Promoting the Konoha threat theory, and talking about the Hidden Mist Belt!

Hozuki Shingetsu shook his head. He didn't want his future wife to sprout bones all over her body when she got excited. What if she did that during a happy moment... ugh, just thinking about it was terrifying.

Moreover, having finally arrived in the ninja world, wouldn't it be a waste of this time travel if there weren't a few well-known female ninjas around to collect as many photos as possible?

"No, no, I already have someone in mind for my wife."

"Oh? Which family's daughter is she? What does she look like?"

Ghost Lamp Remnant Moon was surprised that her precocious son had found someone he liked so early, and immediately looked at him with a very gossipy eye.

"His looks are naturally impeccable." A red-haired figure flashed through Hozuki Shingetsu's mind.

Regarding his marriage, besides his stamp collecting hobby, Hozuki Shingetsu also considers alliances and marriages, choosing someone who can greatly benefit his future career as his wife. And coincidentally, the person he has in mind perfectly meets all these criteria.

Although after marrying her I felt that she was unlikely to allow me to continue collecting stamps... but things can be done!

Talk about it later.

-

"how?"

In the dense forest not far away, White Zetsu, possessed by Madara Uchiha, quietly watched this scene.

"So-so! Only the unsealed ninjutsu is somewhat interesting; that half-finished Water Release Chakra Mode is still lacking in refinement," Madara Uchiha commented casually.

The complete Lightning Release chakra mode was nothing special to him, let alone this half-finished Water Release chakra mode. His unsealed ninjutsu, however, was truly impressive. But, from this kid, Madara Uchiha seemed to sense a familiar aura.

The aura emanates from a despicable scoundrel who only knows how to launch sneak attacks and engage in petty tricks.

"But as a pawn to disrupt Kirigakure and even the ninja world, isn't that quite good, Lord Madara?"

Uchiha Madara nodded, agreeing with this viewpoint.

Judging from the trouble this kid has been causing lately, he's not exactly a peaceful person, but the outcome seems to align with his own goals.

"Disrupting the ninja world... It seems I can report this to my main body." The consciousness of White Zetsu looked at Hozuki Shingetsu in the distance, deep in thought.

Chapter 20 Aftermath of the Ninja World

With the matter resolved, the film industry professionals who were the catalyst for the incident were naturally released.

"Are these people really that important? Are they worth fighting a war with the Kaguya clan for?" Ao was naturally puzzled by Hozuki Shingetsu's high regard for these people.

"It's a precautionary measure! Our Mizukage hasn't shown up since our diplomatic strategy yielded results. Although the Kaguya clan has tried to stop us, it's only been minor trouble. I suspect he's not up to anything. With these people, we have a backup plan to deal with his methods."

Hozuki Shingetsu recalled his plan to resolve the conflict between the daimyo and smiled mysteriously.

"However, in order to achieve the effect I envision, and also to demonstrate the influence of film promotion, this groundbreaking method of using films may soon be available to everyone."

Although he was used to Hozuki Shingetsu's cryptic way of speaking, Ao still felt annoyed. However, considering the vast difference in strength between them, Ao chose to force himself to forget about it and turned to report on other matters.

"After a brief period of confusion, Konoha has finally launched its counterattack. Currently, after all the propaganda bombardment, not many people in the ninja world are keeping their attention on Konoha anymore. There's no way around it, the ninja world has been just too exciting lately."

"Although this method has never appeared before, it would be a gross underestimation of Konoha to think that they still can't come up with any countermeasures."

"However... how could I let Konoha get away with this? When it comes to manipulating public opinion, Konoha has hardly learned anything."

As he spoke, Hozuki Shingetsu pulled a document out from under the table.

After curiously flipping through it, Qing couldn't help but gasp, contributing to the warming of the ninja world.

"This, this, this..."

"Holy crap, if you send this out, won't Konoha Village be blown up?"

Recalling the contents of the documents he had just reviewed, even after experiencing so much in the past few days, he was still speechless with shock, and goosebumps even rose on his arms.

"I wouldn't actually blow them up, but I'd just give them a headache for a while, and then lay the groundwork for my next move."

Hozuki Shingetsu chuckled softly, feigning profundity.

"There's another move? Isn't this enough?"

Ao suddenly felt a little sorry for Konoha, especially the Uchiha clan; he figured they'd soon become infamous throughout the ninja world.

"This is just the beginning. Not a single person has died, and there hasn't even been any internal strife in Konoha. We're still a long way off!"

"To kill someone and then destroy their spirit? That's too cruel!"

Qing, who had finally calmed down, was shocked again by Hozuki Shingetsu's words. What kind of person could have such a dark heart?

Perhaps he was being too obvious. After seeing Hozuki Shingetsu's clearly hostile gaze, Ao quickly pulled out a stack of papers to change the subject.

"However, Konoha might run into trouble on its own before you can even come up with your solution. Take a look at the announcement that Kumogakure issued earlier. It says that in order to show Kumogakure's determination to defend the peace of the ninja world, it will reduce the number of Bloodline Ninja Clan members to less than five from today onwards, and vows never to use Tailed Beasts in war... It is hoped that the other major ninja villages, especially Konoha, can follow suit."

"Haha, this is hilarious. Does the entire Hidden Cloud Village have five bloodline ninja clans combined? And with the Hidden Cloud Village's sealing technology, everyone knows they can't even seal a tailed beast, so how could they possibly create a Jinchuriki to borrow the tailed beast's power?"

"Heh, I bet Konoha would curse the moment they saw this."

