This Water Shadow is very strong, but overly cautious.

"Combined with his own unique blood, he possesses the ability to manipulate 'iron sand'."

“Although the Wind Country is located in a desolate desert, the desert iron sand resources are extremely rich.”

"The Third Kazekage himself can pay for the supplies in exchange for iron ore."

Mizunoe Ryosuke spoke slowly, and his words made Maeda Genshi more and more excited as he listened, and gradually a gleam of brilliance appeared in his eyes.

"Mr. Mizukage, what do you mean?"

Master Maeda suddenly thought of something, and he seemed to suddenly see a terrifying benefit.

"Yes, it's what you think."

Ryosuke chuckled and nodded, confirming Master Maeda's guess.

"call"

Master Maeda let out a light breath.

"Based on this alone, the gains from this battle are enough to revitalize Kirigakure!"

Master Maeda expressed his heartfelt emotion.

It is no wonder that Master Maeda would show such an expression. The benefits behind it are really too tempting.

In the ninja world, the largest weapons producer is not only not the Fire Nation, the most powerful of the five major nations, but also not any of the five major nations.

But it is a little-known small country - the Iron Country!

The Land of Iron is located right in the center of the Land of Fire, the Land of Lightning, and the Land of Water. It is a unique yet aloof country in the entire ninja world.

Because the Iron Country is the only permanently neutral country in the ninja world. Not only that, the Iron Country is also the only small country whose internal affairs are not interfered with by major powers.

There are three reasons why the Iron Kingdom has such a status.

First of all, there was the political influence. When Hashirama Senju held the first Five Kage Summit, the venue was chosen in the permanently neutral Iron Kingdom.

Witnessed by the leader of the Iron Country samurai, the Five Kage signed a peace treaty, ushering in decades of peace in the ninja world.

Because of this history, whenever disputes arise between major powers and peace talks are finally held, both sides generally choose a neutral iron country as the venue for the talks.

Over time, none of the five major countries wanted to see the Iron Country fall into the hands of the other, so they formed constraints on each other.

A tacit understanding was also formed among the major powers. In order to have a place to hold future peace talks, they tacitly acknowledged the "permanent neutrality" status of the Iron Country.

Secondly, there is the unique "craftsman" attribute of the Iron Country.

The Land of Iron is where the skilled craftsmen of the Ninja World live. There live a large number of craftsmen who are good at making weapons. Almost all the well-known magical weapons in the Ninja World were born in the Land of Iron.

Including: the six ninja swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen (not including Samehada), the Thunder God Sword of the Second Hokage, the flying sickle in the hands of Hanzo, etc.

Even the chakra-conducting dagger in Asuma Sarutobi's hand, the Hiyan, was made by craftsmen from the Land of Iron.

After all, no one wants to be turned away by the famous craftsmen of the Iron Kingdom when they need to make weapons in the future.

The Iron Country not only has a high-end "artifact customization" business, but also a low-end "weapons wholesale" business.

Therefore, the Land of Iron is the largest weapons producer in the ninja world, and its high-quality weapons are spread across the five major countries. This also means that almost no major country is willing to offend the Land of Iron.

The most important one is the third point.

That is - force!

Although the Iron Country is only a small country, the violent profession called "Samurai" is active in this country.

Samurai are different from ninjas. Their methods of using chakra are completely different, but they have each walked their own path.

The samurai group is very powerful, and its leader is usually a samurai with the strength of a "kage".

With the existence of the samurai group, the five major countries do not want to face this tough challenge alone.

Taking these three factors into consideration, the Iron Country has become the only existence in the ninja world that is above the rest.

And this is exactly what Master Maeda said, the source of "huge benefits".

What does the Iron Country, the top weapons producer in the ninja world, lack the most?

It’s neither money nor combat power, but iron ore.

Due to its unique geographical environment, the Iron Country is entirely covered by ice and snow, making it extremely difficult to mine iron ore.

