"Lord Mang, it's time!" Hearing someone call him, Cao Ge, who had been sprawled across the desk, slowly opened his eyes and raised his head to look at his assistant.
She was a gentle, poised woman with red hair.
Then—
He got up from her lap. "Sorry, I overslept again, Kana."
He stretched comfortably.
Cao Ge.
A transmigrator.
That was right.
He had now become the universally despised daimyo of the Land of Grass, as well as the head of Kusagakure!
This arrangement, where the daimyo also served as village head, was common in small countries. Their populations were too small and their military strength too weak, so for the sake of stability and concentrating power, military authority was also placed in the daimyo's hands.
"It's fine!" Kana smiled gently and shook her head. "Rebuilding the Land of Grass has been hard on Lord Mang too!"
As she spoke, she looked at the black-haired young man before her with a soft light in her eyes.
He was the one who had saved her and brought her to the Land of Grass, so she no longer had to wander from place to place!
"Oh, right. Lord Mujie said that once you woke up, you should go to the meeting room. It seems there's something important."
"Something important? What happened again?" Mang frowned slightly as he looked at Kana. "Didn't I say not to worry about anything else for now? All work should focus on rebuilding the Land of Grass!"
The Land of Grass.
It lay northwest of the Land of Fire, bordering the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Rain. Like the Land of Rain, which was often used as a battlefield by the great nations, the Land of Grass had it rough as well. It had even been destroyed in the later stages of the First Great Ninja War.
Only after more than a decade had reconstruction finally begun.
Kana had also come to the Land of Grass while he was rebuilding it.
Red hair!
The Uzumaki Clan!
There was no doubt about it...
This was the future healing pack of Kusagakure, the lovestruck Karin's mother—the woman who had suffered such a tragic life!
Of course, now that he had become the daimyo of the Land of Grass, he definitely would not do something so immoral~
So, on the spot, he had made her his assistant and told her to conceal her special constitution!
Now, she stayed by his side as his secretary, assisting him with all matters related to the Land of Grass.
Come to think of it... the country truly lived up to its name!
Living in the cracks between great nations, the Land of Grass survived as tenaciously as grass itself!
If they lacked ninjutsu, they stole it or copied it. If they lacked missions, they survived by reselling intelligence among the Lands of Fire, Earth, and Wind. They excelled at diplomacy and intelligence gathering, using information from every nation to trade for chances at survival.
Like grass on a wall, if Iwagakure looked impressive today, they would side with Iwagakure. If Konoha looked strong tomorrow, they would shout that Kusagakure and Konoha had always shared close ties and were practically family, abandoning even their dignity!
Yet it was precisely because of this that the small Land of Grass had managed to survive so stubbornly through constant warfare, unlike the Land of Eddies... which had not only been destroyed, but had even seen its Ninja Clan driven to extinction!
Of course, perhaps—
The Land of Eddies had simply been too formidable, and everyone feared it would rise again. But the Land of Grass... what the hell was that supposed to be?
Even its domestic ninjutsu was copied from others. What would be so frightening even if it rose again?
Those people...
They looked down on the power of imitation!
Looking down on the Land of Grass?
Kusana.
That was his current name!
Taking Grass as his surname—come to think of it, aside from those without surnames and the Dragon surname, there were no other surnames in the Land of Grass. Most people only had given names.
In the ninja world... only nobles had surnames!
That said it all.
The Land of Grass was truly pathetic~
Oh, right. The Uzumaki Clan had to be added now as well. Though there was only one of them for the moment, she would definitely become a member of the Land of Grass in the future.
"Forget it!" Kusana yawned and looked at Kana, who stood nearby, neatly dressed, clean, and elegant.
After some time, Kana had become an outstanding assistant as well!
"Let's go take a look!"
"Understood!" Kana smiled gently and nodded. But as she looked at Mang's somewhat tired face, she hesitated. Her cheeks reddened slightly as she murmured, "How about... um... Lord Mang replenishes... um... his mana?"
Replenishing mana.
Lord Mang had said it himself—this way, no one would become suspicious!
"You'll feel more energetic that way~"
"?!"
Not long afterward.
A refreshed Lord Mang arrived at Kusagakure's meeting room with Kana.
