Chapter 259
The country of Sichuan.
A streak of lightning wrapped around a man and sent him flying backwards, his body scraping against the ground and plowing a deep groove.
However, the next moment, the person who was bounced away and was wrapped in electric light rushed out at a faster speed.
There was an obvious look of helplessness on Nagato's face. He sighed in his heart and took the initiative to meet them. The two balls of lightning collided again.
Rumble!
The exploding lightning and the powerful ninjutsu continued to collide for a long time, and finally, the rushing lightning finally stopped.
"Is there such a person like you in the Land of Rain? You are worthy of being the one who can kill Hanzo." The voice of the Fourth Raikage Ai sounded.
His face was also a little depressed. He had originally planned to sneak attack this mine while Jiraiya was away, but he didn't expect to run into a person who was even more troublesome than Jiraiya.
Samsara Eye!
Although there have always been three major eyes in the ninja world, apart from the Byakugan and Sharingan, the Samsara Eye is only possessed by the legendary Six Paths Sage. But he didn't expect to see the Samsara Eye here, on a ninja from the Rain Country.
If he hadn't used his Hollow power and Nagato hadn't needed to be distracted, he wouldn't have been able to hold out for so long under those eyes!
This made Raikage Ai feel very unhappy.
It seems that every raid on the Cloud Village has unsatisfactory results and cannot achieve the expected goals. This was the case when his father raided the Sand Village, and it was also the case when he took a detour from the sea to raid a station in Konoha in the River Country!
The key point is that the one who stopped him was a ninja from the Rain Village!
"I don't want to fight with you, Raikage." Nagato was also a bit troubled. The strength of the opposing Raikage was beyond his expectations, and he also needed to distract himself to prevent other Kumo Ninjas from sneaking into the mine to sabotage it.
"Konoha is really getting worse with each generation! Such an important mineral vein has actually been given to other ninja villages to guard! If their strength is not enough to occupy this mineral vein, they should just give it up!" Raikage Ai said sullenly.
Although Konoha had kept the information about the Gray Stone mine very well hidden, Konoha had been making a lot of noise here over the past two years and it was impossible to hide many secrets.
Even if Konoha could catch some spies every day, what would it matter? As long as one escaped, the information would be leaked.
What's more, they, the Cloud Ninja, had vaguely gained some intelligence at the beginning.
In the past, rare resources like the Gray Stone Mine would have been enough to trigger a great war in the Ninja World!
That is to say, the current Ninja World War has just ended, and all major countries have been severely damaged. They are really unable to launch a second Ninja World War in such a short time.
But no matter what, local fighting and fighting around the Grey Stone mine is inevitable.
The fact that the situation in River Country has become more chaotic than ever in the past two years is a clear proof of this.
In the past, the only countries that could exert influence on the Kingdom of Izukawa or have the most say were the neighboring Konoha and Sand Village. But in the past two years, the exchanges and cooperation between the Kingdom of Fire and the Kingdom of Wind, from the upper class to the ninjas, and the lower class, have been extremely frequent. Because of the union of interests, the relationship between the two is in an unprecedented honeymoon period.
Under such circumstances, the situation in River Country should have become relatively stable, but now it is even more chaotic.
This was not only due to the merits of the Kumogakure ninjas, but also due to the involvement of Iwagakure Ōnoki. "The Hokage naturally has his own ideas. Konoha and we don't want another war in the Ninja World. If the Raikage really needs the Gray Stone, why not go to Konoha and negotiate with the Hokage in person?" Nagato said with a cold face but a sincere tone.
If possible, he didn't want to have an intense conflict with the Raikage. If he made a mistake, the Raikage would be killed here. The fighting factions of the Hidden Cloud Village might not be able to do anything to Konoha, but they would definitely not let the Rain Country go.
The Rain Country had just entered a period of stability under their governance, and the civilians and ninjas of the Rain Country had not had a few days of peace. Once the Kumogakure found an excuse to invade, regardless of whether they could defeat the invaders or not, the Rain Country would surely become chaotic again, and the previous investments and plans of the Hidden Rain Village might have to be overturned and rebuilt.
This was a loss that neither Yahiko nor he wanted to accept or face.
Therefore, the best approach is to let the Raikage give up and know that he can't succeed. His words are not to divert the blame, but this is ultimately a problem between the Raikage and the Hokage, so naturally, only the two of them can negotiate and solve it.
Unless the Raikage really wants to start a war.
But does the Raikage have this idea?
He no longer knows nothing. Having grown a lot in the Hidden Rain Village and the Ninja World War, Nagato is no longer as naive and unguarded as before.
It’s not that the Raikage doesn’t want to start a war, he just can’t be sure that the Hidden Cloud Village will be the winner.
Although Konoha suffered heavy losses in the previous Ninja World War, the opponent's top combat power is now enough to make any ninja village cautious, including the Raikage!
Although the Fourth Hokage has taken over, the Third Hokage is still there, as are Jiraiya, Tsunade, Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Fugaku and other strong men who fought in the Ninja War. Konoha Village's top combat power is not missing, but more and stronger than before the Third Ninja World War.
At least in Nagato's opinion, although the Cloud Ninja, under the leadership of this Raikage, has been sending some kind of message to the Ninja World that it wants to start a war, in fact, the other side is also wavering. Otherwise, this time the other side would not have come with a Cloud Ninja elite team, but with the Ninja Army.
"What price did Konoha give you? The Hidden Cloud Village can offer more!" The electric light on the Raikage Ai's body gradually dissipated. Even though he knew the possibility was not high, he still asked.
Nagato shook his head and did not answer the Raikage.
"This kind of resource competition and game between big countries is not something a small country like the Rain Country can participate in. Konoha is just using you as pawns." The Raikage was still unwilling to give up, and said half-threateningly and half-provokingly.
"At least Konoha is willing to respect and support us." Nagato responded. After what happened to Hanzo, they certainly wouldn't believe the promises of those superiors. But whether it was Kane who saved Yahiko, or Jiraiya who was his teacher, as well as Konoha's support for the Rain Country over the years, Yahiko and his friends naturally trusted Konoha more than other ninja villages.
The current development of the Rain Country is inseparable from Konoha. Neither the Hidden Rock Village nor the Hidden Cloud Village has the ability to replace Konoha.
At least not yet.
"Hmph." The Raikage snorted in dissatisfaction. Nagato's unexpected strength also cooled down his arrogance caused by his previous strength growth.
However, he would not give up the Gray Stone mine no matter what, even if he had to involve Ohnoki of the Hidden Rock Village and the Hidden Mist Village, with whom he had great conflicts, to force Konoha to make concessions.
(End of this chapter)