Chapter 265: Two Nations Submit
Thump, thump, thump.
The paw pads of the hellhound summoning beast struck the ground, emitting soft thuds.
Everyone in the vicinity watched with a mix of fear and revulsion as the three-headed hellhound and the person riding it approached under the moonlight.
Especially the one at the very front. His physique was like a giant; just one glance was enough to imagine how terrifying his strength must be.
This guy... might be even stronger than the previous Raikage of Kumogakure.
Takiyā Horikawa, a noble standing at the outermost edge of the crowd, thought this. He wasn't a top-tier noble of the Land of Lightning; the private army and industries he controlled were only second-rate.
But precisely because his status wasn't that high, he hadn't been summoned to the Daimyo's mansion today to discuss carving up the Land of Fire. They had received intel that Konohagakure had suffered heavy losses, and its high command, including the Third Hokage, had been killed within half a day.
So the Land of Lightning's higher-ups had already expected victory in this war. The remaining issues were simply how to divide the Land of Fire and to what extent the war should be prosecuted.
These weren't things ninjas understood. The biggest benefit of ninja wars was that they didn't significantly reduce the number of farmers in each country.
The Land of Lightning's Daimyo didn't plan on any massacres; he planned to annex large swathes of the Land of Fire's plains for grain cultivation.
Thump.
The hellhound's footsteps suddenly stopped. Takiyā Horikawa looked up and saw the giant-like figure stop right in front of him. The man looked down at him, his pupils radiating a purple hue.
Just being looked at by those eyes made Takiyā's hair stand on end. A faint scent of blood filled his nose, making him almost want to vomit.
He had once seen the Third Raikage, a brutal man who had killed countless people, but compared to the aura of the man before him, the Third Raikage seemed almost kind.
At least, that was a citizen of the Land of Lightning.
"Are you a noble here?"
Kaito Shirogane looked at this man whose robes were more ornate than others and who was subtly surrounded and protected by the crowd. He was about forty years old. The luster of his skin had faded, and his vitality was beginning to decline. Neither his heartbeat nor his pulse was particularly strong.
Takiyā Horikawa had wanted to maintain the demeanor of a Land of Lightning noble in front of everyone, but just being looked at by this man gave him a chill down his spine that he couldn't resist. His back hunched slightly, and he stammered:
"Y-Yes... I am... of the Horikawa clan..."
"Go gather everyone who's still alive. I want you all to submit to me. If you can do that, you'll be the Daimyo here from now on. If not, heh..."
Kaito Shirogane waved his hand, too lazy to listen to the man's self-introduction.
He was just a Reincarnator; he wasn't really going to rule this world for a long period of peace and stability.
Reincarnators were never saviors. Reincarnators were a group of interdimensional mercenaries, a band of robbers.
Kaito Shirogane was self-aware of this. He then walked down the main road through the crowd toward the interior of the Royal Capital. With the Daimyo's mansion at the highest point in the center as the axis, the entire Royal Capital of the Land of Lightning was built top-to-bottom relying on the unique terrain. The architecture was distinct, completely different from the regular city planning of conventional towns.
Moreover, perhaps because the mountain winds were strong and lightning struck frequently, almost all the buildings here were equipped with lightning rod-like devices. They also used a large amount of special stone, making the city much sturdier than the wooden structures of the Land of Fire.
Unfortunately, buildings of this strength were still destroyed by a single throw from Kaito Shirogane in this state.
Uchiha Itachi sat on the back of the summoning beast. His Sharingan clearly took in the various emotions in the eyes of all the onlookers.
This was the fear brought by war. The panic of having no confidence in their survival drained the light from everyone's eyes.
Suddenly, a woman rushed out from the crowd. She wore a bright red dress, distinct from the dark robes common among ordinary people and the solemn, bright colors like white and blue worn by nobles.
The woman exposed a large area of skin on her chest. Her figure was voluptuous, her waist slender. Although her skin was somewhat dark, she was undeniably attractive to almost everyone.
This could be seen from the fact that as she stumbled out, even amidst their fear, many people's eyes were involuntarily drawn to her.