It was a temporary meeting room, so it was not particularly impressive!
At this moment.
Kusagakure's upper ranks were already waiting inside.
The moment he entered.
Under everyone's watchful gazes.
Mang sat directly in the main seat. Looking at the nobles of Kusagakure before him, he interlaced his fingers beneath his chin and asked with a serious expression, "What happened? Why was it so urgent?"
"Lord Mang!" x5
With him and Kana included, the tiny Land of Grass only had seven people in its entire upper echelon. In particular, aside from him, Wusheng, and Longzhi, whose strength was fairly decent, everyone else's strength... was exceptionally lacking!
That was why, during the Third Shinobi World War, if not for Karin being there as a healing pack, the Land of Grass would have nearly been breached by the Kaguya Clan and destroyed again... Just thinking about it showed how disaster-ridden it was~
"Sorry to disturb you, Lord Mang!"
Mujie was a clever fellow. He possessed Kusagakure's traditional talent... bluffing, also known as diplomacy, or being absurdly good at socializing!
Kusagakure's reconstruction was largely thanks to him.
Of course, when danger came, this guy would also run away without hesitation!
And although Kusagakure's mainstream ninjutsu was mostly copied, the Wusheng Clan still possessed quite a few excellent Fire Release techniques. Compared with the others, Wusheng's strength as a jonin was already among the best in the Land of Grass.
However.
He was a capable bastard!
"Konoha has heard that we are rebuilding. They hope Kusagakure can continue cooperating with Konoha and have us attack from above the Land of Rain to assist Konoha in battle, so the war can end sooner!"
As soon as he finished speaking.
Upon hearing Mujie's words, the meeting room immediately fell silent. Aside from Kana, who was slightly stunned, the others all showed undisguised expressions of refusal.
There was no helping it.
The Land of Grass had only just begun rebuilding and had no spare strength to join this war.
"Impossible!" Longzhi, the cold white-haired woman, rejected it outright, shaking her head as she said, "The Land of Grass's highest priority is reconstruction. We are short on manpower and have no extra personnel to join the war!"
"That's right!"
"To hell with Konoha! It's not like this is the first time we've betrayed them. This time, let's turn around and side with Iwagakure!"
"Yeah, Iwagakure has been developing pretty well lately too!"
"..."
Everyone began chattering away without shame about their grass-on-a-wall tactics.
They even looked proud rather than embarrassed!
After all, this was Kusagakure's rule of survival: sway both ways like grass on a wall and lean toward whoever was stronger!
Mang's face darkened as he listened. Although playing both sides was Kusagakure's traditional virtue—after all, the Land of Grass was weak, weak in every respect—they could not say it so righteously!
And they could not keep relying on playing both sides forever. That was simply refusing to make progress!
It seemed this old way of thinking needed to change too.
Education!
It had to be arranged as soon as possible!
He looked at his system.
Ninja Orders
Just as its name implied... it was an Order System. As long as he completed orders, he could obtain corresponding rewards. It had originally only been an event, yet somehow it had come with him!
Unfortunately.
He had played the unofficial version. If only he had brought over the benefits interface as well. He even remembered the VIP codes—he could have ten million combat power in minutes, and even Six Paths Madara would not be his match!
However.
The system seemed to have bugged out. There were even characters listed on it who had not been born yet?!
Perhaps it had been copied over in its entirety!
Of course, Kusana did not care. As long as it could make him stronger, that was enough!
Just as Kusana was looking at the system.
"I think we can still agree to it. In some respects, Konoha is better than Iwagakure! At least they won't start wars on their own!" Mujie shook his head and said with a smile. "Kusagakure is rebuilding and needs time! There is no need to offend Konoha! We can show up without putting in effort. We can even cooperate with Konoha on this side, while on the other side, talk to the Rain Ninja Village Leader. I believe they won't want another ninja village entering the battlefield either, even if it's only a small one!"
"..."
As expected of someone who had mastered Kusagakure's Art of Strategy to MAX. He could even say something so shameless!
Eating from both sides?
Brilliant~
At that moment.
Mujie produced a stack of documents and handed them over. "Also, in the kidnapping... ahem, Kusagakure's Stealing the Sky and Changing the Sun Plan, we have found where the target mentioned by the leader is!"
Before you continue