Konoha right now could be described as full of mourning cries. The outer city was filled with collapsed people everywhere.
As the biggest commercial hub in the Land of Fire, there were many outsiders here.
Konoha also divided things very clearly in this area. All commercial activity was conducted in the outer city.
The first thing the Corpse Rot Poison attacked was the lungs. Most of these people were ordinary civilians, and their resistance could not compare to ninjas protected by chakra.
Many people with weaker bodies could not hold on and died while making faint sounds.
The stronger ones finally waited for Konoha's rescue.
Konoha's first step was distributing basic antidotes to make sure these people stayed alive.
Producing specialized antidotes afterward would still require some time.
Naturally, the first people Konoha treated were those closer to the village.
The people afterward could only wait. Under these circumstances, some people naturally became resentful.
There were even people with ulterior motives stirring things up.
"What bad luck. I came to Konoha to do some business, and this happened."
"All my goods are gone. I lost everything this time."
"Didn't they say Konoha was the safest place?"
"I'm not coming again. Never again!"
In the ninja world, ninjas stood above ordinary people, at least stronger than them.
Even if these slow-witted civilians and merchants were unhappy, they only dared complain in private and did not dare cause trouble for Konoha's people.
Still, something like this happening in Konoha would affect future business activity to some extent.
Anbu quickly noticed this and immediately reported it to Namikaze Minato.
———
[Hokage Office]
After listening to the ANBU report, Minato waved his hand and dismissed him.
Konoha had a huge foundation and did not care about this level of criticism. After all, many things from Konoha could not be bought anywhere else.
Although there would be some short-term effects, things would recover quickly after some time passed.
Coincidentally, the matters on his side had reached a stopping point. After leaving behind a shadow clone, he used Flying Thunder God to head toward Rengoku.
Rengoku was preparing to go home. The moment he sensed someone behind him, he knew Minato had arrived.
"Rengoku, the atmosphere in the village isn't very good right now. Some people are stirring things up, and the people in the outer city have complaints about us."
Rengoku twitched the corner of his mouth, somewhat speechless.
'The villagers in this world really are ignorant. A little incitement and their minds follows along.'
After all, this world did not have nine years of compulsory education. Many villagers could not even read.
Rengoku also understood the expanded outer city and knew it basically had nothing to do with the original Konoha villagers.
It was simply because Konoha had developed well, had excellent medical resources, and offered many business opportunities, so people naturally gathered here.
But they did not possess Konoha residency status. There were even many spies from other villages mixed among them.
These spies usually had multiple identities. Some were ninjas coming to take missions, while others were merchants doing business here.
Since the village felt that chaos outside was not good for development, it had uniformly planned and built many streets outward.
Ever since Konoha began its explosive development, it had become very strict about residency registration.
Now even marrying someone from another village required approval.
Very few spies or informants could pass both Uchiha genjutsu and the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques at the same time.
Konoha's interior was extremely stable and happy.
The people making trouble outside clearly did not want Konoha to prosper.
Rengoku knew Minato had specifically come to ask him out of respect, but he also wanted to know how Minato planned to deal with it.
"If it were you, what would you do?"
Minato froze for a second, then immediately answered, "Investigate who's stirring things up, then arrest them all."
"And after that?", Rengoku nodded slightly. Minato's method was standard and steady.
Minato answered without hesitation, "Konoha is already this powerful. Many people want to come here, so we don't need to worry."
Rengoku shook his head, "No. Your method is too slow."
Minato asked curiously, "Then what would you do, Rengoku?"
By asking this, he actually wanted to understand Rengoku's governing style and tendencies.
"Since Konoha is already the strongest ninja village, then we should remain forceful at all times."
"Whether they're the ones stirring things up or the ones echoing them, arrest them all."
"Publicly execute all the instigators. Expel the ones going along with it from Konoha forever and permanently ban them from entering Konoha territory."
After Rengoku spoke, Minato understood, "I understand. I'll make arrangements now."
After speaking, Minato disappeared with Flying Thunder God.
Seeing how busy Minato was, Rengoku also felt it was better to have other people handle this kind of trivial matter.
If he had to deal with it personally, it would be annoying to death.
———
Rengoku quickly returned home. Kaori and Ryuri were both waiting for him there, while Karin was still working in the Barrier Department.
"Big brother!"
The moment he entered, Ryuri came over and gave him a hug.
Rengoku lightly patted Ryuri's back and lowered his head to ask:
"Did you get scared?"
Ryuri shook her head, her little face red.
"The clan prepared so thoroughly. There was nothing to be afraid of."
Actually, because Ryuri had been crippled during the Nine-Tails incident when she was young, she still had some mental shadows regarding large-scale disasters.
When those massive bolts of lightning came down, she had indeed felt some fear.
But later, after discovering that the Uchiha area was protected by Shion's large-scale formation while the sky above Konoha was protected by Minato's super-large formation, those terrifying bolts of lightning basically became nothing more than brilliant fireworks.
Still, when Rengoku asked about it, she naturally would not admit she was afraid. After all, she had already grown up.
Rengoku reached out and scraped her little nose. After living with Ryuri for so many years, how could he not understand what she meant? Still, he did not expose it.
"Okay, I know you weren't scared. Little sister is the best."
Rengoku still spoke in the tone of someone coaxing a child. No matter how old his little sister became, she was still a child in his eyes.
Hearing her brother say that, Ryuri revealed a sweet smile.
It was not that her mentality was childish. She simply liked the way her brother spoiled her.
Kaori watched the interaction between the siblings from the side and was already used to it.
But after Rengoku returned, both she and Ryuri felt much more at ease.
Even after such a huge disaster, she had not felt afraid at all.
She had already received quite a bit of news. Under such a terrifying attack, many people in the outer city had died.
But casualties in the inner city were nearly negligible.
The Uchiha clan was even more secure than a fortress and suffered no losses whatsoever.
In the ninja world, there was a huge divide in how people ranked clan members → non-clan members → villagers from the same village → outsiders from other villages.
No matter how many people died in the outer city, there was nothing worth feeling sad over.
Kaori had not gone out and had not even changed into battle clothes, showing that she still felt very safe inside.
"You must be tired. I'll go make dinner first. Later, I'll bring Karin home to eat," Rengoku nodded.
"Now that Konoha's order is being restored, there's a lot more work to handle..."