Chapter 2: Journal of Jonin Hiragena(Late year 60)
Some of the members of my squad recommended that I write my experiences in a journal as it helps release the stress of the war. I took up on their offer and here I am
My squad has been a successful one. I have the pleasure of working with the most competent sensors in our Village. My squad while not comparable to say the best sensor squad from Kumo or konoha but it is damn better than the other two villages. My boys have been doing this since the war started. Most of the boys and some gals in the squad are veterans who know how to track the enemy before they even enter the mountain range.
See the mountain ranges surrounding the Land of Stone, they are our safe haven as well as our greatest problem. While the villages have faced much more war than experience peace since the formation of shinobi villages, we still need peace. Most people peg Ninjas as bloodthirsty beasts that prey on the weak and enjoy war. That is most definitely not the truth. We only allow this to be circulated so that we never have to face any kind of internal rebellion, the kind of which were most common during the warring states era. Most of the shinobi forces consist of chunnins and to a lesser extent genins. The number of Jonins in a shinobi village never exceeds 15. It is not as if our population is low. No, the reason is that very few people possess the skill, the dedication and the Bloodthirstiness required to be a Jonin or an A-class threat if we go by the bingo books.
Anyone who is a Jonin HAS killed his fair share of people. Jonin are either absolute fuck ups or absolutely bloodthirsty. There is no Jonin who has been a well adjusted being. Death changes us all and the number of deaths witnessed by most Jonins require them to cope with it by being fuck ups or bloodthirsty monsters.
Anyways, the reason the mountains are our biggest enemy (aside from the tree huggers of course) is that they make the Land of Stone very very infertile. While the mountains make it quite easy to use to defend the Village and the Country during wars, peacetime makes it very difficult for the mountains to be of any use. No agriculture can be done on the land due to the prevalent bandit infestation. The Mountain range is very large and thus makes it quite difficult to trace bandits who steal from the farmers and pillage them. Trust me, we have tried. However many bandits we kill, there are always people desperate enough to become bandits. While it is a pity, we still have to kill those animals to restore order. Where was I ... Ah.. the mountain range! The range is also unproductive toward civilian transportation and trade. Most of the food in Iwa comes from trade routes.
The reason Iwa has participated in every Ninja war is the same one. Our surrounding nations consist of Fire, Wind, Rice and Rain. Wind faces the same problem as us but counters it by being a perpetual alliance with Fire. This has the added effect of an alliance between Suna and the tree huggers.
The only way we do not starve is taking 'our portion' of the food from the Land of Rice and due to Hanzo the salamander helping Iwa because he doesn't want a war from both sides. Wind while not openly hostile has been harrassing Hanzo since the start of the war. Those 'Sannin' were defeated by Hanzo..yes but they were not at their prime. Hanzo is powerful but he doesn't have a big enough military. Our kage Onoki-sama can and will kill Hanzo if he attempts to attack Iwa. The reason why Ame has not been assimilated is that we will have to fight Hanzo, Suna and Konoha all to assimilate Ame.
The same reason applies to the Land of Rice. We can assimilate the Land in our Country but the workforce required for it will be immense and the cons overweigh the pros. But it is still easier. Why? The simple reason is that: Suna Ninjas are bastards. Yes.. While the tree huggers can't be called the picture of benevolence, they at least don't sabotage their allies during wartime. Suna while not harrassing Konoha does have a convenient problem of having too many 'missing nins' in the Land of Rice. They pillage the place as well to fulfill their Appetite. This helps Iwa Ninja to easily pillage the place without any amjor battles as initiating major battles in the battle would quickly turn out to be a slugfest.
Oh.. my special Jonin assistant is calling me.. Says that many Iwa ninjas have been found absolutely shredded in nearby areas. This must either be the work of an individual the level of Kages or an extremely skilled squad. My money is on the second one. Such individuals don't conveniently 'appear' like the tree huggers say about the blonde haired brat. Such things DON'T happen.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone