The Chrysanthemums Withered, Scattered Across the Ground

As Taiichi led his team back to Konoha, in the far easternmost part of the Land of Wind, far from the Coastline, a huge ship was sailing on the sea.

On the deck, small groups of people gathered, some playing cards, some competing, and some even lying on the hanging net, gazing at the sky, looking utterly bored.

Everywhere you look, everyone is trying to find ways to pass the time in this monotonous routine.

This group of people were none other than the hundred Cloud Ninja from the Land of Lightning. After a month-long voyage, they had lost the high spirits they had when they first arrived. The sea voyage was simply too boring; every day when they woke up, they were faced with the vast and boundless ocean.

Even though they were quite disciplined ninjas, after a month of this, they still had to find some fun to Matsushita.

On this day, in the air where there was only the sound of the waves, a clear bell suddenly rang out from the highest observation deck, followed by a shout full of surprise that echoed throughout the deck.

"Land! I see land! We've reached our target!"

After a brief period of calm, the entire deck immediately became lively. Those playing cards threw down their cards, those fighting immediately stopped, and those lying in hammocks simply rolled off. Everyone ran to the front of the ship, gazing into the distance in the direction of the voyage.

Gradually, a white line appeared on the horizon, and everyone on deck cheered.

Finally—this damn journey is finally coming to an end. They would rather undergo the village's most rigorous training than endure such a long boat ride again; it was just too painful!

At that moment, a commotion arose on the outskirts of the crowd.

"Make way, make way quickly, Lord Ai and Killer B are here."

The crowd spontaneously dispersed to both sides, and two strong young ninjas stepped forward.

As Ai gazed at the land that appeared on the distant horizon, a burning desire also flashed in his eyes. But unlike the other Cloud Ninja who felt the joy of liberation, he was overjoyed because he could finally begin his mission and reclaim supplies for the village.

"How much longer until we reach land?" Ai asked calmly to the person beside him.

"We should be able to reach land in about five hours," the man replied confidently after gesturing and calculating.

Ai nodded gently, pointing to the scattered islands in the distance, and said, "Don't land directly when we get close. Find an island to hide the boat, and we'll Water Walking across for the rest of the journey."

"Yes, Lord Ai!"

"You—" A turned to face all the ninjas and shouted, "Go back and check your combat equipment. We need to be in battle as soon as we land; we don't have time to waste!"

The crowd scattered in a flurry, running joyfully towards the cabin. They had had enough of being on the ship and couldn't wait to Water Walking straight to the Land of Wind.

For a moment, only Ai and Killer B remained on the deck.

"Big Brother's ashore, what should we do? Should we act immediately, or explore further?" Killer B his hands in front of his chest, asking Ai in a strange, chanting style.

Ai glanced helplessly at her younger brother, speechless at his hobby. There was nothing she could do; he wouldn't listen anyway, so she could only put up with it. Fortunately, this hobby didn't affect the execution of the mission, otherwise she would have insisted on getting Bi to change this habit.

"Once we land and confirm our location, we'll move out immediately. Our goal is to catch the Sunagakure off guard, using our high mobility to outmaneuver them. Intelligence ninjas will naturally arrive later to provide support; all of this has been planned in advance."

"I see, oh my, those bastards from Sunagakure are only fit to wander around aimlessly. As soon Killer B Bee arrives, they scatter in all directions!"

Listening to Killer B's incessant chatter, A gazed into the distance. Sunagakure was currently engaged in a fierce battle with Konoha on the front lines, and this was precisely when their ranks were at their weakest. He was certain that his operation would achieve unprecedented success.

Time flew by, and it was already afternoon. The Cloud Ninja had hidden their ship in the inner bay of an island. The place was calm and secluded, with no trace of human activity, making it an excellent hiding spot.

The only drawback is that it's too far from the shore. Even with a ninja's speed, it would probably take another half an hour to get to the shore by Water Walking.

On the shore of the small island, all the Cloud Ninja were gathered, listening intently to Ai's battle orders from the center of the formation.

Ai unfolded a simple map and pointed to one spot, saying, "This is where we'll land later. There are four Sunagakure outposts around this stretch of coastline. Once we land, we'll split into two teams. One team, led by me, will head north to clear out the two outposts, and the other team, led by Killer B, will head south to clear out the other two. After that, we'll meet up here!"

