The scattered Cloud survivors who escaped didn't stop for a second, fleeing all the way to the outposts around Kumogakure's third defensive line.
"Quick, report to Lord Raikage!"
"Akatsuki launched a surprise attack. Our forces were routed. They'll hit the third line any moment!"
"What about the others?"
"All dead!"
With that,
the lucky survivor collapsed.
Kumogakure's emergency plan snapped into motion. The urgent message was sent by summoning beast straight to the First Raikage, who was in his office lifting dumbbells.
Clang.
The dumbbell hit the floor.
"What?"
"Two defensive lines? Over a thousand fully armed ready troops wiped out?"
"How is that even possible?"
The First Raikage could hardly believe his ears. Kumogakure had designed five defensive lines in total. From the beginning, the first and second were the key, and the third was the village's lifeline.
If the third line fell, it would be a straight road to the heart. For lack of funds, the fourth line existed only on paper, and the fifth was the village proper.
He still didn't believe anyone could break the third line.
It was the lifeline, built with a sea of money and garrisoned by large numbers of Cloud ninja.
But he hadn't neglected the first and second either. You couldn't wait to fight the enemy to the death only at your lifeline.
So he had heavily garrisoned the first two lines—over a thousand ninja living forward in readiness. If the enemy came, the defense would be like iron.
That both lines fell in a single night and over a thousand ninja died—how could that happen?
"Lord Raikage, it's true!"
"The message came straight from the third-line outpost. To verify it, I used a summoning beast to contact my cousin at the first line—no answer."
The Cloud ninja's face twisted in pain.
Losing over a thousand in one night would put mourning bands on every clan in the village.
The First Raikage drew a sharp breath, the air catching in his chest. Dizziness washed over him; darkness rimmed his vision.
The messenger rushed to support him. After a few seconds, the Raikage steadied, then shame and fury shot to the crown of his head.
"Akatsuki—if I don't avenge this, I'm no man."
That afternoon,
Akatsuki's statement on self-defense counterattack,
and the footage of Cloud ninja striking first, were announced to the entire ninja world.
"Kumogakure has gone too far."
"Two Akatsuki Chunin were killed. Our negotiation team was insulted and ambushed. After enduring again and again, Akatsuki was forced to act in self-defense."
"War!"
There was video evidence,
and the confessions and statements of the Cloud prisoners who had joined the initial ambush.
Witnesses, physical proof, an airtight chain of evidence.
Not only the front pages in the Land of Fire, but the presses in its neighboring countries and the other Four Great Nations all received a hefty infusion of funds. The propaganda machine Uchiha Makoto had carefully built roared to life.
Though at the front, Makoto still directed the battlefield of public opinion, no less important than the fighting itself.
He had to forge a consensus quickly, settle the verdict, and make it a case that would stand the test of history.
The papers had taken the money and seen the curated evidence—what else would they say?
They piled on, scolding Kumogakure for violating the ninja way, launching a sneak attack, and starting a war. Even if some mouthpieces later smelled something off—Akatsuki's hidden agenda—they couldn't turn back. The words were already out; how could they be recalled?
Clarify the truth?
Slap themselves in the face?
Impossible.
They'd only admit fault with a blade at their throats.
For old-school shinobi hardened since the Warring States, this kind of cunning (shameless) maneuver was like a dimensionality reduction attack. It put Akatsuki on the moral high ground, pointing fingers at Kumogakure with abandon.
Akatsuki didn't just win two big fights on the ground. In the war of words, they pinned Cloud to the floor from start to finish, because Kumogakure had no time to react and never imagined such a way of fighting.
Right now the First Raikage was convening an emergency council to summon every available ninja to rush to support the third line.
As the propaganda barrage rolled on,
news of Akatsuki's thousand-li night raid and the fall of two Cloud lines spread everywhere.
The first to hear, naturally, were in Akatsuki Village.
Word that Uchiha Makoto had led the army to successive victories in a single night exploded through the village. Ninja waiting at home for updates heard the good news and their nerves turned to revelry.
They ran through the streets shouting, "Long live Akatsuki Village!"
"Long live the Will of Light!"
"Long live Lord Light Shadow!"
Not only the ninja—
soon the villagers joined the celebration. They weren't shinobi and couldn't fight,
but they could do other things to honor the ninja and the village.
Donations—money and goods.
Public-spirited villagers gathered on their own, sending contributions to comfort the front-line fighters.
The great merchants who had already set up camp in Akatsuki seized the moment. With the front looking so bright, they were ready to raise their stakes. Akatsuki's military strength wasn't just a shield; it could secure their interests in the Land of Lightning.
These people were trapped by birth and status.
The line in life is amniotic fluid—of course, in the ninja world.
Compared to the high nobles, they were just white gloves to be summoned and dismissed, pigs to be slaughtered at any time. Uchiha Makoto had sketched them a blueprint they dreamed of. If his words were true… perhaps they could…
They not only donated money but hauled cart after cart of supplies to join the relief convoys. Now was the time to show their loyalty to Lord Light Shadow.
The good news swept every corner of Akatsuki Village, bursting forth with vigor and life.
Before long,
Konoha, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure also received news of Akatsuki's great victory.
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