Coupled with years of continuous mining, the difficulty of iron ore mining in the Iron Country has increased sharply, and the iron ore reserves are also in jeopardy.

Therefore, the Iron Country can only choose to purchase iron ore resources from neighboring countries.

Among the countries neighboring the Iron Country, the small country of Hot Spring Country is a tourist country famous for its hot springs and vacations, but it does not have any iron ore resources.

Among the major countries neighboring the Iron Kingdom, the Water Kingdom, as an island country, has relatively scarce mineral resources and can barely be self-sufficient.

The Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning also have their own ninja villages that need to be supplied, so strategic materials such as ore will of course be given priority for their own use.

As a result, the ore purchased by the Iron Country not only failed to meet demand, but was also priced too high.

But now, after Mizunoe Ryosuke and the Third Kazekage reached a cooperation, things are completely different.

Ryosuke could easily buy the iron ore from the Third Kazekage of the Wind Country at a low price, and then sell it to the Iron Country, making a huge profit.

Chapter 204: If you don’t make the difference, what else can you make?

Although the journey is long, due to the Third Kazekage's own abilities, mining iron ore is almost "zero cost", just a matter of spending some chakra.

In this way, all the expenses are only in logistics and transportation, so Ryosuke can purchase iron ore in the Wind Country at a very low price.

Someone will say, if that’s the case, can’t the Wind Country think of this “business opportunity” itself?

Why didn't the Third Kazekage bypass the "middleman" Ryosuke Mizunoe and sell the iron ore directly to the Land of Iron? Wouldn't that be a huge profit?

Based on the current situation, the Wind Country really has no way to get rid of Ryosuke as the "middleman".

The Kingdom of Wind is thousands of miles away from the Kingdom of Iron. There are two ways to go directly from the Kingdom of Wind to the Kingdom of Iron.

Either cross the Land of Fire, or start from the Land of Wind and pass through a series of small countries along the way, including the Land of Birds, the Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, the Land of Taki, and the Land of Frost.

Sand Village wants to cross the Fire Country to sell iron ore in the Iron Country? It's simply a dream. Konoha will never sit idly by and watch Sand Village profit for nothing.

After all, there is a territorial border issue between Konoha and Sunagakure, and Konoha will never watch Sunagakure grow bigger by selling iron ore.

With the existence of Konoha, there is basically no chance that 710 will sell iron ore across the Land of Fire.

As for the second route, it seems unreliable.

The territorial boundaries between small and big countries are almost non-existent in the eyes of big countries.

If Sunagakure wants to take this path, it must first be clear.

Small countries such as the Land of Birds, the Land of Rain, and the Land of Grass are adjacent to Iwagakure and Konoha, while small countries such as the Land of Taki and the Land of Frost are adjacent to the Land of Cloud.

If we take this path, we will still face the dilemma of interference from major powers.

Even if Sand Village wanted to take the water route, it would still be full of difficulties.

The Sand Village has to pass through the Tea Country, the Whirlpool Country and the Water Country before it can reach the Iron Country.

In the end, he still has to pass through the gate of Kirigakure. If Ryosuke doesn't agree, he can't go this way.

To sum up, it is an impossible task for Sunagakure to transport iron ore to the Land of Iron.

But with the "middleman" Ryosuke Mizunoe, everything is different.

The iron ore can be transported from the Kingdom of Wind to the Kingdom of Water, and then from the Kingdom of Water to the Kingdom of Iron. Although the round trip is more complicated, it achieves a win-win situation for all three parties.

As for the Wind Country, the Third Kazekage only spent a little chakra and at most a little manpower to exchange for the strategic materials needed by the Wind Country.

Kirigakure has obtained a large amount of cheap iron ore, which can be sold to the Iron Kingdom at a high price.

On the other hand, in the Land of Iron, although they harvested the iron ore sold by Kirigakure at a "high price", the price was not much better than the "sky-high price" offered by Kumogakure and Konoha.

