The Land of Hot Water lies in the northeast corner of the Land of Fire, and together with the Land of the Moon, it became a buffer zone between the two great powers of Fire and Lightning. The Land of Hot Water was deeply influenced by the Land of Fire, while the Land of the Moon was controlled by the Land of Lightning.
This was the fate of all small countries wedged in the cracks between great nations.
But the ones who suffered were only the ordinary people of the small countries. As for the Daimyō, what they lost at most was financial interest. Under the influence of the Daimyō of their respective countries, the Five Great Shinobi Villages all reached a tacit understanding: they would not lay a hand on any country's Daimyō.
At least, they could not do so openly.
Because the Daimyō of the vast majority of countries in the shinobi world, after countless years of intermarriage with one another, were in fact all relatives—one big family.
They were the rulers of the shinobi world, a special class—one could, in theory, regard them as Celestial Dragons who did not themselves possess extraordinary power.
Those who threatened them were often rōnin, missing-nin, wandering samurai, and rebellions where the low overthrew the high. If they could not handle it with their own guard forces, then one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages that received their request-for-aid letter would send shinobi to help them settle it.
Shinobi were both a power they feared and wanted to hold in their hands, and also a tool to maintain their rule. The existence of extraordinary power cut off everything that people called "peasant uprisings" or dynastic change.
On this point, Makoto had once seen a very interesting record in some unofficial historical materials—records that could match certain folk myth stories with astonishing accuracy.
Rumor had it that many years ago, the world had once gone through a dark era: humanity's numbers plummeted, nations collapsed, disasters struck the land again and again, and the people who remained lived worse than death.
Later, one man saved the world. He founded Ninshū and restored order.
People called him a living god: the Sage of Six Paths.
Under the Sage of Six Paths' instruction, someone gathered the people and rebuilt a nation on fertile land. Because the Sage of Six Paths stood above them, the ruler of the country could not call himself the Son of Heaven, and his status was lowered to Daimyō.
As time passed, the land gradually recovered. The Daimyō's descendants were enfeoffed across various regions. After who knew how many years of evolution, people forgot history; the ruling nobles in different places no longer obeyed a single sovereign ruler, each becoming independent, and each slapped the "Daimyō" hat onto their own head.
Even if the territory they ruled was only a single city, they still dared to call themselves Daimyō—after all, no one was policing it.
After that, the world entered the Warring States era. Through several hundred years of warfare and annexation among the countries, the current world structure slowly took shape.
In other words, the Daimyō of the various countries in the shinobi world actually all came from the same ancestor.
Back then, when Makoto studied in the library in his spare time, he treated these scattered unofficial histories as stories. Now, the people of the shinobi world also regarded the Sage of Six Paths as a mythic figure—some even believed he was entirely fictional.
But Makoto knew that this person had truly existed. In folk myth stories, aside from some absurd events that were obviously fake at a glance, some of the stories were also real.
For example, the former dark era was, in all likelihood, the late-stage period of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's tyrannical rule—casually sacrificing humans to the God Tree to produce White Zetsu. Her two sons, due to differing ideals, erupted into battle with their own mother. They shattered the land into pieces, and what followed was naturally disasters occurring one after another.
Unfortunately, the people of the shinobi world had no habit of recording history—or rather, even if someone did record it, it would be deliberately erased by some little black bastard who had lived for a thousand years—so everything was forgotten by the people.
...
Unlike the Land of Fire, which was dominated by plains and hills, although the overall elevation of the Land of Hot Water was not high, its internal terrain mainly consisted of densely packed mountain ridges rising abruptly from flat ground, and it was rich in geothermal resources.
The environment here was beautiful, with hot springs everywhere—an excellent place for tourism and relaxation.
In fact, geothermal resources were abundant throughout the entire shinobi world. The Land of Fire itself had many famous hot spring sites; even the Land of Wind, which was dominated by desert, had hot springs at some oases—it was fucking ridiculous.
At times, Makoto even speculated whether the battles of those three back then had damaged the continental shelf, leading to the present phenomenon of geothermal activity erupting everywhere.
...
The coast of the Land of Hot Water.
Sea waves crashed against the cliffs. Lofty mountain ridges blocked the seawater, leaving little flat terrain suitable for building good harbors—this was the defining feature of the Land of Hot Water's coastline.
The special geographical environment cut off any possibility for them to develop large-scale maritime trade, leaving them able to focus only on their specialty hot spring tourism industry.
At dawn, Makoto, who had been standing night watch, sat at the edge of the cliff, opened his eyes, and ended his training.
