Chapter 337   - Ch337. Inevitable

As Kakashi watched the hilarious scene of Anko and Ringo childishly brawling with their feet under the table while they provocatively stared at each other, he couldn't help but feel surreal.

'To think Lady Tsunade was a friend of the Fifth Mizukage...' Kakashi shook his head in silent bemusement, 'Just how many secrets does the Senju Princess have?'

The second Tsunade became the Daimyo, the village started going through a massive overhaul. Every jonin noticed a stark improvement. It was nothing short of miraculous and cemented her position as their leader in the hearts of Konoha's ninjas.

But that didn't mean the most experienced jonins were stupid. They noticed Tsunade pulling otherworldly concepts, never-heard-of-before teaching methods, and outrageous but efficient reforms out of her proverbial posterior. Tsunade was an enigma for them to this day, nobody knowing what kind of trick she will pull out of her sleeve next.

'Well, not like such a thing is impossible.' Kakashi hummed to himself, enjoying the antics of the two S-rank kunoichis. 'With how much Lady Tsunade traveled, she was bound to meet some interesting people. The world is really unpredictable.' He chuckled, his mind trailing off to the person he admired the most.

The man who put forth a massive sacrifice. Who took his duty as the most important thing. The man who was the role model of the current ninjas! The one and only gallant Jiraiya-sama who took it upon himself to traverse the world in search of interesting 'situations', meeting all sorts of interesting 'people', so he could then relay his important findings to his devoted fans. Truly, a man cut above others!

As Kakashi thought about this topic and started outwardly quietly giggling to himself, inwardly his mind simply refused to settle down. There was something nagging at him. Something he couldn't really grasp...

That was also when the 'battle' between the two kunoichis intensified.

"Ei! I had enough of you." Ringo calmly spoke, standing up from her seat quick enough that nobody could react, and reached towards Anko... and flicked her forehead, causing her head to snap back, leaving behind a nice red spot in the middle of the Snake Mistress' forehead.

"Auu~, Ringoooo~!" Anko whinily drawled while petulantly pouting, her lips quivering in an attempt to garner pity, "That was mean!"

Seeing how the two women interacted with each other, how buddy-buddy they were, how calm and relaxed their body language was in the presence of the other... Something finally clicked in Kakashi's head, causing his eyes to go wide in horror.

Kakashi desperately hoped he was wrong but as he went through the happenings of their recent mission, every piece fit perfectly into the puzzle.

He slowly turned towards Anko who lifted her eyebrow at him... it wasn't as if she didn't pay attention to what was going on around her just because she was having a mock-fight with Ringo... and gave her the biggest desperate pleading look with his lone eye he could possibly manage.

"Anko... please tell me Konoha is not going to form a treaty with Kirigakure." Kakashi begged.

This display! This friendliness! He finally understood what seemed off to him. Lady Tsunade might be a friend of Mizukage but what about Anko? When did the woman who, as far as Kakashi knew, stayed inside of Konoha for the past few years, manage to become so friendly with the Mizukage? When did the two even meet?

It was very fishy.

The attitude of the two women and this trail of thoughts gave birth to crazy speculation. One that sent chills crawling up Kakashi's spine.

"No, of course not, Kakashi." Anko rolled her eyes, making the white-haired jonin release a relieved sigh. If Konoha signed a treaty with Kiri... it would be tantamount to setting fire to a gunpowder keg.

The hidden villages didn't sign alliances and treaties often. Even the treaty between Sunagakure and Konohagakure was shaky at best. In fact, if Suna betrayed Konoha, no other hidden village would bat an eyelash. Not because they were basically enemies but because it was expected.

On the other hand, the hidden villages avoided allying with other major hidden villages because such an action symbolized a threat to their enemies who would also start to ally themselves with other villages...

Simply put, it was a surefire way to lead to a ninja war with how paranoid hidden villages were. The only reason why Suna and Konoha could have a treaty between them without Iwa freaking out was that Suna was extremely weak. They could defend well thanks to the environment around their village but... they didn't have the necessary numbers, required funding, and skilled powerhouses to invade.

