Just as the Mainland - Ninja World was captivated by the first large-scale environmental transformation project, the situation within the Land of Water took a turn for the worse.
The vision proposed by Master Genzu of establishing centralized farms or mines had barely begun implementation when it was suddenly attacked and destroyed by a newly arrived unit from the New Mist Ninja Clan. In just one night, thick smoke rose from the production bases outside Hidden Mist's main headquarters, leaving behind chaos, destruction, and heavy casualties.
This time, the New Mist ninja unit held nothing back. They launched an extremely aggressive assault using densely packed bundles of Explosive Tags as their primary weapon, ruthlessly breaking through the Bloodline faction's defensive lines in record time and completely obliterating the newly constructed facilities.
Even the civilians who had been brought into the farms or mines seized the chaos to flee after the attack.
Truly, all the efforts of Master Genzu and the Mist Elders had gone up in flames.
"Except for the fishing port, all other farms and mines have been utterly destroyed."
The next day, upon receiving the detailed damage report, Master Genzu felt his heart bleeding.
"The village itself also suffered some disturbances. Our stationed ninja force guarding headquarters was distracted and therefore unable to intervene in time."
Although his face had turned pale and he trembled with fear, the Jonin responsible for defending the Mist village still struggled to offer an explanation.
But such an excuse would clearly fail to satisfy the Elders.
"Not enough."
Master Genzu shook his head slowly.
"Eh?"
Sweat began pouring down the Jonin's forehead in large drops.
"The reason isn't sufficient. It doesn't justify your negligence!"
An Elder slammed his staff on the ground and spoke coldly.
"With no Anbu deployed, my forces could only manage basic village defense."
I know this will upset the Third Mizukage, but the truth was already common knowledge anyway.
"Why didn't the Anbu intervene then?" the Elder continued pressing mercilessly.
"They refused to engage without direct orders from The Third."
Now that sides were being chosen, the Jonin decided to plainly reveal the truth: "Though I did send people to request instructions at the Mizukage Building, the Third never received me."
"So even last night, during such a fierce attack on our village, Lord Mizukage still chose not to appear?"
The Elder grew increasingly confrontational.
"That's exactly what happened!"
With no choice left, the Mist Jonin clenched his teeth and forced himself to speak the truth.
"In that case..."
The Elder dragged out his words. But while speaking, his gaze shifted toward Master Genzu, who sat silently deep in thought. Sensing the unusual atmosphere, he swallowed his remaining words entirely.
"Protect our final fishing harbor. As for the rest... we'll see if anything can still be salvaged."
Finally, under everyone's watchful eyes, Master Genzu spoke slowly.
Then he used his cane to gradually rise to his feet and started walking outside.
"Senior—"
All the Mist Elders quickly stood up, visibly uncertain what to do next.
"I'll go see The Third. You all handle your affairs."
Without turning back, Master Genzu paused at the door and spoke in a composed tone.
Then he pushed open the door and walked outside.
"What kind of preparations?"
Someone asked in confusion.
"You should mobilize your troops quickly; you might need them!"
The second-in-command elder, who held the position just below Master Genzu, said seriously, "Ideally we won't need them at all, but if problems arise, being prepared will offer some protection."
"Hmm..."
Now the Mist elders finally understood Master Genzu's intentions.
Yet this aggressive stance made many elders uncomfortable—elders accustomed to resting on past achievements while enjoying peaceful slumber.
"The supplies requested from the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation are expected to arrive at the port tomorrow. As per tradition, each unit can send representatives to collect their share!"
After the successful raid, seizing this rare opportunity for joint operations, Suiton Clan Head gathered together the Ninja Clan Leaders who served as commanders of various units to rekindle old bonds.
"How much supply allocation can each unit expect?"
Hozuki elder instinctively played the questioner.
Although the Hozuki, Suiton, and Kaguya clans had already known about the Ninja Clan Capital Corporation's military aid figures long ago, they couldn't afford to appear overly familiar with the Corporation publicly.
