Out at sea, far from any village or town, with such enormous profits to be made, a profession naturally emerged.
Pirates.
Pirates came from all walks of life. You could not even tell which faction they belonged to.
They might even be forces from the Land of Water.
The Land of Water had always relied on maritime trade to sustain itself. To the Land of Water, pirates were the biggest bloodsuckers.
Pirates only robbed goods and did not kill people. They even left some of the cargo behind, ensuring your losses were not too severe.
In the past, few dared to raid ships from the Land of Water.
That was because of Hidden Mist Village's reputation for the Bloody Mist. Every one of them was a lunatic, and their combat strength was formidable.
But during the years Obito stirred up trouble, he squandered Hidden Mist Village's entire foundation.
Hidden Mist Village's people either died or fled, while the bloodline clans of the Land of Water were wiped out one after another.
Later, Cloud Village even spearheaded an invasion of the Land of Water.
Although Cloud Village was eventually driven back, Hidden Mist Village had exposed the weakness of its foundations.
Sea routes were originally governed by whichever country they passed closest to.
The Land of Water's control over its surrounding waters was now in steep decline.
Unless you had the power to settle things in one blow, pirates were impossible to deal with. Send too few people, and you could not defeat them.
Send a large force to suppress them, and they would slip away.
Once the suppression force left, they would return.
After fighting a war with the Land of Water, the Land of Lightning now took a hands-off approach toward pirates at sea.
As long as they did