Shikamaru smiled back.
“About Iwagakure,” she said, her face tensing again.
Shikamaru listened as he watched a father and daughter throwing a peach-colored ball back and forth.
“The Land of Earth’s behind the way Kurotsuchi behaved at the last meeting of the Five Kages.”
“The daimyo?”
Hinoko nodded.
It seemed that Shikamaru’s hunch that something fishy going on had not been mistaken.
“There’s this country right next to the Land of Earth called the Land of Flowers.”
“That’s the small nation that specializes in flowers, right? Just like the name suggests. I heard the daimyo’s famous for being kind to his people. Also, it’s a pretty nice place to live for a small country.”
“The soil there is very rich,” she said. “They can make flowers, like, their specialty because they have this soil that is great for growing things.”
So what did the Land of Flowers have to do with Kurotsuchi’s recent behavior?
“Meanwhile, the better part of the Land of Earth is, like, rocky and mountainous. It’s hard to grow anything at all. They, like, put together stuff like potatoes that can grow in poor soil, and somehow manage to get food to their people. So, like, they buy most stuff from other countries, trading with the minerals they have a ton of.”
“But that’s how pretty much every country gets by,” Shikamaru noted.
“But if, like, you had someone weaker right next to you, someone who had something you didn’t, you’d want it, yeah?”
“No way.” Shikamaru’s eyes grew wide, and he stared at Hinoko.
Mouth pulled into a straight line, the young Anbu ninja simply nodded once. And then she got to the heart of the matter. “The Land of Earth’s going to, like, attack the Land of Flowers. Of course, the military force to do this will be the Iwagakure ninja.”
“So Kurotsuchi is trying to chisel a crack or two into the alliance of the Five Kages,” he mused.
“The Land of Flowers has long had an alliance with the Land of Lightning,” Hinoko continued. “I guess the Land of Flowers had, like, the kind of crop failure that happens once in a million years, and the Land of Lighting stepped in to help them out. They formed this close bond that’s made, like, the relationship between the two countries unshakeable even now.”
“If the Land of Earth attacks Flowers, the Land of Lightning… Which means the village of Kumogakure won’t sit back quietly.” Shikamaru’s head was spinning. His mouth raced to keep up with his thoughts. “If the Land of Earth says they’re invading Flowers, then Iwagakure has no choice but to obey. And the other Kages aren’t going to sit back and keep quiet about Iwagakure going to war. Especially not Darui. He’ll stand up to Kurotsuchi if hostilities do break out. If the foundation of the alliance of the Five Kages is solid, Kurotsuchi will be alone. That’s why she picked Konoha to be her victim. She had clearly talked with Chojuro before the meeting. She wanted him to cooperate with Iwagakure. In which case she wouldn’t be standing alone. If she could reel in Chojuro by censuring Konoha, she’d be able to count on Kumogakure once the invasion of the Land of Flowers became known. So Kurotsuchi was laying the groundwork then.”
“That’s, like, exactly it,” Hinoko said.
Shikamaru stared at the peach-colored ball dancing in the air. Ohnoki’s words came back to him. The world might be at peace, but a ninja’s a ninja.
Had Ohnoki been trying to tell him something?
The heart of the ninja was in battle. It was indisputable that the large majority of jutsu were specialized fighting techniques that had been created for the purpose of confronting ninja of other lands. The fundamental core of this creature called ninja was the fight. Ninja couldn’t live in a world of peace. Was that why Ohnoki had said that to him?
No. The old man had been a driving force behind the alliance of the five hidden villages. He was one of the heroes who had fought for peace even while his wounds in the last great war had brought him to the brink of death. Would a man like that talk about destroying the very thing he had worked so hard to build?
Plus, the matter at hand did not originate with Kurotsuchi herself. The daimyo of the Land of Earth wanted the Land of Flowers and its productive farmland—that was where this all started. Ninja and daimyo may have put on a front that they were working together, but policy in the hidden villages was controlled by the daimyo’s authority. If the village of Iwagakure hoped for peace but the Land of Earth called for chaos, the ninja would have no choice but to obey.
That was what Ohnoki had been trying to tell Shikamaru. Thinking about it that way, it all made sense.
But was this system really acceptable? Should ninja always obey the daimyo? Could they cast aside even the peace cultivated through the sacrificed lives of so many of their brethren if the daimyo ordered it?
“I’m definitely not gonna let that happen,” Shikamaru muttered, raising his thin eyebrows.“I can’t allow a great nation to steal the peace of a small country outright. We’re gonna have to keep those kids from having their parents ripped away from them.”
Hinoko nodded quietly beside him.
“Are Ro and the others still in Iwagakure?” Shikamaru said.
“My team’s, like, still there, too.”
“Keep digging into the situation in Iwagakure. If you find anything, report to me right away. We’ll manage something here on our end somehow.”
“Like, roger.” She rose.
“I’m counting on you.”
Smiling slightly, Hinoko nodded.
Shikamaru looked up at her. “Forgive me for the sexual harassment?”
“I’m, like, filing a suit when I get back.” She stuck her small tongue out at him and vanished.
“Okay then. Guess I should get going.”
Reluctantly, Shikamaru stood hurried off to find his good friend, who was most likely in the Hokage’s office. A job awaited them.
It was going to be a drag.