The Raikage and His Thirteen Disciples: There Seems to Be a Traitor Among Us, and I Suspect It's Me

The Land of Birds is not wealthy and cannot support many nobles; most of them are poor nobles.

Beneath their luxurious exteriors lay a filthy existence, barely worth a scrap of meat. Yet, they reveled in preying on the people of even lower social standing, plundering and robbing them with swagger.

Naruto didn't bother dealing with them one by one, so he simply robbed them of all their possessions at once, cut down any ninjas who tried to block his way, and drove all the nobles out.

The poor nobles who were willing to cooperate were simply thrown aside, leaving them for Toki to identify and process. He simply ransacked all the wooden fences like a wild beast.

He would crush their psychological defenses with overwhelming force, shattering their dreams of lavish pleasure. The rest was left to his own devices; others would naturally take advantage of their misfortune.

He only wanted one result; he didn't care whether anyone escaped. As long as there were no nobles in the Land of Birds, even if they hid, it didn't matter—his goal was achieved.

A day and a night passed quickly, and bonfires burned everywhere in the Capital City of the Land of Birds. People took to the streets, looking on in bewilderment and helplessness at what was happening before their eyes.

The nobles have disappeared; all of them have either gone into hiding, fled, or died.

No one came out to urge the people of the Land of Birds to work day and night anymore. Time seemed to stand still at that moment. Some people were shouting that all the nobles' treasures had been stolen.

It was difficult to hear clearly due to the noise, but one could vaguely make out whispers about noble treasures.

The bonfire burned throughout the Capital City all night. Naruto, carrying his blood-stained sword, walked step by step up the steps of the Daimyo's Daimyo's Residence. Toki, dressed in fine clothes, waited respectfully in front of the Daimyo's Residence.

With a clatter, he threw the bloodstained, disposable Ninja Blade to the ground and a smile appeared on his face.

"I have kept my promise and done what I was supposed to do, and I hope you can too."

"I will." Little Watermelon bowed deeply, her clothes billowing.

The Land of Birds was purged in a very short time, and without interference from nobles, the Toki displayed her outstanding abilities as Daimyo.

Meanwhile, the Five Kage of the Allied Shinobi Forces received news of the purge of nobles from the Land of Birds, but few paid it any attention. For them, the war at hand was the most important thing.

"There's no need to waste time on a country the size of a small market town. Let them make trouble behind our backs if they want."

Tsuchikage Ōnoki snorted coldly, his tone unfriendly.

"Once the war is over, I'd like to see what tricks the Land of Birds has up its sleeve. Such a small country could be wiped out in the blink of an eye, but there's no need for that."

Kurotsuchi stood aside, feeling somewhat guilty as he listened to his grandfather's assessment.

She knew perfectly well what Naruto wanted to do, but because of the Evil God Contract, she couldn't reveal any information. She could only nod helplessly, thinking to herself, "Probably."

I wonder what my grandfather would think if he knew I supported ceding part of the Land of Earth's border as a buffer zone. It's something we can't do openly.

She wasn't sure if what she was doing was right, but she had no other choice. All she could do was pray that the Land of Earth Shinobi World would truly achieve peace.

She could never go back; she was sinking deeper and deeper into trouble. Every time she leaked information about the Land of Earth, her heart was filled with struggle and immense pain, yet she was powerless to stop it all.

Naruto Uzumaki, you deserve to die!

Inside the Konohagakure Village camp.

"Should we send someone to investigate?" Shikamaru asked his father hesitantly.

"Investigate what?" Shikaku Nara glanced back at his son. "The Land of Birds is just a small country. Apart from a little punishment, there are many things that cannot be done openly."

"Besides, it's wartime now. As long as the Land of Birds doesn't show any signs of causing trouble, there's no need to waste energy on it."

"You need to learn to focus on the big picture and let go of the small details. The greatest threat in chaotic times comes from large countries of similar size to the Land of Fire. They are also eyeing the Land of Fire with covetous intent."

"The Land of Birds hasn't done anything out of line, so there's no need to worry about it. In comparison, our allies are more dangerous than those small countries."

Upon hearing this, Shikamaru said nothing more and turned to leave.

Even after leaving the main tent, Shikamaru still felt something was amiss. The Land of Birds was usually peaceful and wouldn't deliberately cause trouble or do anything reckless.

Could it be due to the war? But this intelligence is clearly unusual. How could the Land of Birds, which has always been weak, be carrying out a large-scale purge of its nobles? Someone must be pulling the strings behind the scenes.

