Chiba broke out in a cold sweat, and the clothes on his back had long since been soaked through.
Uchiha Yao seemed to see through his worries and continued.
"You don't need to worry about anything going wrong."
"I'll send Konoha jonin to work with your samurai and officials."
"Any trouble you can't handle will be dealt with by them."
"Your people only need to go through the motions and make it look good."
At those words, Chiba's last lingering concern vanished.
With Konoha's ninja forces backing him, what was there to fear?
No matter how the nobles of the Land of Wind resisted, could they possibly withstand Konoha's butcher's blade?
"Yes, sir!"
Chiba slammed his forehead to the ground.
"I will not fail Hokage-sama's trust! I will complete the integration of the Land of Wind as quickly as possible!"
"Go."
Uchiha Yao waved a hand, and his figure vanished once more.
Only Chiba remained kneeling in the vast, empty hall.
After a long while.
Chiba slowly raised his head.
"Guards!"
Chiba abruptly rose to his feet, sweeping away all his earlier humility and fear!
"Pass on my orders! Summon all ministers to the council hall immediately!"
"Now!"
In the desert along the border between the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire, a force of several thousand was moving slowly.
More than two thousand Konoha ninja escorted the Hidden Sand Village prisoners. The procession stretched for miles, kicking up clouds of yellow sand.
At the very front of the convoy, Shikaku Nara frowned deeply.
With so many prisoners, their marching speed had been dragged down to a crawl.
In such open desert terrain, if they encountered an enemy, they would become living targets.
Shikaku sighed helplessly to himself.
Just then.
A Yamanaka Clan ninja responsible for sensory