Kishi Kaisei (Various!Naruto x Reader)

New Leaf: The Weak are Meat; The Strong Eat

In which, you meet one of the Legendary Sannin.

~*~*~

The thing about gathering intel from one of the Great Hidden Villages is that, most of the time, the information came from civilians; specifically, their gossip. Political atmosphere, economic conditions, public morale, trends-- every information is potentially useful information. While it's true that rumors tend to be unreliable in itself, rumors are always based on truth-- whether a full truth, a half-truth, or a downright lie.

The difference between a spy and an information broker depends on how they use those rumors.

Spies will disregard them and collect further information. They sneak in, steal classified documents, pose as anyone to their convenience, and basically play the long game to garner intelligence. A good spy is an unsuspicious one.

Information brokers, on the other hand, will consider the rumors then verify the information. They segregate ludicrous rumors from plausible ones, create probable conclusions, form theories about the motives of why that particular rumor was spread, and basically do guesswork and confirm it from reliable sources (trusted informants). A good information broker is a thorough one.

And tou-chan is currently playing both roles.

Months after your fifth birthday, rumors about a possible third shinobi war circulated throughout the Elemental Nations, which intensified the already-existing tensions between the hidden villages. Tou-chan traveled from the Land of Rivers to the Land of Grass in order to be in the know of local news, as they are strategically located outside of most Great Countries, but near enough to get a read of their nearby locals' atmosphere. Sometimes, he would leave you in a village inn with Arata, so he could freely spy on nearby borders (and witness skirmishes or the aftermath of those skirmishes between two opposing shinobi groups-- often Konoha and Iwa).

It's the smaller countries that are most wary.

Then again, they're in the middle of superpowers who are inconsiderate of casualties outside of their own hidden villages; why wouldn't they be wary?

(Amegakure is at the risk of potentially having the highest casualties, because they're surrounded by three Great Hidden Villages.)

With how things are, you and tou-chan no longer stay in one place monthly; you now travel weekly. Why? Because some villages already thought ahead and tried extending their territory for better leverage for the upcoming war, which would then make another village retaliate, creating a small-scale war with the villages involved. The forest is no longer safe, with border patrols being tighter and more extended than they usually were; not to mention how some shinobi kept picking fights with rival shinobi at neutral territory, and no one wants to be caught in the crossfire.

It's getting harder to enter another country.

In a way, you guess you could say that the war has already started; it's just no one has declared it yet to make it official.

A war declaration is just only one big incident away from happening-- a boiling point that would make a Kage snap. Everyone wonders which country will be the first to announce it.

What's funny is that they found a scapegoat to blame for the inevitable conflict; for creating the first sparks of tension on an international level. An immature 'he started it!' notion to justify why the other countries further fueled the flames.

It all started with a FUBAR sabotage mission; its objective was to prevent Iwa from allying with Kusa led by one of Konoha's most notable shinobi. This Konoha shinobi was then known as the supposed instigator of the first international incident in the Elemental Nations after the Second Shinobi War's ceasefire.