He thought about the information he had seen a few days ago about the turmoil in the Land of Grass, and his eyes immediately Qingming Festival. Shikamaru quickly went to the map he had marked and began to examine it carefully.

"The Land of Grass is here, the Land of Rain is over there, the Land of Birds is over there, and then there's the Land of the Falls." He murmured to himself, sketching the four small countries along the border with his pen.

"Impossible! This is..."

Shikamaru stared blankly at a large piece of land that was right next to the Three Great Nations of Fire, Wind, and Earth. If... just hypothetically, these small nations were to be annexed and united.

Things seemed to be getting a little complicated. He glanced at the flickering lamp on the table and frowned slightly.

It's highly unusual that at this crucial moment, several smaller countries serving as buffer zones between the Three Great Nations have encountered successive incidents. Did Father really not see through it? Or was this all part of an open conspiracy?

The Land of Fire cannot send its last remaining forces to guard the rear and penetrate this buffer zone to suppress the villains, as the main ninja force is currently engaged in fierce battles with White Zetsu on the main battlefield.

Not only the Land of Fire, but none of the Five Great Nations can easily extricate themselves from this situation.

"Is there really no way out?" Kankuro slammed his fist on the table inside the Kazekage's tent, angrily saying, "What does the Land of Birds mean by this?"

"We can't send troops; it's too far, separated by an entire desert." Gaara spoke calmly, pointing to the extremely empty defensive line in the middle. "The Land of Birds is the throat of the Land of Wind; outsiders can only enter through the Land of Birds."

"It's gone now. The Land of Birds has clearly been taken over by someone else," Kankuro said. "It's either the Land of Grass or the Land of Rain."

"The Akatsuki Organization is gone, what's left of the Land of Rain?" A high-ranking member of the Sand interjected. "The Land of Grass is despicable; there's a good chance they'd do something like this."

"These are all just guesses, aren't they?" Kankuro, somewhat annoyed.

"Then what evidence do you have for what you said?" The high-ranking official from Sand stroked his beard, narrowed his eyes, and retorted without any politeness. He had long disliked this prince of Sand.

As Puppet Master, he doesn't even strive for improvement, let alone reach the level of the old advisor, Chiyo, in her youth. As the Kazekage's brother and the first prince of Sand, he should at least try his best.

As it turns out, this guy just loves collecting junk, and the puppets he uses are all things that other people's grandsons have already played with.

This is an utter disgrace, yet this person doesn't seem to care at all; it's utterly absurd!

"Do we need any more evidence? Those nobles from the Land of Birds," Kankuro, his face flushed, "It's obvious they're being manipulated. What kind of useless bunch are the people from the Land of Grass? How could they possibly succeed?"

"It must be the Akatsuki Organization from the Land of Rain that has resurfaced and is manipulating everything from behind the scenes!"

In fact, Kankuro's thinking is still very clear. Although his perspective on the problem is unique, it is exceptionally accurate. This guess is already very close to the answer.

It's not that the enemy is too cunning, but rather that they haven't broken away from our side and are too deceptive.

Who would have thought that Naruto would have so many people under his command? Whether it's the Sound Kin, Toki, or the Uzumaki Ten Maidens he signed, none of them are simple characters.

Even in a small, chaotic country like the Land of Grass, overcoming obstacles wouldn't be difficult. But who could possibly bring together Miko Shion of the Land of Demons, and Yakumo Kurama, a master of Genjutsu, to tame the hearts of the people? It's unthinkable.

Besides, who would use Evil God as their faith if they weren't seriously ill?

But Naruto inexplicably did it anyway, partly for convenience, and partly because it was a perfect fit for his profession. His Talk no Jutsu came in handy, fooling even more people.

Although his idea was a bit crooked, at least the ordinary people of the Land of Grass, Land of Birds, and Land of Rain were truly living a good life.

The nobles have vanished; now, all they see when they look up are Evil God gods and angels.

The people of these three small countries don't care if you're some kind of Evil God or angel; as long as the money's right, they'll call you "daddy." They don't care about all that nonsense; the world's already in such chaos, let's eat first.

"Ha, what Akatsuki Organization? It's laughable." The Sand leadership was quite disdainful. "The Land of Rain is still reinforcing its defenses, fearing that the Three Great Nations will attack."

"If the Akatsuki Organization really has risen from the ashes, what's the point of building defenses? Those people don't know how to manage a country at all, and they even earn their funding by doing missions."

Kankuro: "."

