Go Quickly and Invite Ru...

Less than ten minutes.

The stronghold of the Gato Company, which had kept the entire Land of Waves trembling in fear, collapsed with a thunderous roar.

Dozens of wandering samurai and several genin-level rogue ninjas from minor hidden villages were all executed without exception.

Natsume did not lift a finger throughout the entire ordeal.

If he had to dirty his own hands to kill such small-time characters, it would be like using a butcher's knife to slaughter a chicken—a complete overreaction.

While these guys looked fierce and were numerous, they relied solely on the sharpness of their blades to bully the unarmed populace.

Any random chunin could have wiped them out in one fell swoop.

Let alone Gin, who possessed strength at the level of a special jonin.

Destroying such a common criminal stronghold was an effortless task for him.

Soon.

Drenched in blood and radiating a murderous aura, Gin stepped out from the ruins and sea of flames, a kunai in his left hand and a large man held in his right.

"Young Clan Head, the enemies have all been executed."

"However, I did not find the one called Gato."

"This is the manager of this stronghold. He is still alive, so we should be able to extract quite a bit of intelligence from him."

Gin tossed the large man onto the ground.

His legs had already been crippled, making it impossible for him to escape.

Besides, in the presence of a chunin, two special jonin, a jonin, and Natsume, whose overall combat power was unknown, it was impossible for anyone to flee.

Let alone an ordinary person like this.

Even if it were the Five Kage, it would be hard to say if they could have escaped.

"Very good. I thought you might have killed them all."

"Not bad. Maintaining reason amidst rage and never being dominated by anger is exactly what a qualified ninja should look like."

Seeing Gin, who had been baptized in blood and had grown a little more, Natsume felt quite gratified.

However, the fact that Gato, that big bully, was not here did surprise Natsume slightly.

But upon closer reflection, he realized he had been misled by empiricism.

As a ruthless boss controlling a multinational conglomerate, why would he assume the man had to stay in the Land of Waves all the time?

This Land of Waves was merely one of the small nations he secretly controlled.

Although the original plot of Hokage did indeed take place in the Land of Waves, that was something that would happen five years later.

The Gato Company had only recently taken control of the Land of Waves and did not view this place as their core stronghold at all.

Therefore, it was perfectly normal for the man not to be here.

Thinking of this, Natsume's expression darkened slightly.

Fortunately, they had captured the manager alive, and he should know Gato's exact whereabouts.

"Well, who among you wants to handle the interrogation?"

"I am kind-hearted and cannot bear to torture him."

Natsume waved his hand and said.

In truth, he was mostly afraid that he might accidentally kill the captive before getting any information out of him.

"I will do it."

Uchiha Tsukihime, who had been silent all this time, spoke up.

Natsume nodded and led the others away, leaving the captive to Tsukihime.

Only a moment later, Natsume and the others standing in the distance heard a series of miserable screams coming from the ruins.

"Ah!~~~~"

The sound was like weeping and wailing, heart-rending and soul-shattering.

It was as if the most precious "capital" of a man had been brutally destroyed.

Hearing it, Natsume and the others felt a chill in their lower regions, instinctively clamping their legs shut.

Even Gin, covered in blood and radiating murderous intent, instantly lost his steam and trembled in his heart.

In less than three minutes, Tsukihime returned with the intelligence Natsume required.

Specifically, the whereabouts of Gato and the location of his company's headquarters.

Having confirmed their destination, the group set off immediately without a word.

They left behind only a large crowd of Land of Waves citizens, staring blankly at their departing figures and the ruins that were still engulfed in raging flames.

A long time later, the crowd finally felt a sense of relief, laughing and crying in overwhelming joy.

--

-

At this very moment, in the Land of Hot Water.

Inside the headquarters of the Gato Company.

"Clang—"

Gato smashed the cup in his hand against the floor, pointing at his subordinate and roaring in interrogation.

"What?!!"

"The company's stronghold in the Land of Waves has been destroyed?"

"What on earth is going on?"

The subordinate hurriedly replied with a trembling voice:

"The specific situation is still unclear. The telegram from over there stated that the stronghold was subjected to a fierce attack!"

"The attackers are suspected to be ninjas!"

"Communication has been cut off, and it is highly likely that everyone there has been wiped out!"

Gato was shocked, then flew into a further rage.

"Useless, all of you are useless!"

"With so many samurai, they couldn't even defeat a single ninja?!"

"Who? Who is working against me?!!"

"Is it those people from the Land of Waves? Did they hire ninjas?"

"Impossible! Those guys are dirt poor; how could they afford to hire ninjas!"

"Then is it a rival company? That is quite possible..."

Gato speculated through gritted teeth.

Unfortunately, there was no way to be certain.

In his view, even if it were the tactics of a competing company, this was too vicious and violated the rules too flagrantly!

It was like the cutthroat competition between two multinational corporations in Natsume's past life.

It might involve smearing, suppression, stealing intelligence, or even hiring mercenaries and assassins to silence people... all of that was normal.

But to directly hire ninjas was just too outrageous!

It was like paying an astronomical price to deploy the special forces of a P5 nation.

Who could withstand that?!!

"President, the important thing now is not to find out who did it."

"It's to prepare defenses immediately!"

"If, just in case, that group of ninjas tracks us here, we'll be in big trouble!"

The underling, whose intelligence was barely passable, hurriedly reminded him.

"Right, right, right."

"Must strengthen defenses immediately!"

"Go and hire... no... go and post a bounty mission, hire more ninjas for me!" Gato urged anxiously.

"But, President, the cost of hiring ninjas is not low!"

"Besides, as for the Five Great Nations, even if we wanted to, they wouldn't allow it! And there's no time!"

Gato was furious.

He kicked the man hard and roared, "Damn it! What time do you think it is? Who cares if it's expensive!"

"Just go and hire them! I don't care how much it costs! If you can't hire ninjas from the Five Great Nations, aren't there plenty of rogue ninjas out there? How could you possibly fail to hire anyone?"

"Yes, yes, I'm going right now!"

The subordinate scrambled out on all fours, rushing off to hire someone.

The Land of Hot Water is located to the northeast of the Land of Waves.

It is also an island nation surrounded by sea on all sides.

However, its land area is much larger than the Land of Waves, and its population is many times greater.

Among the dozen or so island nations in this vast surrounding sea, it is second only to the Land of Water among the Five Great Nations.

Furthermore, due to its unique location, it serves as the maritime trade hub for many of these island nations.

Numerous large shipping companies have established their presence here.

Gato Company is naturally no exception.

After Natsume and his group left the Land of Waves, they hijacked a large Gato Company cargo ship.

They then set sail toward the Land of Hot Water.

The cargo ship sailed through the night.

Finally, early the next morning, they arrived at a port in the Land of Hot Water.

It was visible to the naked eye that this port was far more prosperous than the one in the Land of Waves.

Nearly a hundred cargo ships of various sizes were docked, loading and unloading goods.

"Young Clan Head, what should we do?"

"The crew on the ship should know where the Gato Company headquarters is. Make them lead the way, and we'll head straight there."

"Understood!"

Soon, the group disembarked at the port and headed toward the interior.

However, they hadn't gone far.

Natsume suddenly stopped them and issued a warning.

"There are quite a few ninjas approaching, and they're all radiating killing intent."

"It seems Gato Company already knows we're here."

"Prepare for battle!"