Chapter 107: Past Tense

Ōnoki was well aware that even if he went all out today and defeated the Land of Water, he would surely suffer heavy losses.

At that time, if the Land of Fire invaded his country, how could he resist?

Or rather, what would he use to resist?

Was he supposed to lead the ninja of Iwagakure to fight to the last man? Even if he died gloriously in battle, Iwagakure would still become a thing of the past. What was the point? Why bother?

Thus, after some deliberation, realizing he had no chance of survival, Ōnoki decisively invited the Raikage for peace talks.

The Raikage formally attended the meeting.

After a secret discussion between the two, Tsuchikage Ōnoki announced unconditional surrender. Iwagakure was formally annexed into the Land of Water, becoming part of it and accepting its orders.

As for how the Daimyō of the Land of Earth would react, Ōnoki could no longer control that.

After all, he had done his best.

This news also sent shockwaves throughout the entire ninja world.

Many people, upon hearing this news, could hardly believe their eyes.

Holy crap, the changes in the ninja world were too fast.

Not long ago, the Land of Fire, the Land of Water, and the Wind-Earth Alliance stood as three powers. Many thought this格局 would not be broken in the short term.

But who could have known that within just a few months of this tripartite balance, the Land of Wind was defeated by the Land of Fire, and the Land of Earth was formally annexed into the Land of Water. The tripartite balance collapsed, and the ninja world entered a situation of two powers contending for supremacy.

Which of these two countries, the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, would laugh last? Countless people pondered this.

In many people's view, the ninja world was about to be unified, but who would be the one to defeat the enemy and become the boss remained to be seen, after all, neither the Land of Fire nor the Land of Water was easy to deal with.

Many thought the Land of Water had a great chance.

Because the Land of Water had defeated the Land of Lightning, annexed the Land of Earth, and possessed the strength of three ninja villages—Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure—giving it deep foundations.

But quite a few also believed the Land of Fire's chances were not bad either.

Because the Land of Fire had defeated the Land of Wind, annexed Sunagakure, and, given that the Land of Fire had always been the victor in the great ninja wars—winning all three—this was enough to prove its strength.

Even if Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure joined forces, they might not be a match for the Land of Fire and Sunagakure.

Just as most people were speculating about how the war between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water would begin, Wang Bo wrote a letter to Silver Superman.

In the letter, he told Silver Superman that it was time to unify the ninja world.

Silver Superman agreed.

So both sides began to sweep through the surrounding small countries—countries like the Land of Rice, the Land of Rain, the Land of Rivers, the Land of Waves, the Land of Iron, the Land of Waterfalls, the Land of Frost, the Land of Grass, and the Land of Snow became targets for Wang Bo and Silver Superman's sweep.

These were all small countries with limited territory. Almost every few days, a small country would be flattened by Wang Bo or Silver Superman and annexed into their own country.

These small countries didn't even have their own ninja. For example, the people of the Land of Waves had to travel to the Land of Fire to issue missions, proving that the country was not only weak but also lacked ninja.

As such, they naturally couldn't stop the ninja Wang Bo sent over.

When the ninja Wang Bo dispatched appeared at the Daimyō's mansion in the Land of Waves, the Daimyō of the Land of Waves surrendered. Wang Bo took over the country with almost no effort.

In fact, many small countries were like this.

Of course, Wang Bo did encounter some obstacles along the way.

For instance, when Wang Bo sent people to sweep through the Land of Iron, he met with strong resistance.

The Land of Iron was a neutral country. Long ago, ninja had agreed not to attack this country, thus sparing it from several great ninja wars.

Even during the Fourth Great Ninja War, the Five Kage Summit was held in the Land of Iron, and the leader of the Land of Iron acted as the moderator of the summit.

One reason was the Land of Iron's neutral stance and the agreement made by ninja long ago.

The Land of Iron had no ninja, only samurai.

Although these samurai also trained in chakra, their combat style relied on swordsmanship, not ninjutsu.

However, the strength of the Land of Iron's samurai was not low. The general of the Land of Iron, Mifune, was hailed as a legendary master of iaijutsu, with sword speed so fast that ninja couldn't even form hand seals.

In his youth, he had fought against the demigod of the ninja world, Hanzo of the Salamander, and survived.

From this, it could be seen that Mifune's strength was certainly not inferior to any Kage-level powerhouse.

Therefore, when Wang Bo sent ninja to attack the Land of Iron, they naturally met resistance. General Mifune led his samurai and engaged in a war of attrition with the forces Wang Bo had dispatched.

Because Mifune was familiar with the terrain of the Land of Iron and was well-versed in ninja combat, he managed to hold off Wang Bo's forces for a short time.

By the time Wang Bo's men had almost conquered all the countries around the Land of Iron, the Land of Iron still hadn't fallen and continued to resist tenaciously.

But anyone with discerning eyes could see that the fall of the Land of Iron was only a matter of time.

So Wang Bo transferred Satō Ken and ordered him to take the Land of Iron as quickly as possible.

Satō Ken, having followed Wang Bo for so long, was powerful. After entering the Land of Iron, his first move was to head straight for the Daimyō's mansion and capture the Daimyō.

Naturally, General Mifune of the Land of Iron would not allow Satō Ken to do this. He engaged in a great battle with Satō Ken within the Daimyō's mansion.

In the end, Satō Ken, with his superb Iron Body technique, blocked Mifune's iaijutsu, seized the opportunity to defeat Mifune, captured the Daimyō, and conquered the Land of Iron.

During this period, Wang Bo was handling official affairs, working hard to digest these expanded territories.

Conquering a country wasn't the end of it; it required careful governance.

If handled poorly, the country's people would become dissatisfied, and if dissatisfaction reached its peak, they would rebel, causing even more trouble.

So Wang Bo had to handle these matters properly.

Fortunately, Wang Bo had experience in this area. With his excellent methods, he quickly pacified the people of these countries and issued a series of measures and rewards to foster a sense of identity with the Land of Fire.

Even if there were some restless individuals, under the general trend, they couldn't stir up any waves.

Time flows like water, never ceasing day or night.

In the blink of an eye, another year had passed, and the ninja world had undergone earth-shaking changes.

The various large and small countries of the ninja world had completely disappeared, either annexed by the Land of Fire or by the Land of Water.

Now, there were only two countries in the ninja world.

The Land of Fire and the Land of Water.

These two countries each dominated one side, dividing the entire ninja world. All other countries had become things of the past.