Chapter 424: The Overbearing Iwagakure
The treaty between the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire was something the various powers and numerous onlookers were somewhat mentally prepared for.
Although the various countries were shocked by Ishiro's forceful occupation of the Land of Fire's northern territory, they still pinched their noses and accepted it. In their eyes, Iwagakure was bullying Konoha to death at this time. When Konoha recovered, the first they would deal with would only be Iwagakure.
But the second treaty made onlookers like the Fourth Raikage unsettled.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Wind had agreed that the Land of Fire would cede a piece of land in its southwest corner to the Land of Wind. Of course, the treaty stated that it was temporarily handed over for the purpose of cultivating medicinal herbs. Rasa also signed and agreed not to station troops in this area.
But this kind of fig leaf-like remark was ignored by everyone.
Everyone was lamenting, had Konoha really weakened to this extent?
Bowing to Iwagakure was one thing; they were now the new leader of the ninja world. But to be so submissive to Sunagakure as well?
Seeing Rasa successfully expand the territory for the Land of Wind, the Fourth Raikage's already terrible mood after hitting a wall in Kirigakure deepened by another layer.
The Fourth Raikage stated: If my desk hadn't just been smashed and not yet repaired, would I be this calm?
If I had known it would be like this, why did I go to attack Kirigakure? It would have been much better to attack Konoha directly.
And the third treaty, not many people paid attention to it. The Land of Earth and the Land of Wind signed a war reparations treaty. Sunagakure paid a large sum of money for its invasion of the Land of Earth. After all, Suna had been defeated when facing Iwa, so the compensation did not surprise the audience.
Everyone was just silently calculating the possible gains of Iwagakure this time, and they were all filled with envy.
Just as everyone was lamenting how much Iwagakure had profited from this battle, the Fox of Iwagakure, Ishiro, made another big move.
The cause was still Konoha.
This time, Konoha had cooperated with Kumo to block Iwagakure's reinforcements to the Mist. To stop the army led by Kitsuchi, Konoha had, despite the objections of the Daimyo of the Land of Waterfalls, directly sent a large army into his country.
And what disappointed the Daimyo the most was that Takigakure, which he spent a large amount of money on every year, did not dare to do anything.
Thus, after the war, the Daimyo of the Land of Waterfalls directly invited Iwagakure to establish a branch in his country and asked them to help disband the ninja of Takigakure.
Of course, this was all Iwagakure's official story to the outside world.
In fact, it was Ishiro who had sent Kawakita with a thousand-strong army to suddenly burst into the Land of Waterfalls and surround Takigakure. The Daimyo's statement was just a grand-sounding reason that Iwagakure had found after the fact.
The Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Earth had long had an alliance, and this treaty was consistent with the one between the Lands of Water and Earth. It was clearly stated that the two sides would advance and retreat together.
When the Iwagakure envoy met with the Daimyo, he directly stated: This time, when the Land of Water was in trouble, Iwagakure first sent Advisor Ikura to support them. Later, upon learning that Kumo had dispatched a large army, Iwagakure, despite the emptiness of its own village's defenses, sent Lord Tsuchikage's assistant, Kitsuchi, with a large army to reinforce them over a thousand miles.
Iwagakure had faithfully fulfilled the treaty. But what about the Land of Waterfalls? And Takigakure? They had allowed Konoha to enter their country and had not even notified Iwagakure. They had sat by and watched the great battle between Konoha and Iwa, not sending a single soldier to help. Where did the Land of Waterfalls place the alliance between the two countries?
Faced with the questioning of the Iwagakure envoy, the Daimyo was speechless.
In the end, he had no choice but to order the ninja of Takigakure to disarm and submit to Iwagakure's arrangements.
The leader of Takigakure did not dare to resist Kawakita, who had just made a name for himself by killing Suna-nin. After the Daimyo's order came down, the leader, who had already lost his spirit in the last Seven-Tails incident, readily agreed.
Kawakita stated that all ninja could not take any weapons but could take their families and property. Iwagakure was merciful; not only did they not covet their family property, but they would also issue additional travel and settlement expenses. Of course, this expense was originally taken from the treasury of Takigakure.
The number of Taki-nin was not small. Including those who had not yet officially become ninja, there were about a thousand.
After being inspected by the Iwa-nin, it was confirmed that a little less than half of them would not even be able to graduate if placed in Iwagakure. These people and their families were directly arranged to go to the Land of Earth, where they were scattered and settled. They were ordered not to engage in ninja work in the future and to be ordinary civilians of the Land of Earth.
Of the remaining who were truly worthy of the title of ninja but had not yet reached the standard of a jonin, they were monitored by the Iwa-nin as they left the Land of Waterfalls. This was the largest group and also the biggest hidden danger. Iwagakure scattered them and drove them into the chunin countries of Grass, Rice Paddies, Iron, Birds, and Bears. As for whether they became civilians or wandering ninja, Iwagakure did not care. They only guaranteed that no matter what they did in these countries, they would not be put on a wanted list.
Finally, there were the jonin and elite jonin, including the leader of Takigakure. This was the smallest group, but the most difficult to control. In the end, these people, with their families, were personally escorted by Kawakita to the Land of Rain. The outer member positions of the Dark Akatsuki were largely vacant, and Ishiro, as a member of the Dark Akatsuki with the codename Big Dipper, although he had never shown his face to outsiders, still had to contribute to its reconstruction.
After the ninja families of Takigakure were dealt with, Iwagakure directly disbanded all the original villagers in the village, letting them resettle in other towns in the Land of Waterfalls.