In this way, all three parties win together and each obtains the benefits they want.

Zabuza Momochi went to Sunagakure to meet the Third Kazekage, and the letter he delivered talked about exactly this incident.

As a result, the third generation Kazekage Tiesha naturally chose to accept this "pie in the sky" good thing directly.

Seeing this, Ryosuke didn't say anything more and turned the topic back to the war.

"I predict that in the first phase of the Ninja World War, each family will gradually join the war."

"Soon after, as the war continues, the initial restraint maintained by the major forces will be overwhelmed by hatred and exhaustion."

"By then, the war will officially enter its second phase, and the forces involved will unleash their true passions, increasing the stakes regardless of cost, and plunge into the quagmire of war."

“I call this the ‘white-hot phase.’”

It was obvious that everyone found Mizunoe Ryosuke's analysis meaningless because he had summarized the form of the war very accurately.

"And at this stage, it is the best time for Kirigakure to go into battle."

"Everything that Kirigakure has lost, we will take this opportunity to take it all back!"

As he spoke, a sharp look flashed in Ryosuke's eyes.

"In this case (chcc), this will be the best time for us to join the war."

"No matter where we set our sights, other countries mired in war will be powerless to stop us."

There was a gleam of brilliance in Gui Deng Man Yue's eyes, as if he had already seen the outcome of victory in the war.

"Yes."

“Firstly, we can demonstrate our military power in war and re-anchor the ranking of the five major powers.”

"Secondly, by picking us up at the airport, we can also extend our influence to the small countries nearby."

"To seek the interests of other small countries."

“This is my ultimate goal.”

As he spoke, Mizunoe Ryosuke looked at the map of the Ninja World behind him.

The ninja world is so vast, and Konoha, the Land of Fire, enjoys the best resources and geographical environment, and is located in the center of the ninja world.

There are more than a dozen small countries scattered around Konoha. Since the First Ninja World War ended with Konoha's absolute victory, all the resources of these small countries are controlled by Konoha.

Other major powers can only extend their hands slightly into the neighboring small countries to obtain meager benefits.

Controlling a small country not only allows you to obtain a large number of tasks, but also cultivate more ninjas.

Taxes, resources, and population will greatly increase the base of ninjas and enrich the combat effectiveness of the ninja village.

Konoha's strength is not only due to the rich resources and vast land of the Fire Country.

It is also because of the plundering of resources from other neighboring small countries. It is also because of this that Konoha has become the unique overlord of the ninja world, and the pattern of the ninja world has never changed for many years. The strong will always be strong, and the weak will always be weak.

If Mizunoe Ryosuke wants to control the ninja world, he must lead Kirigakure to become powerful enough.

In order to break the current situation in the ninja world and gain a place at the top for Kirigakure, it is imperative to absorb the interests of small countries.

"understood."

Mangetsu Kizuki nodded, and a hint of fighting spirit appeared in his eyes.

"Finally, this is the third phase of this war."

“I call it the ‘twilight phase.’”

"By then, I hope that through the efforts of everyone present here, Kirigakure will have stood as the victor."

Mizunoe Ryosuke stared at the six people and one cat at the table with burning eyes.

"Yes!"

"For the rise of Kirigakure, we will not hesitate to die!"

The six people stood up and bowed solemnly to Mizunoe Ryosuke.

They paid their highest respects to the mysterious and always unfathomable Fourth Mizukage.

Even the big orange cat next to him did not dare to be negligent at this moment, and performed the highest etiquette of the ninja cat clan to Mizunoe Ryosuke.

"Everyone, go down and get ready."

In the end, Mizunoe Ryosuke announced the end of the meeting, which also meant that the Hidden Mist Village would officially embark on the road to rise.

"Yes!"

Afterwards, everyone left, leaving only Mizunoe Ryosuke alone, who stared at the Ninja World map in the background, lost in thought.

Chapter 205, The Legendary Ninja Battle