Ai looked at everyone, his tone serious, "Remember, fight with all your might, and be quick. After clearing these two outposts, regroup immediately. We need to outrun Sunagakure. Only by Sunagakure can we gain more and be safer!"

"Yes, Lord Ai!"

Ai retrieved the map, straightened up, looked at the land ahead, waved his hand, and shouted, "Let's go!"

He immediately took the lead and ran at the very front of the group, followed closely by Killer B, and then 100 Cloud Ninja.

The group of over a hundred people raced across the sea and reached land in just half an hour. They then split into two groups, led by Ai and Killer B, and headed towards the Sunagakure Village outpost.

How many people are there at this outpost? At most, three or four squads, not even 20 people. If there's even one Jonin among them, that's considered top-tier. How could they possibly withstand the attack from Cloud Village?

The four Sunagakure Village outposts were wiped out silently by two teams of Cloud Ninja before they could even send out warning signals.

When the two teams of Cloud Ninja reunited, they were all in high spirits and unharmed, having released all the pent-up frustration they had accumulated over the past month of being confined to the sea vessel.

"Big Brother, big Sunagakure, that was awesome, awesome, awesome! I wiped out all those trash from Sunagakure!" Killer B danced around, jumping left and right, looking extremely excited.

Ai didn't mind at all, because he felt the same way.

"Let's go, head west quickly! There's a Sunagakure Village mine 100 kilometers from here. Let's raid it!"

Without saying much, Ai gave the order directly. The entire team immediately broke into smaller groups and dispersed to the surrounding areas, advancing rapidly westward.

Three hours after the Cloud Ninja left, that evening, the Eastern Camp headquarters of the Sunagakure finally realized something was wrong. Four adjacent outposts had not reported any news to this day.

If it were just one outpost, then something might have caused the delay. But if none of the four adjacent outposts sent back any information, then there must be a problem.

The Commander of the East Front, Pakura, the Scorch Release, immediately issued an alert and dispatched four teams of Scout ninjas to gather Scout in those areas.

However, until this point, Pakura did not realize the seriousness of the situation. In her mind, this surprise attack was likely another provocation by Mist Village. She had thought that Mist Village had been behaving itself recently, but she did not expect that the provocation would happen again after only a few days.

Pakura felt annoyed that just two days ago, the village had transferred 300 ninjas away under the pretext of supporting the front against Konoha.

Not letting her participate in the battle against Konoha is one thing; Pakura isn't ungrateful, and she naturally knows that the village is consolidating the authority of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa. But sending her to the Eastern Front while constantly drawing away manpower is a bit excessive.

Her Eastern Front was far from peaceful; if her forces were even slightly weakened, she would face provocations from Mist Village. However, Mist Village's reaction this time was remarkably swift; their forces had barely been redeployed when they attacked. It was unclear how they had obtained the information.

Pakura frowned as she pondered the situation within the Land of Wind. The great battle with Konoha had severely weakened Sunagakure.

The number of ninjas in Sunagakure was already the lowest among the Five Great Nations. This year, they suffered heavy losses in three Sunagakure -scale battles, being defeated twice by Konoha and ambushed once by Iwagakure. These three defeats combined amounted to one-fifth of Sunagakure's current ninja force.

This is no longer just a minor injury, but a serious injury. The number of Sunagakure ninjas is now only enough to maintain a defensive posture. If they want to launch another attack, they will have no more manpower unless they disregard the fate of the village.

As I pondered, two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

A series of hurried footsteps approached, followed by a panicked report, "Sir, something terrible has happened!"

Pakura frowned, clearly displeased. "I'm perfectly fine. What's the rush? It's just Mist Village. It's not like it's the first time. Why are you making such a fuss?"

The ninja who came to report was already kneeling on one knee in front of Pakura, panting heavily. He had obviously run all the way here without even having a chance to rest.

"M--Master, it's not Mist Village!"

"What? It's not Mist Village? Could it be Konoha? They circled around and launched their attack from here. It makes no sense!" Pakura exclaimed in surprise, his aura unconsciously radiating outwards, suppressing the messenger ninja so much that he couldn't speak.