The woman trotted all the way to Mercenary Tao. Her face was slightly flushed, as if she didn't exercise often.
"My Lord, My Lord... I admire you. May I have the honor of introducing the local situation to you?"
Hearing this, many people showed anger, but Uchiha Itachi lowered his eyelids, instantly understanding the woman's intent.
To be honest, this kind of seduction tactic had long been eliminated by ninjas.
Kaito Shirogane looked at the woman with amusement, then reached out. The woman cried out in surprise as he lifted her with one hand and placed her in his arms.
Swoosh.
At this moment, several figures leaped up from the crowd. Several ninjas hiding among the people took the opportunity when Kaito Shirogane reached out to grab the woman to attack simultaneously.
These people's strength was far inferior to the Jōnin who had rushed out earlier, and inferior to those ninjas who had formed a defensive array. But they had nowhere left to retreat. The Royal Capital had fallen, the Daimyo's mansion had collapsed, and the Daimyo was dead.
They only wanted to make the perpetrator pay.
Uchiha Itachi didn't dislike this behavior, but he still instantly threw shuriken, shooting down the few people who had just leaped up.
Only one person, under Uchiha Itachi's deliberate indulgence, successfully reached Kaito Shirogane.
This ninja watched the giant monster pull the beautiful woman into his arms, his large hand already roughly roaming over her body.
He knew he wasn't strong enough, but this was the best chance. He resolutely stabbed his kunai at the giant's neck.
The woman in Kaito Shirogane's arms looked up, watching the kunai fall, her heart racing.
Clang!
The next moment, under her disbelief, the kunai snapped directly on the giant's neck.
The attacking ninja's hand was bloody from the web of his thumb splitting, but the giant-like guy seemed to feel nothing. He neither killed the attacker nor dropped her.
He continued to knead her body with that overly large hand.
The movement was as if he were playing with a toy, completely devoid of any romantic sentiment.
She looked up and met the monster's eyes. His expression was indifferent—no lust, no anger.
"What's wrong? Didn't you want to introduce this city to me?"
"Why don't you start by introducing the guy behind me..."
The ninja standing on Kaito Shirogane's back turned pale. His hands formed seals, and lightning began to appear.
"People of the Land of Fire, hate..."
"Fear..."
"Then suffer, and think..."
Pain (Deva Path) floated in the air. Below him was the Daimyo's mansion, now completely reduced to ruins, and a large number of nobles and samurai surrounding Pain and Konan, as well as the terrified residents of the Royal Capital further away.
Pain looked at the fear in everyone's eyes, and the fierce-visage-but-faint-heart appearance of the nobles closest to him who held power. He could already hear some of them discussing how to surrender.
Some even wanted to recruit him to become the new Hokage, or establish a new ninja village.
Clatter, clatter...
The blades in the hands of the nobles and samurai dropped one by one. They knew Konohagakure couldn't possibly send reinforcements now. So, after the Twelve Guardian Ninja died in battle and the Daimyo's mansion was blown to pieces, they lost the will to fight.
Nagato, seeing this through the eyes of the Deva Path, was incredibly angry.
These guys, who hid in the background arbitrarily deciding to start and end wars, actually chose to surrender directly when they realized no ninjas could die for them?!
Guys who didn't even have the resolve to give up their own lives had been unscrupulously commanding wars to harvest lives...
Konan also looked grim; this woman had never been so angry.
Originally very dissatisfied with Mercenary Tao's plan, she suddenly thought that perhaps these disgusting people really could only be dealt with by a similarly disgusting monster like Mercenary Tao.
Ninjas like Nagato and herself, who were still pursuing justice and human reasoning, ultimately couldn't converse with these politicians on the same level.
Even killing these guys wouldn't relieve the pain and pent-up frustration in her heart.
White sheets of paper fell one by one from Konan's hands, but the people below knelt down one by one. They wanted to submit.
Nagato took deep breaths continuously, and finally stopped Konan.
"Since we've come this far, we might as well try and see if the so-called 'Great Empire sweeping across the eight desolations and six directions' that Mercenary Tao spoke of can end the wars that have lasted for a thousand years..."
(End of Chapter)