"Why don't we just attack Sunagakure and make them pay the consequences of attacking Konoha?"
Fujin's question silenced the room in an instant. Without exception, every single council member stared at him. None of them expected him to say such a thing.
Shikaku sighed internally, 'This boy… He'll be at peace only when I have worked to death. I should have forced Jiraiya to attend the meeting…'
Hiromasa chuckled internally and thought, 'Considering how terrifying his power is, I forgot that he's still just a child. As always, youngsters are hot-headed. Regardless, this is a good opportunity to guide him. It'd be a shame if he ended up following Danzo's footsteps.'
At the same time, Koharu wondered, 'Why are he and Danzo at odds? He's more similar to Danzo than to Hiruzen. Is this why Hiruzen guided him so much?'
Homura broke the silence and answered, "Fujin, a war is easy to start but very difficult to end. Once you ride the tiger, you can't get off easily. If Hiruzen was here, he'd have said the same.
Sunagakure isn't a place that can be attacked on a whim. The Land of Wind is full of deserts. It is very easy to defend and extremely difficult to attack. The desert won't provide us with any resting spots. We'll be out in the open while the Suna ninjas lay traps on our routes. They'll set countless ambushes to attack us.
Even though the ambushers will die, it'll slowly but steadily slow down our forces and erode our morale. Combined with the frequent sandstorms in the desert, we'll lose a large number of ninjas despite the absence of rank S ninjas in Sunagakure.
Hence, attacking Sunagakure is very unwise. If we make one bad move, we can change our overwhelming victory into a disastrous defeat."
What are we supposed to do with those barren deserts? Even though they have some resources, they aren't much considering how much Suna is struggling financially. In addition, defending the Land of Wind from Konoha will be a difficult job unless we can double the number of our shinobis in the blink of an eye. In the next Great War, it'll become an easy target for Kirigakure and Iwagakure."
Koharu quickly added, "Don't forget about Iwagakure and Kumogakure. Even though Kumogakure took heavy losses recently, they still have a very strong force. Our actions of destroying Sunagakure would alarm them.
Both of them will immediately attack us to prevent Konoha from gaining a lot of new territories. We'll be attacked from all sides while our main forces are in the Land of Wind. You can analyze how dire our circumstances will be then."
Fujin shrugged and asked, "Who talked about sending thousands of ninjas to the Land of Wind? All we need to do is send a few elite teams.
Their western part is still quite unstable. All we have to do is pour some oil on it and watch what they do. Considering their losses, they'd hide in their village. However, once they are in danger of losing a part of their country, they'll have to make a decision.
Whether to let go of their western part or deploy ninjas to control the situation there, both are beneficial for us. In the first case, we could create a new country and secretly fund it to create a new front for Suna and perhaps even Iwa in the future. Since it'll be so far from us, they'll be our perfect allies.
In the second case, our Elite units could just ambush and hunt their ninjas down, giving us the advantage of the terrain. As long as we keep doing it for some time, Suna will explode from the inside."
The council grew silent once again. Previously, the three eldest council members were trying to educate their youngest member. However, Fujin immediately put up a strategy that was not only feasible but would make experienced schemers proud. Except for Shikaku, no one on the council expected Fujin to say something of this sort.
Hiashi's expression became serious as he wondered, 'This boy… He was able to think of this on his own despite never having been in a major war?'
Hiromasa thought, 'I underestimated the boy… No wonder Hiruzen forced him upon the council. It was more than just due to his potential.'
Homura was tongue-tied. He thought, 'I thought threatening like a lunatic was all he could do. It seems he also has a good mind for strategy. Still, for him to be so clear of the situation there… He must have been involved in those bizarre incidents in the Land of Wind all those years ago. Unfortunately, Hiruzen kept his lips sealed.'
Others in the room had similar thoughts. Luckily, the civilian members weren't present, or they would have been terrified by the deadly scheme Fujin presented so easily.
However, even though they were surprised by Fujin's strategy, what surprised them more was that Fujin thought of it instead of the strategy itself. In fact, many in the room had already thought of Fujin's idea. It's just that they didn't see it to be beneficial for Konoha.
In truth, Fujin knew that it wouldn't help Konoha much either. Even though Suna had been an unreliable ally and his strategy would reduce their strength to the point that they could no longer be considered a Great Village, it would make all the other hidden villages wary of Konoha. Not to mention, Fujin knew that Suna would become a very strong ally of Konoha in the future. So, such a step was unnecessary and wasteful.
However, Fujin had just been given a scare by 'fate' a few hours ago. As such, he was looking forward to making some mess. Seeing that none of the council members seem aboard with his plan, Fujin added, "Of course, that's just one way. We could also do a full-fledged assault by allying with Iwagakure. After all, since Suna allied with Orochimaru, there's no reason why we can't ally with Iwagakure. Even though we'll have to split the…"
Shikaku suddenly coughed to cut Fujin off. He said, "Fujin, while both of your methods are feasible, we shouldn't lose sight of what's the most important. Since we were attacked, Iwagakure and Kumogakure would start trying to see how much damage we took. We have to be more wary of any sudden movements from them instead of spreading ourselves thin by attacking Sunagakure.
Not to mention, Lord Third is in a coma. The village cannot be without a leader for a long time. We need to make a decision…"
As he spoke, Shikaku's attention turned towards the door, which opened almost immediately. An Anbu squad watched as the Daimyo and the Civilian council members entered the room.
Shikaku sighed in relief and thought, 'Luckily they arrived quickly! It'd be very troublesome if Fujin convinced some of the members. Sigh, this boy still has no filter!'
Fujin noticed Shikaku's relief and cursed, 'That lazy bum! So, this was the signal he sent earlier. He just wants to avoid work! Hmph, didn't he die four years later in the original story? I'm not sure if he'll still end up dead, but I'll make sure that he does the work for the next 40 years in the next 4 years! If he survives, then he can just retire.'
While Shikaku was happy to see the Daimyo, he was blissfully unaware of the neverending headaches that would soon start flowing towards him!
The Fire Daimyo took his seat, sighed and muttered, "What a terrible day! To think that Orochimaru and Sunagakure would ally and attack Konoha during the Chunin Exams. They even targeted the officials and the civilians. How are the Hokage's injuries?"
Koharu answered, "He is in a coma, but is stable. Unfortunately, we aren't sure when he'll wake up."
The Fire Daimyo replied, "It's good that he made it through alive. However, the other villages will be looking at Konoha like vultures. If the village has no leader, it could spell trouble."
Unlike the Daimyo and the civilian members, the others weren't that worried about any possible moves from other great villages. Suna had just lost their Kage and taken a brutal beating, Kiri was still embroiled in a civil war, Kumo had lost nearly a thousand elite ninjas and were facing internal struggles while Iwa's intelligence network had been almost entirely annihilated.
As such, none of them were in a position to act quickly. More importantly, Konoha's losses were minimal. Even if Kumo decided to surprise Konoha and make a move, they had sufficient confidence to give Kumo a bloody nose and deter any other village from having similar thoughts.
Since no one opposed him, the Fire Daimyo looked at the members and asked, "So, who'll be the Fifth Hokage?"
[A/N: Break tomorrow.]
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