🎉🎉DAIMYO: Chapter 107/109

Chapter 107: The Troubles

Deep in the canyon, west of the Land of Fire.

The light from the massive Heavenly Transfer Technique finally faded completely.

Mabui's body swayed, nearly collapsing to the ground, barely supported by two medical-nin whose faces were equally pale.

"Lady Mabui, you…"

"I'm fine."

Mabui waved her hand, brushing off their support.

Her chakra had bottomed out, and the mental exhaustion made her feel like the entire world was spinning.

But she couldn't fall.

Behind her were the final batch of comrades just transported over.

Hundreds of Kumo shinobi, some still dry heaving from the ultra-long-distance teleportation, while others stood tall, quickly adjusting their gear.

Including those who had been sent earlier, nearly a thousand troops had gathered in the canyon.

They were the second echelon of Kumogakure.

The second blade that the Raikage would thrust into Konoha's heart.

"Where is the Raikage-sama?"

A Jōnin who had just recovered walked over and asked.

"Raikage-sama has already led the main force in an attack on Konoha," Mabui replied, forcing herself to stay alert.

"Excellent!"

"It's finally started!"

"For the glory of Kumogakure!"

A wave of barely restrained excitement erupted in the canyon.

Every face was filled with anticipation for victory.

They only knew that the Raikage had launched a surprise attack with three thousand elite troops.

But they didn't know that those three thousand had already surrendered.

Even more, they didn't know that the Raikage, who was unbeatable in their hearts, had already been defeated.

Mabui looked at her comrades' burning fighting spirit and let out a quiet breath of relief.

According to plan, she should have finished teleporting all subsequent forces by noon.

Then destroy the formation and lead this unit to rendezvous with the Raikage.

But it was already well past noon.

Mabui glanced up at the sky.

They couldn't wait any longer.

"Everyone, prepare explosive tags!" she ordered. "Completely destroy this formation!"

"Yes!"

Several shinobi immediately stepped forward and attached special explosive tags to key nodes of the formation.

A few minutes later, preparations were complete.

Mabui signaled to everyone.

"Retreat to a safe distance!"

The nearly thousand-strong force quickly withdrew from the canyon.

After confirming that everyone had evacuated, Mabui formed hand seals.

"Detonate!"

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed through the canyon.

Violent flames and shockwaves engulfed its depths.

Smoke and dust billowed into the sky, and boulders tumbled down.

The Heavenly Transfer Technique, which had cost Kumogakure immense effort and carried all their hopes, was reduced to scorched earth in the explosion.

Their retreat had been severed.

From here on, it was either victory or death.

"Move out!"

Mabui turned and gave the command.

"Target: Konoha!"

"Rendezvous with Raikage-sama!"

"Roar!!!"

Nearly a thousand Kumo shinobi roared in unison, turning into a torrent as they surged out of the canyon, advancing rapidly toward Konoha.

…

Outside Konoha.

Beneath the towering earth wall, the battlefield was still chaotic.

Deep craters and scorch marks were everywhere, the air thick with the stench of blood and gunpowder.

Minato's figure flickered continuously as he efficiently directed the Konoha forces in post-battle cleanup.

"Barrier team, immediately apply chakra seals to all prisoners!"

"Security forces, divide into squads and handle custody. Prioritize control over the Jōnin-level prisoners!"

One command after another flowed from his mouth, clear and decisive.

All the shinobi that could be mobilized within the village, including security units and standby Jōnin, totaled only around eight hundred.

They hadn't participated in the battle, so their chakra was full, and morale remained high.

Yet, every one of them wore a dazed expression.

They looked at the kneeling, surrendering Kumo survivors, then up at the figure atop the wall.

Throughout the entire process, they had done nothing.

Yet they had witnessed a single person crush an entire army, suppress a Jinchūriki, and defeat the Raikage.

It felt more surreal than if they had experienced the battle themselves.

"Minato, this is troublesome."

Shikaku approached with a rare headache on his face.

"There are just too many prisoners."

"Even though Kumo suffered heavy casualties, nearly two thousand remain."

