The Land of Wind.
Because the desert was difficult to cross, and because the defeated troops had to be gathered, counted, and reorganized after the battle, Rasa did not lead the remnants of Sunagakure back to the village until late last night.
After resting for only one night, he set out again at dawn and went straight to the Daimyō's mansion.
"What… you were defeated?"
Inside an old, dignified hall that carried the unique style of the Land of Wind, the Daimyō sat at the highest seat, staring at Rasa in disbelief.
Rasa was half-kneeling below him.
The ministers standing on both sides of the hall were equally stunned.
Just yesterday, they had still been discussing how long the war might last.
A few months?
Half a year?
No one had expected Rasa to return so soon with news that Sunagakure had already lost.
For a moment, the entire hall fell into confusion.
"Yes," Rasa said bitterly. "We were defeated."
Normally, after a defeat of this scale, the report should have been delivered personally by the Kazekage.
But Sunagakure currently had no Kazekage.
In that case, the village elders should have come to explain the situation.
However, after the news of the defeat spread through the village last night, those elders—who were usually sharper than anyone when it came to power—suddenly all claimed to be sick.
In the end, Rasa had no choice but to shoulder the responsibility himself.
After all, reparations, compensation, and postwar negotiations would all require the Daimyō's support.
With Sunagakure's own resources alone, they could not possibly afford the price of defeat.
Because of that, Rasa had not slept at all last night.
"How could you lose so quickly?"
The Daimyō's anger surged.
"What about Chiyo?"
"Why didn't she come here to report to me herself?"
"What did she promise me before this war began?"
His already plump face trembled slightly with rage.
The ministers on both sides lowered their heads and remained silent.
At a time like this, no one dared to speak up for Rasa and risk drawing the Daimyō's anger onto themselves.
After all, the man before them was the ruler of the Land of Wind.
"Lady Chiyo…"
Rasa took a deep breath.
Then, in a heavy voice, he said, "She died in battle."
The moment those words fell, the hall went completely silent.
Even the Daimyō, who had been ready to continue scolding him, froze.
After the disappearance of the Third Kazekage, Chiyo had become the true pillar of Sunagakure.
Whether in strength, reputation, or influence, she stood at the very top of the village.
That was why, after the Third Kazekage vanished, the Daimyō had allowed her to temporarily take charge of Sunagakure's affairs.
But now…
Even Chiyo had died in this war.
After a long silence, the Daimyō finally sighed.
"If Chiyo has fallen, then I will not pursue responsibility for now."
He waved his hand.
"You may withdraw. I will discuss this matter with the ministers and give Sunagakure an answer afterward."
Although he was the Daimyō of the Land of Wind, the country still relied heavily on the power of ninja.
He could pressure Sunagakure, but he could not push the village too far.
The fact that he had not rejected Rasa outright meant he was willing to provide support.
"Thank you, Lord Daimyō!"
Rasa's tense expression finally loosened.
He had already prepared himself to be humiliated and scolded.
He had not expected things to turn out this smoothly.
The weight pressing on his chest finally eased.
After leaving the Daimyō's mansion, Rasa returned to Sunagakure.
From a distance, he saw the same group of elders who had claimed to be too sick to move gathered at the village entrance, clearly waiting for news.
The sight immediately made Rasa's anger rise again.
These old foxes had all pushed the responsibility onto him because none of them wanted to face the Daimyō's wrath.
And now that the dangerous part was over, they had all recovered.
How convenient.
Still, when the elders shamelessly surrounded him and asked about the result, Rasa could only suppress his anger and tell them what had happened.
After learning that the Daimyō had not refused to help, the higher-ups of Sunagakure finally let out a collective sigh of relief.
Soon after, the group entered the Kazekage Building.
After an hour-long meeting, several orders were issued from Sunagakure's leadership.
Among them, the most shocking order was this:
From this day forward, if any Sunagakure ninja encountered Yagami during a mission, regardless of the number of allies present, they were permitted to abandon the mission and retreat immediately.
The village would not punish them.
The moment this order spread, the intelligence agents from other villages hiding inside Sunagakure were stunned.
At the same time, more information about Yagami's abilities began spreading from the Iwagakure forces who had also returned after defeat.
At first, the descriptions were still somewhat reasonable.
But as more and more people repeated the story, the rumors became increasingly exaggerated.
One man's words became a crowd's belief.
Three people repeating the same tale made it sound like undeniable truth.
Before long, Yagami's strength had been inflated into something almost monstrous.
In the following days, throughout Sunagakure, the name Yagami alone became enough to make people tense.
Ninja became alert at the slightest movement.
Even crying children stopped making noise when adults mentioned his name.
Of course, all of that came later.
For now, time moved back a few minutes.
Just as Sunagakure was issuing its new orders, on Konoha's side of the battlefield, the troops Yagami had ordered to assemble had already gathered.
"Everyone, listen."
Yagami activated the flight technique he had obtained from the system the day before, and his body slowly rose into the air.
As for the Konoha shinobi, the moment they saw Yagami rise into the air, a wave of shocked cries and murmurs immediately spread through the formation.
But soon, Yagami's voice suppressed the noise.
"Everyone."
His voice came from high above, clear enough to reach every shinobi below.
"Spread out according to your squads."
"Keep at least two meters between yourself and the people in front, behind, left, and right."
The Konoha shinobi below found the order strange.
But since Yagami had given it personally, no one dared to delay.
Chapter 178: The Power of the Mind Stone!
