Kumogakure Village's Great Purge!

Ever since a few months ago—or rather, since the conclusion of the Five Kage Summit and the various villages taking action against their Feudal Lords—a "rumor" had been circulating within Kumogakure: the Third Raikage was going to lead everyone to join Konoha, uniting all shinobi to establish a massive nation belonging solely to them.

Facing this rumor, Kumogakure did not take any measures; they offered no explanations and imposed no controls, maintaining an attitude of silent acquiescence.

Many astute individuals had already roughly guessed the truth of the rumor from the high-level officials' attitude.

The widespread dissemination of this rumor also sparked internal discussions within Kumogakure.

The rumor gained support from a portion of the Kumogakure villagers, and the reason for their support was simple: in terms of economic and living standards, Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning it occupied were not at the forefront of the Five Great Nations, and in some cases, they were even inferior to smaller nations (in terms of per capita figures).

With an economy that was not top-tier, the fact that Kumogakure could maintain its status as one of the top three powers in the Shinobi World—and perhaps even second only to Konoha—naturally meant that internal sacrifices had been made, which went without saying.

If Kumogakure were to truly merge with Konoha, and the Land of Lightning were to merge with the Land of Fire to establish a new nation, then at the very least, the pressure on everyone regarding military expenditure would be significantly reduced.

Reducing expenditures was, in disguise, an increase in everyone's income.

Not to mention, once the two shinobi villages and the two nations merged, the treatment everyone would enjoy as members of Konoha would certainly be superior to what they had now.

Such arguments gained even more support after