"And every one of them is elite. Our village prison can't hold them all."

"Guarding them will require a huge number of personnel."

This was a good problem to have.

"For now, detain them all at the temporary camp," Minato said seriously. "As for what comes next… we'll consult with the Daimyo first."

"Understood!"

Arashi didn't take part in the cleanup.

He simply stood quietly atop the hundred-meter-high city wall, looking down at the bustling Konoha forces and the dense gathering of Kumo prisoners.

These were his spoils of war.

They were also his bargaining chips for negotiating with the Land of Lightning.

He raised a hand.

A Shadow Guard immediately appeared beside him. "My lord."

"Return to the Fire Capital."

Arashi didn't even turn around. "Inform the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the situation here."

"Also, send letters to the Daimyo of the Four Great Nations: Earth, Wind, Water, and Lightning."

"Tell them I want to convene a Daimyo meeting."

"Yes."

The Shadow Guard's figure flickered, vanishing into the shadows.

After handling that, Arashi was about to leave.

But just as he turned around…

He suddenly paused, eyes narrowing in the direction of the Land of Fire's west.

A massive chakra presence was approaching at high speed.

Almost a thousand of them.

Target: Konoha.

"Heh." Arashi let out a faint chuckle.

So there were still more?

A follow-up unit?

It seemed Kumogakure had truly gone all in.

He looked down at Minato, who was still busy coordinating from below the wall.

"Minato."

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached Minato's ears.

Minato immediately looked up.

He saw Arashi waving at him.

Without delay, he teleported with Flying Thunder God and appeared beside Arashi. "Daimyo-sama, your orders?"

Shikaku and several others followed quickly, their expressions tense.

Arashi pointed westward, speaking casually as if discussing something trivial.

"Over there, another unit is approaching."

"From Kumogakure. About a thousand."

"At their current speed, they'll arrive within an hour."

What?!

Minato's composed expression instantly faltered.

Shikaku felt a buzzing in his mind.

Another thousand?

They weren't afraid of fighting. The eight hundred shinobi in the village were in good shape and full of energy.

But what was the current situation?

Right beneath them were more than two thousand elite prisoners who could revolt at any time, requiring significant manpower to monitor.

And now another enemy force was coming from the outside?

They simply didn't have enough shinobi to manage it all!

If a battle started and the prisoners took the opportunity to riot…

Wouldn't that just trouble Daimyo-sama again?

Unthinkable…

Seeing the hesitance in their expressions.

Arashi patted Minato on the shoulder. "Bring the Raikage and Killer B up."

Hostages?

Shikaku instantly understood and quickly ran down from the wall.

Arashi looked at Minato.

"If they don't surrender, then we'll use these two as sacrifices."

"Understood!"

(To be continued.)

Special thanks to Samaelo for sponsoring this extra chapter 🎉🎉🎉

Chapter 108: It Seems That You Don’t Like the Raikage

Not long after.

Shikaku carried two people up the city wall, one in each hand.

It was the Fourth Raikage and Killer B, both unconscious.

A Jinchūriki and a Kage.

Everyone watching couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.

Arashi said casually, "Hang them both outside the city wall."

This stunned everyone present.

Hang them?

"Daimyo-sama, this…" Shikaku hesitated slightly.

"What?" Arashi glanced at him. "Do we still need to show mercy to enemies?"

"If Konoha had lost, what do you think they would have done?"

"Go do it."

"Yes, sir!"

Minato no longer hesitated and immediately signaled two Anbu to step forward.

Soon, two thick ropes were tied around the Raikage and Killer B, and their bodies were slowly lowered from the hundred-meter-high city wall.

The two figures swayed lightly in the wind, hanging in mid-air.

The scene left a powerful impression.

"Minato." Arashi looked at Minato, whose expression was slightly complicated. "You'll handle the next part."

"Me?" Minato was taken aback.

"You are Konoha's Hokage. You represent Konoha's image." Arashi said, "Go and tell them, surrender… or come collect the corpses of their Raikage and Jinchūriki."