Finally, Iwagakure re-selected a place within the country and established a branch. Ishiro did not choose the original location of Takigakure. Although it was hidden in the mountains, this kind of geographical advantage did not have much meaning for a great hidden village. Moreover, Ishiro's establishment of a branch in Takigakure had another goal: to use this branch as a supply station for attacking Konoha.
With a different purpose, the location naturally had to be changed.
Iwagakure, having just ascended to the position of hegemon, had annexed the Land of Waterfalls with dazzling speed. This made the other hidden villages feel a little panicked. Especially the hidden villages of the small and medium-sized countries on Iwagakure's border; they were very dissatisfied with the way Iwa had treated the Taki-nin. Ishiro's displayed ambition and his methods of dealing with the original hidden village's ninja made them feel that everyone was in danger.
Of course, there were also people who welcomed Iwagakure's arrival. These were mainly the Daimyo of the small countries.
The Daimyo's thinking was different from that of the hidden village leaders. What they saw was that after the Land of Snow and the Land of Demons had joined Iwagakure's camp, their countries were stable, with no rogue ninja or wanderers causing trouble. The economy was developing rapidly, the quality of life of the civilians had improved, and the income of the nobility had also increased.
Countries like the Land of Bears, which were both troubled by a large number of rogue ninja and had some of their towns occupied by Suna, had even repeatedly and proactively requested that Iwagakure establish a branch in their country.
So, Iwagakure's action this time, though it seemed reckless, actually did not cause a great wave of opposition. And their timing was quite good. Since all parties had tacitly agreed to Iwagakure cutting a piece of flesh from the Land of Fire, then annexing a Land of Waterfalls was naturally not a big deal.
By the time Kawakita had sent a large batch of outer members to the Dark Akatsuki and returned, none of Konoha, Sunagakure, or Kumogakure had made a statement on this matter. Kirigakure, on the other hand, had sent a congratulatory telegram.
Thus, the matter was settled. Kawakita began to oversee the construction of the Land of Waterfalls branch. Of course, he was only the person in charge in name. His role was to deter some of the discontented and ambitious. He did not actually have experience in this area; the real work was done by someone else.
Perhaps in a new round of war in the future, the other hidden villages would use Iwagakure's invasion of the Land of Waterfalls as an excuse, but at least for now, no one opposed their occupation of it.
Ishiro had been staying honestly in the village during this period, not going anywhere, accompanying his three disciples on low-level missions, just waiting for the reactions of the various parties.
After waiting for about a month and seeing no one stick their neck out to be made an example of, Ishiro began to practice the Spirit Transformation Technique.
...
In Konoha, in the Uchiha clan's compound, Fugaku Uchiha was guiding Izumi Uchiha in her training.
He looked at this Mangekyō clanswoman who could still only be considered a little girl.
What he was thinking was: Could it be that the future my Sharingan saw is not real?
Izumi was not like Sōkai, who was a dead-last with a terrible foundation. She learned ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu much faster than he did. Of course, she was far from being able to compare to Shisui Uchiha. It was just that after awakening the Mangekyō, her comprehensive strength improved a bit faster than an ordinary Uchiha's.
After a while of training, during a break, Fugaku asked Izumi, "Izumi, what are the abilities of your Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Izumi was startled. She hadn't expected him to know this. She had never told anyone the secret of her Mangekyō. Could it be that there are records of the Mangekyō in the clan?
Fugaku knew what she was thinking. "I have also awakened the Mangekyō."
After speaking, he activated his Mangekyō amidst her shock.
"Lord Clan Head, you... when did you awaken the Mangekyō? Why does no one know?" she asked, surprised.
Fugaku looked a little down. "I awakened it during the Third War. The previous clan head knew about my Mangekyō, which is why he had me succeed him."
"The previous clan head, Lord Uchiha No?" Izumi asked.
Fugaku nodded. "Yes, Senior No. He entrusted the great responsibility of reviving the Uchiha clan to me. But I have failed to find a way out for the clan."
Izumi somewhat understood what he was trying to say. "Lord Clan Head, why did you not choose to resist when the village was suppressing us?"
He sighed. "Because of my Mangekyō. I can see some of the future."
"From the future I saw, I discovered that no matter what I did, the Uchiha clan could not escape the fate of extermination."
Izumi was shocked. "Lord Clan Head, are you saying that your eye's ability is to see the future? And you saw our clan being exterminated?"
Fugaku nodded. Seeing the despair in her eyes, he added, "But I did not see you in the scenes I saw, nor did I see Sōkai."
Izumi was puzzled. Having just come into contact with such prophetic philosophical questions, the little girl could not yet keep up with his thinking.
Fugaku patiently explained, "What I mean is, I did not see you and Sōkai also awakening the Mangekyō."
"In other words, the future I saw is not inevitable. At most, it is just one of many possible futures."
"Perhaps, I really should do something. The appearance of you and Sōkai may be the key to breaking the fate of the Uchiha that I saw."
Izumi said, "But Sōkai has already joined Iwagakure."
Fugaku smiled. "Don't worry. If we need his help, he will come back. The Tsuchikage will also agree to let him come back."
"With the Tsuchikage's style of doing things, not only will he let Sōkai come back, but he will probably also get involved himself."
Izumi thought for a moment. "The ability of my left Mangekyō is to block an enemy's vision. The ability of my right eye is to plunder an enemy's pupil power."
(End of Chapter)
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