For the next week, the allied forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages combed Grass Country from end to end, but still found no trace of the Akatsuki Organization or the Upper Rank.
Even the Box of Paradise in Grass Country had vanished without a trace, as if it had evaporated into thin air.
As the fighting died down, the refugees gradually returned to Kusagakure. Seeing their village in ruins, they could only stare in silence, choking back tears.
Kusagakure had brought this disaster upon itself.
The Grass Fruit faction had been manipulated by the Upper Rank, turning Kusagakure into a den of demons. Generations of accumulated wealth and power had been wiped out overnight, and they had even lost the Box of Paradise, the war machine on which they had relied to rebuild.
At a time like this, the Daimyo of Grass Country had no choice but to personally visit the Five Great Shinobi Villages' military camps and meet with the Five Kage to discuss rebuilding Kusagakure.
By rights, Kusagakure had committed such terrible crimes that erasing it from the map would have been the best choice.
However, Grass Country lay at the heart of the Fire, Wind, and Earth countries. Kusagakure's very existence was the result of a compromise between the great villages—a buffer zone recognized by all. So eliminating it would have little benefit for the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
On the contrary, a weakened Kusagakure with no further ambitions better served the interests of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
So, after repeated pleas from the Daimyo of Grass Country, the Five Kage finally agreed to his request to rebuild Kusagakure.
Of course, Grass Country would have to bear the full cost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages' military campaign, as well as compensate them for their