"Remember, we are the victors."

Minato understood immediately.

This was a stage Arashi was giving him.

A chance to stand before the enemy as Hokage and declare victory.

But the one who built this stage was the man beside him.

He took a deep breath and nodded solemnly.

"I understand, Daimyo-sama."

…

Time passed minute by minute.

Everyone stood at the edge of the city wall, watching the western horizon.

Finally.

A black line appeared in the distance.

It rapidly grew thicker, and a sharp killing intent surged toward them even from afar.

"They're here!"

A sensory-nin gave the alert.

Closer.

Even closer.

When the nearly thousand-strong Kumo unit reached the foot of the giant wall, they were shocked by what they saw and halted immediately.

All of them looked up in disbelief.

"What… what is this?"

Mabui, leading the team, was filled with shock beneath her long golden hair.

Their intel had never mentioned Konoha having such a massive wall.

Her heart grew uneasy.

Too quiet.

No sirens.

No shinobi lining up in defense.

Only calm gazes cast down from above, carrying a strange sense of pity.

"Something's wrong!"

"It's way too quiet!"

"Where's Raikage-sama and the others? Did the assault fail?"

The troops began to stir restlessly.

Just then.

Minato stepped forward.

The Fourth Hokage?

His appearance made all the Kumo shinobi tighten their grips on their weapons, their chakra flaring.

Mabui's heart sank.

The Hokage had appeared here rather than commanding a battlefield within the village.

That alone explained far too much.

"People of Kumogakure," Minato's voice rang out across the entire battlefield.

"In the name of Konoha's Hokage, I give you one last chance."

As his words fell.

Two figures bound by rope slowly rose behind him from the city wall.

The moment the Kumo shinobi saw the two figures clearly…

The entire unit erupted into chaos.

"That… that's… Raikage-sama!"

"And B-sama!"

"How could this be?!"

"Impossible! It must be genjutsu! Konoha's using genjutsu!"

Countless Kumo shinobi roared in disbelief, emotions spiraling out of control.

Their symbols of invincibility, the pride of Kumogakure, the AB combo…

Now hung humiliatingly from Konoha's wall.

"This isn't genjutsu."

Mabui's body trembled, but she made a calm assessment.

She stared at the two figures, feeling their familiar chakra and faint vital signs.

It was real.

A and B… had been defeated.

The realization sent a chill down her spine.

Three thousand elites, plus the Raikage and a perfect Jinchūriki, all defeated so quickly?

What in the world happened?

"Drop your weapons and kneel to surrender," Minato's voice rang out again. "Or those two will die now."

A threat.

A naked, brutal threat.

Using the lives of their leaders.

"Bastard!"

"If you've got the guts, then kill us!"

"For the glory of Kumogakure, let's fight them!"

A young shinobi roared and was about to charge forward.

"Stop, all of you!"

Mabui immediately gave the order.

She looked up, locking eyes with Minato. "Hokage, what do you want?"

"I've made myself very clear," Minato said, expressionless. "Surrender, and they won't die."

"You think we'll believe you?" A Kumo shinobi stepped forward, eyes red with rage.

"Yeah, how can we trust them?!"

Minato fell silent, momentarily at a loss in the face of the Kumo shinobi's outcries.

Watching this, Arashi couldn't help but let out a faint laugh.

Naive.

He took a sip from his teacup.

Then flicked a finger lightly in the direction of the hanging Raikage A.

Whoosh.

A sharp wind shot out.

It struck the Raikage's intact left arm in an instant.

"Ah!"

A scream tore from the unconscious Raikage's mouth.

He suddenly jerked awake, the intense pain making him struggle wildly in mid-air.

The scream silenced the entire Kumo unit.

They saw it clearly, A's left arm was now hanging limply.

It was broken.

"Who was that?!"

"Who did it?!"

Mabui demanded, panicked, only to see Minato looking just as shocked.

On the city wall, Arashi slowly put down his teacup and took two steps forward, entering the Kumo shinobi's field of vision.

He looked at Minato, his tone disappointed.