When she realized something was wrong, she quickly withdrew her aura and looked at the messenger ninja, saying, "Tell me everything you've discovered at once."

"We've Scout four outposts, but all indications suggest that the attackers are Cloud Ninja, and in large numbers—preliminary estimates suggest over 50!"

"Cloud Ninja? How could this be? Have they gone mad?" Pakura never expected that it was Cloud Ninja attacking them. This was even more unbelievable than if the attackers were Konoha Ninja.

But in an instant, he realized that no matter how they attacked, it was a fact. As long as it wasn't Mist Village, things were in serious trouble. Mist Village's attack was only small-scale, operating only near the coast, so it was nothing to worry about for Sunagakure.

However, the other ninja villages are different. They traveled all the way to the East Coast of the Land of Wind to land and launch a surprise attack, and their intentions were certainly not just simple harassment.

These thoughts flashed through Pakura's mind in an instant. She immediately realized the seriousness of the situation and promptly ordered her advisor, "Arrange for all surrounding outposts to be notified to strengthen their defenses. If anything unusual happens, send a distress signal immediately. Launch the communication hawk to tell the village that we have received a report of Cloud Village, and their current whereabouts are unknown."

After all the orders were given, she turned to the ninja who had reported, "Tell me every detail of your Scout. Remember, don't miss any clues."

"Yes."

What follows is a detailed description of the Scout process. In fact, given such a huge difference in strength, it would have been quite easy for the Cloud Ninja to conceal their identities; it would have just taken more time and effort.

However, firstly, Ai had no intention of concealing his identity, and secondly, he needed to seize the time. In their plan, time was money, and they needed to be one step ahead of Sunagakure at all times in order to gain the greatest benefit.

Therefore, their attack was naturally more elaborate, and they used their most proficient techniques. The traces left at the scene clearly indicated that the attackers were from Cloud Village Sunagakure.

While Pakura was still listening to the reports from the Scout ninja, the Cloud Village's raiding party was not idle. They traveled 100 kilometers overnight and seized the mine before dawn.

Thunder and lightning clashed as the mine, which already had little defense, was wiped out in an instant by the attack of hundreds of elite Cloud Village.

"Look, big brother, those Sunagakure Village bastards, such rich mines are everywhere." Killer B, holding a large piece of emerald green metal ore in one hand, danced his peculiar dance in front of A.

Ai grabbed a piece of ore and examined it carefully. This was one of the types of ore monopolized by Sunagakure. On the market, a kilogram of such rich ore would sell for 1,000 taels. And this was just ore, not yet refined into metal. One can imagine how high the price of this metal would be.

Sunagakure used these monopolistic mineral trades to extort money from Cloud Village, earning a huge amount of wealth from Cloud Village every year. It was this long-term unfair trade that prompted the Third Raikage to decide to give Sunagakure a hard time, partly to vent his anger and partly to make a fortune.

"Quickly, clear out all inventory, seal all the high-value ores into Sealing Scroll. We only have 30 minutes. Once the time is up, evacuate immediately."

Ai shouted orders to all the Cloud Ninja, and they immediately scattered to search for the most valuable minerals in the area.

The Cloud Village was well-prepared for this operation, with each ninja carrying a large number of Sealing Scroll, all for the purpose of collecting the spoils of war. All ninjas were also informed that they would receive 30% of their respective spoils as a reward for the mission.

Therefore, every Cloud Ninja is now incredibly frenzied, recklessly plundering every inch of this land, determined to extract every last bit of value from it.

Half an hour passed quickly, and a sharp whistling sound pierced the night sky. The scattered Cloud Ninja quickly regrouped. They were frantic when scattered, but decisive when gathered, showing no hesitation whatsoever because of those valuable minerals.

A minute later, all the Cloud Ninja regrouped. Ai looked at everyone's joyful faces and felt equally happy.

Indeed, no one gets rich without windfall gains, and no horse gets fat without night grazing; robbery is the fastest way to get rich.

"Let's go, we're heading to our next destination. It's about 150 kilometers from here, and we only have three hours to rest on the way, so we need to hurry."

With a cheer, the crowd followed closely behind Ai, running wildly into the distance.