"Unfortunately, all things must end. The singular individual perished in an unfortunate accident, and the Akasugi Organisation exploited the advantageous position in which he'd placed them to trigger a process of explosive expansion. The Third Hokage, may his spirit be one with the Will of Fire forever, chose not to curb them as much as he could have, for reasons I'm certain the Fifth could explain better than I. And we of Water, who had until that point enjoyed uncontested control over certain spheres of influence, found ourselves engaged in a bitter struggle for what my complacent predecessors considered 'rightfully ours'. The impact of that struggle rippled through the other maritime powers and provoked a shadow war no less complex and vicious than the shinobi world wars you are familiar with. The aftermath redrew many boundaries, paving the way for the ascendancy of the Nettō Association, breaking the pirate lords' stranglehold over southern Tea, and having many other effects which are entirely irrelevant to you, save that it left us and the Akasugi as implacable rivals in an ironic parallel to our countries' respective villages."
"And you will have an enormous advantage over them if you can get the Hokage on your side," Hazō reasoned.
The Oyabun smiled. "All things in good time. I am not an ambitious man.
