Chapter 60: I know you're anxious, but calm down for a sec.
After receiving a letter from 'Kamishiro', the Third Kazekage immediately sent a ninja to summon Ebizo and Chiyo for a discussion.
When Ebizo and Chiyo arrived at the Kazekage Building, Chiyo inquired, "Third Kazekage, what's the urgent matter that made you call us here in such a hurry?"
The Third Kazekage handed the letter from 'Kamishiro' to Chiyo and Ebizo.
After reading the contents of the letter, Chiyo and Ebizo instantly grew extremely serious.
Ebizo asked, "Is this letter sent back by the undercover agent you sent to Konoha, Third Kazekage?"
The Third Kazekage nodded and said, "That's right. What do you two advisors think about this letter?"
Chiyo asked cautiously, "Is it possible that this intelligence is false? For example, did your undercover agent in Konoha get false information? After all, the possibility of Iwagakure and Konoha collaborating is quite low."
The Third Kazekage took out another letter and handed it to Chiyo and Ebizo. "This letter was sent the day before yesterday. It's from Ōnoki. He wants to use the pretext of Konoha's attempt to seize the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai ninjas to cause trouble for Konoha.
Ōnoki hopes to Unite with our Sunagakure. When he makes a move against Konoha, Sunagakure should immediately respond and then jointly attack Konoha. To show his sincerity, Ōnoki will send us a batch of military supplies.
However, I don't quite trust that crafty old fox, Ōnoki. I planned to tell you about this after his military supplies arrived in Sunagakure."
Ebizo picked up the two letters and examined them carefully.
Ebizo analyzed seriously, "Based on just these two letters, we can't determine which one is true. However, comparatively speaking, I think the information our undercover agent got is more reliable.
First of all, the relationship between Iwagakure and the Cloud Hidden Village is very poor. Although Ōnoki is extremely covetous of Konoha's resources, if Hiruzen Sarutobi actively cooperates with Ōnoki and promises him benefits, there is indeed a certain possibility that they will collaborate.
If they cooperate, our Sunagakure, located behind them, will be their biggest threat. They're worried that if they send their ninja forces to attack the Cloud Hidden Village, we'll launch a Sneak Attack.
So it's quite possible that they'll lure us out and directly inflict heavy damage on us, forcing us to withdraw from this war."
The Third Kazekage slammed the table in anger.
This Ōnoki is really unethical. He actually planned to deceive our Sunagakure and launch a Sneak Attack on us.
Although we also deceived Iwagakure before and didn't give them the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai ninjas, it doesn't count as deception if we weren't discovered!
Just as the Third Kazekage was about to say something, Ebizo interrupted him.
Ebizo continued, "Third Kazekage, I know you're in a hurry, but calm down first. This is just a guess for now. After all, it's possible that our undercover agent got the wrong information. It might be that Ōnoki really wants to cooperate with us to attack Konoha."
Ebizo's hesitating speech left the Third Kazekage not knowing whether to be angry at Ōnoki or not.
When it came to fighting, the Third Kazekage was a pro.
But when it came to strategy, ten of him couldn't compare to Ebizo.
The Third Kazekage, who had a clear understanding of his own IQ, humbly asked, "Then, in Advisor Ebizo's opinion, what should our Sunagakure do?"
Ebizo fell into deep thought silently. Chiyo picked up the teacup and took a sip. She thought she'd just leave this kind of thing to her younger brother to figure out, as she wasn't good at it anyway.
After a while, Ebizo said, "The war hasn't officially started yet, so we mustn't make mistakes. Whether Ōnoki's offer of cooperation is genuine or not, we can't cooperate with him.
If Ōnoki wants to send supplies, we'll take them all. Let him talk. Anyway, he won't send ninja forces to the Land of Wind to attack us. Ōnoki has to take this loss.
But we can't let Konoha have it easy either. In case our undercover agent's information is wrong and Ōnoki really wants to cooperate with us, then Konoha would be out of a crisis.
Third Kazekage, write a letter to Konoha now. Say that Iwagakure wants to cooperate with Sunagakure, but we don't want to break our alliance contract with Konoha, so we've refused a promised batch of military supplies from Iwagakure. Then, especially mention the matter of Kamishiro."
The Third Kazekage immediately understood what Ebizo meant. "Advisor Ebizo means to extort a batch of military supplies from Konoha, right?"
Ebizo nodded. "Right. If we cooperate with Iwagakure, it'll be a disaster for Konoha. So Konoha will definitely give this batch of military supplies. It's worthwhile for Konoha to provide a batch of military supplies to avoid a crisis.
And if Konoha intends to cooperate with Iwagakure, as long as we aren't deceived, then they can do nothing to us. This matter will end up going nowhere. And to prevent us from attacking Konoha after we know about this, Konoha has to give us a batch of military supplies to shut us up.
Moreover, it's a fact that Konoha took the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai that we promised to Iwagakure. They're in the wrong.
So no matter what, Konoha has to give us this batch of military supplies."
At this time, Chiyo, who had been silent for a long time, said, "No matter what Iwagakure and Konoha's plans are, we can benefit. And our Sunagakure is in an absolutely safe position. It's really a good idea. The war hasn't started yet. If we make a mistake now, we won't be competitive when the war starts later."
So, Third Kazekage, I think Ebizo's proposal is quite good. You should give it some serious thought."
The Third Kazekage tapped his fingers on the table, lost in thought.
Ebizo's proposal was excellent as they'd be safe no matter what tricks Iwagakure and Konoha had up their sleeves, and they'd get free supplies from both sides.
Moreover, the Third Kazekage had quite a bit of faith in Kamishiro's intelligence.
After all, in Kamishiro's last letter, he'd said that he'd completely won Minato Namikaze's trust. Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, also didn't suspect his identity. He was now trying to win Jiraiya's trust, and his undercover mission was going extremely smoothly.
So, nine times out of ten, the intelligence Kamishiro had gathered was true.
Damn, that sneaky Ōnoki! Using Kamishiro as an excuse to pick a fight with Konoha? He didn't even care if Kamishiro was on their side. What a shameless bastard!
The Third Kazekage immediately wrote a letter and sent five Sunagakure ninjas to deliver it in person.
After resolving the matter, the Third Kazekage heaved a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness Kamishiro's intelligence had arrived in time. Otherwise, once Iwagakure's supplies were delivered, he might really have united with Ōnoki to attack Konoha.
If Iwagakure and Konoha really did cooperate, trying to lure them out and then severely damage them would be a huge problem.
The Third Kazekage was increasingly feeling that sending Kamishiro to Konoha as an undercover agent was a very wise decision.
Next, all he had to do was wait for the military supplies from Iwagakure and Konoha to arrive.
Freebies are always a win!