Chapter 112: War Is the Great Matter of the State
The Land of Frost lay to the northeast of the Land of Fire. It was a place of perpetual snow and howling winds, most of its territory barren and uninhabited. The country possessed no military forces of its own, yet its position along the coast — and as the only overland route connecting the Land of Lightning to the Land of Fire — made it strategically and economically vital despite its harsh geography.
Sakura's group had now been three days out from Konoha, and had successfully reached the front lines under Jiraiya's command.
Wrapped in a heavy brown cloak, Sakura crunched through the snow with each step, the drifts almost reaching her shins. The pink-haired girl stared at the white expanse before her, lost in thought.
That the Land of Lightning would make a move against Konoha — Sakura hadn't been surprised in the slightest.
The Land of Lightning was mostly sheer cliffs and crags, with precious little arable land. Like the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, it subsisted almost entirely on imported grain.
Thanks to Sakura's maneuvering, compounded by Kumogakure's borderline warmongering policies, their situation was even more desperate than Sunagakure's or Iwagakure's.
Feeding a massive standing army consumed staggering quantities of food every single day. Their weapons were the only leverage they had left.
When you can't feed your own people, what do you do?
You take from someone else.
And Kumogakure's character matched its policies perfectly.
Every one of them looked like a thick-necked bruiser — but write them off as muscle-bound simpletons at your peril. They were cunning enough to think ten moves ahead and leave their enemies with nowhere to run. In truth, Kumogakure had always been Konoha's most dangerous adversary.
The proof was what they'd pulled ten years ago: abducting Hinata right in the middle of peace treaty negotiations, banking on the fact that Konoha wouldn't push back — and then having the nerve to play the victim on top of it.
Bear in mind, this happened when both sides were already prepared to end the war. Snatching Hinata served no purpose beyond securing the Byakugan — which meant Kumogakure had no real interest in peace to begin with.
Go back even further: between the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars, Kumogakure had plotted to abduct the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki as well. They'd nearly succeeded — only Minato Namikaze's intervention stopped them, allowing Naruto to be born safely.
Otherwise, Naruto might have grown up with a very different complexion.
Now that Sakura had used her control over resources to cut off the Land of Lightning's lifeline, people like them couldn't possibly sit still.
War was their only move.
Back in the day, the Third Raikage had held off ten thousand enemies single-handedly, dismantling Iwagakure's ambush through sheer force.
But that legacy had left a problem for the present: Kumogakure had too many ninja, and could no longer afford to sustain them all.
They had to find an outlet.
A dark, uncharitable thought crept into Sakura's mind.
Wouldn't surprise me if they're starting this war partly just to thin their own ranks — send a few thousand off to die and ease the strain back home.
She turned and gave a nearby pine tree a solid kick. Snow cascaded down from the branches and buried her in a white shower.
"Didn't know Sakura had such a childish side."
Kakashi leaned against a nearby tree, arms folded, watching her with lazy amusement.
Catching that smug look on his face, Sakura marched straight over and kicked his tree too.
Snow dumped down over Kakashi in equal measure.
He stared at her with dead-fish eyes as she seemed to find this endlessly entertaining.
Ha. Growing up in the south in her past life, she'd never once had the chance to see snow like this.
Sakura shook the snow off her cloak, scooped a fistful from the ground, packed it into a ball, and hurled it straight at Kakashi.
Kakashi sidestepped neatly — and the snowball sailed directly into the face of the dark-haired boy who'd just come to find them.
Sasuke, hit square in the face with a packed snowball, felt a flash of irritation — but one look at the pink-haired girl laughing at him in the distance and the fire died as quickly as it had risen.
He calmly wiped the snow from his face.
"Jiraiya wants you two."
Inside the command tent at the Fire-Frost front line —
Jiraiya sat bundled in his heavy cloak beside a brazier, eyes fixed unblinkingly on the sweet potato roasting in the coals.
Besides Jiraiya, two or three others were present — all commanding officers from the forward units.
The tent flap was thrown open. A gust of cold air swept in, cutting through the warmth and jolting several half-drowsing officers awake.
"Ah, sorry, sorry — we're a little late."
Kakashi's visible eye curved into a crescent as he addressed the room with an apologetic air that sounded nothing like an apology.
"No trouble. It's not urgent."
Jiraiya waved a hand, then picked up a nearby stick to prod at the sweet potato in the coals.
"Good timing, actually. It'll be ready to eat in a few minutes."
No one saw any reason to argue with that.
Sakura peeked out from behind Kakashi and took stock of the room.
Apart from Jiraiya, she didn't recognize any of them — likely all veterans who'd spent years stationed along the border.
Surprisingly, Shirakumo was also among them. Sakura hadn't expected that — wasn't he posted along Konoha's border facing the Land of Grass?
"And who might this be?"
The assembled officers exchanged glances. A girl that young at a military briefing of this level was unusual.
Border postings kept them out of the loop on the village's new generation.
"Oh, this is my junior, Haruno Sakura. Don't let the age fool you — she's sharper than I am."
Jiraiya explained offhandedly, his attention still mostly on the sweet potato.
He'd been fully briefed by Hiruzen Sarutobi on the full scope of events before taking command here — the chain of causes that had drawn four great nations into this war. He hadn't liked what Sakura had done. But the die was cast, and there was nothing left to stop now.
"Ah — the Hokage's student."
Learning her identity visibly softened the room's reception.
Sakura deflected the attention with a few modest words and quietly settled in beside Kakashi.
"Right then." Jiraiya cleared his throat, glancing briefly at Sakura sitting still and silent off to the side. "Now that everyone's here, let's talk."
"What are your thoughts on the way forward?"
The past few days, Kumogakure had launched several small-scale probing attacks — all repelled by Konoha without much difficulty. And then nothing. Silence, as if a nation at war had simply forgotten it was fighting one.
War is the great matter of the state.
The officers looked at each other. No one moved to speak first.
Jiraiya's slightly lazy gaze drifted from Sakura... to Kakashi beside her.
"You. Kakashi. Talk."
The suddenly-named Kakashi blinked, but after a brief pause, slowly began:
"Ah... I think we should let them come to us."
"Hold our position and let them make the moves. This war is one they started — which means they're more desperate than we are..."
(Chapter End)
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