Other Countries' Reactions

The next day, when Kakashi and Toroi confronted each other, Kumogakure Village directly announced a news to the world; Konoha's Anbu was really mean. They harrassed Kumogakure Shinobi that was carrying out their mission in Yugakure. 

In this announcement, the people of the other countries concluded one useful information, which was that Kumogakure wanted to invade Konoha.

Seeing this news, the other countries were very happy. Everyone knew that Nine-Tails had just wreaked havoc in Konoha, so they should have suffered heavy losses.

However, no one wanted to make the first move. They were waiting for another country to attack Konoha first to confirm if Konoha really had a Shinobi capable of defeating the Nine-Tails.

All countries believed that it was just fake news that Konoha leaked out in order to confuse the public.

After seeing the news of Kumogakure and Konoha's declaration of war, Onoki immediately smiled happily.

"It seems that Kumogakure brat runs out of patience. Let's use him to see Konoha's condition. Prepare our Shinobi for the war. If Konoha is just bluffing this time, we will attack Konoha right away, but if the news is valid, then we will attack Kumogakure."

As a veteran in the Ninja World, Onoki knew that he couldn't just rule out the possibility of a human defeating a Tailed-Beast.

Therefore, although the news from Konoha sounded absurd, Onoki still chose to stay put and wait for others to attack first.

Decades had passed, and even though others might have forgotten how fearsome Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were, Onoki did not because he had seen it firsthand!

Onoki became Shinobi before the Hidden Villages were found, and he once fought for the establishment of the village. He was the grandson of the First Tsuchikage, and the apprentice of the Second Tsuchikage.

In the past, when the Ninja Village era came, Mu, who had a good analytical skill, immediately felt that a new era was coming. He suggested the First Tsuchikage to form an alliance with Konohagakure.

At that time, Mu had already mastered Dust Release, and he was very powerful. Moreover, he had always been a strategist in Iwagakure, and he was valued very highly by the First Tsuchikage, so his proposal was quickly accepted.

Then Mu and Onoki went to Konoha to request for an alliance.

Then, they met Madara Uchiha, who rejected the alliance, saying that Konoha would remain the dominant power and did not need to ally with a weak village like Iwagakure.

Thus, the battle broke out. In this battle, Onoki, who was only thirteen years old, saw what true power was.

His master, who was regarded invincible was easily defeated.

The only reason they did not die was that Madara did not take them seriously, so he didn't finish them off after he knocking them out.

This encounter with Madara affected Onoki's personality growing up.

After planning out the upcoming war, Onoki was the only one left in the office.

"If such a capable Shinobi really exists, I'm afraid Konoha will return to its peak. If there is a God in this world, this God must be a biased God. Why did he give so many geniuses to Konoha, while none of Iwagakure Shinobi can inherit my Dust Release..." Onoki sighed.

He was more than sixty years old this year. He was considered old among Shinobi, but he could not find a person who could inherit his Ninjutsu. Although his son was talented, he could not learn his Dust Release.

If there was no talented Shinobi in the next ten years, he was afraid that the Dust Release would be lost forever.

...

In Sunagakure, Rasa heard Kumogakure Shinobi declare war on Konoha, and he was relieved as someone finally takes the risk of sniffing around Konoha's situation.

At the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Sunagakure suffered heavy losses. In the end, they had no choice but to think of a way to withdraw from the war. However, war is clearly not an easy matter that you could quit just because you wanted to.

Thus, Sunagakure and Konoha who were stuggling formed an alliance. With the two countries joining forces, Iwagakure gave up on the plan to continue the war and ended the Third Shinobi World War.

However, although they formed an alliance with Konoha, this did not mean that Sunagakure would remain in friendly terms with Konoha. It was just on the surface.

"Get our men ready in case other villages attack." Rasa quickly came up with a countermeasure for Sunagakure, which was to wait and watch the fight between Konoha and Kumogakure.

He would also take this opportunity to attack Konoha if he could, but Sunagakure wasn't in a good situation either. It'd be one thing if Konoha was in a completely hopeless situation, but if Konoha came knocking on their door, Sunagakure would be finished as not only would they have to face Konoha's revenge, but they also had to watch out for the other villages.

Rasa was not ready to get involved in the war between Konoha and Kumogakure, so he just watched the show.

However, precautions still had to be made.

...

Facing Kumogakure's declaration of war, Konoha held a high-level meeting under the request of the two advisors.

"Nagasawa, I heard that Kumogakure declared war on us because you ask your Anbu to intimidate Kumogakure Shinobi at the border." Koharu Utatane was the first to say something to Nagasawa.

"What do you mean because of me? Did I instruct Kumogakure Shinobi to declare war on Konoha?"

"Why did Kumogakure Shinobi declare war on us? Don't you know the real reason why?" Nagasawa asked Koharu Utatane directly.

"The war between countries is nothing unusual. The reason why Kumogakure declared war on us is because they thought that Konoha had suffered heavy losses from Nine-Tails' rampage and." Nagasawa answered his own question before Koharu Utatane could speak.

"Although that is the truth, you are being a bit too rash. If we handle this properly, Kumogakure will understand that we are still strong, and maybe we can avoid this war.

"I know that you're strong and not afraid of war, but the war will bring too much pain. We have to avoid it if possible."

"Advisor Utatane, it seems that you don't know much about Kumogakure." Nagasawa shook his head and said.

"The Land of Thunder is an agressive country. They will not let go of any opportunity to expand. In this case, the more we try to emphasize that we very strong, the more they think it's just a bluff."

"I only have one opinion, and that is to start a war and defeat Kumogakure."

"I agree with Nagasawa's decision. Immediately declare war on Kumogakure!" Minato said to Nagasawa.

The two consultants looked at the Third Hokage, who hadn't said a word.

"Let's declare war. War is inevitable. What we need to do is win." The Third Hokage sighed.

Since the Third Hokage said so, the two consultants had no choice.

After the higher-ups came to agreement, Minato first sent someone to issue a notice to the Ninja Realm to declare war on Kumogakure in response to Kumogakure's declaration of war.

Then, Minato began to gather Shinobi and form a troop to go to the border to support the troops guarding the border.

Minato personally led a team and brought a large number of Shinobi to the border near Yugakure.

Nagasawa did not just sit idly. He also brought a portion of Shinobi to the border of Tsukigakure to prevent Kumogakure from doing any sneak attack.