The Land of Water treated the Kirigakure ninjas who had submitted to it poorly. Their lives were better than when they'd faced deadly threats in Kirigakure, but not by much.
To the people of the Land of Water, these ninjas were nothing more than hired muscle they'd taken in. They had no status whatsoever. Who would raise the status of a dog they'd adopted?
At first, the Land of Water had made good use of these ninjas. They'd obeyed every command as if they were extensions of its own arms.
As long as Kirigakure still existed, these ninjas would feel threatened and wouldn't dare betray the Land of Water.
They had nowhere else to go. Only the Land of Water could protect them from Kirigakure's oppression, and if they dared go to another village, Kirigakure would hunt them down without end.
But now the situation had changed. With the Ninja Alliance's intervention, Kirigakure had become a very different place. Everything had changed.
Kirigakure's leadership had once been in league with the royal family of the Land of Water. But after Kirigakure's leaders were killed, the Land of Water could no longer get any information from the village. It had lost its eyes and ears there.
The Land of Water still had other intelligence agencies, however. After a period of confusion, it learned about the changes in Kirigakure. The biggest change was that Konoha had actually sent people to take over the village.
Although the Land of Water and Kirigakure had never gotten along, they depended on each other. Without Kirigakure, the Land of Water certainly wouldn't have become one of the Five Great Nations.
Even though the daimyo of the Land of Water had strong reservations about Kirigakure, he knew that without the village, his country would be in danger.