Movement and Kirigakure's Response

The replacement of the Sea Country's Daimyo went extremely smoothly. Orochimaru happened to have a subordinate infiltrated at the Sea Country Daimyo's side as his guard.

Using the collected body tissue, Vegapunk spent several days creating a new Clone—this crudely made Clone probably had a lifespan of less than ten years, and its physical abilities could only remain at the level of an ordinary person, but it was more than sufficient for a replacement.

In fact, all the Daimyo replacements were such slapdash products. From the very beginning, Vegapunk had never intended to give these Clones particularly long lives.

Although, in theory, Vegapunk had implanted mental imprints in every Clone, the human brain and mind were inherently the most mysterious and unpredictable things. If one really remained in the Daimyo's position for too long, who knew whether something troublesome like a Clone awakening might happen?

He might as well give these Clones lifespans of less than ten years. In any case, Vegapunk only needed them to serve as obedient transitional measures.

More than a month later, after Vegapunk's forces underwent a round of consolidation, the number of ninjas finally surpassed the two-thousand mark.

In particular, with the help of Orochimaru's laboratory, Vegapunk produced quite a few Gene Modification Fluids. Some ninjas who had rendered meritorious service also gained Zoan transformation abilities, further strengthening their high-end combat power.

Most importantly, in terms of land area alone, the Sea Country was not much smaller than the entire Water Country archipelago. If it were not much farther from the mainland than the Water Country, and if it had not lacked a Ninja Village of its own, the Sea Country might even have become the so-called sixth great nation.

In other words, the Sea Country's foundation was already substantial. At the very least, it possessed enough potential in population and economy to become a great nation.

Thus, when the Sea Country announced that it would form an allied nation with the Snow Country and several other small coastal countries, the entire Ninja World was quite surprised.

However, the ones truly concerned about this matter were the nations of the Ninja World. The Ninja Villages themselves did not care much about it.

To a certain extent, ninjas themselves had no real national borders. Just as the Wind Country's Daimyo often entrusted missions to Konohagakure, Konoha did not slack off simply because the mission came from the Daimyo of an enemy nation.

Not to mention that the Sea Country lay in the distant ocean. Other than Kirigakure, the other Ninja Villages could basically get no missions from this place. If not for guarding against Kirigakure, Konohagakure would never have established a secret base in such a place.

Of course, not every Ninja Village was indifferent. For example, Kirigakure of the Water Country was extremely sensitive to the Sea Country's current changes.

As mentioned before, nations and Ninja Villages were not completely bound together. Many large Ninja Villages often took on a great many missions from countries beyond their own, and Kirigakure was foremost among them.

Kirigakure's traditional sphere of influence was far more than just the Water Country. The Water Country's territory was much smaller than that of the other major countries, and the reason it could support a large Ninja Village like Kirigakure was that most missions from the countries at sea were handled by Kirigakure.

The Sea Country had originally been one of the places where they carried out missions. As a nation comparable in size to the Water Country, with a population and natural environment no worse than its own, the Sea Country could be called one of Kirigakure's economic pillars.

The Sea Country forming an alliance did not affect Kirigakure too much. That was something the Water Country Daimyo ought to consider. But the Sea Country establishing its own Ninja Village made every Kirigakure ninja jump in outrage.

Those many countries had originally been the foundation of Kirigakure's missions, accounting for nearly one-third of Kirigakure's pure mission income and roughly one-fifth of its total income!

It could be said that the effects of this blow weakened Kirigakure no less than the Bloody Mist Policy, and its effects came far faster than the Bloody Mist Policy's.

Without a doubt, even though Kirigakure was now in chaos due to the Bloody Mist Policy and its rejection of Kekkei Genkai Ninjas, they still prepared to go to war with the Sea Country without the slightest hesitation!

Under such circumstances, even Obito Uchiha, that Mastermind, could not suppress Kirigakure's ninjas. After all, controlling the Mizukage and controlling Kirigakure were two entirely different things.

Of course, Obito had no intention of suppressing them. Kirigakure's desire to start a war was something he was rather pleased to see!

He even considered strengthening the Sea Country's combat power. On one hand, it was out of hatred for Kirigakure; on the other, a weakened Kirigakure would benefit his future plans.

"So this is the Sea Country? They actually established some ridiculous Sea Ninja Village!"

The speaker was a vicious-looking man over two meters tall, built like a mountain of flesh. On his back was a weapon that was less a blade than a Spiked Club.

Beside him stood a man without eyebrows. His gaze was cold, and his mouth was tightly wrapped in bandages.

Behind the two stood a strange man with a Shark Face. The three standing together gave no one the impression that they were easy to deal with.

The three ninjas had just disembarked from their ship, and their vicious auras made the people on the shore consciously steer clear of them.

"Don't waste time here! Let's go! I truly want to see the despair on those trash ninjas' faces when they see us Kirigakure ninjas!"

The eyebrowless man glanced around and spoke blandly.

"Heh, Zabuza, you brat who has only just earned the right to wield Kubikiribōchō, are you putting on airs in front of me now? If you want to command me, go take Kubikiribōchō from Juzo Biwa first!"

The mountain-like man turned sideways. His enormous body was enough to make ninety-nine percent of people feel pressured, yet the man named Zabuza was clearly not among that ninety-nine percent.

"How could that be? Senior Suikazan Fuguki has always been the goal I pursue!"

Zabuza spoke with seeming sincerity, but he deliberately emphasized the word "goal," making it difficult to imagine exactly what kind of goal that was.

"Hmph! It had better be!" With a cold snort, Suikazan Fuguki did not pursue the matter further. After all, all Kirigakure ninjas were like this.

In truth, Kirigakure ninjas had never trusted one another much. The stronger and higher-ranking they were, the more suspicious they were of each other. As long as they did not start fighting each other during an operation, it was already considered excellent cooperation.

That was because nearly every ninja who climbed to Kirigakure's upper ranks had blood all over his hands—not only enemies' blood, but more often that of comrades. Naturally, they could never trust one another.