Even as things happened in Konoha, the rest of the shinobi World did not remain static.
In fact, being the juggernaut of the era, each change in Konoha spread ripples throughout the larger World.
And so, the events of the recent years were felt deeply, especially in the other four Great Hidden Villages with Kumo catching the worst of it for obvious reasons.
Shinobi battles were information battles, something which Shiki himself exploited to an extreme degree.
Naturally then, every great power and even some minor ones endeavored to place their spies in strategic positions around the world.
All this to say that Konoha's internal issues were not invisible to their adversaries, even if some of the important details were lacking in their intel.
These internal issues were like blood in the water for the sharks of the other great villages but Kumo became the example to warn any would be attacker.
So the general consensus was that Konoha was fractured to an unknown degree but still far too powerful for any single power to handle.
An alliance.
That was the obvious answer to the problem.
Of the Five Great Hidden Villages, Konoha stood as the absolute strongest with Kumo being significantly behind and Iwa just marginally weaker than them.
Beneath all of them were Kiri and Suna, relative to each other in terms of power but due to very different circumstances though both remained safe due to the relative unassailability of their home ground.
Suna lacked resources and means to make wealth which resulted in a smaller shinobi force but their unity was phenomenal, at least in the current era.
Kiri on the other hand, had a huge number of Kekkei Genkai Clans as well as maritime dominion that could generate tremendous wealth but were the most fractured of all the great powers.
The regular forces hated the Kekkei Genkai Clans that looked down upon them while every clan hated each other.
While they had a large number of highly powerful shinobi, if history took its original course, none of that awesome power would ever be exhibited externally and would all be exhausted in internal wars, Kiri ending up impoverished and lacking shinobi be it in quantity or quality.
Not to mention that the prolonged civil wars with manipulators behind the scenes resulted in the greatest number of nukenin, rogue shinobi, amongst all Five Great Villages.
However, with the massive threat of an extremely powerful Konoha along with their still existing strong ally in Uzushio, everyone had an external enemy to divert tensions to.
They were all wary of each other still but once they suffered loss after loss, Kumo tempered their arrogance and became a more willing participant in an alliance, Tsuchikage Onoki, stubborn as he was, still had Konoha PTSD and was more that willing to ally if it was to target them.
With those two taking the lead, Kiri, the most desperate for external conflict to divert internal pressure, immediately joined up and Suna, ever the opportunists, did not hesitate to arrange coordination so that they could strike at Konoha from the rear at the right moment.
Plans were being drawn.
War material from four great nations plus a few small ones was being pooled.
Konoha and its few allies were going to face a far tougher and more united enemy than they would have faced in the original timeline.
Unfortunately for this enemy, Konoha was also far, far stronger than it was supposed to be.
Most of its forces were overall the same, the major difference was the top tier powerhouses.
Konoha, even in the original timeline, was always known for having an unusually high number of S rank, Kage level, shinobi, this despite the tendency to push them into their death or defection.
With the changes caused by Shiki's existence, this was only amplified.
The boy's presence did not only affect Konoha however, but also its adversaries, namely, Kumo.
Eating several considerable losses in a row, losses that did not take place in the original timeline, did put Kumo in a relatively worse position.
That said, not all the effects were adverse.
The problems caused by Shiki were majorly about internal unrest.
He did kill off a few high value Elite Jonin but, truth be told, Kumo could do just fine without them.
It was the diminishing trust in the Raikage and his officers. That was the real damage.
In the original timeline, Kumo had never suffered internal division problems since the Third Raikage took charge.
This unity combined with a relatively large shinobi force with many high quality combatants, made the village a great threat during wartime.
But now, that unity was, even if only slightly, compromised.
There were also things that Shiki's influence turned for the better however.
Namely, Zee and Dodai.
In the original timeline, the latter had peaked at Elite jonin and even then, he was more specialized in a support role rather than direct combat.
The former, who Shiki had theorized died in the war, did not even make it there.
Though nobody knew it, Zee's obsession with Inori would have resulted in an operation to hunt her down regardless of the boy's existence.
In the end, the operation would have been a success with very low Kumo casualties however . . . Zee herself would have been dragged into the Pure Land by Inori with her dying breath.
Now however, not only was she alive, the Kumo kunoichi honed her razor focus on the boy who so thoroughly trounced her, highly motivated to improve herself before the war started.
As for Dodai, in his young age when his potential had yet to be exhausted, his encounters with Shiki had resulted in a change to his mindset and, as proven many times in the series, with half of chakra being spirit, a change in mindset could bring about colossal changes.
Suffice to say, in exchange for eating a few losses, Kumo may have just gained two Kage level powerhouses it would not have had in the original timeline.
And while Konoha remained ignorant, the bad news kept piling up, waiting to be released.
An enemy that would have originally challenged the whole world, decided to play things a bit more strategically.
A warlord who despised the Great Villages decided to incorporate diplomatic efforts with them in order to fulfill his ambitions when he should have fought them all.
A hidden organization who should have nothing to do with the war, not even mentioned in the original series, now had it out for a certain White Haired boy and would certainly appear on his battlefield at some point.
And, finally, an old ghost who should have been limited to pulling strings behind the curtains, might just decide to act himself.
After all, the emergence of a Super Kage Powerhouse like Mito would undoubtedly change the balance of the world, something dangerous for such schemers.
Amidst all of this, certain small settlements and weaker villages might suddenly decide to pick sides and thus, a Second Great War, one far more widespread and unimaginably more intense than it should have been, might be triggered.
Fate hung in the balance . . .
But Shiki's existence had thrown that balance into the trash.
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Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -