Living in the World of Naruto, Marrying Tsunade

Shamon did not speak further, and the Land of Wind's senior elders present all waited quietly for Chiyo.

It wasn't that they were incapable or relying entirely on one person. Rather, this old woman truly possessed the sharpest combat intellect in the entire Land of Wind.

Many of Sunagakure's strategies had in fact been devised by her. The reason she was later able to fight her own grandson without falling behind wasn't just familiarity with his methods, but also her exceptional ability to analyze intelligence and respond accordingly.

Someone less sharp, even after seeing Sasori's techniques, might not have been able to think of the optimal countermeasures so quickly.

After all, that was a Kage-level powerhouse—there was no luxury of time to think in battle. A moment's distraction could mean injury.

And for a puppet master, being injured in combat was often a step away from death, since puppet users were among the most skilled poison specialists in the shinobi world.

Moreover, although these elders had some tactical sense, they all knew that in the end the Kazekage's word was final. Even the Kazekage himself, Shamon, was quietly waiting for Chiyo's proposal—so none of them dared to speak first.

The Land of Wind was effectively ruled by the Kazekage alone. The elders only had veto power; once the Kazekage made a decision, even dissenters had to comply fully.

After a long silence, Chiyo finally formed a preliminary strategy.

"Withdraw first. Then immediately send invitations to convene a Four-Kage Summit. Invite the smaller nations as well, and form a coalition to create an encirclement of Konoha."

Her very first suggestion was retreat. The people present were surprised, but they could accept it.

At this point, if they still rushed into battle, it would be no different from throwing their lives away.

What surprised them more was how quickly Chiyo had changed—just moments ago she wanted to fight Arata to the death over her son.

What they didn't realize was that Chiyo had always been like this—temperamental, shifting between calm and explosive, almost like two personalities in one.

When Shamon heard her plan, he immediately set aside the retreat part—he had already decided that himself. On that point, Chiyo's thinking matched his.

But the proposal to form a coalition and create a Konoha encirclement won his full approval. It was also the only method he could think of to halt Konoha's expansion.

Now that Konoha had Arata, regardless of who the mysterious shinobi equal to him was, at least that person wasn't allied with Konoha. In that battle, the mysterious figure clearly fought with killing intent, which eased the other nations' pressure somewhat.

Still, even one peak super-Kage was beyond what any single nation could handle. A monster of that level would be unstoppable in direct confrontation.

If a nation wanted to wage war—or even have negotiating power—against a country with such a figure, then all other nations would have to unite against that monster.

Only by forcing the Land of Fire into a situation of enemies on all sides could they push it into a defensive position and strip away its chance to expand.

Arata was powerful, but he was only one man. He might be able to storm Sunagakure alone—but could he ignore Konoha's safety?

If the rest of the shinobi world assembled a coalition nearing a hundred thousand troops and attacked Konoha together, Arata wouldn't be able to be everywhere at once.

They could sweep toward Konoha with overwhelming force in a single day.

Even if Arata rushed back to defend, it wouldn't matter. They could use summoning techniques to transmit intelligence—faster than any runner. Once alerted, the coalition would immediately disperse to avoid being wiped out in one blow, maintaining constant pressure.

After one or two such campaigns, Konoha would lose the foundation for any resurgence.

Because the coalition's strategy would be scorched earth—destroying civilians and farmland across the Land of Fire, cutting off the nation's ability to sustain its population.

Once the Land of Fire's population collapsed to the level of a small country, even with Arata, it would inevitably decline. Without people, there would be no new shinobi.

This wasn't Chiyo's original idea. Long before the First Shinobi War, the First Kazekage had already conceived this strategy, and the Land of Wind had been a driving force behind that earlier coalition.

Through the united effort of many nations, they forced the Land of Fire to abandon its attempt to unify the world. That war also drastically reduced the Land of Fire's population—otherwise, after nearly thirty years, it wouldn't still have only around a hundred thousand people.

Back then, Uchiha Madara's push to unify the world led to massive civilian and shinobi casualties, which caused him to be ostracized within the Land of Fire. Many civilians even came to fear and avoid his name.

In fact, the failure of that unification effort was one of the sparks that led to Madara leaving the village.

Had Madara succeeded in helping Hashirama unify the world, many later conflicts might never have happened.

Of course, Madara's failure wasn't just due to other nations uniting. Hashirama himself was too soft-hearted at the time. Even after defeating enemy shinobi, he often chose persuasion over killing.

That gave other nations opportunities. Gradually, by exploiting Hashirama's mercy, they gained the upper hand.

Perhaps it was after that period that Hashirama became resolute, striking down all threats to the village without hesitation—including his close friend Madara.

Even so, despite Konoha possessing two peak super-Kage at the time, it still struggled against the siege of more than a dozen nations. In the end, they had no choice but to halt the war and sit down for talks, leading to the Five Kage Summit.

Since Shamon could recall that past coalition, the older elders quickly remembered it as well and immediately recognized the feasibility of Chiyo's plan.

After all, even with both Madara and Hashirama—two peak super-Kage—the world had not been unified. That proved even peak super-Kage could be contained.

Which meant… it was worth trying again.