A faint glow rose in the east; before long, the sun would rise.
Watching the sunrise from a high seaside cliff should have been an exceptionally beautiful sight, but unfortunately, he did not have the time to wait for the rising sun.
Kumomi and the other two had already woken up and prepared a simple breakfast. After eating, the four-man squad continued along the coastline, advancing toward the Land of the Moon.
After returning to the command post yesterday afternoon, they had not gotten much rest. That very night, they received orders to depart on a mission.
According to reliable intelligence, the Kumo ninja fighting Konoha in the southeastern part of the Land of Hot Water had not established their own base. Instead, they had swiftly seized Yugakure in the early stage—not only gaining a ready-made stronghold, but also being able to coerce the Hot Water ninja into attacking Konoha ninja together.
That was how shinobi villages of small countries were—what choice did they have? Disobey, and death was the only outcome.
Iwagakure had done the same thing before. Did Kusagakure dare to resist? Dare to utter even half a word of refusal, and the entire village would be wiped out.
Although the Yu ninja had been forced onto the battlefield, they did not dare to truly fight Konoha to the death. For small shinobi villages, there was only one way to survive: play both sides.
Their covert contact with Konoha had never ceased. According to the intelligence they passed along, after yesterday's failed attack on Konoha, the Kumo ninja had not withdrawn and seemed unwilling to give up.
Konoha, in order to stabilize the rear and secure the final victory in the decisive battle, decided to completely eliminate this batch of hidden dangers embedded in the Land of Hot Water.
The Northern First Command would secretly dispatch personnel into the Land of Hot Water to cut off this group of Kumo ninja's retreat routes, preventing them from linking up with the main Kumo forces in the north. Hyūga Hiashi's Second Command, meanwhile, would begin advancing from the southeastern part of the Land of Hot Water toward the northwest.
As for Makoto and the squads with sensory capabilities, they had already set out in advance. Their target was the coastline of the Land of Hot Water; their mission was to destroy every ship and Kumo ninja outpost they encountered, preventing them from escaping back to the Land of Lightning by sea.
Shinobi could indeed run on water—but go ahead and try running across the vast open sea. If you could make it to land before your chakra ran dry, then you'd be impressive.
Shinobi were not perpetual-motion machines. In fact, 99% of shinobi had very limited chakra reserves. Daring to flee across the ocean by water-walking had only one outcome: falling into the sea and drowning, becoming fish food.
This was the extermination plan that the Northern First Command of Konoha had set in motion after learning of the Kumo ninja's intention to seize the Byakugan.
A three-pronged encirclement—to wrap up the Kumo ninja holed up inside Yugakure, the Hot Water shinobi village in the central part of the Land of Hot Water.
Among the stone forest beyond the coastal cliffs, Makoto carefully sensed the surroundings and said, "There's an outpost here. Two people on guard. The situation is the same as before."
Kumomi said, "Then we'll use the old method—quick in, quick out!"
"Yes!" the three responded in unison.
Under the cover of Makoto's sensory perception, the four quietly followed the secret passage repaired by the Kumo ninja and slipped down into the outpost below.
This place was one of the retreat routes prepared by the Kumo ninja—meant as a contingency in case the war went badly, to be used by companions who scattered and fled.
After reaching the target location, Kumomi and Makoto charged into the hidden outpost to eliminate the enemy, while Yūgao and Hayate went to the docks to destroy all the ships.
Perhaps the Kumo ninja were overly confident, believing the chances of this retreat route being activated were slim, so the shinobi left behind to guard the outpost were relatively lax.
Thinking about it, those assigned to do this kind of menial work were not experts to begin with; their overall shinobi quality was nothing special. When they saw the enemy, their first reaction was actually to freeze in shock.
Kumomi moved in and took one down immediately. Makoto was gentler—he simply knocked the other unconscious with a single punch, then infused natural energy into the person's body.
In his stupor, the Kumo ninja seemed to experience immense pain: his brows knotted tightly, his body convulsed violently, but soon there was no movement at all.
There were no outward injuries, but the man was indeed dead.
"You're experimenting with your new technique again?"
"Yes, sensei. Since they're going to be killed anyway, let me at least put the trash to use."
Kumomi thought about it and said nothing more. As long as Makoto was not using innocents for these things, it was fine.
A series of explosions sounded outside—it was Hayate and the others using explosive tags to blow up the ships. Sure enough, before long the two hurried over to rendezvous.
Kumomi said, "Let's go. Continue the mission."
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