Year Five of Flame Hidden, winter.
The Lightning Country had fallen, and the entire nation had been incorporated into the territory of the Land of Flame. At this point, the Land of Flame's domain stretched from north to south, making it the third-largest country in the world, surpassed only by the Lands of Wind and Earth in area.
Of course, although the Land of Flame's army had already entered Thunderclap City and completely taken control of the Daimyo Palace's government, it did not end there.
Completely assimilating the Lightning Country would not be an easy task. In fact, there was even more work to be done afterward.
For instance, when some remote towns heard that the capital had fallen and the entire country had changed masters, their first reaction definitely would not be submission, but how to establish themselves as kings. Naturally, there were also some particularly diehard former officials looking for a chance to take revenge. Those people had to be dealt with immediately.
Beyond that, they also needed to pacify the common people. Though ordinary people would not think of rebelling as long as they could get by, getting them to fully accept the Shinobi Privilege System would require a great deal of time and effort, along with corresponding policies.
Of course, Enkō no longer needed to personally handle the follow-up work. He had completely broken the backbone of the Lightning Country. The remaining soldiers had either been absorbed or disbanded, and they no longer posed much of a threat.
As for the ministers of the Daimyo Palace, after Enkō combined threats with inducements—and beheaded several especially stubborn ones before their eyes—they finally chose to compromise, declaring that they were willing to help the Land of Flame take control of the Lightning Country's upper government more quickly.
With