Chapter 268: Ninja Village Usurping the Nation
As time passed, the changes in the Land of Lightning began to spread throughout the ninja world.
Originally, ten princes from various countries had traveled to the Land of Lightning to support Raihara Yukihiro and protest Kumogakure's tyrannical behavior. Now, only five remained. They, along with their guards and servants, were gathered in a single courtyard.
Dana had been holding these people without releasing them for one reason: to buy time.
In a capital with hundreds of thousands of people, news would inevitably leak out. But by holding these princes, he could at least delay the time it took for other nations to learn the whole truth.
Before that happened, what the Cloud needed to do was bring the entire Land of Lightning under management.
Because the Land of Lightning wasn't just the capital.
The Land of Lightning—or rather, the Daimyo system of the entire ninja world—belonged to a primitive feudal system.
Nominally, the Daimyo and the Daimyo's Court were the monarchs and the center of power for the entire Land of Lightning. But in reality, the Daimyo's tentacles didn't reach every domain within the country.
They could only reach the level of cities and great nobles.
Further down, to small towns and villages, the Daimyo's Court generally only cared about collecting taxes and nothing else.
The Daimyo enjoyed vast lands and personal wealth, extracting massive amounts of "tax money" from the country every year. He was the representative of the nobility. His retainers were divided into "Court Retainers" who stayed in the capital, and "External Retainers" who were stationed outside year-round.
Court Retainers naturally had higher status. By the way, one of Dana's enlightening books from years ago, "Wind and Bone of Lightning: Thirty Years as an Official," was written by an External Retainer who felt his talents were wasted after thirty years of being "external."
In the original ruling structure, only the great nobles and Court Retainers in the capital were qualified to participate in matters like Daimyo succession and court formation. Everyone else, whether nobles or External Retainers, only had the right to listen, not even to see.
However, the sudden rise of Raihara Yukihiro had caused many External Retainers and provincial nobles to lose control.
For example, excluding the area around Kumogakure and the area around the capital, there were six major cities in the Land of Lightning. According to intelligence continuously gathered by the Special Strategy Division, the External Retainers in charge of two of these cities had colluded with local nobles. Taking advantage of the chaos in the Land of Lightning, they exploited the people from top to bottom, making life miserable. The other cities also had problems to varying degrees.
Under the cover of night, an official toyed with a wine cup in his hand. The golden cup was said to be an antique from the Land of Ancestors a thousand years ago, confiscated from a disobedient small merchant.
Whether it was true or not, he didn't know, but he liked it. Wine tasted a bit sweeter when drunk from it.
"Lord Kuramoto, I heard there's trouble in the capital again. I wonder how much longer that Raihara Yukihiro can last?"
The official named Kuramoto drained his cup and said, "It doesn't matter. The Land of Lightning has been chaotic for so long. No matter who becomes Daimyo, this Kawahara City still has to listen to you and me, doesn't it? Isn't that right, Shinichi-dono?"
"Indeed! Hahaha!" The noble in fine clothes couldn't help but applaud.
Just as the two were laughing heartily, a figure appeared by the window.
"Who's there? A Cloud ninja?"
The forehead protector revealed the intruder's identity.
The ninja jumped in through the window as if the two men didn't exist. Before Kuramoto and Shinichi could shout in anger, five or six more Cloud ninja flipped in after him.
Now the two were completely silenced, their hearts filled with shock and suspicion.
"Maruyama Kuramoto, Hirata Shinichi. You are the two, correct?"
Maruyama Kuramoto asked with forced sternness, "Do Cloud ninja just barge into a city government office like this?"
The Cloud ninja looked at him like he was an idiot. "My task load is heavy tonight; I don't have time to knock."
He took out a list and scanned the names.
"Let me see... Good lord, two D-Class personnel. Apply Genjutsu."
"What?!"
Before the two could react, their expressions went blank.
Yes. No intrigue, no secret maneuvers, no political games.
Kumogakure declared: I don't play the noble game. I can't, and I'm not interested. I only play the Ninja Village game.
Dana had discussed this with the entire Cloud high command. Taking over the Land of Lightning completely would face significant resistance. Even if a legitimate Daimyo took the throne, clarifying the national situation and radiating influence across the country would take a massive amount of time. Making compromises, backroom deals, political maneuvering... a capable Daimyo would need years; a weaker one might spend half a lifetime and still not finish.
