Kusa was a ninja vilge without any notable features—mediocre and unremarkable.

  Uandably so; this nation cked any natural geographical advahe only thing that could qualify as a natural barrier was the great river, but the Kusa ninjas couldly build their homes o the river.

  How reckless would that be?

  Even if someone's brain were cmped in a vid they decided to do so, which side of the river would they build o, aligning with Iwa? Or west, aligning with Konoha? They certainly wouldn't build houses on the river itself; it's not like this was the Mississippi River with its vast system of levees!

  So, like Konoha, Kusa built their vilge in the forest, but on a much smaller scale.

  When Masashi arrived in Kusa, he saw a group of people already waiting for him at the vilge gate.

  The leadership of Kusa, to be frank, didn't have very appealing appearances.

  One look at them and you khey weren't the trustworthy type.

  In this regard, Konoha had done a much better job. The Hokage of every geion had faces that inspired friendliness.

  "Masashi-sama," the current leader of Kusa greeted him with an ingratiating smile. "The entire vilge has been eagerly awaiting your arrival."

  "That's very kind," Masashi replied with a smile that was even more enthusiastic than the leader's. "Under your leadership, your vilge has bee increasingly prosperous. The Hokage has been paying close attention to your progress."

  The Kusa leader's expression didn't ge, but a flicker of panic crossed his eyes. His chakra spiked momentarily before he forced it bader trol.

  There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the words of the White Ghost, but the more he thought about them, the less reassured he felt.

  Masashi didn't care about his terpart's nervousness. With Kusa's rotten state, if Konoha were to take them seriously, they'd have wiped them out long ago.

  He g the group of people standing behind the Kusa leader and said, "Your vilge seems to have done quite a good job preparing for battle."

  "You must be mistaken," the Kusa leader's heart skipped a beat as he hurried to reply. "Our vilge lost so many people to Iwa i war that we're barely able to defend ourselves, let alone provoke anyone else."

  "You're being too modest," Masashi said cheerfully. "Looking at the people behind you, their killing i hasn't even dissipated. They've just returned from battle, haven't they? Some Iwa ninja must have infiltrated. Your vilge's bat capabilities are quite impressive."

  "Hahaha…" The Kusa leader forced a ugh, but inside, he was teo the breaking point.

  It was true—many Kusa ninjas had died capturing the Explosion Corps, and even more had been seriously injured.

  The vilge had sent out its elites to capture those individuals, and they were still ing up the aftermath.

  The most exg part of the operation was the discovery of two young talents with exceptional potential araordinary backgrounds.

  However, Kusa had no iion of using them as bargaining chips. After uaking such a signifit mission, they had no pns to let these individuals see the light of day again.

  If this "transa" were properly digested, Kusa's ninjutsu system would undergo a transformation.

  As for being suspected by the Tsuchikage? Kusa wasn't worried.

  Their specialized up team would arrahe se to make it look like the Explosion Corps had escaped and that their tracks had been erased.

  The escape would be directed toward the Land of Raiory uhe trol of Konoha's ninja forces.

  When the dust settled, Konoha would bee the prime suspect.

  Who would believe that a small vilge like Kusa could take down the Explosion Corps?

  Even the Kusa leader himself couldn't believe his vilge had the audacity to pull it off.

  Although he felt a smug sense of satisfa, he dared not let it show in front of the White Ghost.

  As Masashi's reputation spread across the ninja world, vilges began using various means to gather information about him. Each report made them more terrified of the man standing before them.

  His feats on the Kiri battlefield, in particur, had bee widely known.

  Retly, Kumo had been hyping him up even mreatly enrig the intelligence avaible to other vilges. Their reports spoke of his ability to appear anywhere, at any time, leaving only corpses.

  People were shocked to discover that this man wasn't just a newly risen powerhouse.

  He was skilled in a wide variety of ninjutsu, excelling in one-on-one bat, assassination, and rge-scale battles. His offensive and defeeiques were top-notch, with no apparent weaknesses.

  And, to top it off, the man possessed chakra reserves on par with a tailed beast!

  Even seasoned Kage-level fighters weren't necessarily this formidable.

  Intelligence specialists in various vilges were particurly baffled by Masashi's ease otlefield during his first campaign. His performan the Kiri battlefield had led veterans to remark: "To be this adept at and aced to battlefield killing, one must have been raised in the harsh survival ditions of the Warring States Period."

