After a round of friendly negotiations between Momochi Zabuza, Haku, and others with the Land of Waves' daimyo, the daimyo voluntarily relinquished temporary control of the Land of Waves.
He also ordered all civilians living on the western side to relocate eastward.
The Great Bridge of the Land of Waves was located on the western side, so Kirigakure needed to establish a position there. Naturally, they could not allow the Land of Waves' civilians to remain in the west.
Of course.
Doing this would naturally breed discontent among the many civilians of the Land of Waves. However, most of that resentment would fall upon the daimyo himself.
Deep down, these civilians were certainly displeased with the Kirigakure shinobi as well. But had this been in the past, no one would have cared.
But something surprised everyone, even the daimyo himself.
Kirigakure actually compensated every single person who relocated to the eastern side with a sum of money, making up for the civilians' losses.
Naturally, the one who proposed this was Yuto.
Throughout the history of the Shinobi World's great wars, the ones who suffered most were always the small shinobi villages and minor nations.
After all, when the Five Great Shinobi Villages went to war, they naturally would not let the battles take place on their own soil. Instead, the fighting would be shifted to smaller countries.
And the reason Yuto did this was to lay the groundwork for eventually unifying the entire Shinobi World.
Uchiha Madara might not care about his reputation, but Yuto could not afford that luxury. Raw strength alone was not enough.
The banners of "Reputation" and "Righteous Cause" had to be held high.
And so.
When the civilians of the Land of Waves saw Kirigakure's shinobi handing out money to each of them one by one, every face was filled with astonishment and disbelief.
These shinobi lords were actually giving them money over this.
Had this happened in the past, they would not have believed it even if it killed them.
In this world, there was no such thing as "human rights." Leaving aside the fact that shinobi stood high above civilians, the very system of this world meant that most civilians were objects of exploitation.
Forget temporarily relocating them from the west to the east side — even if they had been driven out of the Land of Waves entirely, most civilians would have been too terrified to voice their anger.
Every great war in the Shinobi World produced the majority of its displaced civilians and orphans in exactly this way.
Because of this gesture, most of the Land of Waves' civilians dropped their guard against the Kirigakure shinobi who had appeared in their country. They even became extremely cooperative with these shinobi lords.
The daimyo's mansion in the Land of Waves.
It had already been commandeered by Momochi Zabuza and the others as a command post.
"Spending this much money on these civilians... I really don't get it."
Momochi Zabuza stood by the window, gazing toward the western direction of the Land of Waves' Great Bridge, and spoke with a hint of surprise.
Hearing Momochi Zabuza's words, Haku's expression immediately turned serious beside him.
"Lord Momochi Zabuza, setting aside the fact that Lord Yuto ordered this — on the matter itself, Haku believes Lord Yuto did the right thing."
Haku spoke with genuine earnestness and gravity.
Haku himself had been born in a small village. He was a firsthand survivor and witness to the suffering that war inflicted upon civilians.
Therefore.
For what seemed like a meaningless act on Lord Yuto's part, Haku supported it from the bottom of his heart!
Hearing Haku contradict him, Momochi Zabuza gave a light shrug and did not press the topic further.
At that moment in the room.
Besides Momochi Zabuza and Haku, there was also Kinoshita Watanabe.
During the exchange between Momochi Zabuza and Haku just now, Kinoshita Watanabe had stood quietly to one side without the slightest intention of interrupting.
Momochi Zabuza's personality was something Kinoshita Watanabe had already come to understand clearly through the Kinoshita clan's intelligence.
In all of the Land of Waves right now, the only person who could directly contradict Momochi Zabuza to his face was probably Haku.
Furthermore.
The Kinoshita clan were staunch supporters of Lord Yuto.
The Land of Waves was a small country to begin with, so its civilian population was not particularly large. As such, the compensation had not cost an excessive amount of money.
"How are things proceeding?"
Momochi Zabuza turned his head toward Kinoshita Watanabe and asked in a somewhat lazy tone.
"Thanks to the financial compensation, the civilians of the Land of Waves are relocating very quickly. They should all be moved by this afternoon."
"Additionally, there were two small groups trying to cause trouble, but they have already been dealt with. They were likely spies left behind by Konoha in the Land of Waves."
Kinoshita Watanabe spoke softly, giving a general rundown of the situation.
Konoha spies!
Momochi Zabuza's eyes lit up slightly. It looked like things were not going to be boring after all.
The strategic importance of the Land of Waves was known to the people of Kirigakure, and naturally, the people of Konoha knew it just as well.
While Kirigakure was gradually taking control of the Land of Waves.
A Konoha unit had already arrived at the border of the Land of Fire.
The moment Kirigakure's three great ships appeared in the Land of Waves, this intelligence had already been relayed to Konoha.
Upon receiving this intelligence, Tsunade naturally did not hesitate for a moment. She immediately dispatched a twenty-man Konoha squad.
Their primary mission was, of course, not to engage Kirigakure's forces in combat, but to destroy the Great Bridge connecting the Land of Waves to the Land of Fire.
As long as this bridge was destroyed, the Land of Waves' route for attacking Konoha would effectively be cut in half.
If Kirigakure wanted to continue attacking Konoha, they would have to travel by ship on the water route.
Once that happened!
Konoha would seize the initiative, and the balance of the war would tilt in their favor.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several figures of Konoha shinobi leaped rapidly through the jungle, each face brimming with an expression of utmost gravity.
At the very front of this Konoha squad were jonin from the Nara clan and the Hyuga clan respectively.
At that exact moment!
The Hyuga clan's jonin suddenly raised his hand. With that single gesture, every shinobi stopped almost simultaneously.
"Traps at positions 7, 12, and 3 o'clock. Clear them quickly, and don't draw any attention."
The Hyuga jonin swept his Byakugan across the surroundings and called out three directions at once.
Three shinobi from the rear quickly stepped forward, leaping off toward each of the three designated positions.
In barely a moment, all three shinobi had returned, having clearly dealt with the traps.
The Konoha squad moved forward again.
"Hyuga Kazuo, how much further to the destination?"
The Nara clan's jonin asked softly, turning toward Hyuga Kazuo beside him.
"Less than fifty kilometers. At our current pace, barring any surprises, it should take about another hour to arrive."
Hyuga Kazuo made a quick mental calculation and replied in a low voice.
[
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