Thick black smoke rose over the plains.
Previously, this was a peaceful village, but now it has become a pitted, lamentable ruin.
Looking at the village that had already been destroyed by others, the Nokizaru Group, led by the Insect Man, stood amidst the ruins, seeing countless villagers fallen to the ground, with none left alive.
It was clear that this village had been completely exterminated.
Moreover, the destruction was incredibly swift.
The raging elemental chakra still lingered in the air, revealing the power of the attacker.
This was the Woods Village, the village where the Nokizaru Group's employer resided, now destroyed, which caught the Insect Man and his team's off guard.
And the perpetrators, even without deliberate speculation, were known to be.
The Raikage feared the Nokizaru Group's Bursting Insects, and without complete assurance, he certainly wouldn't come looking for trouble.
But Woods Village was different. Faced with the Fourth Raikage's offensive, they had no power to resist. The Fourth Raikage venting his humiliation from the Nokizaru Group onto Woods Village was only logical.
This is probably the sorrow of the weak in this era.
"What do we do next? Do we continue with the task?"
Fire Man asked softly.
This was his first encounter with such a troublesome task; their mission was not yet complete, but their employer had been killed first.
The elder from Woods Village also lay among the dead, eyes wide open, unseeing in death.
"The task is interrupted, I suppose. Nobody's paying us, so provoking the Fourth Raikage isn't worth it. Otherwise, we won't even recoup our costs… No, this is already a losing deal."
After all, the only method the Nokizaru Group had to deal with the Raikage was the Bursting Insects. The problem was that although the Bursting Insects' abilities were powerful, they were also very expensive to produce.
Even if we retrieve the Secret Jutsu Scroll from Woods Village now, there's no one to pay us. As for the hundreds of thousands of ryo Woods Village placed in the underground black market as a deposit, it's just some interest to take back. After all, we had made the Raikage and his men suffer, doing justice to that price.
Typically, bounty hunters dare not mess with the tiger's whiskers.
As for taking on the Fourth Raikage again, the Nokizaru Group would not seek trouble with the Fourth Raikage for the sake of a mere deposit of hundreds of thousands of ryo. That would be courting disaster.
After all, their task was not to protect Woods Village but to retrieve the Secret Jutsu Scroll from Woods Village. The destruction of the village has nothing directly to do with the Nokizaru Group.
It's just that Woods Village's destruction means no one pays when the task is completed, which is the problem.
Ultimately, it was because Woods Village was too weak.
The weak, their life and death are left to be dictated by the strong.
To Woods Village, the Raikage was the strong one who could decide their life and death.
So, this mission of the Nokizaru Group cannot be considered a failure. It's just that the employer was taken down, causing anomalies in the mission's progression. The underground black market will not record this as a mission failure on the Nokizaru Group's task record.
"Let's leave it at that."
The other four could only shrug, not opposing.
Facing the Fourth Raikage indeed brought immense pressure.
The main issue was the speed. Even having trained in Natural Energy, they could barely keep up with the Raikage's movement tracks. In a prolonged battle, they, the Nokizaru Group, would surely lose.
"Still, they have paid a deposit, we should let them rest in peace. Leaving the bodies exposed to the wild isn't good. Earth Man, among us, only you can perform Earth Style Ninjutsu. I'll leave it to you."
The Insect Man instructed.
Earth Man didn't object. Burying hundreds of bodies was no big deal to him; it would just waste some chakra.
"Who would've thought the Raikage would retaliate so decisively? An entire village of hundreds wiped out just like that. Looks like there will be chaos in the Land of Woods after this. Alas, the military doesn't plan on setting up in the Land of Woods for now."
Such matters caught the Nokizaru Group off guard, but they also gained a deeper understanding of the great nations' dominance.
The rules are set by the Five Great Nations, but it doesn't mean they truly abide by them.
Believing the subsequent handling of this matter, the Daimyo of the Land of Woods wouldn't dare target the Raikage, just harbor some impotent resentment.
"This is the power struggle of national strength. Those who can bicker at the negotiating table acknowledge each other's strength, acting cautiously, thinking thrice before proceeding. Conversely, when there's no room for negotiation, it can only turn into a distressing topic."
Examples like Woods Village are too common in the Ninja Realm.
The past Land of Rain was the same.
Great nations used the Land of Rain as a battlefield, with no intent to negotiate with it. Akatsuki ran around wanting to end the war but could not shake the great nations' resolve, summoned and dismissed by them at will.
The only face, Hanzo of the Salamander, was eventually betrayed by Konoha's Orochimaru and Danzo, dying at the hands of the Hidden Sand Ninja.
This caused the Land of Rain's status to plummet.
Even Akatsuki, now strong, could only hide in the Hidden Rain Village, biding their time under the great nations' watch.
The Land of Demons, however, gaining recognition at the Five Kage Summit, cannot be overlooked by the Five Kage despite their unwillingness.
Even with the Hidden Sand leading the Five Kage Summit, they had to compromise with the Land of Demons.
Although the Land of Demons now holds a large territory on the western continent, as long as they don't touch the bottom line of the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, they can only turn a blind eye.