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From high in the sky, Ōnoki spotted Kazuki sitting casually atop the border marker stone, with Fugaku, Itachi, and Orochimaru waiting a short distance away.

He didn’t hesitate for long. Descending swiftly, the old Tsuchikage landed less than ten meters from Kazuki.

"Uchiha Kazuki."

Ōnoki’s expression was far from pleasant.

The mere fact that Kazuki had shown up on the border line made it abundantly clear this wasn’t some casual sightseeing trip.

His purpose was obvious: he was here for the camps and defenses Iwagakure had only just begun rebuilding.

Just over ten days ago, you demolished our camp completely. Now it’s barely half-rebuilt, and you’re already back for round two?

"I never expected to run into the Tsuchikage himself out here. Shouldn’t you be sitting securely in Iwagakure right now, overseeing the big picture? It seems the situation on the Takigakure front isn’t intense enough to keep you pinned down."

Faced with Kazuki’s provoking tone, Ōnoki naturally refused to give him a friendly look. He let out a cold snort and rose slightly into the air again, floating so that his line of sight leveled with Kazuki’s.

He had no intention of craning his neck upward to speak to this junior.

"The situation on the Takigakure front is none of your concern. What this old man didn’t expect was that Konoha would launch an unannounced attack—storm our camps without declaration of war, invade the Land of Earth, plunder our resources, and loot our wealth!!!"

Utterly shameless—no sense of martial honor whatsoever!

They struck without a single word of warning, catching everyone completely off guard and inflicting massive losses in one brutal stroke.

Kazuki smiled and shot back without missing a beat:

"Funny thing—if memory serves, when Iwagakure attacked Konoha and marched straight into the Land of Fire, you didn’t bother with any prior declaration of war either. You didn’t give Konoha any time to prepare. So in that sense, we’re really not so different from each other. Birds of a feather, you might say. Why speak so absolutely? Saying things like that—doesn’t your face hurt, Tsuchikage? Or are you saying only Iwagakure is allowed to launch surprise attacks on others, but no one else can do the same to you? You can’t apply double standards like that. During the Third Great Ninja War, how much pain and suffering did Iwagakure inflict on Konoha?

I knew the moment this brat opened his mouth he’d have nothing good to say.

Ōnoki’s face darkened further, but he didn’t immediately retort. Kazuki continued smoothly:

"Some grudges aren’t so easy to let go of. It’s only a matter of whether the opportunity for revenge ever presents itself. Take Kumogakure, for example—they still remember the death of the Third Raikage with perfect clarity. And now, thanks to your village launching an unprovoked attack on Takigakure to plunder resources, you’ve handed them exactly the opening they’ve been waiting for."

"The Third Raikage’s death was entirely his own fault. If he hadn’t swaggered into the Land of Earth with that precious tool of his, trying to steal our resources, I wouldn’t have sent the full army to surround and kill him."

At this point, Ōnoki’s ugly expression softened slightly. A trace of smug satisfaction crept onto his aged features:

"Unfortunately, he overestimated himself. He thought that even if he was discovered, this old man would have no way to deal with him. But I proved him wrong. The Third Raikage was dragged to death—slowly, painfully—right here in the Land of Earth."

The Third Raikage had brought it on himself. Ōnoki felt zero regret over the matter. If given the chance to do it all over again, he would still order the full encirclement and kill the man the same way—wearing him down until he died on Iwagakure soil.

You dare come swaggering into the Land of Earth to plunder? Then don’t blame me for keeping you here forever and sending your corpse back home in pieces.

"The Third Raikage really did dig his own grave. Far too overconfident."

Kazuki had to concede that much. Ōnoki wasn’t wrong. Put anyone in the same position—even Kazuki himself—and they would have acted ruthlessly.

"It was Kumogakure that approached Konoha first, seeking an alliance, wasn’t it?"

Ōnoki wasn’t stupid. A little analysis made the truth obvious. While Konoha certainly harbored deep resentment and a desire for revenge against Iwagakure, the intensity of that desire paled in comparison to Kumogakure’s.

When it came to targeting Iwagakure, Kumogakure was clearly the driving force.

"Yes."

