Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 468 The Land of Thunder is on the Verge of Destruction

Because it is not needed.

Naoto's order was very simple, so simple that it consisted of only one sentence.

"Kill. Anyone who is a ninja, take their headband and an ear, and come back for the reward. There is no upper limit, no lower limit."

There were no strategic objectives, no occupied territories, and no front lines or rear areas.

Three thousand five hundred men charged into the Land of Lightning like three thousand five hundred hungry wolves, killing any ninja they saw, running away after killing them, and dying if they couldn't escape.

At first, the ninjas of Kumogakure didn't take this group of stragglers seriously at all.

"What kind of trouble can a ragtag group of wandering ninjas cause?"

Troy, the Jonin captain in charge of border defense, stood atop the watchtower, looking down at the dark mass of people in the distance with a disdainful smile.

"Pass down the order: First, second, and third squads, launch an attack and finish the battle within ten minutes."

Three squads, each with four members, totaling twelve Chunin from Kumogakure, head-on confronted the vanguard of the cannon fodder camp.

Twelve against a hundred was more than enough for the Cloud Village ninjas.

But what happened next froze Troy's smile on his face. The cannon fodder battalion didn't care about formations, tactics, or any glorious way of fighting.

They swarmed forward like a pack of hungry, bloodshot dogs.

Three people engaged a Cloud Village ninja, one feigned an attack from the front, and the other two flanked him from the sides.

Swords came from unexpected angles, kicks came to the groin, kunai stabbed the back of the head, and some even pounced on the Cloud Village ninja's legs, allowing their companions to stab him in the stomach.

Ninjutsu duel? Not a chance.

Using the dirtiest, most ruthless, and most reckless fighting methods, they killed all twelve Cloud Village Chunin in just three minutes.

"Are these ninjas?!" Without a word, he jumped down from the watchtower and ran towards the rear, shouting as he ran, "Enemy attack! All hands on alert! Enemy attack!"

However, the cannon fodder battalion had already rushed into the border villages and scattered like stars in the sky.

A border village, an outpost of Kumogakure. Approximately two hundred Kumogakure ninja are stationed there, responsible for monitoring border movements and handling minor conflicts.

When the black tide of the cannon fodder battalion surged into the village, most of the Cloud Village ninjas were still eating in their barracks.

Screams, explosions, flashing blades, blood.

Everything happened faster than a landslide.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower!" But more people rushed out from the gaps in the firelight and stabbed him in the waist.

He looked down at the tip of the knife protruding from his abdomen and collapsed limply, without even having time to scream.

Of course, not every cannon fodder ninja can kill. The strength of the Cloud Village ninjas is undeniable; even the weakest official ninja is stronger than most rogue ninjas.

But they couldn't withstand it; they were all launching sneak attacks. If they couldn't win from the front, they would attack from the side; if they couldn't win from the side, they would attack at night.

Poisoning, sprinkling lime, sabotaging water sources, setting up surveillance points, and launching coordinated attacks—they'll use any means necessary to kill, devoid of morality and disregarding any code of ninja. They only care about one thing: getting the headband and earrings to exchange for their reward.

A huge fire broke out in the village. The cannon fodder battalion was not only killing people, but also burning granaries, blowing up bridges, and destroying everything they could.

Anyway, it was Kumogakure who broke the rules first. Besides, those were evil deeds done by hired mercenaries. What does it have to do with our Takigakure?

When the news reached the front-line command center, the Fourth Raikage was preparing to eat lunch.

"What did you say?" He slammed the rice bowl down on the table, then silently swept the rice back into the bowl. Because of the food shortage, spilling it meant no food left.

"The first line of defense on the border has been breached." The messenger knelt on the ground. "All five hundred garrison ninjas have been wiped out. And the wandering ninjas we recruited—some are dead, some have fled—they've all been used up."

Raikage suddenly stood up, his chair tipping over with a loud crash.

"What?!"

The Fourth Raikage's face changed from red to white, and then from white to blue.

He didn't say anything more, grabbed a handful of kunai from the table, and walked out.

"My lord, it's no use you going now! The cannon fodder have already been dispersed into the Land of Lightning, and I heard they're hunting down nobles."

"Get out of my way!" He punched his adjutant, sending him flying, and strode out of the command room.

On the border of the Land of Lightning, houses burned, and ninja tools and corpses were scattered across the streets. The air was thick with the smell of burning and blood, and flies buzzed around the bodies.

The Fourth Raikage stood amidst the ruins of the town, looking at the corpses on the ground—some from the cannon fodder unit, others from the Cloud Village. But there were clearly far more Cloud Village corpses than cannon fodder unit corpses.

"How could this be! These cannon fodder can achieve a one-for-three, or even one-for-four exchange, how is that possible?"

"Are the elites of our Hidden Cloud Village really inferior to these cannon fodder?"

However, this was not the worst of it. Not long after, news came from the capital.

The Land of Lightning is in complete chaos, and we can no longer provide them with any material support. In addition, the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning and his family were killed in their home a few days ago.

In the sixteen cities, prominent families, ministers, and nobles have either fled or died. The people living in the Land of Thunder have fallen into chaos and have begun to unleash their instinctive talents, engaging in looting, vandalism, and other illegal activities.

As for the other minor nobles, all those who could escaped fled, leaving the Land of Lightning in a complete mess, which the Raikage had to clean up.

At first, he had no choice but to disperse all the ninjas from the Hidden Cloud Village to manage and suppress rebellions in various parts of the Land of Lightning.

Anyone who instigates trouble should be killed immediately to restore order to the Land of Lightning as quickly as possible.

But what those wandering ninjas were waiting for was for them to scatter and be defeated one by one. They disguised themselves and hid among the people.

Whenever ninjas from the Hidden Cloud Village came to maintain order, they would launch surprise attacks, killing them and taking their ears and headbands if they could kill them. If they couldn't be killed, they would flee a thousand miles away if their attack failed.

Of course, many wandering ninjas were also killed in retaliation. After all, they only had three basic moves, and their skills and techniques were all brute force. In addition, many of them were not well-trained.

Wuwei taught them those techniques, enough to deal with ordinary junior ninjas, but not everyone was a genius; only one in ten could master them all.

As a result, in less than half a month, more than 2700 ninja from Kumogakure died, most of whom were chunin or genin, but there were also some powerful jonin.

Upon receiving the news, the Raikage was so angry that he overturned the table again, but unfortunately, they no longer had the funds to buy a new table.

"Retreat! Everyone retreat! Gather together! Don't worry about the lives of those civilians!"

The Fourth Raikage then instructed, "Also, go and plunder the merchants' supplies. We've been risking our lives on the front lines; it's time for those of us who are being protected to pay the price."