude; this has nothing to do with the budget. As the Raikage of the village, it's better to keep your emotions in check."
Mabui advised.
After all, the Fourth Raikage's behavior of angrily smashing desks couldn't be called wise at all.
A temperamental and irritable nature is actually quite inadequate for a Kage.
As the secretary, Mabui could only offer this advice.
"Stop talking about trivial matters. If we face Konoha and Hidden Mist as opponents simultaneously, what's the success rate for us Hidden Cloud?"
The Fourth Raikage asked directly.
"If we go to war with Konoha and Hidden Mist simultaneously, I suggest we directly sign a ceasefire agreement. Because Hidden Cloud doesn't have enough troops for frontal combat against two villages at once."
Mabui smiled bitterly.
What a reckless Raikage-sama, though she knew it was just the Fourth Raikage's spur-of-the-moment talk, she still had to inform him of this unbearably harsh fact.
Wanting to take on Konoha and Hidden Mist single-handedly, even if Hidden Cloud's ninjas were exhausted on the battlefield, victory wouldn't be possible.
"What if we're only facing Konoha?"
The stubborn attitude of the Fourth Mizukage of Hidden Mist made him furious, but the Fourth Raikage also understood who the village's biggest enemy was, not letting anger cloud his judgment.
"Well... Based on the exact information, Konoha's Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato, the ninja known as the Yellow Flash, sacrificed himself to seal the Nine-tails. So if we go to war with Konoha now, the pressure won't be as intense as last time."
As for the outcome, Mabui did not make a judgment.
Her current abilities were limited, and she couldn't deduce the whole war between Hidden Cloud and Konoha from limited information to predict the eventual victor.
Without the Fourth Hokage, Konoha still has numerous strong ninjas, like the Sannin, who could become crucial turning points in a battle's result.
"Then, convey my order to immediately commence a strategy meeting for actions against Konoha."
The Fourth Raikage waved his hand.
"Yes." Mabui nodded solemnly, then remembered something: "Oh Raikage-sama, there's one more thing. Regarding the planning of the Nine-tails rampage event which caused the death of the Fourth Hokage and the attempt to manipulate the tailed beasts of major nations by Konoha's three S-ranked renegade ninjas, how should we handle this?"
Hidden Cloud has the Two-tails and Eight-tails. If what Konoha claims is true, this can't be ignored.
"Renegade ninjas are Konoha's problem; Hidden Cloud doesn't need to clean up after Konoha. Moreover, this could very well be Konoha intentionally throwing out smoke bombs to forcibly divert our attention, can't fall into their trap."
The Fourth Raikage remained unmoved by this; such conspiracies were hardly worth bothering with.
Even if it's true, he still needs to prove that Hidden Cloud is not comparable to Konoha and is capable of protecting its own Jinchuriki.
Having received the Fourth Raikage's orders, Mabui exited the office and began gathering the village's Jonin to quickly organize a strategy meeting.
◎
October 23rd.
A year after the last Hidden Cloud and Konoha war concluded, Hidden Cloud once again formally declared war on Konoha, stationing thousands of ninjas in the Land of Hot Water, glaring at the Land of Fire, showing signs of wanting to attack the Land of Fire.
As the looming war threatens to break out fully, Hakushi in the Land of Demons felt naturally delighted upon hearing this news.
However, there was one thing that slightly annoyed Hakushi; it's unclear why, but Konoha suspects he and Ruri were the ones behind orchestrating the Nine-tails incident, leading to the sacrifice of their Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
This pushed the three of them into the spotlight internationally for the first time, drawing a lot of attention.
If it weren't for the absence of any Konoha ninjas' traces within the Land of Demons, Hakushi would have suspected Konoha collected some immensely crucial evidence, determining he was indeed living in the Land of Demons.
Looking back now, either Konoha stumbled upon... or perhaps on the night of the Nine-tails turmoil, Nagato left some misleading critical information, guiding Konoha to trap the three of them.
Hakushi believed the latter possibility was greater.
The chances of stumbling upon it are too low; it must be that they grasped some ambiguous information, leading them to the three of them.
Otherwise, the personnel planted within Konoha's system wouldn't convey any information at all, allowing him to be ready.
"You seem troubled by this."
Ruri noticed Hakushi frowning, believing he encountered a problem.
"Just a bit of a headache. After all, it's not easy for Konoha to find us. Even if they luckily do, they'd have to dispatch ninjas with matching strength. As far as I know, Konoha currently doesn't have such ninjas appearing."
Thus, regarding this aspect, Hakushi wasn't very worried.
As for the alleged attempts to manipulate tailed beasts, it is absolutely baseless. While he is interested in tailed beasts, it doesn't mean gaining full tailed beasts is necessary for research.
But other ninja villages wouldn't necessarily think the same, the public voice within the Ninja Realm between renegade ninjas and Konoha's Hokage, certainly, the latter's influence is more positive and triggers recognition more.
This is the limitation of being a renegade ninja.
"Should we just ignore it?"
"Yeah, no need to bother with them. Konoha hopes we panic and expose ourselves, but they really underestimate the power we hold. Let them misjudge our resources and power; it's actually a good thing."
"Seems it will be a protracted battle."
"Since that's the case, how about accompanying me on a trip to the Land of Snow?"
Hakushi then smiled.
"The Land of Snow? Has something happened there?"
Ruri paused to ask.
"Over there, after a year's time, they've innovated Chakra Armor technology based on original foundations. Recently, they developed a new series of Chakra Armor. I need to go there personally to test the exact performance of the new Chakra Armor, see if it can be mass-produced and equipped by the ninjas under me."
"A new type of Chakra Armor... seems quite interesting, I'll go have a look too."
Ruri felt intrigued and agreed.
"Then there's no time to waste, we'll set out in the afternoon. Just need to return before the end of the month."
Comprehensive testing of Chakra Armor's performance, whether large-scale production is possible, and the subsequent research development funds all need to be drafted into a reasonable plan, which can't be resolved in just a few days going back and forth.
As for the reason to return before the end of the month, naturally, it's because Ayane is about to give birth; within November and December, the results will be seen.
As the father of the unborn child, Hakushi naturally didn't want to leave the Land of Demons for anything in the next two months, as missing the chance to see his child for the first time would indeed be a great regret.