Hidden Cloud Village, meeting room.
Boom!!
As if a sudden clap of thunder had struck out of nowhere, the entire building trembled from the deafening roar.
The thick wall of the room was forcefully blasted open, leaving a gaping hole as smoke billowed out.
The Fourth Raikage, A, stood beside the ruins, his entire body surging with Lightning Release chakra and his eyes so red they looked ready to spew flames.
"Gather!!"
"Immediately gather the entire village's military force for me!!"
His roar pierced through the entire building, shaking everyone's very souls.
"No matter what hellhole that is, and no matter what background that blond brat has!"
"Daring to touch Kumogakure's people and even daring to capture Yugito!"
"I will go personally and raze that bullshit Land of Snow to the ground!"
"Lord Raikage!"
"Please calm down!"
Secretary Mabui hugged a stack of documents in her arms.
She glanced around at the tough guys who were shrinking their necks and not daring to make a sound, leaving her to bite the bullet and step forward to dissuade him.
"These are turbulent times!"
"Ohnoki of Iwagakure has been frequently mobilizing at the border recently, and that old fox clearly harbors malicious intentions."
"If we pull out our main force for the distant Land of Snow, our rear will inevitably be left defenseless!"
"This will bring disaster to the village!"
Several high-ranking elders also wore solemn expressions and chimed in.
"That's right, Lord Raikage!"
"Who knows if this is Ohnoki's trick?"
"Launching a nation-wide expedition to the far north with an excessively long supply line is a major taboo in military strategy!"
"Taboo?"
"Fuck the taboo!"
Raikage A turned around and smashed his fist onto the conference table, shattering it into a shower of fragments.
"Those are my subordinates!"
"My family!"
"Furthermore, they are Kumogakure's face!"
"If we can endure someone shitting on our necks, who in the ninja world will ever take Kumogakure seriously in the future?!"
"Whoever dares to block me again?"
"I'll beat him up too!"
Just at this tense moment, when the Raikage was losing control and running wild...
"Report!"
A ninja rushed to the door and called out in an excited voice.
"Lord Raikage!"
"Yugito—Lady Yugito Nii is back!"
"What?!"
Raikage A's explosive irritability suddenly stalled.
Then, the door was pushed open.
A figure, immensely familiar to him, stumbled inside.
The once arrogant and confident Jinchuriki of the Two-Tails was now draped in a tattered, cotton-padded coat, her entire body covered in shocking bloodstains and chilblains.
This was superficial trauma specially designed by Naruto for Kabuto to produce.
Without harming the foundation of her life, every wound appeared incredibly realistic and tragic.
And on her abdomen, a jutsu seal was particularly blinding.
"Lord... Raikage..."
The moment she saw Raikage A, Yugito seemed to have exhausted her very last bit of strength, her body going limp as she collapsed straight to the ground.
The Raikage instantly transformed into a flash of lightning, steadily catching her.
"The... intelligence..."
"I've brought it back..."
Yugito tightly grabbed the Raikage's arm, and after finishing these words, she completely passed out.
Half an hour later.
After receiving emergency treatment from the medical team, the awakened Yugito lay on the hospital bed, her complexion still as pale as paper.
Raikage A sat by the bed, his expression so gloomy that water could drip from it.
Suppressing his anger, he asked softly.
"What on earth happened?"
"Is that Land of Snow... truly a dragon's den?"
"That place... is an impenetrable fortress."
A trace of fear flashed in Yugito's eyes, her voice hoarse.
"They possess a bizarre armor that is impervious to blades and spears, granting them infinite strength..."
"Moreover, a large number of powerful rogue ninjas have gathered there..."
"I activated the complete Tailed Beast transformation, yet I didn't even get to see their leader's face before I was..."
Yugito closed her eyes in pain, pointing to the Four Symbols Seal on her abdomen.
"This is a sealing technique of the Uzumaki Clan..."
"My Two-Tails chakra was completely locked down."
"That group of rogue ninjas even includes powerhouses from the Uzumaki Clan."
Hearing this, the Raikage clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles cracked.
Even the complete Tailed Beast transformation was easily suppressed?
And she didn't even see their boss's face?
Just as the Raikage's expression grew increasingly ugly...
"However, Lord Raikage, although it looks militarily strong there, I found out..."
"...that they are mostly outwardly strong but inwardly weak."
"Outwardly strong but inwardly weak?"
A was stunned.
"Yes, all the prosperity is superficial."
Following the implanted memories, Yugito began to weave a fatal lie.
"The Land of Snow seems to have many ore veins, but in reality, most of them are inferior iron ores that Kumogakure doesn't lack at all, with extremely high mining difficulties and exorbitant transportation costs."
"As for those armors..."
She revealed a mocking smile.
"They are merely flashy goods forcefully piled up by that brat."
"He exhausted billions in wealth plundered from Gato, combined with the legacy left behind by the former Daimyo of the Land of Snow."
"The maintenance cost of those things is frighteningly high, burning astounding amounts of funds every time they are deployed."
She looked at the Raikage with sincere eyes.
"Lord Raikage, that remote place has no plundering value whatsoever, aside from a pile of waste mines, ice and snow, and a bunch of madmen."
"If we throw our entire force at them, even if we win, all we will get is worthless scorched earth."
"It would also severely damage our vitality and give Iwagakure an opportunity to exploit."
"So... is it really worth taking risks for such a barren place...?"
The ward fell into a dead silence.
A fell into deep thought.
If an ordinary person had given this suggestion, he might have slapped them away with one hand.
But this was Yugito, Kumogakure's strategic weapon, who had fled back while risking her life.
The intelligence she traded her life for carried extreme weight.
No resources, only hard bones.
This was like attacking a slum full of hedgehogs; even if you won, you still had to pay the medical bills.
"What on earth does that brat want to do?"
Raikage A couldn't help asking.
"Since he has no money, why make such a big fuss?"
"Because... of vanity."
Yugito delivered the final blow.
"He received unfair treatment in Konoha, and his inner heart is extremely distorted."
"He wants to prove himself, wants to become a Daimyo, and wants to establish a kingdom of his own in that remote place to act as a mountain king."
"He is merely a pitiful worm immersed in a king's game."
Hearing this explanation, A's brow finally relaxed somewhat.
A brat who militaristically drains state resources to satisfy his vanity?
If that was the case, the degree of threat indeed needed to be re-evaluated.
The reasoning of a Kage finally overrode his personal anger.
"Hoo..."
After a long while, A let out a long breath of turbid air, closed his eyes, and made his decision.
"Cancel the all-out war mobilization."
Mabui and the elders collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
"But!"
The Raikage suddenly opened his eyes, brilliant light flashing within them.
"Since we cannot attack forcefully, we will take it by strategy."
"Since he wants to be a king and focus on construction, we'll play along with him."
"Pass down the order to have the intelligence department mobilize our best spies, disguise them as a caravan, and sneak into the Land of Snow."
"Since resources are scarce there, we will use supplies to infiltrate them!"
"To corrode them!"
"We will disintegrate them from within!"
"I want to know what on earth that brat is up to."
"And if there's a chance... we will uproot that so-called hollow country entirely!"
"Yes!"
Everyone accepted the order and left.
Yugito lay on the bed, gently closing her eyes and pulling the quilt higher to cover the faint, eerie arc at the corner of her mouth.
Mission... complete.