Chapter 318: Ninjas And The Secular World

The daimyo of the Land of Water had also begun assigning missions within his own country to ninja villages from other lands. Although he was the daimyo of the Land of Water, he preferred outsourcing tasks to foreign shinobi rather than relying on Kirigakure. This alone made it painfully clear—he had lost all trust in the Hidden Mist.

It’s not entirely unjustified, considering the village’s past.

After all, it was under the orders of a former Mizukage that Kirigakure earned its infamous nickname: The Village of the Bloody Mist.

And that particular Mizukage was an absolute monster. During his time in the Academy, he had killed all his classmates during the graduation exam—coldly, without remorse. It wasn’t hard to imagine someone with that kind of brutality eventually turning his blade toward the daimyo himself.

But Hoshigaki Kisame’s attempt to assassinate the Land of Water’s daimyo remained baffling.

The daimyo’s only real involvement with the shinobi village was financial. He gave them missions and funding—nothing more. What could possibly justify targeting him? It made no sense unless Kisame had simply lost his mind.

Even now, despite Kirigakure having opened up to the outside world and officially abandoned its previous Bloody Mist policies, the damage had already been done. The daimyo remained hesitant. For a while, he had even cut off support entirely, and as a result, the village’s development had stagnated.

After all, nurturing a shinobi took considerable resources and time.

And given the current state of the world’s productivity, the support of the daimyo was still a crucial pillar. Without it, no village could thrive.

Though several of Kirigakure’s elders had been in negotiations with the Land of Water’s daimyo for some time now, and though Terumi Mei had done everything in her power to repair relations, the most they had achieved was a modest restoration of funding.

Even so, the amount provided still paled in comparison to the support other villages received from their own daimyos.

Of course, Kirigakure could take the extreme route—eliminate the daimyo and replace him with someone more compliant.

But doing so would trigger a backlash that would shake the entire shinobi world. It wouldn’t just be a local conflict—it would escalate into a full-blown war, likely one far worse than any previous Ninja World War.

Because assassinating the daimyo and seizing power would shatter the delicate balance that had long existed between shinobi and secular rulers.

One must understand: the only reason this fragile peace had endured was because of mutual restraint. The daimyos held the wealth and resources, while the ninja villages held the power. If that balance were ever broken—if the daimyo began raising and training their own ninja armies—it would change the entire dynamic.

After all, the daimyos had access to the most abundant resources in their countries. If they truly wanted to, they could cultivate private armies far surpassing even elite shinobi units in terms of sheer scale and logistics.

Unless there were legendary figures like Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara present to suppress such threats, a daimyo-backed ninja army would be overwhelming. Their strength wouldn’t just rival the Great Shinobi Villages—they could potentially surpass them.

But for generations now, daimyos had refrained from doing so. Instead, they hired ninja villages to carry out missions and maintain order, while continuing to fund their growth. This unspoken agreement kept everything in equilibrium.

If Kirigakure broke that arrangement, it wouldn’t just be the Land of Water facing the consequences—the other four Great Nations would view it as a threat to the global order.

And the four remaining great villages would not tolerate that kind of upheaval.

It wouldn’t even matter what the Land of Water thought.

The other daimyos, and their respective villages, would band together to eliminate the threat—because if one village got away with such a move, it could set a dangerous precedent.

Likewise, the great shinobi villages of the other nations wouldn’t want to see this balance disturbed either.

The reason ninja wars were often called “Ninja World Wars” was precisely because they generally didn’t involve civilians. Even the Land of Rain—constantly caught in the crossfire of the great powers—was mostly treated as a battleground, not a target for annihilation.

From Riku’s understanding, most civilians in the Land of Rain weren’t affected by ninja warfare as badly as one might expect.

Even in the middle of large-scale conflicts, shinobi were often ordered not to harm civilians.

This was a clear distinction between the secular world and the ninja world.

Because unlike the top-tier powerhouses like Hashirama or Madara, the vast majority of shinobi—be they Genin, Chūnin, Jōnin, or even Kage-level—could be trained, provided one had the time, talent, and, most importantly, the money.

With enough resources, even average shinobi could become formidable.

That’s why the backing of a nation’s daimyo was so crucial.

And why breaking that balance—crossing that line—would unleash devastation the world had never seen.