Raimeijō Village, a major stronghold on the border of the Land of Lightning.
At this moment, however, to cooperate with the Cloud Village's strategic operations, the Land of Lightning had already evacuated most of the village's residents.
Raimeijō Village had now become a logistical supply depot for the Cloud Village's frontline forces.
As for why the Land of Lightning was being so cooperative—
Dodai: "My lord, you'd also like to try sitting in the middle position at the Five Kage Summit, wouldn't you?"
"Mm!!!"
The Daimyō of the Land of Lightning: "Cooperate, of course we'll cooperate. The Land of Lightning will absolutely support every action of the Cloud Village. Everything is for the growth and strength of our nation."
...
Normally, such an important supply depot would be heavily guarded.
But this was the Land of Lightning—home to the battle-loving Cloud shinobi.
When Dodai began selecting ninja for guard duty, those usually robust and muscle-obsessed Cloud ninja suddenly turned into frail invalids one by one.
"My back's broken! I need to return to the Cloud Village to rest."
A young Cloud ninja asked, "Wouldn't going back put you even farther from the front lines?"
An experienced veteran replied, "Are you stupid? Once the garrison is chosen, you just recover. Do you think the Raikage-sama would refuse a healthy ninja willing to serve the village?"
"My leg's broken, I can't walk!"
"My arm's broken, I can't handle the responsibility of guarding the warehouse!"
"I've contracted a fatal illness—if I stay in Raimeijō Village, I'll die! Only by going to the Cloud Village's frontline camp can I recover!"
...
The excuses became increasingly ridiculous, to the point of absurdity.
Dodai's eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
"Are you insulting yourselves, or insulting me?"
In the end, Dodai waved his hand decisively.
"Draw lots."
No regard for strength.
In the end, two hundred Cloud ninja were selected to guard Raimeijō Village.
Seeing that more than a dozen of them were fairly strong jōnin, Dodai was quite satisfied with the result.
Then he happily headed to the front lines.
...
But what Dodai didn't realize was that everyone else was thinking the same thing.
Many of the stronger Cloud ninja who had been selected turned their gazes toward the "lucky" weaker ones.
After some "friendly negotiations," some of the Cloud ninja voluntarily exchanged positions with others.
Their reasoning:
"You're stronger than us. You're the ones who truly belong on the battlefield."
If you ignored their bruised and battered faces, those words might have sounded sincere.
But as a result—only two hundred relatively weaker Cloud ninja remained in Raimeijō Village.
...
The sun had fully risen.
Raimeijō Village, which should have been quiet and peaceful, was now engulfed in raging flames.
The remaining civilians fled in all directions.
"Such a massive warehouse, and you let a bunch of small fry guard it?"
Hyūga Hiyasu snapped the neck of the last Cloud ninja.
"Bullying the weak and running rampant… doesn't seem to be my ninja way."
"Hiyasu, the defenses here seem weaker than expected."
Namikaze Minato walked over slowly.
"I think so too. But Minato, that move where you wiped out twenty-three Cloud ninja in an instant was really cool… though the way you scrambled to pick up your kunai afterward was pretty embarrassing."
Minato's bright, cheerful expression froze instantly.
Damn you, Hiyasu. Did you really have to bring that up?
"But Minato, after using Flying Thunder God twenty times in a row, can you still carry all of us?"
"Piece of cake. Only large-scale group teleportation drains my chakra and stamina. If it's just me, a few hundred uses a day is nothing."
After Minato said that, Hyūga Hiyasu looked at him with a strange expression.
As expected of you… a born delivery prodigy—terrifyingly efficient, doing hundreds of 'orders' a day.
Come to think of it, Minato earns two hundred ryo a day sweeping… but delivering food? You could charge per trip.
For just a few ryo, you could get Minato himself delivering your meal.
!!!
Definitely have to try that someday.
"Everyone, eat well. Hey—who's eating the staple food? Bad habit! Fix that. You can get full just eating beef, you know. Pick the expensive stuff, and destroy the rest. Don't leave a single grain of rice for those Cloud bastards. Got it?"
"Yes!"
...
Outside the Cloud Village encampment, a civilian from the Land of Lightning, still holding some sense of patriotism, fled from Raimeijō Village to here.
Upon seeing the Cloud insignia, he shouted:
"Raikage-sama, something terrible has happened! Raimeijō Village has been attacked!"
"What?!"
Several figures flashed into view.
"During wartime, spreading panic is punishable by death. Do you understand?"
What kind of nonsense was this?
All Konoha ninja were on the opposite front.
Who would attack Raimeijō Village?
Ghosts?
"It's true, ninja-sama! I came from Raimeijō Village! A group with terrifying eyes attacked—it was all white, not human at all!"
"This is bad—it's the Hyūga Clan from Konoha. You, you, you, and you—come with me to investigate. You, take him to see the Raikage-sama."
Five Cloud ninja split up immediately.
Four headed toward Raimeijō Village, while one carried the civilian toward the Raikage's camp.
"Raikage-sama, urgent news!"
The Third Raikage, who had been listening to Dodai's report, immediately turned his head.
"What is it? Speak."
"Raimeijō Village has been attacked."
After hearing the civilian's description—
"What?! Impossible! With Sahi, Komoi, Orani, and more than a dozen elite jōnin, they couldn't hold Raimeijō Village?"
Dodai's face was filled with disbelief.
Cloud Village's elite jōnin weren't weak.
"Dodai-sama, Sahi, Komoi, and Orani are all here in the camp."
"What?! They dared to abandon their posts?! I'll kill them! That's the supply depot for eight thousand frontline ninja!"
Dodai was so furious he nearly fainted.
The Third Raikage quickly supported him.
"Dodai, it's not that serious. We've only lost some food and a few weapons. Just have the Daimyō prepare more. For now, we'll make do with soldier pills."
The Third Raikage originally wanted to get angry too—but then he thought about it.
Wasn't this exactly the kind of thing he used to do when he was younger?
How could he even scold them?
Well then… so the root of the problem was here all along.
"Dodai, the priority now is to eliminate the enemies lurking behind us. The plan prepared for Hatake Sakumo can begin."
"Understood, Raikage-sama. Deploy the two thousand reconnaissance troops stationed in the Cloud Village. Sweep the entire Land of Lightning."
Konoha wants to use the same trick again?
Dream on!
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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