Upon hearing this, Hozuki Shingetsu looked up and carefully examined the declaration in his hand. After reading it thoroughly, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Hey, this guy is really something!

From now on, if anyone says that the Hidden Cloud Village is just a bunch of brainless muscle-bound brutes, Hozuki Shingetsu will be the first to disagree!

As Ao said, when Konoha saw the Cloud Village's declaration, they felt as if they had swallowed a lump of jelly and were extremely uncomfortable.

How many blood-stained ninja clans do you have in Kumogakure? You can count them on one hand. Are you even qualified to sit at the card table with me? Why are you playing these word games here?

Who in the world doesn't know that the reason why Konoha is known as the top ninja in the world is because it has many bloodline ninja clans, a lot of funding from the daimyo, and many top-notch ninjas?

Although Konoha Village has never counted the number of Bloodstained Ninja Clan members, it is definitely within ten counts.

As the only perfect Jinchūriki in the current ninja world, Mito Uzumaki has been the pillar of Konoha since the passing of Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, and Tobirama Senju.

Good grief, are you trying to cripple two of my people from Kumogakure?

Is there any more heavenly justice?

You say you'll never send out the tailed beasts? Can you even send them out?

Who doesn't know that the "Iron Armor Seal" that your Hidden Cloud Village has a secret technique is like a geisha who's been swimming in the water, with tailed beasts able to come and go as they please?

How many people from your Hidden Cloud Village have died trying to subdue the Eight-Tails and the Two-Tails, and you still haven't succeeded? Now you're trying to put on a show for Konoha.

Ugh, that's disgusting!

Of course, the above only represents Konoha's perspective.

Meanwhile, the other major ninja villages, fully aware of this situation, voiced their support for Kumogakure in the media. They even went so far as to uphold the fine tradition of "having what others don't have and being better at what others have," and fully promote the spirit of learning from, catching up with, and helping each other. They issued declarations one after another, and added their own private agendas behind the declarations.

For example, Iwagakure wrote in its declaration: "...In order to show Iwagakure's determination to defend the rights of the weak and maintain peace in the ninja world, Iwagakure plans to suspend the selection of Jonin for the next five years and reduce the number of Jonin to two-thirds of the current number. We hope that other countries, especially Konoha, will follow suit. Iwagakure will pay close attention to this and hopes that other ninja villages, especially Konoha, will work with us to maintain this beautiful blue sky of the ninja world."

When Konoha saw this, they were furious and berated Onoki for being inhuman. They said, "You even postponed the Jonin selection. Why don't you say that among your Iwagakure's new generation of worker ants, how many of them will reach the level of Jonin within five years? You even plan to reduce the number of Jonin to two-thirds of the current number. Why don't you say that your Iwagakure has always had the highest number of ninjas in the ninja world?"

Besides, were those eliminated Jonin really dead? Will they then fight in future wars under the guise of "voluntariness"?

The Sand Village was equally ruthless. Chiyo's declaration left Hozuki Shingetsu stunned, thinking to himself that women, especially middle-aged women, were indeed not to be trifled with. This move had directly severed the lifeline of Konoha Village.

"...In my opinion, the reason why the major ninja villages have the confidence to expand their military is due to the continuous allocation of funds from the daimyo of various countries. Here we solemnly promise that the military expenditure we receive from the daimyo each year will not exceed five billion yen. We hope that other countries, especially Konoha Village, will follow suit. In order to maintain the sustainable development of the ninja world in the future, we should not let the children of the ninja world lose their smiles because of the selfish desires of individual power."

Konoha Village is speechless. This 5 billion yen must be the total amount of funding your Sunagakure Village gets from the Daimyo every year! Do you think everyone is as poor as your Land of Wind?

Do you know how much funding Konoha receives from the Daimyo every year?

Five billion? Who do you think you are!

Konoha has never fought such a humiliating battle!

Believe it or not, even the Uchiha clan would shake their heads at this 5 billion?

Moreover, the combined demands of Sunagakure and Kumogakure effectively severed the three pillars upon which Konoha relied for its survival. Furthermore, the area-of-effect damage of this attack was so widespread that it even affected Kumogakure and Iwagakure.

As the second and third ranked villages among the five great ninja villages, their annual military expenditures, even if not as high as Konoha's, are definitely more than 5 billion yen, so they are firmly opposed to this.

As for Kirigakure... they, who are about to have their military budget cut by the daimyo, say that they can receive a fixed amount of 5 billion yen from the daimyo every year without doing anything?

Is there such a good thing?

It's a deal!

relative?

Chapter 21 Hiruzen Sarutobi: Besides spitting in my face,

As for Kirigakure, although it is in a state of de facto isolation, its active diplomacy often makes people forget this fact.

Not to mention that as the mastermind behind this Konoha diplomatic crisis, Hozuki Shingetsu resolutely upheld the spirit of kicking someone when they're down, kicking the cripple's good leg hard, and soon after also released the Kirigakure version of the declaration.

"Lord Hokage..."

"what's up?"

Exhausted by the recent twists and turns of public opinion, Sarutobi Hijiri opened his eyes.

"Oh, it's Lu Han. Please sit down. What's up now?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's top strategist, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and the current head of the Nara clan, Nara Shikahan, glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who hadn't slept for three days, hesitated for a moment, and then told the Hokage the information he had obtained.

"The Hidden Mist Village has also issued a corresponding declaration. Would you like to take a look?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed and opened the document that Shikakan Nara had handed him.

As expected, the story features the classic trope of using one's own advantages to drag Konoha down with them.