The Navy Backs Down, Annexation!

When the summoning beast landed on the window frame of the Naka Shrine on Origin Island, Uchiha Fugaku was frowning as he looked at the West Blue map.

He untied the scroll from the eagle's talons, unfolded it, and scanned it, his brow furrowing even deeper.

Natsu's reply was brief—he agreed to the expansion, targeting the three most prosperous countries along the shipping lanes around Origin Island.

Fugaku tucked the scroll into his sleeve and slowly traced his fingertips across the nautical chart. Rukan, Bahrain, Zelaya.

The three medium-sized islands are strategically located at the choke point between Origin Island and the main shipping route to the West Blue. Each island has a deep-water port, well-established towns and trade networks, and a combined population of nearly one million.

It's called a country, but it's really just a kingdom formed by several towns coming together. The strongest person on each island is at most a Marine Branch lieutenant commander.

He looked up at the messenger standing beside him. "Summon Uchiha Kei, Uchiha Tetsuka, Uchiha Yashiro to see me."

The three arrived quickly.

Qi stood ramrod straight, Tekka leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, Yashiro was wiping the Tachi in his hand with his head down.

Fugaku tossed three intelligence scrolls marked with targets to each of them, ordering each to lead five Elite Jonin and twenty Jonin, launching a three-pronged attack to capture the target within three days.

He didn't give any battle instructions, only leaving out one sentence. "If Genjutsu can solve the problem, don't make a sound."

When Qi and his men landed on Rukan Island, the port customs officials mistook them for wealthy merchants who had come to do business.

The group, dressed in matching black outfits with Red-and-White Fan on their backs, swaggered through the market, crossed the drawbridge guarded by soldiers, and made their way to the gates of the lord's castle.

Just as the captain of the guards was about to question him, Qi glanced at him, and the Three Tomoe swirled in his pupils. The captain's eyes instantly glazed over, and the spear in his hand clattered to the ground.

"Open the gate," Qi said. The captain of the guards personally pushed open the city gate.

The lord in the castle was doing accounts in his study, figuring out how to make up for the 30% reduction in customs duties after the navy withdrew.

When the door was pushed open, he thought it was the butler bringing tea, but when he looked up, he saw a cold-faced man in black standing in front of the table.

He opened his mouth to call for the guards, but found that he could not move or speak; only his eyeballs could move.

Qi placed a pre-prepared takeover document on the table, his tone as calm as if he were reporting the weather, "From today onwards, Rukan Island is under the jurisdiction of the Uchiha Clan. Three days later, someone will come to collect the household registers and tax accounts."

Then he broke the Genjutsu.

The lord, panting heavily, glanced at the bright red Gunbai- shaped seal on the document, then at the group of expressionless men in black before him. After a moment of silence, he slowly knelt down.

Tekka is easier to handle on Balin Island.

Balin Island has a sizable garrison battalion, commanded by a retired navy lieutenant with a very tough temper. Upon hearing that someone was coming to take over, he led more than two hundred soldiers, carrying flintlock rifles, and stormed to the dock.

Tekka was stepping off the boat on the gangplank when he glanced up at the dark gun barrels and then at the soldiers holding their guns, their legs trembling. He didn't even bother to Hand Seals.

The Three Tomoe swept across, and more than two hundred people instantly froze on the spot, their pupils dilated, and flintlock pistols clattered to the ground.

The commander gritted his teeth, his knees trembling like leaves, barely managing to stay upright, but the sword in his hand had already slipped from his grasp.

"You still have some backbone," Tekka commented, raising his hand to gently pat the commander's forehead. The commander's eyes completely lost focus, and he knelt down straight.

The Yashiro is the easiest.

The lord of Seraya Island offered no resistance whatsoever—Rukan and Balin changed hands within hours, the news spreading faster than the ships of the Yashiro.

When he arrived at the shore, the lord was already waiting in a line at the port with all his officials, holding the imperial seal and registers, their attitude as respectful as if they were welcoming an imperial envoy sent by the suzerain state.

The Yashiro received the imperial seal and uttered only two words: "Be pragmatic."

Three days later, three surrender documents were placed side by side on Fugaku's desk.

Rukan, Bahrain, and Celaya, with a combined population of nearly one million, were all brought under the rule of the Uchiha.

There were no casualties, no large-scale firefights, and not even any decent resistance.

What really gave Fugaku a headache was the military roster that followed.

He opened the first page, remained silent for a few seconds, then flipped through a few more pages before closing the roster expressionlessly. He then looked up at Uchiha Kei standing in front of the table.

"The combined military strength of these three countries is 80,000?"

"To be precise, it's 78,600 people," Qi answered meticulously.

"How many of us Uchiha can last three seconds against a five-year-old child?"

Qi remained silent for a long time. That silence itself was an answer.

Fugaku took a deep breath and reopened the roster.

He wasn't unprepared— the Four Blues Seas were inherently weak, and the West Blue was the most chaotic of Four Blues; the military quality of these small island nations couldn't possibly be high.

But when he saw those assessment data with his own eyes, he still felt a lump in his throat.

Physically, most soldiers collapsed after running three kilometers;

Less than a quarter of those skilled in swordsmanship can complete a full set of basic movements.

Combat experience was practically nonexistent; for most of them, the only time they ever fired a gun was while practicing on driftwood on the sea.

He thought of the children at the Konoha Ninja Academy, five or six-year-old kids, leaping through the trees on Chakra, hitting the target seven or eight times out of ten with their Shuriken throws, and not crying even when they broke their arms during sparring.

Bring those kids over and have them beat any seven or eight randomly picked from these 80,000 people; the ones who lose will definitely not be the kids.

"Streamline and reorganize." Fugaku pushed the roster back to Kei, his tone leaving no room for argument. "All soldiers will be re-evaluated. Those who can't even hold a sword steadily, retire. Those who are afraid of blood and death, retire. Those with potential for improvement, stay. You have half a month to sift out the sand."

Two weeks later, the revised roster only contained 11,000 people.

Fugaku glanced at the numbers but said nothing more.

He knew very well that the strength of these eleven thousand people was roughly equivalent to that of a young Uchiha child who had just refined his Chakra and hadn't yet learned any Ninjutsu.

However, those without Chakra can only make up for the gap through physical strength, swordsmanship, and combat experience. Their upper limit is fixed and cannot be forced.

Fortunately, the Uchiha children don't have to do the jobs of being police officers to maintain order, guard ports to crack down on smuggling, or chase low-level pirates at sea.

Eleven thousand people is enough.

The sea breeze blows from the east coast of Origin Island, carrying a faint salty smell.