But Kumogakure had no interest in that.
The Land of Lightning was the Cloud's foundation, but these people were not. Some of them were merely parasites on that foundation.
They represented the past, hidden dangers, and vested interests.
As a Cloud Village that had completely broken the rules, there was no need to play games or engage in intrigue with parasites. The Cloud only needed to ensure that 99% of the people in the Land of Lightning could live stable, prosperous lives.
The 1% of vested interests?
How about a Genjutsu Combo Meal?
A Ninja Village usurping a nation was unprecedented from the start. Who wants to play by the old script? If we're playing, we play something new.
Dana classified the 1% who could affect the stable development of the Land of Lightning into four categories, each with a different handling method. While various parties were still waiting for the official announcement of the new Daimyo's ascension and preparing their political maneuvers, they didn't expect the "Daimyo's Office's" message and the "Daimyo's Office's" methods to arrive on the same day.
The four-level classification followed mission ranks—very ninja style.
Class A: Our own people. Notify them, encourage them. Let's work hard together.
Class B: No subjective bias. Can do their job regardless of who is Daimyo. Notify them, explain the stakes. Do your job well.
Class C: Fence-sitters, two-faced, glib-tongued with many excuses. Apply pressure, inducement, and close personal supervision simultaneously. Watch them work under the Cloud's eyes until the situation stabilizes, then consider whether to keep using them.
Class D: Committed many evils, too big to fail, a hidden danger even if subdued. Sorry. Genjutsu interrogation, Genjutsu control. We'll use your skin and control you to work hard until your surplus value is squeezed dry.
With the materials collected by the Special Strategy Division over a long period, the classification accuracy was nearly 100%.
If the Land of Lightning were a complete feudal dynasty and "chakra" didn't exist, Dana wouldn't dare do this. But alas, this place was called the Ninja World.
Leaving aside the meme of "Susanoo clad in Kyuubi, two people destroy four countries," if the Cloud possessed a method that was fast, had no future trouble, and could quickly guarantee the lives of 99% of the people, why not use it?
Insisting on political games and conspiracies would be picking the wrong script.
Moreover, many places had already been thoroughly infiltrated by the "United Iron & Steel Company" and were effectively within control range. The Cloud Village wasn't a foreign power in the Land of Lightning; the people's acceptance was relatively high.
Thus, with an efficiency the nobles dared not imagine, the Cloud brought most regions of the Land of Lightning under management within a few days. Large numbers of ninja were left in every city for supervision, management, and maintaining order, deeply penetrating the Land of Lightning's administrative system.
Stabilizing livelihoods, clearing out bandits. Those who caused chaos or evil were arrested or buried as appropriate.
Official documents, population data, and land surveys were the most important—all seized by the Cloud.
This highlighted the uniqueness of a Ninja Village usurping a nation: possessing absolute reliance on force. In the past, whether for crimes or bandits, ninja only moved if a victim issued a mission or the Daimyo spoke. Now, the Cloud, actively taking on these tasks as the strongest violent institution in the ninja world, quickly swept away the vast majority of unstable factors in society. Even corruption and bribery were thoroughly investigated.
Simultaneously, Yoshitoki developed a special detection device for White Zetsu based on previous captures. Although its detection strength for underground and plant-internal targets wasn't sufficient, it had considerable accuracy for conventional possession and transformation jutsu. The Cloud began deploying these devices in cities across the country, indeed catching some White Zetsu, proving that Black Zetsu and White Zetsu hadn't given up on disrupting the Land of Lightning.
Fortunately, once discovered, White Zetsu's combat power wasn't high, and local Cloud ninja could deal with them on the spot.
"This is just a stopgap measure. If we only cared about collecting taxes, the current manpower would be enough, just like the old Daimyo's administration. But to fully manage and mobilize the power of the cities, and even extend influence down to towns and villages, the Cloud's current manpower is far from sufficient. This can only be done slowly."
Although the expansion of Kumogakure had made the village realize the talent (ninja) shortage and expanded the ninja training system, looking back now, the vision was still too small.
Dana looked out the window at the vast lands originally belonging to the nobles.
"Ninja Academies... let's build eight of them first. One for every city."