'Phew. That gave me a fright.' Kakashi mentally chuckled, 'What did I think? Of course, there would be no treaty between our villages. Even if Kirigakure was weakened by its recent civil war,' Which it wasn't and Kakashi knew that very well. 'Iwa and Kumo would not take kindly to Konoha pacting with Kirigakure. Lady Tsunade would not be so reckle-'

"Konoha and Kirigakure are going to enter a three-way alliance alongside Sunagakure." Ringo casually revealed, making Kakashi freeze in his spot and the jaws of the other occupants of the room to drop to the ground.

'Just as I thou-, wait what!?' Kakashi's eyes bulged out as he abruptly stood up and shouted without even realizing it, "You can't! It will be the start of a new ninja war!"

Everybody looked at him in surprise except for Anko and Ringo. Zabuza didn't care for politics so this conclusion was a new thing for him. The genins of team seven stared at Kakashi, not expecting the lazy and casual jonin to burst out like this. It only showed them how serious the situation was. Raiga suddenly understood what would happen in the future and why Ringo decided to give him this chance instead of outright killing him. As for the prisoners... even they were speechless.

Ringo just raised an eyebrow at Kakashi who finally realized he just screamed at Mizukage before awkwardly sitting down with a muted, "Sorry."

"And you think we are not aware of how the hornet's nest will be disturbed after that?" Ringo clicked her tongue. "Do you think Sunagakure is the same as it was five years ago? Or that Kirigakure stagnated under my watch? No, Hatake. I am genuinely surprised that Iwa and Kumo did not yet demand the dissolution of the treaty between Konoha and Suna with how much stronger Suna became in recent years." She calmly spoke, explaining the situation.

"The only reason for that is that they have no clue about it." Anko quipped in. As Tsunade's apprentice, Anko was privy to a lot of information. The kind that would cause a lesser man nightmares and worries.

"Yes." Ringo nodded, "It doesn't matter if we form an alliance or not. Once Iwa and Kumo get wind of exactly how much improvement our reforms have caused for our villages, they will inevitably join together to fight us if only to drag us back to their level. These past few years were very strenuous. getting rid of every spy in the village was a lot of work but I am not delusional. The truth will eventually come out and it will cause a war."

Frankly, it wasn't strenuous for Ringo. With Rei's seals, taking care of spies and infiltrators was as easy as setting up a detection barrier around the village. Kinda the same thing, but improved, Konoha had around theirs but never used under Hiruzen's watch.

"Lady Tsunade didn't introduce too many reforms since her rule started." Anko looked around the room, especially at her three students, and decided now was as good time as any to reveal a few unimportant village secrets, "But that frankly doesn't matter. Lady Tsunade wants to start improving Konoha on a large scale but she can't because she knows Iwa and Kumo would notice it. Konoha has too many merchants, too many civilians calling it home."

While Kirigakrue and Sunagakure also had civilians, Suna was in a very inhospitable place, hence not that many merchants visited. The information coming and going could be easily regulated. As for Kiri, they were always a village focusing more on the assassination. They had their ways of stopping information leakage. Ways that would be impossible to implement in Konoha's case.

"And once the war breaks out because of Iwa and Kumo's insecurities about Suna and Kiri... Konoha will be unavoidably swept in. While we did not have that many reforms, the Academy reform was enough to propel our strength back into the heyday. Basically, we are in the same situation as Kiri and Suna by default." Anko uncaringly shrugged. "So yeah, we are going to form an alliance. Better to join forces now even if it caused the war to erupt than being caught with our pants down later down the line."

After all, Iwa and Kumo were still ninja villages. They will not fight fair and square. Not after they realize that Kiri, Suna, and Konoha are stronger than them. Then again... Rei had his own plans. Plans Anko was not privy to but she was sure this upcoming shitstorm was a part of it.

Needless to say, Kakashi was shocked about the circumstances described to him by Mizukage and Lady Tsunade's apprentice. 'Is the international situation really so bad?' He gave his students a glance full of pity and inwardly swore to make their training harder. He didn't want them to die. Now on his watch!

Worse yet... Kakashi understood what they tried to tell him. The powderkeg was already burning and it was impossible to stop the explosion. The question was not 'if' but 'when'.

The status quo was disrupted and the war was inevitable.