"I gave you a chance. You failed."

Without sparing another glance at the ashamed Minato, he turned his gaze toward the Kumo forces.

"Looks like you didn't like the earlier proposal."

"In that case, I'll change my approach."

"I'll count to three."

"After three, for every person still standing, I'll remove a bone from the Raikage's body."

"Starting from the foot."

"One."

The entire field fell into dead silence.

The Kumo shinobi could only feel surging rage.

Who was this man?

"Two."

Arashi's voice held no emotion.

Time seemed to stretch.

Mabui's heart was in turmoil.

Surrender?

It would be the greatest humiliation to Kumogakure.

But if she didn't…

The Raikage and B would be executed on the spot.

The shinobi behind her were waiting.

Waiting for her decision.

"Three."

The final count was spoken.

"Seems like your Raikage isn't very cherished," Arashi said calmly.

His hand moved once more.

Another gust of wind.

Crack.

The clear sound of bone breaking echoed.

Raikage A, suspended in mid-air, arched his body violently, then screamed in agony again.

"Ahhhhhh!"

His left leg twisted unnaturally.

Clearly broken.

This sight was the final straw that broke them.

(To be continued.)

Special thanks to Samaelo for sponsoring this extra chapter 🎉🎉🎉

Chapter 109: The Surrender

A's scream made Mabui tremble, and all her struggles and hesitation shattered completely.

A devil.

"Put… put down… your weapons…" she gritted out, her voice dry and hoarse, as if being dragged from her throat.

Her ninja tool pouch fell to the ground with a dull thud.

The other Kumo shinobi, faces full of humiliation and anguish, began to lay down their weapons as well.

"Pick it up!"

An angry roar suddenly exploded.

It was the Raikage.

Suspended in mid-air, watching the shinobi below one after another dropping their weapons, his eyes looked like they were about to split open from rage.

"All of you… pick up your weapons!" His voice was full of grief and fury. "You… are not allowed to kneel!"

He struggled violently, the pain from his broken limbs stabbing through him like blades, but he didn't care.

His village.

The pride of Kumogakure.

It was being crushed right before his eyes.

"Kill me! Mabui! I order you, kill me!"

"Use my death… to reclaim Kumogakure's dignity!"

A's roar was like a blade, stabbing into the hearts of every Kumo shinobi.

They looked at the man hanging in the air. The man who, in their eyes, had always been unbeatable.

Now, he was begging them to end his life.

A young Kumo shinobi could no longer hold back. Tears streamed down his face.

He let go of the kunai in his hand, letting it fall to the ground.

Then, under A's disbelieving gaze, he knelt heavily.

His forehead pressed tightly against the cold earth as despair filled his chest.

"I'm sorry… Raikage-sama!"

"Please… no matter what, you must live!"

This act, like a domino, triggered the collapse of the entire Kumo force.

The dull thuds of weapons falling to the ground rang out one after another until it became a collective silence.

All of Kumogakure's shinobi knelt.

"Don't kneel!!!" A roared, tears of blood flowing down his face.

The shinobi lowered their heads even further, as if trying to carve this shame and sorrow deep into the earth itself.

Above the city wall.

Shikaku looked at the nearly three thousand prisoners below, feeling his temples throb.

"Minato… this is really troublesome now," he leaned toward Minato, lowering his voice.

"There are too many of them. Should we…"

He didn't finish the sentence, but the meaning was clear.

The eight hundred Konoha shinobi currently on guard, even with returning reinforcements, wouldn't be enough to manage all the prisoners.

The victory was so complete that it became a burden.

Minato's expression was also tense. Of course he understood what Shikaku meant.

If it were just a few dozen, or even a few hundred, for the sake of the village's safety, he could steel his heart and execute them.

But now, there were three thousand living shinobi. If he truly gave the order to massacre them, Konoha's reputation in the ninja world would be utterly destroyed.

They would be forever branded as Bloody Konoha.

And more importantly, Arashi had yet to speak.

Minato scratched his head, clearly distressed. "Use barriers to separate them into groups first. We'll figure out what to do afterward."