After all, among the various ninja clans of New Mist, there were still quite a few individuals clinging to dreams of restoring Mist and regaining its former glory. Should reality's harsh truth be unveiled too drastically, excessive disclosure might severely damage these people's morale, causing irreparable psychological impact.
Therefore, to some extent, well-intentioned concealment actually became a necessary measure to protect both dreams and troop spirits.
"Each unit will receive an allocation amounting to ten operational bases—sufficient to support normal enemy territory operations for ten months, or enough for two large-scale annihilation battles like today's."
Suiton Clan Head took out a letter, glanced at it with affected seriousness, then addressed the assembled Ninja Clan Leaders, "That's the official explanation."
"That's reassuring then."
The Ninja Clan Leaders nodded in satisfaction one after another.
But someone voiced a different concern: "Shouldn't we continue our harassment attacks now? Isn't it time we occupied territories and started constructing headquarters instead?"
"Judging from tonight's assault performance, the village's ( forces) forces forces forces are extremely weak. Launching a restoration campaign directly seems likely to succeed."
Right away, an even more radical Ninja Clan Leader spoke up.
"Continuing like this indeed seems pointless."
"While our supplies are sufficient, if we never establish a New Mist base, eventually everything will get depleted. After all, the Bloodline Faction's young sharks far outnumber us!"
Other Ninja Clan Leaders also voiced their opinions one after another.
Generally speaking, although guerrilla harassment tactics have produced remarkable results, in these Clan Leaders' eyes, such actions were highly irregular and unseemly methods—completely unsuitable for an organization aspiring to replace the Bloodline Faction and rebuild Mist's orthodox legacy.
"Alright then, let's disband for now!"
The Suiton Clan Head suddenly felt disinterested and immediately lost the desire to continue dealing with these clan leaders, each hiding their own agendas.
"Anyone who plans to break away from our original strategy should stop contacting other teams altogether," he said coldly.
Tsunashige Kaguya also issued a sharp warning: "Otherwise, I will personally eliminate this incompetent traitor who endangers his comrades!"
That was simply how the Kaguya Clan operated—they killed without hesitation or explanation.
More importantly, all the ninja clan leaders believed that Tsunashige Kaguya, as the Kaguya leader, would dare to kill even if it risked sparking internal conflict.
"In that case, we'll take our leave first."
With that thought, no matter their positions or opinions, all the clan leaders immediately stood up and left, as if staying any longer might bring great misfortune.
"Actually, what they said makes sense."
After everyone had departed, the Hozuki elder sighed, eyes closed.
"What else can we do?"
Tsunashige Kaguya merely shrugged it off with an indifferent expression. "Now that things have kicked off, do you really think there's any turning back?"
"But I wonder… is there still a chance for us to reclaim our village?"
The Suiton Clan Head's remark carried a cautious, probing tone.
This time, it was Tsunashige Kaguya's turn to close his eyes and pretend not to hear.
Just after Hyuga Soushu, Uchiha Shikata, and Sanshouo Hanzo reached an agreement, large numbers of members from both powerful clans were mobilized into the Southern Border of the Land of Rain, preparing to blast open the mountain pass.
The Byakugan ninja from the Hyuga Clan played a crucial role in this operation.
They chose to use concentrated explosive tags, but due to varying soil compositions along the mountain routes—which meant different levels of difficulty—Byakugan users were assigned as key surveyors. They used their unique vision to pinpoint exact detonation spots, which helped cut down the number of tags needed.
Even with optimized routes based on calculations, initial estimates showed that approximately half a million explosive tags would be required for the entire operation.
Although the Uchiha Clan was renowned throughout the ninja world for producing high-yield explosive tags, due to current resource allocations supporting various ninja clans within New Mist, they couldn't instantly provide such a massive quantity.
Therefore, another compromise had to be reached. Fugaku Uchiha started hiring local civilians along the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain to handle initial digging and clearing work. By doing this groundwork ahead of time, they hoped to reduce the number of explosive tags needed during the final blasting phase.
As a result, some mysterious creatures deep in the mountains managed to escape—just in time.