"Alright, stop arguing." Kazekage, the Gaara, frowned. "Let's set this matter aside for now and move on to the next topic: the main battlefield."

The camp of the Land of Water.

"What exactly do the people of the Land of Birds want to do?" Qing fell into deep thought. "If this continues, the Land of Grass, the Land of Rain Country, and the Land of Birds will become one."

"Not just these three small countries, but also the Land of the Falls and the Land of Tea." Mei Terumi finger. "Are they trying to form a great power, or... an alliance?"

"They can't do it. They're just a few weak little countries. What good would it do to form an alliance?" Qing offered a different perspective.

"They are not strong and they don't have the funds for war. If a war really breaks out, they will be completely vulnerable."

"That's true, but we should still be cautious," Chojuro, looking at the map on the table, clearly having matured a lot.

"Once these small countries are really connected, it won't do us any harm, but if we want to enter the territory of the Three Great Nations in the future, we will inevitably have to pass through them."

"We're traveling by water, so why would we need to use any other routes?" Qing asked.

"We also need to use waterways. The tributaries that can accommodate large ships all pass through the territory of these small countries. If they obstruct us..." Chojuro hesitated. "In short, if we leave it unchecked, there could indeed be trouble later."

"That's for the future. Mei Terumi rubbed her forehead, looking somewhat tired. "Last time, we misjudged the situation, and Kabuto was neither dead nor seriously injured."

"Now, Kabuto is leading the White Zetsu and the Edo Tensei Army in a decisive battle against the Allied Shinobi Forces. The Four Great Nations have become passive because of our intelligence and can no longer manage what's happening in the rear."

"Are we just going to let those small countries run rampant like this?" Qing asked.

"Let the Three Great Nations resolve this themselves. At most, we will provide them with some water support from the rear and urge them to organize their own ninja forces to quell the rebellion," Mei Terumi said.

"This is all we can do for now; doing anything more would be too much trouble."

Compared to the atmosphere of discussions within the tents of the other Four Great Nations, the atmosphere in the Land of Lightning was quite strange.

The Raikage and his thirteen trusted men gathered around a long table. The burly Fourth Raikage A, stood in the center of the table, with his thirteen trusted men on either side of him.

A huge map was laid out on the long table, and the people, the table, and the map together formed a famous painting of the Shinobi World.

"I suspect there is a traitor among us."

Upon hearing this, the thirteen trusted subordinates under the Raikage exchanged bewildered glances. Yugito Nii, Mabui, Samui, in particular, kept their eyes downcast, feeling inexplicably guilty.

Being a traitor isn't easy, especially being a traitor next to the Raikage, but with enough people around, there's not much to worry about.

"But I believe it's definitely not you!" Raikage said, slightly out of breath. "Today's topic is mainly the situation on the front lines. Our ninja forces are exhausted, and we need to come up with a concrete plan to get through this crisis."

"Secondly, there's the matter of the Land of Birds. Our information is a bit behind the times. The Land of Grass, Land of Rain, and Land of Birds have clearly joined forces, and there must be someone behind it all."

"Tell me your thoughts."

Mabui silently breathed a sigh of relief. As Raikage's secretary, she didn't need to speak; her only duty was to stand aside and take notes.

The confidants took turns expressing their opinions, including Yugito Nii and Samui; their views were almost identical. There were forces secretly encroaching on the territories of these smaller countries, attempting to unify them while the five Five Great Nations were preoccupied.

The Land of Rain, the Land of Grass, the Land of Birds, and the Land of the Falls, once united, would no longer be a strategically vital location. Instead, they would be a thorn in the side of the Three Great Nations of Wind, Fire, and Earth.

The Land of Lightning doesn't actually want to see this situation happen, although it won't have much of an impact on the Land of Lightning for the time being, and may even be beneficial.

However, over time, with the addition of another power, the Land of Lightning will have less say in the Shinobi World. In the long run, it will be detrimental in every way.

While the Five Great Nations are still struggling, the Land of Birds has already completed its cleanup.

If Toki had some hesitation about the future Naruto envisioned a day ago, after witnessing him clear out the Land of Birds in a single day, he is now a mindless supporter.

What a joke! Daimyo and status are all meaningless; what matters is what comes from the heart.

"Everything has been taken care of. People have been sent to appease the people of the Capital City." Toki bowed her head in greeting, and all that could be seen was the bulge of fabric, with no trace of her toes.

"Well done, you don't need to be so reserved, come over and talk." Naruto had changed into clean clothes, waved to her and said.