Mist veils the cold river, moonlight veils the sand; I moor at night by Qinhuai, near the taverns.
The songstress knows nothing of the fallen kingdom's sorrow; across the river, she still sings "Flowers in the Rear Courtyard."
At a meeting of the Ice Shinobi Village's jonin, Asama Yuichi pointed out, "We can't focus on developing the economy alone. That would only turn us into a fat piece of meat that draws wolves. What we need to build is an empire so powerful it doesn't have to play fair!"
In the office of a certain Kage in a certain shinobi village.
"My lord, our caravan has been forcibly seized by the Land of Snow's government troops, under the pretext of wartime regulations!" a jonin reported to the Kage.
"Really!" The Kage was overjoyed. "Now I can finally relax."
The jonin asked, baffled, "My lord, we've been robbed!"
"The only thing everyone in the shinobi world agrees on about bullying nations like the Ice Shinobi Village is this: they rob you, but they don't attack you. If they bully you, it means they aren't interested in your territory," the Kage said with relief. But then, as if he had thought of something, his expression changed in alarm. "Quick! Tell the communications squad to recall all the other nine caravans..."
This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.