Tap, tap, tap—
A series of footsteps sounded across the field.
Before long, the Konoha forces had spread out according to Yagami's instructions.
Yagami looked down from the sky and nodded in satisfaction.
"Now listen carefully."
"At this moment, everyone is to stand where they are. Do not move without permission."
"At the same time, pay close attention to the comrades around you."
"Without my order, if anyone dares to act rashly, the people closest to him will seize him immediately."
Yagami's voice spread across the formation.
The Konoha shinobi became even more confused, and a low commotion rose among them.
But no one dared to move.
Aside from the jōnin commanders, none of them knew what Yagami was planning.
Yagami's gaze swept across the crowd.
"More than a dozen spies from enemy villages have infiltrated our ranks."
"At this moment, they have already used the Transformation Technique to disguise themselves as our comrades."
"In order to prevent them from panicking and taking any of you hostage, stay alert."
His words caused an even greater stir.
The shinobi standing in formation immediately began watching the people beside them with caution.
No one questioned Yagami's words.
They believed him.
A shinobi as strong as Yagami would not say something like this without reason.
"Remember what I said."
Yagami's voice rang out once more.
"If anyone moves without permission, capture him!"
The formation had spread quite far, so he repeated the warning to make sure every squad heard him clearly.
After that, Yagami descended from the sky and flew toward the front of the formation.
Soon, he landed before a Konoha shinobi standing in the first row.
"Um… Lord Yagami."
Seeing Yagami look him up and down, Yūta Kamikawa quickly waved both hands and gave a bitter smile.
"You don't suspect me, do you?"
His disguise was convincing.
His expression, tone, and body language were all natural.
But Yagami ignored the act.
Mind Invasion.
The moment their eyes met, Yagami activated one of the abilities of the Mind Stone.
It was a name he had given the ability himself.
After all, people always said the eyes were the window to the soul.
The instant Yagami used his power, his consciousness followed Yūta Kamikawa's gaze and invaded the memories hidden inside his mind.
In his field of vision, a deep black cave appeared.
An elderly man's voice echoed.
Elderly man: "Is he a civilian shinobi?"
Another voice answered.
White Zetsu: "He is a civilian shinobi, but his abilities are really interesting, Lord Madara."
Elderly man: "Pay closer attention to his information."
White Zetsu: "Don't worry, Lord Madara. I've already left several spore clones in Konoha's camp."
Elderly man: "Send more manpower."
White Zetsu: "Uh… all right, Lord Madara. You really are too cautious."
A black, liquid-like figure spoke coldly.
Black Zetsu: "White Zetsu, just do what Lord Madara tells you to do. Can you stop wasting time with nonsense?"
White Zetsu: "Fine, fine. I understand. Black Zetsu, you really have no sense of humor."
After invading Yūta Kamikawa's memories, Yagami watched his entire past unfold in an instant from a first-person view.
This was one of the Mind Stone's most powerful abilities.
Before this power, as long as Yagami wanted to see it, a person's memories held no secrets from him.
Black Zetsu.
White Zetsu.
Uchiha Madara.
So that's how it is.
Yagami immediately understood.
No wonder the disguise was so flawless.
It was not an ordinary Transformation Technique at all.
It was White Zetsu's spore clone and body-copying ability.
With only one exchange of gazes, Yagami had searched through every memory of "Yūta Kamikawa."
No.
To be precise, he had searched through the memories of this White Zetsu clone.
"Uh… Yagami?"
Yūta Kamikawa looked at him with a forced smile.
"What did you just do?"
The instant their eyes met, he had felt as if Yagami had seen through everything.
That feeling made his scalp prickle.
Yagami suddenly smiled.
"Do you want to know what poop means?"
White Zetsu, who had still been pretending, suddenly brightened.
"You're willing to tell—"
Snap.
Before White Zetsu could finish, he realized he had slipped up.
At that same moment, Yagami's hand shot out and grabbed him by the neck.
"Gh—!"
Yagami tightened his grip and looked at him with clear amusement.
"Then let me tell you exactly what it means."
The next instant, Yagami activated his flight technique again and rose straight into the air.
White Zetsu struggled violently in his grasp, his feet leaving the ground as Yagami lifted him higher.
The whole process seemed long, but in reality, only a few moments had passed.
From Yagami descending from the sky to exchanging a few words with Yūta Kamikawa, everything happened almost instantly.
By the time the Konoha shinobi reacted, Yagami had already grabbed Kamikawa by the throat and carried him into the air.
"Everyone, stay alert."
Yagami ignored White Zetsu's struggle and held him above the formation.
"These things are not your comrades."
After reminding the troops once more, Yagami snapped White Zetsu's neck in front of everyone.
White Zetsu's body, which had been struggling violently, suddenly went limp.
The Konoha shinobi below instinctively cried out.
But before they could recover from Yagami's decisive method, the body in his hand changed.
In the blink of an eye, Yūta Kamikawa's appearance disappeared.
What remained was a pale, human-shaped creature.
"What is that thing?"
"Is that even human?"
"I don't know… I've never seen anything like it before."
Whispers spread through the formation.
After witnessing the strange creature in Yagami's hand, every Konoha shinobi became even more alert toward the people around them.
"Good. Now listen to my command."
Yagami looked at the formation below and nodded in satisfaction when he saw that they had not fallen into panic.
"Whoever I point out, the four people nearest to him will seize him immediately."
With that, Yagami opened his hand.
The already lifeless White Zetsu fell from the air and hit the ground with a heavy thud.
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