"That's all we can do for now," Shikaku sighed.

Arashi heard their conversation clearly.

He stood calmly atop the city wall, overlooking the grand scene he had orchestrated with his own hands.

A satisfied smile lingered on his lips.

To him, these kneeling people weren't three thousand problems.

They were three thousand precious heads.

This was the first great gift he planned to give this chaotic era.

As for now… Arashi restrained his killing intent and watched the scene like a spectator at a play.

He wanted to see how these Konoha higher-ups, trapped in their naive compassion, would handle the mess before them.

Just then, an Anbu who had been holding back could no longer stay silent and urgently spoke up, "Lord Fourth! It's about Kushina!"

Kushina?

Minato's entire body tensed. The color drained from his face.

That's right.

Kushina.

And that masked man.

Panic surged in his heart. He wanted to activate Flying Thunder God immediately and return to his beloved, to confirm her safety.

But… below the wall was a sea of prisoners, and beside him were companions all watching solemnly.

As Hokage of Konoha… how could he abandon the village for personal feelings when the war wasn't yet completely over, and this enormous hidden danger hadn't been resolved?

He couldn't do it.

"I understand," Minato clenched his fists, forcing himself to calm down. His voice trembled slightly. "The intruder was already repelled, wasn't he?"

"But… Kushina, she…"

"No buts. That's an order. Retreat!" Minato coldly cut him off. He couldn't allow himself to hear more. He was afraid he'd lose control.

He believed Kushina would understand.

"…Yes!" The Anbu responded and retreated.

Just then, Hiruzen's shadow clones all dispersed in clouds of smoke.

The real bodies had arrived atop the city wall.

When they saw the vast number of Kumo shinobi kneeling below, and the Raikage brothers still hanging, even though they had been informed earlier by clones, they were speechless.

"This… this is…" Hiruzen bit his pipe and couldn't finish a sentence for a long time.

Orochimaru's vertical pupils gleamed with rare brilliance.

"Daimyo-sama." Hiruzen quickly composed himself and stepped forward to report. "The village is safe."

"It's just that the intruder used a strange space-time ninjutsu and escaped."

Tsunade added, "His body can become intangible, immune to all physical attacks. Very tricky to deal with."

"Intangible?" Arashi repeated the word.

Kamui, huh.

Obito, you still couldn't help but show yourself.

"A rat that hides from the light," Arashi scoffed. "Compared to that, don't you think there's something more important?"

"Three thousand from Kumogakure," Arashi clasped his hands behind his back, his fingers tapping lightly. His gaze turned to the scene below. "They bypassed our border defenses and marched straight here, laying siege to the village."

"They didn't appear until they were at Konoha's gates."

"Don't you think we should first figure out how they got into our home?"

Those words exploded in the Konoha shinobi's ears like thunder.

That's right.

They'd been so overwhelmed by the sudden victory and how to deal with the prisoners…

They had completely overlooked the most critical question.

How had Kumogakure infiltrated?

If this wasn't clarified, then today it was four thousand from Kumo.

Tomorrow it could be five thousand from Kirigakure.

The day after that, ten thousand from Iwagakure.

Konoha's defenses would be meaningless.

A chill spread through the air.

"Damn it!" Tsunade's face was full of remorse. "I completely forgot such a crucial issue!"

"Daimyo-sama is right!" Minato's expression turned grave. "This is our failure!"

He suddenly turned around and shouted toward the Anbu behind him, "Take all captain-level Kumo prisoners to the Interrogation Department!"

"Tell Ibiki and his team to report immediately!"

"I don't care what methods you use, even if you have to crack open their skulls, get them to talk!"

"I want a full report on the routes and methods they used to enter the Land of Fire. Not a single detail can be overlooked!"

"And that Mabui the Raikage mentioned," Arashi's gaze fell again. "She must know something."

"Yes!"

Several Anbu vanished instantly.

The atmosphere atop the wall grew cold and tense.

Until this hidden danger was dealt with, no one could rest easy.

(To be continued.)