  Other than attributing it to ialent, there was no other expnation. It couldn't possibly be the spirit of some warlord from the Warring States Period reborn, right?

  The Uchiha , capable of produg someone like this, was truly terrifying!

  What other vilges thought, Kusa didn't know. All they knew was that when they heard Masashi was ing to visit, they were scared out of their minds.

  Otherwise, Kusa's leadership wouldn't have put on such a show of force.

  This kind of monster was not to be trifled with…

  But then again, currying favor with the White Ghost wasn't shameful.

  Plenty of people wao get on his good side but didn't have the ce.

  The only one suffering was Kusa's leader, who, despite having problems, felt like he was experieng a near-heart attack.

  "It's just routiraining, Masashi-sama. The entire Kusa holds you in high esteem. If not for the heavy casualties we've suffered, we'd be eager to serve under your and!"

  "Ah, o be so formal," Masashi said, spping the Kusa leader on the shoulder. "Personal adoration is unnecessary. In Konoha, everyone knows I'm a sincere and upright person—strict with myself, le with others, and never oue with others."

  Retrag his hand, he added, "You must have faith in us. Konoha is always reasoh its allies."

  "Absolutely! Ever since we've had Konoha's support, life in Kusa has been wonderful," the Kusa leader replied, doing his best to suppress the urge to g his shoulder. "Masashi-sama, we look forward to your tinued care for Kusa."

  He felt utterly miserable inside. Damn it!

  The White Ghost had just marked him. If anythi wrong, he'd be the first to die!

  "Don't worry. If anyone bullies you, just let me know, and I'll take care of them," Masashi said righteously.

  "As expected of Lord Masashi, shteous!"

  The Kusa leader vowed to strictly trol the young troublemakers in his vilge. If anyone dared to act recklessly, they'd have to be dealt with for the greater good of Kusa.

  "Alright, let's not just stand around. Let's go inside. I've never been to Kusa before." Masashi's smile widened slightly.

  "Of course, Masashi-sama, please, this way!" The leader gestured with a slightly trembling hand.

  Uhe deferential reception of the Kusa leader, Masashi walked into the vilge with two of his subordihe vilge leader's excessive bowing amused him.

  Yumi aa kept their mouths shut tight the eime, asto how respectful the high-ranking Kusa ninjas were toward their captain.

  Both of them, ing from prestigious s, knew very well that just the title of "Konoha Ninja" couldn't possibly achieve su effect.

  Kusa was, after all, a sed-tier anization in the shinobi world. Although it ra the bottom among these, it wasn't something just anyone could overwhelm single-handedly.

  Among the Five Great Nations, aside from the five Kage, people with such capability were few and far between.

  Realizing they were on a mission under someone of this caliber, the two were both thrilled and grateful.

  Keita thought that if he could be as strong as their captain, he'd probably receive an endless stream of love letters every day.

  Yumi didn't even dare hope for Keita to reach that level. If he could manage half of it, she'd marry him right away—and even promise not to bully him anymore.

  After all, she actually preferred being bullied herself...

  Masashi had no idea how colorful his subordinates' ihoughts were at the moment.

  He walked through Kusa, his surroundings.

  The streets of Kusa were rather bleak, poorly pnned, and the buildings were crowded together. Wooden structures leaned against each other like tired soldiers, their facades showing years of .

  Vilgers quickly ducked into their homes or into shadows between buildings upon seeing ninjas, casting curious and wary g Masashi and his team. A child peeking from behind a curtain quickly disappeared when Masashi's gaze fell on the window.

  This was definitely not a pce that would leave travelers feeling cheerful.

  The vilge's erce was mostly run by its own people, with goely limited to daily ies. Stalls dispyed basic ons and tools, but nothing that would i a ninja of any real caliber.

  "The er your vilge doesn't seem very prosperous," Masashi remarked as he gestured toward a nearly empty marketpce.

  "You must be joking, Masashi-sama. We're just a small nation with a small vilge; how could we dream of flourishing erce? The vilgers just do small trades for veniehe Kusa leader replied with a bitter ugh.

  Life in Kusa was anything but vibrant.

  Eai existed, but it was reserved for ninjas due to the limited resources. Even then, assed for eai here would barely qualify as su Konoha.

