Living in the World of Naruto, Marrying Tsunade

For example, the Land of Waves and the Land of Bears were both weak nations. Located out at sea, transportation was inconvenient, which severely limited their development. Even though the Land of Waves lay relatively close to the Land of Fire, the ocean between them—combined with the country's backward infrastructure—meant its growth had been extremely slow.

The Land of Waves had only been founded recently. Its military forces consisted mostly of samurai, and rumor had it that the nation's leader was merely a merchant. Their armed strength came from hired wandering ninja and samurai, meaning their military probably numbered only two or three thousand at best—and their overall quality was inconsistent.

Still, it was a maritime country. If the alliance were formed and Waves joined, it could at least place pressure on the eastern side of the Land of Fire. At the very least, Konoha wouldn't dare leave its eastern coast completely undefended.

The Land of Bears, meanwhile, possessed Hoshigakure, the Hidden Star Village. Its overall national strength was roughly comparable to the Land of Waves. Even with a ninja village, its ninja were generally mediocre, so the main reason to include them was simply to tie down some of Konoha's forces.

Among the three overseas nations, however, the most important was the Land of Hot Water, which lay somewhat farther from the Land of Fire.

Though this country rarely participated in wars, its strength was unusually formidable.

Its ninja system was unlike any other nation's. There was no ruling daimyo; instead, the entire population worshipped a deity known as the Jashin. The country had no ninja village—only the Jashin Cult.

And this was precisely what made the nation feared.

Rumors claimed that the cult's followers possessed near-immortality, and that its elite members could wield curse-based powers.

Because of this, even though the Land of Hot Water had only a few thousand ninja, the great nations still treated it with caution. Its techniques differed completely from conventional ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Until their abilities were fully understood, no one dared underestimate them.

Of course, this nation rarely involved itself in war, so convincing them to join would be difficult. Chiyo mentioned them only as a tentative possibility. After all, if their strange curse techniques could be secured, they might even be capable of harming someone at Arata's Super-Kage peak level.

Still, the true dominant maritime power was naturally the Land of Water and its Kirigakure.

If the Kiri joined the alliance, the eastern side of the Land of Fire would already face immense pressure. Recruiting smaller island nations would simply extend the coastline that could be harassed.

After all, nearly ninety percent of the Land of Fire's eastern border consisted of coastline.

If so many nations threatened that front, the Land of Fire would be forced to devote over half its forces to defense. That would inevitably weaken its inland protection, creating opportunities for the alliance to exploit.

After hearing Chiyo's full plan, Shamon nodded approvingly. He was clearly satisfied—especially since she had already assigned envoys for each country, saving him considerable effort.

He spoke:

"Does anyone have questions about Chiyo's plan? If not, we'll proceed according to it."

The gathered elders nodded repeatedly, clearly impressed by the seamless arrangement.

Seeing this, Shamon continued:

"Then I declare the Konoha Encirclement Plan officially underway!"

All the high-ranking officials responded in unison:

"Yes, Kazekage-sama!"

However, the meeting was not yet over.

Shamon turned toward Chiyo again.

"If possible, try to secure an alliance with the Land of Waterfalls as well. I remember they have several capable ninja—each at least Kage-level."

Shamon had been curious about one thing: Chiyo had even included minor nations like Waves, yet seemed to have ignored the Land of Waterfalls altogether.

As someone who had served as Kazekage for many years, he viewed international affairs more broadly than most.

Geographically, the Land of Waterfalls might not seem as important as Grass or Rain—but its national strength was far from weak. Historically, it had been one of the earliest countries to form after the Five Great Nations, breaking free from clan rule sooner than many others.

Even the powerful Land of Whirlpools had failed to do this as early, proving that Waterfalls had remarkable foresight.

Its military strength was also respectable.

In the early days of nation-building, the Land of Waterfalls had even clashed with Konoha, causing trouble for Hashirama himself. Its first leader possessed Super-Kage early-stage strength and was said to have mastered all five chakra nature transformations along with Ice Style.

Such a feat was extremely rare.

Outside a handful of major bloodline clans, almost no one in the world could wield all five elements—let alone Ice Style, which was normally exclusive to the Yūki clan of the Land of Water.

Yet the leader of Waterfalls had accomplished it, clearly through some unique secret technique.

Though Shamon had never met the man personally, the First Kazekage Reto had once praised him highly, calling him a true genius whose strength rivaled the founding Kage of the great nations.

Of course, this excluded Hashirama—the sole founding Kage who stood at Super-Kage peak.

Still, the leader of Waterfalls had managed to fight Hashirama's Wood Style for an entire day. With support from his country's forces, he had even forced Hashirama to halt his advance.

As far as Shamon knew, that leader had since died and been replaced by a young man under thirty. But with such a predecessor, the next generation couldn't possibly be weak.

Otherwise, the nation wouldn't have survived for decades between the pressure of Iwagakure and Kumogakure.

Chiyo naturally understood his reasoning.

However, according to recent intelligence, the Land of Waterfalls was currently experiencing internal chaos. Attempting an alliance now would likely fail.

She replied:

"If I remember correctly, we received intelligence this morning. Someone named Kakuzu attacked their leader, stole the village's secret jutsu Earth Grudge Fear, and defected. In this situation, they probably have no interest in joining a war."

Shamon's expression immediately turned regretful.

He hadn't heard this report—he had spent the entire morning focused on Arata's situation.

If what Chiyo said was true, then the Land of Waterfalls likely wouldn't join the alliance. After all, the Earth Grudge Fear jutsu was the very foundation of that nation's strength.