Summer, Year Nine of Konoha.
That year, the cicadas in Konoha were maddeningly loud. But in Great Britain, there was only the rainforest's ceaseless, muffled thunder of insects, and the increasingly frequent sounds of human conflict.
War had broken out.
It was not a clash of armies, but more like taking bite after bite, swallowing territory. Great Britain's camp was like a scorching stone, and the surrounding tribes, large and small, that had not submitted, or remained defiant and thought their fists were strong enough, were ants agitated by its heat. Conflicts grew increasingly frequent, escalating from small skirmishes between hunting parties to disputes over water sources and groves of fruit trees, until blood was finally spilled.
Yutian had taken the Rifle Squad and part of the guard out several times, with wins and losses. When they lost, it was because unfamiliar terrain had left them vulnerable to native ambushes. When they won, they won overwhelmingly.
Especially when the Rifle Squad fired a volley. A thunderous roar rang out, white smoke rose, and the warriors charging at the front, whether painted with fearsome totems or clad in thick leather armor, often collapsed without a sound, a great hole torn through their chest or belly. This "witchcraft," which killed people from a hundred paces away amid deafening blasts and flashes of fire, was overwhelmingly intimidating to natives whose thinking was still rooted in the Stone Age. After a few encounters, the name "Wrath of the Thunder God" spread through the rainforest, and the number of tribes daring to charge Great Britain's positions directly fell by well over half.
But conquest was not just about beating people into submission. Once the fighting ended, what was to be done with them?
Previously, prisoners were either killed as sacrifices to the battle standard or