  Masashi didn't ent further. He had little i in the quality of life of Kusa's vilgers.

  Kusa was clearly a hierarchical vilge. Ninjas were the elites, and the distin was btantly obvious without any attempt to ceal it.

  "How about…?" The Kusa leader g Masashi with a sly grin and suggestive look.

  Masashi gave him a sidelong gnd smirked internally. "Go to your office? That's fine," he replied.

  "Ah… yes, that's exactly what I meant," the Kusa leader stammered, rec quickly and noddiedly.

  Still, he uzzled.

  Wasn't this man supposed to be lustful?

  The intelligehey had received shouldn't be wrong. Maybe he simply didn't fancy Kusa's s.

  The Kusa leader felt a bit indignant about this.

  Sure, their resources were scarce, but wasn't that all the more reason to carefully select the best? Sihe topic was brushed off, he didn't push further.

  "Please, this way." He led Masashi toward his office building, signaling to one of his subordio stay behind.

  As they walked, the streets remained quiet, but Yumi aa felt an increasing sense of familiarity.

  Eventually, they noticed it.

  Many parts of Kusa seemed to be imitating Konoha's yout, albeit poorly.

  "Hmm?" Masashi paused briefly.

  He spotted a hospital.

  In Konoha, the rgest buildings beh the Hokage Rock were the Ninja Academy and the Konoha Hospital.

  Kusa didn't have its equivalent of the Hokage Rock, but they had built their academy and hospital in the same area.

  There was also a tall building with a rge signboard dispying the kanji frass.

  To the left and right of this buildihe Ninja Academy and the hospital, respectively. The entire yout ale imitation of Konoha's tral district.

  Though the Academy was expected, Masashi didn't anticipate Kusa to have a hospital.

  For a small vilge, they were still trying to cover all the bases.

  That said, the hospital paled in parison to Konoha's—just a lone, modest building.

  "Your vilge seems to have plenty of mediinja," Masashi remarked with a smile.

  "Not at all," the Kusa leader replied, f a ugh as he g the nearly silent hospital. Internally, he sighed in relief.

  They had just finished evacuating the injured patients from the building, narrowly avoiding a potential disaster.

  Even though this might lead to more deaths, there was no other choice. The methods of the Explosion Corps were far too identifiable. If Masashi grew curious and took a look inside, he might uncover everything.

  Masashi, however, was indeed curious.

  Of all Konoha's institutions, hospitals were the hardest to replicate.

  Mediinjsa were rare, even in Konoha.

  In fact, Konoha's resources were barely suffit to establish field hospitals otlefield, let alone deploy mediinjas to every squad.

  The reat Nations faced simir challenges, often on an even smaller scale.

  Moreover, mediinja varied widely in skill, and the weak ones were practically useless.

  Only Suna had retively high medical standards, specializing in poisoment and surgery. But even they couldn't pare to Konoha in overall medical capabilities.

  Masashi stared at the Kusa hospital.

  Suddenly, he recalled something.

  "Does your vilge happen to have members of the Uzumaki ?"

  He thought of Karin.

  He remembered her mainly because she had ended up w under Orochimaru, who, after his defe, had gathered elite individuals with unique bloodlines.

  Before joining the Sannin, she had been a Kusa ninja and even participated in Konoha's in Exams, where Sasuke saved her during the test.

  This i seemed to have left a deep impression ourning her into his fangirl ter on.

  But rather than being infatuated with Sasuke himself, it was more accurate to say that he had bee a bea of hope at the right time for her.

  Regardless, Karin was undeniably talented and worth bringing back to Konoha.

  "The Uzumaki ?" The Kusa leader blihen quickly said, "Of course not. Why would members of the Uzumaki e to a small vilge like ours?"

  The Uzumaki had been living in secrecy across the ninja world. Even if there were any, he wouldn't reize them.

  If there were, though, he'd immediately arrange marriages for them with the vilge's women.

  That was the Uzumaki , after all!

  Though he didn't know much about them, he khat both the First Hokage and the Fourth Hokage's wives were from the Uzumaki , and that the had the ability to suppress tailed beasts.

  He firmly believed that without their tailed beast, Taki wouldn't necessarily be doing aer than Kusa.

  Masashi didn't bother determining the truth of the Kusa leader's words.

  Instead, he directly activated his chakra perception.