[quote=@The 42nd Gecko]
If I was the kage of an opposing country, you'd be able to swindle me out of my pants and half the country before facerolling me in straight combat. :P

I was mostly thinking about making a crew of small time pirates threatening shores far from the villages, and having a small scale enough crew that they'd be a good challenge for some starting genin in a nice "we can't wreck continents yet" level fight. And then seeing where I want to go from there.

But, if the main threats/actions to occur are not going to be the countries fighting each other, but rather some external/internal/other threat they collaborate (as well as can be expected of course) against, I don't think I'd mind whipping up an aging kage who is waning in power.
[/quote]

The countries aren't really opposed at this time, but you can do that as an option, it just may not have as much involvement as you want.