Goddess of Ice; Reborn as Naruto's twin sister

Chapter 484: Why do we fight wars?

“Why do we fight wars?”

Confused whispering spread through the gathering as everyone wondered why Yuna asked such a question. Obviously, there were a lot of reasons why wars are fought, but Yuna wanted to get a specific answer to her question.

She scanned the people in front of her with her eyes, and after a few seconds of searching, she found a good candidate. She lifted her hand and pointed her finger at a woman that appeared to be in her early thirties.

“You, I assume you fought in the last war, right? What do you think? Why are wars fought?”

The woman was surprised that Yuna singled her out, but she nevertheless gave a quick answer.

“We fight to protect our loved ones and village.”

Yuna nodded and approval when she heard that answer.

“Indeed. We fight to protect. I assume most of the people here are of the same opinion.”

Yet again, the crowd started whispering and although it wasn’t entirely clear, most seemed to agree with that answer.

“It sounds like you agree, in that case, why are we even fighting?”

Confused rippled through the crowd when they heard Yuna’s question. After all, haven’t they just reached a conclusion to that question?

Yuna chuckled at the confused gazes directed at her and resumed speaking.

“You are misunderstanding me. If we all want to protect something, then who is the attacker? If everyone wants to defend, who is attacking?”

Obviously, that was a very one-dimensional point of view, but as long as Yuna continued her speech, it wouldn’t matter.

Meanwhile, Mifune’s eyes widened in shock. He could make a good guess what Yuna wanted to do, and he had to absolutely stop it.

“Yuna-dono, you shoul…”

And then he was teleported away.

Yuna ignored the short interruption and continued speaking to the now thoroughly confused crowd.

“No, wars aren’t being fought to defend people. Let me tell you why people wage war. It’s greed. Greed for more prestige. Greed for more power. Greed for more, more, more.”

The gathered people were shocked when they heard Yuna’s harsh words. However, they also felt that something was wrong. Prestige and power? Although some people did get a lot of prestige during the last war, it was at best 20 people. As for power? Well, a lot of people got promoted, but that can be done without a war.

Yuna smiled at the people, slowly realizing that something was off, so she quickly continued talking.

“That sounds right, but at the same time wrong, right? After all, prestige and power are things almost none of the people gathered her gained during the last war. That is only natural, after all, you, the soldiers, were never meant to gain these things.”

“YUNA-DONO, DON’T S…”

Before Yuna could continue speaking, Mifune returned and yelled at her to stop while hastily wiping away the cake remains on his face. And then he got teleported away again, allowing Yuna to continue speaking unhindered.

“In that case, let me tell you who wants and earns these things and is, at the same time, responsible for the war.”

Yuna’s face twisted in glee as she saw everyone attentively listening to her speech. She swiftly continued talking before anyone else could interrupt her.

“It’s greedy nobles and the Daimyos.”

thousands of surprised gasps echoed through the crowd, as many people couldn’t believe that Yuna would go so far as to insult Daimyos. As Yuna once mentioned, a king, no matter how incompetent, is usually deeply respected by their people as long as they aren’t acting like a tyrant, so Yuna continued speaking before anyone could complain.

“They just can’t get enough. They want to expand the realm they rule over, want to plunder others for riches, or simply want to hold power over more people.”

Yuna could clearly see many people being uncomfortable when she talked badly about the ruling class, but she didn’t mind. Today was an excellent day to significantly decrease the goodwill people felt towards nobles so that Yuna would take it.

“Greedy weaklings, sitting in their villas surrounded by women, lavish food, and alcohol. They are happy to send thousands of you to their death just because a foreign noble insulted them once. And why can they do that? Because one of their ancestors, generations ago, wasn’t a piece of human garbage and was actually capable.”

Although the people in front of her were still uncomfortable due to Yuna’s words, she could clearly see that some of them were wavering.

“Scum! Nothing but scum! Only those aiming for the betterment of their country and its people are worthy of the title of a noble. If all they do is exploit and worsen their people’s lives, they are nothing but scum.”

While the crowd was digesting Yuna’s words, Mifune returned, and this time, he simply retook his position with an annoyed expression. It was already too late to stop this disaster after all.

“But, didn’t the Daimyos and nobles donate a lot of shuriken and kunai for this war.”

Yuna almost laughed out loud when she heard that argument. She almost found it amusing how vehemently some people tried to defend someone in an important position. It’s not like they would gain anything from doing so.

“Oh wow, I’m sure they donated a lot. Gaara, how about you tell us how much the five Daimyos of the Five Great Shinobi Nations donated.”

The attending people couldn’t help but feel weird due to Yuna’s mocking tone. Wasn’t donating weapons a good thing?

“They donated around 10000 kunai and 20000 shuriken; the worth is around 3000000 Ryu.”

The crowd was awed when they heard such a massive number. Some of them couldn’t help but mockingly look at Yuna as if they had just humiliated her.

“Ohh, I see. In that case, how much did my Uzumaki clan donate?”

“Mhh, that is hard to tell. The complex communication sealing arrangement that was created in tandem with the Yamanaka clan is pretty much priceless, but if we go by donated seals that have a fixed price alone, it would be around the same number as the five Daimyos.”

The crowd was silenced instantly. The silence was so awkward that Yuna could pretty much taste it. It was delicious.

“Wait a moment, you spoke of living a lavish life surrounded by women. Aren’t you doing the same?”

Yuna chuckled in amusement when she heard that question.

‘Very well, round two.’

[I can not help but feel a little bit of pity for them.]

‘Must be because there aren’t any Uchiha in there.’

[Probably.]