"Obviously Konoha has some questions to answer, and a sacrifice to make. Either I have the head of that frog-fucking bastard in front of me, or Konoha has to face the wrath of Kumogakure," Raikage shouted.
"Both of them are impossible. First of all, there is no way Konoha will agree to any of our claims about them attacking our outpost.
As for Jiraiya's presence, it is even more absurd as he is moving with the Fire Daimyo himself along with Shisui Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and many other Jonin from Konoha. Even our spies have confirmed this. Konoha can just use the Daimyo as a witness that Jiraiya had no involvement in this attack." Seeing Raikage getting even more angry,
Masashi maintained his composure. His years of experience dealing with two Raikages of the village had almost given him a future sight for their next actions, which are very easy to guess most of the time as it is the most rash one.
"As for trying to blackmail Konoha like when we did during the Hyuga incident, that is also a no-go. During that time, they accepted our demand because Konoha was at its weakest, with the war just over and Nine-tails killing their Kage and majority of elite force. They really had no other choice other than bowing their head and obeying us."
His eyes then shifted toward all of the elders in the room. He was the only person even during that time who was against the idea of that threat, and Konoha would remember that humiliation for sure. His gaze was accusing everyone present there for not listening to him when he tried his best.
Sigh
"Now Konoha has more than triple of our S-rank ninja. Their Jonin population must have increased too. Though there is no way to confirm it, but just from rough estimate, it is twice more than us.
Even in the off chance we believe that Iwa is not with Konoha in this attack and we ally with them for an attack, there is still a very high chance that Konoha will emerge victorious in a war against both of us at the same time, not to mention the ever-present chance of being backstabbed by those fence-sitters."
The whole room fell silent. Only some lightning flickering through the body of the Raikage was producing a chirping sound now and then. A looming shadow was on his face. Everyone was waiting for his response, as they knew the temper of this man was really fickle, and these logical words may very well have fallen on deaf ears.
But Masashi was as calm as before. Unlike these new fellows, he had served two generations of the Kage. He knew even with their fiery temper, they were among the smartest people in Kumogakure. Aside from high battle IQ, they had great political and civil management knowledge as well.
As there is no way thousands of ninja would give their lives for a tyrant with an iron fist, they may even start a revolt or go rogue rather than respecting them like they do now.
After a deafening silence of who knows how long, Raikage finally raised his face to meet the nervous, solemn faces with hints of anger which he knew was directed toward Konoha. Sadly, none of them were angry for the deaths of their ninja as much as being disrespected like that.
And to be honest, neither was he. When he took the seat of Kage after the death of his father, the man who fought ten thousand alone for the village, he was always worried about the deaths of his ninja.
Every single ninja who died because of his orders was an extra weight to his soul, but over the years, he had grown numb to such feelings. Maybe his soul is already so weighted that any extra weight doesn't matter anymore. Alas, he had many more such decisions to make.
"All of the things Elder Masashi said are correct. We are not in a position to start a war with Konoha, but that doesn't mean it will be the same in the future. We will return this humiliation tenfold in the future, and for that, we have to take some drastic measures...
Start the S-rank hunter project, increase the taxes, and get as much funding as required. From now on, we will start preparing for a war," A said as he scanned the room, happy to see that everyone present agreed to his orders.
"But Raikage-sama, only that will not be enough. Even with such a force, we will still need the help of the other ninja villages to fight Konoha. If we really want to return this humiliation, we have to get more strength," the previous Jonin commander and current head of research and development team of Kumogakure said.
"I understand what you want to say, but we really don't have to fund that project, especially considering the no results till now," A said.
"As you wish, Raikage-sama, but I assure you this is the only way we will ever have enough strength to fight Konoha on equal ground," the elder said and went silent.
"..." The whole council was silent after that. The truth was hard to swallow. They knew the words of the elder were irrefutable truth. So what if they developed an elite team capable of fighting an S-rank toe to toe? Konoha could always send another to the rescue and destroy all of their elite ninja with superior force.
They would need other villages to take as much of Konoha's force toward them as they could so that their elite force could actually achieve something, which was in truth nothing much different from before.
"Raikage-sama, if we manage our funds correctly and increase the tax we are getting from sea routes, I think there is some chance of providing Third Elder with some funds," the head of the economic sector of the village and one of the youngest members of the council said. The presence of such a young fellow among these experienced elders showed a testament to his talent.
"I will leave that to you. Third Elder, I am going to put the economy of not only Kumogakure but the whole Land of Lightning under strain for this. I hope you would not mind me asking for results, no matter how small, by the end of three months?" A asked.
"Not at all, Lord Fourth. If anything, we may be able to produce some tangible results before the deadline," the elder said with enough confidence that it made it hard to refute his words.
"Fine then, this meeting is adjourned, and the work starts. I am going to train with B. Call me if there is any more problem," A said and vanished from his position the next moment.
...
The sole reason for all of the stir all around the world, the testament of the butterfly effect, was sitting in the basement of the Hokage office talking with some of the Jonin, while waiting to go on a mission to further increase his strength.
Still in the dark about the storm of turmoil he had created in the world, though not all of the people were in the dark about the movements in the world.
(In a dark cave in some unknown area of the world)
"So Konoha finally made a move, huh?" Obito asked, opening his eyes to see the sickening smile of Zetsu standing in front of him.
"Move? No, more like they destroyed the board altogether. Both Kumo and Iwa suffered too much, but from the look of it, the chance of war is no more than the chance of rain in Konoha," Zetsu said.
"What did they do?" Obito asked, not in the mood for cryptic talk.
"They destroyed one outpost each from Kumo and Iwa. Iwa lost over 120 ninja, while Kumo lost over 230, and Konoha had only sent 62 ninja.
Though 2 of them were S-rank, still achieving so much with so little. As expected of your former village," Zetsu said, but then suddenly the pressure of the room increased too much with a glowing red eye focusing on him completely.
"I was just joking."
"Since there is no war, the villages will retain their strength, so we can't start the plan for now. Though from the looks of it, the war is not far.
Give the details to Pain and ask him to increase the process of the expansion of Akatsuki. Maybe we have to move soon," Obito said and then went back to his practice while Zetsu just smiled and submerged into the ground once again.