Inside a naturally formed cave deep within the mountain range, a group of mystical ninja frogs from Mount Myoboku were busily packing and organizing items stored within the cave, preparing for a strategic retreat.
[Master Jiraiya]! Stop wandering around! Hurry up and pack—we need to evacuate soon!
As Jiraiya staggered unsteadily into the cave, one red ninja frog couldn't help but tease, "If someone accidentally tracks you, it could cause serious trouble!"
"Don't worry," Jiraiya replied casually. "I'm being very careful."
The toad shrugged slightly, clearly unconcerned. "Besides, those younglings from the Hyuga clan wouldn't have Byakugan strong enough to penetrate thick layers of rock anyway."
"Oh well, do whatever you want."
This was merely casual teasing from the red-skinned toad, annoyed that Jiraiya seemed so lazy, so he let it go and changed the topic. "How's the situation outside?"
"The civilian workers have already started clearing surface obstacles," Jiraiya answered. "They should start pre-installing explosive tags soon enough."
"I even checked out the worksite—they've got decent grub, believe it or not."
He smacked his lips like he was still tasting the food.
"You must be bored outta your mind."
The red toad muttered, curious, "So what were they serving anyway?"
"There was fish, meat, plenty of rice—you know, nothing fancy. Although everything was kind of salty, it wasn't bad at all."
Jiraiya went on cheerfully.
"No insects at all?"
Considering how different Mount Myoboku frogs' diets were from humans', the red toad couldn't hide his disappointment. "I was even thinking about using Transformation Jutsu to sneak in and grab a bite. Not even any bugs? How stingy!"
"If there *were* bugs, that'd be weird!"
Jiraiya had no response for that.
"Anyway, did you find a new habitat yet?"
Putting aside these minor issues, Jiraiya quickly steered the conversation toward more important matters.
"Kousuke checked a few underground tunnels," the red toad reported seriously, moving past the food topic. "They seem suitable."
"But the deepest tunnel is under the Rain Ninja Village headquarters—it's definitely well hidden, but then again..."
"Hold on," Jiraiya suddenly said. "Didn't Great Sage mention that someone might appear near the Rain Village?"
"So why not just make our base underneath the Rain Village itself?"
"There are just too many people down there," the red toad hesitated. "If any single toad gives away our location by accident, we might face unnecessary risks."
Though most of the toads could speak like humans, they still carried certain innate animal instincts—habitual behaviors passed through their species—from time to time letting out loud croaks or making noises randomly. That wouldn't matter much outdoors, but doing so carelessly while hiding within an underground tunnel system directly beneath an active ninja village could easily lead to accidental exposure.
"I doubt that would happen."
Jiraiya remained unconcerned. "Even the secret base under Hakone Prefecture city went undetected. Compared to that, this little Rain Village would struggle to notice anything. If they were really that capable, Sanshouo Hanzo would never bow down before Hyuga Soushu's junior!"
"Although you have a point, the problem is that most of the ninjas stationed at the secret base in Hakone Prefecture city are intelligence frogs. Those mindless species can die without raising suspicion or detection. But here..."
The red-skinned ninja frog shrugged helplessly.
"Yeah, I guess it's because we're all battle ninja frogs here."
Jiraiya found this reasonable but still voiced his concern: "But even if we don't set the main base beneath Rain Village's underground, shouldn't we at least deploy some forces there?"
"That won't be an issue. How about leaving sixty ninja frogs underground there?"
The red-skinned ninja frog asked.
"Twenty squads should be sufficient enough!"
Jiraiya thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"There you go!"
The red-skinned ninja frog didn't insist further either and shouted loudly at the regular ninja frogs to speed up their packing, clearly preparing for relocation.
"The explosive tags are lit already! What are you loafing around for? Want to be buried alive and crushed to pulp before you finally start taking this seriously?"
His yelling reverberated through the underground tunnels.
"They wouldn't ignite the explosive tags that soon!" Jiraiya frowned as he asked, "I just went to check earlier. They're only clearing obstacles from the surface!"
"Oh, I was just bluffing. Don't take it seriously."
The red-skinned ninja frog shrugged, explaining that he was merely bluffing.
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