Kazuki didn’t mind selling out the Raikage at all. What was done was done—there was no harm in stating the facts openly now.

"Even before the war between Kirigakure and Sunagakure broke out, the Raikage had already come to Konoha seeking cooperation. And the target of that cooperation was Iwagakure."

What a restless pack of troublemakers!

In his heart, Ōnoki cursed A up one side and down the other.

At the same time, he mentally tore into both Kirigakure and Sunagakure. If those two hadn’t started fighting each other, Iwagakure never would have suffered such an explosive internal crisis.

They could have maintained stability—albeit living a harder, more frugal life.

Of course, the Akatsuki organization couldn’t be let off the hook either. Their orchestration of the Four-Tails Night incident in Iwagakure had detonated the village’s hidden problems far ahead of schedule.

"Everyone else’s appetite matches the amount of food on their plate. But Iwagakure? You’ve got it completely backwards."

"Are you saying that by constantly expanding our military strength, Iwagakure has overextended itself and choked on its own ambition?"

Ōnoki flatly rejected Kazuki’s implication and fired back on the spot.

Kazuki’s expression turned faintly amused. He shook his head slightly:

"No. The one who might actually overeat and choke would more likely be Kumogakure. As for Iwagakure... no offense intended, but your village’s economic development has some serious issues. Even if you wanted to overeat, you don’t have enough food on the table to make it possible." Kazuki spread his hands helplessly.

Ōnoki’s aged face darkened once more.

He had thought he was being mocked for biting off more than he could chew—only to realize the real insult was that Iwagakure didn’t even qualify to overeat in the first place.

"Tsuchikage, I think you’ve misunderstood me. What I meant is this: you’ve reversed the order. It’s not that you’ve stuffed yourselves to bursting. It’s that you’ve stretched your stomach to an enormous size, but the bowl in front of you still only holds a pitiful handful of rice. Forget overeating—you’d be lucky just to fill your belly."

Kumogakure could afford to overindulge because their economy was robust. They had money to burn and could develop aggressively without fear. Iwagakure, on the other hand, was forcing expansion on a massive scale while chronically short on actual resources.

They lived in a perpetual state of semi-starvation. Under normal circumstances, they could scrape by and maintain the status quo. But the moment any major disturbance shook the shinobi world, the cracks would immediately show.

"..."

You son of a—!

Do you even know how to use metaphors properly?

If you don’t, then shut up and say less!!

Ōnoki’s mood plummeted to rock bottom.

Kazuki’s words had clearly struck a very raw nerve.

"Come up and sit for a while? I brought plenty of food."

The border marker stone was wide enough for two people to sit comfortably, with space in the middle for a small table, some snacks, and a few bottles of sake.

"..."

I came here to intimidate you, and now you’re inviting me to sit down, share a drink, and have a nice chat over food?

This old man...

Fine. Might as well sit and talk properly.

If possible, Ōnoki had no desire to fight Kazuki head-on right here and now. Since Kazuki had extended the invitation, Ōnoki naturally couldn’t show weakness by refusing.

So he floated over and settled down directly opposite Kazuki.

Kazuki pulled out a sealing scroll, unsealed it, and produced a compact folding table along with an assortment of food and several bottles of sake, setting everything out neatly.

From a short distance away, Fugaku watched Kazuki and Ōnoki sitting together, casually eating and drinking. Dark lines slowly appeared across his forehead.

The sight was almost surreal: the two most dangerous figures from Konoha and Iwagakure, sitting side by side on a border stone like old friends catching up over drinks, while the tension of potential war hung in the air around them.

Fugaku rubbed his temple. He had seen many strange things in his life, but this one took the prize.

Meanwhile, back at the Iwagakure reconstruction site, the ninja left behind were still in a state of mild panic after watching their Tsuchikage fly off alone.

They had no idea what was happening at the border right now—only that their leader had gone straight toward the source of their recent nightmares.

And somewhere in the distance, two of the shinobi world’s most powerful men were sharing sake and trading barbs, each fully aware that the conversation could turn deadly at any moment.

Yet for now, the food was good, the drinks were cold, and neither side seemed in a hurry to escalate.

At least not yet.